by Kathryn Moon
“Doesn’t mean it wasn’t them,” Chef said. He hadn’t sat still since we’d made it back to the Plaza. The police had just left after taking a report, and even though it was edging into morning, the diner blinds remained pulled shut as we ignored the occasional sounds of morning traffic arriving expectantly at the door.
I covered my mouth with my hand. If Books’ research was right, it was more than likely it was the Hangmen. But how had they made it seem as though Emmy had simply walked off?
“Fuckin’ told her not to worry about shit like that,” Chef grunted.
“Emmy liked to do what she was told not to,” Tiny said, in a small careful tone. Red held her tight in his arms with a wary gaze fixed to his friend as if waiting for the other alpha to snap at his beta. “If she thought you were protecting her, she’d want to prove she didn’t need it.”
Chef shuddered and groaned, elbows landing on his diner counter, and face falling to his hands.
“They’re probably using prospects. They won’t be wearing Hangmen cuts so they can’t be identified, and if they get caught they’d just cut the new guys loose,” I said.
“Books has already sent in everything he’s put together on missing girls,” Scorch said. “I think we should hit the edges of their territory, see if we can’t crack a couple locals into talking to us. Thumb, Dusty, I’m putting you in charge. You’ve got the best contacts in that. I’m gonna make contact with Buzz, try and set up a pack meet.”
“You want to take me face-to-face with those fuckers?” Chef asked, voice crackling dangerously.
“I want us to get a headcount,” Scorch said. “And to see if it looks like Buzzard’s pissing any of his men off.” Scorch turned to me and whispered under his breath. “Text Bull and get me an ETA. Cole needs to use any influence he has left on his old club.”
37
Baby
“Kitten, wake up.”
I whined and rolled away from the touch on my cheek. It was too early, and I didn’t get near enough sleep with these guys. Not that I usually minded, but they could at least wait for me to wake up on my own before tryin’ to get in my pants.
“Baby, just need to get a kiss. Green and I gotta go.”
“I beg your fuckin’ pardon?” I mumbled into my pillow, growling and rolling back again to glare at a blurry Bullet.
At my side, Mackenzie yawned audibly and then sat up. “Whas’happening?”
“Some shit went down at the club,” Bullet murmured.
I sat up like a shot, rubbing my eyes free of sleep and then whining as they cleared. Bullet was fully dressed, leather jacket on and boots buckled. “What happened? When?”
“Last night. Emmy went missing.”
“What?!” Bullet caught me before I could launch myself off the bed, holding my hips tight in his hands until I stopped shaking and trying to break free long enough to look at him.
“Baby, I know you want to run home with us and be with your pack, but listen to me, kitten. This is a move to get you back within the Hangmen’s reach. There’s no doubt in my mind about that. If they’re striking at home it’s ‘cause they can’t fuckin’ reach you here, right? So you gotta stay.”
“Why? So they hit you there again? Lemme go with you and kick them in their dicks!”
Bullet grinned. “God, you’re beautiful.”
The bedroom door opened and Tornado and Ryan stepped inside. I’d bunked with Mackenzie the night before, with a guest star visit from Tornado who was still looking rumpled. Ryan was fully dressed too, suited up and frowning, all the levity I’d been drawing out of him the past week shuttered away.
“Sweetness,” he said, voice hard.
“I’m coming with you!”
“You are not.”
I hiccuped and sagged in Bullet’s hold. Ryan’s answer left no room for my argument, not a bark but as good as. It was like hitting a wall in the bond, and I wondered if he could hold me here with our connection or if he was only doing his best to press this into me, his need for me to stay.
Ryan crossed the room, Tornado following, until we were clustered together at the edge of the bed. His hands cupped my face. “I know you want to be with your pack on this, but we need you safe.”
“I need Emmy safe,” I said. “She’s my friend.”
Ryan bent and nuzzled my cheek. “Emmy’s tough as nails. We’re gonna get her back, and I’ll bet she takes a good chunk out of those assholes before we do. Bull and I will be back here as soon as we can, maybe even with the others. But you’re staying here.”
“Takin’ Cole with us too,” Bullet said, shooting me a brief grin. “So just you and your fellas here. Nice and cozy.”
“I’m sick of being cozy, I want to get shit done,” I said, squaring my shoulders. “I’m not wilting and in heat anymore. I can hold it together.”
“Baby,” Ryan said, soft warning in his tone, ready to lecture me.
I raised my hand and he paused, waiting. “I’m staying here. I get that. I’m just saying that this cannot be an indefinite time table. I’m not gonna live locked up here just to hide from these guys.”
“I’ll send everything I have to the police now,” Mackenzie said, rolling through the covers to dig for his laptop.
“Good, think Chef and them are talkin’ to the cops now,” Bullet said.
My chest squeezed and tears threatened to spill over in my eyes. “Oh, Chef.”
“He wouldn’t want it to be you either, Baby. Hold tight here, and the others will find Emmy.”
I swallowed on the lump in my throat and it refused to budge.
“We gotta go,” Ryan said to Bullet.
“I’m walking out with you,” I said, climbing off Bullet’s lap and rummaging for something to wear to walk them out in. Downstairs an engine roared to life, Cole probably ready and waiting with the truck. The weather was thawing again, but when we made it downstairs Ryan and Bullet headed to join Cole, who was on his bike next to the humming truck. I hadn’t even realized he’d brought his own bike with him, but Ryan’s bike was now loaded into the bed of the truck so there must’ve been a frame for them.
I snagged my departing alpha’s hands, pulling them into fierce, last-minute hugs against me.
“First and only time leaving you, kitten,” Bullet said in my ear. “I promise.”
“I’m holding you to that,” I said, sucking down a whimper as he released me and passed me to Ryan.
I burrowed tight against my alpha, felt the click of the bond between us as we lined up in matching, anxious, needy emotions.
“Be good,” he said.
“Yes, sir,” I answered, tilting my head back to look at him.
Ryan purred and bent his head for a brief swipe of his tongue across his mark on my lip. I shivered and he nipped, electric ache and sweetness running through me. When he released me he had to actively push me back, and I couldn’t even feel sorry or embarrassed for it. He slid into the backseat of the truck, gazing at me through the window. Bullet threw his seat back and jumped in as Cole leaned over the steering wheel, grinning at me.
“Don’t worry, Baby. Be seein’ you soon enough.”
I looked at Ryan and Bullet instead. “Can’t wait.”
The day in the house felt longer than usual without Ryan and Bullet. The bond was pulling inside of me, not weaker for the distance but tangibly aching in response. I did my best to not seem completely despondent, but Tornado and Mackenzie caught me sulking more times than I meant them to see.
“It’s not just about the fact they had to leave,” I said to Mackenzie later in the bath. We were finally making use of the ridiculously large tub in the nest’s bathroom suite, both of my alphas soaking in the water with me, already on our second bath bomb with no intention of getting out anytime soon.
“You don’t need to justify it, love,” Tornado said. “Those are our brothers, our friends. We want to be there too.”
“We would be there if being here with you wasn’t every bit as importa
nt,” Mackenzie said.
“If I was home now—“
Tornado interrupted me in a low growl, pulling me to his chest through the water, “If you were home now, the Hangmen would be burning down the Plaza or worse to get to you. Just like we’d burn down Old Uptown to get you back from them.”
I released a shaky sigh and then closed my eyes, resting my head on his damp shoulder. With a soft rustle of water, Mackenzie cut across the tub, stretching over my back until my alphas had me pinned between them, water warm and lapping at my skin. I shivered—equal parts sensitive and hyper-aware of the physical contact, as well as the mutual frustration we all shared of being away from our pack.
“You are ours,” Tornado whispered, face turning until his lips pressed to my forehead. “Our lover. Our family. Our bossy omega.”
My smile was watery, but I ran my hands over all the bare skin I could reach under the water until Tornado was purring.
“You are, and I want to make it official,” Mackenzie said. I hummed and smiled in response, reaching back to skim his side. “Tonight, Baby. I want to make you mine tonight.”
My touch paused and my eyes widened. Tornado’s eyebrows were lifted, but a faint smile was spreading over his lips as he stared at his friend. Together they rolled me in the water to face Mackenzie. I parted my legs so he could fall between them, holding my breath as their hips both nestled closer.
“You’re sure?” I asked, reaching wet fingers up to brush across the freckles on his cheeks and forehead.
Mackenzie grinned in response, nipping at my fingertips when they passed by his lips. Tornado purred as I jumped and laughed in surprise.
“Been sure since day one, angel,” Mackenzie said, amber eyes shifting in color to faintly green. “I wanna be the one you play with. The one that tells you when to get to bed when you’re wearing yourself out. Who drives you crazy with biological statistics when you just want me to kiss you.”
I wiggled in the water, trying to bite my enormous smile into something less ridiculous, but it was impossible and my cheeks were starting to hurt.
“Bonds that are formed within the first three months of a courtship are reported to be—“
“Mackenzie!” I laughed as he grinned and then tugged him to me, pecking and pulling at his lips until he hummed with his low and quiet purr.
“I love you, Baby,” he murmured against my still ferocious smile.
“I love you too. You take perfect care of me. I just want to do the same,” I said, pressing my cheek to his.
It was true, I would’ve been a lucky woman with just one of my alphas or Seth. To have all six of them was a gift too vast to process most moments. At this particular one, my heart was swollen to bursting with the understanding of the blessing.
“Is there room for another in this bonding?” Tornado whispered.
Mackenzie leaned away and I spun again, eyes wide and hands wrapping around Tornado’s shoulders. My breath caught in my chest just for seeing him again, black hair wet at the ends in the water, skin glittering with water droplets.
“I’m not done becoming the man I want to be for you, love,” Tornado said, dark eyes serious and fixed to mine.
“No one’s done becoming who they want to be,” I said. “I want the man in front of me right now.”
He smiled and the heaviness dissipated. “And I’m not enough of a fool to deny you. Not when I want the woman in my arms so much, it makes the rest of the world feel clear and firm around me again.”
A faint whimper escaped my throat before I pressed myself to Tornado, his hands tangling in my hair as he drank from my lips with a rough purr, cock twitching against my center.
“Glad to have you with me on this,” Mackenzie said.
I pulled away from Tornado’s lips with a pop, eyes going wide. “Wait…how is this going to work?”
It worked just fine.
After another endless hour of murmured affections and their teasing me into a slow-burning arousal, Mackenzie and Tornado carried me into the room Tornado had claimed for himself. It was clean and light and the bed was smaller than some in the house, but there was still a fireplace that Mackenzie had made use of until the room was warm and orange with firelight.
Warm enough to have me bare and stretched on my back over the bed, Tornado on his knees between my thighs, easing his length in and out of me at a languid pace. I moaned as his hips rolled into me. Above me, Mackenzie groaned as my moan echoed around the head of his cock. I cupped his sac in one hand and then pulled him closer with the other on his ass, drawing him into my mouth as deep as I could.
With my head hanging just slightly off the edge of the bed, the depth was enough to make Mackenzie’s thighs tremble, and the power was a heady thrill for me. I sucked as he drew himself out, and Mackenzie shouted.
“Oh fuck! Baby. Jesus, Tornado, you gotta get our girl losin’ her mind before I lose mine,” Mackenzie groaned.
“I dunno, it’s kinda fun watchin’ you,” Tornado said as he drove in, resting with his knot just at the edge of my entrance, his own voice tight and breathless. His hands were stroking my sides, taking occasional detours to keep my nipples tight and my clit teased just enough to make me flutter before drawing away again.
My only regret was that in this position, I couldn’t see their faces. I could, however, watch Mackenzie’s ass flex in a mirror as he tried not to thrust into my mouth too roughly. It was upside down, but it was still cute as hell.
I pulled my lips off the end of Mackenzie’s cock and whined as Tornado teased my opening with his knot. It was time to get this show on the road. My hands moved to Mackenzie’s length, pumping as I sucked and kissed at his skin right up to his knot. As I wrapped my lips around the swollen underside, Mackenzie’s hands drove into my hair, holding me to the spot as he let out a long and loud moan.
“Yes, yes, Baby, angel. Right like that. Fuck!”
It was a struggle not to grin. I loved making my naughty, nerdy, composed alpha lose his control like this. He bucked and growled, and I flattened my tongue, twisting it over every inch in reach. He tasted clean from the bath, and musky and male and rich like coffee.
“Should’ve filmed your face for her,” Tornado said, laughing slightly. I squeezed around his cock and he groaned. I knew Mackenzie’s face as he came, all torn and hopeful and beautifully surprised. And I certainly planned on seeing it again plenty.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Mackenzie chanted, every repeat of the word turning higher and breathier.
I moved quickly, hands squeezing around his knot as my lips wrapped around his head, sucking him down as he started to twitch, hips nudging himself deeper.
“Shit, that’s…” Tornado breathed, his awe interrupted as Mackenzie strangled his own groan, fingers tugging on my hair as he held me to him, cum bursting at the back of my throat with shallow pumps of his hips.
I swallowed every drop, holding his knot tight in my fist as his legs quivered and his back arched. Tornado stilled, bending down to kiss a line up my stomach. Mackenzie sighed and his fingers loosened, guiding me off his cock, shivering as I licked his tip.
“Get up here with us,” Tornado said.
Mackenzie nodded, his hands sliding down to my shoulders and helping guide me onto the mattress. I squeaked and rolled my hips as Tornado shifted me, making room for Mackenzie next to us. I held my breath as Tornado stretched over me, his weight almost pushing his knot into me. Still he didn’t rush, pushing my hair off my shoulders and kissing wetly across my collarbone.
“Did you make up your mind about where you want to bite?” I asked Mackenzie.
He smiled, all drowsy and lazy after his orgasm, and nodded. “I thought about here,” he said, stroking his fingers down the length of my neck. Tornado pulled almost free of me before sinking in again, and I whimpered, fighting to keep my eyes open and on Mackenzie. “Or here,” he said, trailing his touch to my shoulder. “Almost made up my mind on here.” His fingertips circled my nipple and I moaned,
back curling to press into his hand. Mackenzie and Tornado shared a smile, and Tornado’s head dropped to the other breast, tongue licking a circle before he sucked in time with his slow thrusts.
“But I decided I wanted it to be a spot I could remind you of whenever I wanted,” Mackenzie said, touch following the line of my arm down to my hand on Tornado’s back. He lifted it, drawing it to his lips, and kissing the soft pad of flesh beneath my thumb. My eyes widened as he scratched his teeth over the spot.
Tornado purred. “Ohh, she likes that, she keeps squeezing around me.” He scratched his own teeth over my breast and I whined, eyes falling shut and chest lifting into the shivery pressure.
“Ready, Baby?” Mackenzie asked, kissing my palm.
“Yes, yes, I want you both,” I panted, forcing myself to look at them.
Tornado rested his chin on my breast bone, beard tickling my skin. “You’re our girl.”
“I am.” I nodded. “Always.”
My alphas purred, glanced at one another, and then Tornado rolled slowly out of me. When he slammed back in, it was sudden and shocking, knot locking and filling me. Stars burst behind my eyes as heat spiraled out from my center, washing over me and drowning me in ecstasy. A moment later, twin points of pain pierced through the haze, sharpening pleasure to a finer edge. My palm stung and my breast burned and my alphas growled, Tornado’s hips bucking and nudging and propelling the orgasm on and on as his bite fastened on the swell of my breast. With the first lap of Mackenzie’s tongue over his bonding mark, I was undone.
“You’ll stay?” I whispered, fingers stroking through Tornado’s silky black hair.
His knot had finally deflated, and it was some late secret hour in the night, and I was on the very edge of sleep. Mackenzie was still nursing the bite on my hand, although the licks were becoming fewer and farther apart as he fought sleep. It was fine, the mark was already starting to pink and heal. Mackenzie’s curiosity at the rapid healing was like a playful tickle in the back of my thoughts, our bond twining us closer with every second.