by Jayce Carter
Time passed, though she wasn’t sure how much, lost in the movement of his body, in the way he wrapped around her. By the time the telltale swelling in his cock pressed against her said he could hold off no longer, Claire’s desperation consumed her. She craved the way his long shaft would jerk inside her, the way his solid body would pin her as he sated her with his cum.
She wasn’t sore, but tired. Worn to the bone by the sex, by the heat that had been denied too long, by it all. While she was sure there were hours left, she couldn’t think about it. He broke the kiss and buried his face in her throat, nose against her pulse. He knotted her, thicker than the others, an immense presence that had her crying out in surrender. He carded his fingers through her hair, a grip tight but reassuring. “Close your eyes, love. Just rest for a while.”
Claire couldn’t fight the weariness that overtook her. She closed her eyes, lulled to sleep by the overwhelming scent of the three males who had serviced her, the three she knew nothing about, the three males she’d have to escape when she woke.
Chapter Three
Bryce trailed his fingers over the omega’s hip as he watched her sleep. He was surrounded by her tantalizing scent which had soaked into each crevice of the office.
He’d never manage to work in there again without growing hard, without thinking about her body, her taste, the bite of her nails as she’d demanded more. Each look at his desk, at the couch, the wall—it all would only make him replay the night in his head. He’d see her bent over the desk before him, her breasts flattened against the top. He’d remember how she’d looked, curvy thighs spread as Joshua had plunged his dick into her, her back against the wall, legs wrapped around his hips. They were images he’d never shake.
Joshua had passed out on the couch, his exhausted snores a testament to how hard each had worked to satisfy the needy omega.
Even though three of them had cared for her, an omega’s heat was not for the weak. Her body had screamed at her, and she’d used her teeth and nails to satisfy it. They’d taken turns, letting her settle before her body had grown hot again, as her thighs had drenched and rubbed together, signaling another rising wave of need. Each time, someone had come forward, ready to offer whatever she needed. By the morning, they’d all be sore.
While they’d taken omegas in the past, they’d never done so with one in heat. That had risks too high.
Who was she?
Why had she broken into their office?
Why the hell had they reacted the way they had?
Sure, instinct had had something to do with it. Any alpha would struggle to turn down an omega in heat. They hurt when not satisfied, when an alpha failed to knot them, and some could even risk harm or death if they’d put it off too long. He couldn’t imagine leaving one to suffer, even if he could have denied the demanding instinct inside him.
Judging from the flush on her face, from the hours it had taken before the heat had started to wane, she’d waited way too fucking long.
That alone had him tightening a hand on her hip. Why would she poison herself with suppressants for so long? Why deny a basic need to the point where it risked her health and safety?
Omegas needed suppressants at times, like when hospitalized where a heat could prove more dangerous than the medication, especially if surrounded by alphas. The presence of alpha pheromones could trigger a heat, and the longer the omega had gone without, the better chance of it happening. It was a risk versus reward situation.
However, these omegas who insisted on taking them all the time, who would pop pills daily to tamp down something written in the DNA, he’d never understand them. Sure, heats were uncomfortable, exhausting and inconvenient. Still, they were nature. Bryce didn’t enjoy popping an erection at the scent of a female’s arousal, but it was nature. He wouldn’t swallow poison to stop it.
It went beyond understanding with her, however. It morphed into anger, into frustration. What if she had gone into heat around less honorable alphas? Around ones who would have abused her? Hurt her? Taken advantage of the situation?
When in heat, an omega had no defense, no power, nothing. They became slaves to their needs and instinct.
He shook his head and eased his grip when she released a pained whine in her sleep.
His own exhaustion pulled at him, reminding him that while Kaidan and Joshua had already fallen asleep, he needed rest as well. He’d waited, held off until he couldn’t any longer, his muscles sore and fatigue making his eyelids heavy.
Finally, he gave in to it. He settled on the ground, the pillow below the omega’s head, his arm around her. He pulled in a last deep breath, allowing her scent to mark him deeper than he’d thought possible.
He needed all his energy because when they woke, they had an omega to deal with, and he suspected she’d prove quite the handful.
* * * *
The light didn’t wake Claire. Neither did the awkward position she slept in, or the stickiness on her thighs, or the scent of alphas, or even the soreness in every muscle she had.
No, it was the rise and fall of her head. Rhythmic. Even. Steady.
She cracked her eyes open, eyebrows furrowed. Where was she?
The night came back as she realized what had caused the movement. Her cheek rested on Bryce’s bare chest.
She lifted her head, moving slow, terrified to wake him. His dark hair stuck up from where his head was pillowed his arm. The short, neat facial hair that shadowed his jaw stood out against his tan skin, and his firm lips pressed together, a hardened look even in his sleep.
From there, it got worse. She lay on the floor and behind her lay Kaidan. Joshua slept on the couch, though his arm had flung off the side, fingers on her ankle as if he couldn’t sleep without some contact. His blond hair, longer than the others’, was brushed back from his face. The strong line of his jaw showed on his clean-shaven face. With him asleep, his playboy good-looks lacked the threatening edge they’d had before. He slept on his back, the tempting narrowing of his hips where his lean abs led to a thin train of light hair to his groin. The moment her gaze fell on his dick, she tore it away.
Even after her time with Kaidan, she hadn’t finished. The memories of each of them came back, how she’d gone from one to another, so quickly near the end that she’d hardly had a break. The next would touch her, kiss her, wind her up again before she’d finished with the first.
Kaidan’s dark, buzzed hair reminded her of how she’d dragged her fingers over his scalp while she’d kissed him. Her thighs bore the red marks from where his stubble had rubbed against her skin. He wore nothing, which meant the strong lines of his body stood out. His wide shoulders showed the dips where his muscles wrapped around his frame, and she recalled how he’d used those muscles to hold her up.
How many rounds had she had? The night blurred together, the touch of their hands, the clear differences of each man. She had no idea.
What she knew was she had to get out of there before any of them woke up.
Alphas had a tendency to hang on to omegas when they found them, when they knotted them. Claire couldn’t let them hold her down, couldn’t be registered or kept. She had things to do, people to take care of.
She rose slowly, careful to place her hand on the ground between their bodies, to not move fast, to not wake them.
The men had spent the night satisfying her, and the depth of their sleep showed it had taken its toll. She, on the other hand, had a burst of energy courtesy of her heat. Mostly, she wanted food. Lots of food high in protein to regain her strength.
But that had to wait. First, she needed to leave the office and run as far away as possible.
She extracted herself from between Bryce and Kaidan, ignoring their still nude bodies and all the things they’d done with them the night before. She couldn’t risk another wave of heat pheromones waking them up.
The balls of her feet took her weight silently as she moved through the room. She couldn’t find her panties but didn’t worry about the under
garments. Finding her pants and shirt and dressing in the bare minimum before they woke was more important. She couldn’t walk home naked with cum dried on her legs and in many other places on her body.
The urge to lift her arm and lick a spot off had her almost doing so before she shook away the thought. No. This insanity had to end.
Claire pulled her jeans on and buttoned them before reaching for her top. Without her bra or underwear, the fabric rubbed, uncomfortable against her bare skin. She shoved the discomfort aside, because she’d rather the chafing sensation than waking the three of them.
A grumble from the floor had her jerking her head in that direction. Bryce’s eyebrows drew together, his hand patting around as if his body recognized her absence even in his sleep.
She had to go, now. If she didn’t get out of there, they’d wake. They still could call the cops, could still ask why she’d broken in, could just keep her and never let her go.
So, Claire left her shoes, her socks, everything else. She’d walk home barefoot. Some cuts on her feet were better than staying.
Anything was better than facing off against the three alphas.
* * * *
Bryce paced, his anger a wave of heat most people would back away from.
Kaidan only yawned as he watched from his spot on the couch. Bryce’s volatile temper was as normal as breathing. In fact, if Bryce were calm, that was when they really had to worry.
“How could she just leave?” Bryce returned, passing where Kaidan sat.
Joshua, seated at the computer and nose-deep in digging up information, answered. “She was skittish. You saw it. Do you really think she was going to stick around?” His gaze never lifted from the screen.
The two had woken, snarls tearing from their chests when they’d reached for an omega who had left long enough before that her spot had grown cold. The fact that they’d slept through her leaving said either she’d worn them out that much, or she could sneak that well. Judging from the way she’d tripped every security measure on the way into their office, he suspected the former.
Still, Kaidan couldn’t shake her smell from his nostrils. He couldn’t forget how sweetly she’d given against him, the way her thighs had dropped open in surrender.
Not trust, not yet, but he could hardly blame her. Being serviced by strangers during a heat wasn’t the sort of thing any omega wanted to happen.
Is she eating? Is she taking care of herself?
Kaidan rubbed the bridge of his nose as the questions circled his skull.
After a heat an omega was almost more vulnerable. While sated, she’d be tired, weak, in need of rest and proper nutrition. She should have curled up in a nest with the alpha who had satisfied her taking care of her, not running around on her own.
“Anything yet?” Bryce stopped beside the couch, his gaze on the piece of furniture as though he could see all the things that had happened the night before. He stretched his hand out flat, then curled it into a fist as if he could grab her right then, as if he could draw her close.
An odd reaction.
Bryce, of all of them, tended to miss females the least. Kaidan would miss them when they shared females, as they did from time to time, but he understood his friends lacked the desire for anything long term. Still, the truth sat on Bryce’s face.
He missed that omega.
Joshua was no better. While he snarled and cursed less, he’d moved with the single-minded focus of a man with an important mission. He’d sat at the desk, turned on the computer and gone to work the moment he’d realized she’d left. Even as he joined in on the conversation, even as he answered questions, his attention never wavered from the screen.
“Maybe we should let her go.”
“What?” Both men asked the question with the same sharp bite.
Kaidan rolled his shoulder, sore from the deep scratches the omega had left down his back the night before. “We’ve been clear we didn’t want anyone for long, right? She didn’t get anything off our systems, didn’t find whatever she was after, so why track her down?”
Joshua’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t speak.
Bryce turned, his lip lifting as though he couldn’t help it. “She broke into our fucking office, Kaidan. You really want to let that go? What if she’s working for someone who wants us dead? We’ve got enough enemies without having some female doing their bidding.”
“If it were an enemy, they’d have been better prepared. That girl had no idea what she was doing. To say she was an amateur would be a stretch. If that was the best our enemies could send, I think I’d be insulted.”
“She could be playing a game, playing us. Or maybe someone was using her.”
“By sending an omega close to her heat? Again, that would make no sense, and even if it were true, she’d be innocent in it. Stop trying to twist the facts into what you want them to be. Admit it, this has nothing to do with her breaking in.”
Bryce didn’t answer, didn’t relent, didn’t admit a thing. No, not Bryce. The man was stubborn as a wall and twice as dense. Still, that unwillingness to ever give in made him a good leader and a good friend.
Joshua broke the stand-off. “She could be pregnant.”
“The odds—”
“Don’t matter. There’s a chance, and if she is, it could be any one of ours. There’s a reason we’ve never had an omega during her heat before, and now that it’s happened, are you willing to ignore the chance? Are you willing to let her run off without a word when she could be carrying any of our kids?” The word ‘kids’ dropped from Joshua’s lips, heavy and clumsy. Loss left some ugly scars.
Bryce released a harsh breath. “Are you going to tell me you don’t want to find her? I figured you’d jump at the chance.”
Kaidan rose from the chair. “Of course I’m interested, but the last thing I want to do is jerk that girl around. She doesn’t need the three of us trampling into her life if you two decide you don’t want that. It’s not fair to her.”
“And you always like to be fair, don’t you?” Bryce snapped, trying to draw Kaidan into a fight. Fighting was easier than admitting the truth.
Kaidan gave him nothing to rage against, letting his words simmer in the room instead.
Finally, Bryce’s shoulders dropped an inch. “I want to find her, okay? She could be in trouble, has to be involved in something over her head if she broke in here. The idea of her in danger doesn’t sit well.” He hesitated, then continued, his voice low. “And the idea of not seeing her again is worse, okay?”
Kaidan smiled at the petulant honesty from the other man. “That wasn’t so hard, was it? Fine, we go find her.”
“If we can even figure out who she is.”
Joshua stood, sliding his phone into his pocket. “I know exactly who she is, or at least who she’s pretending to be. Come on, let’s go find our wayward omega.”
* * * *
Tiffany smiled across from Claire, swinging her legs on the stool. “I think I like him.”
Claire worked on the book in front of her, sorting the outstanding orders into a pile for callbacks, a pile for waiting and a pile to call and tell them she couldn’t get the item. “Be careful, Tiffany.”
The young girl had her elbow on the counter, her hair up in a messy bun. She wasn’t that young, really, at eighteen, but she reminded Claire so much of herself at that age, of the innocence and belief in the world’s basic goodness.
Claire had had to learn her lesson from an alpha who’d wanted to own her. She’d do anything so Tiffany didn’t have to learn the same way.
Someone had stepped in to pick up the pieces of Claire, to help her grow and rebuild herself. She’d had someone to teach her how to hide what she was, how to create a life, and Claire struggled every day to give the same to other omegas.
“I know I need to be careful, but you can’t just hide away.”
“How will you hide your suppressants from him if things get serious? How will you handle it if a heat happens? What if yo
u go through a partial if the medications don’t work? You can’t hide that from someone you’re close with.”
Tiffany ran her fingers over the grooves of the table in Claire’s book store. Her voice came out soft and unsure. “Have you ever thought about finding an alpha?”
Claire’s gaze shot up, the lists forgotten. “What?”
Tiffany avoided looking her in the eye. “I mean, what if you get to know them first, before they know what you are? You could date them, and if you liked them, if you trusted them, you could tell them what you were. You wouldn’t have to hide it, then.”
Claire’s heart banged against her ribs, the fear that never went far away rising. Tiffany was young. She had no idea how dangerous alphas could be, what they could do. She still floated on romantic tales of alphas who claimed their omega and cared for them.
That was a fantasy, and a hell of a dangerous one.
“Please tell me you are not dating an alpha.” When the girl didn’t answer, Claire caught her hand, willing her to listen. “You are playing a dangerous game, Tiff. Trust me, I know what an alpha can do.”
Tiffany pulled her hand away, her face set in the knowing it all lines of youth. “You don’t know him, so how can you say that? Not every alpha is the same.”
“They are, though. Deep down, they are. And by the time you realize it, by the time they show that to you, it’s too late to get out.” Claire took a deep breath and tried to pull in her temper, her fears. Tiffany would never listen if Claire didn’t calm down, and if she pushed harder, the girl might run to the alpha and away from her. “Just promise me you’ll be careful. Think about it, okay?”
The hard lines in Tiffany’s face eased. She nodded, the youthful edge of her features making Claire’s chest ache.
How many omegas had Claire seen make those poor choices? How many had failed to heed Claire’s advice and ended up dead or worse? The bodies she’d identified, the graves she’d visited, the bruised faces she never saw again—they all haunted her. She couldn’t see Tiffany among them, just another omega lost to the ego of an alpha.