by Nora Phoenix
After a short hesitation, Lars obeyed his order and turned onto his back, though he averted his eyes. The alpha had no trouble understanding why. It was one thing to obey someone whose face you couldn’t see, but this new position made it a hell of a lot more personal. There was no pretending, and Lars would have to face Grayson at some point.
He grabbed Lars’s legs and spread them wide, pushing them backward so he had easy access. He didn’t wait but pushed in, letting out a content sigh when his cock was engulfed in that snug heat.
“Damn, you feel good. I wish I could take the time to appreciate it, but your lover needs me. So hang on, boy, and you’d better fight back that orgasm.”
He didn’t wait for Lars’s response but grabbed him by his hips and slammed in, the air leaving the beta’s lungs with an audible whoosh. Grayson’s eyes were fixed on Lars’s face as he fucked him hard and deep, hyperfocused on catching even the smallest signal he was crossing a boundary that shouldn’t be crossed. They hadn’t had time to discuss anything, so he was flying blind, guided by his instincts alone.
The beta loved being taken hard, letting out little grunts and moans as Grayson went to town on his ass. He’d never felt like this, so pumped up with sexual energy. It was like a high, a sexual daze that felt like it would last for days. He’d come twice already, had knotted Sven for a considerable time, and yet his cock felt as hard as when they got started. That, too, had to be an effect of the hormones and pheromones Sven was emitting, and it was intoxicating as hell.
Lars’s body tightened underneath him, and the beta balled his fists as he fought visibly to stave off his orgasm. Grayson’s balls pulled up in response at the beautiful sight of Lars, and he sped up, slamming inside him again and again.
There was nothing elegant about this, nothing sweet or sophisticated. It was almost animalistic, this urge he had to claim him, to mark him. His alpha hummed with contentment, signaling its pleasure at the dominance Grayson was exerting.
“I can’t!” Lars said between clenched teeth, his voice laced with desperation. “I’m too close.”
“Hold back, dammit. You don’t come until I give you permission.”
Lars let out a whimper of distress, his whole body taut as a drum and his face distorted with the effort of fighting back his release. He looked absolutely stunning.
With a loud grunt, Grayson let go of his hold on his own orgasm, and it thundered through him, his balls clenching tightly before releasing their load. He kept thrusting as he came, sloppy, slick noises filling the room, mingling with his own groans of pleasure.
“Alpha…”
Sven’s voice was pleading, begging, and Grayson couldn’t let him wait any longer. He pressed a soft kiss on Lars’s forehead. “You be good now while I take care of our omega, okay? He needs me.”
He waited till Lars nodded, then pulled out. Sven whimpered again. “I’ve got you, pup,” he said with a smile.
He rolled over straight onto Sven, yanking him in the right position, then surged inside him with one powerful thrust that made the omega howl with pleasure.
“Harder,” Sven begged him. “Please, alpha, fuck me harder.”
Hot damn, Enar had not been kidding about the effects of this gene. Grayson had helped omegas through their heat before, though it had been a while, but he had never encountered an omega who was as desperate as Sven or as insatiable.
Noise to his left had him look sideways, where he caught Lars fisting his own cock. “Hands off,” he snapped. “I’ll tell you when you can come.”
If he needed any more proof that his instincts about Lars being a submissive were correct, the guilty look on the beta’s face and the quick withdrawal of his hand sealed the deal. No matter how much he fought it, the boy wanted to submit. Now all Grayson had to do was figure out how and why.
But first, he had a whole day of fucking ahead of him, if not more.
8
They had found Sando a room in the main house. Palani had reasoned the omega would feel most secure there instead of in one of the buildings further away from the house. It was getting kind of crowded with not just the four of them in the main house but Grayson, Lucan, Lars, Sven, and now Sando as well. They were quickly running out of space not so much in terms of bedrooms but more in how many people would fit into the common areas, like the living room and the kitchen.
Jawon had better hurry up with building the omega wing, then, though that was easier said than done. Palani loved the designs Lidon’s cousin had created for the addition, but the man was not an architect, so his plans needed to be drawn up and calculated by someone who was. And after that, it would still take time to build the damn structures. Maybe they should look into a temporary solution. Something to discuss with Lidon.
In the meantime, he had some bad news to share with Sando about their theories on who had taken his father, before the omega would find out another way. If Melloni was still alive in the first place. Palani took Sando’s theory seriously that his dad would have never voluntarily gone into the storage room, but he feared for the man’s life. It wouldn’t be an easy conversation, and Palani wanted Enar with him. The man excelled at these kinds of talks, which was logical, considering how much empathy he had.
He found him in the kitchen, where he was distracting Vieno, who was clearly trying to get some work done but was too sweet to tell his mate to fuck off.
“Hey, baby,” he said, smiling when both of them turned around to greet him with love in their eyes.
He kissed Vieno first, a soft, sweet kiss that made his stomach do a happy roll, as it always did. “Is Enar distracting you, baby?” he asked him.
Vieno rolled his eyes in an adorable gesture. “You need to get him out of my hair. The man needs something to do.”
Enar shrugged with a sheepish smile. Vieno was right. Enar was bored. So was Palani despite everything he did for Lidon, the pack, and the ranch. Those were not full-time jobs, and while they were satisfying, they didn’t keep him as busy as he would like. They hadn’t just lost their jobs, the three of them. They had lost their daily routines, and it wasn’t so easy to replace those with different ones. He recognized Enar’s restlessness, felt that himself as well. They’d have to do something about that, the two of them, to keep themselves busy.
“I’ll keep him occupied,” he told Vieno, then hooked his hand behind Enar’s neck and dragged him down for a kiss. It was a much harder kiss than the one he shared with Vieno, but Enar could take it. The man loved being kissed like that, like he had no choice in the matter.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, if you’re gonna fuck him, can you at least do it in the bedroom so I can finally get some work done here?” Vieno sounded exasperated, and Palani suspected he’d been trying to be subtle in his communication to Enar for a while.
Palani grinned. “I wasn’t planning on fucking him, but now that you mention it…”
Enar’s eyes lit up, and Palani had to kiss him again, just because he could. Then he dragged Enar away from Vieno before the clearly impatient omega would explode.
Once they were in the hallway, he forced himself to let go. “I’m sorry to throw a cold shower on you, but I actually came to get you for something other than fooling around.”
He loved that Enar could pick up the tone of his voice and detect the seriousness in it. His mate’s face sobered as he made eye contact with Palani. “What’s up?” he asked.
“We need to talk to Sando about his dad,” Palani said.
Lidon and he had shared their suspicions about the involvement of the AWC with Enar the day before. They hadn’t told Vieno anything, wanting to protect him from more bad news as long as possible. He’d been so happy ever since his heat that they didn’t want to ruin it by bringing back bad memories and fear into his life.
“You want to prepare him for the possibility his dad is dead after all,” Enar understood.
“Yeah. It wouldn’t be fair to keep this from him, even though we have no concrete evidence either way
. He trusts us, and I can’t break that trust.”
“You’re right. It’s the right thing to do, and of course, I will go with you.”
They found Sando in his room, which looked nothing like the empty, almost sterile room it had been. Literally every surface of the room was covered in papers, with Sando standing in the middle, looking like he was a million miles away in his thoughts. He hadn’t even spotted them as they stood in the doorway.
Palani looked at the papers that covered the walls, the bed, and the floor. It looked like gibberish to him with drawings, numbers, weird symbols, and abbreviations. It had to be his father’s research, replicated from Sando’s mind onto paper once again.
“Sando,” Enar said softly.
Sando’s head shot up from the paper he had been studying on the floor in front of him. It took him a second or two to focus on Palani and Enar, and then he sent them a tense smile.
“Sorry, I didn’t see you. I get really sucked into my work. I’m trying to make sense of my father’s latest research, as you can see.” He gestured to the explosion of papers around him.
“Are you getting anywhere?” Enar asked.
Sando shook his head, frustration visible on his face. “No. He told me he was exploring a new line of thought after your last visit, and while he did make me memorize his results every day, he never had the chance to explain them to me. Some of it is familiar, but there are some changes in his codes that I can’t follow.”
“Codes?” Enar asked. “You mean genetic codes?”
“Yes. We were working on comparing the genetic code of a non-carrier omega, an omega with the gene, and a wolf. We found two specific areas where the code has altered and where the traces of the wolf DNA are visible in the DNA of a gene carrier. But he discovered something else, and I can’t make sense of it. It’s super frustrating.”
Palani wanted to say he couldn’t blame him, what with the intimidating scientific information on display in the room, but he didn’t want to come across as if he had no faith in the omega’s intellectual abilities. He knew all too well how frustrating it was to be treated like an idiot just because you weren’t an alpha.
“Give yourself some time,” Enar said, his voice warm and assuring. “You can’t force these kinds of breakthroughs. The more pressure you put on yourself, the more stress you are under, the less creative and flexible your brain will be.”
Palani beamed at the man next to him, his heart filling with pride. This was why he had brought Enar.
Sando’s shoulders dropped. “I know. You’re right. I’ve been here before, trying to make myself see something. It doesn’t work. I wanted to so badly, you know? My dad is counting on me, and so are you guys.”
Palani’s heart clenched painfully. How could they add to the omega’s stress by sharing the information about his dad? It wasn’t fair, but they had little choice. There was no way he was violating the trust Sando had in them by keeping back information.
“Can you take a break to talk with us for a little bit?” Enar asked.
Sando nodded. “Sure. My brain will thank me,” he said with a hint of a smile.
When they stepped out to find a place to sit and talk, faint sounds drifted in from the end of the hallway.
Sando blushed as he spoke. “Someone’s in heat. I’ve heard them in the background all day.”
“If it bothers you, we can find a different room for you,” Palani told him.
The omega shook his head. “It doesn’t bother me. It’s strangely comforting because it reminds me I’m not alone. I wouldn’t have traded it for anything, but I’ve been alone a lot over the years. I love knowing there are people in this house. Besides,” he said with a grin that showed Palani a sliver of happiness, “they’re having a great time, judging by the sounds. That, too, makes me happy. Who are they?”
Palani looked at Enar, not sure how much he wanted to share. It had to be weird for him, hearing these sounds, considering they were his brothers.
“The alpha is Grayson. You’ve met his sons Bray and Lucan, right? The omega in heat is my adopted brother, Sven, and the other guy is my brother, Lars, who’s a beta.”
Sando’s eyes widened as he took the information in. “Oh,” he said. Then again, “Oh.” He visibly swallowed. “I’m sorry for bringing it up.”
Enar’s smile was genuine, Palani noted, his heart filling with pride all over again. “It’s fine. We’re not close, my brothers and I, but it makes me happy to hear it’s going well. Which reminds me, I don’t know when your heat is coming, and you’re under no obligation to share that personal information, but if you need help in any way, let me know. The Ministry of Health has revoked my medical license, but I still have access to medications you might need. Or, alternatively, if you would like an alpha to help you through your heat, let Palani know, and we will make sure to set you up with a man you can trust.”
Sando reacted remarkably calmly to that information. He wasn’t blushing, like Palani had expected him to. “Oh, that’s good to know,” the omega said. “It’s nowhere near urgent yet, though, as my heat won’t arrive for another two months.”
They settled in the living room, which was empty. Vieno was busy in the kitchen and Lidon was outside, doing his daily rounds of check-ins with Bray and Jawon.
“So, what did you want to talk to me about?” Sando said. “I have to admit I’m feeling a little stressed out because of the look on your face, Palani. It looks like you might have bad news for me.”
“No, no bad news. We have no concrete information about your father,” Enar said quickly, reminding Palani how important it was to lead with the most important news. “But we do have some theories we came up with that we wanted to share with you.”
Palani explained their line of reasoning about why they didn’t think Lukos was behind the disappearance of his father and the attack on the lab. Sando took it well, he noted, listening intently and asking a few questions for clarification. When he was done, the omega let out a deep sigh.
“I can’t find any faults in your logic,” he said. “As much as it hurts to even consider the possibility, you may be right that this AWC is behind this. I just don’t understand what they would want with my father. What possible motive could they have for kidnapping him?”
“I don’t know,” Palani admitted. “The only thing I can think of is that it would be interesting for them to know the details of your father’s research. Or the research of both of you, I should say, because from what I understand, you’ve been a crucial part of his research for the last couple of years. If we operate under the assumption that they will do whatever it takes to prevent a return of the wolf shifters, it would stand to reason they’d be interested in the one man who knows more about how likely that is than anyone else.”
As soon as he’d said the words, something didn’t sit right with him. He was making the same mistake in his logic he’d made before. Melloni wasn’t the only one who knew about the gene. Palani kept forgetting about the men who had developed it, who had studied it for a long time, at least enough to come up with highly effective medications to counter some of the side effects. Why was the AWC going after Melloni and not after the source of the gene?
“Let me correct that. You and your father aren’t the ones who know the most about the gene or the likelihood of our species being able to shift again. That would be the doctors who created the gene, who discovered how to mix omega DNA with wolf DNA to return the ability to shift. Lukos, or whatever name we want to use for them, they’re the source of it all. Why isn’t the AWC going after them?” he thought out loud. “This Dr. Baig, for instance, he’s still on the board of Lukos. He was the original ob-gyn who implanted the women with the gene. Why wasn’t he targeted? Not that I want him to be, but he would be a way more useful source of information for the AWC than you or your father.”
Frustration rose up inside Palani. Every time he thought they were getting a step closer to unraveling the whole thing, it got all tangled up a
gain. It was so damn hard to find enough information to move forward with and untangle this holy mess.
Enar put a hand on his arm, squeezing it gently. “Who says they’re not after him? Or after Lidon? There’s still so much we don’t know, and it’s not like Lukos is being transparent about their side of the story. For all we know, Baig could be kidnapped as well.”
Palani wasn’t sure if that thought was cheerful or if it made the whole situation even more depressing. “At what point do we need to go public with this?” He sighed. “I know we don’t have all the facts, but I’m starting to feel like we never will. If we wait with going public until we have the whole picture, it might be too late. Maybe we need to go public with what we have right now.”
Sando nodded. “I’m on board with whatever you decide. You have way more information about the bigger picture than I do, so I trust you to make the right decision. You have my permission to use whatever information you’ve gotten from me and my dad to go public. Your stories of what has happened to some of the carriers have been horrifying, and if we can do anything to prevent more omegas from getting sexually assaulted or raped, I think we should do it.”
Enar squeezed his arm again, and Palani leaned against him, needing his physical proximity. “You’ll figure it out, baby,” Enar told him. “You always do.”
9
Lars wasn’t sure how he knew Sven’s heat had ended, but he did. It kind of felt like the energy had been sucked out of the room, leaving them all sweaty and exhausted. Sven had fallen asleep, curled against Grayson, with the alpha’s strong arm wrapped around him. Lars turned his head to make eye contact with Grayson, who nodded at him.
“It’s over,” Grayson said, confirming Lars’s suspicions.
“Now what?” Lars asked.
Grayson gave him a kind smile. “Now we take a shower, change the sheets, and get some sleep.”