by Nora Phoenix
The most perplexing thing was that Lars hadn’t only accepted it but had obeyed. No matter how turned on he had been by watching Grayson and Sven and by Grayson fucking him, he had managed to stave off his orgasm until Grayson had finally given him permission. That permission had not come until Grayson had fucked him twice. All that time, Lars had held back.
And the second time Grayson had edged him, he’d taken him even closer to the brink, and again, Lars had obeyed. If there was any better evidence of him needing that relationship with Grayson, Sven didn’t know what it was.
Lars was at work in the fields now, and Sven enjoyed his little break. He loved swimming, and the luxury of having a pool was one he wouldn’t easily get used to.
“Hey, pup,” Grayson’s voice startled him, interrupting his thoughts. “Enjoying the sunshine?”
Sven shielded his eyes with his hand so he could look at Grayson. “This morning, I cleaned the bedroom and bathroom we used, and I did a whole lot of laundry. I plan to do more later, but I figured I deserved some downtime.”
Grayson lowered himself into a chair next to him. “It wasn’t criticism,” Grayson said.
Sven bit his lip. “Sorry.”
“How are you feeling? Still tired?”
Sven shook his head. “No, I’m fine. Still a little sore,” he admitted with a blush.
Grayson smiled. “Good. Not the sore part, but I’m glad to hear you’ve recovered well. I hope you can look back on a positive experience of your first heat.”
“Yes, alpha. Very positive.” He felt his blush deepen, his cheeks growing warm under Grayson’s scrutiny.
Grayson’s smile widened, and he looked at Sven with affection. “I’m happy to hear that, pup. I wanted to talk to you, actually.”
Sven sat up a little straighter. “Do you need me to get Lars? He’s out in the back fields, but I can get him for you.”
“That won’t be necessary. I wanted to talk to you first. Have you and Lars talked about what happened in the kitchen? With the spanking, I mean?”
“Erm, yes,” Sven said slowly, not sure how much he could tell Grayson without betraying Lars’s trust. Lars hadn’t explicitly asked him to keep things from Grayson, but Sven was pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to tell Grayson about what Lars had figured out about himself and about what he wanted from Grayson.
“I’m not gonna ask you to share anything Lars would want to keep private,” Grayson said, alleviating Sven’s stress. “I just wanted to ask how you feel about this. It was easy for me to see this was what Lars needed—you don’t need to deny or confirm this— but you are harder to read for me. That type of relationship, is that something you’re interested in as well?”
Sven swallowed, closing his eyes to avoid Grayson’s look, though there was nothing but kindness and genuine curiosity there. How on earth was he supposed to answer this question? He had so little experience with all this. Then again, so did Lars, with the exception of his short-lived experiments in the club, and he had figured it out.
A strong hand took his, and he kept his eyes closed as Grayson spoke again. “At first, I was certain you were into it as much as Lars, but then I reasoned that you were still under the influence of your heat, so maybe your feelings were exacerbated by your hormones. I just wanted to check you were okay with what happened and to ask you if this was maybe something you’d want to explore further.”
Sven opened his eyes when the uncharacteristic insecurity in Grayson’s voice registered with him. He’d never heard the alpha so unsure of himself, and it was strangely endearing. Grayson’s eyes were trained on him, his look warm and kind.
He had to tell him something, but how could he explain what he had only begun to figure out himself? He didn’t know the first thing about this, had no idea if this would work for him. He needed more information before he could even come close to making any kind of decision if that was even what Grayson wanted from him in the first place. Maybe he could start by answering the alpha’s first question and go from there.
“Yes,” he said softly. “I’m okay with what happened, with the spanking.” He swallowed. “And I won’t speak for Lars other than to tell you he’s okay. He’s not upset or angry with you, in case you were worried about that.”
He only realized Grayson was still holding his hand when the alpha’s grip intensified for a second. “I wasn’t really worried about Lars, but thank you for sharing that, pup. I appreciate it. And I would never ask you to betray him or speak on his behalf. I’m actually more interested in you right now. You said you were okay with it, but what did it mean to you?”
“I don’t know,” Sven admitted.
“Is this new territory for you?”
Sven nodded. He debated for a second, then decided he could share this much with Grayson. “Lars did some experimenting without me, but he told me everything he did. And we tried out some stuff ourselves, but it didn’t really work. That’s the closest I’ve ever gotten to anything other than what you would consider plain-vanilla sex, I guess.”
Grayson’s mouth pulled up in a grin. “You mean aside from the fact that you’re having sex with your own brother.”
Sven’s face heated all over again. “Yes, aside from that. Which…I meant to ask you, actually. Are you okay with that? You haven’t said anything about it.”
Grayson’s thumb pressed in slow circles on Sven’s wrist, and it was a comforting gesture. “You’ll find that I’m open-minded when it comes to sex. As long as it’s a consensual act between two adults who are in a position to give consent freely, I really don’t care. Whatever floats your boat. Besides, I don’t think it’s mere sex between the two of you, is it?”
Sven breathed a little easier now that Grayson had voiced his approval —or rather, lack of disapproval —so clearly. “I’m in love with him,” he admitted, not afraid to cop to that truth now. “I always have been, for as long as I can remember. I didn’t seek it or chase it. It just happened. And it’s the same for him. He loves me. I know he can be rude and a pain, but he’s never been anything but sweet and kind toward me.”
He wasn’t sure why he felt the need to defend Lars. Maybe because Grayson had seen so little of how sweet and caring he could be, having been confronted mostly with his surly and prickly side.
“I know. I’ve seen how he is toward you. It’s everyone else he’s rude to, not you. But we’ll work on that. Can you tell me a little more about this experimenting Lars did without betraying his confidence?”
Sven considered it. He wouldn’t tell Grayson what Lars had done in the club, but he could explain why he had gone in the first place, from his own perspective. “We felt like there was something missing in our relationship. We’ve been together for a while, even though we waited for a long time to have…penetrative sex. Lars wanted to make absolutely sure I was ready for it, so he made us wait till my nineteenth birthday. We thought having actual sex was what was missing from our relationship, but once we started, you know, doing it for real, it didn’t bring the change we’d hoped for.”
Grayson nodded, his hand still wrapped around Sven’s. “Why did you feel like something was missing in your relationship?”
Sven sighed, remembering the many frustrating attempts at conversations he and Lars had about this. It was so hard to put something into words that you couldn’t define. It wasn’t that they weren’t happy together, because they were. He loved Lars, and he had no doubt Lars loved him as well. But somehow, that wasn’t enough.
“You know that feeling when you leave the house and you’re sure you forgot something, but you can’t remember what it is? That’s kind of what it felt like for us. We knew we were meant to be together, but it somehow wasn’t enough. That’s what Lars was trying to do when he visited the club, experiment to see if he could figure out what was missing. We thought maybe kink would be the answer.”
“Hmm,” Grayson said. “So did you two experiment together as well? I can imagine Lars learning some new things in the club tha
t he tried out with you.”
Another deep sigh fell from Sven’s lips. “We did,” he all but whispered. “Nothing worked.”
“Hmm,” Grayson said again, his voice low and deep. Sven met his eyes, swallowing at the intense look he encountered. “And if you had to venture a guess now, pup, what would you say is missing from your relationship?”
Sven knew he shouldn’t say it, shouldn’t admit to this without discussing it with Lars first. But he had no choice, not with those kind, brown eyes fixed on his. Grayson wasn’t using any kind of compulsion, and yet Sven felt the deep need to obey. And it wasn’t the negative obedience, the kind where you did as you were told because you didn’t have a choice or because you feared the consequences of disobedience too much. No, this was an obedience born in a deep desire to please, to make Grayson happy.
Sven’s head dazzled with the implications of that desire. What did it mean? He needed more time to figure that out, but he couldn’t deny the truth.
“You. You’re what’s been missing all along.”
13
When Lars came back to the house after a long, hot day of work, Grayson stood waiting for him inside, almost as if he’d been on the lookout for him. Lars hesitated when he spotted him, unsure of how to react or even address the alpha after everything that had happened. He’d managed to avoid him for days, but apparently, his time was up now.
“Hi,” he offered lamely.
Grayson nodded his approval at Lars’s greeting. “How did it go today?” he asked. “Did you make good progress?”
Lars frowned. Why was Grayson interested in his day? It had to be a polite intro, right? An attempt at small talk before getting to the real reason he was waiting for Lars, which obviously couldn’t be anything good.
Grayson’s hand came down on his shoulder before he could answer, a strong grip that almost made him jump in surprise.
“I’m all sweaty and dirty,” he said, not sure why he felt the need to point that out when Grayson could clearly see with his own eyes how desperately Lars needed a shower.
Grayson smiled. “That’s fine. It doesn’t bother me. But if you prefer, we can talk while you’re in the shower.”
“T-talk?” Lars repeated, and then Grayson’s words registered. What did he mean, talk to Lars while he was in the shower? He was gonna watch while… That didn’t make any sense.
Grayson’s hand was still on his shoulder, and he increased the pressure, gently pulling Lars toward him until their bodies were so close Lars had to look up to meet his eyes.
“Yes, talk. I figured I would give you a few days to process what happened and allow you some time to think about the next step.”
Lars swallowed at the look in Grayson’s eyes. It had to be what a cat looked like when he’d figured out a way into the fishbowl. No, a cat was way too gentle a creature to be compared to the alpha in front of him. He was more like a wolf who had cornered his prey and knew it had won. A confusing mix of excitement and dread swirled around in Lars’s stomach.
“What next step?” he asked as soon as he was sure he could manage actual words. He steeled himself on the inside, determined not to give in that easily. “I told you. Now that Sven’s heat is over, we don’t need you anymore. What happened in the kitchen doesn’t change anything.”
“Oh, boy, you still haven’t given up, have you?” Grayson said, gently shaking his head.
Lars studied him from between his lashes, but the alpha didn’t look angry or disappointed, as Lars had feared. If anything, it was more amusement, as if he enjoyed Lars’s attempts at resisting him. And attempts they were because Lars knew damn well that when push came to shove, he would submit to Grayson.
“Given up what?” Lars snapped, frustrated by his own reactions to the alpha. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The hand on his shoulder traveled to his neck, and Grayson’s grip became steel as he spoke. “Don’t lie to me. If you want to be stubborn and bratty, go right ahead, but you will not disrespect me by lying to me.”
The alpha’s voice was soft. but the dominance was undeniable, and Lars felt himself respond. “Yes, alpha.”
“Let’s try this again. Do you want to talk first, or would you prefer to talk while you’re in the shower?”
Lars forced himself to meet the man’s eyes and to keep his face devoid of the emotion he was feeling inside, which was nothing short of panic. “If you wanna perv on me while I’m in the shower, be my guest. I don’t care. It’s weird as fuck, though, that you’re inviting yourself into my personal space,” he said with way more bravado than he felt.
Grayson took a step forward, and Lars automatically stepped backward. Three steps later, he stood pressed with his back against the wall, the large alpha body crowding him. Grayson removed his hand from Lars’s neck and placed his hands on either side of his head, effectively boxing him in. The alpha tilted his hips forward, leaning in until his big, rock-hard cock pressed against Lars, leaving no doubt as to how turned on the man was.
With a predatory smile, Grayson brought his mouth close to Lars’s ear. “Boy, you have no idea how much of a perv I am. You may think you know what you’re getting into when you’re baiting me, pretending to be all bratty, but you are way, way out of your league with me. It’s gonna be a joy watching you surrender.”
Lars blinked, his body breaking out in goose bumps as a result of the warm breath tickling his ear. “Who says I’m gonna surrender?” he said, knowing damn well it was an empty statement.
Grayson studied him for a few seconds before he spoke. “Are you familiar with the green-yellow-red system of safe words?”
Lars’s stomach somersaulted. Safe words? What the hell was Grayson planning? “Yeah, I know what they mean. Why?”
Grayson didn’t give him an inch of space. “Explain them to me, so I’m sure we’re on the same page.”
For some reason, Lars didn’t have an issue with this order. “Green means whatever is happening is fine with me. Yellow means slowing down or is an indication I’m getting close to my limits. Red means stop immediately.”
“Have you ever used your safe word? Have you ever said red?”
“Once. Another time, the Dom broke off the scene because he saw it wasn’t working for me.”
Grayson nodded. “Good. That assures me you know how to actually use them in reality, not just in a hypothetical situation. We’ll talk more about the details of what made you safe word another time. Now, let’s get you into that shower.”
And suddenly, Lars understood why Grayson had asked him about the safe words. He was going to keep pushing Lars, and of course, Lars would keep resisting. The only way Grayson could know for certain Lars was protesting for real rather than out of habit or this weird desire he had to be bratty was if he could count on Lars using his safe words when necessary.
It settled him, knowing that he could resist as much as he wanted without running the risk of Grayson aborting whatever he was doing. It provided him with a sense of safety, strange as that might sound. All he had to do when he really wanted to stop was say red. Now, the question was if he gonna safe word himself out of this whole shower thing?
Hell, no.
If Grayson was already hard now, Lars would make it his goal to make the alpha suffer by the time he was done with that shower. So he forced himself to show a nonchalant smile and said, “Sure thing, alpha. You can watch and perv all you want.”
Grayson merely smiled, then brought his mouth so close to Lars’s the man’s breath danced on his lips. He held his breath, waiting for Grayson to close the distance between their mouths and kiss him. Grayson had fucked him multiple times, but Lars had not felt the alpha’s lips on his aside from that one short kiss before Grayson had first fucked him. When Grayson didn’t kiss him but merely hovered, he couldn’t hold back a tiny sigh of disappointment. Judging by Grayson’s smile widening slightly, his reaction had not gone unnoticed.
“Good,” Grayson whispered against his lips.
“I plan on doing a lot more than watching, though.”
Lars was a jumbled mess on the inside as Grayson finally let him go and directed him to his room. What was the man planning to do to him if he wasn’t content to merely watch? Lars worried his bottom lip as he walked through the hallway toward his room. And what about Sven? Where was he? What would Grayson do if Sven was in their room?
That point became moot because he heard his lover chat in the kitchen with Vieno as he walked further inside. He was about to ask Grayson for permission to say hi to Sven when he caught himself. Why the hell would he need permission to take a little detour to the kitchen? And yet, his stomach tightened with nerves as he did, Grayson following him without saying anything.
“Hey, baby,” Sven greeted him, looking happier and healthier than Lars had seen him in a long time. Grayson had been right, then, when he’d informed them of the healing powers of alpha sperm and proteins. Damn.
“Hi,” Lars said.
He felt strangely self-conscious about publicly acknowledging Sven as his lover, even though everybody already knew they were together. He was still waiting for the others to voice their opposition, even though no one had said anything so far. He shot Vieno a quick look, but the omega was busy with a large pot on the stove. Palani was sitting at the table, but his expression didn’t show any disapproval either, though it was far from welcoming and friendly. Lars couldn’t blame him for that, after the way he’d treated Enar.
Encouraged by the reactions in the room, he quickly made his way to Sven and kissed him on his lips. “I’m gonna take a shower,” he told him.
Sven crunched his nose, a teasing smile on his lips. “Yeah, sounds like a plan. You do smell a little.”
He let out a little giggle that warmed Lars’s heart. At least everything was okay with Sven. Lars could take a lot as long as he knew his lover was okay, even the quiet resentment from the others toward him. He hadn’t seen any animosity toward Sven, thankfully.
Grayson didn’t say anything as he followed Lars into his bedroom, where the alpha found a spot against the wall and folded his arms, his eyes solidly trained on Lars. It had sounded a whole lot easier in theory to strip and shower in front of Grayson than it turned out to be in reality. Was this what Grayson had meant, that Lars was out of his league?