Chapter Fourteen

Reese couldn’t quite forget the conversation with Cullen and Damon. They had all made good points, himself included. There were so many reasons that Kara was a piss-poor idea as a mate, even if he thought she’d want that for a minute.

The largest?

She couldn’t be trusted. No matter how many times he found himself tempted by her, he always tripped over that same point. She lied. Constantly. She seemed to do it half for fun, as though allergic to the very idea of telling the truth.

Reese had lived through that before, dealt with a woman who couldn’t be trusted. It wasn’t a life he ever wanted to return to.

The memories of trying to pick himself back up afterward, when he’d had no money, nothing, they stung. Yeah, he’d been down that road once already, knew how a deceitful female could fuck up a man’s life. He should know better now.

He shook his head, trying yet again to push off the thoughts. What did any of it matter?

Kara wasn’t the staying type anyway, and worse yet, she wasn’t the type who could be kept. Even if she wasn’t who she was, even if he and Cullen and Damon all decided they wanted her, if she didn’t want to stay, there was nothing they could do to change that.

Even the way she smelled didn’t make anything different. All any of them had was a bit of fun while they got the contract off her head. They’d find Kash, then go the hell home.

If that meant they got to enjoy her luscious, toned body during that time? Well, no harm, no foul, right?

Which brought him to his current issue—Kara inside Damon’s room and smelling like a fucking treat.

Cullen and Damon had stepped out, probably just to give him a little privacy. Both of the other alphas had taken Kara on their own, and Reese had yet to have the pleasure. He wasn’t a jealous man, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want his own time, his chance to have her to himself for just a little while.

Kara came out of the room like a whirlwind, moving quickly and agitatedly. Frustration and anxiety hung on her, and she paced through the suite like a caged animal.

There it was, though. Clear as day, he could see right through her snarls and her slamming of items. It was that pseudo-heat the doctor had talked about. Now that he knew what to look for, he could identify the scent. It wasn’t what a heat would smell like, not so sweet and demanding, but it was close enough to get his dick to wake up and take notice. Like it’s ever not taking notice of her.

“Something wrong?”

Kara shot him a look, those blue eyes dancing like the hottest of flames. “What are you still doing here? I figured you’d be trailing after your boyfriends.”

The jab only made him smile wider. “Well, aren’t you grumpy when you’re horny?”

That made her stand straight, not that it changed that the girl was short. “Even if I was, don’t think you had anything to do with it.”

Her lie scraped his nerves, but he tried to ignore it. “Don’t be like that. You’re soaked, I’m hard—seems like this doesn’t have to be all that complicated.”

“You think that’s all it takes for me? Believe it or not, your dick isn’t in high demand.”

A lesser alpha might have winced at her words, but Reese was drawn by her challenge. Her bite only drew him to his feet and made him want to prove he could help her. “You know how good I feel. You came hard on my cock last time.”

Her gaze softened, as though he chipped away her resolve. Why she even had resolve, he didn’t know. It seemed she screwed anything when she wanted to, so why resist them? Why were they different?

He might even have liked being different if it wasn’t being a cock-block right then.

Reese came forward, caging her with his body, using his size like he did everything about him—to get what he wanted.

Kara’s gaze went to his lips, locking on as though that was all she could think about, which wasn’t a bad idea.

“That what you need? Because I’ve got no issue licking you until you come all over my tongue.”

A shudder ran through her, one that spread from her center and lifted goosebumps on her arms. Such a pretty reaction.

Which was all he really needed to know. Of course, the aching of his cock wouldn’t be denied or ignored, but he had a pretty fucking good idea how to deal with it all.

Reese caught Kara around the waist and lifted her over his shoulder. She fought a little, but even a good shot to his kidney area—one hard enough to make him wince—said it was nothing more than her being difficult. If she wanted him to put her down, he had no doubt she could manage it.

Reese took her to his bed, wanting her to roll around in his sheets until everything smelled of her—only of her—and each night he lay in it afterward until they were washed, he could enjoy it.

He dropped her onto the mattress, then stripped off his jeans. He hadn’t worn underwear, often didn’t, but the reason that time had been obvious. The fewer layers between him and getting inside her any way he could, the better.

Kara’s gaze ate up the sight like a hungry predator. She wasn’t some frightened, nervous omega who wasn’t sure what she wanted. Neither was she like him, someone who owned by strength and straight-forward demand. Instead, Kara was a whole different creature, lethal in her own way, like a lithe cat who walked through the darkest alleys without fear.

She wasted no time shimmying out of her own leggings. Her pale, toned thighs came into view, along with the quickest flash of her pussy, the clothing forgotten. Who cared about clothing right then?

He’d waste away to nothing with no complaints if he got to die between her legs.

Which got him moving again, the reminder of his goal. A tug of his strong arms and he’d pulled his shirt over his head, not wanting anything between them. Well, anything except her shirt, since she still doesn’t seem like she’s about to take that off. He pushed that away, not wanting to think about it, feeling as though it were yet another lie, this one of omission.

The bed dipped beneath his weight, and Kara spread her thighs for him, the best invitation he’d ever seen, offered without hesitation.

“Not what I was thinking.” He grasped her hips and flipped them both, her body heavier than he’d expected given her small frame.

Then again, the girl might be small, but she carried muscle.

He ended up on his back, her knees pressed to the mattress beside his head and her waiting cunt above him.

Her startled sound when he moved her transformed into a moan as she realized the position also placed her in reach of his already hard cock.

Before he could do anything but bask in the closeness of her warm, wet pussy, Kara leaned forward and slipped his thick length past her waiting lips. The heat of her mouth was nearly too much, especially as she tightened her lips and sucked once—hard.

He lifted his hips, an unconscious demand as he wanted her to envelop all his shaft, as he wanted to feel that warm softness up his entire length.

A shift of her hips broke the spell, and he reached around her, grasping her hips in his large hands and lifting his lips to her wet pussy.

She tasted of cinnamon and honey, like something wild and untamable. Her cunt pulsed against his exploring lips, a pathetic plea from her body for more.

I’ll give her more. Fuck, I’ll give her everything until she is begging me to stop.

He stroked his tongue up her slit in one hard motion, gathering her wetness and swallowing it down. He swirled his tongue around her clit, wanting to touch every inch of her, every secret place on her. He wanted to wipe away the memory of all the meaningless sex she’d had and replace it with the worship of his lips and tongue and body.

She cried out, the sound muted by his large cock, but she only spread her knees wider to offer more.

And he took more. He kept one hand steady on her hips while he slipped the other between their bodies. He wanted nothing hidden, nothing kept from him. He pulled her hood back and spread her folds, then dove in with his eager, seeking tongue.

Each drop of her essence made him need more, as though instead of sating him, it only increased his hunger. He fucked into her mouth with wild thrusts, but the grip of her hand kept her from gagging.

Not that Kara needed him to slow down. She sucked on his cock as if nothing mattered but his taste, taking as much of him as she could. Her tongue, normally good only at lying and throwing insults, worked the sensitive underside of his dick while her hands stroked the base, squeezing around his aching knot, teasing it.

She took his balls in her other hand, fondling them with the same rough reverence she gave his cock. It all hurtled him toward release, even as he tried to hold off.

Reese tilted his head and latched his lips around her greedy clit, sucking hard as he plunged two fingers from the hand that had held her open into her tight cunt.

She gasped. She moaned. She made sounds like a trapped animal as her orgasm slammed into her. Not that any of it made him have mercy. He fucked into her with those fingers, scissoring them to ensure she felt as full as possible while he drew deep sucks on her clit.

Her pussy walls tightening on his fingers, the way her moans vibrated on his cock, the way his shaft muffled the sounds pushed him past that edge too.

He released her hip to grab her head, bucking up once, deep, before he came. Kara swallowed around him, the sensation milking each drop of seed from his eager cock.

Her gasp when he pulled back was sinful, and even his spent and softening dick gave a half-hearted jerk, as though it wanted to go again just from that sound.

The tension that had swamped her had slipped free, and her body—lax and sated—was a vision of contentment. He rolled them, noticing her cheeks had a pink glow and her hair was tousled so blue strands stuck every which way.

Adorable. Mine.

The second word stilled him, but he only licked his lips, tasting another drop of her sweetness before he decided the word and declaration didn’t matter. They were nothing but his idiot alpha brain wanting something that he was smart enough to know wouldn’t happen. Though, more of this would be good.

She couldn’t lie when he had his tongue on her.

She didn’t pull her thighs together, didn’t hide the way the light caught on her drenched sex.

In fact, he figured a second go sounded good. By the time he licked her to another orgasm, he’d be ready for round two. He could fuck her like he needed to, deep and without mercy, and feel her sweet cunt cranking down on him.

Except as he lifted his gaze, ready to dive back in, he caught sight of where her shirt had ridden up.

Not all the way, not enough for her to notice, but enough for him to see the crisscrossing of thick white lines over her lower stomach.

He’d thought she’d hidden a hysterectomy scar, expected one long, thin line where someone had removed a part of her body, the reminder perhaps too painful for her to share.

He hadn’t expected to see the evidence of nothing short of torture, where someone had carved her up and left her broken. Another secret. Another lie.

Kara basked in the afterglow, in the way her body tingled and even a slight breeze across her clit made her shudder in stark pleasure.

Reese had more than proven his skill. He’d eaten her out like a man starved while he’d fed her each hot inch of his hard cock. Even if he hadn’t fucked her, Kara felt the same content feeling she did after full-on sex.

No, that’s not quite right. She felt more, like he’d managed to give her something the others hadn’t, like it had quenched a thirst she hadn’t realized she had.

Which was foolish.

She opened her eyes, expecting to find him leering, to enjoy the way he stared at her bared sex before she tempted him into trying to get it up a second time.

Only, she found no lust in his hazel eyes, no sexy licking of his lips or anything else. Rage sat in those normally sweet eyes, one so deep that she snapped her legs closed as though protecting herself. His gaze was locked on her lower stomach, and with horror, she realized her shirt had ridden up.

The entirety of her scars weren’t on display—though what did it matter, because seeing some was the same as seeing it all—but bits of the patchwork of white, jagged scars and skin not quite the right texture or color showed.

Her stomach rolled. She yanked off the bed, grabbing for the leggings she’d discarded.

“What happened?” The words came out in an angry rumble.

“Fuck off,” she said back, pulling up her leggings until the high waist of them hid the ugly reminders.

Reese caught her hand, his body still nude, though his cock hadn’t perked up again. Then again, what sort of guy could stay hard after seeing what she really looked like? “Talk to me.”

“I don’t have shit to say.”

“Yeah, you really do.”

“Like what?”

His fingers were tight around her wrist, an unbreakable grip that she didn’t really want to escape from. “Like who the hell carved you up. Like the fact that you suffer through pseudo-heats and never said anything to us. Like your entire goddamned past!” The final one was roared out, the voice of an alpha who was so done playing.

Kara stood against the anger in that voice without a problem, though. “So you think you know anything, now? Did an internet search until you thought you understood shit about me?”

“Well, it isn’t like you’ve been open.”

“Why should I be? We are fucking, that’s it. I don’t owe you shit about me, my present or my past. In fact, so far all you three have done is fuck up my life, so don’t you think you’re on any sort of high ground with me!”

He lifted his lip in a snarl, and Kara answered with her own. She pulled her shoulders back and met every fucking ounce of his aggression with equal measure.

Sometimes she wondered if part of the reason she didn’t fit in with other omegas wasn’t her sterility, her broken body. Had it turned her from a normal omega into something else? Upped her aggression, her violence, her ability to ignore alpha commands?

Did it matter?

Reese let his lip drop once he saw it wouldn’t get him anywhere. “I want to help.”

“I don’t need your help. It’s nothing.”

“You sure? Because last I checked, you’ve been fucking whatever will take you to deal with your condition. If you weren’t so stubborn, if you didn’t lie so damned much, you’d see that you do need us.”

The words slapped her in the face. They brought up every forgettable encounter, every time she’d felt like throwing up as she’d washed herself afterward, every tear she’d refused to shed. Kara yanked again, and when he wouldn’t release her, she drove her knee up and into his side.

It caused him to loosen his grip, and she took the opportunity to pull free.

As Reese leaned forward to catch his breath, his long hair obscuring his face, Kara backed a few steps away. “Like you said, I’ve been fucking whatever will take me. You’re just the most recent in a list. Not the first, not the last and certainly not the best.”

She twisted on her heel, chin held high, and stormed from the room.

Anything to not let him see how deep his words cut, especially because of how true they were.

* * * *

Damon could have killed Reese. The temptation was there, prowling around in the parts of himself he didn’t like to admit to.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t behave as all the other alphas did—it was more that he preferred to think things through. He liked order. He liked predictability. He didn’t care for the animalistic side of himself that thrived on chaos.

However, as Reese told the story, as he explained what had happened between him and Kara, Damon found that familiar anger welling up inside him.

“So you thought insulting her was a great plan?” Cullen’s words came out soft, as though he were tempering them.

“No, I didn’t, but I wasn’t exactly thinking. You don’t get it. You didn’t see her fucking stomach.”

The sickness inside him when he considered what Reese had said rose up again, but damn it, he wouldn’t throw up all over the floor.

He’d seen injuries, scars, the proof of pain people faced. The idea of such lines sitting on Kara had him rolling his shoulders to release the tension inside him. He wasn’t sure how he’d have reacted, but he was pretty sure he wouldn’t have essentially called Kara a whore.

“What happened to her?” Damon mused the question out loud.

Reese sighed, rubbing his fingers against his eyelids. “I don’t know, but it was fucking ugly. Honestly, I’m amazed she’s alive after whatever the hell gave her those marks.” He leaned forward, his elbows falling to rest on his knees. “I remember a case a long time ago, back when I first started working in missing persons. The problem with those cases is that some of the time, all you find is a body. The woman disappeared, and everyone figured she’d run off with her boyfriend, especially because her mom wasn’t a fan of the boy. Young rebellion and all. Well, they were half right—it was the boyfriend, but she didn’t run off. She’d broken up with him and he took a knife to her. I don’t think he even meant to kill her, but no one survives that.”

The horrors that washed over Reese’s face said more than his words needed to about what he remembered, about what he’d seen. The body reflected in his hazel eyes, and it was clear he’d carried that guilt with him, as though it were his fault that he hadn’t found her fast enough.

“So who put them on her?”

“She wasn’t all that eager to discuss it. She nailed me with a knee to the side and bolted.” He huffed, shaking his head. “But it sure makes a little more sense, doesn’t it? Her whole ‘fuck the world’ attitude? I mean, look at what the world has given her.”

Cullen stared out of the window. “It doesn’t matter.”

“What now?” Damon asked with a steel thread through his voice. Whatever Kara had suffered certainly did matter.

Cullen turned his gaze to Damon, shaking his head. “I don’t mean it like that. What I meant was that whatever shitty hand she’s been dealt doesn’t change anything. We’re still not looking for anything and neither is she. If you find a broken car, does figuring out what accident broke it make a damn bit of difference? We’re still incompatible. She still doesn’t want any of us or our help. She’s still not what we want. So we’ll keep going, we’ll figure this shit out, we’ll finish our job, and we will go home at the end of it.”

Damon opened his mouth to argue, to say they could find a way to make it work.

But all his planning failed him when no steps materialized. No magic path toward success came together. Cullen was right, and knowing how or why life had twisted Kara into who she was didn’t change that it had.

She was broken. It wasn’t her body, wasn’t that she couldn’t have children, but rather her soul. Whatever she’d suffered had taught her that she needed to be guarded, that she needed to keep people at a distance, and Damon wasn’t sure that was the sort of thing that could be fixed.

“So what now? Where do we go from here?” Reese asked.

Cullen huffed out an unhappy breath. “Whatever this is won’t be forever, but that doesn’t mean it’s got to end tonight, either. If I know anything about our little thief, I’d bet I can guess where exactly she plans to drown her sorrows.”

Reese nodded, rising to his feet and brushing his hands off on the tops of his jeans. “Let’s go ruin her pity party.”

Damon followed suit, feeling like part of a group for the first time, like someone wanted and valued. “She won’t be happy about it.”

Cullen offered a smile that was all teeth. “Oh, I’m counting on it. She’s cute when she’s pissed.”