Chapter Thirteen
Holding the door shut didn’t last long before a crack appeared up the center. Seemed the alpha wouldn’t let some wood keep him from his mate.
Claire went for the window when the crack splintered further. Her hands grasped the frame, ready to throw herself out of it. The window was small, a tight fit for Tracy or her. She doubted a male that size could get through it.
Except, when she got her chest through, when she perched half out with the window track digging into her, a grip on her waist yanked her back. Pain exploded through her side when she struck something. The toilet, she realized, but didn’t have time to do anything other than struggle to breathe.
His hand wrapped in her hair and yanked her from the room. “Where’s Tracy?”
Claire’s feet slid on the floor while he pulled her by her hair, her eyes tearing from the pain and the fact she still couldn’t breathe. Her knees struck the ground as she trailed behind him, trying to keep up.
“You’re the one who helped her, ain’t you? She wouldn’t tell me the name, but you’re the bitch who helped her.” He didn’t just release her, but threw her down. A few strands of hair came out, stuck in the ring on his finger.
He walked away, but with Claire’s head swimming, she couldn’t get her feet under her to run. She still couldn’t pull a full breath, ribs screaming, arm pinned there as if she could protect them. The slamming of a door and his curses preceded his footsteps. “Where the hell is my daughter?”
“Gone,” Claire wheezed out.
“Gone? Gone where?”
“Where you can’t get them.” Claire pulled herself to her knees, but couldn’t straighten, not with the pain in her side.
He crouched on the balls of his feet, wrapped his fingers in her hair and tilted her face up to look at him. “I’ll find them. I’ll always find them. They’re mine.”
Claire’s fingers slipped into her jeans pocket as she met his gaze, not backing down, not giving an inch. She’d run from alphas for so much of her life, and if this was it?
Well fuck him, because she wasn’t running again.
Fuck him and his belief he owned Tracy. Fuck him and his arrogance and his cruelty. Fuck him for stealing everything from Tracy and Karen.
“They’ll run so far and so fast you’ll never find them. I hid them once, and now? Now that she’s seen you for the coward you are, she’ll go where you can never find her.”
Fury washed across his face, and the backhand came so fast she couldn’t brace for it. It had been a long time since she’d been hit by a man, by an alpha. The momentum from the blow threw her to the ground, her cheek awash in pain.
He got on top of her, his weight pinning her down. His hands wrapped around her throat, tightening down so she couldn’t draw in air. Still, she closed her fingers around the pocket knife and flicked it open near her thigh. Her hand shook, but she lifted her arm in the small space between their bodies just as her ears thundered and her eyes watered from the choking.
The knife sunk in. Into what, she didn’t know, had no idea if she’d hit anything important. Wetness ran over her fingers, a howl tore from his throat, but he jerked away. Cold oxygen rushed into her lungs as she gasped, the knife still clutched in her fingers.
A crash, shouting, a gunshot as she rolled over, coughing and struggling to catch her breath. Her throat burned, her vision blurry. Her thoughts tumbled around in no order, and she couldn’t piece any of it together. She still held the knife in her hand, red wetness covering it.
Something touched her arm and Claire swung the knife. She made contact and a snarl responded, but she didn’t wait. She held the knife between them, her vision dark and cloudy and her heart pounding so loudly she couldn’t think.
She wouldn’t let that alpha touch her, not again, never again. She’d dealt with James for years, but that was over. She wasn’t that woman anymore.
“Omega,” a familiar voice snarled out. “Put the knife down. It’s me.”
The knife clattered to the floor. It wasn’t any command in his voice, nothing forced. Instead, she let go of the weapon out of relief, from the immediate sense of safety that washed over her.
The only thing better than his voice was when his arms wrapped around her, and when she buried her face into the warm throat of the man who was her life raft.
Nothing felt better than drawing Bryce’s scent into her lungs. Dominant, grumpy, stubborn Bryce who right then held her tight enough that she didn’t shatter.
* * * *
Claire hadn’t come to, yet. She lay in the hospital bed, the entire room setting Joshua off. He hated hospitals and had always snuck out the moment he could during the few times he’d been injured enough to require a stay He’d get an earful from a nurse later, when they called him after he slipped free, but he never cared.
Hospitals took him back to his mate, back to losing her, back to the ultrasounds for the child who never even got to draw a breath.
Still, when Claire had been shaking, marks on her throat, arm pinned to her side, blood on her hands, there’d been no question. She’d needed to be seen, needed someone to check on her.
The three of them could have done the basics, but hell, none of them had been in a state to do it.
No one had spoken during the trip. By the time the cops had arrived, they’d sorted through most of the issues. The omega and her young daughter, both shaken but strong, had gone with a detective friend of theirs to a safe house. The police had questioned the mother, but Bryce’s, Joshua’s and Kaidan’s word went far.
Joshua had stayed with the female and her daughter, Bryce rushing toward the house. He’d moved in the way that reminded Joshua that while Kaidan and he could be dangerous when needed, Bryce was a whole different beast.
The alpha had nearly reached the front door when Bryce had kicked it in. Blood had covered the alpha’s shirt, and at the time Bryce had had no idea whose it was. When the alpha had made the mistake of charging Bryce, they’d gone down together. Still, it was Claire’s scent on the alpha and the alpha reaching for something at the small of his back that had forced Bryce into acting.
He’d shot the man, then gone to find Claire.
At the hospital, she’d been unresponsive, unwilling to remove herself from Bryce. It had taken an injection by the doctor to calm her enough to examine her, to ensure she wasn’t injured.
Bruised ribs, a twisted ankle and a lot of other bruising was her reward for her bravery.
Joshua squeezed her hand. They’d come so close to losing her. The bruising at her throat said the alpha had strangled her and, according to Bryce, she’d been the one to shove Kaidan’s knife into the man’s gut.
In fact, without some serious medical care, the alpha might not have made it even if Bryce’s bullet hadn’t ended him.
Seemed their omega was tougher than they’d given her credit for, and Joshua couldn’t have been happier about it.
She whined softly, head turning, the trappings of consciousness causing her to shift.
Joshua stood and leaned closer, his lips near her ear. “Shhh, sweetheart. You’re safe.”
She calmed at his voice, her face turning toward him, her fingers tightening around his hand.
He lowered himself, brushing his lips to hers. It wasn’t anything scandalous, just a small offer of comfort, and she rewarded him with a contented sigh.
This was what he risked. Life was uncertain and she was a woman who would do what she thought she should. She’d rush into situations no matter what if she wanted to, and he doubted even three of them could keep her from it. She would be a risk, to herself and to his heart.
His dragged a thumb across her bottom lip, the swelling on her cheek—one of the battle wounds from facing off against an alpha—darkening the side of her pretty face. Still, she’d walked away from it, and he hadn’t.
His little omega had a bite, and while it scared the shit out of him, he was glad to see it.
* * * *
When Claire walked onto the back porch where Bryce sat, he had to keep himself still. They’d gotten home from the hospital when the sun had started to rise, and she’d slept the day away. Even in the dim backyard lighting, the colors that spanned her face forced him to remain calm.
He doubted a snarling alpha would make her feel good. After what she’d been through, she needed calm. She needed him to be steady. He needed to hide his reaction to her, to the bruises, to the situation.
She hesitated a few feet away. “Should I go?”
“No, why?”
“You’re growling.”
He cut off the rumble from his chest he hadn’t even noticed. “Sorry,” he said. “Thought I’d be better at hiding that.”
She still didn’t come forward, a large shirt bagging over her, showing off her legs from beneath the hem. It was Kaidan’s shirt and somehow she looked right in it, as if a little part of them wrapped around her.
He lifted his gaze to her face, to the uncertainty there. “Come on, omega, come sit down.” Bryce patted the spot beside him.
Claire came forward and all but fell onto the bench, a small slice of space between them. “No one’s yelled at me yet.”
“That bother you?”
She drew her legs up, wrapping her arms around them. It made her take up less space, made her seem even smaller. “It seems like…” She rested her chin on her knees when she didn’t go on.
“Seems like what?”
“Like maybe you don’t care.”
She really thought that? Bryce released a soft huff then dragged a light finger against the bruising on her cheek. “We care, but I think you’ve been beat up on enough for now. We aren’t in the habit of being too hard on someone already hurting.”
She leaned into the touch, eyes sliding closed.
Bryce gave up on being careful, on treating her like a fragile trinket. She’d taken on an alpha. She was tougher than she looked. He slung an arm around her and pulled her into his lap so she straddled him and tugged her closer. She did as she’d done when he found her, pressed her nose against his throat and filled her lungs.
He didn’t purr much, didn’t normally offer it, but he did then. The rumble, softer and deeper than a growl, slid between them as his way of easing her. She flattened her hands against his chest as she nuzzled his throat.
Finally, she sat up, back straight, gaze down. She didn’t try to move from her lap. “Thanks for saving me, but I’m sorry you had to…you know…”
She really thought ending someone like that would bother him? Hell, he was glad to have rid the world of that asshole. Bryce had a lot of hang-ups, but killing people who needed killing wasn’t among them. After seeing Tracy, after seeing the terrified young daughter, he was only too happy to remove their personal monster from their lives.
Neither of them should have to sleep a single night worried he’d come after them, that the piece-of-shit alpha might find them. If he could give them that little bit of peace? Worth anything he had to pay.
Bryce caught her chin and lifted her face so she looked him in the eye. “Trust me, ending him doesn’t weigh on me. Besides, you’d done enough damage on your own. You put Kaidan’s knife to good use.”
She nodded toward the bandage around his palm. “What happened?”
“Like I said, you’re dangerous with that knife.”
“I did that?” She caught his wrist and pulled his hand toward her, as if she could see past the gauze. “Are you okay?”
“It’s fine. No stitches or anything.” He couldn’t stop the frown as Claire held the hand, as she stared as if the wound hurt her.
He’d never had anyone care about him like that. His brothers cared, but not in the same way. When wounded, the three of them would snarl at each other and order pizza for every meal. They didn’t worry, didn’t check, didn’t hover—just assumed the others would heal.
Suddenly, Bryce had a vision of the next time he was laid up with an injury, having Claire there. She could be sweet, it seemed. She’d make sure he had whatever he needed, would curl up beside him so he could close his eyes, eased just by her being near, by knowing she was safe.
Claire pressed a soft kiss to the area of his palm above the injury and the gauze. “Well, thank you.”
“You really want to thank me? Explain why you ran off. No, don’t look down, don’t hide, just tell me. Explain to me why you’d face a vicious alpha, why you’d risk upsetting us rather than tell Kaidan what was wrong. You could have talked to us. You almost died in there.”
She sighed and adjusted in his lap. Despite the closeness, despite the fact he was hard and pressing against her, this wasn’t about sex. Sure, his body wouldn’t mind, but this was more important.
Finally, she pulled in a deep breath. “I got a text from Tracy telling me he’d found her. I’m the one who got Tracy to leave him, who told Tracy she could have a real life. She and Karen would have never been there if I hadn’t talked them into it. I had to go and do what I could.”
“Fair enough. I get it, I do, but you didn’t have to go alone.”
“Kaidan might have stopped me. He could have decided it was too dangerous, that it wasn’t worth it. He could have decided that because the alpha was her mate, he had a right to her. I’ve gone to the police before, and I’ve seen alphas talk their way out of these things.”
“But you’ve decided to stay here with us when you could have gone home. You do trust us, at least a little, so why run off?”
“I trust you with me, but that’s just me. If I’m wrong, only I pay the price. I couldn’t trust you with her, with Karen. They were relying on me, and I couldn’t risk them getting hurt because I’d made a mistake.”
Bryce’s lips tipped down at the weight in her voice, the weight on her shoulders. He got that, didn’t he? Despite him and his brothers being equal in many things, he always stepped up. He was in charge and held more responsibilities than the others. It tired him, and that shone in her eyes. She carried too much weight.
How had he not realized before just how much she took upon herself?
He set his hands on her waist and rubbed his against the curve of her hip gently. She was being honest, and he wanted that to continue, to continue to build the fledgling connection between them. “And what did you plan to do? I know you helped her out of the window and stayed behind. Trust me, I had some less than happy thoughts about you when I heard that part. What were you planning to do on your own? Kill the alpha?”
“I’ve done it before.”
Neither moved, the words sitting between them, whispered from her as though testing the waters, an admission she’d never offered before.
He went back to the gentle stroke of his thumbs against her. “I figured as much. Joshua and Kaidan both thought you’d had someone help, that maybe there was an intruder, but I knew you’d done it.”
“You know.”
“Yeah. We finally pinned down your past. I mean, all we got was the police report, but I figured you’d done it.”
“Why? No one else would suspect me.”
“Because sometimes people see what they want to see. Kaidan and Joshua see you as sweet, as someone who needs protecting. Don’t get me wrong—I’m not about to let you go somewhere dangerous alone—but I damned well see more. I’ve seen omegas cornered, seen what they do when pushed too far. You? You’re someone who has been pushed too far before. I figure he got what was coming to him.”
“I was showering after a fight one night, trying to wash blood from my face, and when I stepped out of the water, I had to look at myself in the mirror. I just stood there staring at this girl I didn’t recognize, beat to hell, cowering, and I don’t know what happened. I’d just had enough. I knew where he kept his gun because he’d taught me to shoot it, told me to use it if anyone came looking for an omega. Guess he never figured I’d use it on him.” The story came out quietly, handed over like a peace offering. “Not something many people want in a mate, huh?”
“Those people are idiots then, because there’s nothing I’d want more than to know my mate has bite, that she’ll do what she has to when she has to.”
She remained silent, her eyebrows pulling toward each other. “No one’s ever thought I was capable of anything before. I didn’t figure, out of anyone, that you’d be the one to think of me as strong.”
“Why not?”
“Because you act like everything I avoid. You’re dominant, you’re arrogant, you’re over-protective—”
Bryce pinched her ass to stop the tirade. “Be nice, omega. Yeah, I’m dominant. I’m an alpha, after all. And of course I’m protective. That goes hand in hand with being alpha. I see things and I try to keep them safe. That requires some arrogance, a belief I can do so. It doesn’t mean I don’t value them, that I don’t see their worth. You? You’re worth a hell of a lot, and yeah, I want to protect you, but not because I think you can’t take care of yourself. If you’d have called me about Tracy, I’d have gone with you. I wouldn’t have left you behind, wouldn’t have refused to let you go. I’d just have made sure you had me at your back when you did it. That’s all I’m asking for here. Not submission, not giving up your choices—just including me.”
She shifted in his lap, the action pulling a groan from him when she ground innocently against his crotch.
“Careful, now. You’re not ready for the things I’m thinking right, and you’re spread out in my lap and pretty damned tempting. Add to it I’m still pissed about what you pulled, and now might not be a good time to toy with me. In fact, I did mention to Joshua about putting you over my lap and spanking you until you decided to never pull shit like that again.”
Her breath pulled in quickly, and damn if her scent didn’t come rushing out, her hips shifting to grind against his cock again.
Still Bryce didn’t react. “You can’t play with me like that. You’ve made it clear you aren’t ready for me like this, that you don’t want me like this, not yet. Don’t start something you’re not really wanting.”
She leaned closer, resting her forehead to his, the action causing her cunt to press down onto her lap. “Please?”
“Please what? You have to be sure. Last thing I want is you regretting this, you deciding it’s proof you can’t trust me.”
She slid her hands up his chest, then slipped behind his neck. “When I was in that house, I was on my own. I was ready to die if I had to, but when I realized it was you?” She shuddered, a soft whine on her lips. “It made me realize it might not be so bad if I wasn’t alone, at least for a while.”
“That doesn’t mean you have to fuck me.”
Her lips brushed his, her tongue touching the seam of his lips. “I want to.”
“You trust me?”
At least she didn’t answer right away. She took a moment, even as she played her lips over his, as she stroked her fingers over the nape of his neck, over the muscles of his back. Finally, she pulled back enough to look him in the eye. “I trust you.”
And, hell, there it all was. Seeing that trust, the way she melted against him, the way she gave against him—it riled up every instinct in him.
“I’m not like Joshua, not like Kaidan. If you’re expecting us to be the same, we aren’t.”
“I know you’re not. I know exactly who you are, Bryce, and I’m still here.”
He allowed himself to lift his hips and pull her down, grinding against her cunt. “Tell me you want me again, omega. I want to hear you say it.”
She met his thrust, rolling her hips to grind back against him. “I want you to fuck me, alpha.”
And those words were all he needed to hear. If she wanted him, him give her exactly what she was needing.
Claire waited for anxiety to swamp her, but once she’d made the choice, it didn’t come. That worry, that fear, that guilt, it all had drifted away once she’d decided she wanted him.
It was as if it had grown in her indecision, and under the light of certainty, it wilted away.
And she was certain.
She didn’t know about forever, about tomorrow, about anything else. About tonight? About right then? That she knew.
When she’d first scented him, when she’d first realized he’d come for her, that sense of not being alone had overwhelmed her. It had made her realize that maybe this entire life wasn’t so bad.
The drastic difference between Bryce, Joshua and Kaidan and Tracy’s mate hadn’t ever been clearer. Where Tracy ran from her mate, where he threatened her at every turn, Claire had turned toward Bryce. She’d reached out when frightened, and he’d come without hesitation. He’d killed a man for her. He’d rushed into a dangerous situation—all for her.
And while he’d been angry about her behavior, she’d never actually felt unsafe. Not with any of them.
So while Bryce might seemed like James had been, while he was many of the things she’d thought dangerous, she’d come to realize he was the only safe thing in her life. That was something worth holding on to.
Bryce moved his hand from her hip to graze up her soft inner thigh. The sharp intake of breath said he’d found she wore nothing but the shirt. The inhalation turned into a growl so low and deep she might have been backed away in any other circumstance.
Not that he gave her a chance. He took the hand not on her thigh and wrapped it in her hair, the action causing her head to tilt back slightly. It again reminded her how different they all were. It wasn’t the guiding hand of Kaidan, but Bryce’s way of holding her still. It tugged against her scalp, but when she might have moaned before, she winced.
He frowned and released her hair. “Tell me.”
“Don’t pull my hair.” At his confusion, she continued. “The alpha pulled it, and my scalp is sore.”
Anger flicked through his dark eyes, sparking and making her glad he wasn’t directing it at her. He slipped the hand behind her neck and angled her head down to press a kiss. “Sorry, omega,” he whispered against her hair. “I should have been faster.”
She lifted her head, startled by the honest regret there. Instead of letting him dwell in it, she shifted her hips forward so his fingers brushed her bare cunt. “Keep going.”
At that, his lips tipped up, one of the rare smiles he offered. He moved up her cunt in a sure stroke, one that had her digging her fingers into his shoulders. The rough calluses of his fingers teased her more, but who was she kidding? She didn’t need teasing, didn’t need anything to get her ready. She’d been lying in bed, considering hiding for longer, until she’d looked out of the window to see him sitting there.
She’d known before she’d left the room that she wanted him, had draped a hand between her thighs as if she could quench that thirst all on her own, knowing damn well she’d never manage it. So she’d gone out there wet enough that he could have pushed into her immediately and she’d have welcomed it.
In fact, a part of her wanted that. She wanted that side of him, the one that took, the one she could give with. How many people could she feel that safe with? Bryce took, but only as much as he knew she could give. He was someone she could offer anything of herself without restriction because he’d never take too much, never harm her. She wanted to know what it felt like to walk into the house on a night when he was wound up, when he needed her. She wanted to feel him shove her against a wall, to pin her with a hand to her throat, to fuck her like they both needed.
He wouldn’t treat her like she was fragile, because he knew she had strength. He trusted she could take it and gave her something she got nowhere else.
“What are you thinking?” He pressed two thick fingers into her.
“That I like this rough side of you.”
His huffed, then nodded as he fucked his fingers into her, curled in to press against every spot that made her moan. “Doesn’t surprise me. You don’t want to enjoy it, but I think you need it.”
“I didn’t before.”
“Yes, you did, you just didn’t have anyone you trusted to give it to you.” He pulled his fingers from her to undo his pants. He set a hand on the bench to lift his hips and work them down, and it caused his cock to bump against her empty cunt.
And who the hell released that moan? It couldn’t belong to her, wasn’t the sort of sound she made. That was the sound of a woman desperate for her partner, something temping and alluring. Claire was none of those things.
Yet when he used his hand to guide her up and pressed his cock to her, running the head along her cunt, she made the sound again.
“You’ll never do that again.” His hold on her hip kept her from sinking down on his rigid length, from the fullness she wanted so badly, she’d have done that very thing.
“What?” The conversation seemed too far away, too unimportant right then. Who cared? She’d tell him anything he wanted to hear if it meant he kept going.
He took his hand away from his cock, braced as it was against her cunt, and caught her chin. His hand held his scent and it clouded her mind even more. “Tell me you’ll never run off on us like that again. You’ll talk to us, you’ll let us help. I want you as part of my life, Claire, but you have to want that too.”
Claire would have agreed to give him anything right then, but the words still hit her. He was offering something in that. He was admitting he wanted her in his life, but also making it clear it was up to her, that this had to be her choice.
When had she ever really had a choice before?
“I promise I’ll talk to you.”
“And you’ll tell us what you’re involved with? Trust us to help?”
She nodded, the action causing his fingers to dig into her chin. “I promise, I will.”
His thumb stroked her chin before he nodded, as if he’d decided she had told him the truth. He pulled her forward to claim her lips in a deep kiss as he used his grip to lower her in a hard thrust.
He seated inside her in a single quick slide, forcing her pussy to spread around his sizable cock, forcing her body to adjust. It was so much like when she’d been in heat, just as powerful, just as changing. The kiss was forgotten as she tried to pull in raged breaths though the overwhelming sensation of his demanding cock buried inside her, as she tried to do more than just shudder.
“Good omega,” he praised against her lips before offering a flick of his tongue. “You take my cock so well.”
She parted her lips on a gasp when he ground his hips up, causing him to press even deeper. He took advantage, slipping his tongue past her lips to taste her.
His controlled her motions by his hands on her hips, arms flexing as he set the pace. It was slow, a torturous drag of his cock against her walls. He fucked her even though she was in his lap, even though to anyone else it would look as if she fucked him, as if she had some sort of control.
They both knew differently. Bryce did as he pleased, using her as though he knew what they both needed, and it allowed her to close her eyes and just feel, just connect with her own body, with the sensations.
Even the aches and pains from the attack floated away on the tail of the medications she’d been given and the movement of his body. Her clit throbbed like a silent begging, wanting attention, wanting to come.
She tried to slip her hand between their bodies, but he caught it. “I don’t think so. I’m still pretty pissed at you, and seeing that bruise on your face only makes it worse. I sure as hell don’t think you deserve to come.”
The denial burned hotter inside her. It made her want more, want him. She rolled her hips to cause his cock to stroke against different spots inside her, and he rewarded her by pulling her closer and wrapping her arm behind her, pinning it to the small of her back.
“You are trouble,” he said, affection melting off the words. “But I’m quite sure I can handle it.” He twisted them, stretched her out on the seat and hooked his hand behind her knee. He pulled it up to spread her out, his predatory gaze locked between her legs.
Claire fidgeted at the look, at the way he dragged his tongue across his lips.
Bryce tightened his grip, shifting the leg even farther open. “Be still. I like looking at you.”
“I don’t need you for your eyes.”
“No?” The blunt head of his dick rested against her cunt. “Is this what you were needing?”
Claire’s back arched up and off the seat, but his grip meant she couldn’t gain leverage, couldn’t move him, couldn’t do a thing. She had to wait, to surrender, to give in, to submit to him. And for the first time, she wanted that. “Yes.” She relaxed, letting her back fall down and her legs fall open into his grasp.
“Good girl,” he praised before he sank forward and filled her waiting pussy again. “See? Behave yourself and you get taken good care of. Run away, put yourself in danger—well you don’t get rewarded, that’s for fucking sure.”
Bryce’s weight settled over her, but he kept her leg hiked up, kept her still. His hips took her with strong and deep thrusts, filling her and retreating, going faster and faster. He fucked her hard and swallowed the sounds she made. Each whine, each cry, each time her lips began to plead, he stole them with his kiss while he forced more from her.
Claire lost herself to it all, to how long she’d waited, to how hard she’d resisted. Nothing mattered but the moment, but his body and his heat and his strength.
She’d spent so long running, so long hiding from this sort of thing. How many nights had she spent alone? How many nights had she’d cried in the darkness, had she celebrated another birthday alone, had she jumped at every little sound?
She’d resisted this sort of connection, resisted making herself vulnerable like this, fought against it for most of her life.
Is this so bad? Is having someone here really so scary?
He thrust into her harder, spearing his cock into her so she had no ability to think. “You’re not paying attention to me. I find that annoying, omega.”
She went to answer, but he only took the chance to give her a deep kiss that had her forgetting what she’d planned to say.
He did that, played her as though he knew her body better than she did. Each stroke of his cock against her, each rock of his hips and flick of his tongue told her he did. While she’d spent her life avoiding any connection with her body, he seemed to have a direct line.
“Just like last time, you’ll come on my cock or not at all,” he demanded against her lips.
Claire closed her eyes and let the sensations wash over her. Her skin felt too tight and he felt too large. He took her over, caging her in with his bulk while he fucked her with all the power leashed in his strong body. He was everywhere. Over her, inside her, burrowing into her head and scariest of all? Into her heart.
She had no defense, and she didn’t think she wanted one anymore.
Each thrust, each time his dick nudged past her G-spot, each time his pelvis brushed her neglected clit, she strung tighter. Years of denial, years of shoving down instincts and pretending she didn’t need this weighed her down, but none of it mattered. He kept going, kept pushing her toward some epiphany she didn’t think she was ready for.
He seemed sure, though. He angled his hips so he rubbed against her clit more, sending sparks skirting up her spine, causing the muscles in her thighs to spasm, one knee still held in his iron grip.
“That’s it.” He moved his lips to her ear, nipping the lobe. “That’s it, my little omega. Let go.”
She did. She let go of the past, and her fears, and James. She let go of what she thought she needed to do, who she needed to be, and who she thought Bryce had to be. There wasn’t room for it inside her when she came, when she tightened around his cock and cried out his name.
The tension snapped inside her, almost painful, her back arching against him even though there wasn’t room. He held her in place, his thrusts turning short and hard and erratic so he only pulled back an inch before burrowing deep again, as if he thought he could somehow crawl deeper into her.
Didn’t he get that there wasn’t anything deeper?
Even so, he whispered against her ear, and she had no idea what he said. All she knew was that she liked it, that she liked his rough voice, liked his deep growls and the way he called her ‘omega’ with a sweetness she’d have never expected of the alpha.
His thick knot hooked behind her pelvic bone, locking them together. It set off another crashing wave just as she’d started to catch her breath, causing her to shove at his wide chest.
Bryce caught her hands, having released her knee. “Easy there.”
“It’s too much,” she whined, her hips moving as if she could relieve the pressure, the way it kept setting off tiny aftershocks that made her pussy tighten down and milk his knot.
He nuzzled her throat, rough stubble scratching her skin. “I know. Just try to relax, hmm? Can’t pull out even if I wanted to, not till it goes down.”
“It wasn’t like this—”
“During your heat? It was, but you were too high on your own hormones to notice it. The more you move, the more you fight it, the more you’re going to feel it. Come on, look at me.”
She opened her eyes to find him staring down at her, his face close and yet so much more familiar than she’d thought it would look. Having him that close, having him locked inside her should have set her panic off, but instead, she only felt safe.
He released her wrists to stroke a hand over her cheek, then brushed his thumb across her eyebrow. “There you go. Deep breaths. I know it’s not that comfortable, but it doesn’t hurt. Worse thing that can happen is you come again. Not that bad, is it?”
“Says the one not currently stuck on your cock.”
His laugh was soft and deep. “Says the one who’s cock is stuck in you, omega. Don’t forget how attached to our cocks we men are, and yet we still willingly stick them into you and even let your cunts trap us for a while.” A groan broke his statement, right on the tail of her cunt squeezing down around him again. “But, I have to say, your cunt milking me like that is a pretty nice fucking feeling. Maybe some time, I’ll take you to my bed and fuck you over and over, hmm? As soon as my knot goes down, I’ll just take you again, keep you knotted all damned night, keep you full, letting your cunt squeeze around me like this? What do you think?”
“That you’re crazy if you think I’ll allow that.”
He rocked his hips, just a tiny movement that caused his knot to tug softly on her and his pelvic bone to slide against her clit. It had her gasping, her hips lifting like a response to a call, and it set off something between an aftershock and another orgasm. Not quite as strong and certainly not as pleasant as what had happened when she came, but still her muscles locked down, her breath caught, and her mind blanked as she tightened around him again.
He whispered to her as stroked her hair. “I think you will, and I think you’ll fucking enjoy it when I do.”