Fuck, it hurt. I was curled on my side, my head in Rylan’s lap and my feet in Avery’s. The pain was back in full force, which meant I didn’t have long. It didn’t usually kick back in so quickly, but being in the middle of these amazing scents and fading into my instincts brought things on quickly.
It wasn’t here yet, but it was coming. I just wanted to hold on until the nest was ready. Because we’d gone to all the trouble for it, and I knew deep in my heart it wouldn’t be the same now. My Omega had locked onto the image in my mind, and it was what I needed.
But all I felt was warmth and pain. When I was home, I didn’t notice time passing or anything except the need for more. To be filled and taken and the desire for closeness I never had.
Avery had me in his arms again and he smelled like a chai latte with all the spices. I inhaled, turning into his chest and breathing him in. Every part of me he touched was on fire, and it was only growing worse. Or better, depending on how you looked at it.
“Addie is right behind us and she’s going to fix everything up for you. What do you think about taking a bath? We can keep you cooler and talk a little.”
I laughed, recognizing the sound as lighter and freer than normal. “What’s there to talk about?”
He laughed too. “Would you like the bath?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
We were already moving up the stairs toward the nest. But we didn’t go in that direction. We were in the big bathroom, and I knew why, but the soft whine still came out of me.
“You’ll be okay, baby girl,” Avery said, setting me on the counter. “They’re fixing up your nest right now, and when it’s ready, we’ll go straight there. Yesterday we talked about boundaries. I know it’s a bit different now. Other than not biting you, do you have anything you don’t want us to do?”
“I don’t like pain.”
Anger flashed over his face, but he covered it quickly. “Trust me, we’re not interested in hurting you.”
“Like real pain. Something like spanking is fine, but more than that? No.”
“Spanking,” Avery looked both surprised and intrigued. “Not the direction I was thinking.”
I flushed. “It’s okay, I don’t need that or anything. I just—”
Avery leaned forward and captured my lips with his. He hadn’t kissed me yet, and fuck yes, I needed this. His kiss was impossibly all Alpha and all softness and warmth at the same time. I yanked him closer, wrapping myself around him and making sure we were touching in all the right places. Yes, yes, yes. More.
God, he tasted just as good as he smelled.
Placing his hands on either side of me on the counter, Avery pulled back and looked at me. I was noticing the way his shirt was tight across his shoulders and the freckles on his face.
Reaching out, I ran my hands through his hair, marveling at the red color and wishing I could have a paint exactly the same shade.
“We’re all different,” he said gently. “Some of us are more dominant than others, but none of us like causing pain. Spanking, however, is different. I know I’ll gladly turn your ass pink if you want it. Roughness?”
It was a question about what I liked. My mind was slipping over itself, and I was having a hard time focusing when he was so close and he smelled so good. Why weren’t we in the bath yet?
Avery smiled and went to turn the water on. I asked the question without realizing it. The bath was incredible. Probably big enough for ten people with jets and bubbles. With that kind of tub, they didn’t really need the pool downstairs. “We’ll be there soon. Lift your arms, baby girl.”
My entire body shuddered at the term. I didn’t know why him calling me that made me feel so good. Cherished. More like an Omega than I’d felt like in a long time.
He lifted my shirt over my head and tossed it aside so I was only in a bra, and his scent thickened as much as mine. One glance down at his zipper told me he had incredible self-control. More than I had right now.
“How rough do you like it?” He asked.
“I like it all,” I finally blurted. “Gentle and rough. I can’t even think straight about anything right now, Avery. You’re wearing too many clothes.”
He chuckled, stripping out of his shirt and giving me the first glimpse of his chest. My first impression of his body from yesterday was correct. Avery was built and burly, hair that matched the rest of him spreading across his chest. Smooth, slightly rounded stomach that was still firm with muscle. This man could probably lift a tree in one go.
A watercolor spiral flowed over one shoulder, spreading to a beautiful and abstract half-sleeve. “My mentor did it for me,” he said when he caught me staring. “I have plans for more, but I always seem to be too busy tattooing other people.”
On the other forearm, there was a sequence of sharp lines and shapes, like tangled geometry.
I couldn’t stop staring at him, a beautiful dichotomy all together. Lumberjack and teddy bear. My teddy bear.
“Only a couple more questions,” he said. “I’m about to get you naked. I know you know that, but I still have to ask.”
“Please.”
I helped him get my bra off, but he didn’t pull back immediately just to look at me. He took his time, kissing my neck and shoulder before seeing my breasts, and I loved the look in his eyes.
Leaning down, he brushed his mouth over the top of one and then the other, groaning as my scent filled the room. It was heat perfume now, and my jeans were soaking wet with slick and arousal. The only thing which was keeping me from falling into the heat this very second was the bone deep knowledge the nest wasn’t ready. Once it was? I was gone.
“Since there are five of us, how do you feel about double penetration?”
“Fuck,” the word was a moan, mind filling with images of me pinned between Avery and someone else, knotted in both places. I was going to spontaneously combust before any of them were inside me. “Good. I feel good about it. Get me in the bath, Avery. I’m coherent enough to tell you if I don’t like something, but if you don’t put me in that water right now I’m going to explode.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Lifting me off the counter, he stripped off my shoes, socks, jeans, and underwear with quick efficiency and lifted me into the water. I didn’t even have time to think about the fact that I was naked with him, because he was stripping too, and I was staring at the rest of him.
His cock was just as hard as I’d imagined and oh, my, fuck, it was thick. The beginnings of a knot were forming at the base, and all I could see and feel was an inferno. The water in the bath was cool, and it was a damn good thing.
“What are you doing?” I asked as he stepped closer. Pain drove me towards the edge of the bath and toward him. I was so close. “If you get in here with me—”
“You’re okay, baby girl. They’re working fast.” He stepped into the water and sat down behind me, skin on skin, and I nearly fainted. He was warmer than the water, and I couldn’t fucking breathe.
His cock was pressed against my back between us, and I wiggled for it. I need it in me. “Not yet.” The order was firm. “I’m going to help you. And don’t for one second think the others don’t want to be in here. But you’re seconds away from blazing like a phoenix, and one Alpha scent is about as much as you can handle right now.”
“Doesn’t it hurt?” I asked, aiming to make him take me. Every instinct needed this Alpha. “You could take me now. No one would mind, I’m sure. Knot me right here in the bath.”
A low growl followed by a kiss on my shoulder. “I fully intend on knotting you many, many times over in the next few days, beautiful. But in your nest. Where your Omega feels safe. Now spread your legs.” The term bark wasn’t appropriate. It’s what he used, but it wasn’t rough. It was a tug in my gut which made me obey without question, spreading my legs beneath the water.
One final ripple of pain spread through my gut, and evaporated, leaving nothing behind but need and a spinning sensation of falling and warmth.
Avery’s hand slid around my stomach, slowly tracing across my skin and distracting me. I moved, trying to turn so I could take him. I didn’t need to wait. My instincts were lying. The bath was fine and I wanted him inside me now.
“Don’t move, baby girl,” he said, banding his other arm across my chest, and falling again into the Alpha bark. “Understand? You will stay where I put you.”
Gentle fingers descended between my legs, drawing a whine from me. Sheer pleasure was all his touch was. I was so sensitive and ready I nearly came from him brushing over my clit. Thrashing against him, I begged. “I’ll present for you.” My voice was barely recognizable. “I’ll do whatever you want. Please, I need it. I need you. All of you.”
I was burning. That’s what was happening. Someone had tied me to a fiery stake and the only thing which would cool it off was getting a knot inside me.
“I want you to breathe in and hold it,” he said. “Now.”
Obeying, I did, unable to speak while I was holding my breath, and unable to think with the way he was steadily and firmly exploring me with his fingers.
“Breathe.”
I gasped in air. “You lied,” I told him. “You said none of you liked to cause pain. And this hurts.”
“Close your eyes, Esme.” Avery’s voice was dark. “Focus on my fingers and nothing else.”
They circled my clit with delicious pressure, drawing some of the fire away from my core and up to the surface. I was shaking in seconds, my arousal flooding into the bath. If I’d been out of it slick would be pouring down my legs but fuck it felt so good. “Please, Avery.”
He kept his movement even, the exact rhythm which had made me shake and it was the same one making light flare behind my eyes. Pleasure exploded through me, bringing with it a raw inferno of desire I’d never felt in my fucking life.
“Oh god.” I sagged against his chest, the pleasure fading through me quickly only to be replaced with true, feral need. I was in heat, and I was just realizing what I’d thought had been heats had been a poor comparison for the real thing.
“Good girl,” he whispered in my ear. “You did so good, hanging on for me. And now you’re in heat, baby.”
“I can’t wait anymore,” I told him, turning with tears flooding my eyes. The emotion was so clear and strong it stole my breath. Nothing was the same and nothing was real. It felt like a fever dream far away from anything I’d ever experienced. “I need my nest.”
“All right,” he said. “We’re going. I need you to stay here and sit while I get you a towel. Promise me you’re not going to move.”
I leaned my head on the cool porcelain edge of the tub and took a breath. Every single pull of air was a new line of heat. But away from Avery’s skin, the coolness of the water helped.
Rationally, I knew pleasure was coming and I was going to get everything I needed with them. But I hated feeling this out of control and vulnerable. Anything could happen, and I closed my eyes, trying not to sink into that spiral, especially if I wouldn’t be able to pull myself out of it. “Promise,” I murmured.
Avery brushed the top of my head with his hand as he got out of the bath, and I heard the sound of water dripping as he moved and a door opening. “Hey.”
Low voices floated through the crack in the door and hints of the other scents floated into the room.
Mine, mine, mine.
I needed the pack. Lust so sharp it nearly hurt cracked through me, along with a whine which was pure desperation. But I didn’t move from where I was. I’d promised him.
“Get them out of there,” Avery growled, and his steps were coming back to me. “Stand up, baby.”
I did and was wrapped in a huge, fluffy towel which was warm and soft, and Avery lifted me into his arms. Just being held calmed me a little, pushing back the raging fire burning beneath my skin.
“You ready to see your nest?”
My nest. The word beat in my heart. It was mine. Even if it wasn’t forever, right now it was mine, and it felt right. “Yes.”
The door to the hallway was open, and the sunlight through the windows was too bright. Why was it so bright?
We stepped through the door to the nest, and their scents overwhelmed me. They’d all been in here while Avery had me in the bath, and the cool, dark silence of the space was perfect. And it looked entirely different.
It was perfect.
Every cushion which had been white was now colored. All the ones I’d picked. Lighter on the ceiling, fading through the colors and all the way down to black. The lights were cool-toned too, just like I’d picked, and all across the space were the pillows and blankets they’d helped me with. Even the twinkle lights flickered on the ceiling like stars, and I blinked away tears. “They did it so fast.”
“We want it to be perfect.”
“It is.”
He set me down on the floor of the nest, and it was all softness. I reached for a blanket, not caring that there was still some water on my skin. I needed that blanket, and it needed to be over there.
They were all here with me. I saw them in the corners of my vision, carefully taking off their clothes and pilling them at the edge of the nest, but I couldn’t stop. This was my nest, and I was making it even more perfect. Because for the first time in my life, I was truly in heat.
