I woke up sweating.
The nightmare had been the worst one yet—because it had been a memory.
It was one of the first times Dick had beaten me and whispered, “I’ll beat the bloody devil out of you. I have to do it. Someday, you’ll understand.”
He hadn’t stopped until I was kneeling in a massive pool of my blood. Lightheaded, I’d barely stumbled to my feet.
I still didn’t understand.
Now I shuddered and cuddled against the warm heat that was surrounding me.
It was delicious.
With a groan, I pulled against my comforters to smother deeper into them.
I stilled.
The first thing I noticed—my blanket was hard as a rock and massive.
The second thing I noticed—the bed smelled like chestnuts over an open fire, and the scent was mouthwatering.
The third thing I noticed—I was sprawled out across Jax’s naked chest and was using one of his pecs as a pillow.
My brain struggled to figure out how I’d gotten into this delicious situation.
I remembered that last night when we’d gotten back from dinner, Ascher and Xerxes had both offered to sleep on the floor.
Then Cobra and Jax had said they would sleep on the floor.
Five minutes later, all the men had been arguing that they should be the one to not sleep in a bed.
Since I’d role-played being a bird with two broken wings a few hours earlier, I was not about to offer to take the floor.
If they all wanted to act toxic and order me around, then I was going to reap the benefits.
Still, I’d been tired as hell, and they wouldn’t shut up about why they should sleep on the floor.
So I’d alpha-barked at Jax to get into bed with me and for everyone to shut the fuck up.
The most shocking thing—Jax had actually crawled into bed with me. He’d just nodded, pulled back the covers, and slid his massive body beside mine.
All the men had gone dead quiet.
I’d chosen Jax because he was the nicest and cuddliest.
Also, I didn’t have the urge to stab him every time he opened his mouth.
However, I hadn’t factored in the fact that the man was over seven feet tall and at least triple my bodyweight.
The bed was big, but it wasn’t built for a giant.
Still, it had been nice to fall asleep on his bicep as he cuddled against me. He’d smiled down and given me a soft kiss on my forehead.
That was when the sweetness had ended.
I blearily remembered being pushed off the bed a couple of times and fighting for every inch of covers. Jax was a spreader, and boy, did his limbs take up a lot of space.
He wasn’t fighting now.
No, at some point Jax must have grabbed me and laid me atop his massive frame.
My face was buried in his pec, and one of his large hands draped across my legs.
The good thing—Jax was wearing boxers, and I had on a big T-shirt and shorts because our room was pre-equipped with male workout clothes.
The bad thing—Jax’s boxers weren’t doing much to restrain his massive dick, which was stabbing into my stomach like a spear.
Warmth radiated off it through my clothes, and every time he moved, one of his piercings pressed into me.
It was still dark in the room, and from the soft snores, Cobra was still sleeping. There were two beds in two rooms, connected to each other by a living area in the middle.
Ascher and Xerxes were in the room across the way. It was just me, Jax, and Cobra in this room.
My stomach pinched with queasiness as the scent of roasted chestnuts grew more potent.
I turned my head to the side and stared at one of Jax’s gold nipple piercings. I had the most irrational urge to lick it.
Jax shifted underneath me and mumbled some nonsense in his sleep, and as he moved, his large hand shifted up my thigh underneath my shorts. His hand was so massive it wrapped completely around my limb.
The queasiness got worse.
My stomach pinched and my core tingled as the callused pads of Jax’s fingers slowly scraped back and forth across my leg.
His breath was even and steady as he slept peacefully beneath me. In contrast, every cell in my body was slowly lighting up into an inferno.
Then I acted crazy.
The longer I stared at Jax’s nipple piercing, the more it taunted me.
The more I wanted to lick it.
My mouth watered, and I reassured myself that the room was pitch black and both men were fast asleep. A little lick wouldn’t kill anyone.
Just for scientific purposes.
I slowly leaned my head forward and stuck my tongue out a little. I gave his pierced nipple a little taste.
Delicious, warm chestnuts exploded against my tongue. The heat contrasted with his cold piercing, and a shiver tingled down my spine.
My core burned.
His taste and scent perfumed around me, and I swallowed down a groan of desperation. My mouth watered with the urge to drag my tongue across the ridges of his abdomen, across all his impressive muscles.
I wanted to lick him; I wanted to mark him; I wanted to own him.
Before I could decide if it was worth risking another lick, a large hand grabbed the back of my head and tangled in my hair.
Jax pulled me up and forward until his lush lips pressed against my ear.
He whispered super quietly, more breath than sound, “What are you doing, little alpha?”
His hand was tugging on my hair, and his other hand slowly crept higher up my thigh until it rested just below my ass.
The scent of chestnuts became so heady it smelled like they were on fire.
I tried to move my head to look at him, but his hand tightened in my hair so I couldn’t move an inch to answer him.
Apparently, it was a rhetorical question.
His tongue flicked out, and he slowly licked from my ear, all the way down my neck. Goose bumps erupted across my skin, and I swallowed down a moan.
I didn’t want Cobra to hear us.
“So you want a taste?” Jax whispered against my neck with his lush lips as he ever so slowly scraped his teeth down along my neck. His already deep voice was extra deep from just waking up.
His rough fingers slowly dragged across my ass.
I couldn’t hold back a soft moan as I ground against him.
Suddenly, he grabbed my waist with both his hands and rolled over.
I was pinned beneath hundreds of pounds of aroused alpha, and his large body completely dwarfed my smaller frame.
He pushed forward and rubbed his massive dick against my core. A low moan escaped my throat, but Jax pressed his hand across my mouth.
My moan was muffled against his hand.
He leaned forward, his stormy gray eyes glowing softly in the darkness. “Quiet,” he ordered, and kept his hand over my mouth.
I nodded as his hips rocked forward against me.
Every time he pressed against my core…stars erupted.
I raised my hips to shove him harder against me, but he held himself still and gently ground against me. He teased me.
My core flamed with fire, and I wanted to scream at him.
Then Jax leaned forward onto his elbows but kept his hand covering my mouth. His golden-jeweled braids fell around us and the cold chains scraped against my overly sensitive skin.
His other hand traveled up my torso. With painful slowness, he dragged his callused fingertip over my stomach and up to my boob.
Warm chestnuts and burning need overwhelmed me so completely I barely noticed that he was touching my scars. From the hardness pressing against my stomach, he didn’t either.
Suddenly, his callused fingertips pinched my nipple, and my hips arched off the bed.
Jax pressed his hand harder against my face to muffle my cries.
His finger mercilessly tweaked my nipple, then slowly trailed back down across my stomach.
The callused pads ran over my hip bones and sent shivers through my core.
Jax leaned forward so his hot breath fanned my ear, and his warm body pressed hard against me. “You think you can handle me, little alpha?”
He slipped his fingers under the waistband of my shorts and cupped my pussy in his hand.
I shuddered against him, and he pressed harder against my mouth. His thumb rubbed back and forth against my neck, and he stared down at me with burning desire.
He leaned forward, and his fingers ground against my center.
My mouth parted in ecstasy, and he moved the hand covering my face so his two fingers pressed into my mouth.
Jax wasn’t rough as he held my mouth open, but he also wasn’t gentle.
With his other hand, he rubbed against my pussy relentlessly, and my vision sparked. Nearly silent, breathy moans escaped from my throat as my body soared higher and higher.
“I know what you and Cobra did in the closet,” Jax whispered in my ear as he mercilessly strummed my body higher. “You think I can’t smell sweet cranberries dripping off his skin? He still reeks of your scent.”
His one hand pressed hard against my clit, and I hurtled over the edge.
I would have yelled from the force of my ecstasy, but Jax put his other massive hand over my mouth.
He shoved his fingers against my tongue so I couldn’t make a noise. Pinned to the bed, he mercilessly rubbed my pussy until my limbs stopped shaking with orgasm.
Then he took his soaking fingers away from my core and sucked them into his mouth. I shuddered beneath him at the sight of Jax licking my juices.
I wanted to taste him the same way; I wanted to bathe in roasted chestnuts.
“You’re going to take me. All of me,” Jax said as he freed his massive cock.
I nodded, delirious with ecstasy from my orgasm.
Sure, Jax was the sweet one, but he was also the massive man who bossed Cobra around in the bedroom.
Now that I was on the receiving end of his dominance, my entire body strummed with need.
He was delicious.
Jax leaned back. He balanced atop me with his powerful thighs spread wide.
Slowly, he dragged his fingers away from my mouth and pulled his large cock out of his boxers.
Gold piercings studded his dick with its large knot, and his balls were swollen and large below it.
I reached forward tentatively and touched him.
I tried to wrap my fingers around him, but he was so large my fingers couldn’t touch, and as I grabbed him, his cold metal piercings contrasted with his warm skin and burned my hand.
Jax jerked at my touch and bit down on his knuckles to silence his groan.
He reached forward with his other hand and tweaked my nipples as I stroked him.
With his large thighs resting atop me, he looked like a dark god from a sinful realm who had come to ruin me.
I wanted him to.
His alpha knot was thick and heavy at the base of his shaft, and as I stroked him, it grew impossibly large.
Jax jerked, and pre-cum dripped onto my hands.
Then I brought my fingers to my mouth and licked it tentatively. Jax shuddered above me and bit down on his knuckles.
Warm chestnuts and spice exploded across my tongue, and my belly clenched with need. He tasted better than I’d imagined, richer and headier than his scent.
I leaned my head forward to taste him, and he scooted up so his impressively weighty body was hovering above my shoulders, his pierced dick in front of my face.
He fisted my hair and dragged my face closer to his dick.
Jax whispered, “Lick it so I can take you deep.”
His one hand gripped my hair, and his other wrapped around my neck.
My shirt was bunched up, so my body was exposed beneath him, but he didn’t look down at my scars with disgust.
No, his gray eyes glowed, and he looked at me with an intensity that made my core spasm. He stared down at me like he wanted to consume me.
He guided his massive, pierced dick to my face and tugged lightly on my hair as he pushed into me.
My mouth barely fit around his massive dick, and I choked, trying to suck on its wide girth.
Jax’s grip on my hair tightened, and he moved my head back and forth, his abs bunching as he watched me take him into my mouth with an intense expression.
He owned me, and I was loving every second of it.
“Don’t fucking touch her,” Cobra said with an icy voice from the bed next to us. The scent of frosty ice mixed with warm chestnuts and burned my nose.
It smelled like a snowstorm had blown into the room.
Both of us stilled.
Jax buried his hands in my hair, and he pushed my mouth further down his dick until I choked.
My pussy spasmed.
His entire body was impossibly hard, his massive muscles bunching as he tensed.
If his gray eyes were stormy before, now they were blizzards.
A low rumble shook through his chest, and he ever so slowly dragged me by my hair off his dick.
There was a pop as I released him from my mouth.
Instantly, I missed the taste of roasted chestnuts.
“She’s not your property,” Jax growled back as he reached a hand down and tweaked my oversensitive nipples.
I arched beneath him as my core flooded with need.
He guided my head back to his dick, and his hands forced my head up and down as he groaned louder. I moaned around him, and his powerful hips jerked.
It was hot as hell to hear Jax tell off Cobra while fucking my mouth.
Jax’s gray eyes stared down at me as he ignored the other alpha.
I had his full attention.
Then Jax pulled his wet dick out of my mouth and shifted back down the bed until our bodies were aligned.
I arched my pelvis up, and with one yank, Jax ripped my shorts clean off my body.
Once again, he leaned forward and grabbed the back of my neck with one of his massive hands.
This time, his warm body weight pressed flush against me. With each grind of our hips, his fingers tightened slowly around my throat.
My vision burst with stars as he gently choked me and rubbed against me.
Slowly, Jax positioned himself against my entrance.
I arched, desperate to feel him. He looked down at where our cores met and spit into his hands. He ran the spit down onto his dick and then rubbed it against my clit.
My legs trembled and my need spiked higher at the sight of the big man prepping me. My arousal gushed across the tip of his dick.
“You’re going to take all of me,” Jax said as he stared at me with glowing gray eyes.
I nodded, but it wasn’t a question.
Jax’s tip slowly penetrated me as his fingers rubbed against my clit, and I saw stars.
I mewled beneath him.
Suddenly, the weight above me disappeared.
Cobra’s body slammed Jax off the bed and growled with a weird rattling noise. Jax roared back.
I bit back a scream of frustration as loud slaps echoed through the room as the two alphas beat the shit out of each other.
Jax threw Cobra against the wall, and I rolled my eyes.
“She is mine. My kitten!” Cobra roared and grunted as they grappled until Jax pinned him against the wall.
Jax growled, long and low. “We’ve talked about this. You can’t just possess people. That’s not how it works.”
Cobra said through gritted teeth as they traded blows, “But you’re mine. Now so is she.”
Jax shook his head, long braids flying, and threw Cobra’s body against the wall. “Learn to fucking share, or you won’t have to worry about possessing anyone.”
“Is that a threat?” Cobra’s eyes flickered to snake eyes.
I was momentarily distracted from the dramatic alpha entertainment because the bedroom door was thrown open.
“What’s going on in here?” Ascher stood at the door, shirtless, with his golden hair disheveled, sweatpants hanging low and showing off his tattoos and V line.
Suddenly, my mouth was dry.
His amber eyes flashed as he took in the fact that both Jax and I were naked.
Ascher grunted and adjusted his dick in his sweatpants. He tensed his hands and licked his lush lips slowly.
He stared at me with the hunger of a starving man, and I quickly wrapped a blanket around my torso to hide my scars and exposed breasts.
Apparently, the alphas weren’t repulsed by my scars because they weren’t looking at me with anything close to disgust.
After years of self-hatred, it was weird.
“What the fuck?” Xerxes growled as he stepped forward behind Ascher. He was also shirtless, and his skin was shockingly unmarred compared to Ascher’s tattooed flesh.
Of course, because the moon goddess hated me, Xerxes also had an eight-pack of muscles and a deep V line that was as impressive as Ascher’s.
He was slightly taller and wider than Ascher, and his muscles bunched deliciously in the dim light.
Xerxes’s long blond hair was slightly tousled, his amethyst eyes practically glowed with annoyance, and his twin daggers flashed. He sneered, “You’re all pathetic. Classic, savage alphas.”
“Don’t look at her.” Ascher turned and growled at Xerxes. He stood in front of him to block his view of me.
“None of you look at her!” Cobra shouted loudly.
Jax and I both rolled our eyes. I was wrapped up in a blanket for sun god’s sake; there wasn’t anything to see.
I coughed twice. “Can we please get a little more sleep before training today? You’re all seriously unwell and need intensive psychological help.”
Four half-naked, extremely handsome shifters narrowed their eyes at me.
I pursed my lips and spoke my truth. “Frankly, I can’t live like this.”
Cobra sneered back, “Frankly, Kitten, you’re going to live how I tell you to live.”
Jax threw him back into the wall.
Ascher, who hadn’t stopped staring at me, walked up to the bed. “Are you okay, Princess? Do you need me to get you anything? You can sleep in my bed.”
His words were sweet, but the husky rasp of his voice and the clench of his tattooed jaw were anything but innocent.
Sexual tension radiated from him, and I couldn’t help but notice the hardness that strained against his sweatpants.
If he weren’t a literal jackass who betrayed me, I might have taken him up on his offer. His body was a work of art, and his tattoos mesmerized me.
Too bad he was.
“I’m good.” I waved him away with my hand and busied myself snuggling under the covers, but I stilled as Ascher reached forward.
He slowly dragged his tattooed thumb across my lips. “You only have to ask, and I’ll give it to you.” Then he walked out the door.
I gaped at his retreating tattooed back.
Xerxes bared his teeth like a savage animal and followed him out the door. Who knew what his problem was?
With the two men gone, Jax and Cobra sauntered toward me, and I narrowed my eyes at them. What were they going to do—TKO me in a fit of rage?
“Scoot over,” Cobra whispered, and shoved me forward gently.
Suddenly, I found myself sandwiched on the bed between Cobra’s and Jax’s large bodies.
“Um… Are we going to?” I asked the million-dollar question.
“Shut the fuck up, Kitten, and go to sleep,” Cobra snapped and covered my eyes with his hand like he could physically put me to sleep.
A growl vibrated through Jax’s chest. “Don’t talk to her like that.”
Cobra tucked me against his chest, pulled blankets up over himself, and mumbled sleepily, “I’m gonna kill you both.”
Jax and I scoffed but said nothing, and I snuggled my face into Jax’s warm chestnut-scented chest.
I couldn’t keep the smile off my face because Cobra’s words had somehow, in some twisted way, felt like a declaration of love.
It was official: I was unwell.
