by Jayce Carter
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.”
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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.”
Chapter Fourteen
Sitting across from Claire struck Kaidan as bittersweet. She was there, she was safe, but they were getting ready to put it all on the table. Kaidan never liked secrets, the uncertainty of not knowing, of how it could change everything.
Still, she’d come back. She’s stayed when she could have left. The scent of Bryce on her said they’d managed some sense of normalcy between the two, and that eased pressure which he’d carried since the start, since it she’d made it clear she hadn’t seen him the same as the others.
The bruises on her face and her slow gait marred the moment. He’d ensured she had the proper dosage of her medication on her nightstand and a glass of water at the appropriate time to prevent breakthrough pain.
She’d roll her eyes, but her lips tipped up into a smile she fought. She enjoyed his care, even if she wasn’t entirely comfortable with it. Of course, when he’d offered to help her to the restroom, she’d put her foot down.
Then again, if she’d had sex with Bryce, she had to feel well enough.
Joshua came to the large dining table last, dropping a bowl of chips on it as if they’d make the entire talk easier. “Okay, out with it.”
So much for the tact he usually carried.
Claire set her forearms on the table and said nothing at first. She toyed with the stitching on her other sleeve.
Sometimes people needed leading. “Start at the beginning. We know you were looking for something in our files about an appointment on a certain day. Why?”
“My friend was murdered about a month ago. I know the alpha who did it worked there.”
“How?” Joshua chewed loudly around a mouthful of chips.
“I went through her things, and I found this card in her planner.” Claire reached into her jeans pocket and removed a small card, which she slid across the table.
Kaidan picked it up. It was one of their cards, the letters scrawled in his own handwriting. He never advised people to keep the card, but to memorize the PIN then destroy it. The creasing said it had spent a long time in someone’s wallet. “So, you looked up the date on this card and found the install done for that day? How do you know for sure this person had anything to do with your friend’s death?”
Claire’s back straightened. Talking to her could be like trying to dance when he had no idea the steps. She took insult at the smallest things. “Because I knew Jackie. I talked to her. She had an alpha boyfriend. I tried to warn her, but she didn’t listen. They never do, not until they get hurt. She told me she met him at his job all the time. When I worried once, she said the place they met was safe, that she had to put in a PIN to get past the door. This card was placed in her planner, and it fits.”
“Well, we can find out what job this is.” Kaidan rose to grab the laptop, but Claire’s face said she hadn’t spilled it all. “Tell us the rest, love.”
Her shoulders slumped. “I know what business it is. I went there, and I know who it is.”
A soft growl from Bryce had the room stilling. “You’re telling me when you suspected an alpha of killing omegas, you chose not to talk to the police, not to talk to us, but instead investigate it yourself? What if he found you out?”
“He didn’t. I sat in a room with him—”
Ah, then the growl turned full snarl. Bryce needed work on his temper. “You not only investigated but confronted him? And I thought running from Kaidan was stupid. This is on an entirely different level. What was your plan?”
“I needed information. I didn’t know if it was him or not, but no other alphas work in that office. None. It means he had to be the one who met with her, which means he had to be the one who killed her. It all fits, and the moment I met him, I was sure.”
“You were sure we were killers, love. You aren’t great at sizing up alphas.”
Her lips turned white from pressing together. “Maybe not, but it all fits. I’m sure.”
“And what do you plan to do with that?” The question came from Joshua.
She lifted her head and nailed him with a hard stare. “I’m going to kill him for what he did to Jackie. Men like that, they don’t change. It wasn’t the first time, but it will be the last, I swear it.”
Kaidan swallowed hard at the tone in her voice, the steel there. He knew as well as the rest of them that the idea fed to them about weak omegas wasn’t real, but seeing it always surprised him. She said it with absolute confidence, her teeth bared. It was why omegas should have been feared, why they were more dangerous than people knew.
He’d
seen omegas tear apart people who threatened their children, their families. Few lashed out against their own mate, but anyone else? He’d seen what one was capable of, and seeing that resolve in Claire reminded him of how good a fit she was.
Some would be crushed beneath the weight of not one but three alphas. Some would wilt beneath that sort of demand. Not her, though.
Claire was ready to take on a killer just to find justice for her friend, for an omega who had been taken far too soon.
That was the mate they needed, that fire, that spark.
Bryce broke the silence, the tension. “We’ll help. I can’t say we’ll kill him. We aren’t assassins, but we’ll help find evidence and get to the bottom of it. Who is it?”
“Kieran Elliot. He works at Graystone Enterprises.”
Kaidan froze before exchanging looks with Joshua and Bryce. Kieran?
She had to be wrong, had to have made a mistake, because if she hadn’t? If she was right about him?
They’d had a killer in their midst and they’d never known.
* * * *
Joshua stood in the home office, his back to the bookshelf, Bryce seated at the desk. “What are we supposed to do?”
They’d all thought the same thing. It wasn’t possible, not Kieran. He’d been like family to them, one of the few people who knew what they did, who had seen what they’d seen.
“It can’t be right.” Bryce sped his fingers over the keyboard, creating lists of everything they could find. They needed proof, either that he’d done it or that he hadn’t.
“But what if she’s right? What if he’s been using our resources to target omegas right under our noses?”
The clicking of Bryce’s keyboard halted. “You saw him in Seattle, when we found that slavery ring. You remember when he hauled that female out, when he about took off the arm of the EMT who reached for her?” Bryce shook his head and the typing resumed. “No, he couldn’t have done this.”
