Page 43 of The Beta's Bargain

“Gray?”

I reach out and place a hand on his arm. He moves so quickly that I can’t even anticipate it. I’m suddenly on the bed, with him sitting on my hips, his mouth bared in a vicious snarl.

Even though my body trembles, I reach up with a shaking hand and cup his cheek. I try to ignore how hard I’m trembling.

He blinks several times, and the enraged expression changes to one of confusion.

“Onyx? What are you doing in here?”

“You were whimpering.”

“So, you got into my bed?” Grayson smirks and rolls to the side but keeps me pinned with a single, huge thigh over my hips.

“I did not get into your bed. I touched your arm, and you just…magicked me here.”

“Magicked?” Grayson laughs. “I have skills even I’m unaware of. Holy hell, I'm a next level alpha.”

“Shut up.” I hiss at him. “You just did this pull and flip, and the next thing I knew, I was pinned.”

Gray is silent, his smile fading. “Did I scare you?”

I study the intensity in his eyes and shake my head. “Not at all.”

His face transforms, and a huge grin appears. “Oh, then you liked it?”

My mouth works, but no sound comes out. “No!” I finally almost shout.

“I think you did,” he says in a low voice that makes my stomach flutter.

This alpha is deadly.

The door rips open suddenly, and I twist my head to see a man outlined in the light. He comes into the room and pushes the door closed. My heart thumps almost painfully in my chest, but then Dylan peers down at me. He slides into the empty space on the bed and shoves Gray’s leg off me.

I sit up, but two arms pin me down again. I grumble and adjust my body until I’m comfortable, but then they move closer. It’s strange to have two huge bodies plastered on either side of me. Kinda nice but intimidating. I vividly remember Dylan’s kiss and feel my lips tingle.

No, this is wrong!

But then I notice that Gray’s fingers are on Dylan’s arm.

My eyes widen as my brain joins the dots. I’m the invisible buffer helping them to grow back towards each other.

There’s a small amount of comfort in that. But it’s also distressing in a way that I refuse to analyse. I lay there for a long time. Dylan searches his alpha out in his sleep. One arm curling over me to press against the skin of Gray’s chest.

It’s sweet. It’s excruciating.

The alpha moves in his sleep, burying his face in my shoulder. Shivers run over my skin, and I find it hard to breathe.

Dylan makes a sound that’s similar to a growl, and when I turn my head, I find his eyes wide open.

“You can’t growl if you came in here and contributed to this…fiasco!” I snap in a whisper.

He moves closer to me and drags his teeth down my shoulder. I shudder. My nipples go hard, and I feel a warmth and ache between my legs that makes me press my thighs together. It’s an effort to keep my breathing regulated.

I hear his soft laugh as he does it again. I squirm and then freeze, my breath puffing out of me when Gray makes a sound that is deeper than Dylan’s growl. He shifts his weight, and I feel something long and hard pressing against my thigh. Where are their clothes? My internal brain squeals. Why aren’t they wearing underwear? The baffling mysteries of this moment are there and then gone in a poof of a breath from Gray.

I might not have experienced a lot, but all the years of living where I've lived and attending the parties, I've seen things that have opened my eyes to a universe of sex. I’m not shy. My eyeballs have bled with how much I’ve seen.

But experience, not so much.

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