Page 105 of Bonding the Band

His fear filtered through the bond, a constant buzz of anxiety overlaying dark terror. We all knew detoxing wouldn’t be pleasant, but it was a necessary step.

“Be safe,” he said to me as we stepped off our chartered plane, a vehicle to the rehab clinic already waiting for him. “Please let them take care of you. Meadow, I’m so sorry. I lov?—”

I growled. “Don’t you fucking dare say that to me right now. You keep those words in your mouth until you come back home to me, tous, okay?”

Hendrix swallowed hard but nodded. I watched in agonized silence as he left with the clinic team and we went our separate way to the pack house.

The new nest felt too sterile, so I had Beckett and Phin roll around in it for me while Arlo made me some peanut butter toast in the kitchen.

“You’ve been so quiet, princess. It’s kind of freaking me out.”

“Sorry,” I muttered. “Just tired.”

Hendrix’s panic had my heart pounding, and I squeezed my eyes shut against it.

“Whoa there, what’s going on?”

“He’s really scared,” I whispered. I wanted to be there for him, but everyone had insisted being around a detoxing alpha was no place for a pregnant omega. “Arlo…”

He folded me into his arms, and I sucked in deep breaths of his apple cider scent, trying to let it drown out everything tumbling through the bond. The doctor had told us that me taking another bond would help stabilize me during this process. I wanted Arlo, even if it felt a bit shitty to ask for him right now. The universe didn’t really care about the timelines of us mere mortals. Bonding the rest of the pack in my first heat after the baby was born would be ideal, but I wasn’t in any place emotionally to endure what Hendrix would be going through.

“My bond is yours the second you ask for it,” Arlo promised. “I’d have given it to you months ago.”

I had wanted him from the moment we had met, and now was no different, even if my desire needed to be unburied.

“Take me to the nest. Help me christen it?”

“I’m always available for that.” His kiss was soft at first, ramping up when I dragged him closer, moaning into his mouth. The surge of his apple cider scent made it even easier to lay down emotional bricks in the bond. I needed the distraction of him, needed to immerse myself in how good we were together, how easy it was for him to give me everything I needed.

I stumbled after him as he pulled me toward the nest, breathless with anticipation, my instincts preparing me for what was to come. My alpha was going to take care of me. That care might look different from what some people would expect me to need, but it was a sweet reminder that, no matter how fucked up the world was, we still had this connection.

Beckett and Phin both turned to look at us as we entered. Beckett was stretched out in the nest, and Phin was wearing one of my blankets like a cape, jogging in place.

“Do you want them to stay, princess?” Arlo asked.

I was only going to take one bond today, but the thought of Beckett and Phin being included in any capacity had my perfume erupting. “Stay.”

Beckett moved over in the nest, and Phin tossed the blanket onto it, climbing in as well. Having their gazes on me made it even easier to slip into the mindset I needed. My body knew what to do, and I was ready for this connection to Arlo, even if it was earlier than expected.

He brushed my hair to the side, his lips dropping to my shoulder and making their way up my throat. My breath stuttered, slick pooling between my thighs when he nipped my earlobe and swept his hands down my body, lifting my dress up and over my head. Watching the heat in Beckett’s and Phin’s eyes made me feel vulnerable and desired all at once.

“Can we touch, too, sweets? Or just watch?”

Reaching toward them with a pitiful whine was answer enough. The three of them stripped me out of what little clothing remained on my body, and I closed my eyes, taking in the sensation of hands everywhere, mouths worshiping my skin. I climbed to the edge of the nest, my feet on the floor as I balanced my hand on Phin’s head when he lifted one of my legs, propping my thigh to rest on his shoulder. Beckett dove in, his tongue sweeping through my slick folds, and Phin tucked a pair of fingers into my pussy while Arlo took his sweet time cupping my breasts and sucking the sensitive spots on my throat.

The three of them brought me to a quick, devastating rise that took my legs right out from under me. They caught me before I hit the ground and carried me over to the nest,spreading me out where Beckett continued his feast and Arlo took his fill from my lips.

The screaming of Hendrix’s panic had faded to a whisper, and I hoped the pleasure his pack was giving me would offset some of his fears, even if he wasn’t here to participate.

Once they had sent me spiraling over the edge one more time, Arlo ordered the others to sit at the headboard and me to brace my hands there. Somehow, being face-to-face with them, having all that intense eye contact while Arlo finger-fucked me to prep me for his cock, was even more intimate than when they had been inside me.

Phin caught my chin and drew me in for a searing kiss. “You are the most perfect omega in the world.”

Beckett stole me for his own kiss, and I moaned into his mouth as Arlo began to work his cock into me. “Good girl, letting your alphas take care of you.”

My cheeks flushed with warmth, and I closed my eyes against the intensity in theirs. With expert hands, they teased every inch of me while Arlo rode me at the perfect pace and precise angle to ruin me. Bit by bit, reality narrowed down to only the alphas in my nest.

They were exactly what I needed.

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