Page 60 of Wanted By the Wolves

“She could die. Birth kills omegas. Her heat all but guarantees?—”

Briggs cuts me off, his voice harder than I’ve ever heard. “Living always comes with risks. She deserves the world anyway. And we’re gonna give it to her.”

The vibrations of his voice spread through me, making my muscles unlock and my cock stand at attention. My brain-to-mouth filter fails spectacularly. “You’re kinda sexy when you’re growly like that.”

His eyebrows shoot up mockingly. “Ohhhh. We’re acknowledging that you’re attracted to me, are we? I thought you were gonna leave my mate declaration just out there in ruins.”

I smile, but it’s half-hearted. “She’s mine. You’re mine. Isn’t that what you said? What is there to discuss?” My words are as bitter as my attitude, but I can’t seem to stop the vitriol in the sound.

“Jeez, were you always this emotionally stunted?” Briggs groans, clutching his chest as though I’ve wounded him.

I sober, looking him square in the eyes. A minute passes, maybe an eternity. “No.”

He brushes his finger along my brow, smoothing out the crease that seems to permanently live there. “Hey, I didn’t mean?—”

“It’s the truth.” My shoulders tense.

It isn’t Briggs’s fault. It’s certainly not Nova’s. They’re wonderful. But I’m too bitter. Broken. It’s a stark contrast to their light, which somehow makes it worse.

I thought I had a handle on this, but the reality of setting that moon circle and all it will bring makes me want to hit something. It’s as if someone took my greatest wish—taking care of my omega with a pack—and twisted it into something dark.

Briggs rolls off me, settling on his side and cradling his head in his palm. “I'm here to listen if you want to talk about it. I want you to trust me enough to let me understand so I can help give you what you need.”

“What’s there to say?” I face his gaze and let him see all of it. Then he’ll know—I’m not worth it. They need better than me. They need someone who can keep her safe and give her the future she deserves. “I failed, and I’m trying my best not to fail her too, but the odds aren’t great.”

“You didn’t fail,” Briggs says softly.

I look away from his understanding gaze, staring unseeing at the hay. “Tell that to the omegas who came before Nova.”

Briggs leans over my chest, getting right into my space. “I’m telling it to you because you’re the one who needs to hear it. This isn’t your fault any more than what’s happening to omegas is hers.”

A frustrated growl builds in my chest. “It doesn’t matter who is to blame. It doesn’t change the fact that we need to bond her, but the same bond she needs won’t be strong enough to sustain her”—I clench my jaw, the words bitter on my tongue—“or that I don’t know how to fix it.”

“Bullshit,” Briggs growls. “We’re here when all the odds say we shouldn’t be. So, fuck whatever the odds are. We’re gonna beat them. But that means we need you. All in.”

I laugh at his delusions, but it’s humorless. “You always were cocky.”

“It’s not cocky if it’s true,” he says softly, none of his usual teasing in his tone.

I study him and realize he means it. “How do you know? You have a gift of sight that I don’t know about?”

“No, smartass.” Briggs sits up, beating his chest over his heart with his fist. “I feel it. In here.” His eyes flash a spark of silver before he dives for me again, pinning my wrists and bringing them over my head. “Just like I know that you’re gonna love having my hands on you.”

“Oh yeah?” I buck against his hold, testing his restraints. The alpha gives me a cocky grin when I don’t budge. “Prove it.”

“I did promise orgasms, and I’m a man of my word,” he teases.

His mouth collides with mine, nipping until I let him in. It’s a kiss that forces me to surrender, and I sink into it. The constant buzz in my brain finally settles as we trade kisses, our tongues tangling.

He lets go of my wrists to tackle my pants, pulling out my hard cock. The first stroke makes me buck into his hand. “Please tell me you thought of lube.”

“Sort of.” Briggs laughs as he slides down between my legs. His tongue darts out to lick my crown, then he’s sucking me in.

It’s so good I rock into the tunnel of his mouth, my hands flying to his hair. My horny meter has been dialed up past ten for days. My omega and alpha mates have been driving me crazy with want that I barely let myself have. I’ve been hiding out along the perimeter, watching but not really joining.

Briggs takes me deep only to retreat and do it again, sucking me as he squeezes my knot.I’m not going to last long. My body is already aching to come.

Briggs growls, pulling himself off my cock. “Stop holding back.”

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