Page 99 of Break Me Knot

Cole’s dark eyes glow with heat. He sucks his full bottom lip into his mouth and a low growl vibrates in his chest. “It won’t be corny when I have you screaming under my tongue, because I meant everything I said.”

Holy fucking mother of the Gods. I just about swallow my tongue. My blood simmers with heat. Not the heat that ravaged me before. This is a liquid heat. A hazy kind that eases through my body and laps at my core.

The fairy lights cast Adrian in gold and shadow, turning him ethereal. His white shirt is still stained with blood, his hair wild from the fight, but his eyes... his eyesburn. He's beautiful like this, powerful and protective, deadly and gentle. The man who tore Elliot apart with his bare hands now looks at me with infinite tenderness. My prime alpha, surrounded by the nest I built for us, looking at me like I'm everything he's ever wanted.

Adrian glances down at his hands and rears away from me before he can touch me. “I need to shower first, Little One. I can't touch you... not like this.”

I catch his hands in mine before he can get too far away from me. "Don't." I press my palms against his bloodstained ones. "Don't separate us. Not now. Not after everything." The events in the garage are still too fresh, too raw to bear any distance between us.

Understanding softens his expression as his eyes track over my body, cataloging every injury. The scrapes are superficial, but his chest rattles with a lot growl. "They marked your perfect skin. I vow to you, Mira,no one,nothingwill ever hurt you again," he murmurs, fury and tenderness warring in his voice.

I shiver at the ferocity in those soft words, at the deadly promise beneath their gentle delivery. These alphas, my mates, would tear apart heaven and hell if I asked it of them. They've already proven their devotion in blood and violence, their love for me written in the broken bodies they left in that garage. It's not just a promise - it's an absolute truth, as certain as our bonds, as inevitable as fate itself.

"Let us take care of you beforewetake care of you.” Zane waggles his brows and despite the gravity of how we received our injuries, a laugh bubbles up.

They guide me to the bathroom, where the oversized tub could easily fit all four of us. Cole starts the water, testing the temperature, while Zane adds my favorite lavender bath oil. Adrian helps me out of my torn and bloodied clothes, his touch gentle despite the evidence of violence still staining his hands. Zane and Cole shed their own ruined clothes, their bodies bearing marks from their fights with Lars and Hugo.

The water is perfect when we sink in together, my back against Adrian's chest, Zane and Cole bracketing us on either side. They wash me with care, their hands tender as they clean each scrape and scratch. The bloody evidence of our ordeal swirls away in the warm water, replaced by the mingled scents of lavender and our combined arousal.

"Our brave omega," Zane murmurs, pressing kisses to my shoulder while his hands work soap into a lather against my skin. Cole's strong fingers massage my tired muscles, working out knots of tension. Adrian's fingers thread through my hair, working out tangles, his chest rumbling soothingly against my back.

The tension begins to shift as our bodies press closer in the warm water. Healing touches turn to something more heated, need rising between us like steam. Their hands become more purposeful, their kisses more urgent.

"Take us to our nest," I breathe, already aching for more, for the completion only they can give me. "Show me how much you love me."

Their growls of approval echo off the bathroom tiles as they lift me from the water. Zane wraps me in a huge, soft towel as they quickly dry off before Adrian carries me toward the nest room, toward the sanctuary I created for us, toward the promise of pleasure and reconnection.

Finally,finally, Adrian unwraps the towel from around me and lays me on the mattress in my nest.Thenest I created for all of us. Cole and Zane kneel next to him, forming a circle around me.

Adrian cups my cheek. “Better now, Little One.”

The hands that dealt death now cradle me with tenderness. “You saved me and now I know…you really will tear down the world with your bare hands to save me.”

I press a kiss to his knuckles. Behind him, Zane and Cole watch with identical expressions of wonder and heat. “We're scent-matched mates,” I continue, voice stronger now. “I know what it means now. This is what we do for each other. We protect. We fight. We kill if we have to.” I lean into his touch, letting him understand how unafraid I am. “And I would do the same for you. For any of you.”

“How do you know this?” Zane’s fingers trace patterns on my skin.

I draw strength from his presence, from fresh citrus that makes me think I could be in an orange grove. “From the Omega Biology book I’ve been reading.” My voice wavers. “Haven told us nothing like this. They twisted everything, but the book taught me how rare and precious scent-matches are. How they're meant to be treasured, not feared. I'm so sorry I didn't understand sooner. Didn't understand who we really are to each other.”

Zane's laugh is gentle as he presses a kiss to my temple, his lips soft against my skin. “You have nothing to be sorry for. Nothing at all.” His eyes sparkle with sudden mischief as he glances at Cole. “Though speaking of apologies... someone knew exactly what we were to each other and took his sweet time coming around.”

Cole's massive frame shifts closer, his heat radiating against my back like a living furnace. His pine scent deepens with something both defensive and amused. “I’m sorry, Mira. So damned sorry. If I could turn back time, I’d do things so differently.”

Zane leans down to whisper in my ear. “Does your nest have a naughty corner, because I’d be very interested in that.”

Cole's growl vibrates through me, as heat pools low in my belly. His hands slide possessively over my hips, thumbs pressing into sensitive spots that make my vision spark. “I hope it does,” he purrs, the sound pure sin wrapped in velvet. “I plan to be very naughty with our omega.”

The tension in the nest shifts to something heavier, hungrier. Adrian's hands tighten slightly on my waist as Cole's words send shivers down my spine. Three pairs of alpha eyes darken with desire, our scents—cedar, citrus, pine and my own spun lilac sugar—merging into something intoxicating.

Something ours.

“Very naughty indeed,” Zane murmurs, his playfulness taking on a heated edge.

Adrian's thumb traces my bottom lip. “Show us. Show us exactly how naughty you plan to be.”

The air in the nest grows thick as Cole's hands tighten on my hips, Zane leans down to nuzzle my neck and Adrian captures my mouth. I pour everything into this kiss. Love. Gratitude. Belonging. My fingers tangle in his shirt and pull him closer to sweep my tongue across his lower lip. My soul reaches for his through the kiss, offering everything I am, everything I'll ever be.

A moan escapes, raw with longing, met by Adrian's answering growl that vibrates from his chest into mine. His grip tightens on my waist as Zane's fingers glide upward and Cole's hand travels from my hip to my thigh.

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