Page 37 of In Their Arms

Hudson had mentioned he had stepped into Hearthstone but not that he had been looking to retrieve Luca, going around the official statement that had taken Luca from us in the first place. I have no words. Just rage. Pure, unfiltered rage.

Grayson is just as bad, both of our purrs a mixture of a growl and needing to calm the storm running through our Omega. He’s still ugly crying, shaking in my arms, slowly calming the louder my purr becomes. “There was a Beta,” he whispers. “Wilson. He helped me. He said I wasn’t the first Omega Hudson had messed with.” His voice hitches, thick with fear, with something too broken to piece back together. “That I wouldn’t be the last. He said most of the Omegas Hudson took never showed up again.”

Ah my beautifully tortured Omega, I’m going to ruin the world for him. Hudson is on my shit list but so is every other person involved with this bullshit. I drag him into a fierce kiss, loving the way he immediately settles against me. “It’ll be okay,” I murmur against his mouth, my fingers threading through his hair. “I’ve got you, sweetheart.”

Luca swallows hard, blinking up at me, eyes still red-rimmed and glassy from crying. He nods, but there’s something hesitant in the way he does it, like he’s still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I run my thumb over his cheek, tilting his chin up so he can’t avoid my eyes. “So the bite is gone?”

A slow exhale leaves him, his lips parting, relief washing over his features in a way that makes my chest ache. “I can’t feel him anymore,” he whispers. “It’s perfect.”

I lightly sweep my fingers over the bandage on his neck, feeling the raised skin beneath it. It’s a clean removal, nothing jagged or sloppy. Someone knew exactly what they were doing. I keep my touch gentle, but my jaw tightens. “We couldn’t feel you when they took you to Hearthstone, sweetheart. It was like you just… vanished. And away from the others, I had no idea what had happened to you.”

“That place was like a cage,” he says, his voice quieter now. “They preached about wanting to help battered Omegas, but it was everything but that. They were erasing our connections to our pack. It felt so lonely. I couldn’t feel you and then when I found out Hudson was coming…”

“We’ll figure everything out later,” I tell him, pressing a kiss to the top of his head. “Right now, I want to get you home, because Blake needs you probably even more than me.”

Luca softens in my arms, his whole body melting against me, tension draining out of him. A sleepy smile tugs at his lips. “He’s going to be so beautiful,” he murmurs, his voice laced with warm affection. His nose nudges at my throat, his breath ghosting over my skin. “I can smell him all over you.”

That makes me chuckle, a low rumble in my chest. Blake’s scent is everywhere on me, his neediness seeping through the bond, Luca starting to wriggle in my lap and when his scent sweetens mixed with his arousal, I know that if we don’t head home, I’m going to fuck him in the car. Grayson is on the same wavelength, peeling down the road as I drop my nose to our Omega’s head, realizing that there’s something different about him. It’s still that ocean summer scent, salty and fresh, but there’s a new note there, something I can’t quite place.

I have my suspicions but don’t question it, just holding him tighter until we reach the condo. We still need to have a discussion, to figure out everything surrounding Luca and Hudson but that’ll have to wait. The moment the car comes to a stop, Luca is trying to climb out of the car. I just laugh, watching him scramble to the elevator and wonder when he’ll figure out that he doesn’t have the keys.

Grayson falls in step with me, his gaze firmly trained on our Omega. “I’m not going to be able to hold back. I need my mark on him for real, Luther.”

“I’m surprised you haven’t already bitten him.”

Grayson lets out a slow breath. “The time wasn’t right. None of us were in the right headspace. But that changes.” His eyes flick to mine and then back to Luca whining for us to move faster so he can go see his ‘Bear’. “Luca is ours, Luther. Regardless of the charges. Regardless of the bullshit everyone else throws our way. We already know that.”

“And if they rule that since the removal of his bite was illegal, that he’s still Hudson’s?” I know where I stand. Luca is mine, regardless of anything else but I won’t be angry if Grayson feels differently. The way his brows furrow, I know that he doesn’t.

“I don’t give a fuck. I’ve waited too fucking long for this and I’m done waiting for our happy ending to just happen. Now, I’m taking it.”

“I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

23

Blake

I’m sprawled over my Beta, rocking on his knot, desperately trying to soothe the raging fire crawling through me. I had been perfectly fine ten minutes ago and then I felt Luca, his relief, his love, just a little bit of everything and it made me so goddamn needy. A few whines later and I was dragging Maceo from the kitchen into Luca’s nest and stuffing myself with his knot.

He was shocked until he fell into a rhythm, fucking up into me as I fell apart. “He’s coming home, Maceo. Fuck, I can feel him. He’s almost here.”

Maceo chuckles. “Yeah, he is, genius. Do you need my knot or do you want to wait?”

I don’t answer, rising up and then dropping down onto his cock, his knot immediately swelling inside of me. Seconds later, I’m coming all over his chest, Maceo’s fingers digging into my waist as I feel his release filling me up.

“I need it to stop, Maceo. It’s so hard to think and I just…” The last word slurs as heat surges through me, a wanton moan falling from my lips. My ass clenches around Maceo’s knot trying to drag him in further even as my body shakes from exhaustion. Quentin said that I needed to see this heat through but I’m mildly worried that I won’t be able to. And I think that terrifies me more than the actual heat itself at this moment.

Maceo flips me onto my back, slowly rocking against my ass as he cups my cheek in his large hand. “Focus on me, genius. Don’t get lost in your head just yet. I want you to enjoy every last moment of Luca walking in here. There you go.” He bends down to kiss me before his lips trail across my cheek and to the edge of my ear. I shiver beneath his attention before he nibbles on the sensitive skin, a sudden pain spearing through me and turning to pleasure.

I cry out as I come again, Maceo picking up his pace until it feels like he’s jackhammering into me. I’m not even sure how he manages it as he sits back on his calves, twists me around on his knot and then starts fucking into me like a wild animal. I’m on my hands and knees, whimpering and moaning, my fingers digging into the pillows and blankets before Maceo is spilling into me again and we both collapse.

“That’s not possible,” I murmur, sleep already trying to drag me under. “You… you’re a Beta.”

Maceo’s lips are still enclosed around my ear, licking and soothing the bite he just gave me. “Apparently, I’m still part Alpha. God, you feel amazing, genius.”

I can’t complain because now there’s a whole other feeling surging through my bonds, tethering me to reality, keeping me from losing myself to my heat. Maceo slowly pulls up to a sitting position, my legs sprawled over his, my cock still hard and leaking. And that’s when I catch that summery ocean scent.

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