Page 227 of Fated or Knot

I followed him up through the muffling feeling of deep water. As consciousness returned, so did the pain deep within my core. I was soempty. That had to be fixed as soon as possible.

My eyes shot open. I was hot, hot,hot, my skin reddened from the pulsing, burning need that’d sunk its talons in me. But my limbs obeyed when I decided to move into a more comfortable position. I had control. Now I just needed a knot to sit on.

Most of what I knew about heats, I’d read in books. They were always beautiful in fiction. The swooning omega would take her chosen mate, or mates, to her nest and they’d make sweet love for exactly two days. The heat haze was a graceful veil between her and her body’s actions when her instincts take over. And she never felt the encroaching fog that marked her descent from a thinking, reasoning female into a breedable creature of insatiable need.

I felt creature-ish as I eased to a sitting position and folded my legs under me. My sight came back into focus slowly, along with my hearing and the throbbing pulse of my heartbeat in the twin punctures right above my breast. Like before when I was bitten by Marius, I was aware of the bite, but it didn’t hurt.

Together, my mates smelled incredible. Their combined pheromones were a spring evening by the lake, with fragrant wood smoking in the campfire. It reminded me of the time when wildflowers popped out of the grass in flashes of color and everything bloomed under the mantle of warm sunshine. It was graced by the elusive sprinkling of stardust; the promise of Always.

Standing at the bedside, Marius and Tormund were locked in a dominance match, nearly nose to nose as they stared one another down. Their postures weren’t quite aggressive. Fal passed them, humming and grinning as he sauntered to the foot of the nest with a stack of towels in his arms.

There was a gentle touch along my ass. I recognized that Kauz had just stealthily slipped an essence mesh spell in me while I was still gaining my bearings.

I turned toward him, my heart pattering with eagerness.He’s the one.Though my tongue felt heavy in my mouth, I managed to ask, “What are they doing?” I was the one with the rasping, feral voice now.

Kauz settled into a seated position next to me. I inched over to press to his side, rubbing against him with a loving purr. “The second most dominant alpha, behind Fal, gets to knot you next,” he explained in an undertone. “We’ve always assumed that would be Marius, but Tormund’s never challenged him. Until now.”

I growled softly. “That’s silly.” I would be deciding who mated me next.

He smiled and inclined his head in agreement. “Don’t get caught telling alphas their posturing is silly.”

An odd thing happened as I regarded Kauz with the full measure of lust burning within my core. I sensed four echoes of emotion. This was something new, something anchored in the horseshoe-shaped strip of flesh above my heart. Maybe…it was the pack bond already taking root in my soul.

What I felt only encouraged me. I launched myself at Kauz and hooked my legs around his waist. My weight and strength alone probably wouldn’t be enough to budge him, but I had surprise and a bit of leverage on my side. I grabbed his undamaged wing and with a determined pull and a twist of my hips, I rolled him onto his back and straddled him.

His eyes widened. “What’re you doing?”

I scooted back and rubbed his length through the wet seam of my pussy, making a pleased trill that he was already erect and throbbing.Yes yes yes.

“Lark, I…fuck. This isn’t a good idea. I don’t have a knot,” he said.

Didn’t he see? I loved him. I’d chosen him to be next. “I need you.”

“You need an alpha’s knot, sweetheart.”

I shook my head, frustrated. Too many words for a simple situation. “I needyou,” I repeated. And despite his mild protests, he hadn’t lifted a finger to move me off of him.

“Stop arguing and give her what she wants,” Marius growled. It seemed they’d determined a winner, as he shoved Tormund back a step as the other male bowed his head briefly. Dominance and need rolled off the kelpie through our bond.

He glanced my way and made a feral sound of greeting aloud, saying the equivalent ofhello, sweet prey. I shivered in delight and made a trill back, inviting him to join us. I needed him too. He bared his fangs in a predatory smile, but murmured something to Tormund first.

I turned my attention to Kauz, inspecting him for any signs of unwillingness. He smiled back and reached up to stroke his fingertips down my cheek. “Well, if you insist that I’m what you want, I would never deny you.”

“Need. I need you,” I corrected. I sank onto Kauz’s shaft with a sigh of relief.Not so empty anymore.I rested my palms on his chest and rolled my hips to fuck myself on his cock. He touched me more, and the tingling he left in the wake of his fingertips was all the more potent when I was already feeling so exquisitely sensitive. When his magic brushed the side of my new omega mark, I nearly came on the spot. That strip of flesh was like a second, much larger clit. Pleasure resonated through me every time it’d been touched so far.

The nest dipped. “Is the mesh ready?” Tormund asked. His voice was roughened with need.Oh, sexy.I did love when he talked, especially in the deep tones of his more monstrous form.

Kauz caught my hips to still me. I contemplated biting him for that, and chose to play with myself instead, stroking my clit and folds stretched around the base of his shaft. He, in turn, seemed to turn his starry gaze to watch. I didn’t realize thiswould be something he enjoyed. Just proving himself to still be my kinky bat.

The gentle giant came up behind me, covering my back with redcap heat radiating from his skin. His big hands framed my torso, while his lips pressed to my neck.

“Should be. Prep her a little first, and start slow,” Kauz answered.

My head felt heavier as I tipped it back. Still, I leaned to meet Tormund’s lips for a sideways kiss. The thick tip of his finger circled the rim of my ass while he kissed me back. I muffled his moan of surprise with my mouth as I deepened the meeting of our lips, twining my tongue with his in wild abandon. My mouth filled with his rut scent, which had solidified into a heady mix of smoke and dark, fragrant wood. I neededmoreof him.

I practically vibrated with my need to ride Kauz more, as well. He drew little tingling swirls over my thighs and wings while he waited for Tormund to finish prepping me. The gentle attention was great in its own way, but I was burning up while I waited for more.

The redcap wiggled his finger up my ass and teased the inner walls. They flexed for him, already made ready by the essence mesh spell. My eyes rolled back just from the tease of one finger. My wings flicked impatiently.Stop playing around and fuck me. I need to be filled.

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