His praise makes me moan, and it's a genuine battle to keep my eyes open.
 
 “Don't, Omega,” he whispers, “keep them open. Just a bit longer. You can do it. You're almost there.”
 
 Talia hitsthat spotinside me as he whispers the encouragement and I nearly buck off of Reid as I cry out in a painful sort of pleasure.
 
 “I'm going to line up his cock, now, princess. Don't you dare cum until he's inside. Understand?”
 
 I nod, mindlessly agreeing. I don't think I can hold my orgasm back, but I'll try. I want to be full of Reid when I cum. It'll make it so much better. Talia gently presses me forward, just a bit, then I feel the head of Reid's cock pressing against my opening and I instinctively relax my muscles. He doesn't exactly slip right in, but it doesn't take much effort to work him inside.
 
 “Ride him while I jerk you off, Jasper. I'll hold my hands still and you can fuck them while you ride Ried's cock. He's close to cumming, too.”
 
 And that's what I do. She stacks her fists around my throbbing cock and I thrust into them. Then I push back onto Reid and sigh in relief. It's going to take less than a minute for me to cum.
 
 “That's it. You're doing such a good job. Fuck that's hot. His knot is starting to swell,” Talia's voice sounds the way it does when she's losing herself to her own lust. Reid's knot is swelling, I can feel my body resisting the stretch every time I thrust my hips. Talia's front is tight against my back and I'm using my hold on her thighs for leverage. Reid's hips are rising to meet my thrusts regardless of the fact that both Talia and I are riding him.
 
 “Fuck, princess,” she groans, “you're taking him. Cum. Cum right now. I want to see it before I let him fuck you the way he needs to.”
 
 Reid's hips jerk and he abruptly pushes inside me, and at the same time Talia uses one of her hands to twist over my overly-sensitive head, and that's it. That's all I can take. I practically scream when I cum. Jet after jet of pearly liquid lands across Reid's stomach while I convulse and writhe. Then Talia slides from behind me and kneels beside Reid, then she leans down to lick up some of my cum. She hums happily and laps up a bit more that she shares with Reid in a sticky kiss. “You can fuck him now, alpha.”
 
 Reid flips me onto my back so fucking fast, it takes more time for me to reorient myself than it does for him to slam his cock inside me. He puts his hands on the backs of my thighs behind my knees and pushes them up against my shoulders. Then he fucks me. Hard.
 
 He's making the most wonderful sounds, grunting and growling. I can hear my own urgent noises but they sound far away and unimportant; and I still haven't broken eye contact. I'm pretty proud of that, actually. Then I forget to be proud because Reid pushes his knot inside me. I throw my head back, arching my neck and my spine as he locks in place. I think I scream as the white-hot fiery pleasure of being marked slams into me when Reid sinks his teeth into my chest. I don't know. All I can do is feel.
 
 I fight my euphoric exhaustion to get to the surface of consciousness, even if it's just for a few seconds. I need to know that Talia won't leave me, no matter that I can already feel my bond with Reid weaving us together.
 
 She's right there. Beside me. Combing her fingers through my damp hair. I can hear her as if from a great distance, she's telling Reid what a wonderful alpha he is, and telling me how proud she is of me. I can feel the intense adoration and love Reid feels for her through our bond, and the joy he feels with me. I smile, that joy will grow and turn into the same love I have with the other alphas, I just know it.
 
 They both look down at me and give me their own smiles. Devon was right. I'm still worried sick, still terrified, still fucking angry, but I'm grounded. I'm safe. And those things will keep me strong enough to get my pack home.
 
 Chapter twenty-three
 
 Reid
 
 Jasper’s bond feels so different from Talia’s. I don’t know why I expected it to be the same or even similar. He feels so very masculine. Alphas walk around with the general perception that omegas are all soft and gentle and complacent, even the male omegas. Our trainers and instructors go over it from the time we’re young so we spend years anticipating and preparing ourselves for having a bond with a perfect, sweet, docile omega who will be the beating heart of our pack.
 
 Talia is none of those things, not fully. Shecanbe soft and gentle, she often is with me and I feel her softness for Jasper and the others through our bond. But her softness isn’t what I was taught to expect. Talia’s softness has an edge, a rough, hard edge that takes effort and work to navigate. Only after you work past that edge are you graced with her softness.
 
 Jasper is everything all at once. He is a masterpiece of feminine masculinity. The first feeling I registered through my bond with him was soft, warm contentment. The next was intense worry. And the one after that was an even more intense and seething rage. He would slaughter every single one of the people responsible for taking his pack, and I believe he could do it if we let him put himself in a position to do it.
 
 His body is still clenching tightly around me. Succumbing to satisfied exhaustion almost immediately after being knotted is apparently a trait both he and Talia share. I love it, feeling his content both inwardly and outwardly. I can feel Talia, as well. She may not have been fucked or knotted, but she's as exhausted as Jasper is.
 
 I'm holding them both in my arms. Jasper laid over my chest the moment my cock stopped pulsing inside him, and Talia cuddled into my side with her head on my shoulder and her leg hitched over mine. I've never felt anything as wonderful in my life. I'm surrounded and filled with my omegas. Mine.
 
 I never thought I'd have one, much less two. After Talia left us before, I never wanted to seek one out. Neither did Corso or Alex. We knew she was ours, but we couldn't bring ourselves to force her to stay if she didn't want to. And if we couldn't have her we didn't want anyone. Not on a permanent basis, anyway.
 
 After months and months, over a year I think, they let themselves be convinced to ease two omegas. Talia's mother, herself, asked us to. The goal wasn't to create a bond, just to provide relief. I couldn't bring myself to participate. Even if she never came back to us, I will always belong to Talia. The guilt of those omega easements ate at Corso for weeks afterward, and Alex still hasn't spoken about it.
 
 Corso comes in quietly and touches both Talia's and Jasper's dark heads. “It's done?” he whispers.
 
 I nod. I don't want to interrupt my purring to reply. Talia is making that beautiful sound she makes now that she's an omega, and Jasper's soft purr is teasing the skin on my chest.
 
 “How is he? Any better than before?”
 
 I sigh, Corso won't be satisfied with anything less than a full answer. “He will be alright. He's worried and extremely angry, but he will become more stable quickly. He's very tired.” I raise an eyebrow on the last point. I would never tell Corso to shut up and go away because we respect each other too much for that, but there's an immature, preening, practically gloating voice inside me trying to convince me to run Corso out of the room.
 
 Corso, who knows me as well as I know myself, smiles that understanding, solid smile of his. “Are you alright, Reid?”
 
 “I am. I don't think I've ever been better.” And because he genuinely wants the best for his entire pack I add, “would you like to stay?”