Page 13 of Pack's Promise

“Sometimes,” he shrugged. “It makes me look smarter, don’t you think?”

I nodded, unable to put into words what I really thought.

“I know I’m not as smart as Luc, but I think I can hold my own, with these bad boys.” He pointed at his frames. “It’s tough having a genius as your pack alpha, but at least I canlooklike a genius.”

He seemed pretty intelligent to me–after all, he was the one whose investments were making money while he relaxed at a coffee shop, but I smiled at his humor anyway, and bought us drinks: a black coffee for him and a vanilla latte for myself. I could splurge a little. I eyed his black coffee warily, wondering if he had bought it because it was cheap, but he anticipated my question.

“I don’t want anything sugary–you’re sweet enough for me, Madison,” he said with a wink, and I rolled my eyes.

It was easy with Rian, I thought as we chatted and took sips of coffee between smiles and laughter. Too easy–I had forgotten it was not supposed to be a date, and when he pulled a sheaf of papers from his briefcase, I was startled to see them: the forms of our contract. Myheatcontract.

“Sorry,” Rian said with a grimace. “We forgot to sign these in the, uh, excitement of last night.”

I blushed, knowing we were both remembering our kiss, and looked down at the papers only to blush even deeper at the words staring up at me. It was just as embarrassing to look at the lists of dos and don’ts today as it had been yesterday. More so, maybe, since Rian and I had–had kissed.

“If you’re ready, just sign them, and I’ll shove them back in my briefcase and we won't have to think about them any more.” He passed me a pen. It was metal, and heavy, not a cheap disposable ballpoint. A CEO’s pen. I hesitated.

“Isn’t it… weird?” I blurted, his heavy pen still poised above the signature line. “I mean, as a beta, isn’t all this stuff so weird to you?” He shrugged, looking down. “We’re filling out a–” I looked around at the crowded tables, but no one was looking back at the two of us. We probably looked like a normal beta couple on a date. “A heat contract, for me to–for me to have sex with you–your pack. Isn’t that just… weird?” I finished. I forced myself to look up at Rian’s face, his eyes serious behind his glasses.

“Yeah, Madison,” he agreed. “Yeah, it is, as you put it,weird.But…” he reached across the table, taking my hands in his own. “I love”–my heart got ahead of itself and skipped a beat–“Gray and Lucas, and I couldn’t imagine life without them.” Of course. “They’re everything to me. They’re my pack. My family. And they want you.” I only had a second to recognize a strange feeling of disappointment before he continued, “And I want you, too.” His thumb traced circles across the back hand, and his eyes, usually so full of light and humor, grew dark. “Since I bumped into you at the club, I wanted you. Before I knew you were an omega, before you clicked so well with Luc and Gray, I wanted you.”

This was a confession. I didn’t know much about pack dynamics, but I thought I understood these three men well enough at least to know that the alphas wouldn’t have been happy about–or even willing to consider–sharing their beta with anyone outside of the pack. And still… Rian had wantedme. The thought thrilled dangerously under my skin.

“I want you, Madison,” he said, and I could feel my body reacting to the words. I wanted him, too.

“Sign the papers, Madison,” he said. His voice was low, almost a purr, if a beta could purr. “So I can have you.”

I signed.

CHAPTERSIXTEEN

Rian

One moment,we were at the table in the coffeeshop, Madison marking her name down next to mine, next to Gray’s and Luc’s.

The next moment, we were in the coffee shop's meticulously clean bathroom, and she was groping blindly with one hand behind her, locking the door even as I shoved her up against the wall, my tongue in her sweet vanilla mouth.

I’d pay for this, later–I was already swollen and sore from last night, could still remember Gray’s voice in my ear as he fucked into me hard and fast from behind, and I knew he’d do it again as soon as he figured out what was about to happen, here–what was happening, now.

Her hands were at the hem of my sweater, pulling it up and over my head, tossing it aside to land–thankfully–on the hand rail by the toilet. Of all the places to break my streak of celibacy (with a woman, obviously) it was going to be here? Madison was unbuttoning my shirt from the top down, sliding her slim fingers down my chest, then back up, looping over my shoulders as I slipped my own hands below her shirt, feeling the curve of her lower back into her narrow waist–

“You only have one mating mark?” she asked suddenly, eyes sharp as her fingers danced across the smooth skin of the scar on my shoulder.

“Only one that you can see with my clothes on,” I said, watching her eyes dilate, then kissing her again, pausing only to murmur into her mouth, “that one’s Luc’s, he’s a traditionalist.” She kissed the mark, and my cock, already straining against my trousers, twitched.Why was that so hot?On reflection, I knew exactly why: I could already anticipate Luc discovering her taste there, later. She kissed it again, her mouth hot against my skin, then kissed me again, halfway up my neck, then my jaw. I knew she was an omega, but… the way she battled for control reminded me she hadn’t been one for long. She’d soon find that my alphas wouldn’t allow her such liberties, but I could, at least for now. I tilted her mouth to mine and kissed her again, waiting until she was nearly breathless with want, her scent registering even to my beta senses, to break the kiss, step back, and whisper, “Why don’t you try finding Gray’s?”

She ran her fingers over my ribcage, my waist, the top of my ass–all the places you might find a the smooth skin of a bite–and then Madison dropped to her knees on the clean tile, pretty eyes looking up at me through long, feminine lashes as she unbuckled my belt, then unbuttoned my pants. She didn’t break eye contact as she slid the zipper down its track, and I could feel my cock spring forward, stretching against my tight black boxer briefs. It wasn’t that I never got my dick sucked–I did, thank you very much, my alphas weren’t total cretins–but by a woman? It had been a long time. And an omega? Never. I knew her mouth was the same as anyone’s, regardless of sex or gender or whatever else, but the way her lips parted, wet and pink, made me think of–

And then she pulled my pants down around my thighs, and kissed the skin where my other mating mark was, the scar there smoothed by time like the one on my shoulder, and I stopped thinking at all.

Instead, I gave myself over to the feeling of her soft lips on my inner thigh, her tongue swiping over the smooth skin of Gray’s mark on my skin, her hands gripping my ass, then tugging my boxer briefs down to free my leaking cock, and finally–finally–her mouth, soft and wet and hot around my head, and I couldn’t stop myself from bucking towards her at the sensation, forcing myself deeper, her tongue tracing the vein on the underside of my cock as she opened her mouth wider to take me inside.

“Jesus, Madison, you feel so good,” I said, the words spilling out of me. “Been so long since–” my words were choked off as she twirled her tongue around my head and I had to concentrate on not coming embarrassingly quickly. Andfuck, she’d be marked by my come, she’d smell like me, and Luc and Gray, whose scents lingered in and on my body, whose bites she had tasted–I shut my eyes tight for a second, willing myself away from the edge.

“Your alphas don’t do this for you?” she said, looking up at me through those long lashes again as she replaced her mouth with her hand for a moment, stroking my shaft with just the right amount of pressure. She brought her other hand up to play with my balls, and I gasped.

“Yes–ah,yes, Madison, fuck. Yes, they do, and–and more.” A thought somehow made its way into my addled brain, past the thick fog of lust, and out of my slack mouth before I could stop myself. “Want me to tell you?” Her lips were full and soft as she nodded up at me, then took me into her mouth again, and I tried to concentrate. “Gray has a filthy mouth,” I told her, tangling my hands in her soft hair, pushing it away from her face so I could look down on her pretty face. “You already know as much, don’t you,baby?You like it when he calls you that,” I said, feeling the vibrations of her moan around my shaft at the pet name. “I like it, too,” I said, honestly, and maybe I should have been jealous of the thought of them together, of Gray calling someone else his baby after so many years of being his only, but… it wasmycock slipping past the back of Madison’s mouth right now,mycock she was taking far into her throat right now, her gag reflex working against my entry making it so, so tight, and I didn’t have the bandwidth for jealousy, for any deeper thought thanyesandpleaseandmore.

And I knew what it was thatsheliked, she had made it clear when she swallowed me deeper:

---