Page 108 of Running on Empty

“Side pocket of my go bag,” he told me with a shit eating grin.

Stevie had astutely identified my need for control, but while she might be offering to pander to it to a degree, it was my brother I needed to keep a tight rein on.

“Jax, grab the knife,” I said.

“Sure,” he replied, moving to do so. “But since no one has bothered to ask, just know I’m not signing up for this.”

“What?” Everyone asked the same question, and Jax just stared the lot of us down.

“I get I’m the one easiest to overlook.” He grabbed the knife out and tossed it over to me. “I’m not possessed by a murder monster and I’m not a fucking tight arse.” His arms crossed his chest. “But I’m still part of this pack.”

“Of course, you are,” Stevie said, moving towards him and any hardness in him faded as soon as she was close. He pulled her against his body, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head. “You’re just as important—”

“Then what do you want me doing in all of this?” he asked, his grip on her tightening. His eyes flashed with a warning, making clear we better not try and horn in on this.

“Ronan wants me to hurt him and Ash wants to control me doing that.” Her voice was muffled by his chest and I felt a flush of shame when I heard her summary, something Ronan seemed to share as he stared at me. “But I know I’m going to need somewhere safe, someone safe to help me get through that.”

“Yeah?”

I hated the note of need in my brother’s voice, sure that it was my fault he felt it, that he had always been feeling it. If I could just… I sucked in a breath and then let it go.

“You need me?”

I knew what the hunger was in Jax’s voice because he seemed to be the only one brave enough to express it. We might be alphas, but that meant fuck nothing without our omega’s validation.

We needed to serve her, look after her, keep her from any future harm and make sure she spent the rest of her life with that wild fucking smile of hers on her face at all times, never another tear shed. That wasn’t rational, the man knew that, but the wolf? He just growled within me, making clear his intent. He didn’t give a fuck about rules, laws, being professional or even being sane, if it meant giving Stevie what she needed.

And that’s what had me frowning as I stared at Ronan.

Was that what he’d become? Had the wolf taken over too much of the man, the two of them fusing into some strange hybrid state between the two of them? His chin jerked up, his gaze fierce as he watched me try to take him apart.

And fail.

“Yes,” Stevie replied to Jax. “Of course I need you. I feel like I fucking reek of all this needy shit—”

“Then tell me,” he said to her. “A lot. Over and over. I need to hear it, just like you do. I need to know I’m in your heart.” He placed her hand over his chest. “Just like you are mine.”

But she disobeyed, not answering him with words. Instead she tugged his head down and claimed his mouth, speaking far more eloquently with her body than her tongue, until finally they pulled apart.

And now I knew what I had to do.

“You’re an important part of this,” I told him. “Just like everyone else is. Ronan, get on the bed.” I jerked my head towards the bedroom door. “Jax, kiss our mate until she’s breathless. Get her stirred up and ready. She needs to be…” I let my eyes slide down my mate’s half naked body for the first time, savouring every inch. “Slick, swollen for this. I don’t know if sadism is something that comes naturally to her, so let’s make this as pleasant as possible.”

Ronan snorted at my crisp tone, but like always, he did as he was told, stalking forward, then throwing himself down on the bed, arms outstretched in an attitude of total surrender.

“On the bed, beautiful,” Jax urged, patting her arse as she did as she was told, straddling Ronan’s hips.

“Push her head down,” I told Jax. “But keep her hips up. Knife stays on the bed until I tell you to grab it, Stevie.”

She let out a groan of frustration, but it turned into something else entirely when Ronan’s lips touched hers. That hunger I’d seen spark between them from the rear vision mirror, as we drove away from Snake’s? It was back, twice as fierce. His hands went around her face to ensure she stayed right where she was, tugging her closer to deepen the kiss, my brother diving headfirst into her until they couldn’t get any deeper. But I yanked my eyes away from this private moment, focusing on Jax.

“Our mate is kissing our brother. You can smell how much she likes it by her scent. So what’re you going to do about it, Jax?”

He didn’t need me, I knew that deep down and as he moved, I saw the surety in the way he gripped our mate’s hips, then tilted them up and back.

“Hips up high, omega,” Jax commanded her. “You wanted some pleasure with all this pain? Well, I can give you that.” He smacked his hand across her ripe little arse and Stevie was forced to break away from Ronan to let out a gasp. “Keep your hips right where they are and I’ll lick you through one orgasm and get you to the next.”

“Unh…”

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