AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"She's my mate. I don’t need a bedroom, so we can make the nest bigger. Plus, now she has a bathroom." I turn to face the guys, "I forget, do omegas want light in their nest or no? I’d sleep better without windows…"
"If she lets you into her nest, psycho. You just ripped a hole in your bedroom wall. What if she doesn’t like this room? She might not be into sharing a sleeping space with you. Or us. We're making a lot of assumptions based on that piece of fucking ribbon." Cass paces, his long hair swaying the more agitated he gets. "What if she doesn’t like this building?" Or us, is what he wants to say.
"Then we’ll move," Red grinds out.
I look at both my brothers. "I can’t believe I’m the one saying this, but you guys need to get your shit together."
Then I pick up the hammer and smash it into the wall.
I don’t know if they took my advice, but the room quiets around me while I work, only the sounds of demolition echoing through the now-empty space.
Pulling down the wall on the nest side doesn't take much effort, leaving me enough time to shower and clean the dust off me before Imogen gets here. By the time I make it downstairs, the kitchen is less of a mess, Cass has on a different shirt, and Red's earlier confident grin is missing.
I sit at the kitchen table, letting my brothers pace around me. Their anxiousness fills the room, and though I'm not taking it on, it's making me tired. The lack of quality sleep over the last few weeks is definitely weighing on me. Their nervous energy spikes when Red gets a text from Imogen that she's downstairs.
He disappears out the kitchen door like a speed demon, Cass still pacing the room, and I stay seated in the chair, waiting to face my fate.
Her scent hits me first. And it's even better in person. It's strong, like a current, and as she steps into the kitchen, it floods, permeating every crevice around us. She clasps her hands in front of her, gently folded, a small smile on her face.
Cass and I stare like idiots while she greets us like a dignitary. Fuck that. I'm out of the chair after seconds of silence, and she sees me coming, her soft, quiet smile dropping away, blue eyes widening, and even though she takes a step back, her hand reaches out for me.
My hand snakes around her waist and she giggles, the sound so uninhibited considering how controlled she's acting, and I'm gone. Her back hits the door, eyes heavy with desire, and her cherry perfume blooms around us, making my mouth water, my teeth sharpen.
The need to bite her is tenfold from the last time I tried, and though I felt a lot of shame coming out of that fog of rut, it's nowhere to be found while I contemplate which part of her beautiful neck I'll mark her for life.
My teeth scrape against her flesh, and Red growls in warning. Unfortunately, Imogen presses her pelvis against mine and whimpers, and I don't hear Red or Cass. Imogen's knee comes to the outside of my hip, opening herself up. I grip her, and we're lost in scent and pheromones, need for each other, need from the call of our baser instincts. The last week without her disappears.
"Iggy," Imogen cries, her voice light and desperate, when I press my hardened erection against her core. She loves my piercings, but she was in heat and might not remember she loves them. I can't wait to remind her.
I'm about to do just that, a growl tearing from my throat as my teeth scrape her flesh, when Red and Cass grip both my shoulders, pulling me away from her. Imogen's eyes clear from the heat we built, and she's panting, slightly bent at the waist, catching her breath.
Mate. Knot. Bite. My teeth ache to bite, and I lunge for her again, but my brothers hold me back. "Iggy! Snap the fuck out of it!" Mate. Knot. Bite. My alpha chants these words, and it's all I can think about when a sharp crack across my cheek clears the fog, then Cass's t-shirt is shoved into my face. His clean cotton scent dulls the sweet bliss of the cherries, and suddenly, I can think clearly.
I have to force myself to meet Imogen's eyes. I expect disgust. Fear.
She's grinning. A real grin, with a real smile. Uninhibited. Breathtaking.
I shake my head, looking down at the ground. "I'm sorry, Im. That's the second time I tried to… mark you. Without permission. I'm very fucking sorry."
She doesn't respond right away, and I'm surprised when she steps closer, taking my hand. The warmth she offers is better than I deserve. Dragging me to the table, she pushes me into a seat and takes the one beside me.
"Second time?" She asks, one eyebrow lifted, and her lovely voice, so delicate and sweet, feels like another thing we don't deserve. To hear her lyrical tones, to feel her softness, her kindness.
"I, uh…" I clear my throat but feel so much shame, embarrassment. I'm just like my fathers. Forcing a submissive without permission.
Red holds up his arm, downgraded from gauze to a simple Band-Aid. "He tried to mark you during your heat, but we stopped him." Then he looks at me, "You didn't do it, brother."
He's making light of it, but it's not a light thing. I deserve the self-flagellation or whatever comes later when I replay this when I can't sleep and I'm staring at the ceiling thinking about my fathers and how shit I am. I'm usually in so much fucking control I don't know what the fuck is wrong with my alpha. He can't control himself around her. Could I have stopped myself? I honestly don't know. Truthfully, I still want to bite her. She just smells so good.
"I did, though. I bit her, your arm just got in the way."
"Have you tried to mark an omega before?" Imogen asks, a small wrinkle forming in her brow.
"Never," I swear to her.
She nods. "If you'd asked, I'd have said yes and meant it. But I'm glad you didn't. Things are complicated right now, and if you mark me, I'll scent as bonded and…" She presses her lips together.
It's not forgiveness, but she's being kind about my almost monumental fuck-up and, again… I don't deserve it.
