But I don’t.
“I don’t understand,” I finally manage to breathe, my grip tightening near his base again. “Help me understand.” It’s a plea that brings tears to my eyes. Because all of this is foreign. I’m trying to give into my animal, to do what she’s demanding I do.
However, feeling his erection in my palm has oddly grounded me in reality.
He’s so much larger than Canton.
It should be impossible.
It is impossible.
He’s not going to fit.
And something about that makes me want to cry.
Or maybe it’s the fear of knowing he’s going to force it that causes my eyes to water.
I feel so weak. So lost. So… so hot.
I groan inside and out. I’m losing my mind.
“You’re going into estrus,” Tieran says, his palm suddenly on my cheek, his thumb wiping away the tear from my skin. “It’s the heat cycle for Omegas, likely caused by you finally meeting your wolf and allowing your Carnage traits to come out to play.”
I shake my head. “Not an Omega.” It comes out as a fragment, my brain incapable of full thought. I’m torn between understanding and demanding he fuck me.
It’s a conundrum that has me whimpering all over again.
And I hate it.
I hate feeling weak.
“I’m not this wolf,” I say out loud. “I’m not. I’m strong. I’m… I’m…” A spasm in my lower belly makes me scream, the agony ripping through my veins and sending me spiraling back into a fit of lust and need.
The world starts to move around me.
My thighs feel wet and cold.
My heart thuds loudly in my chest, echoing in my ears.
Another scream leaves my mouth, that pain inside splintering into pulses of torturous vibrations.
I’m dying, I think. This is death.
Because it’s killing me.
Those vibrations make it impossible to breathe.
I can’t even scream or beg for help.
It’s a lost cause.
Because all I am now is pain.
Pain. Pain. Pain.
Until nothingness takes hold.
And then… I start to float.
I breathe.
I settle.
I drown.
Water. Light. Water. Light.
Where am I?
Who am I?
What is this new place?
I blink, the bright sun dim above my head.
Did they throw me into the ocean? My heart cracks at the thought. Am I back where I started?
Or was it all a dream? Did I actually drown? Were the Alphas a product of my own imagination?
Water splashes in my mouth and I gasp awake.
Surrounded by marble.
In a tub filled with masculine scents.
13
CLOVE
“Shh,” someone hushes, reminding me of my dream on the beach. “You’re all right.”
Those are the words Volt said, too. Exactly the same. But his voice is hoarse now, like he’s straining himself for some reason.
“Open,” another voice says, something touching my lips.
I don’t think.
I obey.
And something salty touches my tongue, the taste of it making me groan. I swallow on instinct alone, my mouth immediately seeking more.
But the flavor is gone.
Instead I open my eyes to find a pair of beautiful blue eyes staring down at me. “Better?” Tieran asks, his voice low.
“More,” I say instead.
He smiles, his finger drawing a line across my lower lip and leaving more of that delectable substance behind. “You’re going into heat, Clove,” he says as someone draws fingers through my hair.
It’s then that I realize I’m floating in water. Not in the ocean, but a massive bathtub. And there’s a man beneath me. Naked. His arousal is a brand against my rump as he holds me steady in the water.
Volt, I think, his heat strangely familiar now. His coppery scent is all around me, too.
I blink up at Tieran, inhaling his woodsy cologne and moaning as it stirs that pulsating agony in my stomach once more.
“You need a knot,” he says, his finger disappearing. “That is what you were feeling earlier, little one. My knot.”
I vaguely recall stroking his cock and caressing that throbbing bulb near the base.
His finger is at my mouth again, more of that salty substance meeting my tongue. I lick him greedily, that flavor an addiction I don’t understand.
“That’s precum,” he tells me, reading the question from my eyes. “From my cock.”
I want to be embarrassed. I want to shy away and hide. But that’s not what I do at all. Instead I just say “More” again. It’s like I need his essence to survive. I need his brand of whatever this is to breathe.
Volt hushes me again, his fingers combing through my hair, his lips caressing my neck.
Then Tieran feeds me more of his addictive flavor, stirring a wanton noise from my chest.
“You’re showing all the signs of a Carnage Wolf Omega entering the initial stages of estrus,” he says softly. “You need an Alpha to see you through it. That’s why your animal tested us. She wanted to ensure we’re worthy of this gift.”
Gift? I repeat to myself, my lips too occupied by his finger to speak.
“We’re going to help you through this. We’re going to protect you. And we’re going to claim you.” He says this all matter-of-factly. “You're ours now, Clove.”
Volt kisses my shoulder. “Welcome to Carnage Wolf life, sweetling.”
“And welcome to our underground den,” Caius says as he enters the room with a towel. “First up on our tour is the bedroom, where we intend to intimately introduce you to the silk sheets.” He holds out the towel.
Tieran slips more of that delicious substance into my mouth, then lifts me from the tub and allows Caius to swathe me in a towel.
It’s then that I realize we’re all naked.
And wet.
The bath was a group activity, something that causes me to glance back at the massive tub. It’s definitely built for a party of five or six and not the shower Tieran used to bathe my wolf.
Caius must have exited while I was temporarily lost.
I still feel a bit hazy, like I may be pulled back into that fog at any second.
“Try to breathe,” Tieran says as he carries me into the bedroom. “I want you lucid for our first time.”
I blink at him. “Lucid?”
Is he expecting me to black out during this?