I slowly lower her to her feet. Caius is immediately there behind her, grabbing her hips to provide balance. Not that she needs it. She’s fully healed, just has a bit of dry blood on her.
And Alpha Kin’s saliva.
My wolf growls inside at that.
He had no right to touch her, let alone lick her. If he wasn’t already dead, I would kill him again.
I cradle Clove’s face between my hands as Volt enters the shower last. I walk her backward into Caius, trapping her between us. “I should have bitten you the moment I knotted you,” I tell her. “You’ve been ours from the moment that Volt pulled you out of the water.”
“But… but we don’t know if…” She trails off, swallowing. Then her brow furrows as her gaze drifts to the side. “Well, my mom did. So maybe…” She blinks back at me. “Is that what you’re basing your claim on? That Alpha Kin’s father was able to impregnate my mother?”
My eyes widen. “What? No.” Just the notion of it infuriates me. She thinks we only want to claim her now that we know how she was conceived?
That’s… that’s so beyond wrong it makes my wolf snarl in fury.
Not at her.
But at me.
He’s pissed that I let it go this far, that she thinks the only reason I would actually claim her is to procreate.
“Do I need an heir?” I ask rhetorically. “Yes. But you know what I want more, Clove?” My palm slides from her cheek to the back of her neck. “You.” I press myself fully against her, aligning us from our knees all the way up. She’s officially trapped between me and Caius without any escape. Because Volt is blocking the only exit.
Not that she appears all that interested in running.
“I… Okay. But we can’t mate unless—”
I press my mouth to hers, silencing that statement. Because I’m so tired of hearing it. I’m so tired of thinking it, too. Fuck, I’m just so exhausted from this fight.
“You’re ours,” I say against her lips. “The rest will sort itself out.”
She presses her palm to my chest, pushing me back a little. “But I may never be able to give you an heir, Tieran. Then you’ll have to take—”
“Then I’ll have to either rewrite the rules as Pack Alpha or abdicate,” I say, refusing to let her finish that statement.
Because I won’t take another Omega.
Only this one.
Only Clove.
“I’m listening to my wolf,” I continue. “I’m taking my own advice… and letting him lead.”
“About fucking time,” Volt says, picking up the water sprayer and aiming it at Clove’s neck. He does it in a way that doesn’t splash her face, just washes away the presence of another male.
But her gaze is locked on mine, her expression giving nothing away.
“I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to realize what matters most. It’s not my heir or my duty to the pack. It’s you, Clove. You define our clan. You’re the heart we didn’t realize we needed.” I allow her to see my wolf in my eyes, to feel his desire in my touch.
Her gaze searches mine, her lips parting a little at whatever she sees inside me.
“I feel in my soul that you’re meant to be mine, Clove.” I tighten my grip around her nape. “You’re meant to be ours.”
She shivers, her pupils blowing wide. “I want to be yours,” she admits on a whisper. “My wolf says you’re already hers.”
I smile. “And what did I say about listening to your animal?”
“To embrace her and let her thrive,” she replies.
I nod. “And I’ve not been doing that with mine. I’ve been telling him to listen to reason, but our wolves don’t care about rules or political discourse. They drive our passion. They drive our need. They tell us how to live.” I push against her palm, closing the distance between us again. “And he’s telling me to bite you, Clove.”
“Then bite me,” she dares.
Volt freezes beside us, a bar of soap in his hand.
It’s not what I planned, nor what we announced with our howls.
But I owe this moment to our intended mate, not to our pack.
If she wants to be claimed here, in this shower, and not out on the beach before the wolves, then I’ll oblige her.
And we’ll present her as ours to the wolves.
I know in my gut they’ll accept her because they already do. She’s our Omega. The heart of our clan. Our future.
“Wash her neck,” I tell Volt, needing her skin fully clean.
Her eyes glitter as she holds my gaze.
Caius hums in approval behind her, his arms slipping between us as he wraps his arms around her waist. “Ours,” he whispers against her ear.
“Ours,” Volt echoes as he uses the soap against her neck.
“Ours,” I agree, releasing her nape to take the shower head from Volt’s other hand.
Her nipples are hard little points, her lips parted on a pant I can almost feel as I rinse the suds from her throat and down her breasts.
There’s some dry blood on her shoulder that I clean off as well before focusing on her cheek. “Did he cut you anywhere else?” I ask, aware that there were wounds here that caused the dry blood to exist. Because it’s her blood, not his.
She shakes her head.
“Did he lick you anywhere else?” Volt demands.
She shakes her head again.
“Did he touch you anywhere else?” Caius asks.
This time she nods, then gestures to the places he touched her. Which includes her back—presumably from holding her against him—and various places on her torso. “They both placed knives here,” she gestures at her throat.
We proceed to clean every space with soap and water.
Then Caius takes over by washing her hair while Volt focuses on her thighs and the sweet space between her legs. No one touched her there, but he’s being thorough.
All the while I watch, waiting for her to be ready for us.
It’s a drawn out game of delayed gratification.
I want to bite her.
And now I’m trying to decide where she’ll bear my mark.
It needs to be somewhere everyone will see. I want there to be no question as to who she belongs to.
Caius and Volt take turns kissing her as they worship her with their hands, their bodies primed to claim in more ways than one.
I’m hard, too.
Painfully so.
But my wolf is more eager to bite.