43

brYLEE

Out of nowhere, Colter releases a roar and charges at the nearest recruit, lifting the alpha up and bodily throwing him into the soldier behind him.

“This is a drill, fuckwits! You think the Noths won’t toss out omega-heat grenades to distract you? Focus! Or you’ll get picked off.” He charges at another man and lowers his shoulder, barreling into him and taking him down to the mats.

Immediately, every soldier in the room tenses and shifts gears. That instinctual alpha need to find, claim, and dominate an omega ripples and shimmers, transforming into the fury of a male who thinks he’s been hoodwinked and is fighting for his life.

Thank fuck!

Though Kylian and Ridge throw Colter slightly confused glances, as if they’re not quite certain what their packmate is up to, they follow his lead.

“A Group and B Group from last week, reform and resume the same ranks. Fight it out. Let’s see who can resist the omega scent longest,” Ridge calls out with authority.

Immediately, the men in the gym move to comply. Hand-to-hand battles resume, and I toss an alarmed look in Sam’s direction as I slowly stand up, unsure how the hell I’m going to pull off fighting right now when my body is literally about to melt.

And how am I going to hide my scent?

I’m perfuming right now and even the bodysuit and scent dampeners can’t stop the sugary sweet smell of an omega going into heat.

Another alpha comes rushing in my direction, teeth bared—Colter grabs the man by the back of the neck and flings him sideways before charging straight at me. I lock eyes with my scent match, and slick starts to pool in my panties automatically, his presence setting off my instincts even further.

“What do you want me to do—” Sam starts to whisper, but I cut him off.

“Go. Just go.” I barely get the words out through gritted teeth before Colter stands in front of me, chest heaving. A huge delicious wall of alpha male, he blocks off any view I have of the rest of the room.

All I can see are abs. Deliciously carved abs. And dark nipples pointing out of a chest that’s a crisscross of scars.

Need vibrates through me, erasing all other thoughts—including self-preservation as I reach for him.

“Goddammit, Ted. Get this fucking ankle fixed,” Colter shouts for the rest of the room’s benefit before yanking my arm around his shoulder and pulling my body tightly against his.

Yesss.

“Just wait a little longer. Let me get you somewhere safe,” my huge mate whispers in my ear, the fabric of his mask dragging across the sensitive skin of my cheek.

More touch. I want more touch. Need it.

I nearly arch against him, but I try to heed his advice to wait, try to tap into my instincts for safety and nesting and not simply mating. But it’s a hard fight against the absolutely urgent desire to press my nose against the base of his neck and inhale.

Not yet.

Not yet.

I’m barely holding onto a thread of rationality as his hand cinches tightly around my waist. My breasts grow heavy and my nipples start to throb as he rushes us out of the gymnasium, smashing open a side door and tossing us out onto the grounds.

The sweet relief of a fresh breeze rolls over us and helps clear both our heads, which is a very good thing considering the maneuvers going on across the grounds of the military academy.

We come across another class that is engaged in heavy artillery fire. They’re loading shells into a massive howitzer to practice long-range launches, but they all pause as we sprint past. Their heads turn, and it’s terrifying how I can tell exactly when they catch wind of my scent.

Postures change, fists clench, concentration on their task falters.

“Omega scent grenade lesson injury!” Colter bellows over his shoulder. “Get back to fucking work!”

The explanation works on most of them, but one lone soldier starts to sprint after us, a wild look in his eyes.

I tense in Colter’s arms, and he feels it, quickly turning as the man grows near. Without setting me down, my beast of an alpha kicks the other man right in the chest. The force of the impact is so loud that I think I might hear bone cracking, but my scent match turns and rushes off before the other soldier has even hit the ground.

He heads for the forest, and once we’re beneath the canopy of leaves, surrounded by branches on every side, my instincts escalate and my ability to resist falters.

My thighs clamp down on his waist as I wrap my legs firmly around his, whining because Ted’s bodysuit is a stupid hindrance right now. My scent match is right here and I need him. Against me. Inside of me. I want nothing in between us.

I nuzzle and kiss his neck, attempting to cajole him into setting me down and giving me what I need right fucking now.

His moan of impatience is music to my ears as he continues stomping through the undergrowth, putting distance between us and all the alphas at the war academy.

He’s being smart. Safe.

I’m not.

Recklessly, I reach up and yank off my wig, uncaring that bobby pins go flying or that bits of my own hair rip out in the process. I try to toss the wig aside, but Colter latches onto my wrist at the last second, taking it from me and shoving it into one of the pockets in his cargo pants.

“I need you,” I murmur as a wave of lust crashes over me, washing out any rational thought as I start to grind against him.

His hands tighten their hold on me as he says, “Almost there, mate. Almost safe.”

Slick soaks through my panties at his words and starts to drip down my thighs, and the tell-tale cinnamon roll scent of a full heat forms a cloud around us. His alpha scent grows stronger in response, full of spicy male deliciousness that makes my mouth water. I’m nipping at Colter’s neck, fingers digging into his broad shoulders as I writhe, needy and aching.

I’m not even sure how this is happening right now. It shouldn’t be. My suppressor pills should stop me from going into heat at all…but everything’s been so hectic lately, between both schools, attention from the guys…

Could I have missed a dose?

It’s possible.

I’ll find out for certain later, but right now I’m consumed by a heavy need to have Colter do more than just hold me.

I wriggle against his hold, sliding my hips down a little until I can feel the tip of his hard dick through his pants and my bodysuit. I grind hard but the layers frustrate me because I crave that knot more than anything else—to be full and stretched.

I reach up and back behind my neck, ready to toss off my shirt and yank at the tiny hidden zipper on this awful bodysuit, dispensing with it the way I did with my wig, but Colter makes me pause when he says, “We’re here.”

Breathing shallowly, I turn my head to glance at our surroundings. Tucked deep into the forest between the two castles is a tiny waterfall and a pool that pours out into a crystal clear creek. The space is lovely and serene, very sheltered—it gives outdoor nest vibes with the way a few willows form a wall of dangling leaves on one side…

I should admire the view, but right now, all I care about is the flat, mossy ground—a space where Colter can lay me out and give me everything I want.

“Help me out of this,” I beg.

He gently places me on the ground and helps me toss off Ted’s clothes and then unzip and wriggle out of the bodysuit, which he patiently sets aside as I toss off my undergarments as if they’re on fire.

“Naked, now,” I order, a desperate edge to my voice, fingers closing into fists as I resist the urge to rush at him and yank on everything myself.

His lips tilt up in a grin, and I can feel his eyes scanning down my curves, lingering on my heavy breasts as he shucks off his boots, socks, pants, and underwear. Everything but his mask, and I get a strange, unknown thrill at the fact that he’s left it on. It gives this huge, brutal man a dangerous edge that somehow makes me even wetter.

He’s dangerous to everyone but me.

Completely bared, Colter is a sight to behold. Tall. Stacked with muscle upon muscle. Just the sight of him makes my hands clench greedily, eager to stroke and touch every bit of his body.

I rush toward him, and he easily sweeps me up into his arms, positioning me so that his dick is trapped between us. God, I love the feel of the heat of it. The length.

Once I press my torso against his, there’s a sense of relief and rightness so intense that I’m startled by it. There’s a heady mix of emotions swirling through my rib cage that are completely new to me and yet feel completely familiar—warm and soft mixed with a frenetic lust.

I think I finally understand what people mean when they say “you just know.”

The emotions condense until my body can’t contain them and they burst out in a downpour of slick. Suddenly, I’m drenched. Slick is pouring down my thighs, Colter’s purring and I’m mewling, and there’s never been anything like this in the world ever before. Nothing this right or perfect.

I’m wild as I lick up the column of his throat and glide up and down along his length as he holds me. I’m feral and ready to be bred. He’s the opposite. His touches are all tender, gentle exploration of my spine, my curves. Even when he cups my ass, his fingers softly knead but don’t dig in, as if he’s afraid he’ll hurt me.

“I’m not going to break,” I murmur as I glide my assault from his neck to his jaw, nipping at the tiny bit of stubble.

“Because I’d never break you,” he returns, and there’s something about the way he says it that makes my heart twist so tightly that tears come to my eyes. A desperate, pleading part of myself longs for that to be true. And the angst of that desire smashes together with my need and makes me clamp my teeth down on his lower lip, then release.

“Try. I dare you,” I say.

Holy fuck, but those seem to be the magic words. Suddenly, Colter’s tenderness fuses with his alpha side, and there’s a deep, rumbling growl in his thick chest. His fingertips dig into my ass then and pull my cheeks apart as he kisses me back furiously until I’m breathless, panting, and limp.

That’s when he marches determinedly into the pond. The water hits my ankles with all the force of an ice bath, and I shriek, trying to scramble up his torso to escape from it.

“Don’t ask me for mean things,” he scolds as he wades through the water, seemingly unaffected by the chill.

“Please. Please,” I beg, not really certain what I’m begging for at the moment—probably to keep me out of the cold and to give me his hard dick. The water grows deeper, nearly as high as his waist, but he lifts me up so that only my feet trail through the frigid pond, protecting me from the cold.

Colter nears the waterfall, and for a second, I brace myself, thinking he’s going to walk right into it, but he curves around the side and ends up climbing up a few rocks to the side, revealing a mossy cave just behind.

He carries me into the cave until he’s standing and holding me behind the falling sheet of water, tucked away from the rest of the world, a gentle mist surrounding us.

“Like a nest. And hides your scent,” he states simply as he stares at me through the eye holes in his mask. And even though his expression is half hidden by the skull mask, his gaze seems to burn a hole right through my middle.

How can he possibly even think right now?

His utter protectiveness of me and consideration shatter the walls that I’ve built up as if they’re nothing but glass—and the soft tender parts of myself that I’ve kept locked away for so long take a tentative step out from their prison.

I gaze up at him in wonder.

He leans down and places a soft, sweet kiss upon my lips, and I come undone.

I reach up and grab the back of his neck, pulling him in harder for a more intense round of kissing as I press my chest to his and feel the warmth of his body, the rapid beat of his heart synching with mine.

His hands move slowly and gently, but this time, though I’m aching for more, I try to appreciate the tease of his touch. The slow build. The way his thumb circles the outside of my hip, or the way he drags his tongue over the pulse at my neck.

The cave becomes painted in our scents, which are so strong I can almost imagine them as colors. Slick drips from me and coats his dick, and there’s a wet sound as I slide against him. Just that friction has me nearly delirious.

With a purr that makes my limbs go limp with contentment because my alpha is signaling he’s happy with me, Colter sets me down and waits as I get my balance before he lies back on the rock, his hard length jutting straight up, that knot at his base tempting me.

“Come here,” he says gruffly, and I sprawl across him, squealing with delight when he drags me up his torso so that his warm mouth can latch onto one of my nipples.

He sucks it deep and hard as he reaches up to tweak the other nipple, and his free hand grips my ass. The pulling sensation sends sparks down my spinal column, and I grow lightheaded as he perfectly primes my body, as if he’s done it a thousand times before.

Once I’m panting in short bursts, Colter then moves me again, his giant arms easily manipulating me until I’ve got my knees spread on either side of his neck as I stare down at him. Those eyes carve into me as he glides his hands up and down my thighs before deliberately lifting his mouth to my slit.

His warm tongue strokes along my entrance, and I suck in a sharp breath through my teeth as I reach for my breasts. He builds up a delicious rhythm, dragging along my seam and then flicking my clit again and again in a way that keeps me dizzy with pleasure, just on the precipice of utter mindlessness.

I pinch and tug my nipples as my hips grind down against his mask, and I stare down at his eyes, which lock on mine with a claiming ferocity as he watches me ride his face.

Mist from the waterfall sprays across my back as Colter’s tongue lashes me fiercely, and my thighs quake as the sensations grow more intense, my need more pronounced. His fingers glide up underneath me, and two of them plunge inside me as his lips close around my clit, sucking hard as he pumps into me.

And I shatter.

Light streaks behind my eyes as heat fills me up until I’m gasping, shuddering, and jerking against him as a wild tempest takes over with an orgasm that makes my bones quake.

Colter licks me through the sensation until I’m so sensitive that I reach back and grab at his forearm, stilling it. He withdraws slowly, and I hiss at the sensation because I’m sensitive, but I’m also already greedy for more. Moving my legs, I wriggle down his body until I’m on all fours looming over him, my breasts heavy and primed as I gaze down at him.

He deliberately licks my glossy orgasm from his lips and then brings the fingers that were inside of me up to my lips.

I suck them in, tasting myself, and he purrs at the sight, instantly making my spine tingle and more slick gather at my opening.

Once he pulls those fingers from my mouth with a pop, I bend down to kiss him in gratitude briefly before leaning back up and reaching for him, positioning his cock at my entrance.

Just having it there, ready to slide in, has me breathless with anticipation.

Colter’s eyes immediately fall to my hand, to my pussy, and I feel his dick pulse excitedly in my palm. We both watch as I press him slowly inside of me and then lift my hips, pulling away—teasing him just like he teased me earlier.

Only, I’m terrible at this game and I hardly get through three rounds before I’m sinking down on him, my eyelashes fluttering as the fullness I’ve been craving since this heat came over me is finally at hand.

His dick is so thick and the stretch is so good that I slide all the way down to his knot and start gyrating my hips.

His hands come up to my waist and hold me still as his hips lift slightly off the ground and he starts to pump up into me.

My breasts bounce as he moves faster, fucking me harder, forcing me to reach down and grab his shoulders, scratching at the soft skin to brace myself. Magnificent heat seems to make the air shimmer between us, and he ruts deeper, forcing my pussy to accept his thick, bulging knot.

Immediately after his knot is inside of me, it swells further, and I mewl with pleasure at the hot stretch, this intense warm pleasure that fills my entire lower half. His fingers come between us and he strokes my clit, bringing me to the brink even as he pumps two more times into me and then fills me with hot spurts of cum.

His growl as he orgasms sets me off, the sound igniting my feminine pride and his fingers igniting the rest of me.

I jerk against him, circling that huge swollen knot at his base, the rub a grim pleasure edged with pain that only serves to make it more intense—to somehow make me crave it even more.

Another second, and I come again in a blaze of heat and gush of slick that coats Colter’s lower belly. This orgasm wrings all the energy from me, and I collapse down on him, limp and spent and utterly content.

Slowly and gently, very careful not to jostle me, Colter lowers his legs until his back is flat against the ground once more. His knot keeps us locked together, and I snuggle into his broad, scarred chest, my cheek resting on it, listening to his heartbeat slow.

I wish I could live in this moment forever.

I attempt to reel the thought in almost immediately because whenever I wish for something, it seems to fall apart. And in this case, I don’t think I’d survive if it did.