Page 17

HALO

When I got home from the gym, I sensed a tension in the house, the same recurring ambiance that had been lingering for the last few weeks. I did my best to ignore it as I walked to my room. Passing Severen’s office, I noticed the door was closed. He had been doing that more often, too.

I passed Skye’s nest room on the way to my own and she immediately jumped up and grabbed my wrist, practically taking me hostage and dragging me to my bedroom.

“I have to tell you about my day.” She let the sentence out almost as one long, hurried word.

“Are you okay?” I asked as Skye closed my bedroom door. “Did you and Severen have a fight?”

“Yes, technically, but that’s not what I need to talk to you about.” My omega brought me onto my bed and we sat side by side.

“Okay, well, I tried to initiate sex with Severen, and he…” Skye faltered. “He said the bond felt different. And then he pulled back his side of the connection. Does it feel different?”

“Is that what you fought about?” I asked. “Do I have to give him some words?”

“It was, and you don’t.” She continued with her story.

“On impulse, I left the house on my own and ended up at the boardwalk. But I passed out because, well,” Skye put her palm to her chest. “Obvious reasons. I woke up sitting next to this nice alpha named Rowan. He’s a barista at Fair Grounds.

He made sure I was alright, and called me a ride home. ”

“Okay,” I said slowly, taking it all in. “Where is this going?”

Skye looked at her knees and fiddled with the hem of her sweater. “He was nice. And I think I’d like to get to know him. But look.” She picked up her phone and held it out so I could see the screen. “He’s not on Packspace.”

Sure enough, the screen showed a notification that the user Rowan Waters had deactivated his account and that he had 60 days to reinstate it before it would be permanently deleted.

“I wonder why he deactivated it,” she pondered, looking at the screen.

“Skye, is this a way of getting back at Severen? Of making him jealous?”

Her head shot up and she looked directly at me.

“No. He was just nice to me. And, I feel a little stifled. The three of you, and aunt Charisma are the only people I see or talk to. I think it’s time for me to go back out into the world and meet people.

Wasn’t that part of the reason we moved to Port Haven? A new adventure?”

She took a moment to worry her lower lip between her teeth. “There’s something else, something I feel I can only tell you. Crux will get suspicious and Severen and I aren’t really speaking right now.” Skye took a breath. “I felt… drawn to Rowan. Like… Like he belongs with us.”

“We’re already a pack, Skye,” I said.

“Packs grow and gain new members all the time,” she pointed out. She wasn’t wrong and she knew it.

“Do you want an open relationship?” I asked.

“No!” Her soft cheeks pinkened. “I would never step out on the pack or our bonds. I know I was a late bloomer omega, and I’m still learning, but I trust this. It’s instinctual. It’s under my skin.”

Skye took my hands. “But, I also don’t want to get hurt, or tricked. I agreed to meet Rowan for lunch tomorrow, and I want you to come with me. Please.”

“A luncheon date with a coffee jockey,” I mused. “That’s practically slumming it for me,” I teased. “Alright. I’ll come with you.”

“Thanks, Halo,” Skye said. “It means a lot to me.”

“Of course.” I kissed the side of her head, just in front of her ear.

Through the bond, I sensed Skye falter a little as my nose traced her temple.

She clung to her sweater again. “Severen said I was different,” Skye confessed in a very small voice.

“Do I… do I smell different? You were the one who scent matched to me first, so if anyone would know best, it would be you, right?”

I hmm’d . “Let me check.”

Rarely did I ever use my alpha gifts, especially on my gentle, fragile omega, but I pulled from my aura and grabbed her wrists, and tackled her onto the bed.

I buried my face in her neck, by her shoulder.

A joyous laugh burst out of her and I breathed all of her in.

Blueberries, frozen and cold and sweet. Bluebells dancing in the breeze.

And something else. A hint of something pleasant and familiar that I couldn’t quite place, but was natural and common.

Not quite vanilla but close. It hadn’t been there before.

I looked at her. “You smell as perfect and sweet as ever.”

On the other hand, Skye could smell like motor oil and burnt toast and I would still be drawn to her, still breathe in every wisp of her scent because, no matter what it was, blueberries or burnt toast, it was mine.

“Really? I do?” She ran her slender fingers through my long black hair.

“You do. But that’s not enough, is it?” I purred. “As I understand it, my omega is in need of some attention, is that right?” I traced my fingers down the skirt of her dress, and past, then touched her silky thigh, teasing the skirt upward.

Skye giggled and gave a shy smile. “That’s correct,” she said coyly, and I leaned in and kissed her soft, pink lips.

I trailed my kisses down her neck, her torso, and we removed her sweater together to uncover the top of her sundress. She loved sundresses for their sweet and innocent reputation, and how easy they were to be romanced in.

I slid off the mattress, onto my knees in front of Skye and gazed up at her. I pushed the skirt up. “Lay back down, beautiful,” I purred.

Skye did as I asked and I nipped her knee, parted her legs, and made sure she knew just how much she was desired and adored.

She blocked me from going further by hugging her arms around her hips. “Just your fingers, please,” she asked. “I still have that gross port scar.”

I leaned forward, and rested my chin on her crossed arms. “Skye–”

“It’s ugly.”

It was nothing, not even a tiny crater, more like a little crescent of slightly reddened, slightly textured skin on an otherwise smooth hip. I knew practicality wouldn’t win her over. “They helped keep you alive. Therefore, to me, they’re beautiful.”

I ran my fingertips along her arms and slowly they came uncrossed. I kissed her wrist as she allowed me free rein.

My fingers hooked on the waistband of her panties and I pulled them down, then tossed them without care onto the floor. I pinched the hem of her skirt and dragged it up to her face.

“Bite,” I said, and Skye took the edge of the skirt between her teeth and held it out of my way, exposing her already eager, wet, pink sex to the four safe walls of my bedroom.

I returned to my knees, my gaze matching hers. I took a deep breath in. “You smell the same,” I purred. It was true enough, but Skye needed to hear it.

I leaned in and kissed her, tasting her sweet slick on my pouty lips. I lapped up her arousal with my tongue, slowly, as a blush crept on her cheeks and across her nose.

“You taste the same,” I told her, my voice breathy and seductive, her blueberry flavour thick on my tongue. So delectable that I went back for seconds.

Skye’s hands found their way to my hair, and she whimpered my name.

“Too much?” I asked, checking in.

“No,” she shook her head. “Don’t stop, please.” Her pleading was pinched, teeth still clenched around her skirt like the obedient omega that she was.

I placed a kiss on her thigh, and slid my hand against her wet pussy. Almost instantly my fingers were soaked, coated in her slick and slippery enough that I could easily push two inside. Skye fluttered around my fingers, needy and alight.

“Do you want me to get my toys?” I purred out the words.

“No,” she shook her head with a whimper and lifted her hips up off the bed a little, pushing against me, wanting more of me.

“Are you sure?” I asked, drawing the last word long and teasing. “Wouldn’t your pretty needy pussy love to be stretched by a big, thick, vibrating knot?”

“No.” The word came out as a gasp and Skye wrapped a leg around me, her heel pressed to my back. “Stay. Don’t go anywhere. I just need you. Please, Halo.” All her words came out slightly muffled by her skirt.

I couldn’t stifle my giggles. “You’re so cute when you beg. I adore it.”

As Skye desired, I danced my fingers inside her, playing with her soft, warm silkiness with one hand, and fluttering my tongue over her sensitive little bundle.

She was the most delicious creature on earth, so easy to feast upon, and I was absolutely a glutton for her.

The more I feasted and fluttered, the more my sweet little omega twisted, jumped and writhed on the bed.

A pool of her slick darkened my blankets and sheets but I didn’t care. It was a badge of honour.

Skye threw her head back and arched off the bed.

Relief washed over me that she didn’t see the tears that came to my eyes thanks to her beauty, at the idea that I was so fortunate to be able to be with her like this again.

That Skye and this moment were everything to me.

I hastily blinked away the warm blurs from my eyes before the tears had a chance to fall.

Having her with me was divine, to be able to watch her body move, to know exactly how to touch her and see her jump and shiver. It all made me feel a bit devilish, so I idled my time, and slowly, steadily, brought Skye right to the edge, then dropped her back down to just mere pleasure.

“I’m going to take my time with you today,” I told her, before latching my mouth back onto her hypersensitive clit.

Skye trembled and whined, a sheen of sweat like diamonds on her fair skin.

I slid another finger inside her, curling and flexing, stretching and stroking and pumping.

Over and over she bucked off the bed, seconds from release, and I denied her.

Until I didn’t.

When Skye came, it was like lightning ripped through us both.

Her perfume, her aura, soaked into mine and though she didn’t even touch me, I felt a sliver of her extreme ecstasy, enough to make my inner alpha lock flex and clench on nothing but a thought, and be satisfied by just the fantasy of having a part of her inside me.

I watched her convulse in pleasure longer than I could keep track, until she finally fell still, purring delightedly, eyes glazed and heavy.

I climbed next to Skye in bed and wrapped her up in a hug and rained a dozen kisses on her face until her purrs settled into the calm, even breath of sleep.

Having thoroughly exhausted my darling omega, I pulled the covers over her and let her nap in my bed. I slipped on a long t-shirt, and sweat pants and marched to Severen’s office. The door was shut, but I turned the knob and walked in anyway.

“What did you say to Skye?” I demanded, shutting the door behind me.

Severen turned away from his laptop, swiveling his office chair to face me. “We can talk about this later.”

Refusing to be dismissed, I continued. “Did you say the connection feels different?”

“Because it does.”

I took a moment to let the shock of his words subside.

“Even if it does, you don’t just tell her that ,“ I insisted in a hoarse whisper-shout.

“We have to be strong for her. We have to help Skye regain her confidence and stability.” Gritting my teeth, I stepped up to him, gripping the arm rests of his chair and looming over him.

“And we never pull back on the connection. You might as well have cut a tight rope while she was halfway across.”

Frustrated, I pushed away from the chair.

It rolled back an inch with a squeak, taking Severen with it.

“I can’t even imagine this behaviour from Crux.

And you better thank your lucky stars he’s not here right now because if he knew what bullshit you were pulling, he would try to beat the shit out of you.

And that would make things worse for Skye. ”

I stared at Severen, chest heaving as I caught my breath. “Don’t you have anything to say?”

Severen was contemplatively quiet for a while, before he said, “It’s different.

” He looked around the office, with Severen’s same furniture from our old pack house, but in a new, sunny office with walls of exposed wood painted white instead of old unloved wall paper.

A vaulted, A-frame roof with cross beams that was so tall that every keystroke he pressed left an echo.

The continuous sway of ocean waves in the distance, faint hint of salt in the fresh air. “Everything’s changed.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Skye hasn’t changed, Severen.” I gripped the knob and wrenched open the office door. “You have.”

Never before had I walked out on my pack lead.