Page 51 of Bliss & Her Idols (Pack Bonds Omegaverse #10)

Torin stiffens. “I didn’t. If I never made it home, then even when the others noticed, it would have been written off as an accident. I’m certain now that they intended me to die.”

They were trying to murder him…?

My gaze flies to his face in shock. “Why?”

Torin’s expression is stony. “Because they blame me for Mom’s death.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Dad was Traditional. He believed that an Omega’s worth was in being a breeder. Her health was weak after giving birth to the twins. I believe she hoped that adopting Rory would free her from the curse of the cycle of birthing Alphas.”

My chest tightens. “Tor…”

His gaze is distant and pained. “But Dad insisted that she try again. And she did…with me. Yet she never truly recovered. I barely remember her. She died when I was only aged two. Dad didn’t get over the blow and died the following year.

From that point, I was left to the twins to torment as a way to work out their grief.

I was under the Guardianship of my sister, who became the Head Alpha.

Since Mena was so busy with also taking over the business unexpectedly, however, I was mainly forgotten.

The invisible Alpha. If it wasn’t for Ryan remembering to order me clothes and that I needed schooling, I would have become feral.

It was Sarah who stopped me starving because it’s the rule that Omegas, Beta, and children aren’t welcome in the dining hall.

Yet if the Idols hadn’t also shared their food with me, I wouldn’t have lived to escape into high school. ”

I grasp Torin’s chin, forcing him to focus on me.

I hate the faraway look like he’s lost back in his past again. “But you did make it out of that forest.”

He blinks, focusing on me with an effort.

“I wandered around for hours, lost, hungry, and sobbing. I was found by Jin and Zero. They’d heard the twins joking about their plan earlier in the day.

They’d had to wait until lights out to risk slipping out of camp to search for me.

They’re only a couple of years older than I am but they’re brave and resourceful.

Nobody knows that they saved my life that day.

After that, all the Idols took turns sharing their food with me.

They created a secret protective bodyguard around me.

It didn’t always work but it stopped the twins from carrying out any more extreme accidents .

The Betas were my friends, my family, and my saviors.

” Torin’s expression becomes fierce. “And that’s why I need to become their savior now.

Every Idol past, present, and who is taken into the corrupt system in the future. ”

I clasp his hand in mine. “You will. And we’ll start with Zero.”

Torin nods, fervently.

Suddenly, Jin’s bright, rocky voice winds like smoke through the bathroom door.

He’s merrily singing at the top of his voice in the shower. Yet he still manages to sound like he’s putting on a concert performance.

Torin relaxes, as if Jin’s voice is a balm to the pain in his past.

He gives a wicked smile. “Want to surprise our Beta? Two hunters together, we can ambush him gorgeous, soapy, and wet. We can bond him…”

Eagerly, I return a smile with just as many teeth.

“Three hunters,” a sleepy voice comes from the bed.

I glance in surprise at Cricket, who is now sitting up on the bed and yawning.

He is running a hand through his mussed hair.

“Feeling up to it?” I check in.

Cricket’s smile widens, before he throws off the covers and stretches. “Your joy is like stars exploding through the bond. I’ll never worry that I’ll be abandoned or alone again because I can feel you inside me.” He taps over his heart. “I want my Dragon to know this safety.”

Safety.

I understand why Cricket would choose that word. It’s something that he’s never experienced before.

Both words and actions can be false, but there’s no way to fake the emotions that you can sense through a bond.

It strikes me just how reassuring it must be to both Cricket and Torin to have that certainty, after the cruelty of their packs.

For Torin, with the way that his family masked abuse under the guise of games or pranks, gaslit, and manipulated him, knowing how we truly feel must take a crushing weight off his shoulders for the first time in his life.

Instantly, I’m just as excited to give that certainty to Jin as well.

Torin wraps his arms around me, standing up and pulling me along with him. He brushes the dust off his trousers.

Then he beckons with a dangerous look at Cricket. “Three it is then, mo stoirin. We have Beta prey to capture.”

Cricket slips out of bed, padding toward me. His pajama top slides entirely off his shoulder. I snag him by the hand and drag him toward me. I bend to kiss along his exposed shoulder, curling my tongue along his scarred bond bite to see how much I can make him tremble.

I take pity, when his knees buckle.

Torin laughs.

Cricket’s amber eyes meet mine, large with love and desire.

Torin prowls toward the bathroom, and Cricket and I follow him.

When Torin wrenches open the door, steam billows out like dragon’s breath.

Together, we crowd into the small bathroom.

Jin is still singing at the top of his lungs.

He’s just as gorgeously wet as Torin promised. Soapy water runs down his strong shoulders, as he shampoos his hair, which is piled on the top of his head.

Rivers of water stream down the hollow of his back and between the crack of his tight ass, before trailing down his lean legs.

Like he can’t hold it back any longer, Torin rumbles a deep growl, which echoes in the small, tiled space.

Startled, Jin breaks off singing, spinning around.

“Charming!” Jin smiles like he’s seeing an angel burst into his shower, rather than an Alpha who wrenches open his shower door and drags him out by his throat.

“Ah, fuck.” Jin’s eyes are blown wide, and his cock is quickly rising.

Water runs down between Jin’s pecs and abs, then further down to drip from the head of his cock.

Jin goes limp, allowing himself to be manhandled face first against the tiled wall.

He only just catches himself with his hands. “You all missed me, yeah?”

“Every moment,” I reply. “But Tor played your music, during my heat. It was like you were with us.”

“Plus, we had the costumes that you gave us,” Cricket adds.

“I’m still sorry that I lost your knitted dragon, but being able to wear your dragon suit and nest in it was like I’d found it again.

We were all terrified that we could have lost you for a while then. Nothing will ever feel as bad as that.”

I wonder if Cricket realizes that he’s describing how I will feel…how Torin and Jin will…if we lose him .

Not caring that his clothes are being soaked and plastered to his skin, until his white shirt is transparent like he’s naked as well, Torin presses himself to Jin’s back.

When Jin feels the graze of Torin’s teeth on his neck, he shivers.

Cricket and I crowd around on each side, purring and pinning Jin by each of his arms as well.

“We made this promise to each other in our hearts years ago, anamchara,” Torin says.

I can feel Jin and his overflowing emotions and joy through the bond.

My own eyes gleam with tears. “We already belong to each other. But I’ve waited to be able to do this for five long years.

Jin, will you accept the bond of the Idol pack? ”

Jin’s eyes flutter closed. “Bite and bond me. I’m yours.”

Torin settles his mouth to the base of Jin’s throat where his neck meets his collarbone.

He kisses once with an aching tenderness.

Then he savagely bites.