Page 146 of Broken Bonds

I lick my lips. “M…mar…marking.”

“Paint.”

“P-paint.”

He slowly nods. “Pink. Marking. Paint.”

“P-pink…paint.”

“Close enough. Again. Pink paint.”

I’m trying to focus on him. “Pink p-paint.”

“All you have to do, when the time comes, is run and follow the pink paint. You stop when you get tackled or hit the clearing with the cones. Got it?”

He lost me at run. “Wh-what?”

He gently shakes my head. “Pink. Paint. Stop at cones.”

“Pink paint. Cones.”

He nods. “Okay. That’s as good as we’re going to get.” He reaches under me and tweaks my nipples, and it feels like my entire body’s on fire, but in a good way.

Is that possible?

I don’t know. All I know is I jerk against my restraints and start to whimper because I feel like if I can’t come, I’m going to die.

Chapter Sixty-One

Todd

Go go go!

I hate that I can’t talk to Mal right now, but Shawn’s right. I can’t risk tipping our hand. Keeping Mal mentally off-balance will help boost his anxiety, which will help feed into the effects of the concoction Shawn’s working on. We want him to panic-run.

We need him to if we’re going to trigger Jax, which is the fastest way to keep Mal thinking yes, this is absolutely “real,” with very real stakes.

The truth is, the safety team, with Davis in charge, will be ready to drop Jax without hesitation if it looks like he’s too far out of control. Timing will be key. As long as I can get my dick in Mal and start fucking him, then Jax can happily plow my ass if he wants to, I don’t care.

I mean, that could be a lot of fun. It always has been in the past. Won’t hear any complaints from me about it. Win-win, as far as I’m concerned.

I’ve never had to challenge Jax for anything more important than a winning poker hand. Never wanted to, either. Which is why Shawn and I will have to put on a big act for Jax to yank him hard into his Alpha headspace and hopefully drop him into a deeply primal, instinctive frame of mind.

And Shawn’s absolutely right that I cannot outrun Jax shifted. Not in a sprint. Mal will not be in any condition to run far or fast, but we need him to run just long enough that he’s terrified of Jax fucking him before me. All of this is so Mal doesn’t drop out of his mating heat.

I’m not an omega and I don’t even pretend to understand how it works. I just know Shawn’s the one with the experience and knowledge, and I’m smart enough to defer to his expertise.

Well, maybe not expertise, since we are drifting into uncharted waters, but he’s the man with what passes for the best plan we have, and I trust him.

Shawn will send Mal out first, once Shawn’s convinced Mal’s pretty much out of his mind with need. Shawn will follow him, and I’ll be right behind the two of them. The safety team will be stationed along the marked path, which I set up yesterday and double-checked this morning, and will radio back to the base when I’ve made it a quarter of the way.

Then they’ll turn Jax loose. At that point, hopefully, I’ll be closer to Mal than Jax is to me. If everything goes to plan, I’ll catch Mal, roll him to get him to shift back, and fuck him. Shawn will wait for Jax and jump him, if necessary, to hopefully distract him long enough for them to fuck shifted, meaning Jax will knot him, and they’ll be stuck like that for a while.

We’ll play the next part by ear, depending on whether Jax is still in primal Alpha mode.

After the main fucking portion of the festivities ends, and Jax’s brain has returned, we’ll bundle up Mal and Shawn, head back to the fun room, and then focus on getting them through their mating heats. Shawn lined those teams up, and of course I’ll be happy to help them both out.

I hope I have at least a day on the other side of this to keep Mal in bed and pamper and spoil him. Because I will definitely need it, emotionally, to assure myself he’s really okay and hasn’t been hurt mentally or physically by the process.