Page 51 of Down Knot Out (Pack Alphas of Misty Pines #3)

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chloe

A fter that, the hours blur together in a haze of skin and sweat and pleasure.

Day fades to night and back to day, the only constant being the hands that stroke and hold me, the bodies that fill me, the bonds that pulse within me.

My Heat continues to build, my temperature climbing until my skin feels too small to contain the fire raging beneath it. I lose track of who’s inside me, who’s holding me, who’s whispering praise into my ear. Sometimes it’s more than one as I take two, and sometimes three, at the same time.

They become one entity, my pack, my Alphas, my everything.

In between joining our bodies together, water and sandwiches are pressed to my lips, my Alphas taking care of all my needs through my Heat.

A shift in the air pulls me from my daze as Nathaniel prowls closer, watching as Holden withdraws from me. His face has changed, features sharper, nostrils flared. The usual control that defines him has cracked, revealing the primal Alpha beneath.

His pheromones hit me stronger, wilder than they were before. My body responds with another flood of slick coating my thighs. My entire body feels sticky and heavy, my bones liquid. Nothing but desire in my veins.

“She’s calling him to rut,” Blake says from somewhere to my left. “Her Heat’s peaking.”

I tremble for him. “Nathaniel.”

He flips me onto my stomach with a strength that steals my breath. His hand spans the back of my neck, covering my fresh Marks as he pins me to the nest and mounts me from behind.

“Mine,” he growls.

He enters me with a single thrust that buries him to the hilt, the force lifting my hips off the floor. The sudden fullness draws a cry from my throat, half surprise and half ecstasy.

His pace is punishing, nothing like his earlier controlled lovemaking. Each snap of his hips drives me further into the nest, my face pressed into the pillows as he claims me. The slap of skin on skin fills the room, punctuated by his growls and my breathless moans.

I can’t breathe, can’t think, can only take the pleasure he pounds into me, his grip on my neck keeping me pinned. The pressure skirts the edge of too much, even as the bonds inside me pulse with reassurance. I’m safe, I’m loved, I’m protected even as Nathaniel loses control.

Blake appears beside us, his hand sliding between the blanket and my cheek. “Ease up.” He keeps his head down so as not to challenge Nathaniel. “She needs to breathe.”

Nathaniel’s grip relaxes, allowing me to turn my head. Blake’s face comes into focus, concern and desire mingling in his expression as he strokes my hair back from my sweat-slicked face.

He pushes damp hair back from my face. “You with us, sweetheart?”

I try to answer, but Nathaniel hits a spot inside me that turns words to broken sounds.

Blake understands anyway, smiling as he continues to pet me, anchoring me while Nathaniel claims me with brutal force. “So beautiful like this. Taking everything we give you.”

The praise washes over me, warming me from the inside out. I grasp Blake’s free hand, linking our fingers as Nathaniel’s thrusts grow more erratic, his knot beginning to swell.

Through the bonds, I sense Nathaniel’s struggle for control even as his rut drives him to claim, to possess.

“Let go.” Rocking back into his thrusts. “I can take it, Alpha.”

His control shatters at my words. He drives into me with renewed force, his knot catching on my entrance with each thrust until finally, it locks us together. He roars as he comes, the sound vibrating through my bones as his seed floods me.

The knot stretches me beyond what I thought possible, the pressure triggering my own release. I cry out, body clenching around him as pleasure cascades through me, and my hold on Blake’s hand tightens.

As we come down from the high, Nathaniel collapses over me, his weight pinning me to the nest. Blake continues to stroke my hair, murmuring praise.

“Water,” I rasp, throat dry from screaming.

Before Blake can move, Holden appears beside us, a cup of ice chips in his hands. He holds one to my lips, and I accept it, the cold a stark relief for my fever-hot skin .

“Small pieces.” He feeds me another chip. “Your body temperature’s running high.”

Nathaniel shifts us onto our sides, still locked together by his knot. His breathing has steadied somewhat, but the rut-scent clings to him, potent and sharp.

His lips brush the shell of my ear. “Did I hurt you?”

I shake my head, too drained for words.

Holden continues to tend to me, wiping sweat from my brow with a cool cloth, feeding me ice chips and checking the bite marks to ensure they’re healing properly. His care feels as intimate as the sex, each gentle touch a declaration of his love.

Dominic appears in my field of vision, his expression hungry but contained.

He leans down beside me, bringing his face level with mine. “You’re doing so well. So strong for us.”

I reach for him, needing to touch, to connect.

He catches my hand and brings it to his lips, kissing each fingertip with reverence. “Rest while you can. The peak isn’t over yet.”

True to his word, by the time Nathaniel’s knot recedes, my Heat surges, stronger than before. My skin burns, sensitive to the slightest touch. Every nerve ending screams for contact, for pressure, for relief from the building tension.

Dominic guides me through the next wave, his hands steady despite the hunger in his eyes. He arranges me on my side, one leg hooked over his arm as he slides into me from behind. The position lets him control the pace while Blake cradles my head in his lap, fingers massaging my scalp.

“Breathe through it.” Dominic’s hips establish a rhythm that sways our bodies together. “Focus on the pleasure, not the need.”

I try to follow his direction, but Heat consumes rational thought, reducing me to base instinct. My fingers dig into his forearm, nails leaving half-moon impressions in his skin as I hold on.

Holden returns with more ice, this time running a cube across my collarbone, down between my breasts, across my belly. I gasp at the shock of cold on my burning skin, my body arching into the sensation.

Holden pauses with the ice hovering above my skin. “Too much?”

“No,” I pant. “More. Please.”

He continues his ministrations, tracing patterns of cold across my overheated flesh while Dominic thrusts into me. The contrast of ice and fire, of gentle and firm, twist together, heightening every touch.

Blake bends to kiss me, his lips soft on mine.

Dominic growls as his hips snap flush to my ass, Nathaniel watching with hunger building in his eyes again.

Dominic’s knot swells, locking us together as another orgasm rips through me, resonating through all four bonds at once like a chord struck on perfectly tuned strings.

“Feel that?” Dominic grinds his hips against mine. “That’s your pack. All of us, inside you, connected.”

I do, the symphony of bonds vibrating in harmony, each one distinct yet part of a greater whole.

In this moment, surrounded by the scents and sounds and touches of my Alphas, the world beyond this room ceases to exist. There are no publishers or Sinclairs or uncertainties, only this, only us, bound together with a bond that can only be broken in death.

Morning light filters through the curtains, painting stripes of gold across the wreckage of the nest. My body feels heavy, used in ways both wonderful and overwhelming, every muscle singing with sweet aches that remind me of the past three days.

I blink slowly, the fever of Heat broken.

Taking inventory of my body and sluggish limbs, I find myself gloriously sore but clear-headed for the first time since Blake’s lips first touched mine.

The bonds pulse steadily inside me, and I touch my breast over my heart, reveling in the sense of completeness. My fingers trail upward to the roughness of the Marks, four distinct bites decorating my throat that are more precious than diamonds.

As Blake promised, I will never again be alone.

He lies curled behind me, his broad chest rising and falling against my back with each breath. His arm circles my waist, fingers splayed across my stomach even in sleep. His beard grazes my shoulder, tickling the healing Mark he left.

Nathaniel presses to my front, one long leg thrown over mine and hooked around Blake’s calf. In sleep, the usual stern lines of his face are softened, and he appears younger, more vulnerable. His lips rest on my shoulder, not quite a kiss but a point of connection even while unconscious .

My body tingles as hazy memories rise of the two Alphas taking me together one last time before we passed out, and my stomach tightens under Blake’s palm.

Dominic’s hand drapes over my calf, his body a warm weight near my feet. He sleeps on his stomach, face half-buried in a pillow, black hair falling across his forehead in stark contrast to the white fabric.

Movement draws my attention upward. Holden stands beside the nest, a water bottle in one hand and a plate of food in the other.

His curls stick up at odd angles, and dark circles rim his eyes, but his smile warms me from the inside out. “Hey, you’re back with us.”

I try to speak, but my throat is scraped raw from three days of crying out. I swallow and try again. “Hey, I’m back.”

Blake stirs, his arm tightening around my waist. Through our bond, I sense his consciousness rising from sleep, concern threading through the connection as he registers my discomfort.

Holden sets the plate on the bedside table and unscrews the cap from the water bottle. He kneels to slide a hand beneath my head, supporting me as he brings the bottle to my lips.

“Small sips.” He tilts the bottle carefully .

The water soothes my abused throat, cool and clean. I drink until Holden pulls the bottle away, his thumb wiping a stray droplet from my bottom lip.

His free hand strokes the hair back from my forehead. “How do you feel?”

The question requires more self-assessment than my foggy brain can manage. My body is a collection of pleasant aches and tender spots, while I float on a sea of contentment so deep I can’t see the bottom.

“Complete,” I whisper, the word encompassing everything I somehow lack the vocabulary to express.

Holden’s smile deepens. “Good. That’s how it should be.”

Blake’s breathing pattern changes as he wakes fully, his nose nuzzling the nape of my neck as he inhales my scent.

“Morning,” he rumbles, voice thick with sleep.

His palm slides up from my stomach to rest over my chest, my heartbeat a steady rhythm beneath his hand. Through our bond, I sense his satisfaction, his relief that my Heat has broken without complications.

Holden gestures to the plate of food. “Hungry?”

My stomach rumbles in response, loud enough to wake Nathaniel. His eyes open, instantly alert in that way only he manages, taking in the scene before him in one glance.

His palm lifts to rest on my forehead. “Her temperature’s down. Heat’s broken.”

Holden reaches for the plate. “She needs to eat.”

Nathaniel sits up, back propped on the bed frame, and gently pulls me into his lap. The movement dislodges Blake, who grumbles but helps arrange me so that I sit upright, supported by Nathaniel’s chest.

The shift wakes Dominic, who lifts his head with a sleepy blink. His hand squeezes my ankle in greeting, his thumb circling the bone in a gentle caress.

“Hey, beautiful,” he rasps. “Welcome back to the land of the living.”

Holden passes small pieces of food to Nathaniel, who feeds them to me one by one. Fresh bread spread with honey, slices of apple, cubes of cheese, all offered with careful attention to what I can manage. Each bite revives me a little more, energy returning to my leaden limbs.

Blake rises to fetch a damp cloth from the bathroom, returning to wipe the sweat and other evidence of our marathon from my skin .

“The Marks are healing well.” He caresses the bites. “They’ll scar beautifully.”

I reach up to touch the raised edges of the Marks where each Alpha claimed me. Four distinct patterns that are visible proof of the hum of connection inside me.

“Can you sense us?” Dominic moves to sit cross-legged and draws my feet into his lap. “All of us, I mean. The bonds.”

I focus inward to the place where the connections live. Four distinct presences, each with its own texture in my mind.

“I can.” My head lifts to find all four Alphas watching me with identical expressions of contentment. “All of you. You’re all so attuned to each other.”

Holden’s expression softens as he crowds in next to Blake to take my hand in his. “That’s how it should be. A harmony, not a competition.”

I lean into Nathaniel’s chest, letting my head rest in the curve of his shoulder. His arms wrap around me, secure without confining.

“No regrets?” he asks, his tone casual but the question carrying unmistakable weight.

I turn my face into his neck, breathing in the scent of leather and clove that has become as essential to me as oxygen. “None.” A pulse of joy threads down the bonds from me to them.

With a thrum of satisfaction, Blake settles beside us, his hand finding mine where it rests on Nathaniel’s arm. “The Sinclairs can go fuck themselves. You’re ours now.”

The crude declaration startles a laugh from me. “Eloquent as always.”

“But accurate.” Dominic picks up my foot and starts to massage it. “No court in the country can override a true pack bond. Not even Gregory Sinclair can touch you now.”

The mention of my biological father should sting, but the pain is distant, muted by the warmth of four bonds pulsing inside me.

“I never thought I’d have this,” I confess, my shoulders pulling inward. “After the Sinclairs rejected me, and everything my mother put me through, I convinced myself I didn’t need a pack. That I could be whole on my own.”

Holden’s fingers squeeze mine. “You were always whole, cupcake. We’re not what makes you complete. We’re just the ones who will support you through the good and the bad, protecting you from anyone who wants to hurt you.”

The simple truth of his words sinks into me, settling alongside the bonds like the final piece of a puzzle I didn’t know needed to be solved.

Blake kisses my temple, beard tickling my skin. “Do you want to shower? Or do you want to rest some more?”

I flex my toes in Dominic’s hold and relax in Nathaniel’s arms. “Will you stay with me?”

“Forever,” Holden vows. “That’s what it means to be bondmates.”

With a contented sigh, I sink deeper into their embrace, the combined warmth of four bodies and four bonds cocooning me in safety. My eyelids grow heavy, the exhaustion of three days catching up all at once.

As I drift toward sleep, four pairs of lips brush my forehead, my cheek, my hand, and my shoulder.

My Alphas.