Page 8 of Eternal Light (Fated in the Stars #5)

Forged in the Crucible of Care (Leo)

Leo is fucking tired.

Fucking ridiculous plan.

Yes, he also knows he’s already had his say.

He also knows that they’re not entirely wrong.

Has Leo put his mind to all the possibilities here?

Yes. Has he spent hours extrapolating all the ways any of his alternate plans won’t work—or might even make the situation worse?

Fuck yes. Does he like not having plans B through Z?

No, he does not. Especially when the consequences are potentially life… altering.

It’s all those consequences that have him up so early, counting the cracks in the plaster ceiling.

“Leo?” Grayson asks from his spot beside Leo, his cheek on Leo’s chest and his long fingers tucked up under Leo’s armpit on the opposite side. He pulls them out to rub up and over Leo’s pec, absently rubbing his hardening nipple. “I could hear your heartbeat pick up. Bad dream?”

Not a bad dream so much as a concerning reality.

“Nah. Just can’t get my brain to relax,” he whispers back.

After Nimue had left, they’d eaten a very late lunch of delicious Thai food and watched some movies.

Leo couldn’t even remember what they’d watched; he’d been so distracted.

But Luca and Rowan had tried to infuse some life into their evening with comedic commentary, even going as far as acting out some parts.

Leo had been there in body, but not in mind.

He remembers laughing, and Jay had pulled him in close, as if he’d known Leo had been struggling.

He had been—and still is.

Leo runs his hand down his mate’s smooth spine, enjoying the extra-warm skin. He feels him nod against his side and rub his pointy nose against Leo’s nipple.

“I could maybe help you turn your brain off?”

A jolt of desire skitters down his spine. “By turning me on?”

“Exactly,” he says with a wink.

“Well, only if you must.” Leo sighs and runs his hand back up Grayson’s back and into his long hair, pulling him up and into a gentle kiss.

Grayson’s lips are like a dream—full and soft—and his desire bursts into a need to have his alpha fill him up.

Cinnamon scent blooming with the thought, Leo groans, tongue licking into his mouth and luring Grayson’s tongue into his own.

“It’ll be a hardship, but I’ll persevere,” Grayson whispers between kisses, and he slides over Leo until he can knee Leo’s knees apart.

“This okay?”

“Better than. Fuck me?” Leo moans. His alpha’s cock is hard on Leo’s belly, and he bucks up to try and get it where he needs it.

“If you insist.”

Grayson leans over toward the side of the nest, where Nix had carefully lined up three bottles of lube. He pulls Leo’s favorite warming one off the table but drops it on the mattress beside them when he’s distracted by Leo’s pecs again.

Using both hands to squeeze and press the muscles together, he licks Leo’s nipples one after the other.

“Fucking love your tits.” It’s one reason Leo pays extra care to build them in the gym, three times a week.

Jay rolls over beside them, going to his elbow, his other hand running up over Grayson’s thigh and ass.

“Morning, my loves. What are you up to, this early?”

“Well, I was going to blow Leo’s…mind…you want to help?”

Jay’s warm pine scent turns smoky, like he is unsure of his welcome.

“That okay, Leo?”

There is no universe where Leo turns his alpha away just because they’ve disagreed. None. He’ll have to ask Grayson if there ever has been, just to be sure, but here and now? No fucking way. By way of response, Leo grabs his second alpha of the morning by the neck, so he can draw him in for a kiss.

“Always.”

He opens for Jay, who doesn’t hesitate to lick into his mouth, heedless of their morning breath. He feels Gray’s mouth nipping and sucking down his belly; small nips of his teeth send hot sparks of pleasure straight (ha!) to his dick.

“So pretty, Leo,” Jay whispers. “Look at Gray, baby.”

He tips Leo’s chin so he can see Gray, poised over Leo’s dick. The alpha licks over the head like it’s the sweetest treat. Tremors of pleasure shoot down Leo’s legs and ramp up the burning in his belly. Grayson rests the head on his lower lip and blows a cool stream of air that makes Leo shudder.

He feels loved and cared for, causing his worries to slip away—makes the ache in his belly and hole swell to bursting. He needs to be filled. At both ends.

“Jaybird, want your cock. Let me suck you,” Leo moans.

Grayson must know he’s feeling empty, because he feels a slick finger at his hole.

Leo’s always been tight; all those kegels and leg presses have made opening him up a bit more of an exercise, but none of his mates have ever minded.

Grayson, in particular, relishes the process—he loves luring the hard clench of Leo’s body into giving way to the persistent stretch.

It only seems fair, since Leo loves the exquisite burn.

“Turn over, baby, and Gray can open you up.” Jay moves around so he’s on his knees by Leo’s face. The enigma’s thighs are drool-worthy, his big cock standing up, silky head shiny with precome—a combination that makes Leo’s mouth water.

Grayson goes to his knees behind Leo and slaps the outside of his thigh. “Fuck, look at that ass, Jay.” He takes two handfuls and squeezes hard. “Takes us so well.”

“He’s so pretty when you fuck him,” Nix whispers, taking Jay’s place beside him, eyes glittering as he runs a finger down over Leo’s nose. “Come on, Jamie wants to fuck your mouth. Finn and I want to watch him make you cry a little.”

His omega’s words are growled in the almost subsonic tones Nix has when he’s horny, and Leo takes a moment to look away from Jay’s cock in his face to enjoy watching Finn lift Nix’s thigh from behind so he can sink into Nix’s heat. So easy, with no prep.

“Such good dick, Finnie. Fuck,” Nix groans, and Finn clenches his jaw.

“En-envious of the ‘no prep’ right now,” Leo grunts as Grayson slides two fingers in his hole, adding his tongue to soothe the stretch, sucking and biting at his rim.

Nix just giggles. “There are perks. You sucking that cock, or do I need to do it?”

Jay grasps Leo’s hair to get him back on track, using his other hand to paint his lips with sweet precome.

The slippery head against his lips is so familiar.

He loves sucking dick, especially Jay’s, who knows just how to make him take it.

So he opens as wide as he can and takes Jay down his throat, letting everything slip away.

Since they’ve been doing this for almost nine years, it takes no time at all for Leo to find the rhythm that he loves. Coupled with Grayson’s mouth and fingers on his hole, he can feel his orgasm barreling down on him.

Pulling off, he uses his hands to pump Jay’s cock hard and fast.

“Don’t come, Alpha. Want you to fuck me after Gray.”

“Leo…fuck…” Jay groans, but he pumps his hips in Leo’s grip.

Jay loves sloppy seconds…or thirds…something about being there after someone else and feeling that his mates have found their pleasure in such a tangible and dirty way takes their pack alpha to the next level.

Leo is ready to make that happen.

“Fuck me, Gray. So ready….”

Grayson must agree, because he knees in behind him, taking Leo’s hips in his hands. Pulling his cheeks apart, Leo feels Grayson’s thumb nudge open his hole so he can push the head of his cock in past his rim.

When he finally breaches him, Leo takes Jay back in his mouth so that his groan vibrates along his alpha’s cock. He is finally getting the release he needs, finding that place that’s filled only by burning desire.

“Fuck, you are always so. Fucking. Tight,” Grayson says, punctuating each word with a hard thrust. “Such a hungry hole, sucking me in.”

Jay rewards Grayson’s mesmerizing rhythm with a hand in Leo’s hair, pushing his cock deep into Leo’s throat so he gags, and tears run down his cheeks.

They pick up identical rhythms, deep into his throat and ass, filling him to the limits. His gag reflex makes him tighten up on both intrusions.

It’s bliss, and he’s long ago given up any shame about how much he loves feeling used. Being of use.

Like Jay can read his mind, he pulls his hair sharply.

“Hands behind your back, baby. I think I need to do this for myself,” Jay growls, and he grabs Leo’s head.

It’s a struggle to get his hands behind his back on his own, but suddenly there are big, warm hands helping him, restraining him by the wrists so that there’s a gentle ache in his shoulders. He can smell Rowan’s spiced rum scent filling his nose, and it makes his mouth water even more.

“Fuck. Look at you. So pretty. I want a turn.”

Fuck yes. Leo’s being used by his alphas, and there’s a fucking queue for the pleasure.

“When I’m done,” Jay moans and holds Leo down so the head of his dick is edged deep into Leo’s convulsing throat as Grayson slams in one last time with a shout.

It’s echoed by Nix’s raspy cries of completion as the soulmates come together.

Pulling out, Grayson crawls from behind him to where Nix is still shaking in Leo’s periphery. He takes Nix’s twitching cock in his mouth, and Finn comes with a shout.

Leo barely has time to catch his breath before he feels a warm hand smoothing down his spine, pressing gently where Grayson’s fingers had gripped too hard. He knows that touch—it’s Jay. His gentleness doesn’t last long, though.

“Look at this hole,” Jay murmurs suddenly from behind him.

Leo shivers.

He pushes Leo’s back down into what he is sure is an obscene curve, slipping the head of his cock just inside before pulling out, so Leo has to moan at the repeated stretch.

“Gray almost wrecked you, baby. But you’ll still take me. And Rowan. And anyone else who wants a piece of this perfect ass, right?”