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CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX

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FIA PRESIDENT GIVES STATEMENT REGARDING LARS BACHMAN AND SABOTAGE ACCUSATIONS

“Good morning. For more than a hundred years, Formula 1 has been at the top of world motorsport. Our job as a governing body is to maintain safety, equity, sportsmanship, and adherence to the rules. This was, and continues to be, our central mission.

“The events of this past season and the accusations that come with them are not only troubling, they are dire. A sport rife with distrust, antagonism, and revenge is a sport that cannot last. Such behavior will not be tolerated.

“It is with these principles in mind that we announce Lars Bachman’s immediate expulsion from Formula 1. All points earned during this past season have been removed from his record, and he is no longer permitted to compete. He will also be fined in the amount of five million dollars.

“As a result of Mr. Bachman’s removal from this season’s standings, Vanessa Lennon has moved up and has been awarded third place in the Drivers Championship. The FIA wishes both her and Mr. Daniels well in the process of their recovery.

“Joshua Gendra, having been found to have intentionally caused a collision under duress, has been given a five race suspension at the beginning of next season, pending his contract renewal. He will be fined in the amount of one million dollars.

“I cannot personally comment on the private legal proceedings against Mr. Bachman or any potential charges for Mr. Gendra.

“Despite all of this, there are still things we do not know. Our investigation of these incidents is ongoing, and we will share our findings as we have them. Thank you.”

I looked out at the ocean from our backyard, wearing clothes that weren’t mine. Beck’s hoodie and River’s sweatpants both drowned me in comfort and scent. The strange mixture of chocolate, mint, and incense gave me all kinds of ideas. But mostly they kept me warm, since it was now November. It wasn’t cold yet in Monaque. It wasn’t really warm either.

But it was still early enough in the day to be outside, and I was holding on to the last few times I could come out here and not be freezing.

My legs were still bandaged all the way up my calves, my hands too, along with my cast.

Grayson had nurses come every day to help change the bandages so we didn’t have to go into the city. I wasn’t about to argue with the luxury when the only thing I wanted to do was snuggle and sleep. It felt like I needed to catch up on a lifetime of it.

Which was why this drowsy early afternoon was perfect. Everything was good, and I was happy. Here at home it felt like we were out of reach of all the attention, even if most of it was positive.

Soft footsteps approached from behind me. “Mixing our scents together is dangerous, love. Makes me want to do dirty things to you.” Beck leaned over the back of the chair far enough for him to kiss my lips.

“I won’t say no to that.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.” He came around and crouched in front of me.

I laughed. “Is this where you steal me away to the nest and keep me captive?”

“Yes.”

No traces of humor lined his eyes or his bond. He meant it. “Really?”

“Add in the rest of your pack this time, and yes. If you’re willing.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What am I agreeing to?”

“To be ours.”

“I thought I already was.”

He tugged me closer by his hoodie. “Oh, you are. Remember that little fact I tucked away when we bonded?”

When he’d tied my lingerie tight enough that my heart began to race and my imagination had begun to spin. I licked my lips. “Yes.”

“Then tell me how much you want to know. I can tell you everything, or I can let it be a surprise. You can always say no.”

“Tell me.” I wanted the anticipation.

A slow smile as he closed the distance between us. “If you let me have my way, you won’t be able to move. You won’t be able to see or speak. The only thing you’ll be able to do is hear my voice. You’ll have a non-verbal signal for if you need to stop.”

“And then?”

He grinned. “And then we play.”

I savored every moment I had with them—by ourselves and together. The last few days we’d all been tired and recovering from the news and the final race. I craved being the center of their attention. Especially when I felt how much they craved it too. Beck’s bond swam with desire so sharp it made it hard to breathe.

“Yes.”

Beck stood and held out a hand. “Let me get you ready.”

“So serious,” I teased.

“Always when it comes to you.”

Leading me into the nest, he’d already brought what he needed. The good kind of nerves sparkled in my brain. The exciting kind. This was my life. With them. We could do things like this whenever we wanted. That only made joy bubble through every cell.

“Here.” The small device he put in my hand looked almost like a pen. Thicker. It had a little button on it. Beck held up his phone. “Click the button once.”

I did, and his phone screen turned green for a few seconds, then flipped back to black.

“Now two times.”

The screen turned yellow.

“And just keep pressing it.”

When I did that the screen turned a bright, pulsing red.

“This is how you tell us if you’re all right or if you need to stop, whether or not I ask. One click for good. Two clicks for maybe. Keep on clicking if you need us to get you out.”

I nodded. “Simple enough.”

“Hands up.” Beck pulled his hoodie over my head and tossed it aside, instead holding up what looked like a complicated piece of black fabric. Silver buckles hung from it here and there. “Here are the sleeves. Keep that in your hand.”

The sleeves were soft, and the right one even fit over my cast.

I slid my arms in and in and in…

“Do these sleeves end?” I asked.

Beck was already behind me, zipping the shirt closed. The neck was loose and cowled, the fabric pooling. He didn’t answer, and suddenly I felt those buckles tighten. The whole jacket tightened like a hug. Not enough to make breathing difficult. Just enough to make me aware of the fact that I was breathing. “Too tight?”

I shook my head.

“Good.” Beck tightened it further.

A soft moan escaped, making me flush. Why the hell did that feel so incredible? Like being held but on steroids.

“Fuck, I love that sound,” Beck murmured. “And to answer your question, no. The sleeves don’t end the way they would normally.”

I didn’t have a chance to ask why. Beck took my casted arm and pressed it flat across my stomach, wrapping the sleeve around my waist. The sound of metal reached me. Oh . My arm wouldn’t move. The sleeve pulled tighter, emphasizing how wrapped up I was.

This was a strait jacket. A soft, supple, sexy one, but still. My other arm was secured too. I was already slipping down into that yummy space Beck pulled out of me when he whispered in my ear and made me deliciously helpless.

Beck came around to the front, his eyes heated. “This all right?”

“Mmhmm.”

He smirked. “I wondered if this would be too far for the first time.” I tried to reach for him and pull him closer, but I couldn’t. Heat spiked through me and his smirk deepened. “Fuck, I love the way this turns you on.”

“It’s not too far,” I said. “You know me. I’ll jump in head first.”

His gaze fell to the loose fabric around my neck. “I’m going to take your voice now,” he said. “Do you have any questions?”

“No.” No questions. Only anticipation and desperation.

“Then I only have one thing left for you to do.”

I waited as his eyes sparkled. “What?”

He kissed me and took his time. Beck swirled his tongue around mine, stealing my breath and turning the temperature up just like in the sauna. “Tell me what you want.”

My body didn’t tense and I didn’t flush with embarrassment. Was it easy to say what I wanted out loud? No. Hell no. But no matter what I said, I was safe with them. So I used his words from earlier. “I want you to keep me captive. I want to be yours.”

Incense-laced arousal punched straight into the center of my chest. “Good girl.” Black duct tape sat on one of the cushions. “I made sure everything was black just for you.”

“Could have kept the duct tape silver,” I said. “You know, for the combination.”

“Got it covered with the buckles,” he said with a chuckle, kissing me one more time. “Use the button if you need to.”

The tape went over my mouth, and suddenly the loose fabric around my neck wasn’t anymore. Beck pulled it up over the tape and disappeared behind me. The sound of metal reached me. More buckles. This time the fabric snugged tight around my face and neck.

“Eyes next.”

A soft blindfold covered my eyes. I had to keep them closed. Shivers started to move along my limbs with every sense he bound. Perfume filled the nest—even if we weren’t connected he would know I was wet and wanting.

“Last thing,” Beck said before the rest of the world disappeared. Headphones covered my ears, wrapping me in soft, comfortable silence. “Can you hear me?”

I startled, nodding. He was in my ears just like he was during the races, but his tone wasn’t the one he used on the radios. It was deeper and smoother. Pure Alpha.

“Click the button once, please.”

I did, pushing my thumb down.

“Good.” Hands gripped my hips, air hitting my now bare legs after he pushed the sweats and my underwear off my legs. Would he wrap my legs too? Tie them open? The shudder wracking me told me I didn’t hate that idea. Them holding me down during our bonding frenzy was easily one of the hottest moments of my life.

A hand gripped my elbow. I realized without my senses I had no idea if it was Beck touching me now. I could only smell him, but he mentioned the others playing with us.

“Kneel.”

The hand at my elbow supported me while I sank onto the cushions.

A soft laugh that raised chills on my skin. “Your thighs are wet, Omega. It’s almost like you enjoy being utterly helpless.”

Fuck me, I did.

I jumped when fingers touched the inside of my thigh, dragging through the damp arousal there. “Taking away all your senses like this, Nessa. I want to make myself so clear. It has nothing to do with wanting to see you tied up or silencing you. It’s about the way I feel you shake when you let go. It’s about the trust you offer us when you let us do what we like. It’s about feeling your pleasure and seeing how far I can push you.

“And don’t worry, I still plan on stealing you away to be my captive. Today I’ll share you.”

For a fraction of a second I heard a voice that wasn’t Beck’s. River’s scent reached me first. Then Grayson’s. Finally, Elias’s berries completed the mixture that made my favorite scent ever.

“You look so perfect, love. Waiting for us to have our way with you. How should we start?” Then he paused. “Even if you have a suggestion, we can’t hear you.”

The shift to the cushions was disorienting. My legs were gripped and pulled apart, a mouth suddenly devouring me and I had no idea who. All their scents were here so there were no clues. Why was that so fucking hot ?

Whoever it was stroked fingers into me, fucking in tandem with their tongue.

“I love watching you get eaten,” Beck’s voice filled my head. “The way your hips move when you’re desperate for more. Remembering what you taste like. Now, feeling how much pleasure you’re drowning in and how much they’re loving the velvet feel of your cunt on their tongue.”

He wasn’t going to tell me who was between my legs, my knees now over bare shoulders. I could do nothing but accept and feel. I couldn’t tell through our bonds either, all of them so intensely focused on me and enjoying everything that it could be any one of them.

That first haze of pleasure seemed just out of reach. I wanted it and wasn’t sure I was ready. Once that dam broke, they wouldn’t stop. I would be overwhelmed with nothing but their pleasure until I couldn’t take it anymore.

“Your orgasms belong to us, Vanessa. We want that first one. Give it to us.”

Tongue and fingers moved faster. I screamed behind the tape, though I couldn’t really hear myself, but I still wasn’t there. So close. So fucking close .

“It doesn’t matter, love. If you don’t let yourself come, we’re still going to take it from you.”

Suddenly I wanted them to push me over that edge. The last vestige of control. I was a powerful woman and their Omega. I was both, but right now, I was entirely theirs.

Beck’s wicked laughter made everything tighten. “Make her come.”

They did.

The mouth between my legs sealed over my clit and sucked hard and deep, fucking me with shallow strokes that hit exactly where I fucking needed them to. Honeyed heat built and exploded, taking me with it. I couldn’t move, the orgasm squeezing me tighter than the jacket as it tried to make me writhe and move and moan.

One final lick had the person retreating and me trying to catch my breath through my nose.

“Hold on, love. We’re not even close to finished with you.”

They weren’t.

A hand slid around my throat and Beck chuckled. “River’s necklace does look gorgeous on you.” So that was River. But once the hand disappeared I had no idea where he was.

Elias slid inside me, the piercing giving him away. He brought me onto his chest where I could feel his warmth, inhale the sweetness of his scent, and hope he would move his hips. Fuck me. He didn’t. Because Grayson and his piercings were behind me, sinking deep.

They took me together, wringing ecstasy from me like it was their only job in life. I soaked it in, surrendering to the words Beck placed in my ear and however they wanted to fuck me. I lost track of who was where and I didn’t really care. Not when I floated through pastel clouds gilded with carnal bliss.

“Vanessa,” Beck said. “Click the green button for me.”

I did. My arm felt shaky—hell, my whole body shook—where I was on my side and pinned between two of them. Knotted .

The knots pressed against each other inside me, and every breath could ignite something more.

“I’m going to start bringing you out of this,” Beck kept his voice low and gentle. Purring vibrations soothed me from both ahead and behind. “It might be overwhelming having all the senses come back, so we’ll go slow.”

He released my mouth first, peeling the tape off and kissing me. I heard the sound of our kiss in the headphones. “I missed your mouth. Need to think about that if we do this again.”

“Yeah.”

“There she is.” I heard his smile.

Someone’s hands moved down my back, unlocking the buckles. I shivered as skin was exposed, my sweat cooling in the aftermath. Whoever was behind me… maybe River? Pressed himself to my back to warm me. Beck slowly moved my arms and made sure they were okay. They were fine.

Finally, he lifted the headphones off. Even silence in the nest was loud after that. The last thing was the blindfold, and I blinked open to the dimness of my nest and Beck right there. I was right. River was behind me, knotted in my ass. Grayson sprawled over some pillows nearby. Elias wasn’t in sight, but I still scented him.

“You all right?” Beck asked.

I hid my face in his chest. “I’m good. Really good. Really really good.”

“I’m glad.”

“Don’t know if I’ll be able to walk anytime soon,” I joked. They’d barely let me walk anywhere in the last three days. The immediate feelings in their bonds told me that wasn’t likely to change.

I leaned back into River. “Hi.”

He kissed my neck. “Hey. That was really fucking hot.”

“Yeah?”

Looping one arm around my chest, he held me tight. “You have no idea.”

A laugh burst out of me. “I have some.” Then I paused, my previous thoughts coming back. “I’m just so happy .”

Purrs greeted that statement along with a flood of joy. Elias peeked over Beck’s shoulder. “If I could purr, I would.”

I smirked. “I don’t love you less because you can’t purr.”

He gasped in mock surprise. “You love me?”

“I do.”

River’s knot released me first, then Beck. I stretched, feeling the aches that came with a damn good fucking. “I know it’s almost been a year, but the fact that we can just do that whenever we want still blows my mind.”

“Whenever we want,” River repeated. “Including tonight. Maybe.”

“After that? I don’t know if I can have any more orgasms.”

“You know,” he scratched his head. “You said that once before and we proved you wrong. Thoroughly.”

I climbed across the cushions to Grayson. “Save me, Gray. They’re going to kill me. Death by orgasm.”

He chuckled. “Not sure why you’d think I’m your ally against that.”

I straddled his lap. “You want me to die?”

“I think I speak for all of us when I say I want you out of your mind. You can currently still form complete sentences.”

Pouting, I ran my fingers through his hair. “In that case, I demand to be fed before you all attempt to seduce me again. No promises on being out of my mind.”

“We can do that,” Elias said.

“The nurse will be here in a few minutes, little one.”

“Shit.” I scrambled out of the nest, their teasing laughter following me, letting me walk myself. The nurse was nice, but I didn’t need her knowing I’d just been railed to the floor.

Fresh bandages and fresh clothes acquired, I went looking for my pack. They felt light and pleasant, like they were joking. Not in the nest anymore and not in the theatre room either.

I finally found them outside, where the afternoon had deepened into a blazing sunset reflected by the sea. The guys had food spread out on a couple of tables around the big outdoor futon we had. A few candles to keep it light once darkness fell.

It smelled incredible.

Pasta and sauce. Garlic bread. Cheese. The perfect meal to eat and then cuddle down into comfort and sleepiness.

“There you are,” I said. “Took me a minute to find you.”

Elias stood and bowed at the waist. “How did we do?”

I hugged him and lifted my chin for a kiss. “It’s perfect.”

Grayson already had a plate ready for me. I sat cross-legged on the cushion and savored the moment. The breeze in my hair and the feeling of knowing you were exactly where you were meant to be.

In the silence, Beck stroked a hand down my spine, reacting to my contentment. Last year at this time… wow.

“What are you thinking about, baby?”

I set my empty plate aside. “Last year at this time, coming off that race. I was so hopeful, but also afraid. I knew whatever happened, I’d be fighting. Fighting for my place, fighting people’s judgement and expectations, fighting my own instincts. I never thought I’d have this. Now that I do…” I blinked away the quick tears that blurred the pinks and purples in the sky.

There wasn’t anything else to explain. They knew. One wrong step and we wouldn’t be here. A moment’s hesitation or one different decision. But we were here. We made it. Now everything stretched out in front of us with infinite possibilities.

I shrugged. “I’m just happy,” I finally said, repeating my words from the nest. “So fucking happy.”

River pulled me across the futon to sit between his legs, only for Elias to pull me right out of his arms. “Nah, mate. You have to share tonight.”

We both laughed, and I settled between them. Beck slid onto his side in front of me, hand lazily touching my ankle. Even Grayson pulled his chair to the edge of the futon right behind me, leaning his chin on my shoulder.

Everything else in the world went quiet. The bond between the five of was us singing and spinning, reminding us that no matter what happened, the pack came first.

Grayson kissed my cheek, purr rumbling against my back. “We love you, little one.”

I closed my eyes and took a long, slow breath. It didn’t stop my smile. “I love you too.”