Page 44 of Mating With My Grumpy Alphas (Hollow Haven #2)

Wes

T he scent that drifted from the bedroom was intoxicating.

Rich, complex, layered with the unmistakable markers of successful claiming.

Elias's pine and healing herbs, now permanently blended with Willa's warm jasmine and summer rain.

But underneath it all was something new: the deep, satisfied scent of a bonded pair.

I stood at the kitchen counter, gripping my coffee mug with enough force to crack ceramic, and tried to keep my alpha instincts under control.

Every cell in my body was screaming at me to go to her, to check that she was safe and satisfied and ready for the next stage of bonding.

But Elias had asked for time, and I respected that.

This was Willa's first claiming. She deserved space to process what had just happened.

Beside me, Rhett was doing his own version of restless waiting.

He'd reorganized the spice rack twice and was now methodically checking and rechecking the emergency supplies Elias had prepared for heat support.

Keeping his hands busy while his mind processed what we could all smell, all feel in the air.

"How long has it been?" he asked, though we both knew exactly how long it had been since the claiming scent had peaked and then settled into something deeper.

"Forty-three minutes," I said, not bothering to pretend I hadn't been tracking every second.

"Think they need anything?"

"I think they need us to stop hovering and trust them to ask if they do."

Rhett snorted. "Easy for you to say. You're not going stir-crazy from the waiting."

But I was. God, I was. The sound of Willa's climax, muffled by the bedroom walls but unmistakable in its intensity, had nearly driven me to my knees.

The knowledge that she was in there bonding with Elias, establishing the first of the connections that would make us a true pack, was both thrilling and torture.

My phone buzzed with a text from my supervisor, something about the environmental impact report that was due next week. I stared at the screen, trying to remember why watershed protection had ever seemed important compared to the omega currently being claimed in my bedroom.

"You should answer that," Rhett said, noticing my distraction.

"It can wait."

"The whole world can wait," he agreed, understanding exactly what I meant.

The bedroom door opened, and both of us went still.

Elias appeared, wearing only his jeans, his hair mussed and his scent carrying the deep satisfaction of an alpha who had successfully claimed his omega.

But there was something else in his expression.

Anticipation mixed with a protective concern that made my chest tight.

"How is she?" I asked immediately.

"Perfect," he said, and the warmth in his voice made my heart skip. "The bond took beautifully. It's everything and yet so much more."

"And now?" Rhett asked, though we both knew the answer.

"Now she needs you," Elias said, looking directly at me. "The claiming triggered the next stage of heat. Her body's already preparing for the second bond."

The words hit me like a physical blow. She needed me. After everything we'd built together, all the trust and connection and careful courtship, she was ready to let me claim her. To make our bond permanent and unbreakable.

"Is she asking for me specifically?" I asked, needing to be sure.

"She's asking for you," Elias said with a small smile. "Said she wants you for this part of her heat."

The trust implicit in her choice sent warmth through my chest. After everything we'd built together, all the careful courtship and growing connection, she was choosing me for this crucial moment in her heat cycle.

"Go," Rhett said, clapping me on the shoulder. "She's been waiting for you since this whole thing started."

I nodded, suddenly nervous in a way I hadn't expected. This wasn't just about sex or even about bonding. This was about proving to Willa that her trust in me was justified. That I could be the kind of alpha she deserved, the kind who put her needs before my own instincts.

The bedroom was warm and filled with the most incredible scent I'd ever experienced. Willa was curled on her side in the center of the bed, wearing nothing but an expression of drowsy satisfaction. But when she saw me, her eyes sharpened with renewed focus.

"Wes," she said, and my name sounded different coming from her now. Deeper, richer, carrying the weight of the bond she'd already established with Elias.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, settling carefully on the edge of the bed.

"Like I'm burning again," she said honestly. "But different than before. More focused. Like my body knows exactly what it wants and who it wants it from."

"And what does it want?" I asked, though the scent rolling off her made the answer obvious.

"You," she said simply. "I want you to claim me, Wes. I want to feel you in my mind the way I can feel Elias."

The casual mention of her bond with Elias should have triggered jealousy, but instead it filled me with anticipation. Soon I'd have that same connection. Soon I'd be able to feel her emotions, her needs, her contentment in real time.

"Are you sure you're ready?" I asked, reaching out to cup her face. "We can wait if you need more time to adjust, if you’re too sore."

"I'm sure," she said firmly. "I've never been more sure of anything in my life."

The certainty in her voice was everything I needed to hear. I leaned down to kiss her, and the contact was electric. Her lips were soft and warm and tasted like something uniquely her. When she made a soft sound of need against my mouth, every protective instinct I possessed roared to life.

"Tell me what you need," I said against her lips.

"Everything," she whispered. "I need to feel all of you. I need to know you're mine the way I'm yours."

The possessive note in her voice made my alpha instincts sing with satisfaction. This was what claiming looked like from the omega's perspective. Not submission, but mutual ownership. Not surrender, but conscious choice to belong to each other.

I pulled back long enough to remove my shirt, enjoying the way her eyes tracked the movement. When I reached for the button of my jeans, she made a soft sound of approval that went straight to my groin.

"Better," she said when I settled back beside her, skin against skin. "Much better."

Her hands were immediately on me, exploring with the kind of focused attention she usually reserved for her photography. Learning the texture of my skin, the landscape of muscle and bone and the places that made me gasp when she touched them.

My hands fisted at my side as I held myself in check, letting her have this moment of exploration as she unknowingly mercilessly teased me. Then she looked up at me through her lashes, her lips curving into a sultry smile and I knew the little minx had known all along.

Willa gently took my hand, uncurling my fingers before kissing the tips of every one.

I swear every single kiss right through to my cock which twitched with need every time her lips pressed against my skin.

Just as I thought I was about to break from her perfect torture, she brought my hand to her breast, running my fingers gently across her skin before she released and laid herself out before me.

"You're beautiful," she said, reaching up and tracing the line of my collarbone with one finger. "I love how strong you are. How safe you make me feel."

"You make me feel necessary," I told her honestly. "Like I finally understand what I was put on this earth to do."

"Which is?"

"Protect you. Love you. Give you everything you need."

The smile that spread across her face was brilliant and warm and full of anticipation. "Then give me everything," she said. "Don't hold back."

The permission to let my alpha instincts take over was intoxicating. It was a freedom I’d never had before. I rolled her beneath me, enjoying the way she yielded without surrendering, how she remained present and engaged even as she submitted to my strength.

I kept her on her stomach, linking our hands together and pressing them into the mattress at the side of her head. She lifted her hips on instinct, raising her beautiful ass into the air and pressing herself into my cock with a needy whimper.

"That’s my good little omega,” I purred. “You smell incredible," I told her, burying my face in her neck where Elias's claiming mark was still fresh and perfect. "Like pack. Like mine ."

"I am yours," she said simply her hips taking on a slight desperation as she wiggled beneath me. "Just like you're mine."

I pressed kisses down her neck, across the backs of her shoulders, dragging my tongue across the perfect creamy expanse of her skin, explored her body with the same methodical attention I brought to my conservation work.

Every response catalogued, every preference noted and filed away for future reference.

She was responsive and vocal, telling me exactly what she liked and how she liked it without shame or hesitation.

When I finally used one knee to spread her thighs further apart, she was more than ready for me. The heat had intensified since her first claiming, her body preparing for deeper bonding with increasing urgency.

"Please," she said, the word barely coherent with need. "I need you inside me. I need to feel complete."

I entered her slowly, giving her body time to adjust despite the biological urgency driving us both. The sensation was indescribable. Not just physical pleasure, but emotional rightness. Like finding the missing piece of a puzzle I hadn't known was incomplete.

"Perfect," I groaned, overwhelmed by how right this felt. "You feel perfect."

She felt so small beneath me as I sheathed myself fully inside. She was impossibly tight from this angle, so tight I could already feel the flutter of the muscles inside her as she grew more desperate for what came next.