Page 27 of Want It All

His hand cupped my face before moving back to bunch in my hair, knocking my hat to the ground.

I wanted to crawl inside him, to feel him wrap around every jagged part of me, tending my hurts until all the rough edges were gone, smoothed beneath the force of his golden light.

He nipped playfully at my bottom lip, then soothed the hurt with the tip of his tongue.

An arrow of arousal shot through me. I was wearing slick-proof underwear again, for all the good it had done me last time; the memory of the dance made me pause, just for a moment.

‘This is a bad idea,’ I managed.

‘Is it?’ he murmured, and kissed me deeper, his free hand splaying across my back.

‘No.’ I took handfuls of his shirt and pulled him closer as his mouth moved on mine. ‘It’s not. It’s the best idea I’ve ever had.’

He made a satisfied sound and pushed my back against a river red gum. His hands found my ass and I hooked my knees around his hips, letting him hold me up, pressing myself against the hardness I could feel between his legs.

He made a growling sound. ‘You’re dangerous, Rosebud.’ He ground himself against me; pleasure sparked through my core.

‘You don’t seem scared,’ I gasped.

He laughed. ‘I’m terrified, mostly of fucking things up. But I’m not scared of you . Or of this .’ He dragged his nose down my throat, leaving a trail of soft pleasure in his wake. ‘I’d like to hear you scream, though.’

I groaned, because it was all too easy to imagine him working me into a state where I’d do just that.

He brought one hand up to cup my breast, kneading and caressing me through the fabric of my shirt until my nipple was hard between his fingers.

It felt so fucking good to be under his hands; I tipped my head back, baring my neck to him, and a moment later his teeth were raking across my scent gland.

I whimpered at the resulting spike of heat, squirming to get closer.

I wanted to feel his teeth. Wanted his canines to push down, to pierce, for my blood to well and spread across his tongue.

No, Rose , I told myself.

He dipped his head, running his nose over the skin just scored by his teeth.

Omegas were extra sensitive there; he might as well have been toying with my clit.

I squirmed again, pressing against him, trying to get friction where I needed it, and giving zero fucks that anyone inside the manor could look out at the trees and see me rubbing myself against my beta friend.

His fingers walked to my shirt buttons, and he made short work of the first three. His lips found the newly exposed skin; he pulled my blouse to the side so he could kiss the swell of my breasts, first one, then the other.

‘I’ve been wondering a lot of things lately,’ he murmured, his breath fanning over my chest. ‘What your skin tastes like.’ He licked a line across my breast, following the lace of my bra cup.

‘What colour your nipples are.’ I shuddered in pleasure as his mouth closed over one hard peak, sucking until wet heat spread over the lace.

‘How sensitive they’ll be.’ My core clenched as one hand slid down my side, skirting the curve of my waist and hip before his fingers spread over my thigh.

‘Exactly what you’ll sound like as you come for me. ’

I cried out at that – that, and because his fingertips had trailed over the skin of my inner thigh, then travelled out and around to find the swell of my ass.

I was wearing a loose skirt, which posed no barrier to Sebastian; he shifted his stance, and a moment later, I gasped as his fingers began toying with my underwear.

‘Can I touch you?’

‘ Please ,’ I panted.

‘And can I touch inside you?’

My body told us both how much it wanted that with a fresh trickle of slick. The magic of slick-proof clothing only stretched so far; Sebastian’s pupils blew out as my perfume swirled around us.

‘Sweet,’ he ground out. ‘I knew you’d smell sweet. But the eucalypt … I can’t catch …’ He shook his head, his expression almost desperate. ‘What is that?’

I opened my mouth to tell him, but a shrill alarm cut through the air. I stared at him. ‘I thought you didn’t pull the fire alarm,’ I said stupidly.

His blue eyes were dark and wild, his cheeks flushed. ‘I didn’t.’

I heard a noise and turned to the side to see Tristan jogging through the trees towards us.

My face went hot as Sebastian relaxed his hold.

Tristan pretended not to see as I straightened my skirt and buttoned my blouse, pretended that his beta hadn’t just been about to push his fingers inside me in a public garden.

‘It’s a lockdown alarm,’ he said, his voice low.

‘Two quick whoop-whoops,’ Sebastian said, his eyes widening. ‘Fuck. That means –’

‘A feral alpha,’ I finished, because I’d memorised the Banksia House handbook, and the third chapter was entitled On-Campus Safety .

‘I need to get you back inside,’ Tristan said, his gaze travelling over Sebastian and me. ‘We need a room with a lockable door.’

I looked back at Banksia manor. From here, it didn’t look friendly. Its staring windows were full of shadows, its hallways ripe for stalking, leading to corners ready to help pin down prey.

Sebastian shook his head, his expression suggesting he was thinking along the same lines. ‘What if the alpha is near the entrance?’ He turned, looking over the garden. ‘There’s a shed that way. The map said it’s used by the horticulture staff.’

Tristan’s frown was sceptical. ‘And if the alpha comes outside?’

‘That’s why you’re here, Tris.’ Sebastian grabbed my hand and tugged me through the trees as the alarm changed pitch, becoming more insistent.

The shed wasn’t what I’d expected. For starters, it was more like a house, not a corrugated iron square. Second, it was unlocked, which seemed like an oversight, given that it was neatly packed with what looked to be top-of-the-line power tools.

Tristan ushered us inside, then closed the door, locking it with a satisfying thunk .

‘Pull the blinds,’ he murmured, and Sebastian and I hurried to obey as Tristan closed the door on the other side of the room.

It looked to lead into a workshop, but I wasn’t curious enough to confirm it.

There was no lock, so Tristan dragged one of the cupboards in front of it, blocking us in.

Once he’d straightened, he cleared his throat. ‘Rose, would you mind …?’

He held something out to me; it took me a moment to realise that it was scent-cancelling spray.

My face went red hot.

I needed the spray because I’d slicked – while I was rubbing against his beta .

I looked up at him. ‘Please,’ he said roughly. His pupils were blown out, and when I dropped my eyes, I could see his shorts were bulging at the crotch.

And it hit me that I’d locked myself in a room with an alpha – while I was damp with slick.

‘Chocolate,’ Sebastian blurted out, raking in a breath. ‘Motherlicking fuck . Your scent is chocolate .’

‘Dark chocolate,’ Tristan agreed, his voice a deep rumble. ‘Rich and sweet, with a hint of …’ He trailed off, inhaling – breathing me in . ‘Fuck. Mint?’

‘The heat alphas … They couldn’t agree,’ I said, the words coming out unaccountably shy. ‘Some thought it was mint, others citrus. One thought it was pistachio, another, cranberries.’

‘I get raspberries,’ Sebastian grated out. ‘Sweet and tart and fucking perfect .’

I stared at him; I hadn’t realised that his sense of smell would be good enough to detect the secondary hint in mine. I wasn’t the only one; Tristan was looking at his beta with wide-eyed worry.

The alpha shook his head, as if in disbelief. ‘The spray, Rose. Please.’

I took the spray and moved away from them, misting it liberally around my body, wishing I could shower and change my underwear.

I turned away and, cheeks burning, sprayed beneath my skirt, coating the skin on my thighs, then made sure the scent glands on my neck and smaller scent points on my wrists were similarly covered.

I moved to hand the spray back to Tristan, who, without a word, gave it to Sebastian.

I raked in a breath, but all I could scent was eucalyptus and the metallic tang of canceller. There was no hint of another scent at all, even a less potent beta one.

Or perhaps it was me Tristan was scenting – all over Sebastian.

I hadn’t known that alphas could have self-control like this, not the kind that Tristan – and Byron – had. I’d thought they were all like the assholes who’d tried to force me to walk with them, ruled by hormones, dominance, and their ruts.

If those other alphas had found me out here, they wouldn’t be handing me canceller and keeping a respectful distance.

The alarm increased in speed again, making the hairs on the back of my neck rise. ‘They still haven’t stopped the alpha?’

Tristan glanced at me. ‘Have you ever seen a feral alpha?’

I shook my head.

Sebastian shivered. ‘It’s almost unbelievable. Their eyes go red as the blood vessels in them expand, and they can’t see you, can’t hear you. All they know is whatever caused their instincts to take over. An enemy, a threat … An omega.’

‘Their strength is increased multiple times by a huge adrenalin rush,’ Tristan continued, ‘which also blocks pain receptors. If they start to fight, they usually just … keep on fighting. Their humanity is stripped away, and the only thing that remains is their alpha. The creature that lives beneath our skin.’

‘Is that what Byron would have been like?’

I clapped my hands over my mouth almost before I’d finished the sentence, horrified, but Sebastian only looked thoughtful. ‘It must have been,’ he said. ‘I mean, that’s what happens, biologically speaking.’ He glanced at Tristan as something occurred to him. ‘Fuck, you don’t think –’

‘No,’ Tristan answered calmly. ‘Griffiths is in control. This isn’t him.’

The thought hadn’t even occurred to me; I couldn’t imagine Byron like that. ‘I didn’t … I didn’t think you knew him that well,’ I said tentatively.