Page 32 of Wanted by the Wolves (The Last Shifters #2)

Chapter 31

Gage

I finish the last words of the spell, and a swell of magic locks into place. Clearing my mind, I focus on my intentions for this moon.

Give us the power to bring Nova safely through her heat and the strength to protect her through our bond.

I let those words flow through me, imagining them coming to fruition. Doubts try to creep in, but I push them away and focus on an image of her with three bite marks on her neck.

Awareness slowly returns, and I realize I’m not alone. Atop Nova’s sweet cinnamon and apples is a darker floral laced with spicy pepper, more potent than anything growing in my greenhouse.

Briggs. The pushy fucker.

“Hands off the goods. I’ve already had one brother-related plant mishap today,” I grumble.

Briggs chuckles but pulls his hand away from the lavender.

“Why are you here? I figured you’d be right behind Dex.”

“Nope. They need some time together.” Briggs moves closer, looking at the plants and touching everything on my worktable. “You should get a new hiding spot if you don’t want to be found.”

“I didn’t realize I needed to hide in my own home.” I don’t know why this alpha makes me feel so on edge, but his presence puts me on the defensive and makes me feel a little like cornered prey.

“You don’t.” Briggs returns an opaque healing crystal to the table and holds his hand out to me. “You look like you could use a break. Come with me. I have a surprise.”

“I’m not?—”

He pulls me off the floor in one smooth move, spins me around, and presses me against my worktable, the wood digging into my hip. “If you wanna be difficult, be difficult. But hear me out—maybe you could let me take care of you my way? My way has got a lot less angst and a lot more orgasms.”

Briggs’s lips hover close to my ear, making my hair tickle my neck. That, combined with the scent of his arousal, makes my head swim.

“What?” I ask stupidly.

“We’re mates, you idiot. We’re hers, but I’m yours too.”

I gape at him over my shoulder, doing my best impersonation of a trout. Who is this man?

A decade ago, Briggs was the center of attention. Charming. Flirty. Easygoing. While Dex stood on the sidelines, silent—a bit creepily, if I’m honest—Briggs was the opposite, making friends with everyone. This older version of Briggs is still like that, but he’s more serious and more caring. It’s surprising how much I like it.

He curls himself along my back, letting me feel his erection as he softly kisses my neck. “You don’t have to fight so hard. I’m not your enemy.”

My body seems to let go of an invisible weight, and I sigh. “All right, show me the surprise.”

Briggs plants a kiss on my neck and lets loose a little whoop. He grabs my hand, pulling me along through the greenhouse. “Excellent. I knew you would see it my way.”

“That’s because you make the alternative impossible,” I huff.

He gives me one of his endearing lopsided smiles. “I know. Isn’t it great?”

“Great isn’t the word I would use.” I shake my head, but I’m secretly amused.

He chatters about the perimeter check and the ferals taking off because of the storm while I follow him through the dim afternoon cold and into the barn.My amusement dies when we bypass the animals and head toward the loft. I’m surprised all over again when he has me climb up first, and I see he’s made a little camp with a thick blanket and a load of snacks on a tray.

This wasn’t our place or anything. Our time together up here was driven by the moon. We had been circling each other all summer, and when I found him working in the barn, shirtless and sweaty, I didn’t think. The first time was hard and fast against the wall, but we managed to make it to the loft and ride out the night. Two days later, the brothers left on their next mission.

Whether or not we realized it then, Briggs is showing me that I mean something to him now. I don’t know how to meet these new expectations or really know how to be her mate or his, but I can do the pleasure part of his plan.

Briggs crawls into the loft and settles on the blanket, leaning against a hay bale and spreading his arms in a ta-da gesture.I kneel between his legs, hovering over him. I dip under the neck of his flannel shirt, sucking along his collarbone.

Briggs’s fingers thread through my hair, and my dick wakes up. He tugs, drawing my eyes to his. “Not so fast. Talk to me.”

His eyes tell me he isn’t backing down.

I don’t either. “I thought your plan was heavy on the orgasms?”

The stare-off continues, Briggs searching my face for something.

It’s too much. I roll off him and stare at the sloped wooden beams of the barn roof.

Briggs pins me down, hovering over me as hecontinues studying me. “Fine, don’t talk. I will.” His eyes flash with his wolf. “You were right to do what she said.”

“How do you know?” I scoff. “We are talking about the same thing, right?”

Briggs huffs, the sound almost a laugh. “I’m not an idiot. I know a moon circle when I see one.”

My eyebrow lifts in surprise.

“Don’t act so shocked.” He cups my cheek, brushing soft lips against mine. “I still say I’m glad you did it.”

He goads me with his lips, teasing me until I give in to his softness. We didn’t kiss before, at least not like this. It was all fire. There’s heat this time too, but it’s warm and soft, not burning up with the rut of the moon. For a moment, I lose the thread of our conversation under the sensation of his lips exploring mine. I lift my hips and drag him closer with my hands, desperate to shut off my brain.

The infuriating alpha gives a singular roll of his hips, his hard cock nudging along mine before he pulls away. He leans his weight on his arms, and a smug grin crosses his lips.

“You know you were right,” Briggs says.

“Definitely.” I lift my brow. “What was I right about? Orgasms?”

Briggs’s hair falls into his eyes, and he gives me a rueful smile. “That… and giving her anything she wants.”

The weight of his meaning reverberates around me, and the heat in my veins turns to ice. I look away, but the stubborn wolf keeps talking.

“It’s her call. Whatever she wants or needs, we back it. But bonding her this moon? That’s right.”

“She could die. Birth kills omegas. Her heat all but guarantees?—”

Briggs cuts me off, his voice harder than I’ve ever heard. “Living always comes with risks. She deserves the world anyway. And we’re gonna give it to her.”

The vibrations of his voice spread through me, making my muscles unlock and my cock stand at attention. My brain-to-mouth filter fails spectacularly. “You’re kinda sexy when you’re growly like that.”

His eyebrows shoot up mockingly. “Ohhhh. We’re acknowledging that you’re attracted to me, are we? I thought you were gonna leave my mate declaration just out there in ruins.”

I smile, but it’s half-hearted. “She’s mine. You’re mine. Isn’t that what you said? What is there to discuss?” My words are as bitter as my attitude, but I can’t seem to stop the vitriol in the sound.

“Jeez, were you always this emotionally stunted?” Briggs groans, clutching his chest as though I’ve wounded him.

I sober, looking him square in the eyes. A minute passes, maybe an eternity. “No.”

He brushes his finger along my brow, smoothing out the crease that seems to permanently live there. “Hey, I didn’t mean?—”

“It’s the truth.” My shoulders tense.

It isn’t Briggs’s fault. It’s certainly not Nova’s. They’re wonderful. But I’m too bitter. Broken. It’s a stark contrast to their light, which somehow makes it worse.

I thought I had a handle on this, but the reality of setting that moon circle and all it will bring makes me want to hit something. It’s as if someone took my greatest wish—taking care of my omega with a pack—and twisted it into something dark.

Briggs rolls off me, settling on his side and cradling his head in his palm. “I'm here to listen if you want to talk about it. I want you to trust me enough to let me understand so I can help give you what you need.”

“What’s there to say?” I face his gaze and let him see all of it. Then he’ll know—I’m not worth it. They need better than me. They need someone who can keep her safe and give her the future she deserves. “I failed, and I’m trying my best not to fail her too, but the odds aren’t great.”

“You didn’t fail,” Briggs says softly.

I look away from his understanding gaze, staring unseeing at the hay. “Tell that to the omegas who came before Nova.”

Briggs leans over my chest, getting right into my space. “I’m telling it to you because you’re the one who needs to hear it. This isn’t your fault any more than what’s happening to omegas is hers.”

A frustrated growl builds in my chest. “It doesn’t matter who is to blame. It doesn’t change the fact that we need to bond her, but the same bond she needs won’t be strong enough to sustain her”—I clench my jaw, the words bitter on my tongue—“or that I don’t know how to fix it.”

“Bullshit,” Briggs growls. “We’re here when all the odds say we shouldn’t be. So, fuck whatever the odds are. We’re gonna beat them. But that means we need you. All in.”

I laugh at his delusions, but it’s humorless. “You always were cocky.”

“It’s not cocky if it’s true,” he says softly, none of his usual teasing in his tone.

I study him and realize he means it. “How do you know? You have a gift of sight that I don’t know about?”

“No, smartass.” Briggs sits up, beating his chest over his heart with his fist. “I feel it. In here.” His eyes flash a spark of silver before he dives for me again, pinning my wrists and bringing them over my head. “Just like I know that you’re gonna love having my hands on you.”

“Oh yeah?” I buck against his hold, testing his restraints. The alpha gives me a cocky grin when I don’t budge. “Prove it.”

“I did promise orgasms, and I’m a man of my word,” he teases.

His mouth collides with mine, nipping until I let him in. It’s a kiss that forces me to surrender, and I sink into it. The constant buzz in my brain finally settles as we trade kisses, our tongues tangling.

He lets go of my wrists to tackle my pants, pulling out my hard cock. The first stroke makes me buck into his hand. “Please tell me you thought of lube.”

“Sort of.” Briggs laughs as he slides down between my legs. His tongue darts out to lick my crown, then he’s sucking me in.

It’s so good I rock into the tunnel of his mouth, my hands flying to his hair. My horny meter has been dialed up past ten for days. My omega and alpha mates have been driving me crazy with want that I barely let myself have. I’ve been hiding out along the perimeter, watching but not really joining.

Briggs takes me deep only to retreat and do it again, sucking me as he squeezes my knot.I’m not going to last long. My body is already aching to come.

Briggs growls, pulling himself off my cock. “Stop holding back.”

He renews his efforts, the suction so fucking good that I can’t keep from thrusting my hips. I hit the back of his throat and slide into that tight space, my orgasm already traveling down my spine.I go off on a shout, ropes of cum filling his mouth as I cry out his name. He keeps going, swallowing me and sucking until I’m drained, chest heaving.

Briggs kisses my spent cock, and my heart stutters at the intimate gesture. His hands slide under my sweater, and he kisses my chest.The alpha says something, but I’m too far gone to know what.

“Can’t think. You sucked my brains out through my dick.”

“Good. Less thinking. More feeling,” Briggs says into my skin.

He half lies across me, cuddling. I’m sure I should probably return the favor, but I can’t seem to move. Briggs stays with me through it, purring quietly.

After a while, he sits up, pulling me with him. “Come on, we’ll take the snacks back to the house and munch on them while we make dinner.”

In a daze, I follow him. The moment we walk in the cabin door, we’re hit by an explosion of Nova’s perfume and alpha musk.

“Damn,” I moan, my spent cock already trying to get hard. “Whatever they got up to was fucking hot. I can tell.”

Briggs shrugs. “‘Bout time.” He looks at me when he says it, and my cheeks heat.

He teases me like that all through making dinner. Briggs makes all this seem easier, like he’ll make sure I don’t fuck it up too badly. Maybe the brothers are strong enough for all of us.

We follow the sex-scent trail, bringing dinner to the second floor. In the first bedroom, we find Nova sleeping on Dex’s chest. Briggs sets the tray on the nightstand while I run back downstairs and grab some blankets.

Soft voices greet my return. Nova squeals, leaping for me from the edge of the bed. The blankets fall, and I’m carrying my squirming omega instead.

She inhales deeply, a dazed smile on her face. “The two of you together smells so fucking delicious,” she squeals, covering my cheek in kisses.

Behind us, Dex teases his brother, and Briggs gives it back.

Nova leans in, her sweet voice soft and full of affection. “See? More love, not less, right?”

“Right, little star.” I take her lips, giving her a soft kiss.

She pulls back, her expression questioning.

“I set the circle,” I promise.

“Good.” She studies me, her eyes full of an emotion I’m not sure I’m brave enough to name. “Truth?"

I nod, my throat tight.

“I believe my best chance is with you.”

My forehead falls to hers. “Same, little star.”

Dex grunts, but I’m pretty sure it’s an agreement.

“See? Like I said.” Briggs smirks. “It’s settled.”

I flick him off.

He throws his head back with a throaty laugh. “Anytime.”

Nova kisses my cheek. “Come snuggle for a minute before we eat.” She tugs on my ear, and I roll my eyes at how relentless the three of them are.

“All right, all right,” I grumble.

Nova clings to my neck as I carry her back to bed. Briggs scoops up the blankets while she snuggles into Dex’s side, holding out her hand for me. I crawl beside her, and she wiggles around until she’s lying across us. Briggs folds himself in behind me, draping himself along my back.

It’s perfect. I close my eyes, allow myself to feel the rightness of pack, and let that bolster my resolve.

“You know you love it,” Briggs murmurs, trailing a kiss along my neck.

Damn alpha—he’s right.