Page 51 of Your Wild Omega (The Feral Actress #2)

Chapter forty-one

Rickon

Zack rolls over on the bed to face the ceiling and growls, and his unease ripples through me. It’s both profound and bizarre to feel another person’s emotions in your body and even stranger to pick through the sensations and identify two different sources. Now I have a link to both Red and Zack.

I drag my fingers gently across his head, which rests on my bare stomach. “Yeah, I know, alpha. I feel it too. Our omega hasn’t had a good day.”

Guilt weighs on me, even though I don’t have the strength to carry it.

Zack kept me in bed all day, sucking on the bond mark, which led to fondling, sex, and cuddles.

I’ve lost count of how many orgasms I’ve had, some probably in my sleep as exhaustion caught me.

Even our super-stamina alpha seems to have tired himself out, napping on my belly for the past two hours as we wait for Red to get home.

But knowing our omega is alone out there, it’s been hard to enjoy the companionship completely.

Red texted throughout the afternoon; the messages getting shorter and shorter, but the flash of her alarm that boiled through just after five p.m. disturbed us both.

The big alpha rolls again and shifts to lie between my legs.

Vibrations run through Zack’s chest, translating into my thighs as he tugs me close and kisses the bond mark.

I’m too spent to even get hard, so I just massage his scalp, whispering that everything will be okay—for my sake as much as his.

I wonder if I’ll ever get used to this sensation of shared emotion.

It’s beautiful and powerful, but also quite life changing.

Usually a person’s thoughts center on themselves, but now it’s like Zack’s installed a circuit breaker, turning my thoughts continually toward the fizzing sensations that aren’t mine.

I’m always circling back to check the bond and confirm what my mates are feeling.

Mates.

The word makes so much sense now. I’ll never be truly alone again, and I can’t wait to tell Red she won’t be either.

But it also makes me somber with the realization I’ll be carrying my pack’s well-being.

Maybe that’s not the right way of putting it.

More like, it makes me think of that line in the traditional wedding vows, for better or for worse .

Zack lifts his head and tenses.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

He drops another kiss on my hip and then rolls off the bed. Things like clothes don’t register high on Zack’s priority list, so he stalks right out of the room in his birthday suit.

I smile and untangle the twisted sheets from my feet before gingerly crawling out after him, slipping into a pair of boxers for modesty’s sake. Not that the two OCB agents haven’t seen everything with the goings-on in this house.

The front door creaks open as I inch down the stairs, ass aching up a storm. The things I do for that thick-cocked beast.

“Hello, alpha.” Red’s sweet voice floats from the entryway, plugging an anxious hole in my heart. I missed her.

“Ohm. Home.”

She giggles, probably as Zack picks her up. It amazes me that the wild alpha knew she was coming, like he’s developed a sixth sense for our omega.

I ease my tired body to sit on the landing halfway down the stairs, gripping the banister so I don’t tumble forward.

The pair come around the dividing wall, and sure enough, Red’s in his arms, lifted against his chest with her legs kicked up behind her. So bloody cute. I smile as I lean my head against the wrought iron posts. I could happily watch them all day.

Red looks up. “Hello, Rickon.” She wriggles free of Zack and walks up the stairs. “How you feeling? Worn or wonderful?”

“Best of both?” I suggest, chuckling.

She sinks down on the step beside me. “So, like you’ve been through rut?”

“Pretty much.” I wrap my arm around her, and she leans her head on my shoulder. With a happy sigh, I drop my lips into her hair. “I missed you so much, Red,” I tell her.

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” she says, snuggling into my side.

“Wow, it’s not even a movie line. I feel honored,” I tease.

Red snorts. “I’m sure someone said it somewhere on film.”

“True.” I tuck her in closer, but she flinches. A stab of something uncomfortable pricks through my chest. “Red?”

“It’s nothing.” She tugs away. “I’d better have a shower, ’cause I smell like a horse.

Plus, there was so much dust around the track today.

Mr Yun liked it for atmosphere, but they had to spray it with water by midafternoon.

” Red pushes limp hair back from her face and trots up the stairs.

“Zack, take Rickon back to bed. He can hardly walk.”

How does she even know that when I’m sitting down? Or maybe it’s the sitting that gave me away.

Zack pads up the stairs, gaze hungry and alert.

“I can do it,” I grumble, waving him away. Red’s avoiding again. I wish she wouldn’t because it makes me feel like she doesn’t trust us, but I know she always has her reasons. Guess I’m one to talk, hiding shit about my birth parents.

I scoff under my breath and haul myself upright before turning around to take the stairs.

Zack has other ideas, and he swings me up over his shoulder like I’m a sack of potatoes.

Although I’m tempted to be grumpy about it, being treated like a weightless kitten has a special charm.

With a sigh, I hang over his shoulder and brace my hands on his hips.

“Wait,” I say, slapping his back as he passes the bathroom. “I should wash up too, since you used me like a cock sheath today.”

Zack has no idea what I’m saying, but he lowers me to the ground, holding me steady when I wobble. Fuck, my legs might give way any moment.

“Red—” I call, flinging the bathroom door wide open. Red squeaks and grabs a towel, but not before I catch the massive purple bruise wrapping around her calf.

My omega groans and follows my gaze down to her bruise. “Okay, okay.” She holds one hand out, palm forward. “Don’t freak out.”

“What the fuck happened?” I growl, the freaking already well and truly in progress.

Zack growls, sensing my distress, but it takes another minute before he catches sight of the mark. He presses me back into the doorway one-handed before stalking forward, snarling.

“Zack, calm down,” Red orders breathlessly. “I’m fine.”

He squats down and gently lifts her leg, forcing Red to lean into the vanity sink.

“We had a bit of an accident in the starting gates today, and, I ah—” She rolls her lip between her teeth and looks away.

“And you what?” I ask, trying to contain my growing horror for Zack’s sake.

“Well, I fell off.” She pushes Zack, trying to shake him loose.

“But this happened in the gates.” She talks fast, spitting all the details out like she’s in trouble.

“My horse shied and crushed my leg against the railing. I’m fine, though, really.

The medics checked me out and said it’s just bruised. ”

I sigh and slump against the door. Any set can be dangerous, and even more with big animals involved. Now I think about it, I can pinpoint the exact moment Red’s fear and shock spiked through me. That must have been when she fell. My hand feels clammy as I rub it across my face.

Zack’s fingers clamp around Red’s ankle. “Who? Kill.” His words sound even more terrifying because he says them calmly.

“Shit. No, Zack. No killing anyone,” Red says. Bitter panic laces through my chest, but I can’t be sure if it’s hers or mine.

“No killing,” I add firmly.

Zack looks over his shoulder and bares his teeth in defiance.

“I mean it,” I warn more sternly. “Never killing.”

Red clasps his face and tugs, drawing Zack to his feet. “I’m really fine, alpha,” she reassures before kissing him. When they break apart, she smiles sweetly. “I’ll shower and then put some ice on it. Can you get me an ice pack, Zack? From the freezer?”

“I’ll go,” I say softly, turning away.

Zack snorts, annoyance flooding through our bond. He swivels to look at us both, leans in, and turns the shower on. “Wash,” he commands, before stalking out the door and down the hallway.

Anyone else might think it’s such a small thing, but Red and I trade smiles before getting in the shower and cuddling under the water. Having her in my arms again fills the uneasy emptiness that dogged my day.

“He’s learning so fast, and his personality’s surfacing more and more,” Red murmurs, her words slurred by the water running down her face.

“Mm-hmm,” I agree, holding her close but not squeezing. I’ve taken enough tumbles from riding horses to know what it feels like. “Did you get back on a horse after?” I ask, shifting the subject back to her.

“Yes.” She chuckles, leaning into me. “The handler in charge of the horses made sure of that.”

I lean my forehead against hers. “I should’ve been there.”

“Pfft. What could you have done? All the horses were antsy today, and we were already locked in the starting gates when it happened.” She recounts how the horse next to her crashed into the side barrier right as the gates opened, and how she told Mr Yun to write it into the script.

While she talks, I muster the energy to load us both up with soap. Red’s right; it wouldn’t have made any difference if I was there or not, but I still feel bad. She could’ve at least had one of her alphas for moral support, but we both know Zack can’t be left alone.

Red catches me sighing. “Stop that,” she chides. “I was happy knowing you guys were curled up in your love huddle.”

I snort. “That’s a pretty accurate description. We were in bed all day.”

As Red grins, Zack clears his throat beyond the frosted glass. Red and I exchange glances and giggles. “I think the headmaster’s waiting for us,” she says.

We rinse quickly and pile out. Zack waits with our towels like he’s taken care of people all his life, bundling Red up and lifting her off her feet as if she’s precious cargo. Well, he’s got that right.

An ice pack lies on the bed, and I stare at it, a swell of emotion bringing tears to my eyes. He understands so much these days. I can’t even recall showing him the icepack in the freezer. Maybe he learned it from TV.

I slip into an undershirt and fresh boxers and collapse on the bed, grinning as Zack arranges me and Red side by side. It’s controlling but endearing. Our darling head alpha is doing everything he can to take care of us.

I take Red’s hand as she shows him how to wrap the icepack in a T-shirt and mold it around her calf. The soft conversation lulls me into a trance and I drift off with their dual contentment embedded in my chest.