"I don't need your concern," he snaps, and there's that defensive edge that comes out whenever someone tries to showhim kindness. "I know what she needs, and I know I can't give it to her. End of story. Save the ‘daddy’ routine for Juniper."
"You're not used to having anyone look out for you, are you?"
The question seems to catch him off guard. He stares at me for a long moment, silver eyes unreadable. "No," he finally says. "And I like it that way."
He leaves without another word, and I'm left standing in the hall, thinking we're right back to square one with him. Every time I think we're making progress, he retreats behind those walls he's built.
Through the door, I can hear Juniper laughing at something Elias said, followed by the telltale sounds of round three—or is it four?—beginning.
Back to square one.
Chapter
Thirty-Four
ELIAS
The others have scattered like smoke, Carlisle muttering something about supplies while Bane disappears to clean himself up. Archer trails after them both, probably needing a moment to process what just happened. Pretty sure he's never shared an omega with anyone before, let alone our scent match. Felix has vanished too, which worries me, but something tells me he doesn't want me going after him.
Which leaves me here, alone with Juniper for the first time since she rode my face at the bar and left me ruined on the floor.
She's sprawled in her nest like some debauched goddess, skin flushed and gleaming with sweat, brown hair a complete disaster around her face. Carlisle's come and Bane's are both leaking from between her thighs, creating this obscene painting on her skin that makes my cock throb.
"You're still dressed," she observes, those hazel eyes finding mine with laser focus. "That seems unfair."
"I didn't want to presume anything just because you're in heat," I say, the words coming out rougher than intended because my throat feels like I've been gargling sand.
She laughs, this throaty sound that goes straight to my cock. "Bullshit. You've had your tongue in my pussy, Doctor. Pretty sure we crossed those boundaries already."
Valid point.
"Are you sure you don't need a break?" I ask, trying to maintain some semblance of professionalism even though my cock is straining against my pants. "Hydration is important during heat cycles, and you've already?—"
"If we're gonna do a medical roleplay," she interrupts, pushing herself up on her elbows in a way that makes her breasts bounce, "you at least need to wear the sexy white coat."
My lip twitches. "I don't have my coat here."
"Then I guess you'll have to make do without it." She crooks a finger at me, and I'm moving before my brain catches up, drawn to her like she's got me on a fucking leash. "Come here, Doctor. Time for my examination."
The nest is soft when I sink into it, all these stolen clothes from the pack arranged with the kind of obsessive care that speaks to deep omega instincts. My scent's here too—that button-down she liberated from my closet tucked near her head where she can breathe me in. The thought makes something possessive wake up in my chest.
She reaches for me, those elegant yet deadly hands surprisingly strong as she pulls me down for a kiss that tastes like sex and Carlisle and Felix and everything I shouldn't want but desperately do. Her tongue slides against mine, mapping my mouth like she's trying to memorize it, and I groan into the kiss because fuck, she's perfect.
"Too many clothes," she murmurs against my lips, already working on my shirt buttons with fingers that shake slightly. From the heat or anticipation, I can't tell. Maybe both. "Need to feel you."
I help her strip me, trying not to seem too eager, but my hands are trembling too. By the time I'm naked, my cock standing proud and already leaking precome, she's looking at me with this expression that's part hunger, part challenge.
"You've been so patient," she purrs, wrapping her hand around my cock with just enough pressure to make my vision blur at the edges. "Watching everyone else have their turn. Does that get you off, Doctor? Watching me take cock after cock while you stand there with your 'professionalism' and your self-control?"
"Fuck." The word punches out of me because she's right. I've been watching, memorizing every sound she makes, every way she moves, filing it all away like research data for the world's most inappropriate study.
"That's not an answer." She strokes me slowly, her thumb swiping over the head to gather the precome that's practically pouring out of me. "Use your words. Aren't you supposed to be articulate?"
"Yes," I manage, my hips bucking into her grip despite my best efforts at control. "Watching you... Fuck, Juniper, watching you come apart is the hottest fucking thing I've ever seen."
"But you want more than watching." It's not a question. She knows exactly what she's doing to me, this fierce little omega who kills as easily as most people breathe but is instead slowly destroying me with her hand on my cock.
"I want everything," I admit, the honesty ripped from somewhere deep. "Want to fuck you so slowly you forget there's anything else in the world except my cock inside you. Want to make you beg for it. Want to push you right to the edge and hold you there until you're crying for release."
