Chapter Fourteen

Delun asked Grigory, “What is she up to?”

Grigory grinned. “She said something about some people deserving a bit of cosplay.”

Delun rolled his eyes. “I will take her as she comes.”

There was a soft rustle at the door, and he sat up. “Or dressed up. Dressed up is really good.”

Lexa walked toward him in the formal robes that his family had sent for her presentation to them. Her hair was piled on her head in a soft twist, and he could smell honey.

She walked up to where he was seated on the couch, knelt gracefully on the floor, and his side of her neck was glistening with honey.

“Delun Hall, would you do me the honour of your mark?” She bowed forward, so all he could focus on was the curve of her neck and the glow of the honey. Her scent of roses filled the room, and he bet if he sniffed her hand, he would find traces of it.

He stared at the picture she made and saw both Grigory and Arthur taking photos.

She remained motionless, and she soon started to fidget and whine. He realized that he had not replied.

“Oh, petal. Come here.” He lifted her head to face him, and she got to her feet and hid against his chest. She had arranged the robe, so her shoulders were completely exposed, and it was a lovely picture. Heavy silk wrapped her arms and flared around them as he nuzzled at her neck. His mother would be proud that her gift was being used for the binding. His father was going to be amused; it was also being used for the mating. If Delun’s senses were keen, they were a poor imitation of his father’s.

He slowly started licking at the honey, and his eyes got wide. She had used six different kinds in a striped pattern. “Aw, Lexa. You do like me.”

She stifled a laugh, and her hand pressed against his chest, the new nails pushing against him. He wanted those nails clawing at his back as she begged him to cum. He wanted to feel those stripes all day tomorrow. Well, if he wanted to get her there, he had better get started. “I accept.”

He heard her inhale a moment before he bit down on her skin, and their connection started to form the golden threads in her mind, and his own side of the mark crackled with excitement. She liked the bite and loved the connection. She had outward calm, but the rest of her was excited and aroused. He held the bite and watched the connection thicken as his venom and DNA got under her skin to make the link permanent. He wanted the bite deep. He wanted it to last.

His cock throbbed, and the knot already ached. Going slow was not completely part of the plan. Part of him wanted to be inside her, but the other part wanted to make it last. This was his mate, his omega. If he were lucky, the mother of his children. This moment was his future.

He raised his head and purred, licking her slowly. He met Arthur’s eyes over Lexa’s shoulder, and Arthur’s expression showed a reflection of Lexa’s arousal. She had a powerful draw if she could still resonate with Arthur after five years without contact. Lexa had a lot of life, and she was willing to share.

Arthur had risked a lot to involve him and Grigory. Both of them could shut him out of the link if they tried. He had done it for Lexa, and Lexa had done it for Hailey. Delun and Grigory were the only ones who were in it for themselves first and family second. Lexa knew why they wanted an omega, and she was fine with it. She had led a transactional life until this point, and it was something she understood.

She was against him with a hand curled trustingly against his chest. He slowly licked at her shoulder until he felt the curls of heat coming through the link. He continued the slow passes with his tongue until she whimpered and bit at his shirt. The flare of pleasure and sudden bomb of scent that ran through her came to him via their link, and he put his lips against her ear. “Did you cum?”

She shuddered and nodded.

He chuckled. “Then, we shall seek some privacy.”

He got to his feet and carried her to her nest. It still strongly bore the scent of Grigory and roses, but this was her place, and this was where they would be for her heat. The crescent mattress was covered in pillows and super-soft throws.

He set her down on the mattress and unbuckled his trousers, she held the sleeve to her mouth, and she whined softly. He knelt, opened the robe, and parted her thighs, taking in the shine of slick and the heady scent of roses. She was shining and pink with pearls of fluid rising and rolling on her open petals. He bent and ran his tongue over her. The hot taste of her settled something in him. He lapped at the sweet musk and slick, swirling his tongue around her clit, feeling and hearing her moan.

He stroked his cock as he lapped at her, and when his self-control was wearing out, he thrust into her. And she mewled, and her legs lifted around his hips. The robe shifted, and her breasts were free of the confining fabric. He wished he had a picture of that for his desk. She pushed her hips up toward him and took him deeper. He felt the short waves of discomfort that followed him pushing deeper. Pleasure rolled in immediately after every lunge, and he grinned. Their mate really could take it all.

She reached up to hold him, and he drove into her until his knot demanded to be buried in her, and he thrust hard to jam in to the hilt. Lexa screamed, and the fluttering around him combined with the shock of pleasure through their shared link. The hard squeezing around his cock caused him to jet inside her. The rush out of his cock left him lightheaded. He lowered down and kissed her flushed and dazed face, rubbing his cheek along hers. She held his head, and the silk rubbed against his skin.

“We will have to get that robe cleaned before the formal introduction to my mother.” He chuckled.

“Is that what it was for?”

“Yeah.”

He felt the conflicted emotions run through her, and then, she shrugged. “No regrets.”

He grinned. “None?”

“No. Well, maybe letting Grigory go first. He got to feel everything I just did, or rather, you just did.”

Delun pressed his forehead to hers. “I can block him out in the future.”

“It’s fine. Part of a group is still part of a group.” She sighed. “Arthur is next.”

“You are worried.”

She snorted softly. “I have a lot of emotions wrapped up in his bite.”

“Understandable. You are amazing, Lexa.”

“You are just saying that because you are stuck.”

He laughed. “No, I could remain here forever, but I would have a hard time explaining you on the bench.” The image of her wrapped around him while hearing a case was one he was going to have to shake... eventually.

He followed his instinct and rubbed his head along hers, his chest against hers, and he licked her neck again, though the wounds were closed and glossy.

She shivered and closed her eyes as she breathed him in. It was a lovely sight, and he needed images of her all over his desk. She wanted them. She genuinely wanted them. It was statistically unlikely that they would all find a mate, let alone an omega. There was something about ursas that upset people. Women especially. Sure, they teased and flirted, but when Delun made physical advances, they reconsidered. He was just too much. He was too much for anyone who wasn’t Lexa. She took him and politely requested more.

He grinned as his knot eased. He backed out, and she made an upset sound. He untied the sash holding her robe in place, unbuttoned his cuffs, and felt the moment she realized that playtime wasn’t over. He took off his shirt, eased her robe off, and got the rest of him down to skin.

He lay on his back, and he murmured, “Rub yourself all over me.”

She smiled, and she did as he asked.

He didn’t know what was being broadcast through the link, but he was pretty sure it was going to be peculiar. Lexa had a mischievous look in her eyes as she started at his knees and rubbed her body against him.

* * * *

Lexa was laughing as she rubbed herself against Delun, including wrapping her legs against a thick thigh and rocking her hips. If he wanted to be scent-marked, he would smell like he was fucked by a flower market.

She wiggled against him, rolled, and he laughed and caught her. “Good enough?”

He snorted. “I am going to be smelling you on me for hours, days if I am lucky.”

She slid a hand between her thighs and then ran her fingers through the hair at the back of his head. “There. I missed a spot.”

“Having fun?”

She nodded. “Pretty sure I am.”

He laughed. “Good.”

He rolled them to their sides and pulled her leg high on his hip, sliding into her. Her efforts to tease him had worked on her as well. Something about Delun got her into high gear very quickly.

She rocked with him and muttered, “So, this isn’t heat yet?”

“No, petal. This is mate sex. I can feel you, you can feel me, and we want to play a little. During heat, you just want to fuck.”

They were moving with each other slowly, and she was smoothing her hands over the thick muscle slabs that made up his body. It was like being fucked slowly by a warm wall.

She purred her light purr, and he rumbled his, and their kiss kept them busy while they reached for satisfaction. He rubbed his mark with his thumb, and her pulse spiked and her hips jerked against his. She growled and stroked her fingers across the base of his knot. He growled and set it, rubbing inside her and lodging in place.

She gasped for breath and muttered, “Well, that backfired.”

He grinned. “You will learn, petal. You are comfortable?”

She snorted. “That is not the word I would use. Stuffed. Stretched. Those are closer to what I am feeling.”

“I felt your surprise.”

“I felt your laughter and heard it.” She bit his chest. He pressed his hand to the back of her head.

“I don’t mind you marking me; in fact, I would like it very much.”

She looked up at him and bit him. His cock throbbed inside her. “Holy shit.” His immediate reaction was surprising.

She drew her nails down his side, and there was a twitch. She stiffened her hand and drew the nails down harder, and he throbbed again.

He murmured, “You need to do it so I can feel it, and so I can see it.”

“I should have let Yirra give me those sharp points.” She chuckled and murmured, “Move over me.”

He grinned and rolled her to her back. He stroked her marks, and she clawed his back. He arched into her, and his cock spasmed. Three rounds of scratching him, and he grunted, jamming himself inside her. She moaned, and as his cock jetted ribbons of cum into her, she squeezed his knot and ignored the lack of release from this final knotting.

He grunted as he shoved deeper again.

She smiled.

He met her amused gaze, and he lowered his head to the mark, and he started licking. Then, he licked Grigory’s mark then returned to his.

She wasn’t sure what he was doing until the door opened and Grigory and Arthur arrived. She had a pretty good idea what was going on when they started stripping. “Did you invite guests?”

Delun laughed. “I did. We are going to roll now.”

He rolled, and she was draped across him, still linked. She shivered when Arthur approached her from behind and kissed his way up her spine. “Still too thin, Lexa love.”

“Delun’s cock doesn’t come with a dessert bar.”

He chuckled then asked, “Will you accept my mark?”

She twisted to look at him. “Now?”

“Yes. Now. While you are surrounded by those who will protect you until the mark is set.”

She nodded. “I will.”

“What?”

“I will accept your mark. Don’t take off this time, okay?”

He leaned in and kissed her, ratcheting her blood to pulse through her body and heat her from the inside out.

He licked his way to his original mark, and he placed his mouth over it. She exhaled slowly, and Delun pulled her to him for a kiss. Arthur bit, Delun took her shout, and Arthur’s link flared wide.

She kissed Delun, and her sex fluttered around his cock as she came with the bite.

He chuckled, and Arthur kept his grip.

Grigory lay next to them, and he lifted her slightly to suck at her breasts. She was penned in on all sides and definitely not alone. This was nothing like the first time, and that was what she wanted. Arthur and Grigory were rubbing against her, and they started to surge against her body. Arthur was rubbing against her ass, and Grigory was humping her thigh.

They all shared heat and rising lust with her, and her body was delighted with the variety of contacts, and slick coated Delun’s cock inside her. She clenched on him and blinked. He really didn’t get soft. She had thought it was a stupid guy joke.

The link between Arthur and her flared wide into the bright connection it could have been initially, and he lifted his head and licked the wounds to seal them. She groaned as her senses were divided into four, and they were all working to send her over.

Lexa’s mind scattered, and she just hovered in a place where she was hot, trembling, and jerking uncontrollably. She felt the sticky jets against her skin, and they continued to carefully maul her until she was drooping and dripping.

Arthur nudged her ear with a kiss. “That was a test run for your heat, baby.”

She grunted and turned toward him, dropping against him like a sack of potatoes. He closed his arms around her and purred for her. It was more of a growl than a purr, but it always had been. She tucked her head under his chin, and he wrapped himself around her, Grigory got her back, and she was warm and snug between her mates. She was also exhausted and sticky... but life wasn’t perfect.

Her heat started like an itch. She started to squirm on the chair as she ate lunch. Yorgi had been quizzing her on her favourite foods, and while he was interested, he was also slightly appalled. “Don’t you have vegetables?”

“Sure, when I can buy them in small enough increments that they don’t go bad or wilted before they are eaten. Hailey and I were only home for one meal per day. There wasn’t a lot of time for actual cooking.”

He sighed and made a list. “What is on here that you don’t like?”

Illyana was chuckling as she ate her salad.

Lexa drew lines through three out of the twenty selections, and he sighed in relief. “Not as bad as I thought.”

She giggled and stretched. Delun would be home in a minute, and Arthur was finishing up some paperwork. Grigory was napping with the kittens. Well, he wasn’t napping, but the kittens had been dropped on him, and he hated to move while Misha was taking care of her babies.

Delun just walked in when Lexa’s phone went off. She answered, “Hello?”

“Hello, is this Miss Adders?”

“It is.”

“We need you to come pick up Hailey; she is being expelled for fighting.”

“What?” Lexa stood up, and Yorgi and Illyana stared at her.

“Another child was speaking with Hailey, and Hailey struck them.”

“Fine. I am on my way.” She hung up and stood up with her jaw tense.

Illyana sat up. “What is wrong?”

“Hailey was in a fight. She’s being expelled.”

Delun nodded. “We’ll all go. This feels strange.”

“This is going to be unpleasant, Delun.”

Grigory stumbled into the kitchen. “What’s wrong?”

Illyana caught him up, and Delun briefed Arthur, who appeared, growling, looking for whatever had set Lexa off.

Lexa said, “Get the car ready. I will be back in a minute.”

She ran for her room, put on a suit, lipstick, and pinned up her hair. She put on her heels and selected a jacket with a wide collar that would show her marks. She sprinted out to the car and settled with the guys.

The driver took off, and the second car followed.

Illyana was in the second car with one of the bodyguards.

Lexa saw the car as they passed it, and it began to follow them. “There it is.”

Grigory frowned. “What?”

“Unmarked police car. They are trying to arrest me... again.”

Delun smiled slowly. “Oh, I want to hear the reason for the arrest.”

“Uh, can one of you help me turn up the scent? This is one of those times that I really want to rub their noses in it.”

Delun didn’t wait; he nuzzled her neck and slid a hand up her skirt, pausing when he found her flesh with no masking fabric. He whispered, “Naughty.”

She turned to him. “Hot and aching. Not going to cover that. We are lucky I am wearing clothes.”

Grigory snorted, and they waited. The driver was warned, and when the lights flashed, he pulled over.

The officer ignored the driver and went straight to the passenger-side window. As the window lowered, he got a face full of hot omega scent and three alphas nearly humming with energy.

“Uh, Miss, what are you doing with these men?”

She looked as helpless as she could. “My registered mates? We are going to pick up my daughter from school.”

He looked at her, and he was shocked. “Lexa Adders? You are an omega?”

She was seat-belted in, but she leaned against Delun. “Yeah. Have been for years, but because of my daughter, I was given suppressants so we could get through the early years. Is that you, Officer Wellers?”

He had once thrown her from her bike into the dirt, putting his boot on her back and calling her several choice names.

“Uh, Detective Wellers now.”

“Oh, how nice that you could climb through the ranks and yet still do traffic stops. The personal touch. Perhaps I should introduce you. These are my mates, Grigory Petrov, Arthur Morthiwen, and Judge Delun Hall. Gentlemen, Off—Detective Wellers. He has arrested me four times with no actual charges.”

“Morthiwen?” His eyes bugged. “Judge?”

“Yes. So, what were you looking for? My daughter needs me, and my heat is starting, so we need to be on our way.”

“Uh... You can’t bring a child into this atmosphere.”

She smiled. “Of course not. The car that left with us contains Hailey’s nanny and a bodyguard. They are meeting us at the school.”

“Detective Wellers, I am sure that you know interference at this stage would be unwise.” Delun’s eyes were glowing gold.

Lexa saw that Grigory’s eyes, as well as Arthur’s, were bright.

Detective Wellers withdrew. “Uh, sorry, it was a bad tip.”

“It always is. Tell Madam Morthiwen to fuck herself with a frozen rope.”

He jolted and stepped back as two raps on the barrier got their vehicle moving again.

The window went up, and she exhaled. “That is one bully down.”

Delun took her hand. “There is more than the arrests.”

“He interviewed me in hospital and took a detailed statement complete with names, dates, times. Everything. I got a photocopy from a nurse, and the report was never seen again. Arthur’s mom got to him before I was even out of the hospital.”

Delun nodded. “I will look into it. His career is about to be stalled.”

She chuckled and then started fretting.

Delun unsnapped her seatbelt and held her close. Arthur double-thumbed his phone, and Grigory alternately growled and looked at her crossed legs.

The other car was waiting for them at the school, and they got out in a cloud of scent, walking into the school, past the stunned alpha security, who whined softly at her.

She glared at him. Not on his best day. He was not her type.