Breeding Clinic (Heatverse)

Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

MATTHEW

The door opens and Kat comes in while I’m basting the roasting chicken. “Hey, perfect timing. Want to help set the table?” I ask. “Gabriel and Liam are dealing with a beer delivery.”

“Sure.” She tucks her long hair behind her ear. Her nervous tick. “I actually wanted to talk to you.”

“Oh?” That doesn’t sound good.

I shut the oven and put the baster down on the spoon rest, then take off my oven mitt. Is this because she and I haven’t… I’ve tried to show her in other ways that I care. Cooking her favorite dishes. Watching the movies she likes with her. Has it not been enough? Is being her friend not enough for the sake of our pack?

“Some of your family are lawyers, right?”

My stomach flip flops with nerves, and my thoughts veer in a totally different direction. “That sounds serious. Is everything okay?” She’s not changing her mind, right?

“Yeah, everything’s fine, but… what kind of lawyers are they?”

Is she in trouble? “My uncle is an estate lawyer. And I have a cousin who does family law and another who does criminal law.”

“Would your cousin be able to look something over for you?” she asks.

I busy myself with turning over the vegetables I have browning in the cast iron. “I’m sure they would if I asked them to. What’s going on? Can we help?”

“I’d rather tell everyone all at once.”

“Okay.” Inside, I’m panicking. On the outside, I try to hide it by staying busy. I pull the serving dishes down from the cabinet. “Why don’t you set the table? Dinner is almost done. They should be up soon.”

Kat grabs the stack of dishes from the cabinet and carries them out to the dinner table. I plate our food. Gabriel and Liam come upstairs with perfect timing. They see Kat and both greet her with a kiss.

Once we’re all seated, I can’t bring myself to eat. Neither can Kat. She moves her food around on her plate. Liam watches, paying attention to those small details like he always does. Typical alpha, perfectly in tune with the dynamics of his pack. He sees the strain, and gives me a questioning look. I shrug in response, stabbing my fork into a roasted carrot. I don’t know what the problem is or how to fix it. When she doesn’t really listen to Gabriel’s funny story from work, Gabriel finally notices something is amiss.

Kat puts her fork down and the room gets quiet. “This is awkward and I don’t know how to bring it up so I’m just going to say it.”

Shit. She doesn’t want to do this anymore.

The thought terrifies me. And not just because she’s carrying our baby. But because I like her. I never thought our pack needed an omega until I saw how perfectly she slotted into place. I like that her presence gives me an excuse to cook more. To try new recipes. I like watching movies with her. Picking out a new book for us to buddy read. Hearing her laugh at Gabriel’s stories. Watching the three of them play together.

“I found a house,” she says. “It’s a little more of a commute for you guys, and it’s old but it’s been updated. It’s on septic and well water, that’s something I’ve never dealt with before, and the roof needs to be looked at, but the kitchen is amazing. You’d love it, Matthew. The basement has lots of room for hobbies and storage. It has five bedrooms, two baths, and there’s a tree with a swing out front. I think it would be perfect for us.”

I blink, too surprised to really understand what she’s saying. “You found us a house?” Were we house shopping? I glance at the others who are also as surprised as I am. I guess we weren’t house shopping.

Her eyes flick between us, gauging our reactions. “I know we’re not an official pack yet, but I worry about how long it’ll last on the market. I want to show it to you guys and make an offer.”

Liam puts his fork down and frowns. “You want to buy a house?”

“Yeah. We’ll need the room for all those kids.” She pulls out her phone and taps on it, then hands it to him.

“Does that mean we can get a dog?” Gabriel asks.

Liam flips through the photos of the house. “It’s a beautiful house,” Liam says. “But we can’t afford it.”

Liam hands the phone to me. My eyebrows rise at the price. He’s not kidding. It’s on the market for almost a million dollars. Even if we put up the bar and her house as collateral, we wouldn’t be able to get a mortgage. Not without raiding our retirement funds. It really is a beautiful house, though. I can see why she likes it. And the kitchen makes my heart ache to walk away from it. It’s enormous with an industrial size fridge and a double oven that would make holidays a breeze.

I pass the phone to Gabriel, who looks at the listing and nods. “It’s very nice.”

“So here’s the thing…” she says, fidgeting with her hair. “I can.”

“You can what?” Gabriel asks, handing her phone back to her.

“I can afford it,” she says. “But I asked my lawyer to draft a pre-pack agreement first. I don’t want to make an offer without that.”

“You can afford it,” Liam repeats to her, his eyebrows drawn together.

“Yes. My settlement from my pack dissolution was generous. The money made me sick. I bought my house and let the rest sit in the bank. Never looked at it again. My books do well and they make enough for me to live off. So it’s all sat collecting interest.”

So that’s why she wants me to reach out to my cousin. The one who does family law. Relief hits me. “I can ask Ryan to look it over. And I can ask my uncle about the real estate deal. If he can’t help us, I’m sure he can recommend someone who can.”

“Thank you,” she says, smiling once more.

“So I can pick out a dog, right?” Gabriel asks. “I’d like one to go running with.”

We all look at Liam, who’s still processing. “We haven’t even seen this house yet.”

“I drove by today,” she says. “The outside looks exactly like the photos. I can find a real estate agent and get us an appointment so we can see the inside. If that’s… what you want.” She stabs a carrot with her fork and fiddles with it. “Is that what you want? ”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Liam asks, frowning.

Kat shrugs. “I don’t know. I wasn’t part of your original plan. You might not want to move, or…”

“No, you weren’t part of our plan.”

Kat deflates, her shoulders rounding. She sets the carrot down on her plate and wipes her fingertips on her napkin. Then she stares at her plate. “Right.”

Liam reaches over and takes her hand from her lap, squeezing it. “You’re so much better than any plan I could have come up with, kitten.”

She perks up. “Really?”

“The way you fit so perfectly between us. It’s like you were meant for us. I never bought into that woo-woo nonsense about fate, but maybe my nana was right. Because the first day you stepped over that threshold, I knew you were coming home to us. Knew you were ours.”

Kat takes a deep breath. “If I hadn’t gotten pregnant though…”

Liam shrugs and rubs his thumb across her knuckles. “Then I would have had to try harder on your next heat. Because there is no way in hell I was going to let any other alpha do it. And for the record, kitten, your old pack was full of selfish idiots. But I’m glad for that, because now we get to show you how a real pack supports one another through good times and bad. For better or worse. Because when you truly love someone, you don’t walk away from them when life gets hard. You cling to them harder, because the dark is cold and lonely and it’s the pack that keeps you warm.”

A lone tear rolls down Kat’s cheek and she brushes it away, then lets out a nervous giggle. “How long were you saving that one?” she asks, her cheeks pink. But she’s smiling.

Liam grins. “A while. It’s Mattie’s fault. He’s making me read your books with him. ”

“Oh my God,” she says, rubbing the rest of the tears from her eyes. “Please tell me you didn’t read my first one. I didn’t know what I was doing then.”

Fuck, her old pack really did a number on her self-esteem. “Of course I did,” I tell her. “I like seeing how your writing’s evolved over the years. It’s definitely gotten kinkier.” I wink at her, and she groans with embarrassment.

“So where did we land on this dog thing?” Gabriel asks, stabbing a cluster of vegetables onto his fork. “Because I was serious.”

“I like dogs,” I say.

“Me too, but maybe not a puppy,” Kat says. “We could adopt an adult.”

After a minute of silence, Liam agrees. “Okay. We’ll look at the house. And dogs. And I’ll sign whatever agreement Mattie’s cousin says is good. But I want my mating bite on your throat before we go buying a pack house and moving. And I want our pack name on the baby’s birth certificate.”

Oh, shit. He’s been so careful to tiptoe around the subject of mating. She gets cagey whenever he ever so slightly brings it up. Gabriel and I both glance between them.

Kat nods, agreeing, and Liam growls. Low and subtle. The hair on the back of my neck stands up at the sound. I’ve never heard him make it before now. He’s only ever growled when there was a particularly nasty incident at the pub.

“Mattie,” Liam says, his voice deep and jagged. “You’d better clear the table of whatever you want to save in the next thirty seconds.”

My eyes widen when I realize he’s serious. Gabriel helps me save my grandmother’s porcelain and the cut crystal salt cellar we got as a pack present. We get the most precious things shoved to the other end of the table and blow the candles out by the time Liam gets out of his chair and pulls Kat out of hers .

“You can’t bite me now!” she says. “We have to wait for the paperwork.”

“Fine.” Liam spins her around and bends her over the dining table. He pulls her dress up and tugs her panties down. I can tell the exact moment his fingers connect with her pussy because her eyes flutter and her hips rock against the table, making the place setting clink.

“I’m not going to bite you,” Liam growls. “But I’m sure as hell going to mark you today.” He leans over her, moving her hair to the side. Exposing her throat. Licking her. “Let the whole world know you’re ours.”

“Liam,” she sighs, adjusting her stance. Spreading her legs wider. Giving him easier access.

“How long have you been looking at houses?” he asks her.

“A… a while,” she admits.

“Did you daydream about it? Living with your pack?” He rucks her dress up higher, exposing the curve of her bare ass.

“Yes.”

“I’ve been dreaming of it too,” he admits. “Of waking up to your pretty face instead of a cold spot where you should be. I don’t like it when you leave.”

“I spend more time here than at my own house,” she says, fidgeting under him.

“It’s not enough,” Liam growls. “It’s never enough. I want all of you. I want you in our nest. I want my bite mark on your neck. Our babies in your belly. Once I have you, Kitten, I’m never letting you go. Is that what you’d like? Do you want to be ours? Forever? Because I won’t settle for anything less than an eternity of you.”

“Yes,” she agrees.

The wet sound of his fingers plunging in and out of her competes with the low rumble of his growl. The rough sounds turn into a purr as she submits. Hangs her head, exposing her throat for him.

It’s fascinating to see. The change in them both. He’s always had a dominant, rough streak.

Gabriel tugs at the top of her dress until her breasts spill out. Her pink nipples are visible through the sheer lace of her low-cut bra. Gabriel tugs her breasts free and pinches her nipple until it’s hard.

Liam stops fingering her so he can work his pants open, his thick cock filling his hand. It’s already huge, the beginning of his knot evident. Kat’s so small compared to him. How does she take it? But her body’s designed to complement his. To take an alpha’s cock, a knot, to be the gentle cushion for all that pent up aggression.

“Tell me you want it,” Liam says while he fists his cock and rubs it up and down her slit.

Kat bends forward more, pushing her ass out. Putting her breast more into Gabriel’s hand. “I want you. All of you.”

The way she glances between Gabriel and me tells me she means our pack. That we’re not some consolation prize she puts up with for alpha cock. Beyond her body’s urges, she likes us.

“Tell me you want my mark on your throat,” he demands.

“I want it.”

His hips thrust, burying himself inside her, and his lips wrap around her throat. He sucks, his cheeks hollowing, while he’s buried deep. Bruising her skin. Making a temporary claim where his teeth will one day cut. Where they’ll carve the bond of our pack into her.

I reach a hand up and play it over my own neck underneath the collar of my shirt. Where my tiny scent gland lies, a firm knot under the skin. Unblemished, unclaimed. Do I want that, too? I’ve never thought about it before. Not all alphas claim their betas. It’s not technically necessary. We don’t have the overactive scent gland that signals our availability to others. But what would that be like?

She moans, and the dishes clatter as Liam ruts her on the dining table. A spoon near the edge slides off and hits the floor. I’m too busy staring at their spectacle and caressing my own neck to think of catching it.

Liam lets her scent gland go with a wet pop, leaving a dark purple mark behind. He nips her, hard enough to bruise without cutting skin. “Five bedrooms?” he asks, leaning back to deepen his angle while they fuck. A firm grip on her shoulder keeps her in place.

Kat’s hands slide against the tablecloth, bunching it. “Yes.”

“That means four babies.” His hips smack against her ass. Liam shoves her dress up so we can all watch how her soft skin ripples with the force of their fucking.

“Three and an office,” she counters.

“Or four and we’ll build you a detached office. Your own private space in the back.” The slaps of their skin grow louder. Rapid.

Kat’s head drops forward, and I move the roasted vegetables before her hair gets into them. She moans. “You agreed to three.”

“That was before I realized how much room we’d have to expand. I want to renegotiate.”

“While you’re balls deep inside me?” she asks, incredulous.

“Yes,” he agrees, completely shameless. “Is it working?” He grins.

“We said three.”

“I want to try for a boy next. And Gabriel and Matthew, if they want. That’s four. Four is a perfect number, don’t you think?” he asks us.

The thought of having a baby that looks like Gabriel and one like me is enough to make me agree with him. And I remember how lonely I was as an only child. How often I wish I’d had a sibling to play with. A big family would be nice. Gabriel and Liam both came from big families. “Yes.”

“Yes,” Gabriel agrees while he plays with her breast. He’s worked a hand underneath her bra until he’s touching skin.

I lean over to slip a hand between her legs. She’s so wet that she’s dripping. Does the thought of bearing all our children really make such a needy mess of her? Slick drenches her inner thighs and then my fingers. I stroke her puffy lips and work in between them. Find her clit and add pressure, rubbing it while he fucks her.

“Oh, fuck. That’s not fair, Matthew.” Her hands tighten into fists, shifting the table cloth underneath her. A water glass topples over. It rolls off the table and hits the carpet without breaking. She looks at me, her face scrunched with strain. It’s cute. Like she’s confused that he can make her feel so good. That we all can. That I’m rubbing her clit.

“Four babies,” Liam promises between grunts. “We’re keeping you pregnant.”

Her clit is swollen. A firm little bud. It throbs under my fingers. Her cunt pulls taut, clenching tight around Liam’s cock. I rub her clit faster. Touch her how she likes it.

Gabriel wraps a hand around her throat and tips her head up. Surges out of his seat to kiss her, swallowing down her moans. He buries his hands in her hair to keep her from pulling away. From arguing against what we all know she really wants. After all, she hasn’t said no .

We keep her busy. Distracted. It’s Liam’s cock she’ll come on, but it’s my fingers that will tip her over the edge. Gabriel’s kisses that keep her pussy clenching. She needs me and Gabriel, too. We’re pack.

I don’t have to fuck her to show her how she fits between us. How much she completes us. How much we want her here, between the three of us.

“You’re so wet for me, kitten. That’s our good girl,” Liam says. “Fuck, I need to have you deeper.”

Liam stops and pulls out to reposition her, ignoring her muffled cries of protest against Gabriel’s lips. He grabs her leg and lifts it, setting her knee on the dining table. Her panties twist around her leg, riding up her thigh. “This is in my fucking way,” he growls, grabbing the carving knife. “Don’t move, kitten.”

He pulls the panties away from her body, slips the knife underneath, and saws upward. The fabric frays, then falls apart. They sag down her leg.

Kat breaks her kiss with Gabriel to look at what Liam’s done. “I liked those,” she says. “You need to stop cutting my underwear off me.”

Liam shoves the torn panties aside until he has full access to her pussy. He tosses the knife aside and grabs her buttocks, spreading them apart to see her completely. “If you don’t want me to cut them off, then stop wearing underwear around me.”

Her complaints disappear when his cock nudges at her entrance again. He pushes inside her and sets a relentless rhythm. I work a hand between her thighs again. Pull her cut panties aside and find her clit. “Oh, fuck. Oh my God.”

“We’re gonna put so many babies in you,” Liam says, groaning as he buries himself deep.

“Four is too many,” Kat says.

“How? If you can do three you can do four.”

“It’s too many, Liam. I’m too old.”

His response is a slap on her ass. “No, you aren’t. But if you want to have them fast, I’ll have you pregnant again with your next heat.”

“Oh, fuck,” Kat says, arching back to meet his thrusts. “ Don’t stop.” She reaches back to grab his thigh. To hold onto him.

His hands roam over her body, fingers sinking into plush skin and making divots as he holds her firmly pinned against the table. One leg propped up for easy fucking.

“It’s what you were made for,” Liam says. “What your body wants. My baby in your belly. My knot in your pretty cunt. My teeth in your smooth white throat.”

Gabriel kisses her throat. Her shoulder. He works the thin strap of her summer dress down her arm and pushes her bra down with it until her tits bounce free. They’re full and heavy. The nipples hard, aching points. He plays with them. Cups her breast and brings it to his mouth. Licks and sucks, then gently bites. Her pussy spasms against my fingers.

“We’ll give you a nest full of chubby, round-cheeked babies,” Liam continues. “You can protest all you want, but I feel the way your pussy clenches around my cock. How it’s begging for my knot. My cum. Your body tells me everything I need to know. That it wants this. So be honest, Kat. Do you not want it, or are you afraid you can’t have it? Because we’re going to make all your deep desires come true once I mark your pretty throat. All you have to do is say please .”

“I want it,” she admits. “But you might feel differently later.”

“I won’t.” He fists her hair and drags her head back. Exposes the throat he’s bruised. Our pack’s temporary mark. A promise for more to come. “I hope our babies have your eyes.”

The table creaks from their antics. It’s a miracle it holds at all from the way he pounds into her.

He’s relentless. I had no idea his breeding urge ran so deep. That it made him so insatiable. He’s been stuck in a near permanent state of rut since the day he met her.

“Liam,” she moans .

He nips her ear. “I hope we have a boy next.”

Gabriel toys with her peaked nipple while I tease her clit. She’s there on the edge again a moment later. Her face flushes red. Her mouth rounds with a wordless moan.

“That’s it, kitten,” Liam purrs. “Come for us.”

We hold her there. Balanced on that precipice. Her breathing grows uneven. And then she comes, loud and devastated. Her head drops back onto his shoulder in full surrender while her body pulses. While she submits to her alpha. To her pack.

“You’re taking me so well,” Liam praises her. “Here’s your knot, pretty kitty. Here’s your cream.”

He sucks in a breath with his final thrusts before his knot swells and locks them tight. Liam turns her head. Exposes more of her bruised throat. Her pale skin is already turning colors. Round purple marks cover old faded scars. He nips her, ignoring her whine, hips jerking and slowing as he comes.

We pet her while she catches her breath. Let her settle on his bulbous knot. Gabriel and Liam run their hands over her chest and arms, smoothing her hair from her face. I pet their tie. Stroke them where they’re stuck together.

And then because I can, because it makes me feel involved, I make her come again. I play with her clit until she shudders on Liam’s knot, her pussy milking him. He grunts and eyes me, his gaze catching mine. He purrs with approval.

Liam kisses Kat’s cheek and strokes his thumb over the bruise on her neck. “Four?” he asks.

Breathless, she nods. She leans against him for support while they wait for his knot to shrink.

“Four,” she says. “But if you change your mind after the third, I’m going to say I told you so.”

Liam kisses her forehead. “I won’t. I can’t imagine a baby this pack makes that I wouldn’t love. ”

They stare at each other while the word love hangs in the air. Until Kat’s stomach growl interrupts the tender moment.

“You’re hungry. You need to eat,” Liam says. He pulls free and gently puts her propped leg down on the ground. He rubs a hand over her pregnant belly and kisses her temple.

Kat fixes her clothes as much as she can. The wrecked panties are a lost cause. I grab her a new pair from the bedroom while she uses her old ones to wipe herself dry.

“Thank you,” she tells me.

“You’re welcome. I can re-warm dinner while you two wash up.” I gather the food, and Gabriel helps me bring it all into the kitchen.

Liam and Kat disappear into the bathroom to get cleaned up. I put the food in the oven to reheat while Gabriel fixes the table. Until it’s once again pristine and beautiful. Like the impromptu fucking never happened. Although I can smell the sex. The blend of their musk and pheromones. If it’s this strong for me, a beta, it has to be hell on Liam and Kat. No wonder they’re constantly horny. Our tiny apartment traps in all the pack scents. Like a den. I hope the new house, as big as it is, feels as much like home as our apartment above the pub has been. I close the oven and turn on a timer.

“One of the other PAs bought a house, I’ll ask them who they used,” Gabriel says. He leans against the counter and taps on his phone.

“I can talk to my cousin,” I say, pulling out my phone to send Ryan a text about the contract we’ll be sending his way soon. “He’ll make sure the paperwork is in order.” Not that I think she’s trying to pull a fast one on us. Kat isn’t the type. And I guess she’s loaded. That was a surprise.

“Did you have any idea about all of this?” Gabriel asks.

I blow out a breath and pull my oven mitts off their hook. “Not a damn clue.” She doesn’t dress flashy. No designer purses or expensive brands. She drives an older car. Her home is modest. I never would have guessed she had buy a million-dollar house money. As far as surprises go, though, I can think of worse ones to get hit with. A bigger place is high on our needs list. This baby will be here before we know it.

“What kind of dog should we get?” Gabriel swipes through his phone.

I glance at his screen and see that he’s browsing an animal rescue app. “One that’s good with cats.”

Gabriel makes a thoughtful sound. When the oven beeps, I take the food out and re-plate it. I hope the inside of the house is as nice as it looks in the photos. Because I can’t wait to get my hands on that kitchen.