Knot Broken (Hiddenverse)

38. Lilah

CHAPTER 38

Lilah

An intense energy flows off of the guys. And I’m not sure what’s causing it. Even the conversation has felt charged. Or maybe it’s all in my head. But as we arrive at their small house on the grounds—we probably could have walked here if Miles wasn’t hurt—the feeling grows.

Their musk’s have a hit of something almost sensual that I can’t place in them. It calls to the omega in me. Urges me to rub against them like a cat looking for attention. I tamp it down, because how would I explain that to them?

Butterflies erupt in my stomach as Rafe takes my hand and leads me through the small house. He slides the glass door open off of the kitchen and tugs me outside. I’m speechless as I catch sight of the nest of blankets and pillows. Soft and silky looking from here. I want to burrow into them. Roll around and mark them with my scent. Candles all around, some lit and dancing in the slight breeze, others apparently put out by the very same breeze. And a huge inflatable screen is set up in front of it.

“That’s for later,” he says. He turns me toward a table set up under some twinkling fairy lights, looking like something out of a romantic movie. “This is for now.”

After he leads me over to it, I sink into a chair as he pulls it out. The butterflies have lodged themselves in my throat, ensuring that my words are stolen completely.

“We are going to cook you dinner,” Elliott says, breaking the silence.

“Oh, I can help,” I say, popping back to my feet.

Miles chuckles. “Or you can keep me company.” He sinks into the chair next to mine, giving me a hopeful look that has me folding back into the seat.

“Only if you tell me how you hurt yourself,” I say.

The other two disappear into the house, and I give Miles my complete attention. His lips raise in a rueful smile. “I was preoccupied thinking about seeing you while out on my run this morning. And I didn’t see the root across my path until I was tripping over it.”

“It’s my fault then?” I joke. I know he isn’t blaming me, and the fact he was thinking of me so much it distracted him makes the butterflies remaining in my stomach completely brain dead as they beat against their confines.

“That depends…if I say it was, will you nurse me back to health?” A laugh pops out of my mouth, and he grins. “Is that a no?”

“I wouldn’t be a very good nurse.”

He shrugs. “As long as you were near the whole time, I’d be better in no time.” I roll my eyes, and he laughs. “Too corny?”

I hold my thumb and forefinger an inch apart. “Just a tiny bit.”

“I missed you,” he admits, his voice gaining a serious edge. “Five days was too long.”

“You had other dates to keep you busy,” I say, and I want to kick myself because I don’t want to remind any of them that there are other omegas they could currently be with. Such a difference to how I entered this show, not even sure I wanted to stay. Now staying feels as if my life depends on it. Which is terrifying. I’ve done the one thing I promised myself I’d never do again, given an alpha—in this case multiple alphas—the ability to break my heart.

He tilts his head to the side studying me. Probably reading all of my damn emotions as they occur. He pats his uninjured leg. “Come here, sunshine.”

It isn’t a demand or alpha bark, but I move like it is. I want to be in his arms. I need to be close to him. And his words are all the permission I need.

He tugs me fully into his lap. As I settle against him, his chest rumbling with a purr that settles every single nerve in my body and his musk of pure almond, coconut, and chocolate washing over me, I notice two things. One, the possessive way his fingers curl into the junction of my hip and thighs is unlike any way anyone has ever held me before. And two, he is growing hard beneath my ass.

The combination has a small whimper escaping my parted lips as slick rushes between my legs, and my clit pulses for attention. He nips at my shoulder through the sleeve of my sundress, and a shudder works its way through me.

He groans as I submit. Almost unconsciously, I’ve angled my head, giving him full access to my throat. He brings one large hand up, circling my neck and securing my head against his shoulder. As my perfume and pheromones fill the air with a scent that’s very much full of my body begging to be fucked.

I know he’s aware of the cues. And the slight lift of his hips against my bottom is teasing enough for me to release another whimper. Need, sharp and insistent, has me twisting in his arms. His hands still loosely around my throat like a necklace, but he lets me move—encourages it really. My dress rides up a tiny bit as I settle fully on his lap, my knees on either side of his. His fingers flow to the back of my neck, and he pulls me closer, capturing my lips with his.

Everything’s forgotten as he deepens the kiss. And I mean absolutely everything. All that exists is the two of us. His musk, my perfume, and this growing, insistent lust between us. Until someone clears their throat.

Not someone, a cameraman. I almost yank myself out of Miles’ arms as the realization hits me that I completely forgot about being filmed. And Miles must remember to because he releases me. I sink back into my chair, my face flaming hot, and I know I’m flushed, not just from embarrassment but from the desire still burning through my veins.

I curl my fingers around the arms of the chair, holding myself in it. My gaze darts to Miles, and he’s clearly worked up. His chest heaves as he watches me with a look that says his restraint may not last and not even his hurt ankle will stop him from giving chase if I run. Not that I’m going to run. But we both remember what happened last time I did.

A forbidden thrill rushes through me. Would he pin me against another door and fuck me senseless this time? Would the cameras filming stop him?

He mouths ‘Don’t’, as if he can read my mind. I will my muscles to unbunch and relax. I am not running. I am not running. Shit, I think I’ve just discovered a new kink. I like to be caught. Or maybe it’s just being caught by him.

“Lilah—” he growls out a warning that goes straight between my legs. My stomach drops. Pheromones saturate the air, and his nostrils flare as he inhales. His eyes darken, and he curls his fingers in, beckoning me back to him. “Come here.”

I freeze in my seat. Breaths lift my chest as our gazes hold. The hairs on my arm stand at attention, even without his words being a command. Why do these men make my omega want to roll over and show her belly? Hell, I never even willingly submitted to Jared. Maybe that should have been a red flag that he wasn’t for me. But it was all I knew at the time.

This, right now, right here…it feels natural. Submitting to his words is something every single part of my soul wants. Even if it could make it onto TVs. And it probably would, at least the kisses.

Omega in Paradise shows that kind of stuff all the time. They ramp up even more, showing the touches and scenes where the pairs slip away from the cameras. The film crews caught them from afar.

Still, I listen, finding my feet and stepping closer again. He reaches for me, pulling me between his spread legs. His fingers trail up my thighs and over the swell of my hips, before wrapping his arms around me and tugging me even closer. He nips at my stomach through the sundress. Then lays his head on my abdomen, closing his eyes and steadying his breathing.

I run my fingers through his silky hair and hold him to me. My lust settles to a level that doesn’t have me wanting to fuck him in front of the cameras. And I know without speaking that he’s holding me to satisfy his alpha’s desire to possess me in any way possible. The low rumble of his purr seeping into my bones, mixing with tiny little growls to warn off anyone within hearing are all the proof I need.

That’s how Rafe and Elliott find us when they step out of the house with trays of food. I attempt to step back and find my seat, but Miles twists me around in his arms and settles me on his lap.

“Stay here,” he says.

Okay, so maybe he’s not as soothed as I thought. I sink into his warmth, and he ramps up his purring.

Elliott smiles faintly as he drops to his chair and moves the spare plate in front of Miles and me. “I guess Miles gets the pleasure of making sure you eat.” His attention catches on Rafe, who’s still standing, watching the two of us. “Rafe, sit.”

Rafe shakes off whatever thoughts he was having and folds into his seat. Although, I’m pretty sure that what I thought I read in the depths of his eyes was a trick of the light. Because it looked like he wanted to tear me out of Miles’ arms and hold me instead. And that can’t be what I saw because he’s not here to find an omega.

Woodenly, Rafe piles his plate with food. The teasing and joking from before he went into the house is dried up in the face of the tension in the air.

My perfume and pheromones are still putting off hints of, spread me out on the table and eat me instead, scents. And I’m pretty sure my pussy’s crying for a knot with all the slick that I can feel anytime I shift.

Still, I eat each bite that Miles brings to my lips. Protesting only when I feel like I’m going to burst.

Elliott lays his napkin down over his plate. “What did you think?”

“Everything was delicious,” I say honestly. “Where did you learn to cook like that?”

He shifts his attention to Rafe before saying, “It was all Rafe. I just did what he told me to do.”

“You cooked that?” I point at my empty plate, eyes going wide with disbelief.

He gives me a dry look. Poking his tongue into his cheek, he rubs his fingers over the eight o’clock shadow he’s grown over the day. “Yeah, I’m multi-talented.”

I flush at the double meaning to his answer. Then watch as he slowly runs his tongue over his lower lip as if he’s remembering tasting me and the earth shattering orgasm he gave me.

“It was amazing,” I admit, and a fire lights in the depths of his eyes. He stands up abruptly and tugs me out of Miles’ lap.

“Time for a movie,” he informs me as he leads me down to the luxurious pile of blankets and pillows. He urges me down in the middle and kneels to slip my sandals off of my feet. Placing them off of the side of the blanket. The other two join us as Rafe stands back up and kicks off his shoes. “Lean forward, sweetheart, it’s my turn to hold you.”

A thrill shoots through me as I do what he says. He slips behind me and adjusts his legs around me, pulling me flush against his chest. Then he tugs a blanket up over us, all the way up to my chin, blocking out the cool night air. Not that I could say I’m cold after all of the physical touch. No, my omega heart is eating every little bit up.

Elliott settles on my right as Miles drops down to my left. Both cuddling up to my sides, beneath the blanket. I’m not sure paying attention to a movie will be possible with the way Miles’ fingers curl around my bare upper thigh and Elliott’s palm burns a hole in my sundress resting against my lower abdomen. All while Rafe drags his thumbs over my rib cage just below my breasts, making me wish he would just shift his attention a few inches higher and tease my nipples instead.

I know they can smell the desire in my perfume as much as I can smell it flowing off of them. But we all ignore it as the screen flickers on with a click of a remote I didn’t see Elliott grab. I’m swimming in their musk, and I never want to wash the scent of them off my skin.