Page 77 of The Gift
“Well, that works. I have a few contacts currently being housed in Bill’s fine establishment. A quick shiv in the throat will deal with that issue,” Reno says unemotionally, like we’re not arranging the murder of someone.
“How?” Ashton asks, taking an opposite turn to Bailey.
“Leave it with me,” Reno adds.
“What about the pack and bonding issue. Fuck, that is devastating. Can we get to speak with any of the omegas or alphas in the centre to find out if there is truth in what he insinuated?” Ash asks.
“That’s a good place to start. We’ve got a lot to do. Oh, and Henley, I meant what I said, don’t try to wrap her in cotton wool. We’re all a little fucked up inside, be man enough to be there when she falls apart. If she does.”
I’m getting schooled by everyone in my pack. No doubt Koda will be next. Except he doesn’t use his words like the other two.
“Got it, Captain Obvious.” I scoff, blowing a huge breath out.
“Yeah, well sometimes you need a reminder. How long will you guys be?” Reno says, his tone changing, less fight. Which is a relief.
“At least a couple of hours,” Ashton replies, as I lay my head against the headrest and try to lock up my surging protectiveness and fury, which I unintentionally let out of its cage.
We’re back within three hours. And I’m still pissed off. Now, it’s my nerves making my mood worse. Since when do I date?
With a dress bag over my shoulder, I storm past the reception desk barely cracking a look at one of Donnie’s favourite employees, stopping at the open door to Bailey’s office.
“Where are Koda and Reno? They are meant to be here watching you!”
She doesn’t jump despite me bursting into her office and barking like an asshole. My anger has been riding me fucking hard all day. I’m like one wrong word away from strangling someone, and seeing her here with no one watching the damn door, I lose it again. Maybe worse.
Instead of arguing or defending my claim, she smiles sweetly, her head tipping to one side as she takes a long inhale through her nose. She’s mind-blowingly stunning anyway, but when she closes her eyes, savouring what’s going on between us, pursing those plush lips of hers together, I lose it completely.
Climbing out of her seat, like she’s seriously got moving down to an erotic art form, she passes me, closing the door to her office. Without a word, she lifts the bags I have in my hands and walks over to place them on the table on one side of her office, before she returns and looks at me.
Her face is pink, her eyes dilated and now that she’s right in front of me, my mouth waters as her scent greets me. I missed it before, I was so fucking shaken, but standing in front of me it’s like walking through a peach orchard on a summer’s day. Juicy, ripe peaches too. And even though she’s been splashing her heady bottled perfume around, the only thing I can smell is her ripeness. So fucking sweet and potent. Moving my tongue around in my mouth, she’s all I can taste.
I know it is only because I’m in this heightened state, and a part of me knows no one else would be able to scent her like this, but she’s in me deep, flayed me wide open, so I am receptive to her and her alone. And while we’re staring, I try to see or feel out this roadblock Regalo claims to have installed on his poor victims.
Imagine having a new chance in front of you, a pack ready to adore you and the whole thing being nothing but a cruel joke, giving the last laugh to him.
Fuck, I am so torn. I’m distracted, my thoughts everywhere, although I keep coming back to her with a need I’ve never felt. But Bailey deserves more than my need.
“I should go,” I snap, knowing I can’t stay. She’s so fucking close to going into early heat, I can see it in her eyes.
“I disagree. And you are about to learn how stubborn I am.” She leans up, straining on her tippy toes to bite along my jaw. “You’ll finish what you started when you decided to show me who you are, trying to protect my honour. And all you did was ruin my control, and another pair of underwear. I thought we agreed no more secrets, Henley, but you certainly kept your true potency locked away, didn’t you?”
Before I can argue or respond, she kneels in front of me, dropping her eyes from mine. I watch as a smile breaks over her lips, it’s not a happy smile, this is pure desire, an unbidden, needy smile. This is her being Bailey, the real person in all this. And as she stays on her knees, she peels off her jacket, letting it fall behind her before her slender hands start on the buttons.
“Can I suck your cock, Henley? I need to. I’ve been thinking of how you would taste all day,” she whispers from her place at my feet.
“I’m not sure this is a good idea,” I admit, cracking my neck to one side, trying to calm down. My heart is racing, and it’s hard not to breathe like I’ve run a marathon.
“I think it is. You did this. So you’ll have to fix it by giving me what I need. I will beg to taste you.”
Her softly spoken confidence wraps like a vice around my control and breaks it. I crack, crumble, implode, whatever it is, the result is the same. My hands grab either side of her collar and I do a first-class impression of the fucking Hulk in my desperation to please my omega, to stop her need, to reassure myself that she is safe. Buttons fly, hitting the walls.
“Take your hair down,” I hiss through my teeth. Still angry, although it’s probably feral need making me feel this way now. Definitely my need, but I also have to help her with hers.
“No can do. I don’t have time to wash it,” she smiles demurely at me, her chin lifts in defiance.
“Take your fucking hair down, Bailey.” I roar.
She smirks again, triumphantly, like she won the goddamn lottery before she answers me with a whispered, “Yes, Alpha.”
