Faith & the Dead End Devils (Sweet Omegaverse, #8)(27)

Bear was supposed to be safe. He was supposed to keep me safe. Instead he'd let another alpha look at me, touch me. He would've let me go.

"Can you give us a minute?" Bear asked.

I tightened my fingers around Chance's, and he squeezed back, remaining quiet for a moment. "I'm not leaving until she says it's okay."

I gasped and tugged on Chance's hand, pulling his side into my back. Bear grunted, cleared his throat. I ignored him.

"Right. Okay." He sighed, and I swallowed the whine in my throat as a weary longing tugged in my chest. "Actually, okay, yeah. Stay here. I'll be back."

Bear moved, and I stiffened, turning my head just enough to watch his legs walk away from the nest. Chance wrapped his free arm around me.

"You can call him back," the beta whispered in my ear.

I shook my head, but I whined as Bear disappeared out of the room again.

"King surprised us, birdy. Bear didn't know that man was coming. He wouldn't have let him take you," Chance said, and then added in a low, dark tone, "I wouldn't have."

I blinked at that. Chance was a beta, but he'd been every bit as much careful with me as Bear had. Gentle. Kind. And he'd helped me push the alpha away, took me back to the nest where it was safe.

I turned in the tiny amount of space and grabbed onto Chance's shoulders before he could pull away. His features were a little clearer today than before, and I wondered if I was getting better. My fingers traced up the patterns on his throat to his jaw, and his muscles flexed under my touch as he swallowed.

"You mean that?" I whispered.

Chance sighed and his face blurred as he leaned in, resting his forehead against mine. "Of course I do. I don't even think King would've—"

I tipped my chin up, nuzzling my nose to his cheek, and his words died as my mouth grazed against his. His lips were already parted, and they fit easily against mine. Chance was frozen as I took his upper lip in a careful studying tug. His breath rushed over my lips, minty from toothpaste.

"Birdy," he whispered as I pulled away, but I silenced him again, taking a turn on his bottom lip, flicking it with my tongue.

I was granted a choked sound, almost a groan, and Chance's hands moved slowly around my waist, a tentative embrace. His mouth pressed back, sliding against mine, head tipping to catch a new angle that left us open to one another. He tasted sharp and clean like cucumber, and his chest brushed against mine with deep breaths as we kissed.

My fingertips traveled up, studying the line of his cheekbones, the curve of his temple, up into the soft and loose strands of his hair. Chance moaned into the kiss as I touched him, his hands tightening on my back, drawing me closer in tiny increments. He was tense against me, and I soothed my hands down to his shoulders as our tongues licked gently against one another, parting again to nibble and nuzzle at each other’s lips.

Chance panted and groaned, his arms circling my waist and twisting us in the tiny nest, pulling me on top of him. His scent didn't drive me into a frenzy of need like Bear's, but there was a slow trickle of warmth running through me the longer we kissed, a comforting kind of arousal with no immediate need of a destination.

His kisses traveled to my jaw as I caught my breath, whispering presses on my skin and deep breaths rubbing my breasts to his chest.

He can't bite me, bond me, I tried to remind myself.

Chance paused at the corner of my jaw by my ear, breathing me in, a slightly wet kiss searing hotly to the spot.

He pulled away, and our mouths returned to one another like patient magnets, licking, teasing, studying.

No, this beta couldn't bond me, couldn't mark me. And maybe he couldn't keep me safe from another alpha. But he could kiss so sweetly, it made my toes curl. He made me feel safe and calm again.

His hands slid up under my T-shirt, pleasant scorch marks against my lower back, and he pulled away, stroking his nose against mine.

"How'm I doing?" he asked in a low slur, voice rasping with a drowsy desire.

"Hmm?"

He licked his lips and his tongue skimmed against my skin too. "Been a long time since I've kissed anybody. Like this. Just ‘cause it feels good to," he murmured.

I blinked, his nearness all smears of peach and gold and brown. Was that true? Was that why his heart was racing under my palm?

"Don't stop," I said, pulling just far enough away to catch an unfocused glimpse of his eyes.

He made a soft, low sound in the back of his throat and then turned us slowly, kissing my lips, my cheeks, my nose, above my eyelids. When my back was against the mattress again and his weight held me there, our legs tangled, his mouth returning to mine.

These were decadent kisses, tender and aimless. I caught my breath with him and sank into the easy drowning of the touches.





I woke as Bear returned to the room, but I was too soft and cozy after the seemingly endless make out with Chance. For the first time in what seemed like forever, I was relaxed. I'd been on an endless high alert while held by Omikron, and even before that with Adam, things had rarely felt safe.

With my face to the closet wall and Chance wrapped around my back, my body unwound from slow strokes of his hands and deep and patient kisses, I rested.

I rested through the snap of the door closing, the clatter and thumps from outside of the closet. I even frowned and ignored the closet doors being opened, reassured but annoyed by Bear's familiar scent.