Tilly

Luca

Cruzwasassessingher through the rear mirror as he drove, his eyes constantly scanning from the road to her face. She went from talking non-stop about needing to find her sister to sobbing, and his throat bobbed as he took in her sadness. His jaw ticking up and down as he felt the pain she’d gone through—the pain she still endured.

He thought he was helping her, and I could see how much he wanted her.

But he gave her mother an opportunity to kill her father, and I wasn’t sure if Tilly learning what happened on the night of the kidnapping had helped or hindered their relationship. I just hoped she would sleep on it and wake in the morning and understand all he did was help her.

Because she understood at first and it was perfect. She went to Cruz, but everything changed when she learned about her father. I now knew why Cruz found it too difficult to tell her. Yes, she got to see her mother, and she got her answers, but now she had more questions.

Her red-rimmed eyes dropped to my chest, and I knew what she needed. I gently brought her head to my torso and purred into her head to soothe her. Jackson turned and smiled. We both were sure this was going to resolve itself. We could only hope because she was our pack omega, and this was the greatest hurdle we had to overcome.

I stroked her back, rubbing gentle circles and it was strange at first because I thought she was sobbing, but as her breathing got faster, she glanced at me, with a sweaty forehead and her eyes half-lidded as though she was keeping something under control.

She dipped her head between her legs and moaned lightly to herself.

“Take me home,” she murmured. “Please, take me home.” Her hand swiped over her forehead, wiping away the glistening residue. She turned to the door and lowered the window. Her eyes closed as the cool breeze permeated the car.

I rubbed her back, and she turned to me and smiled. “Hold me Luca,” she whined. The sound she made was unlike anything I had heard before. “Hold me.” This time, her voice was small, like she was about to cry. She looked at me with hope in her pale green eyes.

I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her to me. As she moved closer, her small hand touched mine. A flurry of goosebumps popped over my skin and my heart pounded, and all I wanted to do was kiss her, but when a puff of her perfume penetrated the air, blood thrashed in my ears.

Tilly whined and Jackson spun from his position in the front seat, his eyes meeting mine, and he swallowed when Tilly hissed little cries as she tried to fight her growing heat.

“Luca,” Tilly whined, pushing her flushed pink face into my chest, inhaling my scent as she continued to fight it. “Sorry,” she whispered as she covered my tenting trousers with her hand. “If you leave me in my room, I’ll be fine.”

“Shit, her heat is starting,” Cruz said, staring into the rear-view mirror. There was a pained expression on his face, because he and Tilly hadn’t sat down and fully resolved everything between them.

I tried to speak, but with her hand on my cock and the perfume in the car, all I could do was swallow and nod.

“Tilly.” Jackson waited for her to look at him. “We’re going to help you through this, but we need to know where we stop. We need to know before you’re too far gone to tell us.”

“I was going to sit in a cold shower and wait for it to be over,” she said. “I’ve always gone through them alone.”

“You’ve gone through a heat? I thought suppressants blocked heats,” I said.

Tilly smiled. “They do, but sometimes I let myself go without, and it brought on a raging heat.”

Jackson cleared his throat. “You need to go through it like an omega. You can’t hide forever. We will be there for you. But I need to know your limits.”

She shrugged her shoulder. “Such as what?”

“Biting...” He hesitated, staring at her and her eyes pierced his, but she said nothing.

“Anal? Two at once? All of us at once?”

She swallowed, her eyes wide. “I think you can stop there, no biting. I don’t want to be claimed. I’m not ready.”

My heart hurt hearing that she wasn’t close to being claimed by me or any of our pack.

“No cold shower?” Jackson said with a smile.

Cruz opened her door. He took her in his arms, and she let him and that was a surprise. His nose twitched as he took in her sweet perfume. The four of us rushed into the private lift.

“No cold shower,” she finally answered as the doors opened to our apartment. Cruz walked her directly to her room. We already filled her nest with soft blankets and pillows, and piles and piles of fabric and cushions. Different levels of texture, until we worked out what our omega needed. Cruz gently placed her on her bed and Tilly began shedding her clothes. Purring as she cuddled into the soft blankets. Her body curled into the fetal position, grasping material and covering herself, cocooning inside the fabric.

“Can I help?” Jackson asked. We knew as older alphas to respect an omega at all times, but especially during her heat.

My instincts were telling me to pounce, to take her right now, but she was our omega and with that came restraint, we had to make sure we met her needs before ours.

“We should leave her to settle,” Cruz said. “Leave her until she is ready.”

“We should push her,” Jackson said.

“No, I won’t go in until she calls for me,” Cruz growled. “And neither will you.”

“She might be too far gone,” I said. “Help her through this and talk about everything when it’s over.”

“I can’t because I promised her I wouldn’t touch her until I knew for sure she wanted me. I left it too late, and that means you two have to satisfy her,” Cruz said, but there was a sadness on his face.