Sugar Coated

30

Emil West

I would go out of my goddamn mind. Jax had grabbed me before I'd buried my teeth in her neck and it was eating at me. Each time I had her under me my hindbrain was screaming: bite bite bite.

It was my own voice each time, not my father's. That knowledge terrified me even more. The fact that her neck was smooth unbroken skin unsettled me, making my stomach ache and I'd done the only thing I could think. I'd peppered her neck with kisses and nibbles while I had myself under control, to let her know that her lack of a bond mark wasn't my decision, soothing that omega inclination to forge a bond that I knew could ride someone straight into a meltdown.

My attentions had her melting against me and I savored all of it. I was being greedy. I knew that and so did Andres and Jax, but they let me get away with it. Once she was bitten in we'd have her forever and I wouldn't feel so ragged, so...feral over it. But for now, I was going to be stuck to her like a back pocket.

All of the things Andres said made sense. He'd been doing more successful research than I had been these last few months.

A more problematic heat. The thought was a faraway thing. I hadn't had an unfortunate heat since I was still living with my family. I'd happened upon Sugar Coated a few weeks after I'd fled and known Jax was pack. He'd dragged me into the back offices and rutted me senseless after I'd been teasing him all day in his shop. I'd begged for his bite and he'd given it to me, and since then he'd managed my heats until they were little more than a particularly smutty vacation.

I watched the emotions flick by on Delaney's profile as she listened to Andres and Jackson as they talked about what it would mean for us if she agreed to it. I could put her into a fever. As I thought it I became more certain. She was pack. She was meant to be ours, so I wouldn't accept an outcome that wouldn't be beneficial to everyone. Despite everything, I'd be a positive creature when it came to my ability to find happiness not only for myself but for those that I cared about.

"It will work out," I murmured to my new little mate, causing her to turn and look at me with wounded eyes that wanted to believe me just a little too much. "We'll court you while you think about it. And I'll try to squirrel you away from our chaperones like a naughty teenager just for the danger of it."

"You will most definitely not, Em," He didn't bark at me though so the possibility was on the table.

"Unless of course, you're interested in me putting a mark on your neck," The fact that it would fade stung just a little too much.

Those fawn brown eyes dropped to my lips and I watched as her mouth opened just the slightest told me she was considering it and I felt my cock surge beneath her. It'd be no trouble at all to lift her shirt and spread her legs. Her pussy was still wet. The mental visual of her kindly leaking everything I'd given her earlier onto the chair we were sitting on kicked me into overdrive and even I was aware of how ludicrously sweet my scent was when it hit the air around us.

Everyone at the table groaned. The bruises from my childhood were still fresh enough that I had to stop the ingrained desire to pull the scent back lest it shame those around me. But the murmurs and the looks that my pack gave me were the farthest thing from shameful.

"Seeing as Em has made his stance clear enough," I watched Andres tug on his pants just a bit to give himself more room, "I'll make mine clear as well. You're pack Doll."

She shivered in my lap and turned to Jax. He'd never been a traditionalist pack lead, but anyone would assume his word was final in this regard. She didn't need to wait for his response, since she'd already held his attention and had since the very moment she'd walked into his shop. He was like that.

"We're going to court you and as soon as you give me the word I'll put a mark on that pretty neck of yours just like theirs," His eyes traced the line of the collar she always wore and I couldn't stop my hand from feeling the line of it, "no more collars."

When she swallowed it made the collar jump on her throat, "It was my grandmother's." The admission was at odds with her tone. If it was sentimental and she wore it in remembrance I'd have expected reverence, but she'd spit the words out like they'd been choking her and it made me hate the little collar that had haunted me for so long.

I dug my fingers into it but she stilled my hand, gentling my hold on her until she pulled it away entirely.

"We'll unpack that too," Jax's voice was soft and she nodded in response.

Finally, after a too-long pause that had us all getting just a bit too anxious in the bond she took a breath, "I'll do it–I'll uh let you court me while we figure it out and see where this goes. I can also ask Rosie and Foster if they know anything if we want." That made every muscle in my body lock down and I could tell the second it hit the rest of the pack as well. She squeezed my hand in a soothing gesture, "They're my best friends and I'd like you to be on good terms with them. They," she paused looking for words and I caught the way she blinked her eyes too rapidly for a moment, "they were the ones that raised me when others couldn't manage the bare minimum of the job."

Jackson gave her a curt nod, it wasn't an overly happy gesture, but I knew that if it were important to Delaney he'd embrace the idea.

"All cards on the table, they're an alpha and omega pair," she continued hesitantly, "and they're going to pick me up today at noon. If you can manage I'd like you all to meet them."

I ground all 32 teeth. I'd chased female omegas out of the shop for less serious offenses than being close to my mate, but I would be damned before I acted enough of a fool to chase one out and damage my relationship with Delaney, horrendous hormone situation aside. What I did allow myself to do was willfully scent-mark her over it. I rubbed my cheek along the back of her shirt. "I'll be good," I grumbled.

It earned a chuckle and the bond settled down around the table. I had her until noon today. I'd wanted her for longer, forever if I could swing it, but if she had to leave I'd use the time to plan our next outing to show her we were the pack for her. It took Andres two months to ask for a bite and I was ready to beat our record by the way the others watched her the rest of the morning I knew we were in agreement even without the bond between us.

*****A/N*****

This part is dedicated to Slameo who is part of my weekly Goose Goose Duck game. You fought for me until the bitter end and believed in me when no one else did. Thank you I'll remember that. 

~Layla