Page 25 of In the Mouth of the Wolf

“I give it one, maybe two more days. Tops,” he mumbled, shuffling into the kitchen and pouring himself a cup of coffee. The nights blended into the days, and time had ceased having meaning. The only thing that mattered was whether she was awake or not.

When she was up, her heat consumed her. Full body spasms and panting until Archer took out the vibrator and helped her come.

He insisted on being the only one to use it, which angered us all at first. Especially me, since I had been the only one with the foresight to bring it. But his argument was sound – “I’m pretty sure I’m the one she trusts the most out of the pack, and when she snaps out of this, she won’t feel as used as she would have if we’d all just taken turns. We need to make this feel as clinical as possible.”

When she’d finally pass out from exhaustion, she’d sleep fitfully, tossing and turning unless she was in one of our arms, purring her into a state of calm and serenity. For that, we did take turns, and I’d never felt more at peace. Even if I was in a constant state of priapism, being in her presence was like nothing I’d ever felt before. Suddenly, I had purpose, reason, goals. I’d expand my firm, get a bigger place, build her a proper nest, eat healthier, learn how to bake… all my plans for the future laid themselves out seamlessly, as though I’d just been waiting for the right catalyst to put my life together.

I was a ship unmoored, finally finding my harbor. And her name was Marlowe.

Unfortunately, I also had work. I took another bite of my cereal as I cleaned out my inbox. I had a few important cases that really couldn’t be put off, but everything else, I put on the back burner or passed onto my partners or associates. James Linden had been one of our biggest clients, so it was easy to fudge the truth and say I was still up here dealing with his estate. They might have been less grumbly if I mentioned we’d found an omega, but it didn’t feel right announcing Marlowe’s existence before she would even accept it, or could become bonded to a pack for her protection.

And we would do whatever it took to make sure she chose us.

It was Nolan’s turn to sleep next to her, and now that I was caught up somewhat on work, I had some free time to research the human who was standing in our way.

The rational part of my brain knew it was wrong to try to break them up, that Marlowe loved him, and he was in all likelihood a nice guy. Hell, if it was possible to let a human join a shifter pack, I might allow it just so it meant our omega could become ours.

But humans weren’t the sharing type, regardless of their newfound “discovery” of polyamorous relationships. Besides, that wasn’t what an alpha and omega pack really was, anyway. We loved one female, one omega, and she loved her alphas back. That was it.

His Facebook and Instagram profiles were set to private, and both profile pictures were just stupid landscapes. My lip curled in disgust. If I was engaged to a creature as lovely as Marlowe, she’d be the subject of all my photos. Not some stupid beach.

Hewasthe kind of douchey guy to have a robust LinkedIn account, though. Professional headshot, lots of posts patting himself on the back for how hard he was “grinding,” endless jargon and buzzwords, and plenty of name dropping.

Ugh, these kinds of guys were the worst. And Marlowe liked him?

Nope, no way. I wasn’t going to get jealous about this. You didn’t win hearts by bad mouthing the competition, you did so by proving how great you were all on your own.

I left the site and went to Amazon, ordering boxes of her favorite tea, sweatpants emblazoned with the word “California,” and the fluffiest blankets I could find. When this was over, we’d take her back to Maiingan Hollow – to Cam’s house, since his was the biggest. She could stay there as long as she liked while she sorted out what being an omega shifter meant now and what she wanted to do about her inheritance.

A soft whine floated through the air, breaking the silence. My cock instantly hardened, and Archer sighed contentedly. “Well, back to work, I guess,” he said with a smile.

“Yeah, don’t look so glum about it, asshole,” I muttered, getting up to put my empty bowl in the dishwasher.

He whistled a jaunty tune and headed back to Marlowe’s room, closing the door behind him. I quietly followed, and leaned against it with my ear, hanging on every word.

“Archer, please…”

“I’m right here, don’t worry. It’s almost over.”

I placed my forehead and palm on the door, biting my lip and stroking my dick through my pants as the buzzing started and she began to moan. Fuck, I couldn’t wait until I was the one causing her to make those sounds.

I finally resigned myself to another lonely date with my hand in the shower, and headed towards the bathroom once more.

13

MARLOWE

Iwoke up in a room I didn’t recognize, in clothes that weren’t mine, next to a man who wasn’t my fiancé.

Camden stirred with me, stretching and yawning by my side. “Mornin’, baby. Do you need me to get Archer?”

“Wha…?” I was flooded with fragmented memories of the past few days. Flashes of me out of my mind with horniness, begging for cock. I cringed from embarrassment but also fear – had any of these men actually fucked me?

I remembered Archer had taken the edge off with a sex toy, but I didn’t think anyone had actually touched me, aside from cuddling. Mike and I had had some wild, weekend-long sex marathons before, and I had usually felt quite sore afterwards.

Aside from dirty and hungry, I seemed to be fine down there.

But whatever had happened wasn’t okay, and I certainly wouldn’t have been fine if Mike had done that to another woman, I knew that.

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