Bear watched her thoughtfully, wiping her down with a cool cloth. She started fidgeting after a few minutes, a little whimper of displeasure sneaking through. Bear paused.

“Keep going,” I said. “That’s a good sign. If it’s flipping over from providing relief, that means we might be able to break the heat with the next round.”

Bear cupped her cheek, kissing the other and whispering soft words in her ear as he pressed the cloth along her throat. He was so gentle with her.

Maverick and Ryder had finally succumbed, both sleeping hard next to us.

I rolled my hips carefully to test her response. Morgan pressed back against me to meet the subtle movement while shying away from the cold Bear offered. “Good girl. Are you up to helping her, Bear?”

He nodded, moving into position, straddling my thighs and cradling her body, bringing it up to lean against him.

Morgan tipped her head, offering her throat to Bear. It wasn’t the first time she had asked for a bite, and I had used up far too many brain cells trying to prevent anyone from biting her in return. If Morgan was going to stay, I wanted her to choose that for herself, not because we had been too addled by her heat to stop ourselves from bonding her.

My instincts protested, and my teeth ached to sink into her skin.

Bear kissed his way up her throat and back down again, ghosting his hands over her curves before planting one firmly against her stomach to hold her in place, the other descending to toy with her. Tension spiked in her muscles, and I squeezed my eyes shut, breathing through her grip on my knot. Bear played her like a violin.

She writhed in his arms and I kept a steady hold on her hips, firmly planting her on my knot so she didn’t get hurt trying to squirm away to get fucked again.

“Bear,” she gasped out, the first coherent word she had uttered in the gods only knew how long. “Please.”

“Fuck our girl. She needs you, Bear.”

Morgan was so drenched with slick it was easy for Bear to coat himself and work his way into her ass. It felt like she came about four times before he finally started to move, my quiet packmate huffing and puffing like he was running a marathon. That wasn’t too far off.

All I could do was hang on for the ride once Bear got going. Morgan bucked and shattered in his arms, her fingers digging into my hands where I held her in place.

This heat wasn’t even over and my mind was already tumbling into the future.

She had to stay. How was I supposed to continue on with my normal life if she left? I would never be able to fill the void she’d leave behind.

I wanted to hear those desperate sounds every day, wanted to soothe and rile her up in equal measure, and watch her experience the life we could offer her.

Bear nudged her forward into my arms and I devoured her mouth while he gripped her plush ass and drove into her. Morgan surged back up, hooking her arm behind his head so he couldn’t move a damn inch to pull away before he knotted her. The burst of pressure set us both off, Morgan’s scream as she came startling Maverick and Ryder out of their sleep, and even Pumpkin shoved her head through the tent ties to check on her.

“Motherfuckity fuck,” Morgan cursed, panting and collapsing against me. “Oh god.”

Holy shit.

“Are you hurt?” I asked. We certainly hadn’t prepared for her to take a knot up the ass.

She shook her head frantically, still breathing hard, her skin finally returning to a normal temperature.

“Bear,” Ryder hissed. “Did you knot her?”

He nodded, eyes still squeezed shut.

“Not his fault,” I added. “Our girl got a little wild.”

She whimpered softly, slick core pulsing around us.

“You doing okay, firecracker?”

“Mhmm.” She shivered, kneading my chest with her fingers.

“Did the heat break?” Maverick asked, covering a yawn with his hand.

“For the moment.” It was so hard to think. “No one touch anyone. We should let the knots come down.”