Page 21 of The Lab: Rigg

Niles melted into my arms. I lifted him as I stood up and carried him to the bedroom.

Our mouths connected as our hands roamed, exploring and relearning every curve. I could never be away from him again. It hurt too much to be gone, but the reunion was off to a great start. My fingers coasted along every familiar line of his torso and then down to his thighs, not taking anything for granted.

“Don’t ever leave. I hated not having you around,” Niles murmured against my skin between soft kisses.

“Me too.” I repositioned the weight of my body to carefully hover over his.

I’d never get used to the way Niles looked at me—like I was the only damn thing in the world that mattered.

His breath was warm against my neck as his fingers tangled in my hair, pulling me in like he couldn’t stand the space between us for another second. “I need to feel you inside me, alpha.”

"I need to make you mine in all ways, omega," I whispered low and rough against his ear.

“Yes.” He shivered, and his body pressed closer to mine, eager and open for what was about to happen.

Our mouths met in a desperate tangle of teeth, tongues, and promises to always be there for each other and our family.

Niles was slick and ready for me when we were finally undressed and ready to complete the mating bond. I’d waited long enough. Too long, maybe.

Lying in the center of the bed, I pulled him over my lap so he could control the pace. After lifting him up, I positioned my cock directly under him so he could slowly lower onto me. My eyes drifted shut as he sheathed me in his wet heat.

He slid down slowly as my hands mapped the planes of his back and the curve of his ass. Every breath he took fueled the fire under my skin.

When he landed on my pelvis, Niles arched his back and gasped as I completely filled him. “You’re in charge, omega. Take what you need.”

He lifted and dropped at a fast pace, quickly driving our desire to the point that holding back was nearly impossible. When he was close, my mate leaned forward and pressed his forehead to mine. “I love you, alpha.”

Our hearts were racing in sync as I dug my fingers into his hips and pounded up into him. “I love you too, omega. So fucking much.”

I reached for his cock and quickly stroked him. “Come for me, sweetheart.”

Every thrust drove me closer to the edge. Every moan was his answering reply. We weren’t just moving, we were promising each other forever. When Niles began to whimper against my ear, I pressed my teeth to his neck and bit down.

“Yes, alpha!” Niles came with a loud cry as the mate bond was finally complete.

“Mine forever, omega.” I came inside him, coating him with my seed as my knot locked us together.

“Forever.”

13

NILES

When Rigg gave me the highlights of the plan to take down the lab, I was both excited and nervous. There were so many moving parts, and everything had to come together perfectly for us to pull it off.

But we all had a part to play. And mine was to go back to work at On Tap as a bartender so I could hear what lab employees were saying when they got drunk.

Alcohol and poor judgment were in abundant supply, but it was fun to be back in the presence of adults. My coworkers were happy to see me back and working again, but when they found out I was living with a guy, they had some reservations about whether I had fallen into a relationship too quickly. I couldn’t easily explain the mate bond to humans, so I didn’t bother trying.

"Gotta pay the bills somehow." I just laughed at their jokes and focused on every person who walked through the door.

Evenings in the bar were loud, but the energy was fun and interesting. People played pool and threw back cheap drinks, and I soaked in all the eavesdropping I could handle. The regular bartender was about to give birth, so they were happy to take me on for a three-month trial period. That worked for me, because after three months, I’d probably be too tired to be on my feet for eight hours a day anyway.

It was hard work to pour drinks, keep track of tabs, and try to listen to random conversations. But the highlight of every shift was when my mate came in, disguised as a stranger to everyone but me. I could scent him the second he walked through the door, but he was always in a different face, flirting with me and making me laugh at his ridiculous pickup lines.

Tonight, while slinging drinks for an especially obnoxious bachelor party, I saw a familiar smirk in a face I'd ever seen before. The brown-eyed guy at the corner table nursed a beer like he'd never had one, but his eyes never left me.

He was playing “subtle” for once. Usually, Rigg came in hot and heavy to get my digits. But it was just a game we’d gotten in the habit of playing.

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