Page 143 of Knot All is Crystal
“How did I not know? I mean, he came here. He spent heats with me here.”
Growls fill the air, and Gage slides close to me, pulling me tight against his side. “Hey, maybe we don’t mention having sex with a dangerous trafficker who shot your Alpha while we’re in your nest, huh, babe?”
I wince. “Understood.” I kiss his cheek softly, and he hands me a hard cherry candy. I immediately suck it into my mouth and move it around with my tongue until it rests comfortably in my cheek.
Manny is pantless as Puck wraps his leg in gauze. “I think my blood is keeping you lucid,” he says as he watches Puck’s skilled hands. “Must be some sort of instinctual thing to keep you from going into heat if your Alpha can’t help you.”
“Instincts are wild,” Maverick butts in. “If I’ve learned anything today, it’s that we’re not as far away from our shifter ancestry as we think. You were basically a wild animal. It looked like a tiger had gotten in and -”
“Andddd, we’re done with that!” Gage says, pressing his bare foot on Maverick’s face since his arms are busy holding me. “No one needs to think about that.” My DJ licks the sole of Gage’s foot, which has him cackling and yanking it away swiftly.
“So what, you think I’m going to fall into heat as soon as I can’t scent your blood in the air anymore? Fuck, I do sound like an animal.” I chuckle and bite into the candy with my front teeth. “Guess I better practice my chomping.” I crunch down on the candy as the men look at me with shocked expressions. “What?”
“Practice your chomping?” Manny asks. “Do you mean-”
“That I’m gonna bite y’all? You bet your fucking ass I do.” I bite down hard, letting the candy shatter in my mouth.
Maverick groans, crawling the short distance to me and caging me in. “That’s fucking hot, cherry bomb.”
“Cherry bomb?”
“Cherry candy, and after you were done with Kieran, it looked like a bomb had gone off.” He sits back on his heels. “Cherry bomb. Pretty clever, right?”
Silence fills the nest as the four of us gape at the Alpha.
And then it’s overrun with laughter.
“Holy fucking shit, Mav,” Gage says between gasping laughs, “I can’t… Where do you come up with this stuff?”
He taps his temple and gives me a shit-eating grin. “One hundred percent genuine Maverick Reilly. Do you like it?” His voice dips in earnest, and I can’t help but wiggle out of Gage’s arms and softly kiss him.
“I love it,” I say honestly. “It’s also a really good song.”
Puck snorts before sitting back on his heels. “Alright, Manny, you’re all patched up. My stitches aren’t great, but they should hold. We need to keep it dry,” he tells Emmanuel. “And now we need to get you cleaned up of the blood and prepare to lose Crystal to the drugs and heat when we do.”
“Wait,” Manny says, stopping Puck from urging him out of the nest. “You want our bites?” His eyes are full of yearning, and I clamor to my feet, letting the blanket fall from my naked body.
“Of course I do, Alpha,” I whisper as I brush my lips across his. “And you want mine?”
“Without a doubt.”
“Okay. Then we’ll bond. As soon as you get cleaned up.” Emmanuel groans, his hands running down my arms to grip my waist.
“And you want to fuck all of us?” Maverick asks from behind me.
“Yes.”
“At the same time?” That’s Gage.
My stomach clenches with a cramp as delicious visions swim in my head. “Absolutely, yes.”
“And me?” Puck’s voice is tentative. It’s strange to hear that tone from someone who has been such a powerful figure in my life. “Do you want me here?”
“Woah, sorry, must’ve missed you when I said all of us.” I roll my eyes at the big Alpha. “Of course, I want you here, Alpha.”
Maverick chuckles and pats Puck on the back. “She’s kind of snarky when she’s horny, it’s hilarious.”
“She’s snarky all the time,” he mutters.
