The Night Movers, page 28
“Run where?” Rain asked. “Does a safe place exist for people like us?”
Sanctuary cities. Maybe one day soon, Titus could sneak Rain away from all this and he could be safe and at peace, try to have some semblance of a normal life.
“I just don’t want you getting hurt, and it’s dangerous in this place if you don’t know where you’re going.”
“You’re not staying with me?” Rain asked, eyes cutting to him, his voice trembling a little.
“I’ll be back. I need to explain to Jensen why it’s just me tonight. But don’t worry. I know how to keep him distracted,” he lied, winking at the boy.
Rain gave a stilted nod, then rolled over to face the bathroom.
“I’ll be back,” Ridley promised, slipping from the bed.
He shoved his feet into the thick fuzzy boots that he’d gotten during his shopping excursion. They did nothing to help the biting cold whipping around the large space. It still pierced his thin shirt and chilled his bare legs, but at least his feet were warm.
Ridley had to pass the living room to reach Jensen’s bedroom. He didn’t expect to see a flickering light or hear the soft hum of voices. His heart tripped in his chest when he peeked around the corner and found Steele slumped on the couch. He’d changed into baggy black pants and a t-shirt. Alphas always ran hot.
There was a projector behind the sofa, beaming an old movie onto a blank spot on the wall. Steele had a beer in his hand, but it was almost full. He cut his eyes in Ridley’s direction, but didn’t give him his full attention until he stepped inside the room.
“If you’re looking for Jensen, he bailed to play some game with Diesel and Ryker.”
“Rain’s asleep.”
Steele gave him a hard once-over, lingering on his bare legs long enough to make Ridley shiver. “But not you.”
Ridley shook his head. “Not me.”
They stared at each other in silence, sizing each other up. There was something about the way he looked at Ridley that made him desperate to…please him. He wanted Steele to want him, to be as desperate and hungry for him as Ridley felt every time he bothered to give him his attention. Which wasn’t often.
After a long moment, Steele dragged his gaze away, turning back to the screen.
A smile played at the corners of his mouth when he saw Ridley’s face fall.
Asshole.
He needed to turn around and leave. If he went to Diesel’s room, the others would let him stay. They’d give him all the attention he could want or need. Titus would, too. Hell, even Sugar wouldn’t turn him away.
“Do you hate me?” Ridley blurted.
Steele huffed out a humorless laugh. “No.”
Ridley caught his bottom lip between his teeth, stumbling awkwardly as he attempted to get closer. “Do you like me?”
Steele slowly shook his head, even as he gave him another heated once-over. “No, not really.”
That stung, but it did nothing to stop the familiar heat stirring in his belly, his omega fully prepared to do whatever it took to prove himself to the alpha before him.
He gathered his courage, closing the short distance between them. “But do you want me?”
Steele set his beer on the table, letting his legs fall open, brow raised in a silent challenge. Ridley couldn’t stop himself from crawling into his lap, straddling his hips.
“Do you?” he asked again.
Steele’s big hands gripped Ridley’s narrow hips, dragging him forward until he could feel his hard length against Ridley’s own. “What do you think?”
That was really all Ridley needed.
Ridley’s heart raced as he took in Steele’s bored expression. There was something about the hard glint in his eyes. It wasn’t just the light from the projector making him look harsh. It was a challenge. A dare. Hell, maybe a warning.
Steele’s brow went up, his jaw thrusting forward as they sized each other up.
Yeah, it was definitely a warning.
“If you want me to treat you like the others do, you should go,” Steele said. “I’ll do what I want with you, and I won’t ask for your permission or your input.”
Ridley shivered. Yes, please.
He’d known Steele wouldn’t baby him like Diesel or lose his mind over him like Titus. The others were wary of Ridley, but they at least seemed to enjoy his company. Steele didn’t like Ridley, and he didn’t trust him either. But the alpha definitely wanted to fuck him. Ridley wanted him, too, even if it meant doing it on Steele’s terms.
It was clear the alpha was pushing him away, trying to make him so uncomfortable he would leave. But he couldn’t do it. Ridley’s omega was foaming at the mouth at the thought of letting Steele breed him. He had to fight the urge to present every time the alpha gave him that dismissive once-over. He wanted to show him he could be good for him, that he could be whatever the alpha needed.
The longer Steele sat there with that condescending look on his face, the more Ridley squirmed, anticipation and desire building within him until the urge to beg was a living, breathing thing inside him.
He rubbed his ass against Steele’s cock again, biting his own lip to keep from moaning loudly at the delicious pressure. “Do what you want with me.”
Steele’s half smile set Ridley’s nerves on fire. “Whatever I want, huh?” He slid his hand up, up, up to tangle in Ridley’s hair. He hissed as Steele’s fingers gripped him tight. “You can’t imagine the things I fantasize about doing to you.”
Ridley cried out softly at the pain in his roots.
“Like what?” he managed.
Steele dragged him in by his hair, dropping his voice as he pressed his words against his ear. “I want to make you crawl for me. I want to make you beg. I want to hurt your feelings, then fuck you while you cry, and then I want to punish you for crying.”
Ridley salivated at the alpha’s words, slick gushing from his hole, soaking into the fabric of Steele’s sweatpants. He swallowed audibly, cheeks flushing.
Steele smirked up at him. “Yeah, you like that, huh? So mouthy out there, but as soon as we’re behind closed doors, you’re begging to be used.”
Pain lanced through him at the alpha’s cold assessment. “Pack omegas are supposed to be easy for their alphas,” Ridley said, stubbornness leaching into his tone. “We’re bred that way.”
“You’re not just easy, Strawberry; you’re fucking insatiable. How many knots have you had since you got here? Hell, how many times did you get fucked before we left? Yet, you were practically begging Titus to let us fuck you right beside Rurik’s still warm body.”
“Shut up,” Ridley muttered, heat prickling along his skin even with the frigid wind blowing around the large space.
“Why? The truth hurt?”
Ridley could feel himself sulking. “The truth?”
“Yeah, the truth,” Steele taunted. “You love the attention. You were dripping slick from all that alpha attention. Every alpha in that place could smell how disappointed you were when Titus wouldn’t let us put you on all fours and breed you while they all watched.”
Ridley opened his mouth to protest, shaking his head, but Steele tightened his fingers in his hair once more. “Don’t fucking lie to me. Even now, you’re gushing slick at the thought of it. You would have loved public breedings back in the day, huh? Letting us run you down then bend you over in front of the whole town?”
“Shut up,” Ridley whispered again, mostly because there was no hiding his body’s response.
“I won’t,” Steele murmured. “It’s only the truth. During your heat, even the six of us weren’t enough for a greedy slut like you. The minute one pulled out, you were on your knees for another, begging for another knot. Even when you lost consciousness, you whined every time your ass or mouth were empty.”
Almost like his omega wanted to prove Steele’s point, Ridley heard himself whimper, unable to stop himself from grinding down on the thick cock pressed against his wet ass.
Steele released Ridley’s hair, then gave him a disappointed look that made his insides melt like a marshmallow in the summer sun. “You’re making such a fucking mess right now,” he chided. “And I’m not even doing anything to you.”
Ridley couldn’t take Steele’s derision anymore. He dipped his head to find the alpha’s lips, but he ducked away, gripping Ridley’s jaw with his hand. He dug his fingers into his cheeks, tipping his head to the side with slow deliberation.
Ridley yelped as Steele’s sharp teeth sank into his throat, piercing the skin.
“No kissing,” the alpha rasped, lapping at the blood dripping from Ridley’s wound.
Rejection knifed through his ribs, sharp and exacting. “What?” he said, voice thick.
Frustration swelled in his chest as Steele moved lower, sinking his teeth into Ridley’s throat once more until he cried out. Steele soothed the marks with his warm, wet tongue, pulling another desperate moan from Ridley.
“Oh, don’t pout,” Steele crooned, dragging his lips over Ridley’s Adam’s apple before he dipped his tongue into the hollow of his throat. “You haven’t earned it yet. Be a good boy for me, and maybe I’ll let you have what you want.”
Let you.
Ridley’s thoughts grew foggy, his cock throbbing at Steele’s display of dominance. He tried to blame his biology. Omegas were hard-wired to submit to alphas. That was all this was. Steele was just better at pulling Ridley’s strings than the others. That was why he was on fire. No other reason.
Even as he tried to rationalize his body’s response, he tried to rock himself against the alpha, desperate for some much-needed friction. He whimpered as his hard length dragged against Ridley’s much smaller cock.
“Greedy, greedy,” Steele said, shaking his head, biting Ridley’s chin.
“But…you kissed me earlier,” he said faintly.
Steele scoffed at that. “You didn’t leave me much choice, did you?” Steele said, like he was talking to a child. “I couldn’t spoil the illusion for our toy’s new broken pet. Your recklessness has already put us in too much danger.”
Another sharp pain lanced through him at Steele’s casual jab. Was that why Steele didn’t like him? Because he thought Ridley was putting everything they worked for in jeopardy? Was he wrong? He’d barely been there a week, and he had already turned their lives upside down.
Was Rain truly the only reason Steele had kissed him? Because he’d put him on the spot? Something dark and bitter coiled inside him. In the beginning, Steele’s barbs had felt like banter, nothing the others hadn’t teased him over during his heat. But now, it felt like a deep-seated hostility, one he was barely containing.
“You kissed me when I was in heat, too,” Ridley pushed, desperate to prove himself wrong.
“No alpha can resist an omega in heat,” he said, sliding his hands up under Ridley’s shirt. His lids fluttered as warm, rough hands skimmed his belly up to his chest. “Especially one as inexperienced as you. You were such a needy little thing, crying and begging for a knot, slicking all over the place, looking up at us with those big doe eyes while we defiled you in every conceivable way.”
The hard edge to his voice made Ridley lightheaded, a fresh wave of slick releasing between them, the frigid air on his wet skin making him shiver. There was no way Steele didn’t feel the effect he had on him.
“I thought it was your heat that made you this pathetic, but look at you,” Steele taunted, thumbs teasing his nipples until he whimpered. “Sitting here grinding on my cock like a little whore.” He pinched the taut peaks meanly, twisting until Ridley gave another pained cry. “Do you just need to be hanging off a knot twenty-four seven?”
Tears pricked at Ridley’s eyes, even as he rocked against him, each roll of his hips shooting pulses of electricity through his bloodstream.
For all Steele’s vitriol, he was rock hard beneath Ridley, his pupils practically black in the dim light of the projector. He studied Ridley with a barely restrained hunger that made him clench down on nothing. He was so empty. Steele was right. He hated the feeling. Nothing felt better than when he was fucked full, belly swollen with their seed, an alpha knot buried inside him.
Tears pricked at his eyes.
“Aw, you gonna cry for me, Strawberry?” Steele crooned, soothing over Ridley’s swollen nipples. “Do it. Maybe if I see tears, I’ll take pity on you and bend you over the back of the sofa, give you what you’re so clearly desperate for.”
“Fuck you,” Ridley snapped.
Steele tsked, leaning forward enough to run his tongue along Ridley’s bottom lip, retreating when he tried to kiss him. “You haven’t earned that yet either,” he chided. When Ridley made a noise of frustration, Steele gave him that same unbothered look, but this time, it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Take what you’re given or find someone else to play with. Makes no difference to me.”
Ridley had never felt so small, so dirty; it made his whole body throb. He wanted him so badly. He’d beg if Steele demanded it. He’d do anything if it meant getting what he wanted. “Why are you being so mean?” he asked, words clotting in his throat as his tears welled.
Steele gave him a look of mock sympathy, his hands slipping from beneath his shirt, one settling on his thigh, right beside his aching cock, the other wrapping around his throat, dragging him closer. “The same reason you’re still sitting in my lap, rubbing off on me like a horny little puppy instead of looking for someone else to make you come.”
Steele darted forward, sinking his teeth into Ridley’s bottom lip, making him whine as his mouth filled with the taste of copper pennies.
“And why’s that?” Ridley asked, dazed.
Steele’s hand tightened on his throat. “Because you fucking love it.”
Ridley’s blood was too hot, his thoughts scattering like leaves every time Steele’s hand tightened around his neck. “Don’t act like you know me,” Ridley slurred.
Steele cupped Ridley’s cock through his shorts, dragging another desperate moan from him. “I don’t need to know you to know what a twisted little slut you are. I can smell how fucking wet this is making you. I can smell the pheromones your horny little omega is pumping into the room, trying to get me to give you my pups. You can pretend you don’t like it, but you can’t hide the slick gushing from your greedy little hole, or the way your pupils are blown, or that you can barely form a coherent sentence. Just admit you like being bullied. It can be our little secret.”
Ridley’s tears finally broke free, rolling down his feverish cheeks. “I fucking hate you.”
Steele studied his face. “Good. Remember that feeling. Remember how much you hate me. It’s better if you fucking hate me.”
Why would he want Ridley to hate him? What was wrong with him?
Before he could spiral down into his dark thoughts, Steele reeled him in, finally crashing their mouths together in a harsh kiss that felt more like an attack than affection.
It didn’t matter, Ridley opened for him anyway, his tears falling unbidden. He let him sweep his tongue inside and taste every inch of his mouth. He let him bite and nip at his skin, let him suck painfully at his bottom lip. He was greedy with Ridley’s mouth, holding him still so he could take what he wanted.
It was good.
It was so, so good.
Steele’s lips were warm and soft, even though his kiss was hard and punishing. He tasted like toothpaste and beer and smelled like pure alpha. Ridley was drunk on his scent, on the way his hands gripped him tight, pinning him in place. Every time he pulled away to breathe, Steele dragged him back in with a warning growl.
A heavy emptiness settled in his core, his brain telling him it was an ache only Steele could fill. Arousal bubbled between Ridley’s hip bones like melted honey, his omega screaming that Steele needed to breed him.
“So pretty like this,” the alpha muttered between kisses.
There was no way he looked pretty. He could feel how flushed his face was, knew his eyes were red and swollen, knew Steele could taste his tears every time they kissed, knew his nose was running.
“I’m always pretty,” Ridley lied, a pitiful sniffle ruining the cockiness of his statement.
“You’ll look even prettier when you’re crying on my knot,” he said, his hand sliding down to tease at the back of Ridley’s underwear, fingertips dipping beneath the waistband but going no farther.
“You’re so sure of yourself,” Ridley whispered, his arms wrapping around Steele’s neck, growing more and more pliant with each kiss.
“You’re the one who just told me how pretty you are,” Steele reminded him.
“And you agreed,” he countered.
“You are pretty. Beautiful, even. That’s why the others cater to you…baby you…give you anything you want. Even if it means ruining everything we’ve worked for,” he added bitterly.
His words twisted Ridley’s insides into knots. He pushed him away enough to look at him. “You’re such an asshole.”
Steele’s jaw tightened. “Then leave. I’ll only get worse if you stay. If you want someone to pamper you, go fuck the one who calls you princess…or maybe the one who proclaimed you our queen in front of the whole damn arena.”
Ridley didn’t move. They just stared at each other, each daring the other one to stop whatever this was between them. Finally, Ridley broke free of his gaze. “That’s not what I want tonight,” he admitted in a barely audible whisper.
Ridley sucked in a broken breath as Steele’s hand slipped inside Ridley’s ruined underwear, his fingers sliding between his cheeks to rub over his swollen rim.
“Then what do you want?” Steele asked, voice dark. “This?”
Before Ridley could answer, Steele impaled him on three fingers without warning, dragging a pained yelp from him. Steele didn’t apologize. He crashed his lips into Ridley’s, fucking his tongue into the warm cavern of his mouth in time with each shallow thrust. “Fuck, our alpha fucked you good,” he rasped. “You’re already so wet and open, your greedy little hole just sucking my fingers right in.”
