Deviant Games (The Controllers #8) - L.V. Lane Page 0,54

guilt swamping me through the bond. His hand dipped between us. At the faint clink of his belt releasing, my body prepared, slick gathering to ease the passage of his cock. His hips shifted, and the thick tip caught my slick entrance. The knot already half-formed as he plowed deep, filling me.

I whimpered; I needed the closeness and the connection, but my heart ached.

“I know, baby. I know.” His mouth trailed kisses down the side of my face, seeking the little patch of skin where my blood ran close to the surface. “You’re the center of my fucking universe,” he said. “All I could think about the whole fucking time was getting back home to you.”

He cupped my face and our eyes locked. I blinked, bringing him into focus, and feeling the earnestness of his words wrap around me. The bond did not like us to be apart. Tears streamed over my cheeks as I clung to him, widening my legs and urging him deeper where he belonged.

Five deep thrusts and he locked inside with a roar, triggering my own climax, glorious sweet ripples that gathered up the bruised pieces and forced them together. They did not yet quite fit. Teeth ripped into the delicate skin. The relief of my blood leaving me, of it healing my mate, delivered a new high.

He rolled to his side, allowing Ryker to slide behind me, to nestle me between them where I needed to be.

The burgeoning peace was shattered when Ethan growled. “Don’t think I’m going to ignore what you did, asshole. As soon as Lilly’s calm again, me and you are going to be having a chat.”

“Bring it,” Ryker said, tone filled with inflammatory bite.

We stayed in the nest all day. I wanted to wallow in pity, but every time I felt the hopeless pain surge, one of them was inside me again, filling my body over and over until an exhausted calm took its place.

As the day turned into night, they became more aggressive with me. Ethan’s threat and Ryker’s challenge hung over us like a cloud.

They needed to resolve their differences without me in the way.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Ethan

FINALLY, AFTER TWO days of us growling over our prize and several thwart conversations, I agreed to allow Lilly to resume life outside the nest.

Lilly had a planned meeting with Verity, the sweet Omega mate of one Woodrow Brock.

Tomorrow, she was returning to her duties on the program. I sensed issues looming on the program front, but that was a worry for another day.

Then there was the infamous Omega I’d dumped on Lucian Banner.

The wheel never stopped turning. Our few days together had been a time to bond—a welcome respite, but that was over now.

Also, someone needed to clean up the decimated lounge.

So with a measure of reluctance, we dropped Lilly and Verity off at Chimera’s premier mall, where they had planned to have lunch. Neither Ryker nor I wanted to let her out of our sight, but our anger at one another was still potent, and we needed to sort our differences out somewhere without furniture.

The ever-escalating war had seen military bases distributed widely throughout the Empire. Even here in the cultural capital, and far from the front line, several administrative and support centers were available. Chimera had been Ryker’s homeworld long before Lilly and I entered the picture, and it was his local base we used. I might have left the military, but sparring rooms were open to current and former military personnel. Word of our arrival must have gotten out, and a crowd had gathered to watch.

Ryker was grinning like the crazy person he was and bouncing on the balls of his feet as we faced off.

“How the fuck did I end up with you as a third in our little menage?”

“Just lucky,” he said cheerily before his face emptied, and he charged.

We fought, we wrestled, we bled.

Violence was never the answer, but it was a conduit. It reminded us of what we both brought to the table in our shared goals pertaining to our mate. The metaphorical slate was overflowing, both of us having taken actions that the other felt was wrong.

So we fought, neither of us holding back. Ryker had stamina, and it didn’t seem to matter what I did; he soaked that shit up.

But I was angry. He was angry. And with every savage punch, our fury climbed until the words we avoided all came tumbling out.

“You don’t do that to her ever!” I roared, slamming him against