CHAPTER 38: _AFTERMATH

When Heidi’s body tightens around Darien, he knows she’s close. He can feel it in the way her nails bite deeper into his skin, in the way her moans have turned into short, helpless cries that break with every thrust.

"She’s right there. Push her over." Kairos urges.

Darien keeps his forehead pressed to hers, their ragged breaths mixing in the heated air between them. His hips drive in deep, hard strokes that are designed to keep her on the edge without letting her fall. His thumb doesn’t relent, rubbing her clit in tight, ruthless circles.

Her back arches, pressing her breasts against his chest, and her head falls back with a choked gasp. "Darien... I-I’m..."

"Yes, baby. Come for me," he growls commandingly, his pace not faltering. "Right now. Let go."

And so, her entire body shudders. The tension in her core snaps, and she cries out his name, high and raw, as her climax crashes through her. Her inner walls clamp around him in frantic pulses, milking him, dragging him right to the brink.

The sight of her flushed face, her trembling body, the way she looks wrecked and beautiful under him, burns him alive. He pushes harder, faster, chasing his own release until it blasts into him like a breaking wave. His groan is deep and he buries himself to the hilt, spilling into her with a shudder that leaves his muscles trembling.

Yes, Kairos exhales in satisfaction, as if the orgasm is his own. "Mark her from the inside out."

Darien’s grip on her hips tightens, holding her still as the last of his release pulses through him. Then, slowly, he eases his forehead back to hers, both of them panting in the heavy silence. He doesn’t move to pull out yet. He likes the way she feels too much.

"You’re mine now," he says again, wondering if he truly means it. After tonight, this can’t go on.

At least, not until he finds out if she’s truly his mate tomorrow or not. However, this sex and its gripping effect on him is nothing but proof of what might be tomorrow. It takes a lot to scare or freak Darien out, this little thing he’s just had with Heidi, an omega, is seemingly spooking him big time.

"Let’s think tomorrow, Darien. Right now, enjoy what’s before you." Kairos reprimands and Darien knows he’s right.

He’ll worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. Presently, her body is still quivering beneath him, her thighs twitching in the aftermath of her orgasm. Darien doesn’t move or let the connection between them break. He stays buried inside her, the heat of her slippery walls squeezing around him, coaxing out the last lazy pulses of his release.

Her breaths are shallow, quick, like she can’t quite come down yet. He watches the way her lips part, the faint tremor in her chin, the dazed look in her eyes like even she can’t believe what they’d just done.

It does something dark to him. It makes him want to fuck her again and push her past her limits just to see if she’d survive him.

Kairos hums in his head, satisfied but not sated. "Don’t let her think this is over. Keep her under you. Keep her wanting."

Darien tilts her chin so she has no choice but to look at him. "You feel that?" he murmurs, roughened with the remnants of his climax.

She swallows and turns crimson. "Yes."

"That’s me still inside you. Filling you. Owning you."

Her lashes lower for half a second, but she doesn’t look away. "You talk like I belong to you."

"You do," he says without hesitation, his fingers tightening just enough on her hip to make her gasp. "At least tonight... you’re mine in every way that matters."

There’s a moment where neither of them moves. The air is thick with heat and the faint smell of sweat and sex, the sound of their breathing filling the room.

Finally, Darien leans in, letting his lips brush the shell of her ear. "And if you’re smart, you’ll remember exactly how this felt... every time you think about letting another man touch you."

By another man, he means his brothers. It’s selfish of him to claim ownership over her when he hasn’t truly claimed her and doesn’t have the intention of ever doing so. It’s selfish to even think of claiming her all to himself when she belongs to all four of them.

Yet, somehow, in the depths of him that he prefers not to visit, there’s a jealous mate who wants this to go on forever and brand her all for himself. Only him.

Kairos chuckles darkly in his mind. "Good. Make sure no one else can measure up then she’ll realize no one does it better."

Darien slowly pulls back, but not all the way, letting the motion drag out until she’s biting her lip from the sensitivity. Then he stills again, eyes fixed on hers with a faint dangerous smile on his mouth.

"You’re not done yet. I’m not nearly finished with you, Heidi."

Her lips part like she’s about to protest but he makes sure it dies before it can form. He moves again, giving her one slow thrust, deep enough to make her back arch, then another, sharper, that draws a strangled sound from her throat.

"Darien..."

"Shh." His hand slides to her throat, thumb resting against her pulse. "Just a little more."

It isn’t the relentless strokes from before; this is claiming strokes that kept her right at the edge without letting her fall. Her nails curl into his shoulders, not from resistance, but because her body has no other answer to the way he fills her again

Two more thrusts and his breathing rises. His grip on her hip tightens while a low groan escapes him as he spills the last of himself into her. The sound he lets out is rough, like he doesn’t want to admit he’d let go that quickly.

Then it was stillness. Just the weight of him, the thud of his heartbeat pressed to hers.

He rolls onto his side, keeping her close. One hand smooths over her thigh almost absentmindedly, though his gaze stays fixed on her face like he is reading something there.

Finally, he sighs deeply. "We should talk."

Yes, they should. Apparently, they’ve got a lot to discuss too and he knows.