Page 55 of Bloom in Darkness

Astra twists around to look at me. “Why are you smiling?”

“Nothing.”

Astra bursts out laughing, the sound pulling a smile out of me before I can stop it.

Astra

The cut beneath Bryn's eye has finally stopped bleeding. Caelan stands between his knees with the first-aid kit while I sit on the counter pretending I haven’t been watching Bryn since we left the Forge. His cheek is already bruising, fresh tape covers his swollen knuckles, and his dark hair is still damp from the shower. Bryn’s scent sharpens, and more slick gathers between my thighs.

My sketchbook sits beside me, Bryn’s blood dried in a rust-colored streak near the cuff of my sweater while my attention keeps catching on his taped hands.

"Give me another thirty seconds to close this before you distract him," Caelan says, pressing the butterfly bandage over the cut beneath Bryn's eye.

"I was looking at his hands." I glance at the sketchbook beside me. Half the page is already filled with his taped knuckles from different angles, so the lie lasts about two seconds.

Caelan smooths the edge of the bandage and steps back to inspect his work. "You drew them for half the ride home."

Bryn reaches for me before I can answer, one hand closing around my calf while the other settles at my waist. He gives me a small tug, and I slide off the counter and step between his knees. His thighs close around mine as soon as I'm close enough.

"You liked it," he says quietly. I put my hands on his shoulders, looking at the swelling along his cheek before meeting the green eyes that kept finding the private box every time he came around the ring.

"I liked you," I tell him. "The part where you knew exactly what you were doing. The part where everybody else thought you were giving ground and you were really setting the poor bastard up. The part where you came upstairs looking like you wanted to tear the room apart and still stopped three feet away to ask if I was okay."

Some of the sharpness fades from Bryn’s scent as his hand slides higher along my side until his thumb rests beneath my ribs. "And the hitting people part?"

"That part too." I bend until my mouth is close to his. "I didn't know I was going to like it that much."

Caelan laughs quietly behind me, but Bryn closes the last inch and kisses me hard enough that I forget what I was about to say. His split lip tastes faintly metallic despite the shower, and when I angle my head to avoid the bandage his grip tightens against my back. Heat clenches through my stomach and slick spills warm around my hole before Bryn's tongue even pushes into my mouth. My scent sweetens with it.

I laugh against him. Bryn pulls back just enough to look at me, nostrils flaring as his focus drops straight to my mouth. "Don't look so pleased with yourself." His thumb strokes once under the hem of my sweater, a low rumble starting in his chest.

Caelan comes up behind me and catches the back of my neck, his mouth brushing my ear. His amber and oak mix with Bryn's cedar as he presses closer, and I turn far enough to kiss him.

Bryn stays seated while I climb into his lap, my knees on either side of his hips. His hands slide beneath my sweater, slowing when one palm reaches the tender spot along my ribs, while Caelan kisses down the other side of my neck and across my shoulder. I lean back into Caelan when Bryn grabs my ass through my jeans, and more slick soaks my underwear. By the time Bryn hooks his fingers into my waistband, I am already lifting my hips to help him get everything off.

Caelan’s fingers brush the wet patch in my underwear. "Still want this?"

"Yes." I catch his wrist before he can pull away. "I have been thinking about Bryn's hands since the third round. Don't stop now."

The rumble in Bryn's chest gets stronger beneath me. Caelan kisses me again while Bryn gets the rest of my clothes off, and by the time I am naked, both inner thighs are wet with slick. Bryn spreads my legs and drags his thumb over my hole once. I shiver and grab his shoulders.

"Astra," he says, waiting until I meet his eyes.

"I know. Yes." I roll my hips toward his hand. "You don't need to prep me for an hour. That's one of the perks."

Caelan pulls his shirt over his head while Bryn keeps one hand on my thigh. Caelan watches Bryn’s slick fingers disappear between my thighs. "I admit I'm jealous."

I look over my shoulder at him. "Being an Omega has perks." Bryn pushes one finger inside me, and my next breath catches before Caelan can answer.

Bryn pushes a second finger inside me, pausing when I tighten around him despite how easily the slick lets him in. I roll my hips into his hand, already impatient. Bryn’s scent spikes.

"Bryn." I grab the back of his neck and pull him close enough that our foreheads touch. "I said yes. I am very, very sure." The vibration in his chest deepens, and Caelan laughs somewhere behind my shoulder before kissing the side of my neck.

Bryn pulls his fingers free and lifts me like I weigh nothing. My back hits the mattress a second later, and he follows me down. Caelan settles beside me, one hand sliding over my stomach and around my cock while Bryn spreads my thighs.

The head of Bryn's cock presses against me and I suck in a breath. He pauses there. I hook one leg around his hip and pull. "If you make me ask a third time, I'm going to get offended." Bryn's mouth twitches before he pushes inside.

I am slick enough that he gets most of the way in with one slow thrust, but Bryn is still huge and the stretch makes my fingers dig into his shoulders. My body tightens around him and he stops. I breathe through it, kiss the bruised side of his jaw, then pull him closer.