Moving, I licked down his shaft all the way to his balls, and I savored those too. He was a fucking lollipop. They all were. I was more familiar with all of their tastes now. The subtle variations.

“Come here.” Avery pulled me off his cock and up next to him, cuddling me in next to his side. “Is a wave coming?”

With a sigh, I nodded, not a little put out he was depriving me of his taste. But I was exhausted. We were all exhausted. As wonderful as it was, I wanted to sleep for twelve hours and not move. “I’m sorry.”

“Why?”

“I know you guys are as tired as I am.”

He laughed softly, nuzzling his mouth into the crook of my neck. “I don’t mind being tired because I’m fucking you. Believe me, if I’m going to be tired I’d rather it be from too much sex than anything else.”

“Okay.”

My back was cradled against his chest, and he moved enough to stroke his hand up under my hair and along my scalp. I sighed, relaxing into the feeling.

“And it’s okay to be tired and want it to be over.” He kept stroking through my hair. “None of us are wondering whether you’re enjoying yourself. We know you are. But you still don’t have a choice about being in heat.”

“I’m finding I like not having choices,” I mumbled, making him laugh again. This entire heat had woken up a different side of me. A softer side than the one I showed to the world. I’d already known I wasn’t the ice queen, ball-busting heartbreaker the paparazzi made me seem like, but I hadn’t known how deeply opposite my instincts were. That I loved having no control at all in situations like these.

I wondered what the headlines would say to that if they ever found out. They’d probably spin it into something awful too—Esme Williams A Total Pushover? The Ice Queen Melted and Now She’s Nothing!

Curling in on myself, I tried to push out all those thoughts. I knew they didn’t have a place in my head, but it was still impossible to stop them once they got going. Maybe the fact that they were coming back at all was a sign my heat was finally ending. It wasn’t over—I still felt it lurking beneath my skin, but we were reaching the end.

Avery kept stroking my hair until I dozed once more, taking the opportunity to rest while I could. It wouldn’t last forever, and it didn’t.

Painful need speared through my gut, and I hissed. Knot.

I pressed my face down into the cushions, which smelled like all of us now. “Avery.”