An Omega's Wish

by Trisha Linde

  Noel paused as he considered this in the dark, before asking, “Do I want to know? It sounds innocent enough, which probably means it isn’t.”

  “Before a couple was married, they would spend a night in bed together. Sounds nice enough, except they would have their feet tied by the parents, and then be sewn into giant sacks so they couldn’t touch each other. The parents would then watch over them all night to make sure no hanky panky went on.”

  “If they didn’t want them fooling around, then why the hell would they put them in bed together? Why not just let them get married, and then they could have their own bed?”

  “Well,” I tried to explain, though the memory was hazy at best, a few generations removed, “it was meant for the intended couple to get to know each other, to talk and be affectionate without the premarital sex. I think.”

  “Well, thanks for not tying me into my sheets, I guess.”

  “No problem.” I tucked the edge of the blanket closer underneath him, just in case I found myself tempted to wiggle under there with him.

  “So, bundling was like some kind of next-level courting?” Noel said quietly, slowly. “Is that what we’re doing?”

  I wasn’t sure how to answer that. The world was a very different place than it once was. I wondered what courting looked like these days, but I felt as though we were already well beyond chaperoned strolls. “I already feel like I’ve known you my whole life, but I will gladly take whatever you’re willing to offer me.”

  Noel tilted his head until it was resting against mine. “You can have it all,” he finally said.

  I pulled him close against me, and then drifted off into the best sleep I’d had in what felt like lifetimes.

  11

  Noel

  The dream felt so incredibly real. I was me, but wasn’t me, as we often find ourselves in a dream.

  The unfamiliar room was dimly lit by flickering candlelight and the heat was stifling. A fire was blazing in the hearth, and I could think of nothing except for how difficult it was to breathe. My breath came through my parched lips in staccato pants. Why couldn’t they crack open a window?

  A sharp stabbing pain lanced through my abdomen, and I cried out weakly. Wolf was there, but it wasn’t him, not really. The hair was too long, and he had a scar across his forehead. He stood beside me, his jaw clenched, but I could see the fear behind his eyes.

  I was lying down, which was good because as the wave of pain crashed over me once again, had I been standing, I would have collapsed beneath its weight. But the bed beneath me wasn’t my bed; it was instead made of furs, warm and bristly beneath my fingertips. I dug my fingers into the furs, hoping to find comfort, but instead came into contact with something wet. I lifted my hand up to find my skin glistening red in the flickering candlelight.

  My calm wavered, and when I met Wolf’s eyes, his face crumpled into an expression of pure anguish. His mouth opened into a grotesque soundless scream. I tried to rise from the bed, but something was holding me down, restraining me. Panic was added to the pain, my heart beating double-time against my chest. I wanted to comfort Wolf, but I knew that nothing I said could fix what was broken. I clutched at my bulging abdomen, cradling our baby that I knew would never be born. I felt some comfort knowing that I would stay with my baby, following them into death; I didn’t want them to be alone. But my heart broke to think of Wolf living on without us, and in that moment, I was struck with a horrible truth. He would not go on without us, he would rather choose death.

  I reached out blindly until my hand struck his. I gripped his fingers as tightly as I could. “Promise me,” I whispered, my voice raspy.

  He knelt down beside me, leaning closer. “Anything.”

  “Promise me that you will go on, even though we have been parted.”

  “I have no wish to live without you,” he sobbed. “You are my soul mate, and where you go, I will follow.”

  “But you must live! You must live for all the days I will not, you must continue to breathe for every breath our child will never take. For as long as you walk the earth, my spirit will follow yours. I cannot imagine a world where you do not exist.”

  Wolf broke down, tears streaming over his cheeks. I tried to wipe his tears, but my limbs had gone numb. I couldn’t lift my arms anymore. “Please,” was the last whisper I had the energy for.

  Wolf looked into my eyes with a ferocity that scared me. He held my face between his hands and kissed my lips with a restrained tenderness. “I will walk this earth, but I will not truly live until we are once again reunited. Will you wait for me?”

  I nodded. “Forever.”

  “Hey, are you okay? Noel?” Hands stroked my face, drying the tears that had carried over from the dream, but Wolf’s voice sounded steady and calm, not a single bit as panicked as he had been just moments ago.

  “Forever…” I echoed, feeling the tendrils of dream drift away.

  As my reality began to coalesce around me—the cotton sheets beneath me, no roaring fireplace, and more importantly, no impending death—I started crying in earnest.

  Now Wolf became more agitated. “Have I done something wrong? Are you hurt?”

  “No,” I gasped between sobbing breaths, “just the opposite.”

  I untangled my arms from the blanket which still had me shackled, then I reached out and threaded my fingers into Wolf’s hair. I didn’t want him backing away this time. As soon as my lips touched his, it was like the dream and the reality were melding together. I may not have been dying, I certainly wasn’t feeling any pain, but the love I’d felt for Wolf in my dream, that had been real.

  Wolf responded to my touch instantly, eagerly. He growled deep in his throat and allowed me to pull him closer. He rolled us until I was pressed into the bed beneath him. His tongue found its way into my mouth, and I welcomed the passionate intrusion.

  As his movements slowed, and the tension in his body eased, I knew he was about to put a stop to this. I gripped him harder, tried to wrap my legs around his, but he saw it coming. He straddled my hips and tugged my hair until my neck was exposed.

  He nipped at my neck with his teeth. “Is that supposed to make me submit?” I asked him. “I think it’s actually having the opposite effect.” I thrust up with my hips so he could feel how hard I was beneath him.

  “You’re killing me,” he moaned against my throat. “I only have so much restraint.”

  “Then don’t restrain yourself,” I panted. “Let go, take what you want from me.”

  Wolf placed his head against my chest. “You wanted to wait. You’re half asleep, you don’t know what you’re saying. I can’t screw this up!” he practically wailed, clinging to me. “I’ve waited too long for this!”

  “And life is too short to keep waiting!” I countered.

  Wolf sagged against me and then pulled back to look into my eyes. “Life is only short for some. And far too long for others.”

  It broke my heart to see that kind of devastation on his face. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what it was like for him, to remember nothing but hundreds of years of loneliness. Of regret.

  I cupped his face in my hands and pressed my lips gently to his. “We don’t get to choose the day we die, we shouldn’t have that kind of power. It’s the uncertainty that makes life that much more precious.”

  I kissed him again, deeper this time, trailing my tongue along his lip eliciting a shudder to roll through him. “I promise, I’m wide awake and thinking clearly. Sure, maybe it’s too soon to be having feelings like this for you. Or maybe it’s been a long time coming. Maybe we’ve been here before. And if that’s the case, then I don’t want to miss a second of my time with you. We’ve waited long enough.”

  Wolf looked deep into my eyes, and even though it was dark enough in the room to make the details indistinct, I swore I could see a flicker of firelight reflected back at me.

  He moved slowly, hesitantly, as though approaching a wounded animal. He stretched his legs out long, pressi
ng his body against my entire length, chest to chest, and I cursed the blanket still sandwiched between us. He didn’t want to spook me. Maybe he thought there was a chance I might still change my mind.

  I needed to convince him that I was past the point of no return. My heart belonged to him from the moment I laid eyes on him, and maybe even before. I tilted my head to his, begging for him to take me. He still seemed uncertain, though I could tell by the feel of him against me that he was more than ready.

  Bound as I was by blankets and Wolf’s body above me, I was limited in my movements. I had to make them count. I traced my fingers down Wolf’s neck, shoulders, and then trailed them lower. As he was distracted by my hands, I took my opportunity to lean up into him, capturing his lips once more. I poured everything I felt for him into that kiss; the urgency I’d felt in the dream, the unspoken connection we had.

  I tried to keep it gentle and slow, to match his pace, but we quickly built pressure between us. What had begun as a spark, quickly turned into a blazing inferno, raging out of control.

  Wolf propped himself up on an elbow and then pushed the blanket out of the way with whatever means necessary, all the while kissing me. He refused to take his lips from mine now that we were joined.

  The barrier now removed, Wolf lowered himself back down, and I gasped at the feel of his skin on mine. He felt feverish, scorching as only shifters can be. My body’s own temperature seemed to see it as a challenge and raised to meet him. “Too many clothes,” I panted against his lips. “Off.”

  Never in my life have I been so grateful for elastic waistbands. With one fell swoop, Wolf grabbed hold of my pajama pants and pulled.

  And then he froze. The light was dim, but by the way he was hovering over me, it was as though he could see every detail.

  A low sound came from him. Did wolves purr?

  “Last chance,” he said darkly. “Tell me to stop if you have even the slightest hesitation.”

  “No regrets,” I told him sincerely.

  Given permission, he pounced. There was no other word for it as he lunged at me. His hands were everywhere, his mouth devouring me, one inch of skin at a time. I lost all sense of time and place, my dream overlapping with reality. His teeth nipped at my nipples, and it elicited the most erotic sound from me, one I was quite certain I’d never made before.

  “More,” he whispered against my skin.

  But he didn’t stop there. He worked his way lower, tasting me on his way south. I gripped his hair, trying to convey how frantic he was making me. My testicles ached with want, with need. “Wolf,” I moaned.

  When he took me into his mouth, I was nearly ready to come already. His mouth was warm, even against my feverish skin. I may not have been a virgin, but this level of intimacy brought this to a whole new level. He was ridiculously skilled, but I guess he was working with generations of knowledge imprinted into his brain.

  “Oh goddess, you need to stop. Now!”

  He pulled back, a look of shock on his face. “Did I hurt you?” He was genuinely concerned, and I pulled him up to wrap my arms around him.

  “No, not at all,” I reassured him. “I just didn’t want to finish in 30 seconds like a teenager fooling around in his parents’ basement. Not when I haven’t even had a chance to repay the favor.” I tried to push him back onto the bed so I could have my way with him, but it was like trying to push a concrete wall.

  Wolf chuckled. “You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?”

  “I had hoped,” I said, laughing with him.

  He tilted his head and gave me a slow, lingering kiss. “There will be plenty of time in our future, I promise. But tonight, I need to make sure you’re taken care of. Consider it a wish fulfilled.”

  His words sparked something in me. A wish? Did he mean—?

  I gasped out loud, but it wasn’t because of any huge epiphanies about the nature of wishes. It was the exact moment that Wolf slipped a finger into my ass.

  He captured my lips with his, stealing my breath away. One finger wasn’t enough, I wanted more. I ground down onto his hand, and he took my unspoken request, slipping another finger in with the first. It didn’t take me long to accommodate to his fingers; my body was welcoming him, anything and everything that he was willing to give me.

  I could feel how drenched I was getting, and it was clearly affecting Wolf. His kiss got deeper, more demanding. With each moan he drew out of me, the harder he got, resting against my stomach. He moved his hips in time with his hand, and our penises rubbed together, building a friction between us.

  “Take me,” I demanded. “Please, I need you inside me now.” He pulled his hand out, and I whimpered at how empty I suddenly felt. It didn’t last long, though, because he instantly positioned himself at my entrance.

  With one smooth glide, he pressed himself into me. I threw my head back, a long groan filling the room. I felt so completely full. Wolf rested his forehead against mine, and we stayed there for a moment, relishing the feeling. “Oh goddess, yes,” I whispered, clinging to Wolf with everything I was worth.

  When he pulled back, only to move into me once more, the sensations were beyond my wildest dreams. I swore I could feel every vein of him against me, beating with his pulse inside me. I urged him to move, using my hands to push and pull him, faster, harder.

  Our breathing seemed so loud, a mixture of pants and groans, whispered prayers. “Now, Wolf,” I warned him. “Come in me. I’m so close.”

  It was as if he were waiting especially for me. My orgasm burst out of me, coating our bodies in cum. My ass tightened around Wolf, and he let out a sound that was half moan, half howl. He bit down on my shoulder just as his knot expanded inside me, the mixture of pleasure and pain making all the muscles in my channel clench in the most explosive orgasm I’d ever experienced.

  For several minutes, nothing was said, but the silence wasn’t at all awkward. It was peaceful. Wolf’s knot slowly deflated, but in the meanwhile, we remained linked together, two halves of the same whole.

  “Wow,” I finally whispered as I allowed my eyes to flutter open. The quality of light in the room was starting to change, to brighten. Was it already becoming morning?

  Wolf snuffled against my neck where he had been nuzzling. I tried to look down at him. “Are you smelling me?”

  “You’d better believe it,” he admitted freely. “I love the way your smell is mixed with mine. It’s perfection.”

  Finally he lifted up onto his elbow and gazed down at me. In the new dawn light, I could see that he looked younger somehow, like years of frustration and anger had sloughed away. A serene smile played on his lips, which quickly turned to a smirk as he turned his gaze to look down the length of my body, to the sticky mess on my stomach, and to where we were still joined.

  “Why are you staring at me? It’s like you’ve never seen a naked man before.” I resisted the urge to reach down and cover myself with my hands. His intense scrutiny was making me blush.

  “Well,” he shrugged. “Technically I haven’t. I guess.” His face scrunched into confusion.

  “Oh… you were a virgin…?” I mean, of course he was! It was his first day as a human, and he’d been with me the whole time. It would’ve been pretty impressive if he’d found the time to lose his virginity when my back was turned.

  Suddenly, I felt like I had just corrupted him, that I’d taken something from him that didn’t belong to me.

  Wolf saw exactly where my mind was headed. “Stop,” he said firmly. “I didn’t consider myself a virgin. In fact, it didn’t even feel like our first time exactly.”

  “I know what you mean. It was—”

  “Familiar,” he finished for me.

  We allowed that thought to sink in. Because it was exactly what it had been. Before I could say anything else, Wolf slid himself out of me and padded down the hall to the bathroom. He was back a minute later with a warm washcloth.

  “You don’t have to do that,” I told him as he began to w
ipe my stomach gently.

  “I thought it was only fair, as I was the one responsible for the mess in the first place.” He offered me a cheeky grin and then leaned over to kiss me softly. “Stay in bed and rest. You’ve had a long night. I’ll make you some coffee and breakfast.”

  “You know how to cook?” I asked skeptically. A wolf was going to make me breakfast?

  He simply walked back towards the hallway, tossing me a wink over his shoulder. “I’m not your average wolf.”

  Of course he wasn’t. He was anything but average.

  12

  Wolf

  Breakfast… Right, I can do this.

  I stood in the center of the kitchen, staring blankly at the room around me. Just because I could tap into the memories of making food, that didn’t mean that I had the actual muscle memory for doing it. I was more comfortable hunting a moving target, something with a heartbeat, but I somehow didn’t think Noel would be interested if I placed a rabbit corpse on his plate.

  Shit. I was so screwed.

  I tried giving myself a pep talk. Confidence is 90% of doing anything. If you can dream it, you can do it. Visualize, and then attack!

  I nodded, threw an apron on over my naked body, and then moved forward to the cupboards. Flinging open doors, pulling out eggs, bread, bowls, and a frying pan, I lined everything out on the counters, and then had a mini panic attack.

  I looked down at my hands. I had just done some of the most amazing things with these hands, drawing such erotic moans from Noel, and I did it without even needing to pause. But now, even opening a carton of eggs felt like an insurmountable task. I pulled on the cardboard and tore it before finally managing to pluck an egg from its cup.

  Which I promptly dropped.

  I wiped it all up and tried again. After dropping the fourth egg, I figured I would just wait until I was done cooking before cleaning up. This was beginning to feel like a lesson in futility.