by Leta Blake
“First, you must stop calling it ‘that child’ and think of it as your son. As the son you made together in love.”
Jason wiped a hand over his face.
“Second, do you have so little trust in me? If I didn’t believe he could make it through this, I’d advise an abortion immediately, illegal as it may be, and at considerable risk to all of us. And you know if I gave that advice, he’d go through with it.”
Jason’s cheeks flushed. “And how should I feel about that? I’m his alpha but he trusts your opinion over mine.”
“My medical opinion, yes. He doesn’t trust my love over yours. He doesn’t share himself with anyone else the way he does with you. Surely you know that.”
Jason crossed his arms over his chest, a stubborn flash in his eyes, but he said nothing.
“Consider what I’m saying, Jason. You must find a way to get past this, to find joy with him in this miracle. Make him believe that you believe.” Urho sighed, trying to find the right words. “If you don’t have faith in him, should there come a bad turn, he won’t have faith in himself to pull through it.”
Jason chewed on his bottom lip, brow lowered in thought.
“Omegas always believe in their alphas more than anyone else, especially during the trials of birth. How many times have I seen an omega turn to his alpha for encouragement in the delivery process and gain strength from his faith? Give Vale every reason to believe he will live, and that you want him and this child as much as he does.”
Jason took a deep breath and nodded. “You’re right.”
Urho almost laughed. He knew what it cost Jason to admit that, but he only put his hand on Jason’s shoulder and squeezed, trying to impart all the paternal affection he rather surprisingly felt for the young alpha who’d stolen his lover.
“Wolf-god be with you both,” Urho said solemnly before turning to walk down the sidewalk to where he’d parked his car away from the falling leaves of Vale’s old oak tree.
It wasn’t a long drive home, but he was eager to get there. He planned to listen to some music on the radio and sip a nice glass of wine. Perhaps he’d read a book, one of Riki’s old favorite fairy tales. Something fantastical that would sweep him away from his worry for Jason and Vale.
And, more importantly, stamp out all thoughts of that annoying alpha pup Xan Heelies and his beautiful, impertinent mouth.
CHAPTER THREE
“Did you come?”
Wilbet Monhundy’s voice was rough in Xan’s ear—and his hands around his throat even rougher. Xan squeezed his asshole around Monhundy’s throbbing cock, hoping to distract him from the evidence of his climax cooling on the floor between his carpet-burned knees.
“I said did you come?” Monhundy growled, squeezing Xan’s throat hard enough that his vision swam. The roughness of Monhundy’s pants against Xan’s buttocks and the rasp of his still-buttoned shirt over Xan’s naked back was a visceral reminder of how vulnerable Xan was—exposed, penetrated, and at Monhundy’s mercy.
“Yes,” he confessed, choking out the word. He broke into a cold sweat as his body shook under the violent onslaught of Monhundy’s cruel thrusts. “I came.”
Monhundy growled, fucked into him harder, and shoved Xan’s face down against the colorful carpet as he emptied his load into Xan’s spasming ass. As soon as he’d caught his breath, he hissed, “You know what that means.” Monhundy jerked his cock free, leaving Xan gaping open—used, worthless, and dissatisfied.
Worse, dissatisfying.
Xan wiped the tears from his face with the back of his hand, his legs shaking as Monhundy rose up behind him and jerked him to his feet. Unsteadily, he stared around at the richly decorated receiving room, the choices undoubtedly those of Monhundy’s contracted omega.
The wood floor was covered in beautiful carpets, and the crushed velvet sofa was of the most cutting-edge design. The handsome table next to the leather armchair held a beautiful tea service with roses on the side of the cups. Xan took a shuddery breath.
This was the room where he was going to die.
Monhundy yanked him around, his square-jawed face creased with revulsion and cruelty. Towering over Xan, he looked every inch an ideal alpha. Bulky muscles, wide shoulders, and strong thighs evident even under his clothes, and a massive cock that put Xan’s own to shame. As Monhundy stared down at him, Xan’s heart pounded and his pulse rushed wildly in his ears.
The smash of Monhundy’s fist against his cheekbone took his breath away, and his vision exploded into stars. He fought for balance, like riding out ocean waves. Then his breath vanished again as Monhundy’s hands gripped his neck and squeezed.
Hard.
Xan’s eyes rolled back. He clawed helplessly at Monhundy’s strong hands around his throat as Monhundy lifted and shook him like a rag doll. His still half-hard cock slapped against his stomach, and Monhundy knocked his legs apart.
“Filthy unmanned slut,” Monhundy hissed.
Xan tried to scream, his stomach heaving as Monhundy kneed him in the balls. Vomit lurched up his throat and into his air-hungry mouth, nearly choking him. He forced it back down. Another drive into his balls left him convulsing as Monhundy held him aloft by his throat. Then Monhundy dropped him to the carpet.
Xan panted there, sucking in a desperate breath, only to wretch and choke on the pain ripping up through his gut.
“Sick, twisted, unmanned, piece of shit,” Monhundy said, spitting in Xan’s face and kicking him hard in the thigh. “You know what happens when you come. Don’t you?”
“Yes,” Xan rasped.
“That’s right. I get to teach you another lesson.” He dropped down to grip Xan’s hair and jerk him up from the carpet. Saliva and vomit rattled in Xan’s throat as he pulled in tortured breaths and peered up at Monhundy’s face, still stupidly handsome, even twisted with rage as it was.
“Get on your knees,” Monhundy spit out, rising and standing tall.
Xan hastened to obey. “I’m sorry. Please…”
“Please what? Fuck your ass again? You’re a nasty bit of trash, coming here begging for me to plug you up with my cock. Then you go and ruin it by coming.” His nostrils flared. “You sick, disgusting, piece of filth.” He spit in Xan’s face again. It ran down his cheek and dropped to his heaving, naked chest. “Who comes?”
“The alpha.”
“And what are you?”
“Scum.”
“Not even scum, and not an omega. That’s for sure.” He nudged Xan’s legs apart again and insinuated his boot against his throbbing balls. Xan held himself motionless except for his wretched sobs. Sweat ran down his naked back. “Unmanned whores don’t get to come. Say it.”
“Unmanned whores don’t get to come.”
“Do you know why I fuck you?”
Power. The pleasure of seeing him on his knees begging. The sick joy of hurting another alpha.
Xan clamped his lips closed.
“I fuck you because it entertains me to sit across from your father at business meetings and know that I’ve had his only alpha son and heir crying on my cock.”
“Please don’t tell—”
Monhundy smacked his face hard and Xan’s head rocked back. “The rule is I fuck you until I come, and you, unmanned whore, don’t.”
“I’m sorry.” Xan hadn’t meant to come. The fuck hadn’t even felt good. Monhundy sawing into him without any preparation or even spit for lube had left him screeching in pain, but somehow his sick, twisted mind had responded to it. When he’d come hard and uncontrollably, spraying jizz onto Monhundy’s receiving room carpet, he’d been as shocked as he was scared.
Monhundy dragged Xan by the hair and pushed him face down to the carpet. “My omega won’t be made to clean your foul emission. Lick it up.”
Xan sniffed, tears and snot clogging his throat, but he did as he was told, licking the sticky pool of his semen. He gagged and choked, trying to swallow it down.
“Look at you. You love it.”
Xan moaned, his asshole still aching and his balls throbbing. Monhundy pushed thick, rough fingers into him and jabbed at his sensitive prostate. Xan squirmed and whimpered, licking up the last of the come.
“I bet you’d take another of my loads and love it,” Monhundy said, disgust lacing his voice. “I bet you’d let any alpha have you. More than one, even. The most depraved of the depraved.”
Xan didn’t point out that Monhundy was the one who’d originally started this sexual game between them. Throughout school, he’d bullied Xan relentlessly. Even then Xan had recognized the sizzle of violent attraction on Monhundy’s part, the burn of alpha expression. And then, after Xan had left school and Monhundy had graduated, the dark fascination between them had only escalated.
Every time they ran into each other—at parties, at bars, at clubs—fists came out on both sides, and threats too. Until one day, Monhundy, drunk and enraged from a late-night confrontation between them in a pub on the wrong side of town, had waited for Xan to leave alone. When Xan finally departed, Monhundy had used his great height and enormous strength to drag Xan into a dark, stinking alley behind the pub.
“Do you want me to fuck you?” he’d gritted out.
“Yes,” Xan had said.
Then Monhundy had punched him repeatedly until he couldn’t see straight.
“Do you still want me to fuck you?” he’d growled in Xan’s ear.
Tears running down his face, Xan had nodded. “Yes.”
Without another word, Monhundy had ripped down his pants and dry fucked him up against the alley’s brick wall.
Xan still clearly remembered the rough slide of the bricks against his cheek and the shockingly painful penetration of Monhundy’s alpha-sized cock. He’d screamed his head off but Monhundy had silenced him by cutting off his breath that night too. Xan had struggled, but Monhundy was twice his size and strong as a horse. Eventually, Xan had surrendered, certain he’d be fucked to death there in that filthy alley.
Shockingly, he’d come that horrible night, too, painting those alleyway bricks with his semen. It’d been too dark for Monhundy to see the evidence of Xan’s demented brokenness. But Xan had stared at the streaks of white from his crumpled position on the pavement, where Monhundy had dropped him and left him for dead.
In that moment, he’d known the depths of his own depravity. He’d lived, yes, but he’d been ruined in more ways than anyone knew. He’d never forget what it felt like to lay there in that alley—pants down around his ankles and his body dripping with Monhundy’s come and his own blood. The shame stayed forever on his heart.
That had been Xan’s first taste of the darkness. And after he’d discovered it—the pain, the pleasure, the horror—he couldn’t stay away. Seeking Monhundy out became his addiction. He made a game of getting Monhundy alone and taunting him until he cracked and brutally fucked Xan again and again. He pushed his former bully—now his abuser—harder each time until the incidents between them became so violent and dangerous that Caleb feared for Xan’s life, and, wolf-god, Xan couldn’t blame him.
Now he’d taken things farther than he ever had. He’d dared to drop by Monhundy’s own house to beg for it. If Kerry, Monhundy’s omega, had been home, nothing would have come of it. Xan would have found another excuse to explain why he’d come by, some sort of business discussion that Monhundy would have seen through, but his omega would have bought. But Kerry was away, visiting his ailing pater, and so Xan had dropped to his knees as soon as the beta servant who’d escorted him into the receiving room was dismissed.
And Monhundy hadn’t failed to give Xan a fix of his favorite drug.
Monhundy raked a hand through his dark hair and stared down at Xan, eyes glittering with loathing. Xan swallowed down the last of the come he’d licked up and opened his mouth, offering his throat for use by Monhundy’s refreshed and ragingly hard dick.
He half expected Monhundy to plunge into him and choke him to death, proving his dominance through the ultimate in alpha expression. Xan closed his eyes and shuddered, submitting to the inevitable, both terrified and titillated by the thought.
Just like that, all of his pain and guilt could all be over. All of it.
“Go home,” Monhundy said, standing up and kicking him in the ass with the toe of his boot. He closed his pants and tucked in his shirt. He sneered down at Xan with his perfectly cut jawline and fashionable fop of dark hair. He tossed his strong shoulders back proudly. “You disgust me.”
Xan stood slowly, his knees protesting and his stomach lurching again. He got dressed as quickly as possible. He buttoned up his shirt, knotted his bow tie messily, and hitched his pants up over his bruised hips. He’d just managed to get them closed before Monhundy gripped him by the back of the neck and steered him toward the front door, where he tossed him and his shoes onto the front sidewalk. Xan, still weak and beyond shaken, sprawled onto his ass, the concrete cutting into his palms.
“Don’t come back,” Monhundy commanded, spitting on Xan once more for good measure. “I’ll call you if I ever want to use your filthy ass again. But don’t hold your breath.” He tossed Xan’s coat out and then slammed the door and locked it.
Xan shuddered where he sprawled on the cold concrete. The sky above twinkled with stars and the moon rode the clouds—white and pure—the all-seeing eye of wolf. His scraped palms burned, and his knee was twisted up beneath him. Tears slipped down his face helplessly.
Slowly, he rose, whimpering as he tugged on his coat and shoes before stepping onto the main sidewalk that ran by houses glowing with warm lights that weren’t meant for him. He felt like an outcast, cold and alone.
His body was a bruise and his injured balls screamed with each step he took. His asshole burned hotly and he wondered if the wetness below was blood seeping through his pants or, if possibly, he’d pissed himself while being strangled. He’d done that once before—when they’d fucked in Monhundy’s office one night.
Monhundy had choked him out and then hadn’t been pleased at Xan’s urine wetting his office sofa. Xan had thought he might truly meet his end that night too. His left eyebrow still held the scar from the damage Monhundy’s fist had done afterward. He ran his tongue over another scar on the inside of his lower lip.
As he limped away from the Monhundy mansion, he tightened his coat around himself protectively. Trying to keep steady on his feet, he soldiered on despite the pain. He’d parked around the corner and down two blocks to avoid having his too-obvious green car sighted by anyone who knew of his and Monhundy’s enmity, and thus might ask questions.
Those two blocks seemed an impossible distance to travel now, beaten and bruised as he was. He carefully put one foot in front of another, grateful for the empty sidewalk and quiet streets. At least there were no witnesses to his walk of shame. He hoped he wouldn’t pass out, though, as colored dots swam in his eyes and his breath came in short, sharp pants.
A long, golden-toned car passed him and then slowed, stopping not far away. Xan pulled his collar up, hiding his face, and quickened his steps, praying the person would just move on and leave him alone.
“Xan?”
The deep, sturdy voice was familiar and safe, but it also lit up a warning deep in Xan. He put on a burst of speed, but the man he was trying to avoid didn’t give up so easily. He heard a car door slam and then the thud of footsteps, the distinctive tread of a strong alpha heading his way. Xan’s eyes filled with helpless tears. What could he say? How could he explain? Panic gripped him. Of all the people in the world to see him like this!
Urho’s hand gripped Xan’s arm and whirled him around. His baffled expression was almost comical, and Xan nearly laughed, but when his mouth opened only a peculiar sob escaped. Xan clapped his palm over his lips, holding in the rest.
Urho’s handsome face darkened. “Wolf-god, what’s happened?”
Xan jerked his arm away. “I’m fine. Leave me alone.”
He limped on, his asshole spasming painfully and his balls aching. He trie
d to swallow down a betraying whimper, but it wouldn’t be held back. It burst free as he tripped over an uneven bit of sidewalk.
“For wolf-god’s sake, man, let me help you,” Urho said, wrapping an arm around Xan’s lower back to hold him up. “Were you mugged? Was there more than one of them?” He gazed around, hunting for the attackers who’d left Xan in this state. Then he sniffed the air before leaning in and scenting Xan from chest to neck. A strangled noise exited his throat. “You’ve been…” He gasped, as though he struggled to even say the words. “One of them forced themselves on you?”
“No,” Xan denied, his voice rasping. “Just let me go. I need to get home.”
Urho frowned, his alpha nose clearly picking up the scent of semen. “Let me help you. You’re bleeding and—”
“This isn’t your business,” Xan said, drawing himself up as haughtily as he could manage given the pain he was in. “Thank you for your help, Dr. Chase, but my omega is waiting for me at home. He’ll be worried.”
Urho choked, frustration plain in his dark eyes. “Let me drive you.”
“My car isn’t far.” Xan pointed ahead. “Around the corner.”
Urho gripped his elbow to steady him and said, “Then I’ll walk you to it.”
Xan nearly protested again, but his twisted knee throbbed and his entire body shook as he tried to walk. He ignored Urho’s eyes all over him, no doubt cataloguing his wounds. His suspicion was confirmed with Urho’s next words.
“Whose handprints are around your neck? Your attacker’s? We should call the police. Immediately. And we should get you to a hospital.”
“No! No hospital.”
“At least allow me to examine you at my home. It’s just a street over. Come with me.”
“No. My omega is waiting for me. I need to get home to him.”
“Xan—”
“Look, I wasn’t mugged. Or attacked.”
“Of course you’re embarrassed to admit what happened,” Urho spoke gently, like Xan was a wild thing that was going to bite. If he tried to muscle him into going to the hospital, Xan just might prove him right. “What alpha wouldn’t be? But this is a crime. Xan, you must see that you can’t leave it unreported.”
