Alpha Heat

by Leta Blake

  Caleb put the brush aside, turning around to seek out Xan’s eyes. “Your pater loves your father and takes his side in all things. From what I’ve witnessed in my short time with the family, he always has, and I suspect he always will. No matter his own thoughts and feelings on certain subjects, namely you, he will side with your father. It’s the way of their relationship. Thank wolf-god it’s not the way of ours.”

  A knock came at the door then, and Caleb moved to answer it, finding their head housekeeper, Ren, at the door. “Yes?”

  “Dr. Chase is here to see Mr. Heelies, sir,” Ren murmured, glancing over Caleb’s shoulder toward Xan. His steel-blue eyes glinted in the low light in the hallway and his salt-and-pepper hair was combed back neatly. “He insists on seeing him. He’s made himself at home in your library this time, Mr. Heelies.”

  “I see,” Caleb turned to lift a brow at Xan. “What’s this about?”

  Xan’s tongue wet his suddenly dry lips. His library was a mockery of Urho’s beautiful space, with few books and hastily chosen furniture. He’d planned to expand it over the next year, but now he’d have to focus on the library in Virona instead. “I’m not sure. I’d better go see.”

  “I’ll come with you.”

  “Don’t,” Xan said breathlessly, putting out his hand to stop Caleb from following.

  Caleb’s eyes took on a suspicious gleam, but he shrugged and fell back. “Whatever you say, darling.”

  Xan could smell Urho’s skin from the upstairs landing. He’d never been so aware of another human being before in his life. He briefly wondered if this was what it was like for Erosgapé and then quickly dismissed the question. He’d known many alphas claimed to be able to smell their omegas from rooms away, but he’d never believed it.

  He enjoyed Caleb’s clean scent as a comfort, but he’d never hunted for it the way his nose seemed to automatically seek out Urho now. He scented sweat and skin with a waft of excitement and arousal underneath it. Xan’s knees weakened as he started down the stairs, and he had to grip the banister tightly to prevent a tumble.

  Urho stood by the fire, which roared under the new beta boy’s ministrations. Spotting Xan out of the corner of his eye, the boy rose and nodded, scurrying from the room like he knew something was amiss. Xan’s heart beat against his breastbone and his throat tightened anxiously. He stepped into the room, holding his head high and rubbing his sweaty palms on his clean trousers.

  Urho turned to him, setting his strong shoulders back and proud. His eyes were penetrating and almost angry as he peered at Xan from across the room.

  “Why are you here?” Xan asked, with a foolishly trembling voice. It wasn’t polite, and Caleb would bemoan his lack of manners, but nothing else really mattered.

  “You forgot this,” Urho said, pulling a hand from his jacket pocket and producing a pillbox. “For the upcoming heat.”

  Xan swallowed hard. “Yes. Thank you.” He stepped forward to take the small, brown box, but Urho grabbed his forearm and pulled him in close.

  “And you forgot to tell me goodbye. Omegas always say goodbye to their alphas.”

  Xan’s asshole spasmed, his cock fattening up against his thigh. His throat clicked as he swallowed again, soundless, wordless, astonishment gripping him.

  “That’s what you are, isn’t it?” Urho whispered. “An omega.”

  Xan whimpered, his body trembling. Urho yanked him closer, supporting Xan’s weight with his strength. “It’s what I wish I could be,” Xan murmured, his heart in his throat and a sting in his eyes.

  Urho nodded. “I’ve read case studies in medical school,” he started but then he clomped his mouth shut, as though regretting the words. “You’re beautiful,” he said instead, and Xan closed his eyes, ducked his head, and tried not to fall to his knees in abject submission as Urho said, “I want you.”

  Xan groaned. “This is…” He fought for the words, his knees already bending and his weight shifting down. Urho held his arm tightly. “This is highly irregular, you know.” What a prissy way to put it! He wanted to snatch the words back.

  “It’s a sin,” Urho said roughly. “Against the law. Against wolf-god. I’ve heard it all. I’ve thought it all too. Once upon a time.”

  “When was that? A few days ago?” Xan bit out, but it lost its anger in the breathiness of his voice.

  “Perhaps. But today when I had you, I knew it for the lie it’s always been.”

  The room slipped sideways around him, and Xan struggled to stand even with Urho’s help. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”

  “Have I ever struck you as the kind of man who doesn’t understand himself?”

  “Yes.”

  Urho chuckled and touched the bruise on Xan’s cheek. “There’s my smart-mouthed boy.”

  Xan leaned into Urho, letting his head rest against his chest. He felt the rapid beat of Urho’s heart against his brow. “What does this mean?”

  “You promised me something today. Do you remember?”

  Xan shivered despite the fire burning at his back. “Yes.”

  “What did you promise?”

  “That my asshole belonged to you.” Shame and desperate longing rose hot up his throat and into his cheeks, and he burned as he stood with his face buried against Urho’s shirt.

  “Look at me,” Urho rasped.

  Xan forced his head up and met Urho’s gaze.

  “Do you intend to break that promise?”

  Xan shook his head.

  “Good. Because I’m going to make a promise to you now: I won’t let anything bad happen to you. I’ll protect you. You’ll never suffer under that man, whoever he is, again. And if I ever discover his name I’ll put paid his crimes.”

  Xan’s head ached and his cock throbbed. He was dreaming. This was a dream. No alpha would ever want him, not this way. Not in a way that elicited promises and offered up some sort of vague future. Especially not an alpha like Urho who had all the qualities to make it easy to find an omega to contract with: wealth, looks, kindness, and reputation. The works. What could he want with Xan?

  Urho went on, “I promise to fulfill your needs, Xan, so that you won’t have to seek out hurt and humiliation. Not anymore.”

  Xan couldn’t breathe. Dots swirled in his vision, and Urho’s head lowered to his, slick lips opening and taking his in a hungry kiss. Urho groaned into Xan’s mouth, releasing his hold on Xan’s arm to grip his hips and tug their groins together.

  Their kiss turned into a grapple as Urho began to strip Xan of his clothes. Xan, bewildered and willing to take what he could get, tried to help, but his hands mainly just got in the way. The rug before the fire became their landing place, and once they were both naked, they rocked together urgently. Pleasure grew, and grew, and grew, until Xan sobbed in need and Urho met him with an intensity that shook the quiet room. Urho’s fist around his cock, and his fingers caressing Xan’s still swollen asshole, were like fireworks of sensation; his lips on Xan’s mouth were a constant caress and his tongue an invasion. His passion promised more than Xan had ever expected.

  The culmination of their hunching, gasping, sweat-slick collision came with a shuddering cry from Xan and a loud groan from Urho, as come pumped between them, filling the air with the scent of spunk. Urho clutched Xan close, kissing his hair, his cheeks, his neck, and muttering strange endearments that Xan had never heard from anyone before.

  “Sweet man, sweet joy,” Urho whispered, gripping Xan’s hips and rubbing their come-covered cocks together again. “That’s my good omega.”

  Xan shivered in shock, his heart still racing, as the heat from the fire warmed their bare skin. Twice in one day they’d collided this way, and he didn’t understand why, or believe it was real, or know what came next.

  “I’m moving to Virona in a few days time,” Xan said finally, as the lust cooled and the silence grew unbearable.

  Urho’s hand stilled where it rubbed Xan’s lower back. “Moving to Virona? Why?”

  “Banis
hed, by my father, for… Well, for this.” Xan laughed helplessly, a pearl of sadness growing in the shell of his wonder. “For not being a proper alpha. For doing things that make people talk. For the unexplainable bruises, past and present.”

  At the mention of bruises, Urho lifted up and in the light of the fire perused Xan’s body, checking for additional damage done. “Did I hurt you?”

  Xan shook his head. “No.” Then he took a deep breath and confessed shyly, “It was complete and utter bliss.”

  Urho nuzzled him, kissed his chest, and then settled down on the carpet, tugging Xan to rest in his arms. “You can’t leave for Virona. I can’t protect you from there.”

  Xan smiled bitterly. It wasn’t a declaration, but it was better than nothing. Plus he had incontrovertible evidence that Urho did want him sexually, but he supposed it would be nice to be wanted emotionally too. As a true lover, not just as a cause.

  But he’d take what he could get. “You won’t need to protect me there.” Hopefully. “The man who hurts me lives here and I’ll be three long hours away from him.”

  Urho growled low. “I’ll kill him if he touches you again.”

  “He won’t. Like I told you. I always went to him. He doesn’t really want me. Not that way.”

  Urho seemed to struggle with how to respond, and he eventually settled on pulling Xan even tighter to him, placing his fingertips against Xan’s asshole, and stroking lightly there. Xan licked his lips, his cock rising hot against Urho’s thigh. He said nothing else for a long time as Urho played with his sensitive anus and brought him to a state of desperate neediness, until he rubbed violently against Urho’s leg and orgasmed with a shout.

  “You’re as randy as any omega,” Urho muttered, scooping Xan’s come up in his fingers and taking it into his mouth. He hummed softly at the flavor and Xan’s cock jerked again at the sight. “Taste as good as one too.”

  Xan whimpered. “Stop. I can’t take much more. I’m going to die right here and Caleb will find me in the morning, drowned in a puddle of my own come and still sporting a hard-on.”

  “That mouth,” Urho growled. “Always with that mouth.”

  Xan whimpered as Urho pressed fingers against his hole again.

  “I want to fuck this sweetness so badly,” Urho groaned. His cock, unbelievably, had also returned to life.

  “You can ride the train for three hours anytime you want and do just that,” Xan offered. He wanted it now, but he also knew Urho would never penetrate him when he was still injured from another alpha’s cock. For so many reasons.

  “You’re truly going to Virona?” Urho asked.

  “I am.”

  “And Caleb?”

  “Going with me, of course. He’s my omega. My family.”

  Urho nodded and sat up. Xan followed suit. “What will Caleb think of this?” Urho asked, motioning between them, worry lining his tone.

  “Caleb would be happy to answer that question for you,” came a soft voice from the vicinity of the door.

  Urho grunted, tugging Xan close and throwing a blanket from the nearby leather sofa over them both.

  “Apologies,” Caleb said, stepping into the room fully and shutting the door behind him. His white loose pants and V-neck shirt against his pale flesh made him look like an angel from wolf-god’s own heaven. “I came in search of my alpha and found more than I bargained for. I thought you must be at each other’s throats, and maybe you have been, but in a completely different way than I imagined.”

  Xan flushed, his heart pounding. “We were talking and then—”

  “Nature took its course,” Caleb supplied, smiling. “I’m glad. You’ve been dancing around each other for a long time.”

  “Glad?” Urho said, frowning. “Dancing?”

  Caleb smiled warmly at him. “Xan and I aren’t lovers except during heats when it’s absolutely necessary, so I’m delighted to see him with someone far less monstrous than that, well, monster. Someone wonderful, in fact.” Caleb sat down on the sofa and crossed his legs, revealing his painted toes. “You can get dressed now. I think we should all talk, don’t you? Though, wolf-god, this room reeks of come.”

  “We could go to your drawing room?” Xan offered, moving around under the blanket as he tugged on his clothes.

  Caleb rose again. “Excellent idea. I’ll leave you to it. Get dressed and maybe use the washroom across the hall. Meet me in no more than five minutes, please. That means keep your hands to yourself in the meantime, alpha mine.”

  “Yes, omega,” Xan murmured, his cheeks so hot that he felt like he might burst into bigger flame than the fire roaring on the hearth.

  Urho wasn’t sure what to expect, but Caleb was beyond easy with what he’d walked in on and smiled kindly as he poured bourbon into a glass and passed it over to him. Then he passed Xan a glass as well before mixing up a beautiful whisky cocktail for himself.

  “Relax,” Caleb said, taking the seat on the cream-colored sofa next to Xan and leaving Urho one of the upright chairs he’d sat in on his last visit. “I’m not angry. I’m relieved.”

  Urho wiped at his face. He could still smell spunk and lust rising from both Xan and his own flesh, despite having washed as best they could in the sink. He sipped his bourbon, feeling the burn in the back of his throat, and waited for sanity to hit.

  The events of the day were wild, out of control, off the rails in every way. Surely he’d wake from this soon? It reminded him all too clearly of when he’d first met Riki—the compulsion, the impulsivity. Was it even possible to imprint again? And on an alpha, no less?

  Wolf-god, what had even brought him here tonight? The pills, yes, but he could have sent them over with a messenger. Or arranged for Xan to pick them up at his office the next day. The truth was he’d wanted to be near Xan again. He’d needed it. Almost like the way he’d needed Riki in the past.

  What did it all mean?

  “I’m assuming Xan told you about our exile?” Caleb asked.

  Urho jerked back from his reverie. His stomach soured slightly, but the knowledge that Xan would be far away from the man who hurt him allowed him to nod with approval. “Yes. That’s for the best. Until the monster, as you call him, loses interest.”

  Xan huffed. “He’s never been interested!” he exclaimed with annoyance. “I don’t know why you think he would be. Just because he fucks me when I—”

  “I don’t want to hear what he’s done to you,” Urho gritted out, clenching the glass in his hand. He took another fast sip, trying to calm the flash of possessive rage.

  Caleb’s brow arched, and he looked between Xan and Urho with interest. “Let’s not discuss that since it’s so upsetting to all of us and Xan’s vowed to be done with the man anyway. The reason I thought we should talk now is with regards to something else altogether.”

  “We owe you an explanation and apology,” Urho began, shamefacedly. “I don’t know how to offer one, though. This is quite unexpected and no doubt violates your contract and offends your sensibilities as—”

  “No,” Caleb interrupted. “You don’t have to explain anything. Nor do I wish to give you permission.” He raised a hand, staying any comments from Xan or Urho. “Not because it isn’t granted, but because Xan doesn’t need it. It has always been part of our contract that fidelity isn’t required or even desired. Instead, what I want to address is the subject of my upcoming heat. It’s several months off still, but we can’t have a repeat of last time.”

  Xan’s lower lip went into his mouth and he squeezed his eyes shut in obvious shame before whispering, “I promise to handle it. Urho brought the pills for me tonight.”

  Urho’s head swam. He tried to move on from Caleb’s comment that fidelity was not in his contract with Xan and instead focus on this new topic. He gulped his bourbon down and Caleb rose to refill his glass.

  Xan pulled the pill case out of his pocket and showed it to Caleb. “These will surely solve the problem.”

  Caleb frowned, carefully setting th
e bourbon bottle on the low table between them and taking a seat again. “You’re not the first alpha I’ve gone through a heat with,” he said, obviously taking care with Xan’s feelings. “You love me, I know, but you aren’t made for this, darling. Please let someone help you.”

  Xan stared at him wide-eyed, the bruise on his cheekbone gleaming in the low light. “They took better care of you? The men your family hired?”

  He sounded gut-punched, as any alpha would. Xan’s contradictions—omega-like one minute, and traditionally alpha-like the next—rattled Urho’s sense of reality. His scientific mind clamored for more information, more pieces of Xan’s confusing puzzle. He wanted desperately to understand.

  “Of course not,” Caleb said. “But they fucked me hard and long, and I didn’t suffer for a minute.” Caleb took Xan’s chin in his hand, preventing him from disappearing into his collar. “Look at me. I’d rather be your omega than theirs on any other day of my life, but when I’m in heat, I need an alpha who can take me for as long as possible. Until even the most intense wave passes.”

  “I can take the pills! I can—”

  “You can. And you will take the pills. But I want to ask Urho to help us. You’re lovers now.”

  Were they lovers?

  Urho’s mind spun even faster and the drink in his hand trembled. Xan wasn’t denying it and Urho wasn’t sure that he should, or even could, but when he’d made his initial offer to help Xan, becoming his “lover” wasn’t what he’d planned on. He’d just meant to help out—like with being a surrogate to an omega.

  And yet he’d essentially demanded it himself, hadn’t he? He’d asked for a pledge of fidelity after the first orgasm, for wolf-god’s sake! Who was he kidding? They must be lovers. He’d made it so.

  Fuck. He squirmed and cleared his throat.

  “There are no secrets for you to hide from him,” Caleb went on, oblivious to Urho’s churning thoughts. “He’s a safe choice. A strong choice. And it would please me to be, even for a little while, part of what you share with him. Only during heats, of course,” Caleb said, shuddering and sneering with a hint of disgust. “Only when I want it.”