“Oh, are you all right sweetie?” In the blink of an eye, the furry pup in his hands turned into a giggling human toddler.
“’Gain!” She screeched.
Seth darted his eyes over to Will, giving him a helpless look. “What?”
Will grinned. “She thinks you’re playing a game and wants you to do it again.” He started to rise. “I’ll take her and put some clothes on her. She’s about due for a nap.” As if hearing her father’s words, the little girl gave a big yawn.
The sight of her adorable face tugged at Seth. “It’s okay, I’ll do it. Where are her things?”
Sitting back, Will shrugged. “Okay fine. Thanks, and over in that cubby by the corner.”
Still holding the wiggling Annie, Seth knee-walked to the place Will had pointed, and pulled out a simple dress. It wasn’t easy, but eventually he managed to dress the girl and bring her back to the play mat. Then he lay down with her and tried to engage her in the block-playing. Her father had been right, though. She dropped off to sleep pretty quickly.
He grabbed a nearby baby blanket and draped it over her bare legs before lying down on his stomach again and watching her. She was so sweet and happy, her little bow lips smacking until her thumb found its way in. An odd shudder ran through him as he considered that soon he would be growing a pup of his own. It seemed impossible, and yet also all too real.
Now that his future as a father was set, he could admit, if only to himself, that he really did want to have pups. It had only been his fear of the kind of life he and they would be subjected to in his old pack that had led him to run. That kind of cruelty was something he never wanted for his own offspring.
The Rogue Pack was different, however. Even his fearful eye could see that. He and they would be safe here so long as Caleb proved to be a good mate and sire. From everything he knew about the gamma, there was really no reason for him to doubt that. Except Caleb didn’t want to be mated and didn’t want to sire pups. Circumstances had driven him to offer for Seth. That was also the plain truth of the matter. There was no question that he’d do his duty by Seth and their pups. He’d give them a home and protection and make sure they never went hungry. Too bad he wouldn’t be able to give them his heart. Seth knew better than to wish for that. It was greedy to even think about getting it. He would take what the gamma could give and be grateful.
In light of what he knew, his immature behavior that morning had been shameful. He needed to apologize to his mate as soon as he saw him.
****
“Hey, Seth, time to wake up.”
Seth’s eyelids flew open, and he lay blinking up at the ceiling of the weaving shed, momentarily confused. “Oh, I fell asleep? That’s weird.”
“Hardly.” Will hefted a pouty Annie onto his hip. “You were mated after all. I’d be surprised if you weren’t tired.” He winked at him, then frowned at his daughter. “No fussing now, Annie. Be a good girl and come eat your lunch and you’ll get a cookie for dessert.”
The pup’s frown disappeared, and she clapped her pudgy hands. “’Ookie!”
“That’s right. Come on, Seth, the others have already headed back. We don’t want Caleb to come looking for you.”
He got to his feet and stretched before following Will out. “Do you think he’ll let me have a cookie if I eat all my lunch?” Just thinking of food, he realized he was suddenly ravenous. His appetite had returned and then some.
Will grinned. “Boy, the way that gamma looks at you, I’d say he’ll give you anything you want.”
Seth gave him a wan smile back. Not everything. He didn’t say that out loud, of course. He didn’t want the others to pity him for having a loveless mating.
As they approached the back of the longhouse, he saw the very gamma they spoke of waiting at the top of the steps. Both his feet and his heart tripped at the sight. The guy was so handsome and strong. Virile in the way that he’d always been told his mate should be. It went way beyond being cared for, though. For the first time, he knew what having such a shifter mounting him meant. Sure, Caleb would sire healthy pups off him, but more than that, Caleb had the power to make Seth’s world spin in a surprisingly delightful way.
Even if Caleb might never come to love him, it didn’t mean Seth couldn’t harbor those feelings for his mate.
Caleb smiled in greeting. “Hey, how was your morning?” With a nod to Will, he met Seth at the top of the stairs and tucked him in under his arm.
Seth allowed himself to melt into the embrace, taking strength and warmth where it was offered. “It was good, thanks. I’m, um, sorry I was so cranky earlier. I don’t know what my problem was.”
“No need to apologize. Your life has changed pretty dramatically in such a short time, I can’t blame you for being emotional. It’s only that I was worried I’d done something wrong. You know, last night?”
“Oh, no, not at all,” he was quick to reassure his mate. “You were great, actually,” he added shyly.
“Yeah? Good to know. What did you do after leaving with Will?”
“I played with the pups and took a nap.” Here was a test, he realized. Would his mate chastise him for lazing about while others worked?
“I’m glad to hear it. You need rest. Plenty of time to do chores once you’re at full strength.”
The response didn’t surprise him. Not really. Caleb had been nothing but kind and caring since the day he’d first tracked Seth to the cave. It was silly to keep expecting him to change now that they were mated.
They entered a great room filled with the usual pack noises. He liked how they ate communally. It was a good way for the small pack to reinforce their ties to each other on a continuous basis. Caleb sat him down and started loading up his plate. Lunch was nothing fancy, just chicken and egg salad sandwiches. Caleb gave him his choice, and Seth shyly asked if he could have both. That answer seemed to please his mate immensely. Afterward, Seth ate two cookies and half of Caleb’s.
As they both polished off the rest of their dessert, Caleb jerked his head. “Come on, I want to show you what’s been done so far for the cabin.”
The idea of having a home of his own thrilled him. It also terrified him. He’d be responsible for its upkeep, for making a nice space for his mate to retire at night. No one had ever taught him those things. Caleb took his hand and held it on the way to the yard. The gesture was such a simple, yet sweet, one. Seth loved the feel of the big, warm hand holding his. They stopped in front of a large area staked out with string running along it.
“So, we figure we’ll put the one big room here,” Caleb said, gesturing to their left. “And, the bathroom will be on the right side. What do you think?”
It took him a second to realize his mate was actually asking him his opinion, not speaking rhetorically. “Oh, um, whatever you say, Gamma.”
Caleb sighed and tipping up Seth’s chin, peered down at him. “Please don’t call me that. I like it when you use my name, okay? And, this is going to be your home, too. You have a say. A big one.”
With a flutter of his lashes, Seth managed to nod his assent. There was something too intense about the way his mate looked at him. “It’s hard for me to picture it, but it looks right to me.”
“Good. There should be enough room for us and the first pup.” Caleb cleared his throat. “We can add a second room on the left when our family gets bigger.”
Seth automatically palmed his abdomen. “Are we going to keep our pups with us as they get older?”
“Huh?” Caleb forced Seth to look at him again. “Why would you ask that?”
Seth licked his lips and tried hard to hold his mate’s gaze. “Well, except for Annie, all the pups in the pack are still pretty young. So I didn’t know if the alpha plans on having a separate cabin for them as they get older.”
Caleb shook his head. “I’m still not following you.”
“In my old pack, pups sired by the alpha, betas and gammas were handed over to sigma nannies as soon as they were weaned.” He
had to look away, and bit his lower lip. “I guess they didn’t want them around to interfere with their sires breeding more pups.”
“Fuck, that’s terrible!” Seth looked at Caleb again and cringed at the guy’s fierce scowl. “Pups belong with their parents until they grow-up and find their own mates.” He pulled Seth into a tight hug. “There will be no housing our pups separately. We’ll add on as many rooms as we need.”
Wrapping his arms around his mate’s wide waist, Seth leaned into him. He needed to stop gaging his new life with Caleb and the Rogue Pack based on his old one. Things were different now, and after nearly a year on his own, so was he. He had weathered all kinds of trouble. It had made him stronger. Plus, he reminded himself as he was bolstered by the powerful body of his mate, he didn’t have to suffer anything alone again.
****
Caleb felt both exhausted and keyed-up as he accompanied his new mate back to their temporary home. After returning Seth to the weaving shed, he’d run the perimeter for the first time since setting off to find the feral omega. The shifting and exercise had done him a lot of good, shaking off his worries and stresses over the dramatic change his life had taken in such a short time. Then there’d been a council meeting to discuss his going in search of the Canadian ferals. The decision had been unanimous—once Seth had a pup tucked safely inside him, Caleb would take off.
He hadn’t had time to tell Seth all of this, and with dinner over, his thoughts had veered into what pleasure could be had now that he was mated. Despite his physical and mental fatigue, his desire to mount his mate made him achy and hard. Apparently, his dick thought there was some energy left for one more kind of outing.
Seth walked quietly beside him, readily accepting Caleb’s touch. The boy had scarfed down an impressive amount of food during dinner. It was a continuing good sign that he’d healed up and was gaining back his strength. A stifled yawn told a different story, however. The omega needed rest. So, when they reached their shed, Caleb let go of his mate and headed straight to their one small table. After turning the camping lantern on low, he kept his back to Seth while he toed off his boots and stripped down. He wanted to keep his burgeoning erection if not a secret, then at least in the background. The last thing he wanted was for Seth to feel any pressure.
“Caleb?” His name was called in a quiet tone.
“Huh?” He looked over his shoulder while his jeans were still half-way down his legs. His spit dried at the sight of Seth already naked. The omega’s cock lay limply between his legs, a clear sign that he wasn’t up for anything.
Seth licked his lower lip, a gesture that only served to make Caleb even harder, despite it obviously not being intended to be provocative.
“Shall I?” Gesturing in the direction of Caleb’s ass, the omega moved forward and sank to his knees beside him. “I mean, I’m a little sore. Do you mind if I suck you off instead of your mounting me? Just for tonight?” he hurriedly added. His gaze remained at crotch level.
Kicking his pants off, Caleb grabbed Seth’s wrists as the boy made a move to clasp his thighs. “Hold on, sweetheart.”
He pulled his mate to his feet and tugged him over to the pallet. Once there, he maneuvered them both into sitting positions facing each other. He was vividly aware of how his cock stood up, demanding attention. It was the one reason why he hadn’t put Seth on his lap, even though he really wanted to hold him for comfort. He was worried he was going to make a hash of this, but he had to try. As an omega’s mate, he had a duty to protect him emotionally as well as physically.
He took Seth’s hands in his own, mesmerized and a little terrified at the tremendous size difference. “First of all,” he said after taking a large breath. “I appreciate the offer of the, um, blowjob. That’s really sweet, but you aren’t obligated to do that for me. And, it’s really important that you understand you have the right to refuse mounting whether you are sore or not.”
Seth looked up at him from under his luscious lashes in that adorable and sexy way of his. Caleb was sure the boy had no idea the effect he had. His expression conveyed his doubt.
Caleb prodded. “Okay?”
Seth nodded. “Okay, except you’re my mate, and I can see you need servicing, so…”
“So nothing. My dick can live with the disappointment of not getting off. And if it can’t, well I’ve got two good hands that can take care of the problem easily. They have for years.”
The omega’s face lit up in obvious distress. “No! You shouldn’t have to do that when I’m here to take of you.”
Caleb was shaking his head before his mate finished his sentence. “No, Seth. That’s not the way this works. You aren’t simply assembled parts that exist to get me off.”
He huffed out a breath and closed his eyes briefly. “I think we need to talk about something I’ve been avoiding while you were recovering. And before you became my mate, it didn’t seem like it was any of my business. Now, it clearly is. Tell me how it was in your old pack. This afternoon, you said pups ended up in communal care. Then what?”
His mate didn’t answer right away, and part of Caleb was afraid to even hear it. The topic had to be broached, though, or the past would continue to intrude on their lives in ways that would only make them both miserable.
Finally, Seth answered with his gaze lowered. “We didn’t interact with much of anyone other than the nanny sigmas. They had us do small chores and made us stay out of the way of the higher-ranked members.”
He stopped and shuddered on a deep breath. “Can I please not talk about this?”
“No.” Caleb hardened his heart even though he wanted to stop badgering the boy. “I let it go before. Not now. Tell me how it was.”
Seth sniffed pitifully before continuing. “After our first puberty shift, things changed. We were apprenticed out for more work, and we were taught to make ourselves available to any high-ranking shifter who wanted use of us. Day or night, didn’t matter. Nor did the location. If someone who had the right demanded it, servicing them became our top priority. The nannies said that those males kept our pack going and deserved whatever they wanted. The only thing they couldn’t do was mount us. That was something we had to keep for our eventual mate.”
The boy fell silent. A couple of tears dripped down his cheek. When he went to wipe them away, Caleb stayed his hand and did it for him. His heart broke for the boy. No wonder he’d run away. Who wouldn’t if your days and nights were spent dropping whatever you were doing to give blowjobs to whatever fucker got the urge?
He used his thumb to swipe the soft cheeks clear, keeping his touch light. He would have gladly ripped the heads off anyone who’d violated Seth’s lovely mouth. His wolf had gone from hungry to mount to snarling mad. He forced it to settle down before it scared Seth’s. That kind of reaction and those thoughts only salved his own needs. They didn’t help his mate in the here and now.
“I can’t tell you how sorry I am that you had to go through that. Things are different with this pack and me. You do believe that, don’t you?”
Seth’s watery brown eyes looked up at him. “I want to.”
“That’s a start.” Leaning in, he kissed the boy’s forehead. “Come on, we’re both tired. Let’s get some sleep.”
When Seth merely continued to stare, he gently lay him down on the pallet. Thank the Gods, the omega’s terrible history had deflated his hard-on. He turned off the light and gathered the boy in his arms. He waited until his mate breathed evenly in sleep before allowing himself to drop off, too.
****
He woke with a heart-pounding start, his gamma instincts telling him that he was under attack. His hands made a grab for the body covering his, ready to crush his opponent until his brain and wolf both recognized that it was his mate. Seth straddled his pelvis, his slight body trembling, hot and sweaty. His slender fingers had a death grip on Caleb’s already rampant cock. The boy impaled himself on it with a brutal drop of his ass that left Caleb gasping for breath.
“What are you…” His words fled as the powerful scent hit him square in the face. Then the tight, slick channel encasing his cock squeezed in undulating waves that sent his rational mind spinning out of control. His wolf rose up and howled.
Seth’s answered with a piteous whine echoed by his human voice. The omega flattened his hands on Caleb’s chest and rode his shaft at a desperate pace. Trying to gain some kind of control over the situation, Caleb wrapped his hands around the boy’s hips. Whatever he hoped to do was immediately shunted aside when his knot began to swell. Oh Gods, the intensity! He’d heard older shifters telling tales about this, but nothing compared to experiencing it himself.
The pressure caused by his knot pressing against Seth’s slick ass was overwhelming. It was some kind of sweet form of torture, torqueing up the ache in his balls and sending an electrifying pulse up his dick. His fingers dug into the spare flesh they touched, and his wolf pranced around like a demented being.
Seth whimpered and whined, unable to rise up and escape the stretching of his channel. He scratched Caleb’s chest and rocked back and forth, the only movement allowed him now. The omega’s hole clenched around the base of Caleb’s cock and a flood of slick slithered down. That was all it took to send Caleb over the edge.
With a guttural cry, he arched up. He could feel his cum as it shot up and out, some dribbling back onto him to mingle with the omega slick. At the same moment, sticky warmth splattered his stomach. Seth writhed and screamed from his own release. The next round of climax hit Caleb before the spasms of the first subsided, and this time instinct had him flipping his mate onto the pallet. None of his gamma seed could escape its fate. He needed to ensure that it surged up into his mate to find the egg waiting for it.
He thrust between Seth’s legs, trying to drive his cock even farther into its sheath. He was blind to his need to claim the omega’s body and only held onto his sanity by a thread. Placing his hands flat on the pallet, he held himself up even as he rocked forward once more. The small body beneath him would be too easily crushed. But even so, he knew he couldn’t stop his assault. This was only the beginning.
Taming the Omega (The Rogue Pack Book 4) Page 13
