Seth had gone into heat and there would be no rest for either of them.
Chapter Fourteen
“Thanks.” Caleb took the basket of food from the sigma and hurried back to the shed. He didn’t dare leave his mate for long. While they needed to eat, he also knew that food took a back seat to breeding.
His legs were wobbly after a night of non-stop mounting. His cock was practically raw, having spent more time inside Seth’s ass than out of it. No amount of slick and cum could stop the chafing. No one had prepared him for how tough this was going to be. And, he had little to complain about. His poor mate must be horribly sore. Yet, there was no help for it. Until Caleb’s seed took, the omega would be mindless in his need to be mounted and bred, and Caleb was duty-bound to service him.
Even as he opened the door to the shed, he could scent that he’d been away too long. He hurried in and found the boy lying where he’d left him on the pallet. Seth was on his back, his legs splayed wide open. He had two fingers jammed inside his hole as far as his reach would allow.
The omega eyed him with a wild gaze and whined. “H-help me, please! It’s not working. Gods,” he cried, arching his back. “I can’t make it stop hurting.”
“It’s okay, baby. I’m here.”
Caleb practically tossed the basket, wrenching his jeans down at the same time. Good thing he wore only those. A second later, he slid to his knees between his mate’s legs. He tugged the fingers from the hole. His dick had hardened instantly at the sight of Seth in need, so he wasted no time lining it up and going balls-deep in one hard thrust.
Seth screamed and clutched at the messy bedding. Caleb dragged his cock out slowly before pressing it back in. With his mate’s ass tilted up for full viewing, he let himself enjoy how their bodies joined. It seemed impossible that his thick cock could squeezed past the tiny pucker of Seth’s omega hole. Yet it did, unfurling the dusky flesh, now a puffy pink from so much use. It had to hurt, but that meant nothing in the face of the biological drive to conceive. Even as he went slowly, his mate bucked in a demand for more—harder, faster.
Caleb bottomed out again and stared at the seal of skin, vibrating with tiny squeezes around his taut rod. The clenching became fiercer, a reminder that when a shifter was in the throes of heat, gentleness wasn’t a kindness. He picked up speed and drilled that ass until his knot prevented him from moving. Once more, he gave himself leave to observe what he did to his mate. That tight ass quivered and spasmed as his knot swelled inside and pressed the walls of Seth’s passage. The unnaturally wide expansion obviously caused even more discomfort, but that was nothing compared to how big that pathway would stretch when Seth whelped their pups.
Gods, the thought of filling his mate with his offspring sent him over the edge. He clasped the boy’s cock and began to jerk it to bring him along. The poor shaft was as red as his own and likely just as sore. But coming helped soothe Seth. It helped Caleb, as well, usually triggering a cascade of his own climax over and over. The more seed he sent flying up into Seth’s body, the faster the breeding would happen.
At least he hoped so.
Ropes of sticky, white cum coated his hand, slicking the way, making him groan in sympathetic pleasure. He ended up collapsing over his mate, bracing as always to keep from crushing him. He sought and captured the omega’s lips. They, too, were puffy and red from the constant assault by Caleb’s mouth. Kissing wasn’t necessary, but he found he liked it all the same. Seth obviously did, grabbing Caleb’s arms and pulling him in closer. His mate even dared to chase his tongue back and forth between their mouths. The face-to-face mating made the whole nature-driven frenzied coupling more personal, more intimate.
Too much so perhaps.
When his knot finally went down, he disengaged their bodies. He hated seeing the wince on his mate’s face as he tugged the head of his cock out. There was nothing to be done about it. He could, however, feed the poor boy before the need to mount overwhelmed them.
“Here, sweetheart.” Cradling Seth in his arms, he placed an egg sandwich up to his lips.
“Hmm.” Seth took a huge bite and chewed with vigor.
“I guess maybe we know now why you were so hungry yesterday.”
“Mmm,” the omega agreed with a nod before taking another big mouthful.
Caleb juggled a bottle of water along with the sandwich until Seth shook his head and settled down with his eyes closed. “When does this end?”
“No idea.” He kissed the top of his head. “Soon, I hope. For your sake.”
“I feel so out of control, like my body is waging a war with itself.” A shudder rippled through him. “At the same time, the pleasure is so intense, I wish it would last forever. Is it like that for you?”
He used a cloth he’d grabbed from the kitchen to swipe at the cum drying on his mate’s stomach. No one ever talked about how damn messy heat-mounting was. “Sort of. I mean the scent of you is overpowering. It’s like all the blood in my body makes a beeline down to my dick the moment that smell hits my nostrils.”
Seth wiggled and winced. “I’m sore.”
“I’m sorry.” He kissed his head again. “I wish I could do something to help with that. Anything I get from Andrea will be a temporary reprieve at best. Do you want me to try anyway?”
The omega grabbed his arm with surprising strength. “No! Please just stay with me.”
“Okay, baby,” he soothed. “I’m not going anywhere. Try to get some rest.”
He sat quietly, holding his mate and eating what he could one-handed. The poor boy was out cold, but he knew that wasn’t going to last long. Soon the omega would be forced awake by a driving need to be mounted and bred. And Caleb would be right there ready to service him.
****
Caleb woke with a sharp intake of breath and sat bolt upright on the pallet. It was morning again, although which morning, he couldn’t say. The days had blended into each other, so that he’d lost count of how many. He knew approximately what time it was because the door to the shed was ajar and low light streamed in.
His heartbeat kicked up to panic mode as the fog of sleep lifted and he realized he was alone. The shed was filled with dirty dishes from the night before, sweat and cum-soaked bedding. But no Seth. Caleb jumped to his feet and whirled around as if somehow his mate could be hiding in the tiny shed.
He flew to the door and shifted before his human feet touched the dirt. Instinct took over all possible rational thought as he scented for his mate and picking up the trail, raced into the woods. Tracking was easy, but he knew where to go even without his muzzle to the ground. There was only one place that Seth could have gone given this direction.
Fear made him swifter than usual, and he barely registered the journey before he ran up to the entrance to the cave. Slipping inside, he stopped and growled. The omega cowered in the dark corner, whining and exposing his neck at the approach of a much larger and truly pissed off gamma.
Seeing that his mate was safe allowed Caleb to dial back the aggression. He forced himself to shift, as well. Whatever was going on required human communication. Because Seth stayed where he was and as he was, Caleb was forced to take command.
“Shift.” He tried not to sound as angry as he was. It wasn’t really that he was mad anyway so much as frightened. What was his mate thinking running off like that?
Fur turned into skin, and Seth sat in the corner with his arms wrapped around his knees. A lock of black hair hung down across his face, concealing one eye. He looked adorable and vulnerable in equal measure. Whatever chastisement Caleb had been gearing up to deliver died on his lips.
He crouched down in order not to be looming over his mate and forced calm into his voice. “What are you doing out here?”
Seth’s lips trembled, and his one visible eye blinked furiously. “Can’t you tell? My heat is over.”
Oh? Caleb sniffed. He’d been too intent on finding the boy unharmed to have noticed the change in scent. He gave a tentative smile. “Y
eah, it is. You’re breeding.” His gut clenched even as the words left his mouth, but he had no time for focusing on his own ambivalent feelings.
They stared silently at each other for a few more seconds before Caleb asked the one question on his mind. “Why did you run away?”
Seth broke eye contact and put his head on his knees. “I wasn’t running away. I was just running. When I woke up and realized what had happened, I got kind of spooked, I guess.”
“Sure, I get it. Breeding for the first time must be scary. But why are you here in particular?”
Seth squirmed before answering. “I felt safe here. Back when I was hurt and you found me. You took such good care of me, and I felt safe for the first time since I’d run away.” He shrugged. “I guess I needed to feel that again. Stupid, I know. You were already lying beside me in the shed.”
Caleb didn’t understand why his mate had fled to this dirty cave, but he knew the boy needed comfort. A breeding omega was a delicate thing. Or, so he’d always been told. “Sure, I get it. This was your place, and you’ve gone through a lot of changes in a short period of time.” He sat squarely on the floor. “We can stay here as long as you need to feel comfortable.”
His mate gave him a sweet smile. “Thanks.”
Okay crisis averted. Maybe he wouldn’t suck at being a mate and sire after all. “I’ll always take care of you, sweetheart.”
“I know.” The softly spoken answer still pleased Caleb. It made him feel powerful in a way his gamma strength never had.
It didn’t take long before Seth felt ready to go back. They shifted to make the journey easier on their bodies, and Caleb caught a chipmunk to give his mate a quick, high-protein breakfast. Then he set a slow pace. The sun was fully up by the time they returned to the shed. They found Kyle and a couple of sigmas there, pulling everything out for a good cleaning.
“Oh, hey,” the alpha mate greeted them. “We didn’t know when you’d be back, but figured you’d appreciate a clean room.”
Caleb shifted first and made sure Seth was standing by his side before answering. “Thanks, we do.”
Kyle smiled brightly. “I guess congratulations are in order.”
Blushing, Seth leaned against Caleb. “Yup.”
“We’ll be done in a minute.”
“Oh, yeah,” Caleb started. He realized that with Seth breeding, it was time to implement the plan to approach the Canadian ferals. “We’re actually not going to be going back into the shed.”
Kyle looked startled at first, then nodded. “Oh, right. I’ll get a pallet fixed up for Seth in the communal bedroom.” He gave a signal to the sigmas and took off for the longhouse.
“I don’t understand,” Seth said against Caleb’s chest.
He turned him in order for them to look each other in the eye. “There’s something I need to tell you.” He explained about his mission for the pack to find more members who could offer up protection, how urgent it was to go right away.
“I’m sorry to spring this on you, but there didn’t seem to be any point telling you until after your heat was over.”
“I understand.” Even as he said the words, his gaze skittered away. “The pack’s safety comes first.”
Caleb nodded. “Yeah, it does. And, I’ll be back soon, before you whelp certainly.”
Seth nodded, absently, already withdrawn as he’d been after they’d mated. “I’ll be fine.”
“Of course, you will. Better for you to be inside the longhouse, though. You understand, right? I can’t have you being in the shed on your own. If there should be any trouble—not that there’s going to be—you’d be too vulnerable out here by yourself.”
“I understand.” He still wasn’t looking at Caleb anymore. Instead, he studied the ground between them as if it held some great fascination.
“Good. That’s good.” Except it didn’t feel that way. It felt bad and all kinds of wrong. He’d just knocked up his mate, and he was taking off for a long journey. “It’s important to the pack that I go.”
Who am I trying to convince here, anyway?
Feeling awkward and stupid and tongue-tied, he changed tack. “Come on. I don’t have to leave right this second. I want Andrea to take a look at you.”
“I’m fine.”
“I’m sure you are. Nevertheless, I’ll feel better leaving you after you’ve had a check-up.”
“Yes, sir.”
Fuck! The closeness they’d forged over the last few days had disappeared. Seth was pulling away from him emotionally and falling back into old habits. Trying to appease a dominant shifter, naturally. There really was no time to fix that, however. There’d be a chance for that once he came back. They had a whole lifetime to rebuild trust and even affection. This separation might do them good, too. He knew he could use some space, some time to absorb the enormous change in his life.
“Come on.” He didn’t try to gain the omega’s approval. He simply guided him over to the longhouse, the way he expected he’d be guiding his mate for the rest of their lives.
****
“He’s going to need extra feedings. The pup will take what it needs in the way of nutrients, but we don’t want Seth to become malnourished again after making such great strides.”
Seth sat on the exam table, letting the healer’s kindly words wash over him in a drone that he barely registered. It didn’t matter what she said anyway. Most of it was directed at Caleb. As his mate, the gamma had control over every aspect of his life, like his feeding. As if Seth were livestock or something that needed fattening up and was so stupid he wouldn’t know when to put food in his own mouth. Too bad Andrea wasted her breath. Caleb was leaving. He wouldn’t be there to do any of it.
Oh, and there it was. The gamma was explaining how he had to go. And naturally the healer was saying that was okay, that she and the others would look after Seth. Because again, being an omega meant being silly and brain-dead. Maybe they were right. He’d been the one with the bright idea to run away from his old pack even though he had no idea how to live alone. He’d been the one to run into another pack’s territory and get chewed up so badly that he’d required the mercy of a strange gamma to survive.
And, he’d been the one to fall in love with that gamma even though the guy had been really clear on how he didn’t want to get involved with anyone in that way.
Yeah, he loved his mate. As he’d huddled in the cave after mindlessly running away from what amounted to his own breeding, he’d still hoped for Caleb to come find him soon and bring him home. The Rogue Pack was where he belonged now. There was no denying that he felt safe and wanted here. More, he felt safe and wanted enough in Caleb’s arms. The gamma might not want him, not really. But Seth could no longer ignore that somewhere along the way of their whirlwind acquaintance, he’d fallen in love with the guy.
Now Caleb was leaving and although he knew the gamma was too honorable not to return to him and the pack, some part of him worried anyway. What if Caleb never came back? Something could befall him. The idea of his mate dying gave him a pain deep inside. He placed his palm against his flat belly. The pup and he would be cared for by the pack. He had no doubt of that. Sooner or later, though, his heat would come again. He didn’t think he could stand the idea of anyone other than Caleb mounting him.
“Seth?”
He jerked in surprise and looked up at his mate and the healer. They obviously were waiting for him to say something. “I’m sorry?”
A concerned look crossed Caleb’s face. “Andrea was asking if she should put together a diet for you to follow while I’m away. What do you think of the idea?”
Did it really matter what he said? He doubted they’d agree if he insisted he was capable of figuring it out on his own. Then again, maybe they were right. He felt disconnected from the rest of the world right at the moment.
He glanced away. “Sure, that sounds fine. Thanks,” he added and stared at the floor until Caleb eased him off the table.
“Thanks, Andrea.
I’m going to get Seth settled in the communal bedroom before I leave.”
“You’re very welcome. I’ll have that diet drawn up and give it to the sigmas in the kitchen. All right, Seth?”
He nodded absently and gave no resistance as Caleb led him out and down the hall to where the unmated males slept. Kyle was putting the finishing touches on a pallet over in the far corner. Seth’s clothing, such as it was, and other sundries had been brought in from the shed and stacked in a cubby.
“Thanks, Kyle. This looks great.” Caleb’s cheery voice sounded forced. Or, perhaps that’s what Seth wanted to hear. “Doesn’t it, Seth?”
He made himself smile at the alpha mate. “Yes, thank you for going to the trouble.”
Kyle returned the look. “It was nothing. We help each other out here. I’ll leave you to your good-byes.”
So soon? Yes, of course. He was being a ninny with selective memory. Caleb had said he needed to leave right away. Seth shuffled over to the pallet and sat down. It was only then that he remembered he and Caleb were both buck-naked still. Given that the gamma was taking off, dressing would have been a waste of time. Feeling shy, though, Seth pulled a blanket onto his lap.
“I think I’ll take a nap.” He didn’t feel tired, not really, but he didn’t want to fuss about Caleb leaving. He was trying to be casual even though he felt his heart squeezing painfully.
The gamma crouched down. “That’s a great idea. Then you should take a shower before lunch. It will make you feel better.”
No, your staying here will make me feel better.
He forced a smile to his lips and made himself look his mate in the eye. “Thanks. I will. Have a safe trip. Be careful,” he blurted, hating how needy it made him sound.
“I always am.” They’d been through this call and response before, yet it didn’t cause Seth’s worry to flee. Leaning over, Caleb kissed him. It was tender and sweet.
Taming the Omega (The Rogue Pack Book 4) Page 14
