“Thanks Dan. I appreciate it.”
“No problem. And Luke?”
“Yeah.”
“Congratulations, man.”
Oh god, is it that obvious? Luke feels himself blushing from head to toe. He walks slowly back to his truck, leaflets in hand, then sits behind the wheel trying to think.
The charges are almost certainly bogus, and Cal is safe for now. There’s no reason to think Reed knows where he is. Now, all Cal needs is to know he’s safe while they work out what to do next.
Cal could do with the helpline, Luke thinks. Cal doesn’t have a phone either so Luke can’t just call and pass the number along.
Jax’s done his job delivering Cal to the cabin and is now off visiting one of his many beaus two towns along so Luke can’t ask him. Adam won’t do it nor will Gregor. Neither of them will go near a strange omega in heat. It isn’t fair to either alpha or omega.
Luke runs through the remaining members of the pack in his head. There feels like a good reason not to ask any of them, whether alpha, omega or beta. A little voice in the back of Luke’s head accuses him of making excuses even as he ticks each name off of his mental list.
Luke is a grown man capable of controlling his urges. So is Cal. They are both more than capable of keeping themselves in check long enough for Luke to pass over a leaflet and a phone.
Don’t do it, you idiot. Really? Luke pushes the thoughts back down. C’mon. The man’s safe. Just let him rest a few more days. He can call once his heat is done.
Luke ignores the voice inside his head, turns the key in the ignition and starts driving.
CAL
truck engines and thin cotton
Cal wakes from his nap to the sound of a truck engine trundling up the pass towards the cabin. He’s spent most of the day alternatively sleeping and jerking off: two pleasures that he hasn’t had much of in recent years.
Jax said he wasn’t going to be back for a week. No one else should be coming up here. His stomach twists. Reed can’t have found him this quickly? Surely not.
He slides out of the bed on soft feet and nudges the window open. He lands as gently as he can on the thin coating of snow outside and swears softly at the cold against his bare skin. He’s completely naked. There didn’t seem much point to dirtying any of the clothes in the cabin when there’s no one else around anyway.
He’s only cold for a moment anyway because he shifts the moment that he’s stable on the ground. Wolf feet are better for running, and wolf ears and nose are the better choice to know what was going on. The only disadvantage is the wolf brain which isn’t as good on strategy.
Cal slinks back among the pines and watches the road with cautious eyes. The sound of the engine grows nearer until a light tan truck appears around the bend and begins making its way towards the cabin. Luke. Cal relaxes, but stays where he is.
The truck draws up to the cabin and stops. The man inside opens the door at about the same second the engine switches off. He slams the door closed, as if eager to get inside the cabin.
Luke. Cal’s stomach twists again, but this time in a good way. He resists the urge to run up and leap up into Luke’s arms and lick his face. Cal has had years to learn caution and that isn’t going to go away any time soon.
Luke begins climbing the steps to the cabin door. Cal glances at the cab of the truck. There’s definitely no one else with him. Luke has come alone. Cal has been imagining this moment in his head a hundred times since he arrived at the cabin.
It will be stupid to go to him. Cal is in no state to make good decisions. He can hide in the pines until Luke goes away. If Luke really wants to talk to him, he’ll be able to follow his tracks without any trouble.
It makes more sense for Cal to stay exactly where he is, but Luke has been a constant presence in his head since he arrived in Aylewood, and since his heat started, fantasies of Luke have been filling his head and his dick.
Luke knocks with his right hand. He’s carrying something in his left. Cal’s wolf eyes aren’t as good as his ears, but it looks like some kind of paper.
It can’t hurt to find out what Luke wants. It must be important if Luke’s come all the way up here to talk to him during his heat. It has to be. Right?
Cal slips out of the trees and comes up behind Luke. The tall alpha turns on his heels when he hears paws on the wooden cabin steps.
Cal sits back on his haunches and waits. There’s a definite wolf advantage in the lack of ability to use human words. It means Luke is the one who has to say something. Cal only has to listen.
But Luke doesn’t say anything. He just stands there, looking like the filthiest of Cal’s daydreams. His blue shirt is open at the collar, baring his smooth throat. Luke’s scent is almost overpowering with Cal in wolf mode. He smells like happy memories. Cal has never had a steady home, but that’s what Luke smells like. He smells like home and family and stability. He smells like pure happiness and satisfaction.
Cal is aware of Luke’s eyes on him even as he takes in everything about Luke that he can. He’s been starved of him for a day, but it feels like a year.
Luke pushes the cabin door open, letting Cal through first. Cal trots straight through to the bedroom at the back, and shifts.
Once human-shaped, his dick immediately shoots to attention. He stands naked in the bedroom, all too aware of Luke’s presence in the next room. He’s been managing the heat just fine with copious amounts of jerking off, but that scent... Cal shivers, lust rippling through his body. All he can think about is getting out there and ripping Luke’s clothes off.
What the hell is Luke doing here, anyway? And if he is here to fuck Cal, Luke will have followed him into the bedroom. He has to be here for something else. It has to be important if he came here knowing that Cal is in heat. Cal’s head is too fuzzy with lust to work it out.
The only clothes available are soft cotton. There’s nothing that is capable of hiding the state of Cal’s dick unless he walks out with a pillow in front of his crotch.
Besides, Cal quite likes the idea of Luke getting to see it. Luke can either pretend to be a gentleman and pretended he doesn’t, or...
Damn the man. If he’s going to turn up while Cal’s in heat, he’s just going to deal with the reality of that. Cal needed to get fucked.
He slips on a pair of the thinnest cotton pants he can find in the chest, and the lightest shirt, one that he knows will emphasize the muscles in his chest.
If he’s going to put himself on display, he might as well do it in the most ostentatious way he can. He has no idea how people normally go about this.
Cal has never had the chance to navigate the normal social niceties of consensual fucking. Dad kept him in a protective bubble in his teens, and after Reed took him... he isn’t going to think about that now.
He ruffles his hair in the mirror and checks his teeth. All good. He takes a deep breath.
Time for seduction. However the hell you do that.
LUKE
leaflets and dresser drawers
Oh god, this was such a bad idea. Luke knew it and yet he turned up anyway. He had no idea what to say when Cal turned up behind him on the porch so he just opened the door so the wolf could get in.
Cal took himself off into the bedroom and Luke isn’t sure what he should do now. Is he hiding from Luke? Expecting him to follow him into the bedroom?
Luke stands uncertainly in the middle of the cabin living room holding the bunch of pamphlets in his hands. Every part of him is tuned completely to the bedroom.
His ears pick up the distinctive sound of the air shifting around a body as it changes from one state to the next. That means Cal is going to speak to him. Probably.
Then he hears the dresser drawers opening and closing. Disappointment courses through Luke’s belly. Half of him was hoping Cal would simply shift and walk back in without the clothes so Luke can finally see him fully naked.
Who is he kidding? There’s no ‘half’ hoping about it. He’s
desperate for it, but Cal is getting dressed. It’s a clear signal the gorgeous omega is only willing to talk, and nothing more. That’s good. Luke didn’t come for sex. Not really. He has some restraint. At least, he thinks he does.
Be the responsible adult here, Winterstoke. Drop the leaflets and go.
But the enticing scent of Cal’s arousal is hard to leave, and his cock clearly disagrees with idea by the way it’s straining against the restrictive material of his jeans, but Luke has some self-discipline, damn it.
He places the leaflets on the coffee table along with the small cell phone he keeps for taking on runs when he knows he’s going long distance. It has no internet connection or apps, but the battery lasts for days and the signal is even better, even up here in the mountains. It’ll do the job if Cal wants to call the helpline.
Damn it. He knew this was a bad idea, but he didn’t listen to his own brain. If he wants Cal to be his mate, and by god, he does, then he needs to do it properly, not come racing up here horny out of his head and ignoring all the red flags that the sensible part of the brain is throwing at him.
He’s halfway out of the door, when the bedroom door opens. Luke turns, ready to apologize and make his excuses, but his mouth drops open instead. All thoughts of leaving flee his mind instantly.
Cal wears a set of the spare cotton pants and t-shirts they keep for the omegas. The shirt fits perfectly, emphasizing the outline of Cal’s chest and the curvature of his shoulders.
The cotton pants are worse, clearly displaying the outline of Cal’s erection. It’s thick and hard and will be a perfect fit for Luke’s hand. Something about the hardness against the softness of the cotton makes it somehow hotter than if Cal were completely naked. All that’s left of Luke’s brain urges him to bridge the gap between them and rub his face up against that gorgeously hard piece of perfection.
Luke’s gaze rises from Cal’s dick to his bright green eyes, dark with need and focused on Luke’s own dick pressing against his jeans.
A tongue darts out of Cal’s half-open mouth and licks his bottom lip. He wants to lick into that pretty mouth and stay there forever, but the thought of kisses fades as he realizes of what Cal is really thinking about with his pretty eyes completely fixated on the painfully hard area of Luke’s jeans and his tongue licking along the softness of his lips.
Luke’s last vestiges of willpower flee completely.
“Do it,” he says, his voice coming out rougher than he intends.
Cal does. He crosses the room like a bolt as if he’s only been waiting for permission. For a second, he stands in front of Luke quivering, the scent of his arousal filling Luke’s nostrils.
If Luke turns Cal around and shoves down those cotton pants, he knows he’s going to find Cal slick and ready for him.
He starts reaching out to do it, but Cal drops to his knees instead. Green eyes flecked with gold stare up at him, black pupils blown wide. Cal’s tongue darts out again, wetting pink lips on a half-open mouth. His nostrils flare and Cal’s eyes glaze over with lust. His skin flushes red at the top of the white t-shirt.
“Please.” It’s hardly even a word. It’s a whimper and a beg all at the same time.
The bright eyes close, displaying long black lashes and Cal leans in close enough to Luke’s jeans that Luke can feel the heat from his flushed face. Luke’s cock twitches against his jeans, and he lets out a soft groan. Cal maintains a hair’s breadth between them, and Luke realizes that Cal is still waiting for permission.
The thought sets off a blaze of heat in his cock, so close to Cal’s lips.
“Yes,” he says, his voice filled with gravel.
Cal’s fingers are at the zip of Luke’s jeans in an instant, fumbling in their haste to remove the thick material. Cal tugs Luke’s jeans down into a puddle around his ankles and rubs his face up against the tent in Luke’s boxers.
Warm fingertips slide under the elastic of Luke’s boxers, stuttering against his skin. They pull them down and away from his cock, and then Cal’s hot mouth closes around his cock, sucking with enthusiasm.
Luke lets out a choked noise, feeling his body shudder at the sudden wet, hot sensation.
Luke runs his hands through Cal’s dark hair, feeling his head move back and forth as his mouth works diligently.
The air is thick with the scent of Cal’s heat. It invades Luke’s brain and makes him painfully hard.
When Cal leans back and licks up against the base of Luke’s cock, he can’t handle it anymore.
“Sofa,” he orders.
Cal stops, looks up at him with confused eyes.
“Bend over the sofa,” Luke says, his voice hoarse.
Cal’s eyes darken with need, and he lets out a low whine.
He does as he’s told. He gets to his feet, keeping his eyes on Luke’s, then he bends over the arm of the sofa, line of muscles visible under his shirt and his legs slightly spread.
Cal doesn’t keep still. He’s squirming against the soft material, rubbing his erection against the cushion underneath.
Luke watches him, mouth open. Cal is the most beautiful, wanton thing he’s ever seen.
Still, somehow in the back of his head there’s a little voice telling him that he shouldn’t be doing this. Cal is in heat. He might regret this desperately once his heat is over.
Luke grits his teeth, torn between the desire not to be a jerk and the incredibly gorgeous omega right in front of him who smells of heat and mate and pure horniness.
His body shakes with the effort of it.
But then Cal turns his head, bright green eyes drill into Luke and there is nothing in there but need and desperation.
“What are you waiting for?” Cal bursts out, his voice thick and needy. “Fuck me. Please.”
Just like that, any thoughts of leaving melt away completely. Luke shoves down Cal’s thin cotton pants and obeys his omega.
LUKE
quilts and double-stacked bookcases
Luke drives down the mountain pass, mentally kicking himself. If another alpha in the pack had done what Luke had just done, Luke would expel him. You don’t take advantage of omegas in heat. It’s a rule drummed into Luke from the moment he’d presented as an alpha.
He’s read enough tropey romance novels to know that losing it in the heat of the heat is something both omegas and alphas fantasize about, but there’s a big difference between books and real life.
He can’t go back up there. Not until Cal’s heat is well and truly over. He’ll lock himself in the damned tower if he has to. They didn’t even use a condom. That’s how utterly foolish Luke was. And it was his responsibility too. He’d been the one burying his dick deep inside Cal.
It had been good. More than good. It was by far the best sex he’s ever had, and that feels like an understatement. He hadn’t expected that.
Luke likes to think of himself as a realistic person. All the sex scenes in books and TV are all carefully scripted. They show a hyper-sexualized and perfected version of reality. Anyone expecting fireworks is always going to be disappointed by the reality of weird human bodies, and brains and fantasies that can never be perfectly in sync. At least that’s what Luke had thought.
What just happened between him and Cal didn’t feel real at all, and Luke knows that even if he never sees the handsome omega again, he’ll be fantasizing about this evening for the rest of his life.
Just the thought of never seeing Cal again makes Luke shiver. He’s known the man for a week, but sometimes that’s all it takes.
When Luke looks into the future, all he sees is Cal: Cal and a nice little house in the Aylewood mountains where he wakes up to the sight of that beautiful man every morning, and where Cal is the last thing Luke sees every night. Maybe after a few years, there’ll even be a couple of cubs playing chase through the house.
One week. He’s fallen in love in less than a week, and if asked, he couldn’t even pinpoint when. He was fascinated with the man from the moment he saw him, and the moment
he smelled his scent — his real scent — Luke’s fate was sealed.
Snowflakes begin drifting down onto the windshield. Luke slows the truck. The snow is still fairly light, but if it gets any worse, Cal might be stuck up there. The cabin is perfectly equipped, but even so, maybe Luke needs to turn the truck around and go get him... Cal shouldn’t be up there alone.
Luke pulls over and puts his head in his hands. He’s messing this up so badly. Cal is safe where he is. The bigger problem is Reed, and Luke needs to have a clear head to work out what to do about him.
The little house in his daydream is never going to happen if Luke puts a foot wrong, and if Reed finds Cal before Luke is ready for him. Get your head straight, Winterstoke.
He starts up the truck again and begins driving through softly falling snow. The Reed problem is like a sore tooth. He can ignore it for now, but sooner or later, he’s going to have to deal with it.
The packhouse is almost empty when Luke arrives. The Winterstoke brothers all live there full time, although Jax does only on a technicality. He usually sleeps at whichever poor alpha has most recently caught his eye.
The packhouse has always been good enough for Luke, but it doesn’t seem right anymore, not for the family he wants to raise with Cal.
Besides, it doesn’t seem fair to subject the rest of the pack to the kind of noise and scents he and Cal had made up at the cabin, and Luke is hoping they will be making a lot more of that in the future.
He needs to get in and get into the shower before his brothers get a whiff of Cal’s heat scent on him.
Luke sneaks in the front door. Adam is in his chair by the fire, but he doesn’t look up when Luke tiptoes past and heads to his room.
Luke shuts the door firmly behind him and looks around the little room that felt like perfection up until right now.
Winterstoke Wolves Collection : An MM Mpreg Shifter Romance Bundle Page 8
