by Athena Blaez
“Gage, the shop needs me. We’re short-staffed at the moment.”
“I’ll have my second handle it. Aaron has handled my business arrangements for years. He can find a way to keep your shop open while you’re gone.” In Gage’s mind, it wasn’t a problem that a copious amount of money being thrown at it couldn’t handle. Aaron would see to it, Gage was certain.
He rose to his feet and drew Wyatt with him. The moment Wyatt was standing, Gage gathered him in his arms. Wyatt’s stomach pressed against his abdomen, a reminder of what Wyatt carried.
His baby.
Gage grinned at Wyatt and placed a hand affectionately on the extended tummy. “It’s going to be amazing.”
“He,” Wyatt corrected him.
“What makes you so sure it’s a he?”
“Just a feeling.” Wyatt’s hand covered his and the connection between them was dizzying.
It took a few tries for Gage to wrap his head around the emotions that rolled through him. All he knew was that having Wyatt in his arms felt so right. Gage ducked in for a sound, passionate kiss before breaking off noisily. “Please go pack for a weekend stay? I promise I will take really good care of you until we figure out what to do about the baby.”
Wyatt’s stomach growled loudly and they both looked down. “Guess I’m still hungry.”
“So go pack so I can get you home. The pack’s chef is one of the best in the city.”
“Fine. I’m going. And I’m going to call Noah, too, to let him know where I’ll be.”
After a brief moment’s hesitation, Wyatt headed down the hall, towards what Gage presumed was the bedroom. He followed closely behind. “Why are you following me?”
Gage grinned. “I want to see where you sleep.”
“That’s just creepy.”
9
Wyatt
Except it wasn’t really all that creepy. Maybe a little Twilight-ish but it wasn’t like Gabe was sitting there watching him sleep, right?
“I um…haven’t had a chance to…clean up…” The moment he stepped into his bedroom Wyatt wanted to crawl under the bed in embarrassment. He hadn’t made his bed; there was a pile of clothing in the corner where his dirty laundry basket was buried and overflowing. Shoes strewn about on the floor provided perfect tripping hazards. The drawers to his bureau were pulled out and clothing, he presumed they were clean since he hadn’t tossed them into the pile, draping half in and half out.
Gage was behind him, his strong arms wrapped around his chest. He nuzzled against Wyatt’s ear. “It’s fine, Wyatt. It looks lived in. Cozy.”
“You’re delusional.” Wyatt melted against Gage.
What was he doing? Why was he allowing Gage this close? Leaving aside the point where Noah was right and Gage had a right to know about the baby, Wyatt didn’t need to be getting all cozy with Gage. This could be a strict platonic relationship with the Alpha.
Deep inside, Wyatt’s wolf cringed at the thought.
He hadn’t confessed all of it but Gage had been on his mind a lot as well. Especially at night. Having Noah offer to step up and help with the baby was sweet but to know Gage was at least making lip service in helping was far more comforting for Wyatt.
Gage continued to nuzzle, his mouth ghosting down Wyatt’s neck. He let his head fall to the side so Gage had full access. “This isn’t getting us any closer to me packing.”
“Mmmm, no it isn’t.” Gage’s arms tightened when he ducked in to scrape teeth across the sensitive skin behind the curve of Wyatt’s jaw. “But I kinda like this detour. Last time we did this you were in a bit of a hurry.”
Wyatt’s face heated from the memory. “I guess.”
“Do you even remember or were you totally lost in your heat?” Gage’s hands had wiggled beneath Wyatt’s shirt. His hot palms smoothed over his bare skin, brushing over his extremely sensitive nipples.
It caused Wyatt to jerk and moan. He thought it was just an artifact of living and sleeping alone that he was so horny now. Gage reached down and cupped at his growing erection, scraping his nails against the denim, which sent another shiver up Wyatt’s spine. Did that mean…?
How could Gage even think about having sex when Wyatt was pregnant? He looked like a snake who swallowed a beach ball.
Gage pressed his hips against Wyatt’s ass and that removed any doubt that Gage was thinking of sex anyway.
“Gage. Wait…I’m pregnant.”
“Yeah,” Gage whispered against his cheek. “I noticed that.”
“No…I mean…wait, stop.” Wyatt flailed to catch Gage’s hands to keep them still. “How can you find this,” and he waved over his stomach, “attractive?”
Gage pulled back and eased Wyatt to turn around so they faced each other. “How can I not, Wyatt? You’re an incredibly attractive man and the baby doesn’t change that. He enhances it, actually.”
“And you’re serious, that you want to do this? Now?”
“If we’re careful, there shouldn’t be a problem.” Gage caught Wyatt’s face in his hands to pull him in for a tender kiss. “If you say no, I won’t push it, but don’t stop unless you’re worried about your health. Your desirability is not affected by the presence of you carrying my son. It makes you more attractive.”
Wyatt was certainly all raring to go. He definitely wanted Gage. Being this close, Gage’s Alpha scent lingered just beneath his expensive cologne. It was an intoxicating mix which stirred up his desire to a full flame. To feel the Alpha, with his rock-hard abs, pressing against him to telegraph the incredible strength he carried in his body was potent.
His mouth went dry in the face of his impatient desire to feel Gage in his body. He remembered it in fuzzy memory from his crazed heat. Now Wyatt wanted to feel it for real.
Gage eased Wyatt’s shirt up and waited for final permission from Wyatt before pulling it all the way off.
Baring his body like this, feeling this large and cumbersome and heavy and ugly, was difficult to do and Wyatt crossed his arms in front of his chest. Gage pried his arms away and held them out. Wyatt wasn’t even completely undressed and he felt completely bared.
“You are amazing,” Gage whispered.
Wyatt wanted to believe he meant that.
Gage gently guided Wyatt to the bed. They tossed the covers to the foot of the bed before Wyatt climbed on. Gage had his shirt and jeans off before he stretched out on the mattress, motioning for Wyatt to undress and join him. He guided Wyatt to straddle his hips, then drew him in for another kiss. “Do we need lube?”
That was a good question. Being an omega meant Wyatt didn’t really need lube but his body was going through some crazy changes. Between kisses, he stretched to get the tube he kept stored in the bedside table.
“What about a condom?”
Wyatt arched an eyebrow at Gage. “I’m already pregnant, if that’s why you want to use one, and we’ve already had sex unprotected. Have you been exposed—”
“I haven’t had anyone since you,” Gage said.
The bald confession on Gage’s face made it easy to believe he was telling the truth. His gut told him Gage was honest. “Then we don’t need one,” Wyatt said. He nipped and licked along Gage’s chest before he straightened up to sit perched on Gage’s thighs.
“How do we do this?”
Gage’s hands smoothed over all his body, one hand finally settling on stroking his cock. Wyatt’s eyes fluttered closed against the overflow of sensations that flooded him. His breath hitched softly. “Where would you be more comfortable? I want to see your face this time,” Gabe said.
Wyatt pulled his focus on his own body awareness, checking in to determine where he needed to position himself. He patted the flat plane of Gage’s stomach. “Right here is fine.”
Before Gage could find where he’d dropped the lube, Wyatt found it and smeared some on his hand. Scooting back, he stroked down Gage’s cock, root to tip, to slick him up. Gage growled low in his chest. The sound vibrated through his body and Wyatt thou
ght he could even feel it through the thick shaft in his hand.
He didn’t need much lube as ramped up as he was. To see the Alpha stretched out beneath him, knowing Gage was vibrating with as much need as Wyatt was the most powerful he had ever felt in his life.
To hell with all this. Wyatt tossed the lube to the side and shifted. Letting Gage keep his hips steady, Wyatt reached behind him to position Gage’s cock right at his ass and then let gravity do its work.
He sighed softly when the head popped past the muscle, his body slowly accepting Gage inch by inch until his weight was resting fully on Gage’s legs. Wyatt took a deep breath in, let it out, and started the rocking and lifting motions to slide the thick cock home every time.
Gage held his hips steady, helping where he could, but it was all Wyatt this time. He leaned forward and braced on Gage’s stomach as he worked himself up and down. Biting at his lip, Wyatt closed his eyes, letting his awareness drop deep into his body until all that remained was where Gage breached him. The draw and pull of Gage’s skin against his hole was intense. And intimate.
Wyatt accepted Gage as deeply as any one man could go into another body, and with every thrust down, he wanted more. He needed more. He needed Gage to own him. To claim him. To want him like Gage had never wanted anyone before.
When his eyes fluttered open, Wyatt almost drowned in the brown that looked up at him. The power that coursed through Gage shone in his eyes. His mouth went dry again. There was bald honest passion, staring up at him.
It would be so easy to dismiss that as being caught in the moment but Wyatt wouldn’t go there. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t, but for this time he was in this with Gage, delving as deeply as he could go.
Gage arched beneath Wyatt and snarled in impatience. “Wyatt,” he groaned out. “I need more.”
Wyatt needed more, too. He needed to feel Gage claim him completely, just like he had when he gave his heat to Gage.
Sliding off, he stretched out next to Gage, presenting his back to him. Gage rolled, pulled Wyatt’s leg up as far as his stomach would let it go, and entered Wyatt again with a sudden thrust.
Now that Gage had leverage, the pace picked up. Long strokes quickly grew shorter until Gage’s hips were battering at his ass. Wyatt’s bed started to squeak in protest. Gage’s hand on his cock continued to stroke as he pierced Wyatt until he didn’t know whether to buck back against Gage or thrust up into his hand.
“Jesus, Wyatt, I needed you so much,” Gage whispered against the back of Wyatt’s shoulder. He bit down, this time not so gently. Wyatt bucked against him, caught in the sudden flare of lust that surged through him. That would leave a mark, and the thought of it spiked through Wyatt as his release hit him like a sledgehammer and he cried out, Gage’s name floating over the stream of curse words. His orgasm was a welcome relief of tension that had kept him tied up
It caught Gage in the final build-up to his own orgasm. With a feral growl, Gage gripped Wyatt tightly in his arms as he emptied. His knot swelled to hold Wyatt in place.
That was a feeling Wyatt never wanted to lose; to be tied to his lover in the most physical, primal way possible.
“Shit,” Gage said, his breath heaving in hot exhales against Wyatt’s cheek. “Damn, Wyatt.”
Wyatt chuckled. Yeah, he felt the same.
With a tender pat on Gage’s thigh, Wyatt rested there, waiting for his own breath to catch up and his heart rate to settle down again.
They rested in the silence, until finally, Gage’s knot went down and they could separate. “Don’t know about you,” Wyatt said, rolling onto his back. Despite the soreness in his back, he felt pleasantly light and relaxed. The most relaxed since…since his first time with Gage. “But I need a shower before we leave. We are…still leaving, right?”
Gage propped up on an elbow to peer down at Wyatt in confusion. “Why wouldn’t we still be leaving? Are you changing your mind?”
“I was giving you a chance to change yours, actually,” Wyatt confessed.
“Well, forget that. I don’t change my mind about anything.” Gage ducked for a kiss, then rolled off the bed. He extended a hand down to help Wyatt to his feet. “So get the towels so we can shower and get on the road.”
Wyatt stretched and winced when he felt a twinge in his hip. He rubbed at it absently. “Nothing. You don’t change your mind about anything at all?”
“I’m a simple Alpha with simple needs. I know what I want and I get it. Therefore, no need to change my mind.”
Wyatt couldn’t find any flaw in that reasoning, so he went to start the shower.
It took convincing to get through the shower without another round of sex. He settled on a blowjob when Gage was all hands and mouth and insistent that before they left, Wyatt needed to come again.
And Wyatt did. It surprised him that an Alpha would go to his knees for anyone but there he was in Wyatt’s small shower stall, taking him to the edge and over again. Panting, weak and in a daze, he allowed Gage to wash him down before they finished and got dressed.
Now in a hurry, Gage helped Wyatt toss clothing in a bag, throwing random things at it until Wyatt had to finally call it done. He zipped it up before Gage could stuff Wyatt’s entire wardrobe in the duffel bag.
Wyatt lifted the bag and the weight caught him off guard, causing him to drop it. It was heavier than was needed for a weekend stay but Gage seemed happy enough.
Before Wyatt could struggle any more with the bag, Gage swept it up and headed down the hallway to leave. Wyatt danced behind him, trying to get the bag back, but Gage was having none of it.
“I can carry that. I’m not incapacitated; just pregnant.”
“You’re carrying my son. I can do the rest of the heavy lifting.”
Wyatt finally gave up trying to carry his own bag and let Gage handle it. “I should have called the police when I had a chance.”
“Too late now.”
10
Gage
Gravel crunched beneath the Land Rover’s tires as he drove around the circular driveway to stop at the steps of his mansion. Wyatt’s head was pressed against the window as he craned his neck to get a look at the pack mansion. “We’re here.”
“It’s huge,” Wyatt said quietly before he let himself out of the SUV. “Like a museum.”
Gage’s chest swelled with pride. “It’s been in the pack since the late 1800s.”
“So why didn’t we go to your other place? The penthouse?”
“The pack doc is here. She doesn’t like to be far from the pack.”
Wyatt was about to protest when Gage held his hands up. “I’m not trying to be intrusive, Wyatt. But you are pregnant and wolf omegas have special needs. I just want her to look at you to make sure you and the baby are healthy. I promise.”
After a long moment of thought, Wyatt nodded. “Okay.”
The front door to the house opened and Aaron stepped out onto the landing, followed by a couple of the pack’s higher-ranking betas. “It’s about time you showed up.”
“Wyatt,” Gage said with a deadpan tone, “this is the pack’s nag, Aaron. Aaron, this is—”
“Wyatt Morgan, yes I know. I believe I was the one who found him for you.” Aaron motioned the betas into action. One grabbed Wyatt’s bag, the other slid behind the wheel of the car to take it to the garage.
Aaron motioned for Wyatt to enter the house. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Wyatt. Why don’t you come in?”
With a nervous glance at Gage, he headed inside the house.
“We have a guest bedroom set aside for you. Peter,” he motioned to another of Gage’s betas coming down the sweeping staircase, “will see you get settled. Gage, a moment in the study?”
It was clear on Wyatt’s face that he was a little overwhelmed. Gage caught him by the arm and drew him close enough their bodies touched again. “Everything will be okay. Trust me.”
“I’m trying. I want to, Gage,” Wyatt said, resting a hand on Gage’s chest. “It’s a
ll happening so fast.”
Gage wrapped his hand around Wyatt’s and kissed each fingertip. “That’s all I ask.”
A delicate clearing of Aaron’s throat was a clear signal to Gage. He ducked in for a kiss, to taste the sweet lips of his baby’s father. It was addicting to be near Wyatt. To always be touching him when they were close. To smell his scent, to feel his body warmth. Gage craved it desperately when he didn’t know where Wyatt was. Now that he was with the man, he didn’t want to let go.
Aaron was a little more insistent and Gage growled in irritation. “Fine, I’m coming.”
After a small, hopefully reassuring, smile to Wyatt, he watched as the omega followed Peter to the wing which housed the living quarters. Once Wyatt was out of sight, Gage followed Aaron into the study.
“I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon,” Aaron said as he shut the door. “It’s even a bigger surprise to see his physical state.”
“It was to me, too.” Gage sat heavily in the chair behind the desk. The pile of paperwork wasn’t as bad as he feared.
Aaron, as much as he hovered over Gage, was extremely efficient, a rare trait in an Alpha.
Aaron sat in the chair off to his side. He swiveled to look out the office window at the expansive grounds behind the house. “He is fairly advanced in the pregnancy. How do you feel about that?”
“About him being pregnant or that he’s so close to delivery?”
“Both. Either. Pick one.”
Gage mirrored Aaron’s pose and stared off at the dense forest just beyond the manicured lawns and garden. The desire to go for a run, four-footed and nose to the wind to get rid of this anxious and excited energy, was strong. “I don’t know. Excited, mostly.”
“And you know it’s yours?”
“He’s not like that. Besides, I can smell it on him. The baby’s mine.”
Aaron held his hands up. “I have to press the issue, Gage. The elders are going to push even harder unless we can prove parentage.”
