by Susi Hawke
I would be amazed that he's slept through my ministrations, but the poor guy was really worn out last night. He had actually passed out in the middle of an orgasm, for fucks sake! I remembered proudly how thoroughly I'd claimed him, and figured he had the right to sleep as long as necessary.
I put the towel in the laundry hamper across the room, and pulled on my pants from yesterday. I was just fastening them when I heard a light knock on the cabin door. I slipped out of the bedroom, quietly closing the door behind me with a soft click, and went to get the door.
Daniel and Seth were standing there, wearing matching grins. “Don't even go there,” I grumbled as I let them in. “Keep your voices down, Kai is sleeping and he needs his rest.”
The guys smiles got even wider when I said that, and Daniel said: “Dude, if you don't want us to make cracks about you claiming your mate, don't make leading statements like 'my poor, worn out omega needs his rest after I ravished his ass with my knot last night', I mean, seriously?”
I grinned at my old friend, and said: “We both know that I said no such thing, you needle-dicked son of a whore.”
“Aw, come on, dude! That's too easy, even for a clod like you, when we all know I come from the orphanage. Besides, my mom actually probably was a whore, so how is that an insult? That's just my basic bio, son.” Daniel grinned back at me, and we shared a laugh while the more sedate Seth looked back and forth at us with a raised brow.
“Don't mind us, dude.” I said, looking over at Seth. “Daniel and I have been friends since we were pups in short pants. There's not an insult left that we haven't traded at one point or another.”
Seth shook his head with a small shrug. “Well, all I know is that if we had said anything like that to our old Alpha, we'd be puppy chow by morning, uncle or not. You know what I mean?”
Daniel and I nodded knowingly. I looked around and went over to sit down on the wide, 'L' shaped, sectional brown sofa that probably took up about a quarter of the living area, waving a hand for them join me. Putting my bare feet up on the long coffee table in front of me, I kicked back and enjoyed a rare moment of total relaxation.
After they kicked back on the section that jutted out perpendicular to mine, I looked over and gave Seth an appraising look before I spoke. “You know, Seth, things are going to be a lot different in our pack. I will expect a certain amount of respect among the pack. I know that's just the way thing have to be. But when we're hanging out just us? I want you to be free to josh around and be yourself with me. I don't ever want to become some unreachable tyrannical asshat with no sense of humor.”
Daniel nodded his agreement, saying: “Don't worry, Jakey my boy. If you get too big for your britches, I'll be happy to knock your ass back down to size.”
We all laughed together, even Seth, and I felt the peaceful camaraderie that filled the room. It was a good thing, it was pack, the way pack should be. We sat there bullshitting for a bit, when there was another knock at the door. Seth tilted his head towards the door with a questioning look, and I nodded my acceptance that he should go ahead and answer my door.
When he opened the door, I heard my sister's voice chirping happily. “Hey, Seth! Since you're here, I guess that means that my brother, the big bad wolfie, is out of bed already?”
“Shut up, pipsqueak.” I growled playfully as Seth let her in, closing the door behind her. “I'm up, but Kai is sleeping in.” My nose perked up as I scented the food inside the basket she carried over her arm.
Smiling at my obvious interest, she went to sit next to Daniel as she said: “Well, you might wanna be nice to me, since I come bearing gifts of food! Aries made the basket up for you guys, in case you weren't ready to join the rest of us just yet.”
I rolled my eyes and groaned, “Aww, not you too! What is it with all the interest in my sex life today?”
Jenny blushed a bright red and said indignantly: “I didn't say one blessed word about your, umm, private life! Besides,” she said with a trace of amused guilt in her voice, “what else are we supposed to talk about anyway? You guys are the hottest couple we've seen in forever, and it's not like we have much else to gossip about, what with us all up there in the lodge together.”
The bedroom door opened, and Kai walked out, fully dressed in his outfit from yesterday. “What you're supposed to be talking about, girlfriend, is what we're gonna do about getting that baby out of Sy! He's due like any second now, and I just realized that we don't have a doctor in this pack!”
I reached my arms out, and he walked over and plopped down on my lap sideways. I cuddled him up against me, tucking his head under my chin. “Good morning, mate.” I all but purred at him. He answered by rubbing his cheek against my shoulder silently, as he rested a hand on my arm that was wrapped around his hips.
“I'm not worried about it, Kai.” Jenny answered, ignoring our lovey-dovey act. “Aunt Cat says that the bear shifters have several good doctors. She was gonna call over there this morning, and see if one could come stay here for a few until Sy delivers, if that's okay with Jake.”
“That's fine,” I immediately agreed. “I'm sure Aunt Cat has good relations with them, since she's lived here for so long. If she trusts them, I don't see why we shouldn't trust her instincts. Please, tell her to go ahead and call. Maybe see if someone can drive out today? I don't want to cut it close, with a first time birth. We don't know what to expect, and I sure as hell ain't birthin' no babies!”
They all grinned at me, and Kai sat up suddenly with a freaked out look on his face. “Oh, dear!” He looked around the room frantically at everyone. “Did someone get the food out of the oven last night? I totally took off in the middle of cooking!” He chewed his lip anxiously, looking over at our friends.
Jenny flipped her long hair over her shoulders and said with an amused smile: “It's okay, Kai. You couldn't help it! It's not like you planned for your heat to hit you suddenly like a ton of bricks in the middle of cooking. Aries went in and took over as soon as we realized what was going on, and dinner was lovely.”
With a sigh of relief, Kai leaned back against me again and said: “Thank him for me, please. I have a feeling I won't be back over there today, so I'm afraid he's going to have to handle today's meals too.”
“Already on it,” Jenny told him affectionately. “Aries and I planned it all out this morning, and we want you to take the rest of the week to yourself. You can kick us out when you feel up to par again, but no rush! It's not like we have jobs of our own yet, you know?”
I leaned my head back against the couch, thoughtfully looking up at the ceiling while they continued to talk. I was thinking about what my sister had said, and realized that I would need to assign jobs to each pack member, based on their individual talents and strengths. Yet another thing to add to the pack meeting agenda, I guess. I looked over at Daniel as I suddenly realized that I had slept right through our planned meeting time this morning.
Almost as if reading my mind, Daniel shot me a knowing look and said: “Don't sweat it, Jake. We'll deal with all the pack business when you and Kai are settled and ready to move forward. We all know that newly claimed couples need privacy for a few days. Pack can wait while you tend to your mate. That's why you have me, right?”
I breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at Kai, stroking his soft cheek with the back of my hand, thankful for good, solid friends and a thoughtful pack.
Seth and Daniel stood up then, and Jenny came over to set the large picnic basket she was holding down onto the table in front of us. They all looked like they were about to take off, not that I was going to fight them on it. My captain was right, I needed to tend to my mate right now. Everything else could wait, but my mate couldn't.
Daniel correctly read my mood and said quickly, before he lost my full attention: “Okay, well before we take off, here's what you need to know. One of us will escort Jenny over here a couple times a day with food delivery. If you don't want to see us, just leave the empty basket on the porch, and we'll
replace it with a full one. You don't even have to see or talk to us, we'll just tap on the door to let you know we stopped by. Unless there's an emergency, you won't need to see any of us until you're ready. Sound good?”
“That sounds perfect,” I agreed, smiling meaningfully at Kai.
“And that's our cue to leave,” scoffed Daniel, as he gently shooed the other two out the door, flipping the lock on his way out. Not that either of us noticed too much, I was already nuzzling my mate's scent gland where I could smell the sweet, seductive perfume of heat emanating from his skin again.
Kai giggled, as he squirmed in my lap and pushed a hand against my chest to hold me off. “Not so fast there, Romeo! We burned a lot of calories last night, and I am completely famished! Let's see what kind of yum-yums that our friends stuffed into that basket before we get anymore exercise in, hmm?”
Trust an Omega to worry about feeding his Alpha when there were more important things to worry about. Namely, important things like feeding my cock into his ass. I figured that was far more important than food. Until I remembered with a sudden burst of clarity, that Kai could already be pregnant. Sex took a back burner temporarily as I concerned myself with the welfare of my mate.
Lifting my arms, I let him move to sit beside me, while I reached over and pulled the table closer to better reach the basket from where we sat. Inside we found a plethora of delicious looking foods. Muffins, fruit, nuts, jerky, bottles of water, big thick cut sandwiches, and cookies too.
I grinned as I realized that they had made sure that everything in there was a hand held food that we could chow down without having to get out of bed. Kai reached in and swiped a big, blueberry muffin. He peeled back the paper and started swallowing it down before I could even get my own out.
The poor guy was starving! Well, either that or he was in hurry to get some food in his stomach so we could get back to the heavy sweating, I realized with a wolfish grin to myself.
Kai looked over at me with a cheek full of muffin and said with a smirk: “Calm down there, big boy. We apparently have all week. Unless, you maybe wanna just take the basket in our room?”
Now that sounded like a perfect idea! I practically shoved the rest of my muffin into my mouth, as I stood up, grabbing the basket with one hand, and pulling Kai up with the other.
I dragged him behind me as I raced back to the bedroom, his giggles trailing behind us as went. After we got back in there, I set the basket down next to the bed and promptly forgot about it for another several hours once I saw my mate wiggling out of his clothes.
Chapter 8
Kai
It was three full days before my heat finally passed. I woke up one morning at the end of the week and realized that I actually felt like myself again. It felt good to not be driven by the hormonal, mindless need for endless pleasure.
I stretched, and looked over at Jake, who was still sleeping beside me. My poor baby, I had worn him out this week! I'm positive that he will never complain though. I mean, who wouldn't wanna be in a sex coma, right?
I laid there on my side for the longest time, my head propped up on my hand as I watched him sleep. I reached over and ran a hand along his torso, loving the feel of his muscles as my fingers danced over them.
“Enjoying yourself over there, little one? See something you like?”
I looked up at him with a saucy wink and said: “Oh, yeah, big guy! What's not to like when I have a big hunk of man like you in my bed.”
Rolling over, he tackled me onto my back. He leaned over me and kissed the claiming mark on my neck as he growled playfully: “That's right, I am in your bed, mate of mine. I'm here to stay, sweetheart! Get used to it, because my big ass ain't going anywhere.”
Laughing, I reached up to frame his face with my hands, as I gazed up lovingly into his brilliant green eyes. I could get lost in those eyes, if given half a chance. “I love you, Jake. I love you so much.”
Jake leaned down and gently pressed his lips to mine, with a sweet kiss. “I love you too, Kai. I'm so damn lucky that you're my mate,” he said earnestly between planting little kisses on me.
Smiling up at him, I gave a wiggle of my hips and said: “Why don't we take this into the shower, before we go see if there's a breakfast goody basket on the porch yet?” I looked over the clock on the nightstand, before looking back at him and ruefully adding, “Well, since it's apparently afternoon now, there is definitely going to be a basket of food waiting for us!”
He rolled off me with one smooth move, and stood up easily, before turning back and scooping me up in his arms. I kicked my legs and leveled a playful pout at him saying: “You know, I am really not your doll, right? I can actually walk.”
Jake grinned wolfishly at me and said: “Well, you are my favorite toy, and I do actually happen to like carrying you around!” I rolled my eyes in response, secretly loving every second of my man carrying me about like a doll.
We finally emerged from our room and found our food after a long shower that had involved mutual blow-jobs, followed by a little bit of joint cock rubbing, which had naturally led to me being pushed up against the wall and taken from behind by my Alpha.
We sat on the couch like normal grown folks, with me straddling Jake's lap and feeding him grapes. The big surprise was that we were actually talking for a change, instead of groping each other like a couple howler monkeys. Jake tilted his head to one side after swallowing a slice of orange, looking at me curiously.
“What's going on in that big, alpha brain of yours, Jake?”
“I just remembered, I was thinking a few days ago that you could be pregnant with my pup right now, and that I didn't even know if you wanted to be a dad yet. Shit, baby, I don't even know your last name, or how old you are! We kinda fell right into this, and we don't know the first thing about each other. Is that weird for you?”
“Weird?” I think about it for a second, then I said, “but isn't that the way things are supposed to go with fated mates?”
“Yeah, it is, from all I've heard anyway.” He responded with a shy smile. “I just feel like I know you, inside and out. But at the same time, I don't really know you at all. It's just, I don't know, kind of funny to think about.”
I leered at him suggestively, grinding my hips against his lap as I said: “Damn straight, you know me inside and out, mister! Seriously though, Jake.” I stopped wiggling and fed him an orange slice before continuing, “I really do definitely want to be a dad, I just love the idea of us having the happy family life that I've never had, you know?”
He nodded with understanding, as I went on to say: “And my full name is Kai Rodriguez, by the way. Also, I am definitely legal since I'm twenty-two, and everything else we want to know, we can find out about each other as we go along, right?”
Jake smiled at me saying: “Twenty-two? Isn't that a little long in the tooth for an omega?” I smacked him playfully, making him bark out a laugh. He went on to say: “Well, Kai Rodriguez, you are now Kai Mueller, because that's my last name and we're mated now. So, you might want to learn your own name for the next time you introduce yourself.”
He stroked my claim mark proudly as he spoke. “I'm twenty-six, and I would be totally lying if I said that I hoped you weren't pregnant after all the times I bred my seed into you over the past few days, because I would love nothing more than to get my pups growing in your belly, baby.”
We grinned at each other like a couple of loons, and ate the rest of our meal in silence. Jake and I just sat there eating, spending time like a normal couple, while soaking each other in, and passing back and forth the occasional little kiss.
After we ate, Jake asked me: “So, now that we don't feel the need to spend every second in bed, why don't we give that cute little butt of yours a break, and go for a run?”
I gasped with pleasure as I bounced up and down with excitement. “Oh, wow, really? Seriously, Jake? I would just totally frigging love that! I haven't had a chance to let my wolf run since I left school.”<
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Jake looked at me in shock. “That long? That's not good for your wolf, babe! How did that even happen?”
I looked down, ashamed of my past as I explained: “My dad didn't allow me to shift outside of my room, and when I was at the omega house, we were only allowed to shift on Sunday's, if we earned it. But even then, we weren't allowed to leave the yard.”
“That's fucking criminal, Kai! I can't believe another shifter would treat you like that. Especially your own sire. I'm so sorry you had to go through that.” He ran a hand soothingly up and down my back as he spoke. “Well, from now on, we will go for a run anytime you want, okay?”
I nodded happily as he continued: “The last thing I would ever want to do is to restrict you after all you've been through, but I would appreciate it if you don't go out alone, okay? If I'm not free to go out, promise me you'll take one of the Alpha guards, or at least a couple of the other Omegas? There's safety in numbers, if one of the Alpha's isn't around.” I agreed easily, because it was a fair request for him to make.
After that, we stripped down and walked out onto the porch to shift. Jake took his wolf form first. Being a powerful Alpha, he changed almost instantly. My own shift wasn't slow, it was just not quite as quick as Jake's.
My little brown wolf danced around my Alpha's larger wolf, nipping playfully at his heels, trying to get him to run and play. His wolf was nothing short of majestic. His wolf's fur was not one single color, but rather a blend of varying shades of brown, with a white muzzle and dark, nearly black tips to his ears and tail. I could well imagine him years from now, when the gray hair he would have would only serve to accentuate the variety of colors blending through his fur.
I growled at Jake, then with a playful yip, I jumped off the porch and took off running toward the woods that were right across the driveway from our cabin. I could sense him hot on my trail, as I faked left, then dove right, scrambling under bushes that his larger wolf wouldn't be able to fit through.
