Snowed In: M/M Mpreg Alpha Male Romance

by Aiden Bates

  Larry shredded Adrian on cross-examination. He confronted the investment banker with his membership in an alpha supremacist organization and gave a more graphic demonstration of Adrian’s financial difficulties. By the time he was done, he managed to goad an ugly outburst out of Adrian. “Austin’s place is in Texas, warming Kirby’s bed! Not here, not running some wine shop! And I’m taking him with me, by any means necessary!”

  The jury took ten minutes to convict.

  ***

  Cody would have loved to not have to haul himself down to the courthouse. He would give a lot of money to never have to get up on the witness stand again, for any reason at all. At least the jury had been able to come back with a quick verdict, not that it should have taken longer than it did for twelve reasonable people to get together and say, “These people are out of their gourds.”

  Once the foreman returned the verdict, the judge lectured both Texan alphas about respecting the law. “You can have your traditions, and that’s fine. You have every right to hold to your traditions, within your community, and within the law. What you do not have the right to do is to attempt to enforce those mores on people who have left your community. In light of the fact that you’re from out of state, I will suspend your four-year prison sentences under the condition that you both return to Texas. You’re also both fined five-thousand dollars each.

  “Harassment is, legally, the more serious charge. It is tied up in the orders of protection that you both violated. The charge of second-degree aggravated harassment carries with it a one-year sentence. Again, I am willing to suspend that sentence on the condition that the two of you return to Texas within the next week and make no further attempt to contact Mr. Baines or his associates. If you violate either of those conditions, you will be arrested and delivered to the Onondaga County Correctional Facility in Janesville, to begin your sentences. Those sentences will be served consecutively, not concurrently, and so I would think long and hard before you flout my generosity.” She rose and banged her gavel. “Court is adjourned.”

  Court was over, but there wasn’t time to celebrate with Austin. They both had to get back to their businesses. Cody did make an arrangement with Austin to meet up the next night.

  Austin ended up going over to Cody’s through arrangements made by text throughout the course of the twenty-four hours. He brought an overnight bag with him. “Not to be presumptuous,” he said with a flirty wink. “I just wanted to be prepared.”

  Cody made a face and pulled Austin inside. “I absolutely want you to stay the night, you giant goofball,” he said. “I just feel bad that we’re always trashing your sheets.” Okay, maybe “always” was a strong word, but the principle held. Every time they’d gotten together they’d gone to Austin’s place.

  “And I feel bad that every time we get together it’s you driving out to Skaneateles. I don’t get to come into the city very often. You’ve got an incredible place here.” He looked around. “It’s beautiful. Did you decorate it yourself or did you hire someone?”

  Cody chuckled. “I hired someone. I have my strengths, but I was mostly concerned with getting settled in right away, you know? And Sasha was pretty good at what he did.” He stuck his hands into his pockets. “I figured we could maybe go to a bar?”

  Austin’s eyes lit up. “You mean like a date?”

  Cody kicked at the floor. “Hell, if I’d known I could put a look like that on your face I’d have asked you on a real date weeks ago. Is that a yes?”

  They went to a little bar up the street. It wasn’t a rowdy place—like a lot of the other places in Cody’s neighborhood, it mainly tried to draw in the financial workers and young professionals. They had a good selection of upscale brews and a few big screen TVs for watching sports, but they didn’t have any pool tables or dart boards. It reminded Cody a bit of Manhattan.

  They grabbed seats and ordered food and drinks. “So. They’ve been sentenced and fined.” Cody sipped from his beer. “Do you feel good about the verdict?”

  Austin leaned back a little in his seat. His hazel eyes studied his beer carefully. “I think that from the perspective of technical justice, it’s great,” he said when he finally spoke. “I mean it’s a nice gesture in the right direction. There are thousands of unclaimed omegas all over the country who will hear about it and will stand up for themselves.”

  Cody nodded once. “I was thinking a little more locally and a little less globally. How do you feel about your case?”

  Austin looked up at him. “I think that the only way that Adrian and Kirby will give up is when they’re physically behind bars. I’m a little annoyed that the judge didn’t put them there.” He turned his head. “I know I should be happy with the judgment I got. Ten years ago even, a judge might not have given me the harassment charge just because Adrian’s my brother. Still, it’s my safety that’s at issue, so.”

  Cody sighed and toyed with his glass. “Yeah. That was pretty much my take on it. You think that lawyer guy was one of their alpha cult?”

  “Maybe. He talked the talk.” Austin sipped his beer. “I guess there’s no use fretting about what might or might not happen until it happens. I’m careful. I take reasonable precautions. I can’t do much more than that.”

  Cody couldn’t argue that point. “So this single omega uncle. Did you know him well?”

  Austin relaxed visibly. Cody congratulated himself for taking a load off of his omega as Austin started to speak. “He was my father’s uncle. They weren’t close. In those days, omegas hid what they were, of course, and so it was a huge scandal when Uncle Colton shacked up with a man in the sixties and actually had a baby with him. Well, the boyfriend died in Vietnam, and the son died in a meningitis outbreak a few years later. I remember him as being a sad man.”

  “I’ll bet.” Cody frowned. “But he survived his alpha dying?”

  “Ah. That’s the thing. I’m not sure if his boyfriend was an alpha or a beta, but if he was an alpha he never claimed Colton. When I was tested, and the test came back positive as omega, I was pretty bummed. Uncle Colton took me aside at the family Christmas party that year, and he told me never to be ashamed and to never let myself be ‘chattel.’” Austin grinned. “Of course, I had to look up what chattel meant. But still.”

  “Smart man.” Cody could hardly wrap his head around someone who had the stones to be that independent at such a time. “You two were close, then.”

  Austin looked down into his beer. “We tried to be. It wasn’t easy. My parents tried to keep us as far apart as they could, especially once they started getting sucked into all of Adrian’s alpha-supremacist crap. But we kept in touch as much as we could. When he died, I inherited everything, and as soon as we cleared probate I was out.” He looked up. “So what about you? Your parents must have been thrilled to have an alpha in the family.”

  It was Cody’s turn to shrug. “I don’t think they were happy or unhappy. It was just one more thing, you know? We didn’t have a lot of money, and there were a lot of us kids. They just did their best to keep me out of trouble. It didn’t always work.” He snickered. “Still doesn’t. I’m afraid that I’m an alpha hothead at heart. I don’t suppose you’d let me deck your brother?”

  “I’m the last person who’s going to try to stop you. Just don’t get caught.” Austin snickered. “Seriously, though. How many weddings do you have lined up this weekend?”

  Cody groaned. “Three. I have two on Saturday and one on Sunday. The first one on Saturday was a last minute squeeze-in, it’s a shotgun wedding kind of thing. I’ll be able to go directly from that one to the other one, which is just down the road. Then there’s Sunday’s festivities.” He sighed. “Sometimes I wonder why I picked wedding planning instead of, say, I don’t know. Opening up my own boutique consulting firm or something.”

  “Because you didn’t want to have to travel.” Austin poked at his dinner. “Consulting is a lot of travel. I think you mentioned that to me once before, right?”

  �
��True. And I was starting to get pretty sick of it. Now I’m starting to get pretty sick of the drama.” Cody shook his head. “Your family drama? That’s serious business. I don’t mind helping you through it. Showing up to the wedding with all of your sisters, all wearing black, because your daughter wore a strapless A-line and you wanted her in a cap-sleeve dress? I’m running short on patience for that.” He scratched his head and finished his beer. “I’m not sure that I ever had the patience for that, to be honest.”

  “It would be kind of hard to.” The corners of Austin’s mouth twitched, like he was trying to avoid smiling. “I’m really glad that we’re able to be together now, though. You’re going to be busy this weekend, my Friday and Saturday are going to be pretty swamped too.”

  “You want to maybe get together on Sunday night?” Cody waggled his eyebrows in invitation. “You close at five on Sundays, and you’d get to see me in a tux. I mean what could be better than that?”

  “Seeing you out of the tux.” Austin grinned and took another long drink from his beer. “It sounds like a plan. Your place or mine?”

  “Yours.” Cody didn’t say that he wanted a chance to scout around and make sure that Adrian and Kirby had left. He didn’t need to, or at least he didn’t think that he did. “I’m going to leave condoms and lube in every room in your house.”

  “There are a lot of rooms, Cody. It’s Edwardian. They had rooms just for talking about adding more rooms.” His eyes danced, though.

  They paid the bill quickly and headed back to Cody’s place. Cody was going to try to play it cool and pressure free, but as soon as the door was closed Austin pulled him close and latched their lips together. Cody took control of the kiss after only a moment, licking into Austin’s mouth and cradling his face between his hands. He backed Austin into the brick wall, and Austin let him.

  “You have no idea how hard it was to see you in court and not be able to do more than touch your hand underneath a pile of damn coats.” Austin spoke from between clenched teeth, and something deeper than just affection burned from behind his upswept eyes. “It’s been a week, for crying out loud. I need you.”

  “Has it really been a week?” Cody groaned as Austin unbuttoned his shirt. His long, slender fingers felt like magic against his chest. “Let’s never let a week go by again. Can we do that?”

  Austin helped Cody get his shirt off and nodded. “It’s a goal.” He smirked. “It’s not like neither of us has ever had an emergency at the shop before.”

  “True.” Now it was Cody’s turn to help Austin with his clothes. He lauded his omega’s decision to stick with pullover clothes that day. “It’s a good goal, though.” He pulled Austin’s sweater and undershirt over his head and tossed them onto the couch. “Mmm. I love your skin.”

  “I love you loving my skin.” Austin tilted his head to the side so that Cody could mouth at his throat.

  Cody didn’t keep his condo all that warm, and Austin’s skin had a nice run of goosebumps. His nipples were already pebbling from the cold, and Cody brushed his hands across them. Austin gasped in delight, and Cody gave a low and dirty chuckle. He wanted to hear more of that.

  He latched on to one of Austin’s nipples while Austin rocked against him, trying to get some friction. Cody liked it, when they were both still mostly clothed and the pressure was just enough to build their desire. He brought his hands around and gripped Austin’s ass, filling his hands with the small but meaty cheeks that set his mouth to watering. He kneaded, prompting Austin to fumble at his fly. “I need you, Cody.”

  “The left drawer of the coffee table.” Cody jerked his head toward the table in question. He needed to cool down for a second. “Go ahead and grab it.”

  Austin slid away from the wall and over to the coffee table. Cody had time to divest himself of his dress pants, socks and shoes, and to cool down before he turned his attention to his mate. When Austin returned, Cody stripped off his jeans and let him step out of his shoes and socks. With a saucy smile, Austin turned his back to Cody and braced himself against the wall, feet spread apart.

  Cody groaned. All he could see was the curve of Austin’s spine and the swell of his ass. He stretched Austin out as thoroughly as he could with shaking fingers, slid the condom on, and worked his way inside.

  Austin groaned into his elbow as Cody set up a vigorous pace. Cody almost couldn’t help it. He needed, and he needed Austin right the hell then. Everything around disappeared. There was no brick, no sleek furniture, no vague smell of cleaning product from the housecleaners’ visit earlier that day. There was only Austin’s skin, and his scent, and the sweat of his perfect body.

  He knew he wasn’t going to last long. He wrapped a hand around Austin’s cock and gave a few tugs, hoping that Austin was as close as he was.

  Austin spilled, hot and thick and alive, over Cody’s fist. Cody had done right. He’d satisfied his omega. He could let go now. He did exactly that, spilling into the condom with a cry. As his orgasm overtook him he almost fell over his mate, face landing on Austin’s neck while he shivered through his release.

  He pressed his mouth against Austin’s pulse point, breathing hard. It occurred to Cody that it was roughly the right position for a claim.

  He pushed the thought away. They’d used a condom anyway, it wouldn’t work, and he couldn’t do something like that as a surprise. He pulled gently out of his lover and helped him into the bedroom. A quick trip to the bathroom got him a soft cloth to clean up with.

  He climbed into bed beside Austin, who curled up beside Cody with a happy little yawn. “I love you,” he murmured, nuzzling into his chest.

  Cody smiled and kissed his omega’s cheek. “I love you too.”

  Chapter Ten – Contents

  Austin knew that he’d been right not to make any promises about not letting another week go by where he and Cody didn’t see one another. The sentiment was good. He left Cody’s place on Thursday morning without having any intention of letting another week go by without the two of them getting together. He trusted Cody enough to think that Cody probably had the same intentions.

  That was a weird feeling. He’d had alphas who wanted to claim him, and he was pretty sure that Cody wanted to claim him too. Those other alphas, though, they’d led him on. They’d let him think that they were giving him what he wanted, and then when the relationship had gone on for a little while they’d tried to push for what they wanted. What every alpha wanted. They pushed for surrender, for submission. For children, for the sale of the wine shop, for retirement and reticence.

  Cody didn’t want that. Austin didn’t know why he believed Cody when he hadn’t believed any of those other alphas, but he did. Cody wanted what Austin wanted. Cody wanted a pairing of equals. He didn’t want children. He wanted Austin, and everything that came with him.

  Austin didn’t know how to handle that. He didn’t know how to handle the fact that Cody wanted that, and he didn’t know how to handle his own reaction.

  They’d fully intended to get together on Sunday. On Saturday, Cody had called. Two of his clients were on the verge of calling their wedding off, and the mother of the groom had called to see if he would try to talk them through their difficulties. According to Cody, the couple belonged together about as much as chalk and cheese, but he had a responsibility to at least talk to them.

  Austin couldn’t complain about that. Those things happened with couples, and a wedding planner could get called on to wear a lot of hats. They made plans to meet up on Tuesday because they both had relatively early days on Tuesday and that would at least be enough to keep their one-week intention.

  Tuesday rolled around and with it came mild chaos. Jamie had a legal scare when cops busted a friend of his for distribution. They showed up at his house, not the shop, to question him, which was fortunate, because Austin didn’t need the additional notoriety right then, but it didn’t change the fact that Jamie wasn’t going to be coming into the shop until late if at all. Jamie didn’t typically work
on Tuesdays, but he had been coming in to train the new guys and that would all fall on Austin. Austin was going to have to do all of his back-office work late at night, which meant no Cody.

  Such was life. He told Jamie that he was sending a lawyer and not to open his mouth in front of the police until Larry got there. It wasn’t entirely altruistic; Austin might have hired some new blood but they were nowhere near ready to take on the level of responsibility that Jamie handled every day. Austin literally couldn’t go without Jamie if he wanted to stay in business.

  Then Austin called Larry. He explained the situation and told Larry to bill him. Finally, he called Cody and told him what had happened.

  Cody was disappointed but understanding. “So much for our good intentions,” he sighed with a rueful laugh. “We couldn’t make it one week.”

  “Okay, so next week we do better. What does your Friday look like?” Austin winced.

  “Friday’s looking good. I’ve only got one wedding, and that one’s an evening frolic. We should be good. Hey, next week’s Thanksgiving, too. Do you have plans?”

  Austin chuckled. “I don’t really do family holidays. I was going to put my feet up and drown my sorrows in Tomme de Savoie and Riesling.”

  Cody paused for a moment. “I can’t decide if that sounds totally sad or completely awesome.”

  “Does the fact that I’ve got a whole list of historical films with both murder and romance plotlines effect your judgment in any way?”

  “Yeah, I’m firmly on the side of awesome. I don’t suppose you’re on board for also watching a little football?” Cody’s voice was causal, but there was an underlying tension to it, like he was trying not to sound hopeful.

  “Are you not going back to New York?” Austin bit his lip.

  “No. I’ve got a wedding on Black Friday, two the day after, and two on the Sunday after that.” Cody sighed. “It’s a surprisingly busy season.”