by Nora Phoenix
“Please,” he begged. The alpha had to know, right? He had to know what to do, how to fill this emptiness inside him.
“Almost,” Grayson said again.
He repositioned himself, folding Sven almost double as he gave a brutally rough shove that had Sven howling with pleasure, then another one. Grayson tensed up. Then Sven felt him spurt deep inside him, rope after rope after rope of cum filling him.
It felt so good, but why was it still not enough? His eyes welled up with frustration.
“Don’t cry, pup. I know what you need.”
Grayson’s soothing voice rolled over him like a cold cloth when he was burning up with fever, and Sven felt himself respond. He stopped moving, instead waiting to see what the alpha would do.
And then he felt it. It started as a slight pressure at his entrance, then slowly crept into him, his hole stretching wider and wider in the most delicious way. Oh god. This was it. This was what he’d been craving. Grayson was knotting him.
“Alpha,” he gasped, more tears forming in his eyes, but this time caused by pleasure. It was overwhelming, this pressure inside him. It hurt, but so perfectly, finally bringing relief to that big gaping hole inside him that had cried out with need that whole time.
“You feel that, pup? I’m knotting you. I’m gonna fill you up completely. Does that feel good?”
It kept swelling inside him until he felt like he would burst with how big it was, how good it hurt, how deliciously perfect it filled him.
He dragged Grayson’s head down for a kiss. “It’s perfect, alpha. Thank you.”
Something changed on Grayson’s face. Surprise colored his eyes before he threw his head back and roared, a loud, aggressive alpha roar that rolled through the room, demanding to be heard, to be obeyed.
The knot completed, and Sven’s vision went white, then black.
Grayson cradled Sven’s body against his own, the omega barely aware of what was going on. He’d passed out when Grayson’s knot had completed, but had awakened again quickly—sort of. It happened sometimes during a first knot, but Grayson’s heart had still skipped a beat when he’d felt Sven’s small body go slack.
Fuck, he was in trouble. This was supposed to be sexual, nothing more than fucking an omega through his heat. But the way Sven was plastered on top of him now, his mouth suckling Grayson’s nipple without even being aware, it did things to Grayson. Dangerous, dangerous things, to his belly and his heart. Feelings-things and emotions-things, and neither were good.
But god, Sven felt so perfect. Grayson’s knot was still completely swollen, fifteen minutes and counting—again, not unusual for a first knot. How long had it been since he’d knotted an omega? Many years, for sure. He’d forgotten how exhilarating it was, what a power trip. Sven was at his mercy now, and though he would never hurt him, the knowledge of what he could do rushed through him. He wasn’t done with him by far. Fuck no.
“Is…is he okay?”
Grayson’s head shot to the side at Lars’s timid question. How long had the beta sat there, his back against the wall, watching them? Grayson had forgotten about him, consumed by the fire burning through him. Shame burned in his chest at how easily he’d ignored Sven’s lover, even if he was a little brat.
“He’s blissed out. It happens sometimes the first time an omega is knotted. It’s kind of like a high, you could say,” Grayson said kindly.
“Oh.”
There was a world of emotions stuffed into that one word.
“I’m sorry,” Grayson said. He was always good with words, but what could he offer here? The beta had sat on the sidelines, forced to watch someone else fuck the man he loved…and they had both completely tuned him out. “I didn’t mean to ignore you. I got swept up.”
“I get it. As long as Sven is okay.”
He was such a fascinating contradiction. Prickly to everyone but capable of sweet love and sacrifice when it came to Sven.
“He is,” Grayson said, and as if to underscore his words, Sven moaned, shifting a little.
“Can I… Do you think I can fuck him as well? Later?”
He was so careful, Grayson noted, so aware of his position, or rather, lack thereof. Lars wasn’t stupid, though his self-preservation skills left something to be desired at times. He knew that one wrong move would get him booted.
“Come a little closer,” Grayson told him. “Let’s see how my alpha reacts to your presence.”
Lars got up from the wall, then took a few hesitant steps toward the bed. It was interesting, Grayson thought, because he was usually a bit of a prude when it came to others seeing him naked, but Lars’s slow perusal of his body, still buried to the hilt inside Sven, didn’t bother him at all. Instead, the way Lars’s breath hitched a little as his cheeks reddened was arousing. And that arousal was mutual as Lars’s hard cock was jutting forward.
His alpha was calm, more curious than anything else. Grayson breathed in deeply. Sven’s intoxicating smell still hung thick in the air, but even amid that, there was a whiff of something else, something he couldn’t place.
“Come closer,” he told Lars.
“Yes, sir,” the beta said, then frowned as if he’d said something wrong.
“You don’t have to call me ‘sir’ all the time,” Grayson said. “I’m not that big on formalities.”
“Okay…” Lars said.
Grayson’s alpha stirred, sensing something was off, but he wasn’t sure what. It wasn’t Lars’s presence, because the beta stood right next to the bed now, and Grayson was fine with it. He liked it.
“If you want to have sex with Sven in my presence, you realize I’ll need to fuck you first, right?” he said conversationally. Lars’s cheeks grew red all over again. For all his tough act and bratty behavior, he was easy to embarrass. “You know that’s how it works. My alpha needs you to submit first before it will allow you to take what it considers mine for now. Are you willing to pay that price?”
Lars’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “Yes, sir.”
“Hmm,” Grayson said, pleased with his answer in a way he couldn’t quite grasp. “Have you been tested recently? I don’t want to have to wear a condom since Sven needs my sperm.”
“Yes, sir. And I haven’t been with anyone but Sven since.”
“Have you ever been taken by an alpha before?” Grayson asked.
He frowned. Had the kid ever been fucked before at all? Sven was obviously a complete bottom, and if they’d been together for a while—and they had been, by the looks of it—Lars could very well be a virgin in that sense.
“Yes, sir.”
Grayson’s eyes widened. He had not expected that answer.
“When and who?” he asked before telling himself it really wasn’t any of his business.
If Lars had blushed before, that was nothing compared to the two bright red spots on his cheeks now.
“You don’t have to tell me,” Grayson said. “I asked out of reflex, but you don’t owe me this information.”
“I’d rather not say, sir, if you don’t mind.”
What the hell was happening here? Where had bratty Lars gone? It was like someone else had replaced him, someone who damn well knew how to respect his alpha, stubbornly tacking on the “sir,” even though Grayson had told him he didn’t need to. Someone who was polite and…submissive.
Oh, sweet fuck.
Lightbulbs went off in Grayson’s head. Fuck, fuck, fuck. It was so simple and yet so easy to miss before, hidden underneath the beta’s surly attitude and his sweet care of Sven. Grayson had no idea what this meant beyond Sven’s heat, but for now, he had the key, the manual to make this work.
“I want you to sit at my feet and wait quietly until I’m done knotting Sven. I’ll see what he needs after, but I think I should be able to fuck you before his next round, and we’ll see what I’ll let you do with him afterward.”
Lars’s eyes lit up, and for the first time since Grayson had met him, Lars smiled at him. “Yes, sir.”
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Damn, these two were gonna kill him.
6
Inspired by the horniness Sven’s heat had triggered, Palani was balls deep in Enar when his phone rang. He’d be tempted to ignore it except for the fact that Lidon wasn’t home and it was Bray. With Grayson and Lars sequestered to take care of Sven’s heat, there was no one else he could delegate this to. With a curse, he pulled out and answered the call.
“Yeah,” he said curtly.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Bray said, managing to keep his voice level, which Palani appreciated under the circumstances. He was pretty sure Bray knew exactly what he had interrupted. “There’s an omega at the gates, asking to see you. His name is Allessandro Melloni. I think he may be related to Dr. Melloni?”
Palani frowned. “Yeah, I know him. He’s Melloni’s son. Did he say why he’s here?”
“No. He refuses to speak to anyone else but you. Palani, he looks distraught. He’s disheveled, and he’s been crying. I think something bad happened.”
“Let him in. I’ll meet him in the kitchen.”
He hung up the phone and turned to Enar, who looked at him with a surly frown. “I know, sorry. Sando’s here, and Bray says he looks like crap, like something happened.”
Enar’s pout changed into concern. “Why would he show up here alone, without his dad?”
Palani yanked a shirt over his head. “I don’t know, but it doesn’t sound good.”
Less than a minute later, they both entered the kitchen, all thoughts of sex forgotten. Bray walked in with Sando trailing him a little later, the omega looking even worse than Palani had expected. His eyes were red-rimmed, his face blotchy and swollen, and he was covered in black stains.
“Sando, what happened?” he asked, skipping the pleasantries. “Bray, hang with us for a sec. This may be something you need to hear as well.”
“I didn’t know where else to go,” the omega said, tears filling his eyes. “I’m sorry to show up like this, but I had nowhere else to go.”
Before Palani could even ask, Enar was already getting the poor omega a glass of water. Palani gestured for Sando to take a seat, and seconds later, Enar walked up with a wet towel. “I’m just gonna clean your face, okay? You have some black stuff on it, and I don’t want you to get it in your eyes.”
Sando closed his eyes and sat still as Enar cleaned his face. When he was done, the omega downed the glass of water in front of him, then looked up at Palani, his eyes tearing up all over again.
“The lab burned down,” he said. “All of it.”
Palani gasped. “Is your dad okay?”
Sando shook his head, rocking back and forth in his chair. “I don’t know. He was working late, as usual, and I’d gone home to make us something to eat. When I came back, the fire trucks were already there, trying to contain the fire. The whole building burned down.”
The omega wrung his hands, and Palani’s stomach twisted. Was Melloni dead? “Was your dad still inside?” Palani asked.
“The firemen said they found a body, which they presumed was him.”
Palani frowned. “Something in your voice tells me you’re not convinced.”
“No. The body they found was in a storage room. Mr. Hightower, my dad was deathly afraid of spiders. He wasn’t merely afraid of them; it was an honest-to-god phobia, and that storage room had plenty of spiders hiding. He never went in there, ever. If he needed something, I would get it for him. There’s no way he would’ve gone in there.”
Palani leaned back in his chair. “You think it’s not his body they found. And please, we’re all on a first-name basis here.”
“I don’t know what to think, but he would not have gone into that storage room voluntarily.”
“Maybe someone forced him in there,” Bray spoke up. “They could’ve locked him in there, then started the fire. Sorry, kid, I’m not saying I want your father dead.”
Sando nodded, his restless movements slowing down a little. “I understand. I considered that option, but it doesn’t make sense. If they wanted to lock him up somewhere, there were other rooms much closer to the main lab. We had a cleaning closet close, a couple of bathrooms, old offices we didn’t use. Why the storage room?”
He was smart, Palani thought. He’d obviously given this thought. “What are you thinking, Sando?” he asked.
Sando pursed his lips before answering. “I think they want me to think my father is dead. I think someone took him, then burned the place down to make it look like he died.”
“Why would they take him?” Bray asked.
“Ever since you guys told us about the fertility treatment, we’ve been doing research into that, and we’re close to figuring some things out. He told you we’d had some vandalism, right?”
Palani nodded, remembering Melloni had told them he’d installed security cameras around the building for that reason.
“The cameras were all destroyed two days before the fire. My dad was furious when he noticed, but he was also scared. He never told me, but I could tell it had him unnerved. To me, it’s the proof the fire was set intentionally. When I came back to the lab and saw the fire, I was devastated. I thought my dad had died, that I had lost him. The firemen allowed me to stay until they found the body, and that’s when my doubt set in because that storage room made no sense to me. But I pretended to be overcome with grief, and as soon as they ignored me for a little bit, I ran. With my father presumed dead, they would’ve put me in the custody of a judge until an alpha guardian had been found.”
He was right. If Melloni had no other relatives, Sando would’ve been a charge of the state until some alpha claimed him. Those scenarios usually didn’t end well, as most alphas who claimed orphaned omegas had spotty intentions at best.
“I went home to grab some clothes, but when I got there, the door had been forced and the place was ransacked. I didn’t even go in but took off right away. I didn’t know where to go, but then I remembered you. It took a little digging to find the address, and then I drove here. I checked to make sure no one was following me.”
“Wow, Sando, that’s quick thinking,” Palani said. “I assume whoever searched your home now has your research results, right?”
He hated to be so clinical and practical after Sando’s emotional story, but the possible loss of Melloni’s research lay heavy on his mind. If it was all gone… He shuddered at the consequences.
Sando smiled. “They got nothing. My dad is brilliant but super old-fashioned and paranoid. Even before the vandalism, he worried someone might get their hands on his research, so he went old school. Nothing was on his computer. He used it during the day for calculations or to search things, but everything he found, everything he figured out, it was all done on paper.”
“But that all burned down,” Bray said. “Which means it’s lost.”
“No,” Sando said. “They thought by kidnapping my dad, they had access to his research, but they’re wrong. My dad is brilliant, but his memory sucks, and it’s been deteriorating.”
A flash of sadness painted the omega’s face. “He was worried about dementia, actually, with how bad his memory was getting. It’s why I’ve been training my memory for the last three years. I’ve taught myself mnemonic strategies to remember every bit of information I come across. Our research? It’s all stored in here.”
He tapped his own head, and Palani’s mouth dropped open. “That’s incredible,” he said. “And really, really smart. They must’ve thought he was the key, but they never looked at you.”
Sando shrugged. “Most people don’t take omegas seriously. And it’s not like I have an official degree, since that’s not an option for an omega. Everything I know, I learned from my dad and through working on textbooks on my own or with his help.”
Palani’s respect for the omega grew exponentially. Sando had labeled his dad as brilliant, but he had to be equally smart to achieve this much with only his dad teaching him. “That’s truly impressive.”
Sando sighed. “The
problem is that he was working on something that I haven’t figured out yet. He gave me the data, but I need more time to interpret it…or help from someone.”
His simple statement held a world of disappointment, and Palani’s heart went out to the brave omega. “You did the right thing, coming here. We’ll figure this out with you, okay? You’re safe here.”
“I can stay here?”
“Absolutely,” Palani said. “We’ll do whatever we can to help you. Maybe we can look into finding another geneticist to help you make sense of your dad’s latest discoveries.”
Tears filled the omega’s eyes. “Thank you. I’ve been so scared and didn’t know what to do.”
“Sando, do you have any idea who took your father?” Bray asked when the omega had composed himself again.
Sando’s eyes grew steely. “Oh, I know who has him. They’ve been trying to get his results for ages. We just didn’t know who they were until you guys connected the dots.” He leaned forward, not a trace of doubt on his face. “It’s Lukos. Lukos has my dad.”
Palani had filled Lidon in on Sando’s presence and the reason for his unexpected arrival as soon as Lidon got back. They’d found a private spot to talk, he and his beta, feeling the need to discuss the implications of the fire in Melloni’s lab.
“Sando thinks it’s Lukos that’s behind his father’s disappearance?” Lidon asked Palani, wanting to make sure he’d remembered that part correctly.
“Yes. He said Lukos had been trying to get their hands on his father’s research for a long time.”
Lidon cocked his head, debating the validity of that argument. “It makes sense they’d be interested in Melloni. After all, this is the man who not only discovered the gene but also mapped it, developed a test for it, and knew more about it than anyone else. It stands to reason they wanted to know how much Melloni knew.”
Palani looked pensive, scratching his chin with his thumb and forefinger. “I’m not buying it. Would Melloni know anything about the gene Lukos doesn’t already know? They created it, developed effective drugs to counter some of the worst side effects. You can’t tell me they don’t know exactly what this gene does.”
