Slow Heat

by Leta Blake

  Nothing about the day was going as he’d imagined when he opened his eyes that morning. He wondered if any day ever would again.

  “He’s going to die if he doesn’t find a way to…” he glanced at Vale and then away. “If he doesn’t have a miscarriage or find another way to end the pregnancy.”

  “I know you said your pater is allergic to the government condoms, an unfortunate number of omegas are, but surely they could have managed with them anyway?”

  Jason shrugged. “Pater said no. He has a reaction internally that makes him bleed and tear during the constant intercourse of heat.”

  “I see.” Vale resented that the new laws the government had introduced several years back surrounding condoms had led to a reduction in quality and variety of materials. Obviously, this left Miner with fewer options.

  “I know I’m supposed to be strong.” Jason rubbed the back of his hand over his mouth, wiping away his wobbly expression. “I know I’m failing you right now.”

  “You are strong. This is hard. It’s normal to feel scared when scary things happen.”

  “I don’t want to lose him. I love him.”

  “I know. I’m sorry, Jason.” Vale rested his cheek against the chair cushion, gazing up at him. “Drink the tea.”

  Memories of the moment he’d heard about the accident that claimed his parents’ lives bubbled up to the surface of his mind. He bit down on his lip. Jason needed him to stay calm. But it wasn’t fair—losing a parent never was. He wished he could somehow spare Jason this pain.

  “What does the doctor say about his chances?” Vale asked gently.

  “I don’t think he’s talked to a doctor yet. I just know he almost died having me and he’s never carried to term any other time. Once when I was three… I think they might have tried again. Pater was in bed for weeks and then I woke in the night to screams. I was scared.” He cleared his throat and went on, “Grandpater came to stay with me. Pater was in the hospital, and Father stayed with him, of course.”

  Vale nodded.

  “They love each other so much,” Jason said. “I’ve never seen them really fight before. Not like that. Father was angry and scared. And Pater was…flat. Like he didn’t feel anything.”

  “He’s got to be scared, too.”

  “He says he’s tired.” Jason’s eyes welled with tears again, and he set the tea aside. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

  “You don’t have to.” Vale rubbed his cheek against the seat cushion as lust whirled inside him, inappropriate and tempting. The beard he was growing scritched against the leather. Jason reached down and stroked Vale’s cheek, running his fingers lightly over it. Vale kissed Jason’s knee.

  “I didn’t think I’d have you at my feet so soon,” Jason said, voice gruff and still muffled with his previous tears. “That’s okay. I don’t mind.”

  Vale sighed. “It’s comfortable here.”

  Jason’s voice was tender as he stroked Vale’s beard and then lifted his chin to meet his gaze. “How many alphas have you been with?”

  Vale’s chest tightened and he turned his face, hiding it against Jason’s thigh. Silence pulsed between them, and then Jason slipped his hand into Vale’s hair, tender and calming.

  “It doesn’t matter. Forget I asked.”

  But it did matter. It was part of why he couldn’t bear children. No matter what bond was growing between them, like glimmering ribbons he could feel tying them together even now, he had a past that determined the only possible future. It broke his heart to admit, but Jason deserved more.

  “There was an incident in my twenties,” Vale started, lifting his head to meet Jason’s sad gaze. “I didn’t have Urho in my life then and—”

  Jason put his fingers over Vale’s lips. “It’s fine. Don’t tell me. Not like this.”

  Vale’s brows quirked, confused.

  “One day you can tell me because you want me to know,” Jason said. “Not because I asked.”

  Vale did want Jason to know, oddly. Even a day ago, he’d have declared that his alpha never needed to know what had happened during that second rebound heat, but now? After seeing Jason’s heartbreak and tenderness for his pater, after sharing his kisses earlier, and being covered in his come? It wasn’t right for Jason to grow more attached by the second without knowing the truth.

  But those very things also made it impossible to tell him now. How could he hurt Jason while he was so scared for Miner? And how could he ruin the memory of their afternoon with a confession that would make Jason see him in a whole new light? It could wait. He shoved aside the niggling thought that negotiations were due to begin again in the morning and that he really needed to make up his own mind about what to do. But with any luck, and with all that Miner and Yule were going through, they might well be put off for another day or more even. He had time—he and Jason still had a little time.

  “C’mere,” Jason whispered, spreading his knees apart and patting his lap.

  “You know what will happen if I do that.”

  “I’m just going to kiss you.”

  Vale’s lips twisted in a smirk. “You’re not a convincing liar.”

  But he climbed into Jason’s lap anyway. It was a tight fit with both of them in the chair, but Jason held him firmly, making him feel small against his taller form. Jason wasn’t thickly muscled like Urho—who made Vale feel almost breakable when wrapped in his arms—but he was solid, and his hair smelled amazing. Like rosemary and peppermint. He wasn’t bony, either, despite being lanky. There was wiry muscle to pad and support Vale’s weight.

  Shifting, so his cock pressed up against Vale’s ass, Jason smiled, his eyes less sparkling than that morning but still kind. “That’s better.”

  Vale twined his arms around Jason’s neck. As they kissed, blood rushed into his dick so fast it made him almost lightheaded. Jason’s mouth moved down his neck, sucking soft and hard, and then back up to capture his lips again.

  Jason’s hand crept to the front of Vale’s satin pajama pants, gripping his cock through the material.

  “Show it to me again.”

  Vale shuddered. “Now’s not the time.”

  “I need a distraction. Now’s the perfect time.” He slipped his hand under Vale’s robe, gliding up and down his back. “Your skin is so smooth and soft.” He moved his hand to the front, trailing through the hair over Vale’s chest and across the words tattooed on his ribs. “I love your body. Soon you’ll tell me about these tattoos. That’ll give me something else to love about you.”

  Vale closed his eyes, trying to get control over himself, but his skin prickled maddeningly, and his asshole grew wet, ready, and wanton. “Fuck,” he hissed.

  “Yes,” Jason whispered in his ear. “Fuck.”

  He kissed Vale again, throwing the world into a spin of breath, lips, tongue, and saliva. Vale clung to Jason, groaning, sucking and licking. His nipples drew up hard and tight, exposed to the cool air of the study, as Jason tugged his robe from his shoulders.

  His cock leaked against his pajama bottoms, and his asshole loosened as more slick erupted from his omega glands. Jason kissed his neck and earlobe, teasing him with teeth, until he quivered and rutted against him in the chair. With surprising strength, Jason gripped him under the buttocks, lifted him, and rose to standing with Vale clinging around his neck and legs wrapped around his waist.

  The sofa was the closest place to lie down and Jason crawled on top of him, his mouth never leaving Vale’s skin or lips. “Yes,” Vale whispered, hunching up to press their groins together. “Fuck me.”

  Jason pulled away long enough to stand up so he could unbutton and remove his own shirt and open his pants. His cock was fully erect. The veins Vale had noticed before were even more prominent now, and the whole perfect piece jutted out in hard, gorgeous inches that Vale couldn’t keep his hands off.

  Jason gasped, throwing his head back, as Vale leaned forward and sucked on the fat crown. The shaft was too big to go all the w
ay in, stretching Vale’s mouth wide until the corners burned. “Oh, yes,” Jason said, voice shaking. “That’s good. Use your tongue.”

  Vale closed his eyes and sucked and licked until Jason gripped him by the hair and pulled him off. “You’re going to make me come.”

  Vale shuddered and wrenched his pajama bottoms away. “Come inside me.”

  Jason moaned, and dove down pushing Vale’s legs back. He buried his face between Vale’s soaking ass cheeks, licking and sucking on his quivering, wet asshole. “That’s right,” Jason murmured. “Get me soaked. Come on my face.”

  Vale whined and held his knees back to give Jason more room to work. Heat pooled in his pelvis and spread through his body. Pinpricks of brilliant, stinging need shimmered over his skin, stripping him of doubt and leaving him begging for more.

  Legs trembling and heart hammering, he felt the first wave of a sweet anal orgasm descend on him. He crowed, arching his back. Jason worked his tongue harder over and in Vale’s convulsing hole. And another wave crashed over him—an intense, fluttering, pulsing orgasm that left him cresting, riding the pleasure higher and higher, and craving Jason’s cock.

  Jason pulled away, rubbed the slick from his cheeks all over Vale’s pubic hair, up his treasure trail, and into his chest hair. He captured Vale’s mouth again and kissed him breathless, only moving away when he slid his fingers into Vale’s quivering ass.

  “I’m gonna make you come again,” he whispered. “And then I’m going to fuck you.”

  Vale shook and writhed on Jason’s fingers, his mind washed clean, purified of all doubt, as he succumbed to the perfect bliss of being finger fucked. Each pass of Jason’s knowing fingers massaged his prostate and omega glands, and he moaned helplessly. Jason jerked them in and out, faster and faster, making Vale buck and cry out, making his nipples tingle and peak, until Jason bent to soothe them with his tongue.

  “Darling! I’m coming!” Vale’s limbs tensed and he breathed, “Fuck!”

  His asshole convulsed at the same time his cock went rigid beyond belief and his balls drew up tight. He shot his load all over his chest, screaming and clenching around Jason’s fingers, his whole body on fire for something thicker and more.

  “Wolf-god,” Jason whispered, sliding his fingers free and then bringing them up to his own mouth to suck. Vale whimpered, still twitching, as Jason licked the slick from his fingers and stared down at Vale with adoring eyes. “You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” he whispered.

  Then he stood. “Come here.”

  Vale didn’t know if he could sit up, actually, much less stand after that. But he managed to lift onto his elbows and watch Jason sit in the wingback chair again.

  “Come here,” Jason said again, this time command resonated in his tone.

  Vale’s shaky knees barely held him, but he rose and walked to his alpha, every cell in his omega body ringing like a bell.

  “It’s your choice.” Jason said, motioning to his veiny, purple cock. It stood straight up, begging to be ridden. “I won’t force you to take me.”

  Vale licked his lips, his heart hammering and his entire body vibrating. He could walk away now. Jason would let him. He’d just come twice and was floating on a buzzing high. He didn’t need to break the last protocol. He didn’t need to consummate the imprinting. He didn’t need to take Jason’s cock inside his body, upping the ante of all they both risked losing going forward.

  But he did.

  He settled his knees in the chair on either side of Jason’s hips and stared into Jason’s eyes. The blue was nearly obliterated by the black of his pupils. “Darling, you’re perfect,” Vale whispered, heart-blinded and falling hard. He impaled himself on Jason’s straining cock.

  The fat crown pulsed just inside his stretched asshole for a scary moment, feeling too big and painful, and then more slick released, coating Jason’s cock in hot, slippery fluid. Jason thrust himself fully inside with a cry of joy that shook both of them.

  “Oh wolf-god!” Jason shouted, gripping Vale’s hips, his eyes rolled into his head. His body went rigid and then he shook all over, like a mini-orgasm gripped him. When it was over, he opened his eyes, met Vale’s gaze, and lifted him until his cock had almost pulled free, and then shoved back in again.

  Vale clawed at Jason’s shoulders. Jason was so deep inside, Vale could feel his cockhead throbbing against the opening to his womb. He moaned, wishing he was already in heat and his womb descended, so that Jason could shove past that last boundary, fill him up, and impregnate him.

  “Oh, darling, you feel so good,” Vale whimpered. “You’re going to make me come now.”

  And he meant right now.

  He threw back his head, his asshole milking Jason’s dick, his insides convulsing and squeezing as he lost control to another anal orgasm. His cock leaked between them and the room spun wildly.

  “So right,” he crooned, sweating and still greedy for more. “So good.”

  Jason dragged him down for a kiss, his cock rocking in Vale’s hole, massaging his prostate and omega glands with each thrust. Somewhere in his mind, he knew it was just pheromone delirium talking, but he swore up and down and out loud that no cock had ever fit inside him better.

  “Perfect. It’s perfect. You’re perfect, Jason. You.”

  His rambling seemed to inspire Jason because he shoved into Vale harder and faster, fucking him passionately, kissing his collarbones, nipples, and shoulders.

  Jason sobbed out shocking things. “Gonna make you come so hard. Gonna flood you with my seed. Gonna fill you up with my babies. Make you mine. Keep you. Have you forever. Fuck, I want you so bad. Vale!”

  His head flopped back and his hips jerked up, his cock expanding in Vale’s body—a prelude to a knot during a heat—and then he came. His cock throbbed against Vale’s prostate and omega glands sending another anal orgasm crashing through him. Harsh waves of bliss wracked him. He convulsed through it, weak as a kitten in its aftermath.

  They panted together in the chair, with Jason’s cock still deep inside. Seed slipped from Vale’s body, and he shuddered, remembering what Jason had said about filling him up until he overflowed.

  Jason quivered and quaked, whispering nonsense. Vale kissed his temple, trying to soothe his baby alpha down from the shaking, shuddering heights. But if he thought it was over, he’d forgotten the stamina of youth.

  Jason lifted him with a grunt and guided him back to the sofa, then fell to fucking him again as soon as his back hit the leather. The next hour passed in a tidal wave of escalating, mind-destroying anal orgasms, and culminated in a screaming, pulsing, wrenching climax tugged from his cock by Jason’s insistent hand.

  When it was over, Jason lay sweaty and shuddering in Vale’s arms. The space between them was slippery with slick, come, and sweat.

  “How’d you learn to fuck like that?” Vale slurred, drunk on never-before-known pleasure.

  “Instinct and practice,” Jason whispered, lifting up to give him a proud grin. “You liked it?”

  Vale snorted and rolled his eyes.

  Jason laughed. “I’m good, huh?”

  Vale groaned and struggled to shove Jason over so that he could breathe a little easier. “I don’t have to tell you that.”

  Jason slipped his fingers into Vale’s still twitching ass. “No, you don’t. Because I felt it.”

  Vale groaned. “You’ve exhausted me. I’m finished.”

  But he wasn’t. There was a burning itch in his skin. A familiar one that meant heat was on its way. If he was lucky, he still had a few days. And then…

  He kissed Jason’s shoulder and snuggled in to rest his head against it. He let his finger run over the golden hair growing sparsely on Jason’s chest. Vale closed his eyes, enjoying the rise and fall of Jason’s chest and the scent of his sweat and their come.

  As Jason’s breath evened out, Vale’s mind gradually cleared, and as it did, a cold dread crept over him, chilling him despite Jason’s warmth and th
e prickling, oncoming heat. What had he done? What had they done?

  Vale swallowed convulsively as his heart rate kicked up. They’d consummated the imprint. They’d violated the last protocol, and Jason would assume this meant they would contract tomorrow. Vale’s gut wrenched.

  But there was no way he could contract with Jason without telling him the truth about his past. Not after being with him this way. Not after sharing their bodies so fully, seeing the sweetness at Jason’s core, tasting it, riding it to climax again and again. Not after what they’d done. It felt wrong to withhold the truth of himself from his Érosgápe.

  Until this moment, he’d never fully believed it was possible that he and Jason would contract. He’d assumed that Jason would eventually take a surrogate at his parents’ insistence. And when Vale had allowed himself to indulge in hope, he’d always pictured a future where Jason never knew the worst of Vale’s history, where the blame for their infertility was never fully placed on his shoulders.

  But now? How could he ever contract and enter a lasting bond with Jason if he was never honest with him? How could he take the future of this young man and wad it up in the trash with his own dreams of a family life?

  He forced himself to realistically imagine Jason’s reaction to a full confession. Jason’s beautiful lips would twist in a snarl of repulsion and the blue of his eyes would go dead and cold. Vale’s heart ached and his throat hurt as he clutched Jason’s sleeping body and swallowed back tears. He wanted Jason, wanted to contract with him, but he couldn’t fool himself. Once Jason knew the truth, there was no way such a romantic, sweet alpha would stay.

  And if he did stay, how long would it be until he started longing for a child? Once Jason’s age mates met their omegas and started reproducing, the reality of what he’d given up for Vale, and how little Vale deserved that grace, would be apparent to him. He’d start to loathe Vale then and resent their bond.