by Aiden Bates
"Tell me how much you want it."
"Want it, Alpha," Darren answered instantly, rocking back against his fingers, forward to rub his cock against Blake's thigh. "I really need it. Always need your cock. Want to be filled up with you. Be yours."
Blake loved the way the words slipped, the way they stumbled a little when his fingers rubbed over Darren's sweet spot or when he pressed against Blake's thigh. He pulled his fingers out of his mate's body, and smiled at the sound his lover made, at the way Darren's hips tried to follow him back. Curling his hand around Darren's underwear, Blake pulled them down until his mate could kick them off, and then he lifted his hips and pulled down his own, lifting his omega's body over his own so that Darren rested against his chest.
He rubbed circles over his mate's spine, up and down, and then he curled both hands around Darren's hips and gently pulled him back until Darren's hips were against his own. His omega must have already realized where it was going, because he pressed his hands against Blake’s chest and levered himself up, rocking the curve of his buttocks down against Blake's hard cock and making them both gasp. Blake's fingers curled closer around his husband's hips.
Come on, baby. I know you can take it."
Darren nodded, reaching back with one hand and curling it around Blake's length so he could lift up, guide it into himself. He moaned as the head slid in, sank slowly, slowly down on it while Blake groaned under him. When he was fully seated, Blake used the hold he had on his omega's hips to lift the slight form up the length of his cock, then drag him back down again, watching his spine arch and feeling the clench of his thighs.
"Fuck," Darren breathed. "Oh, Alpha. Exactly what I wanted. Thank you."
Blake smiled, lifting his free hand to curl it around his omega's slender cock. "So polite," he said, voice low and throaty enough to almost be a purr. "Such a good boy for me. Always so sweet."
Darren nodded, his hair falling into his eyes. "Yes, Alpha. Always want to be good for you."
Sometimes Blake thought he liked his omega best like this, all pliant and warm and whimpering on his cock. It really was a pleasant sight. He loved the way his mate's hips felt in his hands, the soft skin warm under his touch. Loved the sounds his lover made.
But there were other things he loved about his mate too. Watching Darren with Alex. The way his mate looked pulling something out of the oven, cheeks flushed with the heat. Blake pulled Darren down onto his cock again, his hips rocking up to meet his omega's body, and thought that, really, he liked everything about his boy, even the things that occasionally made him want to bend his mate over and spank him. And wasn't that a nice image? Blake moaned softly as he considered it, filled his mate up again with another thrust. He heard Darren moan in echo, and felt his mate's body tighten around him. His fingers dug little fingerprint marks into his mate's skin.
"Feel so good around me," he said, because he knew Darren liked to know when he was pleased, liked to know he was making his Alpha happy. "Always, omega." The Alpha growl slipped into the words as he spoke. "You're exactly what I want too. Exactly what I always wanted."
Darren rocked against him, hair spilling into his eyes, his lip pulled between his teeth, and Blake reached up and curled a gentle hand around the back of his neck, drawing him down until he could catch his mate's lip between his own teeth and nip just sharply enough to make him whimper.
Words fell away. It was just the two of them, moving together. The sounds that slipped from his mate’s mouth and his own filled the air between them, mingling with the sound of skin against skin. Blake kissed the sting of the little bite away, and then kissed Darren more, because he wanted to.
It didn't take long to get his mate close. Darren was always so responsive, so easy, spreading himself open and falling apart under Blake's hands. Blake kept pulling him down with the hand on his hip, tangled fingers in his hair to hold him into the kiss, and rocked up into his body. The noises Darren made were muffled in the spaces between their mouths, and he drank them down greedily, wanting every piece of his lover. Every sound. Every touch.
Darren was writhing against him, whimpering into the kiss. Blake could feel the tell-tale tremble beginning in his thighs as he thrust again. Again, and Darren wrapped his hands around Blake's shoulders, fingers curling, desperate for something to hold onto.
Blake's knot was swelling, and Blake felt his lover's fingers spasm against his shoulders as he slid it into Darren's hole for the first time. It was always like that, the shudder and the moan and his lover's cock jumping with the pleasure and the stretch of it. Blake rocked forward again, thrusts slowly, and then a third time, and the knot slipped inside and locked them.
"Come on, darling," Blake said, low and rough with need and with the Alpha. "Come for me."
He curled a hand around his omega's cock again, stroked him fast, fingers twisting over the head, and Darren spilled onto his fingers with a sob. Blake kept rocking into him, fucking him through it while his body tightened around Blake's cock.
"Good," he breathed. "Such a good boy for me, Darren."
He lifted his hand to his mate's lips and Darren obediently licked the mess from his fingers with little flicks of his tongue. Blake groaned low in his throat.
When he was done, Darren sank down against Blake's chest, laying his head on his Alpha's shoulder.
"If Alex wakes up while we're tied," he said, voice sliding a little with the lazy contentment of afterglow. "You're going to have to come up with an excuse."
Blake laughed, hand lifting to slide through his omega's hair, then stroking up and down his back.
"He'll sleep a little longer," he said.
Darren mumbled something against his chest that might have been agreement, and Blake laughed again, this time softer. It seemed his omega had plans to sleep a little longer himself. Blake didn't particularly mind. It was good to lay here like this, tied together and pressed close. Sometimes it seemed as though they never had time any more for little moments like these. He wrapped his other arm around his mate and let his eyes slide shut. It might not be a bad idea to get a little rest.
Chapter Five
When Darren woke the second time, he opened his eyes slowly, wrapped up in the warmth of his Alpha's arms. It wasn't a bad way to be woken up, really. In fact, it was a pretty nice way to wake up, and Darren smiled as she snuggled a little closer. Blake's arm tightened around him almost automatically, his mate not yet pulling away.
"Morning," Blake said without opening his eyes.
"Morning," Darren said. "Again." There was a smile in his voice to match the one on his face. "We should get up."
Blake sighed and Darren swatted him playfully on the shoulder. "Come on. Now who's a sleepyhead?"
His Alpha opened one eye, and gave him a looked that conveyed his definite lack of interest in getting up, but after a moment he opened them both, and carefully uncurled the arm that held Darren against his chest. Darren slid himself carefully off his Alpha's length, then crawled out of the bed, bending to go through his drawers for something to wear.
"Well," Blake said behind him. "That's a lovely view."
A flush heated Darren's cheeks. In the beginning, he'd thought that one day he would stop blushing. But that had never proven to be the case. Despite his Alpha's best efforts, his face still got hot every time he got a particularly appreciative compliment. He straightened up with a pair of underwear in his hand and gave his Alpha a smile that managed to be not at all shy.
"If we had more time," he said, "I'd let you get a closer look, but we've got places we need to be, I think."
Or, at least, his mate had places to be. Darren should check on Alex. He was probably awake by now, or waking, and Darren didn't want to leave him alone too long. He pulled on clothes, to his Alpha's obvious dismay. When he reached for a shirt, he heard Blake reluctantly get up to follow his example.
------
Alex was, as Darren had expected him to be, awake, laying quietly in his crib. Darren gathered t
he small weight up in his arms and held him close.
"Morning, love," he said, pressing his lips to the top of Alex's head. "You sleep well?"
His son, of course, didn't answer. He had started talking, but not much more than babble. He did smile, though, bright and happy. Darren's breath caught, as it often did.
"Breakfast, I think," he said, forcing back the sting of tears.
He didn't remember his parents. Until Blake, for as long as he had known, he hadn't had anyone. No one to hold him the way he was holding Alex. Sometimes he wanted to hold his son tight and never let him go. But Alex would have someone, he promised himself. No matter what there would always be someone to take him in, to keep him safe and love him. And they were safe here, with so many packs so close. Not like his parents had been. It wasn't going to happen again.
Darren carried Alex into the kitchen, setting him up in his high chair and starting some breakfast for him. Blake walked in a moment later, looking pleased when he saw the coffee already percolating on the counter, the smell of it filling the room. He wrapped his arms around Darren from behind, brushing a kiss against his shoulder.
"Have I told you that you're absolutely amazing?"
"Not recently," Darren answered, managing a smile.
"You are," Blake said. "Absolutely amazing."
It was silly, but the words made him feel a little better. Made him feel like he was doing something right. Blake drew away, hands lingering on Darren's waist until he moved out of arm's reach, and Darren heard him whispering to Alex. He shook his head, hiding a smile. Blake liked to pretend that he was all tough as nails Alpha, but there was really nothing hard about his Alpha. He was strong, yes. Brave in a way that Darren was pretty sure he would never be, but he was still soft. Always so gentle. Even when he hadn't known Darren, he'd been gentle with him. Kind. Darren found himself thanking his stars once again, so very grateful for the Alpha who had found him and taken him away from the life he'd been trapped in. It was, he thought as he spooned Alex's breakfast into a bowl, a little like a fairy tale.
Darren made eggs and bacon for Blake, who ate them with obvious relish and then pulled him in for a long kiss before he headed out the door. Alex, of course, had to be cleaned up, and then Darren sat him down with a few toy, settling down beside him with a basket of laundry that needed folding.
His thoughts turned back to his parents and Lydia’s announcement the night before.
What was he going to do about it? Was there even anything he 'could' do? He turned the thoughts over in his head, turned the few washed out memories he still had over with them. He remembered a river, just vaguely. That was most of it. If he went to Hatfield, would he find one? He wasn’t sure he wanted to find out.
He'd done pretty okay without parents, all things considered. Those first years hadn't been easy, but he'd made it through them, and he'd found Blake, and now he was happy. He had a family. Did he really need to find the one that he'd never even met?
The thoughts followed him around as he worked, as he laid Alex down for his nap and got him up again. By the time Blake came home, he had made a decision.
Chapter Six
Blake stepped through the door and let it close behind him with a sigh. From the kitchen, the scent of food drifted down the hall, and his stomach grumbled in response. It had been a long day.
He smiled when he saw Alex sitting in his hair chair. Their son wasn’t so much coloring as he was haphazardly banging giant crayons against a sheet of paper laid out over his tray, but he would get there.
"Evening, darling," he said as he stepped farther into the kitchen, leaning down to press his lips to the nape of his mate's neck. "How was your day?"
Darren stared at the pan he was stirring like it held the answers to life. Blake saw his teeth catch his lip. His eyes narrowed. "If you have something to share with me," he said, careful to keep his voice gentle enough that Darren wouldn’t think Blake was angry with him. "I'd like to hear it."
Even after all this time, his mate still blushed so easily. Blake watched his cheeks stain red, and had to resist the urge to smile.
"I think I want to go to Hatfield, he whispered, not meeting Blake's eyes.
Blake went still. He took a breath and let it out again before he spoke, turning his mate's words over in his mind.
"You want to go to Hatfield?" he repeated, to be sure he'd heard the words correctly.
Darren nodded, obviously not certain enough to speak, and Blake wrapped his arms a little closer around the slender body, laying one hand over the bump of their baby in his mate's stomach.
"Okay," he said. "Want to tell me why, darling?"
His omega stirred the food around in the pan again, silent for a moment. "I guess I'm hoping that if I am from there, I'd recognize it," he said quietly. "That maybe I'd know for sure once I saw it." He swallowed, then rushed on. "I was thinking that maybe I could travel with Lydian and Daniel when they go back, if they'd let me. That way I wouldn't be alone."
Blake laid a finger against his lips before he could go any further.
"And just where am I in this plan of yours?"
Darren wet his lips with his tongue when Blake pulled his hand away, and didn't look up. "I didn't know if you'd be able to get time off work."
"Darren..."
His omega looked up, turning enough to meet his gaze. He must not have liked what he saw there, because he looked away again.
"I know that it's not ideal," he said, too quickly. "I could wait until you get time off. I guess there's no real rush. Not like there's going to be anyone there waiting for me. I just-" He cut himself off, falling abruptly silent.
"Darren," Blake said again. "Sweetheart, you know I love you. But there is no way I'm letting you go that far without me. Not pregnant. And not anywhere. But least of all to a place that is threatened by hunters with two betas no one in my pack knows well."
His mate tensed in his arms, and Blake expected an argument, but after a moment Darren's shoulders slumped, and he nodded.
"I know," he whispered. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have even brought it up."
Blake pressed a kiss to his omega's neck again, another to his jaw.
"You don't need to be afraid to ask me about things, Darren. I'm not going to be angry with you for sharing that you have ideas, or that you want to do something. But I'm also not going to let you put your life at risk."
Darren nodded again, obviously a little miserable about even having asked, and Blake found himself wishing, not for the first time, that he could find all the people who had ever treated his omega like he and his words meant nothing and make them realize what they'd done. His jaw tightened, and he forced himself to relax, didn't want Darren to feel the tension in him.
"It's not bad to ask," he said again.
He sighed.
"Listen, darling. I know what it would mean to you to go there. So, if I can get the time off, I'll take you myself."
Darren turned in his arms to stare up at him.
"Truly?"
"Truly," Blake answered. "I promise."
The smile that broke across his mate's face was shy, but it lit up his expression, made his eyes bright, and Blake was pretty happy about having put it there. He bent his head and kissed Darren gently, fingers sliding into his hair.
"You taste good," he said when he pulled back, smiling.
Darren dropped his gaze, bad as always at accepting compliments, though he’d gotten better over the years at believing them, but his smile was still there.
"Dinner will be ready in just a minute," he said.
Blake reluctantly untangled himself from his omega and went to sit at the table, taking the seat beside Alex's highchair and helping him color until Darren joined them with dinner a few minutes later. His mate still seemed a little preoccupied, but some of the tension had gone out of him, and Blake was pleased to see that he had stopped looking as though he was chastising himself for mentioning that he wanted to see the place his parents might h
ave lived.
Chapter Seven
Getting the time off proved to be more of a hassle than Blake had entirely wanted to deal with, but he managed it in the end. They would be going back with the wolves from the Waterbury pack in two weeks. He wasn't sure he wanted to travel with them all the way down, not certain if hunters might know their faces.
They would be safe in Hatfield, he was almost certain. If the pack there had been driven out nearly two decades ago, the hunters weren't likely to be setting up watch there, and as long as he and Darren didn't shift they'd be safe, though Darren would have to wear clothing loose enough to hide the beginnings of his pregnancy. Alex they would leave with his parents. He would be safer at home, and Darren had insisted, one night as they lay in bed, on not bringing him. The fear in his mate's voice had been enough that Blake had almost written off the whole venture, except that Darren had assured him that he wanted to go.
The weeks passed faster than Blake would have liked. It was only a little time before they were packing their things into Blake's car, handing Alex off to his parents. Grey had come to see them leave, and he clung for a moment to Blake when Blake moved to pull away.
"Be safe," he whispered against Blake's shoulder. "Please."
"We will be," Blake answered. "I promise, Grey. We'll all three come home unharmed."
Grey nodded against his shoulder and stepped back, leaning into the arm Nicholas wrapped around him.
His mother too admonished him to be careful. His father clapped him on the shoulder and told him to take care. Blake watched them all say their goodbyes to the guests, and then hug Darren, whispering the same warnings into his ears. When it was over, he and Darren turned and got into the car, Lydia and Daniel sliding into theirs, and then they were pulling out of the driveway, headed south.
It was a long time since Blake had driven south. The last time had been two years ago. Or at least the last time he'd going anywhere far enough south for it to matter. It had been the trip he'd met Darren on, and he reached over and laid a hand on his mate's thigh.