“Here? On the floor?”
“On our first night in our home.” Darius’ voice was a confident as I’d ever heard. And my master plan flew out the window. The villa, the wine, the tapas, they’d be there when we arrived, and we’d enjoy them, but my sentimental omega had chosen tonight to complete our bond. I thanked the fates who sent him to me and then rolled him on top of me and brought my lips to his with no more walls between us.
“I want you to have the best, my Bunny, are you sure?” After we shared a long kiss, the hardwood floor was digging into my tailbone. When I took him, I wouldn’t be gentle, didn’t have it in me after the wait…
“You, you are the best. And this is our space, whether we are on the floor or up against the wall.” His lips curved up in a grin. “That’s a thing, right?”
I peppered his face with kisses, moving down to his collarbone and sucking lightly before answering. “It’s a thing, and we’ll dent every wall in the place, but not tonight.” No, and he wouldn’t be under me, no matter how traditional it was for the claiming. The room wasn’t cold, so I pushed down the sleeping bag and adjusted him with his legs splayed on either side of mine. “We have to catch our flight very early, so it means I can’t take all night as I’d like to.”
He flattened his palms on my chest and pushed up to glower at me. Cutest glower ever. “Alpha, I’m starting to think you don’t want to do this.”
My bear had never been so close to the surface. His roar rumbled the floor under us before my teeth pierced the shoulder of my fated mate, going deeper than I thought they should and marking him to us forever. The taste of his blood was coppery and fragrant in my mouth before I pulled back and lapped at the wound, sealing it and assuring it would never fade. I grasped his hips and lifted him over my rigid cock then lowered him, his slick easing the way into his body. Slowly, an inch at a time, I brought him down until he sat on my groin, shuddering.
“I g-guess you do want to.” His voice shook, his eyes wide.
I chuckled, eyes half closed in pleasure but not all the way. The moonlight on his face and body cast him in a magical light, one I was feeding into my memory forever. “Are you okay?” I was larger than average, had known that since skinny dipping with the other cubs just moving into adulthood. “Uncomfortable?”
“Full…so full.” He wriggled and grimaced. “But aren’t you supposed to move around in there?”
“Yes…in time.” If I “moved around in there” right now, it would be over in three strokes. “First, I want to see your fist around your cock. Show me how you like to be jerked off.”
To his credit, my omega didn’t ask questions or protest. He closed his hand around his jutting cock and rubbed up and down, squeezed, stroked his palm over the head, and smeared the pre-cum all around. This wasn’t any better. I’d be coming just watching the intent expression on his face.
Okay, alpha. Show your great self-control.
Chapter Twelve
Darius
All of my nerves slipped completely away the second the coppery scent flooded my senses, and I marked him as mine. When he lowered me onto his cock, the fullness awakened something in me—confidence. I had done that. I’d made him hard and needy. I made him scrunch up his nose slightly as his balls tightened, the way he couldn’t help but lick the pre-cum he swiped off my tip with his thumb as if it was a gift from the goddess herself. The way he held my gaze as I began to move, slowly at first and increasing in speed as I got the hang of things.
I’d had to bat away his hand a couple of times as I rode him, my need to come too great and his hand paired with his cock making it impossible not to come without getting rid of one of them, and it wasn’t going to be the cock.
“You don’t like my hand on you, Bunny?” He grabbed onto my hips, guiding me to slow down.
“In the same way you don’t like me riding you like the stud you are.” My hand came to my face, my attempt at sexy falling flat or off of a cliff possibly.
“You mean you are afraid to come before it’s over, Bunny?” I nodded, my cheeks probably twenty shades of red from my bad joke.
“You said we didn’t have time to, you know…go all night.” I closed my eyes.
Instead of speaking, his hand wrapped around me, giving me a tug with just the right amount of pressure. “Oh we have all night, omega mine. Planes have just been designated for sleeping.” He placed my hand on his chest. “How many times do you think I can knot you before the alarm goes off for us to get up? I’m thinking three. It is an early flight, you know.”
I bounced up and down, showing my agreement, and we both let go almost instantly, my cum covering his chest, his filling me as his knot grew.
I’d thought him being inside of me was everything. And then I felt his knot.
I fell on top of him, wet and breathless. “Love you.” I kissed where I’d marked him.
“And I love you, Darius.” He wrapped his arms around me. “Now, rest up because when my knot releases, oh the plans I have for you.”
And his plans, including a spanking after all, a little bit of what I called instructional bossiness, for it was sexily bossy, and I learned to let go and just feel, and some good old-fashioned snuggling.
We also learned five was the number. It was a good night.
***
“Wanna find out?” And suddenly, I got my confidence back.
“Spain,” I answered the TSA agent at Sky Harbor’s international terminal for the third time. Were they not listening?
“And the reason for your visit?”
I hadn’t gotten to the X-ray machine for my bag, and they were already giving me garbage. I didn’t get it. I had a passport. I had a ticket. I had one small suitcase. What was their problem?
“I am going with my ma—boyfriend on his business trip.” Again, information he knew.
“And the name of your hotel?” He tapped his pen against my ticket, the ticket that felt like it was getting farther and farther outside of my reach.
Bruin had already passed through this area and, at their repeated instructions, had “moved along.” I had no inkling of doubt he was waiting for me, watching the entire thing. Had it been anything other than security, he’d have probably already intervened by now. It wasn’t as if I had done anything wrong.
“I told you that, too. I don’t know. My boyfriend said it was a surprise.” Calling him boyfriend felt like a lie. He was so much more. But humans, and our agent was human from all I could scent, didn’t have an equivalent word. The closest they had was marriage, and that required legal things we just hadn’t done. Probably should since we bought a house in a human community.
We. That was still weird, too. I’d contributed a grand total of $1000, and getting him to accept such a small amount had been a challenge. It was money I’d been saving up for a fancy new computer, and he said I shouldn’t sacrifice. I pouted and won the battle but had already seen the ads showing up on his phone for computers. He’d been looking, so did I really contribute? Still, he’d insisted it was we, and, after our night together, it felt very much ours.
“You really should know your plans.” He sighed, handing me my ticket, and leaned in slightly. “If your mate weren’t pretending not to glare at me as waves of worry pour off him, I’d have thought you were a possible concern.” Huh, so not human. Or possibly human in the same way Karma was. So yeah, not human.
“Thanks. He’s trying to be romantic.” I rolled my eyes, the tension in my shoulders slipping away.
“I’d keep him. Now, move along. The line is growing.” He wasn’t kidding. Lucky we’d arrived early.
He didn’t need to tell me again, I scurried off and, after a quick run through the machine, found myself in my mate’s arms.
“What was that about?” He kissed the top of my head. “I was getting worried.”
“You and me both. Let me get my shoes on, and I’ll tell you all about it.” I gathered my things, and we headed towards our gate. We had a couple of hours t
o kill, but I wanted to know where we were needing to be. It was my first international trip and only my second by airplane, the first being a few years earlier when I went to present a paper to our sister university. This trip was going to be far more fun.
“Hungry?” he asked, tilting his head in the direction of the only restaurant in view of our gate. “It might be nice to grab a table instead of eating on our laps.” Papa Bear knew me so well, even if we were still discovering something new about each other constantly and not even necessarily the deep stuff. I’d only learned his favorite color was green a day ago.
“Sure.”
We walked hand in hand, our little carry-on bags rolling behind us, to the hostess station, where the man seated us quickly in the back corner. I could still see the gate-ish, but we had some privacy. I loved it.
Bruin sliding into my side of the booth had us getting some side-eye from the hostess, and it gave me a small case of the giggles as she walked away. Stress relief from the security bits, I’d gather.
“So what had you looking so suspicious to the agent?” Bruin’s arm wrapped around me, and I leaned into him. “Or was he looking for a sexy omega? Because if so, this one is taken.”
His thumb brushed my mating mark, and my mind raced back to our mating, and how sweet, gentle, yet in charge he was. How I didn’t have to worry about anything because Papa Bear had it all under control. How I’d never felt more cherished in my life. Probably not the best train of thought given we were in public. At least the table hid my reaction from the world. Not from Bruin, though, and it felt deliciously naughty when his hand slipped over my growing bulge and gave it a knowing pat.
“Hardly. He didn’t like that I didn’t know anything about the trip other than Spain.” Which was dumb given he saw I was traveling with another. And really, if I were up to no good, wouldn’t I have a story made up to fill in the blanks.
“Good to see they take security seriously. Wish it wasn’t at the expense of my nerves.” He forced a chuckle. “I will tell you next time.”
“Or tell me now, in case they ask again in Spain?”
The waitress came with waters, interrupting our conversation long enough to take our order of burgers and fries.
“So, alpha mine, tell me about Spain or at least the hotel—no tell me about Spain.”
“It will ruin the surprise. Are you willing to have it be like Christmas morning when you already know your gifts?”
Had I had one of those? “I’ll take my chances.”
“We are not staying in a hotel room.” He removed his arm from around me to retrieve his phone from his pocket. “I rented us a villa.”
“Ohhh, you spoil me.” And I loved every second of it.
“You have no idea the plans I have, omega mine. You have no idea.”
But I was about to find out.
Chapter Thirteen
Bruin
When we were finally settled in our business class seats and on the way to Spain, my omega rested his head on my shoulder and fell asleep. I didn’t blame him. We’d probably gotten an hour’s rest the night before, despite my intent to do so. And it wasn’t the hard floor that kept us awake.
My mind moved back to our first time together. His mating mark glowed in the moonlight as I used my grip on his hips to raise and lower him, my cock deep in his body then out almost all the way, again and again. It hadn’t been three strokes, but neither had it been long enough. Luckily, my mate’s busy hand rubbed him into spurting his cum all over both of us, a fountain of creamy goodness adding more gleam to his skin under me.
The shreds of my control fell away, my cum flowing into him then my knot swelling to hold it in place. Had we created a cub? I thought it would be nice to have time alone together, but the idea of a young one of our own made my chest swell with pride. Whenever I closed my eyes, I could see it, my omega rounding with our young.
“Sir?
I blinked, waking from a dream I hadn’t realized I’d fallen into. A good one, though. I stretched, only then realizing I was alone. Where was my omega?
“Sir, we’ll be serving lunch in a few minutes and I wanted to know if you wanted chicken or beef?” Lunch. I’d slept a long time.
“Beef, I guess.” This airlines tended to have dry chicken dishes.
“And do you know what your companion would like?”
“Same.” He must be in the bathroom, but when he reappeared and sat down just as the flight attendant was reaching our row with trays, Darius looked way too excited to have just gone to the restroom.
“I ordered you the steak for lunch, hope it’s all right.”
“Sure.” He leaned back to allow the attendant to set my lunch on the tray table then lowered his own. “Looks good.”
“We are halfway to Spain.”
He probably knew, but I was trying to figure out how to ask what had him so smiley.
“Great. I just ran into a professor from my university who is headed to Madrid to deliver a paper I did research on for him. Isn’t that exciting?”
“It is!” I forked up a piece of steak. They still served the good cuts, but they came pre-sliced since knives had become a no-no. “What’s the topic?”
He explained all through lunch and dessert—apple crisp with ice cream—but when he finished, I still didn’t understand, really. I was a science guy, and my omega liberal arts. “So this document was so obscure nobody had been able to translate the version of Old English before, and Prof is up for three or four awards for his work. For our work…”
“Omega, does it bother you he’s getting credit for what you did?”
He bit his lip. “A little, but once I finish my doctorate, I will be doing more things on my own. And my thesis focuses on another recent find I am confident will add to the conversation in a meaningful way.”
“Well, good.” He would be famous in his own right. I had no doubt. As the trays were cleared away, I spotted a man in his sixties sporting a Hawaiian shirt and khaki shorts, standing behind the flight attendant. “Is this your friend?”
“Professor Dunham.” Darius’ grin told me he didn’t resent the man at all. “I’d like you to meet my mate, Bruin.”
The prof held out a hand, and I shook it. “Nice to meet you, Professor. I understand you’re involved in some exciting work.”
Okay…way to turn on an academic. Not only did he proceed to tell me all about it in detail, plopping down in the currently vacant seat opposite us, but my omega chimed in. An hour or so later, I realized the man who’d been sitting there had never returned. I craned my neck and spotted him several rows up, probably in the professor’s spot.
The rest of the trip, I read magazines while Darius and Professor Dunham engaged in a spirited exchange of ideas. While the topic was not one I could follow or really tried to, it was a pleasure to see my omega in his element.
When the seatbelt light came on again and the pilot announced we’d be landing soon, the two sat back and sighed. “Best flight ever, son,” the older man, who I’d figured out during their conversation was a feline shifter, said then addressed me. “I should apologize for monopolizing your omega, but he’s one of the best and brightest, as you probably already are aware.”
“He’s special in a lot of ways,” I told him.
“I’m glad you recognize that.” He hesitated before continuing. “The conference I am attending is very important in our field. Would you have any objection to his joining me for the next couple of days?”
I startled. This alpha wanted to kidnap my omega right after our mating? My bear was not happy.
“I don’t know…”
“It’s a great opportunity,” he went on then winked. “And we would only be away from you during the day. Unless you’d both like to attend the closing banquet.”
Suppressing my jealousy, I tried to think like the good kind of alpha, the kind who wanted their omega to succeed and be happy and put their needs first. “Darius, do you want to go?”
He tu
rned shining eyes on me, his whole face alit with happiness. “Do you mind?”
“Not at all,” I lied. “I can get started on my project right away, so you would have been bored anyway.” And that part was true. “Would you like me to accompany you to the banquet?”
“Yes, I would love it.” Despite the professor, he peppered my face with kisses. “You’re the best alpha ever.”
Dunham chuckled. “My omega comes along when he can, but his surgery schedule doesn’t always allow it. I admire his dedication to his career, but sometimes it annoys my leopard.”
I got it. I totally did.
Chapter Fourteen
Darius
“Did you enjoy your vacation, love?” Bruin turned the car into the driveway of our new home. In theory, it now had furniture in it, but I knew from moving the few times I had that furniture did not mean livable, and I was dreading it.
“Words cannot describe how much.” Maybe it was because the people in attendance weren’t the same people who watched me grow up on campus, but I felt so at ease with my peers—for many of them were and the others at the conference would soon be. I was so professionally refreshed, something I’d needed. “Thank you for letting me do all the boring stuff,” I sassed. It wasn’t boring, and Bruin had never hinted it might be. Sure, compared to our knottings it was tame, but everything else on the planet would be, too. Sex was that good.
And to think I was so nervous about it. Or maybe the anticipation was what made the first time so amazing. No. That wasn’t it. Bruin was what made it so amazing then and every time since. There was nothing comparable to the feeling when the two of us were bonded together by his knot.
“I’m glad. I was afraid it would be a letdown given I had to work.”
Not sure how he ever could’ve thought that. He had planned tours, dinners, art galleries, and the most beautiful place for us to stay. I didn’t need any of it to be content, only to be in his arms, but I enjoyed every second of it.
Papa Bear for Darius Page 6