Winterstoke Wolves Collection : An MM Mpreg Shifter Romance Bundle

by Sasha Silsbury

  Gregor shrugs. He doesn’t look up. He uses the rock to scrape off the rough gray outside of the tuber. “All sorts. Stuff like orchids, mostly to make a little money. People pay good cash for the rare ones. Bedding and veggie plants for my clients. Anything I think is interesting. I’ll show you some time.”

  Aaron smiles to himself in the dark. “I’d like that.”

  Gregor takes a bite into the tuber and makes an exaggerated ugh face.

  Aaron smiles and copes him. It’s not as bad as Gregor makes out, although it’s not great. It tastes like nothing at all: crunchy, starchy nothing that he has to chew a thousand times in order to swallow.

  They eat in silence, then Gregor lies down beside him.

  “You should get some sleep,” the alpha says softly. “Tomorrow morning, we’ll find a way through the fence.”

  Unless I’m not capable of doing anything except begging you to fuck me. Aaron doesn’t say it out loud. He can feel the heat coming. Under normal circumstances, he would have a day or so, but these are far from normal circumstances.

  He ducks his face before Gregor can see what he’s thinking but the big alpha picks up on it anyway.

  Or at least, he picks up on something, even if it’s not quite the right thing. He turns over onto his side, facing Aaron.

  “I’ve done it before,” Gregor says, blue eyes suddenly serious. “Resisted omegas in heat, I mean. I monitor the Aylewood run. We get injuries most years, even though we try to reduce them. I bring the omegas down from the mountain to the clinic. It’s not easy but I can resist it. I don’t want you to worry about that. You’re not in any danger from me.”

  “Does it take a week?”

  “What?”

  “To get those omegas to the clinic. Does it take you a week?”

  Aaron’s research has indicated that forced heats can last anything from a couple of hours to a month, and he has no idea what chemicals are working their way through his body.

  Gregor looks away. “No. A couple of hours usually.”

  Heat scent is already starting to roll off of him in waves, and he knows that Gregor can scent it too by the way his nostrils are flaring, and how his eyes darken whenever he looks at Aaron.

  A couple of hours. From Aaron’s online studies, he knows that’s impressive for alpha. It’s also a long way from a week or a month.

  It won’t be a month, he thinks. The run only lasts a week. They can’t have omegas still in heat at the claiming ceremony at the end. It’ll be something fast acting and fast ending.

  “Get some sleep,” Gregor says again.

  Aaron lies back on the dry grass. Another time – any other time – he’d be floored by the starscape above. He shuts his eyes.

  He hears Gregor settle in beside him, his body close enough that he can feel the warmth of his bare skin against his own, but not close enough to actually touch.

  His scent envelopes Aaron, warm and comforting and smelling of the coming of summer.

  A hot shiver runs down his body, tingling down his neck and spine, pooling hot warmth into his groin. Aaron shuts his eyes tighter, letting his head loll to the side as he attempts to relax.

  Go to sleep. It’s hard knowing that he might wake up mindlessly horny. This is may be the last time he’s capable of thinking clearly for days. It’s hard to let go of that.

  He wonders how long it’ll take him to start begging, and how long Gregor is capable of holding out.

  He imagines kneeling on all fours, shoving his ass into the air and holding his legs open as wide as he can while he begs and pleads.

  Alphas aren’t supposed to be able to resist. He knows that. He might not have had the experience but he’s watched enough porn through the pale white light of his monitor. He knows how it works.

  Alphas lose control. They grab and pinch and manhandle. If he doesn’t get out of here soon, he’s going to be covered in bruises.

  Don’t think about that.

  Think about the good stuff. Think about soft lips on his, a hot tongue dipping into his mouth.

  Another shiver wracks his body, as another wave of heat flushes over him. The distinct scent of slick fills the air. He forces himself to keep his eyes closed and his breathing steady.

  Go to sleep.

  There’s a shuffling sound beside him as Gregor shifts in his sleep.

  Touch me. He’s craving big hands on his body, moving over his skin and rubbing circles into his muscles.

  Gregor shifts again.

  Oh god, he’s not asleep. Aaron shuts his eyes tight enough that he sees stars on the inside of his eyelids. If he opens them and sees Gregor looking at him, he’s going to beg, he knows it and the heat hasn’t even started yet. Not really.

  The alpha gets up. Aaron keeps his eyes closed and his breathing steady. Footsteps sound on the rock, and then there’s the distinct sound of Gregor shuffling down the side of the boulder.

  Aaron lets his eyes fly open. Where is he going?

  Not any further. There are no footsteps below. Gregor stays where he stands, breathing heavily in the night air.

  Then there’s the distinct sound of him spitting followed by the slick-slick sound of jerking off.

  It doesn’t last long. Within minutes, Gregor gives out a soft grunt and then he’s climbing back onto the rock.

  Aaron shuts his eyes again. His own dick is painfully rock-hard now and he can feel slick pooling between his ass cheeks. Gregor can’t know he heard that, even if it’s not going to matter tomorrow.

  He forces his breathing to sound deep and even. Gregor settles beside him again, and it’s only a few minutes before the alpha’s breathing slows.

  Aaron risks opening his eyes a sliver. Gregor is fast asleep, lying on his side facing Aaron, mouth half open. He’s close enough that his breath is warm against Aaron’s lips.

  Aaron leans into it, letting his forehead settle against Gregor’s own. The big alpha makes a satisfied noise but doesn’t wake.

  Aaron breathes in his scent, deeper and deeper, until he sinks into unconsciousness.

  GREGOR

  bindgrass and plastic bottles

  Aaron fills Gregor’s dreams as the glorious scent of his heat rolls off of him during the night: Aaron staring up at him, pupils blown wide with lust as Gregor fucks into him from above. Aaron reaching up and cupping Gregor’s cheek with a soft palm.

  Gregor wakes constantly as the omega tosses and turns fitfully beside him, delicious heat scent rising off of his skin. He has to sneak off another three times to get some relief.

  By the time dawn comes, his throat is dry and his body is tired and aching.

  Aaron is still asleep, his face flushed red, mouth open and displaying a sliver of pink tongue.

  Gregor looks away. They both know what’s coming. Just as they both know that Aaron doesn’t really want it.

  He sniffs the air. It’s rich with omega heat, so much so that it’s difficult to scent anything else. Gregor breathes in deeper, closing his eyes so that he can concentrate.

  On the edges of Aaron’s scent, he can just about pick up the life of the desert: adderthorn trees and sage, the small scent trails of mice and scorpions across the sand, tiny drops of dew on bindgrass.

  He sniffs again to be sure, but the only alpha in scenting distance is him.

  Gregor creeps silently off of the boulder, slipping down onto the soft sand below.

  He cocks his ears, listening for the sounds of Aaron’s breathing shifting, but it stays still and even, deep in sleep.

  He walks away a few yards and takes his dick in hand under the cover of one of the adderthorn trees.

  Gregor’s always been a take-charge kind of guy, and every single time he’s come in the last six hours, it’s been to the thought of Aaron pinned under him, writhing in pleasure as Gregor shoves into him, strong arms pinning the omega down. In his mind, Aaron likes it. Hell, he loves it.

  Even so the thought makes him feel guilty. He doesn’t know how Aaron would feel about hi
m thinking that about him.

  Reality’s not going to be like his fantasies. He knows it.

  Gregor’s going to have to be the one to keep control if they can’t get out of here. He’ll have to behave as much like a gentleman can when he’s an alpha fucking an omega through his heat.

  That’s going to mean jerking off as often as possible to take the edge off.

  He tugs at his dick with ruthless efficiency, letting fantasies soak into him. Aaron is going to wake up at any moment so he needs to be quick.

  Aaron twisting his neck, offering it to Gregor to bite. Brown eyes, dark with hunger stare into his own, begging him to do it.

  Gregor bites down hard and without mercy, feeling the skin break under his teeth as blood and rich omega scent floods into his mouth.

  Gregor grunts, coming hard in his hand as he spills into the sand.

  Fuck.

  He breathes out a puff of hot air. Now that his dick is at least temporarily sated, other needs come rising to the surface. He swallows, seeking respite for a bone-dry mouth at the same time as his stomach rumbles.

  They need to get moving and either get back to Dan at the car or find something to drink before the sun gets much higher.

  He climbs back up the boulder to find Aaron awake and sitting up, the omega’s face still flushed with heat and... embarrassment?

  The moment the thought registers, his nostrils pick up the distinctive scent of omega slick and omega come against the dry grass.

  He feels his face breaking out into a grin before he can think better of it. He’s not the only one seeking relief this morning.

  The thought is followed by a flush of shame. Aaron doesn’t have any choice in this.

  “We better get moving,” he says. “Maybe see if we can sniff out a water source before we try again at the fence. Come on.”

  He doesn’t wait to see if Aaron obeys his instructions, just turns and hops back down to the warming sand. “Let me know if you need help getting down,” he calls over his shoulder.

  He’s answered by the sound of feet landing in soft sand.

  “Right, let’s get a move on,” he says, but the sound of feet on sand doesn’t follow him.

  He turns. Aaron is watching him with a worried expression, his brow furrowed. “What?”

  “What do you mean ‘sniff out a water source’?”

  Gregor raises his eyebrows. “Er, I meant ‘sniff out a water source’? Put our noses to the ground and scent out something to drink. There has to be something.”

  “Oh my god,” Aaron whispers. He’s staring with Gregor with horrified eyes.

  “What?”

  “You don’t know anything about the Red Run, do you?”

  “I know some,” Gregor replies. He doesn’t like the look Aaron is giving him. It’s the expression he sees on his clients’ faces when he tells them that the pretty creeper with the fluffy white flowers is actually knotweed and it’s going to cost thousands to remove.

  It’s the look of a man who has realized that things are about to get a lot worse.

  He can almost see the gears turning in Aaron’s head, as a dozen thoughts race through the omega’s mind.

  “Okay, what am I missing?” he asks, finally.

  “There is only one water source and that’s the river. There.” Aaron points to his right.

  “Yeah, I know about the river,” Gregor says. He saw it from the viewing platform. “but there’ll be something else. Places like this always do. A spring. An old well. There’ll almost certainly be something if we climb Thorn Peak and get high enough.”

  Aaron is staring at him, eyes wide with horror. “No. There’s only the river, and there won’t be much of a flow this time of year.”

  It’s only just past dawn and the sun is already sending heat prickles to the back of Gregor’s neck. He reaches up and scratches, finding his skin slick with sweat.

  More water gone, he thinks.

  Aaron is still watching him. “You just came, didn’t you?”

  For a moment, Gregor thinks he’s talking about him jerking off under the adderthorn, but then he realizes. Aaron means coming to the Red Run.

  “There wasn’t a whole lot of time,” he says honestly. “Between Ben telling him you needed help, and needing to get here before cut off...”

  He shrugs. “I’ve never paid much attention to the Red Run,” he admits. “I never intended to come within a thousand miles of the place.”

  Aaron nods slowly, his jaw clenched. “That’s what I thought.” He sighs, then his eyes narrow in determination. He looks around. He walks over to the heavy adderthorn tree and pulls a fallen branch from its roots. “Well, the good news is that I’ve paid it plenty of attention. That’s what you do if you’re stuck in a single room for years and think this is where you’re going to end up.”

  Gregor frowns. A single room? He opens his mouth to ask the obvious question, but Aaron is still talking.

  “So, this is the Red Run,” he says, drawing out something like a wonky oval in the sand. “It’s got a long history but the valley was chosen because it has a lot of natural boundaries. Makes it easier to keep the omegas from getting out.”

  His face is screwed up in concentration as if he’s remembering something he learned long ago, and he’s reminding himself as much as he’s telling Gregor.

  “Here’s the registration center and here’s Blood Moon,” Aaron continues, stabbing rectangles into the oval. “Both of those are definitely no-go areas. They’ll be crawling with blood wolves wanting to send us back. No omega ever made it out that I know of with the patrols. Now that they’ve put the fence up...”

  “There’s no way out,” Gregor says, half under his breath. They’re stuck in here for the week.

  Aaron nods, his mouth drawn into a thin tight line. He draws a long line straight up above the Blood Moon rectangle. “That’s the river, called Blood River. That’s because of the red sand by the way, not anything to do with blood.”

  “I knew that,” Gregor mumbles, but Aaron either doesn’t hear him or he’s so absorbed in his description that he doesn’t take it in.

  “The river makes a natural boundary. We can try cross it but it’s the only water source in the whole area. Every alpha who doesn’t have an omega is going to wait it out there, because it’s the only place that omegas can get water.”

  “Sixteen to one,” Gregor puts in, glad that he finally has something to contribute.

  “What?”

  “That’s the ratio this year. I heard it from Corrigan himself. Sixteen alphas to every one omega.”

  Aaron’s face pales even beneath the heat flush and Gregor wishes he hadn’t mentioned it, but then the omega’s eyes flash and his mouth tightens. Aaron nods his head, as if confirming something to himself.

  “We avoid the river,” he says.

  “Yes,” Gregor agrees, even as both of them know that they are going to need to get water from somewhere. How long can a man survive without it? Gregor has three days in his head, but he suspects that’s the longest. It’s going to be a lot shorter if he keeps sweating like this and if the sun keeps beating down.

  Aaron shakes his head as if he’s thinking the exact same thing and needs to physically remove it from his head.

  “There’s Thorn Peak and the salt cliffs. I know you’re thinking spring or mountain water, and maybe there is something, but I’ve been reading the run forums for years. No omega who’s ever been on the Red Run has ever found water there. Those who were planning to look simply didn’t come back to the forum.”

  Gregor looks down at the scraggly map on the sand. “And here’s the fence,” he says. “If that fellow last night was telling the truth, we’re not going to get through there.”

  “Yeah, that didn’t used to be there. They used to just have patrols. I guess they upgraded.”

  “You didn’t know that with all your research?” Gregor regrets saying it the moment that the words come out. It sounds like an accusation.

/>   Aaron doesn’t seem to notice. He gives Gregor a sad smile. “I thought I was going to do Aylewood. That’s what I was planning for.”

  “Yeah, that’s not like this,” Gregor replies.

  They don’t restrict the water for one thing. Aylewood has a river and a dozen run off streams. Even then, he and his brothers leave water and food drops during the run. They’re not supposed to. It’s meant to be against the spirit of the thing, but he’s always figured the runners don’t have to take anything they don’t want.

  “Jeez,” he says, running his fingers through his hair. “So, we’re stuck here. And we need water, but we’ll have to go through dozens of alphas to get it. Possibly multiple times. We can maybe go a day without water, but not more than that in this heat.”

  “Maybe just once,” Aaron says thoughtfully. “If we’re lucky.”

  Gregor gives him a quizzical look.

  “Plastic bottles and plastic bags,” Aaron replies. “The first we can fill up, the second we can use to catch condensation. Or at least in theory we can. I’ve never had a chance to do it in practice. If we can get those and then do a single water run, we can hole up somewhere safe. Maybe Thorn Peak. I know there are some hiding places there. We can wait the whole thing out.”

  “I didn’t exactly bring my recycling,” Gregor says before he can stop himself.

  “Very funny.” Aaron rolls his eyes. “Fortunately, I know exactly where to get them.”

  Gregor raises his eyebrows.

  “At least I might. Probably. Possibly. There’s a possibility.” The dark-haired omega stares at the sand map, as if it might reveal the location of plastic treasure at any moment. His delicate face is crumpled with worry. He doesn’t look convinced.

  A flood of protectiveness washes over Gregor. “We’ll get them,” he says.

  Aaron’s worried face is like a kick to the stomach. And if we don’t, I’ll just have to take down every damn alpha on the Red Run instead.

  AARON

  too many ifs and a rabbit-rock