Alpha & Omega: The Complete Collection

by Belinda Burke

  “Do you need the aloe this time, mate?”

  “Uh-uh. Wanna shower…’m all sticky. But I don’ wanna move.”

  “Good, because I’m not letting you.” This time Stelios was the one who yawned hugely, leaned back and stared with apparent satisfaction at the stream of come Niketas could feel pooling beneath his thighs. Instead of cleaning him up, Stelios shoved the stained fur out of the way, dropped down beside him and bent to kiss him, one soft, sweet tangling of tongues, before he lay back, stretched, then pulled the omega up onto his chest.

  “Such a mess. Going to drip all over while we’re sleeping—wake up even more sticky than I am now.”

  The omega grinned faintly at that, then turned and slung one leg over Stelios’, sighed and closed his eyes. “What time’s the pack coming tomorrow?”

  Stelios pressed his lips against Niketas’ hair, then stroked his shoulder idly, a line from the top of his spine to his biceps and back again. “Today, you mean? It’s nearly two in the morning. They’re supposed to come early, but you can stay in bed if you want. I can deal with my brother and his pack on my own…for a little while.”

  “Hmm…”

  “Sleep for now, mate. Worry about it when you wake up.”

  “Mmm.” Sated, content, warm in his mate’s embrace, Niketas came closer and closer to the edge of sleep. There was one other thing, but his brain was so dull, wrapped in a thick, woolly fog now, and his mate had done so much to… His mate. That was it. It was a struggle, but the omega forced his eyes open and shifted a little closer to Stelios’ side. “Sir…” He tried, but he couldn’t keep back his yawn.

  “What is it? Go to sleep, you—”

  “Thank you.” Niketas knew he was mumbling, but that didn’t matter now. “Best present. Wanted to do that for so long. ‘S…thank you.” His eyes snapped shut, as if he’d used up the rest of his energy propping them open even that long.

  Stelios’ hands swept up his back, then settled at his waist and tugged him even closer, half on the Alpha’s body, his thigh curled and lifted over one of Stelios’ and his feelings as fuzzy as his brain. So good to him. His mate was so…

  ~ ~ * * ~ ~

  Niketas woke bleary eyed, confused and alone in the pile of furs he shared with Stelios. He rubbed the back of his hand across his eyes, yawned and stretched and heard the shower start as he turned into the warmth of his mate’s empty spot. When his mate was working, Niketas usually woke just long enough for a few muttered words and a kiss, before he went back to sleep.

  The omega was tempted to do the same thing this morning; he felt drained, wondered why their loving would have taken so much more out of him than usual last night, then flushed as he sat up. Oh. That. Niketas rested his elbows on his knees, scrubbed his hands through his hair, then grinned. That had been totally worth it.

  Another yawn stretched his mouth open, made him squint. The smell of coffee drifted in through the crack in the door, and he stood with a sigh, almost considered coffee before his shower, then winced and reached around to rub at the backs of his thighs. Nope. Shower first.

  Sneaking just a little, Niketas opened and shut the bathroom door quietly, slid through the steam almost on tiptoe and had one hand on the shower door before Stelios said anything, though the Alpha didn’t open his eyes or lift his head. “I thought you were still asleep, mate.”

  The faintest smirk shifted the corners of his mouth. “I was. Then I missed you. Got room for me in there?”

  Stelios slid open the door, holding out a hand for him, then tugged him over the edge of the tub and into the shower. The water was almost hot enough to sting, but Niketas got used to it quick enough, relaxed under the stream and sighed when Stelios’ hands slid down to his hips. His mate held him loosely while he rubbed his wet, stubbly cheek against the curve of the omega’s shoulder.

  “You probably need the sleep, but I’m glad you’re awake.”

  “Yeah? Pups gonna be too much for you after all?”

  Stelios almost shrugged. Niketas felt it in the tension of the Alpha’s arms, an upward motion quickly aborted. “Maybe. At least Luka keeps them under control, more or less.”

  Niketas snorted as he reached for the soap and started to scrub away the remains of the previous night’s lust. “You mean Anna does. If Luka’s left alone with them the whole den gets pulled apart.” He let out a low sigh as the Alpha’s hands started working up his back, his shoulders.

  “Are you speaking from experience, mate?”

  “Mmm…yeah. Last time I went back—or no, the time before that? You should’ve seen the mess. Then again, there’s three of them and only one of Luka, so—”

  “They’re pups. And they don’t behave like that here.”

  Niketas shrugged again, washed his face, then sighed and wiped water away from his eyes as he blinked. “Anna’s here, though, whenever they come. And you—”

  “I’m their uncle. More to the point, I’m Luka’s twin, and an Alpha myself, so they know better.” Stelios took the soap from Niketas’ hands, tapped his ass to get him to turn around, then started to wash his back, his buttocks, his thighs, all he could reach without moving.

  “I don’t think it’s that—you’re just scary, Sir.”

  The Alpha lifted an eyebrow. “Am I?”

  “Yeah—at least, I’ve learned to worry about your punishments more than Luka’s.” He snickered as Stelios gave his ass another little swat.

  “That’s because you’re a greedy little thing, with a greedy little hole…and mouth…and hands… Now that I think about it, you’re greedy all over, aren’t you?”

  Niketas stepped back into the warmth of the water to rinse and stayed there for a minute, soaking the heat into his muscles. “If I am, it’s your fault, Sir. Never knew any of it until you got me started.”

  The Alpha took a half step forward, bent and leaned his forehead against Niketas’. The steam obscured none of the love and desire on Stelios’ face. “That’s true. I’ll accept the blame, since I’m too glad that I got to have you. That I got to have you first.”

  Niketas looked up at him through the wet curls hanging over his eyes. “Me too. And…” He paused, biting his lip, then said it anyway. “And me too.”

  Stelios darted in to claim his mouth, but only long enough to bite his lip. “Greedy, you see? But I will never have anyone else but you, Niketas. Not that way…not any way.”

  The omega smirked. “I know. Best thing since—ever. Since you mated me.”

  “It’s why I mated you.” Stelios’ voice was dry, and Niketas grinned wider. That was true enough. He didn’t say anything else, just started lathering Stelios’ back as the Alpha turned, then reached for Stelios’ shampoo and scrubbed it into the length of his hair. His mate kept him near with one hand, despite the awkwardness of rinsing with one hand.

  Then he stepped back again, and Niketas smoothed the rich conditioner through his mate’s hair. “Mmm…love when you do that. Going to get a job as a masseuse to keep you busy during the day?”

  The omega shook his head, almost rolled his eyes. “I decide to do that, the only one I’ll be rubbing down is you.” He slid his hands down Stelios’ back again, then went back to washing himself up. He bent over in front of mate to wash his legs, his feet, and Stelios stepped forward enough to press his cock against Niketas’ ass.

  “Next time I’ll take you just like this…but we don’t have time this morning. My brother will be here soon.”

  “Did he say if they were all coming?”

  The Alpha rested his forehead on Niketas’ shoulder, shaking his head. “No. Does Luka ever think ahead so much as that? He and his mate and pups, the brothers—Ares and Alexandre. But I don’t know about the other two.”

  He kissed Niketas shoulder, then sighed and stood straight again, moved out of the water so the omega could finish rinsing, and started to dry himself off. “I know you miss your pack, but I don’t know about this. I think I liked last year’s Christmas better.”


  Niketas protested as he reached behind him and turned off the water. “Don’t say that, it hasn’t even happened yet. Unless you’re the greedy one. Sir. Maybe you just like getting presents more than giving them.”

  Stelios threw his towel at Niketas’ head as he came out of the shower, and the omega rubbed his face dry, then his hair, before the rest of his body. Side by side at the long mirror over the bathroom sink, they brushed their teeth and shaved.

  Niketas was still yawning, and additionally irritated at the way his yawns kept making him nick himself. “Damn it—”

  “Careful, mate. Your pack will think I’ve been doing terrible things to you if you come out all bloody.” He palmed Niketas’ ass as he slipped out of the bathroom, and by the time Niketas finished and followed him, Stelios was dressed and tying back his hair.

  In dark green silk that brought out the deepest blue in his eyes, and black pants, the sight of him was…irresistible. The Alpha dragged his hands through his hair, then dropped them to Niketas’ hip as the omega pressed against him.

  With warm fingers, Stelios traced the line of his suddenly thickening cock as he bent to Niketas’ parted lips. “See something you like, mate?”

  “Yeah. Just like always. But since I can’t compete, I don’t think I’m gonna bother dressing up.” He dried the last of the dampness from his legs, then tugged on his favorite sweatpants, stretched and yawned and leaned up on tiptoe to kiss his mate. “You want some coffee? I think I need it or I’m gonna die.”

  Stelios seemed amused. “Yes, I do. Why do you think I put the pot on? I’ll call down for breakfast in a bit, just make up your mind what you want, and—”

  “French toast. And bacon. Piles of bacon. But coffee first… Mmm.” Stelios’ kiss was hot and lasting, and the omega licked it happily off his lips all the way to the kitchen.

  Chapter Five

  They finished breakfast a little after ten. Stelios had just sat down with his second cup of coffee and Niketas in his arms, when the buzzer went off and the Alpha was forced to get up again and let his brother and the rest of his pack in.

  Before either of their parents, Luka’s pups came racing out of the elevator, the twins Markos and Marius first, a pair of gray blurs. They were followed by the black, trotting body of their omega brother, Nyctimus. He went straight for Niketas, climbed up the edge of the couch and into the older omega’s lap.

  A soft serenade of yips came from his twin brothers as they escaped their mother’s belated attempt to hold them, sniffing at everything in their path with eager, twitching noses. Stelios watched as they circled the room, paused at the hearth, and finally settled at the Christmas tree, dazzled by the blinking lights and their reflections in the wrapping paper on the packages beneath.

  Anna grinned her apology at Stelios for a moment, before she shucked her clothes, shifted to wolf shape and slipped across the room to chastise her offspring while Luka shook his head. “Trouble, as always. They’re impossible, unless they’re watching their brother—Merry Christmas, Stelios.”

  Stelios grinned at his twin, brushed cheeks with him and embraced him with one arm. “Like us, then—”

  “When we were pups.” Luka slung himself onto the couch, nudged Niketas with his shoulder and got a yawn in return. “Why so lazy, omega?”

  “Ask your brother, Alpha.” But he grinned, nudged Luka back and let the pup in his lap worry one of his fingers with blunt milk teeth. “Looks like family life agrees with you. How’re things on the mountain?”

  Stelios turned his attention away from their low conversation as the elevator came back up and spilled the rest of Luka’s pack into his entryway. Ares and Alexandre were indeed followed by Leon and Dmitri, but Leon greeted him while blushing and avoiding his gaze.

  It had been more than a year since the day Stelios had confronted the blond on the mountain, but ever since then a single look had been enough to make Leon redden and look away. It might have been cute, except that Stelios didn’t think he was ever going to forgive Leon for taking Niketas that one time—even at Luka’s order.

  The fact that Leon now seemed interested in him changed nothing. Stelios had no interest in the blond’s crush, and only nodded at him curtly while he slapped Alexandre on the back, shook Ares’ hand and closed the door behind Dmitri. Still, when he turned back to face the sofa, he relaxed. There was such an increase of warmth in the room.

  Luka sat with an arm along the back of the couch, behind Niketas’ shoulders, and his hand resting on Anna’s back as she lay curled up beside him, tugging the twins back under control when they tried to wander. Stelios didn’t go to his chair, but let Alexandre take it. Instead he bent by the couch and picked Niketas up, pup and all.

  “Ah—hey! Sir—”

  “You’re in my spot. Don’t worry, I have another one for you.” He settled himself next to his brother, and Niketas in his lap, draping the omega’s legs across Luka’s knees. Niketas let out an apologetic whine, but Luka only shifted and sprawled a little more, stuck his arm back behind Stelios instead, and sighed as he stared into the fire.

  Apparently pleased by the new arrangement of adult bodies on the sofa, one of the twins escaped Anna’s grip and climbed his way across his father to get his paws on Stelios’ side and nuzzle at him, then pulled himself up Niketas’ thigh to press his nose against his brother’s.

  The Alpha allowed it, then scruffed the pup gently, shaking him a little. “Are you going to stay like this the whole visit? I was going to play a movie for you, but you won’t be able to see as wolves.”

  Luka caught his gaze, grinning. “Christmas Carol? Which one?”

  Stelios leaned forward, pressed his lips against Niketas’ throat, breathed in the scent of his hair, then let his eyes drift closed. “You pick. I’m not sure which one you want to show the pups. If they’ll be boys for a bit…”

  Wiggling, a little more active now, it was Nyctimus who responded first, shifting in Niketas lap from black-furred pup to plump, black-haired toddler. “Gon’ watch? Plee?”

  Niketas ruffled his hair. “Yeah, pup. C’mon, shift over if you wanna stay up here.” The little omega obeyed obligingly, and beside him, Marius shifted too, nestling between Stelios and his father, sitting half on each of them.

  “C’mon, Markos, don’t you wanna see?” Clearer, more forceful than his brother’s, the words finally compelled his twin to obey, and Anna slipped away with a last nip of reprimand to shift and get dressed again herself.

  Luka watched her go, then hefted Niketas’ legs out of the way and got up to go look at Stelios’ collection of videos. Niketas growled low in his throat as the riled, squirming pair of Alpha toddlers tried to climb him the moment their father was out of the way. Stelios watched them trying to orient themselves, while their brother submitted, wiggling out of their way, but the adult omega wasn’t having it.

  Niketas brushed them aside, then scruffed them when they bared their teeth, pressing at him with tiny sparks of Alpha aura. He tossed them down to the end of the couch, then turned a little, tucked his face into the side of Stelios’ neck and closed his eyes. “Brats. But this is nice. Missed my pack…and you’re warm.”

  The omega let out a long sigh as Stelios squeezed him with the arm around his back and nuzzled him. “That why you’re falling asleep on me?”

  But Niketas lifted a lip, nipped at the side of his throat, then yawned again. “You know why.” He closed his eyes as a low swell of music rose from the TV, and the pups immediately turned their attention to it, going still as Luka came back to his spot and called over his shoulder.

  “Anna?”

  “Coming—”

  Stelios ignored her and lifted his eyes to his brother’s pack. They were being suspiciously silent. “So, which one of you is making the hot chocolate? I’m not getting up.”

  “Damn right.” It was a sleepy murmur, and the warm, soft pressure of Niketas’ mouth slid along his throat, then away.

  “What tired him out so much?�
�� There was an amused gleam in Alexandre’s eyes to go along with his question, but Stelios only smiled with satisfaction.

  “Me. And we were up late last night in the first place. Let him sleep.”

  From his spot on the floor beside his brother, Ares yawned. “Yeah, let him sleep.” And then, as he stared at the movie-in-progress, “This old guy’s a dick, huh?”

  Stelios said nothing, only lifted an eyebrow, and Dmitri finally stood from where he’d settled in front of the fire, nudging Leon out of the way. “I’ll do it.” Then he paused at the door to the kitchen. “Where’s the chocolate?”

  “Cabinet over the stove. Sugar, too. And the mugs with tops on them for the pups are in the one over the sink…no, the one next to it.” Very shortly the soft scent of milk heating began to fill the room, and Stelios reached under Niketas’ knees, moved him a little in his lap and realized the bastard was already dozing, his breathing slow and even. He was half tempted to leave his brother’s pack with the movie and bring Niketas back to bed, but this was nice, too.

  The moment he had the thought, there was a suspicious rattle from under the tree, and he turned a sharp eye to find Markos sidling up to the packages. The Alpha growled, and, aware he’d been caught, the pup turned to grin at him. “Wanna present.”

  The response from the sofa was immediate. Luka’s growl echoed Stelios’, and Anna sighed as the other two scrambled up and peered over the top of the couch at their brother. “Present?”

  This time it was Leon who got up, went to his knees by the pile spreading out from under the tree, and picked out one package for each of the pups. Stelios turned his attention back to the movie, which had progressed to the appearance of Marley’s ghost, and rubbed his cheek against the softness of Niketas’ hair.

  So warm. All his wolfish instincts were pleased—pups in the room, and his brother, and a pack who knew to treat him as an Alpha should be treated. His mate in his lap, and the rich fragrance of chocolate flavoring the air, and the fire casting its flickering heat across his legs.