by Leta Blake
Carefully, he tiptoed from the room, and hearing the noise of Jason unboxing and unbagging things in the kitchen, Vale headed to the back bedroom and the large, glass wall that afforded the breath-taking view of the mountains. The bed was made nicely with the star-shaped quilt in the middle.
They hadn’t left it like that.
When they’d finally been pulled off the mountain, they’d left the house a wreck behind them, too eager and shell-shocked to get home. But now it was tidy and beautiful again. He smoothed his hand over the quilt, touching the star in the middle, and then sat down on the bed to wait.
“He’s actually asleep?” Jason asked, halting in the doorway with an expression of shock on his face. “Still?”
Vale nodded.
“I thought I’d find you chestfeeding him.”
Vale shook his head.
Jason blinked, took in the room, glanced out the window, and then back at Vale. His expression going from startled and young to hot and very, very alpha in a flicker. “Why are your clothes still on?” He narrowed his gaze, an eyebrow going up. “Get them off. Now.”
Vale grinned and reclined on the bed. “I thought you could do the honors.”
“Oh, no,” Jason said, his hands already working on his own shirt buttons. “I serviced you for months. You’re going to service me now.”
Vale’s groin flooded with heat and warmth, and for the first time in months, his omega glands released slick. “Am I?”
“Yes,” Jason growled. He glanced behind him and then closed the door until it was nearly shut, leaving it open just enough that they’d easily hear Viro if he cried. Or more like when he cried.
“Oh, darling, I like the sound of that.”
“I know. I can smell you.”
“Yes.” He roughly pulled off his shirt and tossed it aside, and yanked down his pants, doing the same. His body looked different now. His hips were slightly wider, and his stomach skin wasn’t as taut as before, but he was still attractive to Jason. He knew that in the way Jason’s eyes raked over him, the stiffness of his cock as he approached the bed with his sharp, hungry smile.
“My beautiful man,” Jason whispered, gathering Vale close and nuzzling against his beard. “My omega.”
“Mm.” He brushed his beard against Jason’s neck and shoulders, making him shiver and moan. “Like that?”
“Get that mouth lower,” Jason ordered. “You know what to do.” He flopped on his back and spread his legs, and Vale crawled between them with a chuckle.
“Oh, I do know, yes.” He rubbed his bearded chin over Jason’s chest and nipples, stopping to lick and bite them gently, and then he rubbed it down lower against Jason’s stomach, and finally over his hard cock and balls. Vale felt milk slip from his own nipples, and his cock was leaking, too. He felt like a shivery, wet mess of lust, what with the slick that dripped down his thighs.
“Fuck, baby,” Jason muttered. “You’re so sexy.”
Vale grinned. He hadn’t heard that in a few months. Beautiful, yes, amazing, yes, delicious, sweet, charming, lovely, handsome…yes, yes, yes. But sexy had been put aside for a while as he’d healed, and then Viro had sapped all their strength for too many weeks. He’d sucked Jason off a time or two, and let him reciprocate, but they’d not fully consummated their bond in the months since Viro’s birth.
“I need you,” he ventured, the usual omega bed-talk feeling rusty from disuse. “Help me.”
Jason’s eyes went dark with desire, and he reached out to guide Vale up for a kiss. They rolled on the bed together, naked, and lost in each other’s skin and mouths. Finally, with Vale on top again, Jason urged him up to straddle his hips. “Ride me,” he ordered breathlessly. “I want to look at you.”
Vale settled back onto Jason’s cock, both of them gasping as he took him straight to the root, a gush of wetness gliding the way. “Oh, fuck,” Vale said as a small climax took him. It’d been too long.
Jason growled again and hunched up, dragging Vale down against him to kiss and cuddle, while fucking up into him slowly. The steady beat of his cock took Vale apart, and he cursed softly as pleasure swept over him.
Finally, all too soon, Jason flipped him over, dominating him entirely, fucking into him hard and fast, whispering in his ear, and Vale went flying. He came hard, his cock pumping fluid and his omega glands releasing slick as he cried out.
Jason grunted and thrust deep, holding tight as he came, too. His voice was roughened as he muttered his love, and Vale clung to him, digging his heels into Jason’s ass, trying to hold him in deep.
“Ah-ah-ahhhhhhhhh!” Viro’s voice split the air, and Jason huffed a laugh against Vale’s shoulder.
“We barely made it,” Jason said, pulling out slowly, and smirking as his cum spilled from Vale’s body. “Oh, wow. Look at that.”
“Just in time,” Vale said breathlessly. “We finished just in time.”
Jason scrambled for a towel to clean them up as Viro’s protest at waking alone grew louder and louder. By the time Vale had his robe on, Jason was already down the hall, scooping the baby from his crib, and bringing him back to the master bedroom with him.
Vale snorted as Viro spotted him and reached out with chubby hands, his mouth already opening and closing in his demand for food. Jason passed him off and then went about replacing the sheets while Vale fed Viro in a chair next to the big, open window.
Viro stared off into the autumn view as he nursed, his mouth moving greedily, and his moss-green eyes taking in the changing leaves on the mountain with an intensity that Vale read as curiosity. One day soon, he’d try to write a poem about his son. For now, he was living the poem, minute by minute, day by day.
“No nap for us,” Jason said with a sweet, satisfied smile. “He’s going to be up for hours now.”
“Yes. We should take him on a walk. Show him the view.”
Jason nodded but then hesitated. “What if we see a bear?”
Vale smiled. “You’ll protect us.”
“From a bear?”
Vale laughed. “Don’t worry, darling. Don’t you know? The danger is past us now. We made it past the challenge unscathed, and we’re going to be all right from here on out.”
Jason sank down at Vale’s feet, looking up at him as Viro fed eagerly. His blue eyes filled with loving adoration. “We made him, Vale. You and me. Together.”
“Yes. He’s perfect.” Restless and wild as he was, Vale wouldn’t have his son any other way. Viro pointed toward the window and grunted. “Yes, we’ll go out when you’re done eating.”
Jason went on as if they hadn’t been interrupted. “And now we’ll always be together in him. No matter what.”
Vale leaned down to kiss Jason, barely interrupting Viro’s greedy feeding. Finally, his alpha understood. This was why Vale hadn’t been willing to end the pregnancy. But he stayed silent, enjoying the sensation of Jason’s lips on his own.
Pulling away, Jason rested his head on Vale’s knee, and the three of them sat together, looking at the mountains with the sky turning pink behind them. “This is perfect,” Jason murmured. “I’m glad we came.”
“Me, too.”
Tomorrow would bring new challenges, no doubt, and more and more as Viro grew. But the danger was past. Viro existed. Vale was strong and healthy. Jason was happy, and their love was stronger than ever. And in a moment of clarity, Vale understood why he’d needed to return to this cabin in the woods. This was the place that had birthed their heart’s desire almost against their will. And yet it held them beautifully now.
A small family silhouetted against a mountain sunset.
THE END
Letter from Leta
Dear Reader,
Thank you so much for reading Slow Birth, a novella in the Heat of Love series! To best enjoy this book, please read the first two books in the series, Slow Heat and Alpha Heat.
Extra stories for the Heat of Love series and other book universes can be found at my Patreon.
Be
sure to follow me on BookBub or Amazon to be notified of new releases in this series and others. And look for me on Facebook for snippets of the day-to-day writing life. To see some sources of my inspiration, follow my Pinterest boards. I’m also on Instagram, so add me there, too!
If you enjoyed the book, please take a moment to leave a review! Reviews not only help readers determine if a book is for them, but also help a book show up in searches.
Also, for the audiobook connoisseur, the first two books in the series, Slow Heat and Alpha Heat, are available at most retailers that sell audio, narrated by the talented Michael Ferraiuolo.
Thank you for being a reader!
Leta
Book 1 in the Heat of Love series
SLOW HEAT
by Leta Blake
A lustful young alpha meets his match in an older omega with a past.
Professor Vale Aman has crafted a good life for himself. An unbonded omega in his mid-thirties, he’s long since given up hope that he’ll meet a compatible alpha, let alone his destined mate. He’s fulfilled by his career, his poetry, his cat, and his friends.
When Jason Sabel, a much younger alpha, imprints on Vale in a shocking and public way, longings are ignited that can’t be ignored. Fighting their strong sexual urges, Jason and Vale must agree to contract with each other before they can consummate their passion.
But for Vale, being with Jason means giving up his independence and placing his future in the hands of an untested alpha—as well as facing the scars of his own tumultuous past. He isn’t sure it’s worth it. But Jason isn’t giving up his destined mate without a fight.
Book 2 in the Heat of Love series
ALPHA HEAT
by Leta Blake
A desperate young alpha. An older alpha with a hero complex. A forbidden love that can’t be denied.
Young Xan Heelies knows he can never have what he truly wants: a passionate romance and happy-ever-after with another alpha. It’s not only forbidden by the prevailing faith of the land, but such acts are illegal.
Urho Chase is a middle-aged alpha with a heartbreaking past. Careful, controlled, and steadfast, his friends dub him old-fashioned and staid. When Urho discovers a dangerous side to Xan’s life that he never imagined, his world is rocked and he’s consumed by desire. The carefully sewn seams that held him together after the loss of his omega and son come apart—and so does he.
But to love each other and make a life together, Xan and Urho risk utter ruin. With the acceptance and support of Caleb, Xan’s asexual and aromantic omega and dear friend, they must find the strength to embrace danger and build the family they deserve.
An Omegaverse by Leta Blake writing as Blake Moreno
HEAT FOR SALE
Heat can be sold but love is earned.
In a world where omegas sell their heats for profit, Adrien is a university student in need of funding. With no family to fall back on, he reluctantly allows the university’s matcher to offer his virgin heat for auction online. Anxious, but aware this is the reality of life for all omegas, Adrien hopes whoever wins his heat will be kind.
Heath—a wealthy, older alpha—is rocked by the young man’s resemblance to his dead lover, Nathan. When Heath discovers Adrien is Nathan’s lost son from his first heat years before they met, he becomes obsessed with the idea of reclaiming a piece of Nathan.
Heath buys Adrien’s heat with only one motivation: to impregnate Adrien, claim the child, and move on. But their undeniable passion shocks him. Adrien doesn’t know what to make of the handsome, mysterious stranger he’s pledged his body to, but he’s soon swept away in the heat of the moment and surrenders to Heath entirely.
Once Adrien is pregnant, Heath secrets him away to his immense and secluded home. As the birth draws near, Heath grows to love Adrien for the man he is, not just for his connection to Nathan. Unaware of Heath’s past with his omega parent and coming to depend on him heart and soul, Adrien begins to fall as well.
But as their love blossoms, Nathan’s shadow looms. Can Heath keep his new love and the child they’ve made together once Adrien discovers his secrets?
Heat for Sale is a stand-alone m/m erotic romance by Leta Blake, writing as Blake Moreno. Infused with a du Maurier Rebecca-style secret, it features a well-realized omegaverse, an age-gap, dominance and submission, heats, knotting, and scorching hot scenes.
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Other Books by Leta Blake
Any Given Lifetime
Mr. Frosty Pants
The River Leith
Smoky Mountain Dreams
Angel Undone
The Training Season Series
Training Season
Training Complex
Heat of Love Series
Slow Heat
Slow Birth
Alpha Heat
Bitter Heat
’90s Coming of Age Series
Pictures of You
You Are Not Me
Co-Authored with Indra Vaughn
Vespertine
Cowboy Seeks Husband
Co-Authored with Alice Griffiths
The Wake Up Married serial
Will & Patrick’s Endless Honeymoon
Gay Fairy Tales
Co-Authored with Keira Andrews
Flight
Levity
Rise
Leta Blake writing as Blake Moreno
The Difference Between
Heat for Sale
Leta Blake writing as Halsey Harlow
Stay Lucky
Stay Sexy
Omega Mine: Search for a Soulmate
Bring on Forever
Audiobooks
Leta Blake at Audible
Free Read
Stalking Dreams
Discover more about the author online:
Leta Blake
About the Author
Author of the bestselling book Smoky Mountain Dreams and the fan favorite Training Season, Leta Blake’s educational and professional background is in psychology and finance, respectively. However, her passion has always been for writing. She enjoys crafting romance stories and exploring the psyches of made up people. At home in the Southern U.S., Leta works hard at achieving balance between her day job, her writing, and her family.