by L. C. Davis
“Do you want to go somewhere else?” Vance offered, his voice rough and raw. “Somewhere private?”
Nathan nodded eagerly. He’d never wanted anything so much in his life. He took Vance’s hand and let the Alpha lead him. Even though Nathan had been in the dorm countless times, Vance seemed to have an easier time navigating its corridors. He led Nathan to an empty dorm room on the first floor and without even bothering with the pretense of taking him to a private place for better conversation, the Alpha closed the door and pushed the omega up against it, resuming the kiss where they’d left off.
Nathan’s head was spinning again as his fists balled in Vance’s shirt. It was all so new, so powerful, so overwhelming, but there wasn’t time to process any of it. Vance’s scent had been subtly alluring in the midst of all the others, but now it was all-encompassing. That scent was doing things to Nathan’s mind and body that he’d never felt before, even if he recognized what was happening from an objective standpoint. Biology had always been his best subject. He knew what happened when an unmated Alpha and omega were in close quarters. The surge of pheromones that could easily trigger a hormonal shift, especially when there was mutual attraction at play…
Vance’s chest rumbled with a low growl. “God, your scent,” he purred.
Nathan gasped as the Alpha ground against him, rough and desperate. The kiss had been passionate, but this touch was ravishing. It was stirring a response, turning his flesh to putty in the Alpha’s hands and his mind to a far less stable substance than that. When Vance’s lips found his neck, Nathan gasped sharply. Teeth scraped against his tender flesh, teasing, threatening, promising…
Another scent flooded Nathan’s nostrils, but it was different from the musk of Vance’s scent. It was softer, sweeter… The Alpha froze against him, leaving no room to doubt that he’d noticed it, too. “You’re in heat.” Vance’s voice was gruff, almost angry.
Heat flared in Nathan’s cheeks. “I didn’t -- I’ve never…” Heat? He’d never gone into heat before. How was this even possible?
The look in Vance’s eyes cleared away any concern that the Alpha was angry, but the intensity of the lust burning within them gave Nathan more cause for concern. He realized he was trapped, even though he’d been all too eager to confine himself a moment earlier.
Nathan raised a hand to his neck, still having enough presence of mind to keep it protected. “Maybe I should go…”
“Don’t be silly,” Vance said with a smile that seemed forced somehow. “We’re just getting to know each other. Besides, you don’t want to be out there with all those other Alphas.”
Nathan swallowed hard. “Yeah, I guess not.”
“Come on,” Vance purred, kissing his neck again. The Alpha’s touch was oddly reassuring, and it made Nathan feel something he hadn’t ever since that letter had come in the mail: special. He started to relax as Vance stroked his hair, slowing down considerably. “I know what you need. You’re not the first omega I’ve gotten through a heat.”
“We’re not mated,” he breathed. “I shouldn’t…”
“We’ve got a connection,” Vance insisted. “I know you felt it, too. I don’t want this night to end, Nathan.”
“Neither do I,” he murmured against the Alpha’s lips. Vance’s fingers wound between his own and as Nathan succumbed to the Alpha’s kisses, he found the line between what he should do and what he wanted to do growing paper thin. By the time he fell asleep in a stranger’s bed with the arms of an Alpha he barely knew wrapped around him, the line had disappeared completely.
Chapter Five
KENT
Kent heard footsteps approaching as he adjusted the lumber on top of his saw bench and marked the spot he wanted to cut. He had been only half-serious about tackling the deck while he was home, but he needed something to do with his hands to take his mind off how badly he wanted to wrap them around Adam’s neck.
“Coming along nicely,” Barnabas called, as much to announce his encroachment on another Alpha’s land as to pay his son a compliment. “That’s a lot of progress for one night.”
“I’ve got time, for the moment,” Kent muttered, bringing the table saw down to sever off an unneeded hunk of wood. “At least until Adam decides to round up all the unmated Alphas of breeding age and stud us out.”
Barnabas came to a stop in front of the wood pile and sighed. “You know he’s only doing what he thinks is best for the pack.”
“For the pack or for his legacy?” Kent challenged, dropping another board onto the pile.
“Need any help?” Barnabas offered.
Kent didn’t, but he knew his father was there for a reason and Alphas had an easier time broaching delicate subjects if they had something constructive to focus on. He nodded to the pile. “You can start sanding those down, if you want.”
Barnabas went to work, spry for an Alpha his age. Like all wolves, he aged differently from humans, but the age difference between him and his mate was obvious. “So, do you miss it?”
“The war? No,” said Kent, sawing off the end of another plank. “I miss the rest of it, though. I miss waking up in the morning, knowing exactly what needs to be done and being able to trust that everyone else around me, whether they’re Alphas or betas or omegas, knows what’s expected of them. Working together, toward a mutual goal.”
“Sounds like how a pack should run.”
“Should,” Kent agreed, hoisting another board into the growing pile.
Barnabas sighed. “I know coming back is hard, Kent. I was in your shoes once, trying to figure out where I fit into a pack that had done as much changing as I had while I was away.”
“Change I could handle, but the shit Adam’s talking about? That’s the exact opposite of everything I fought for,” said Kent. “Everything the men and women I fought alongside gave their lives for.”
“I’m not saying your brother is right. God knows I don’t agree with him, but he’s trying to do the right thing the best way he knows how,” said Barnabas. “And he’s never been good at showing it, but he loves you. He’s been worried about you ever since Tyr turned out not to be the one.”
“And you’re not?”
“I’m always going to worry about my children,” the older Alpha murmured. “You’ll see one day. But I raised you all to be strong and above all else, to do what your heart leads you to do. All I can do now is trust you to do the right thing, and between you and me, you’re the one who makes that the easiest.”
Kent snorted. “I’m the troublemaker, remember?”
“You did wear that label proudly as a kid,” Barnabas said with a nostalgic smile. “But it doesn’t fit the man you’ve become. You remind me so much of someone else, sometimes it’s uncanny.”
“Who?”
“The best Alpha--the best man, really--I ever had the pleasure of knowing.”
“I’m that much of a chip off the old block, huh?”
Barnabas chuckled. “I’m not talking about myself. Anyway, I just came to tell you, I hope you won’t let what happened last night keep you from enjoying your time back here. Adam might be the Alpha now, but this is your pack, too, and it always will be.”
“Thanks, dad,” Kent sighed. Sometimes he didn’t feel like it was his pack. Sometimes he felt like the only place he belonged was on the move, in the mission. For a time, he’d thought he might find a home in someone else, but that dream was long buried. The years had softened the blow of Tyr’s rejection and Kent had come to accept that the omega had done the right thing--the kind thing--for them both by turning down his offer of marriage. Tyr’s heart had always belonged to Jaspar Amari, and Kent had come to a place in his life where he could honestly say he was happy for them both. The couple had found the happiness they deserved and as the verum pair, they had united two regions in peace that had seemed unfathomable when Kent first enlisted in the military. Kent understood now that while he had loved Tyr as deeply as he was capable of loving anyone at the time, the bond they shared
would always be friendship in its best and purest form. It wasn’t a mate bond like the one Tyr shared with Jaspar, or the one that had united Kent’s parents against all odds.
With destined mates cropping up left and right since the emergence of the first verum pair in the Council region more than thirty years earlier, sometimes it was easy to forget that not every Alpha had an omega out there who’d been destined for him. Kent himself had never put much stock into such things. He had always been too fiercely independent to prize fate over the bonds you built and the work you put into them, and yet, ever since that disastrous family dinner, he hadn’t been able to shake Adam’s words from his mind. He knew he wasn’t still hung up on his feelings for Tyr, but what was it that was holding him back from taking a mate? Fast approaching thirty in a pack where most shifters were expected to start looking for a mate when they turned eighteen, it certainly wasn’t his age.
“Be honest with me,” he said, looking up at Barnabas. “You think I should start looking, don’t you?”
“For what?”
Kent rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean. For an omega.”
“I think that no matter how well you live your life or how much the Spirits have blessed you, every joy is multiplied when you have someone to share it with,” Barnabas said in his usual diplomatic way. “Then again, I’m biased.”
Kent snorted. “And your bias? Does he think I should settle down and take a mate, too?”
“You know how he is,” Barnabas grinned, leaning on the sanding bench. “If there’s one thing in this world that’s brought Cameron as much joy as his children, it’s his grandchildren.”
Kent sighed. “I guess I am in a good position to start a family.”
“You’ve been in a good position since you built this house at the age of twenty,” Barnabas scoffed. “We know you’ve always wanted a family. We just want to see you have all the things in life you deserve. For all his talk of politics and birth rates, that’s what’s at the heart of Adam’s concern for you, too.”
Kent knew that was the truth, no matter how much it chafed at him. Hearing it from Barnabas was still a hell of a lot different than hearing it from his older brother. “I guess I could start looking,” he muttered. “It just feels weird to do it here. I grew up with all the omegas in town, I fought with their brothers and sisters.”
“There’s always Mountain Ridge. Besides, the moment Cameron and Adrian put the word out that you’re looking, there’ll be no shortage of omegas lined up.”
Kent grimaced. “Even I’m too old school for that. If I’m going to get serious about taking a mate, I’m gonna be the one who pursues him, not the other way around.”
“Fair enough.” Barnabas’ eyes took on a mischievous glimmer. “Him, huh?”
“I know most Alphas are flexible when it comes to omegas, but I’m not,” he admitted, placing the first boards on top of the concrete slab he’d already poured for the deck’s foundation. “I know what I want.”
“Nothing wrong with that. But if you told us old timers what you’re looking for, I’m sure Cameron and Adrian could point you in the right direction. Between the two of them, they know every damn wolf in the Council.”
That was true enough. Kent sighed, pausing for a moment to think about it. He didn’t have a list like the one Tyr Teak had checked off every last item on so many years earlier, and Kent realized only then that he hadn’t actually thought of the qualities he would look for in an omega once he started again. “I mean, I’d prefer someone around my age, at least. Someone who’s interested in settling down but independent enough that he can handle me being away at work.”
“That’s not a very exhaustive list.”
Kent shrugged. “I don’t believe in checking off a bunch of qualities I’m looking for, like a shopping list. I guess I’ve just always felt like I’d know the omega who was right for me when I saw him.”
“That’s a very mature approach to take to it, son.”
“That and I know if I give dad and Adrian anything more to go off of, I’ll never have a moment’s peace,” he teased.
Barnabas laughed. “A fair point. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that nothing in this world stops an omega on a mission.”
Chapter Six
NATHAN
The night of the party, Nathan crept out of the dorm room and through the lobby where Tanner and a dozen or so others had passed out, some on the floor, others on the couches. Brittany was in the beta’s lap, and while Nathan’s head was already throbbing from the drinks he’d consumed, it was clear to him that he was probably the most sober person left at the party.
When Nathan had left the room, Vance had promised he’d call in the morning. Nathan wanted to believe him, but the “connection” he’d felt so strongly in the Alpha’s arms had faded with suspicious haste as soon as his lust was sated. He had always scoffed at the idea that heat could make a person do anything they wouldn’t do under regular circumstances, but when the cold night air hit his face, he felt like he’d slipped back into his body and wasn’t sure he liked what the person who had temporarily taken over it had done.
Nathan checked his phone and winced when he saw how late it was. He’d come home at later hours from his Sci-Fi binge-watching sessions in Tanner’s dorm room, but if his parents saw him looking and smelling the way he did, he knew his life--or whatever there was left of it--was over. There were no missed calls, which at least meant they weren't panicking. He shot a text to Connor and read it twice just to make sure he hadn’t made any drunk typos.
Hey, I fell asleep watching TV. Mind if I stay over at Tanner’s?
Dots appeared on the screen immediately to signal that Connor was typing a response. Sure, honey. Did the party go okay?
Yeah, I’m just tired. Goodnight.
Goodnight, sweetheart. Love you.
Love you, too.
Nathan slipped his phone back into his pocket and doubled back to the dormitory. Tanner was still fast asleep when he made it into the lobby, but he’d draped his arm across Brittany in the time Nathan had been gone. The omega sighed as he stepped past a few drunk peers and climbed the stairs. Tanner’s door was still open but there was no one inside the room, so Nathan slipped out of his clothes and tossed them in the corner since they smelled strongly of Vance. The scent that had been intoxicating hours earlier all but repelled him now and all he wanted to do was get it off his skin.
The hot water coursed over Nathan’s body and long after he’d scrubbed himself to his own satisfaction, he still felt like something was off. His whole life, he’d been three things: the Alpha’s son, a gifted student on the fast-track for success, and a virgin. Now that two of those were off the list, Nathan had a hard time recognizing the face that stared back at him from the mirror. He’d never put much stock into his virginity, or at least, not as much as most omegas did. Even within the liberal culture of the Mountain Ridge Units, it was customary for an omega to wait to have sex until he found an Alpha who was willing to mark him with an indelible commitment. Nathan had never wanted an Alpha or his mark, so he’d never given much thought to how he would lose his virginity. On the rare occasion he did think about it, he’d always just assumed he would end up experimenting with humans when he lived among them.
Sex was one thing, mating with an Alpha was another entirely. Between the hormones and pheromones and the rapid descent into a heat-frenzied state of lust, Nathan was having a hard time sorting out his own feelings from his biology. He’d never really understood Connor’s former disdain for being an omega anymore than he understood the way some omegas took an obsessive level of pride in their status, but now he was starting to. As he pulled on one of Tanner’s old T-shirts and slid under the covers of the bottom bunk, Nathan knew that if he had the chance to do it over, he never would have slept with Vance. Time travel had never been one of his areas of interest, but all of a sudden, all he could think about was how badly he wished he could hop into a time machin
e and go back just a few hours. It wasn’t so much the loss of his virginity that troubled him as it was the loss of everything surrounding it. The fact that he’d given something that serious to an Alpha he barely knew, the fact that he had compromised his promise to himself that he wouldn’t drink, the fact that he had lied to his parents both to get into that situation and out of it.
Nathan’s eyes burned and he realized only when he felt the dampness on his pillow that he was crying. He covered his mouth to hold back the strangled sob that escaped his throat, relieved Tanner wasn’t around to see him fall apart. He’d gone out in hopes that being around other people would make him feel better, for once, but now all he wanted to do was be alone.
~
Nathan was already awake when Tanner opened the door and shuffled into the room, but he hadn’t been able to bring himself to get out of bed or do anything productive, like change back into the clothes that smelled like an Alpha he both wanted to forget and hoped to hear from.
“Nathan?” The concern in Tanner’s voice threatened to unleash the tears that had stopped at some point in the night. Or maybe Nathan had just run out of them. “Whoa, you look like shit.”
“Thanks,” he mumbled, burrowing deeper into the covers.
“Scooch,” Tanner said, forcing Nathan to scoot over in the bed to make room for him. “What’s wrong with you? You stayed here all night?”
“Nothing. I was just too drunk to go home.”
“Drunk? You only had one beer!”
“I had some punch after that,” Nathan said, rubbing his head.
“Punch? I told you not to drink that shit.” Tanner paused, grabbing Nathan’s shoulder to turn him around. “What happened with Vance? Did he do something?”