by Hawke Oakley
But that wasn’t even the worst part. Aside from being tired, I was extremely, humiliatingly horny.
I didn’t know what the hell was wrong with me. My whole body felt like it was on fire. My mouth was dry and my body ached and longed for something. If this was just what being pregnant was like, I never wanted to go through with this again.
My half-hard cock strained against my pants as I shifted position in bed. Goddamnit, I wasn’t doing anything except just laying here, but my stupid hormones were in overdrive. I knew being pregnant caused a flare in arousal, but this was ridiculous.
It was late, and I was exhausted, but my hard dick wouldn’t let me fall asleep. As much as I tried to ignore it, it obviously wasn’t working. Shutting my eyes, I tried to think about something else. Anything else. I thought about mangoes. Just a fruit. Then I remembered the way the mango juice had dripped down Jericho’s chin a few days ago. I quickly pushed that thought out of my mind.
Jericho. Why the hell couldn’t I stop thinking about him?
I was already pregnant, so it couldn’t be his alpha scent or whatever. My body was probably just playing tricks on itself.
But at the same time, I felt desperate, more than I ever had in my life. I ached and longed for something that I didn’t have - a big cock inside of me. I groaned and threw my head back against the pillow. I didn’t regret being artificially inseminated, because I didn’t want to fuck some random alpha, but I did regret not having the full knotting experience. That was probably why my body was reacting the way it was now. Or at least that’s what I told myself.
Trying to sate my desperate urges for now at least, I let a hand trail down to my cock and I gripped myself at the base tightly. I was already leaking precum and I had barely touched myself. Slowly, I moved up and down my shaft, squeezing in places. My cock was throbbing and hard.
But that wasn’t good enough. Struggling not to let out a whimper, I let my free hand move down to my ass.
My imagination ran wild. In my mind, a huge powerful alpha growled on top of me, pinning me helplessly to the bed.
Yeah, I hated alphas in real life. But this was a fantasy and I could do whatever I wanted in the safety of my own thoughts.
But my eyes snapped open when I realized that - once again - it wasn’t just any alpha. It was Jericho.
I almost groaned in frustration and gave up jacking off. But my cock was nearly full to bursting and I needed this release desperately. So I sighed and closed my eyes and give into my fantasy.
The alpha - Jericho, I admitted - grinned down at me in the darkness, his canine teeth glinting. He growled and reached down to pierce the sensitive skin on my throat with his teeth, gently but possessively. He was claiming me as his own. In real life, I hated it. But in the fantasy it was all I wanted; to be claimed, to be owned, to be fucked and bred over and over again.
Moaning softly, I let a finger slip inside my hole. It was slick already from arousal, as if there was really an alpha in the room with me waiting to push his massive cock inside my ass. The thought made me shudder. I followed that train of thought. I imagined the head of Jericho’s cock breaching my entrance, splitting me open, pushing deeply inside. As I thought of it, I added another finger and bit my lip at the sensation. I wanted more. The feeling of being full was intoxicating and I couldn’t get enough of it.
In my imagination, Jericho growled and bit down harder on my neck, enough to draw blood, but it sent a shockwave of pleasure down my spine. He was claiming me like a piece of meat, like his fucktoy. His cock swelled and enlarged. It filled me tightly. I added a third finger inside my ass, then slowly removed them before thrusting them back inside, hard.
A sharp cry escaped my lips. I had to clamp down hard on my cock to keep from exploding prematurely. My breath was ragged and short. I was so close to cumming, but I wasn’t done with my fantasy.
Swallowing hard, I thought about Jericho digging his nails into my hips as he thrust deep inside my ass, over and over. I imagined him growling my name as he laid claim to me, making me his little omega bitch. I imagined the sound of his balls slapping against my skin with every thrust. With a fourth finger now fucking my ass, I imagined how tight and thick his cock must be now, engorged and swollen and close to bursting -
Then I imagined him snarling in pleasure as his orgasm hit, and his cock shooting his hot seed deep inside my womb. Thick ropes of cum filled me, claimed me, and he rode it out for what seemed like an eternity, impregnating me -
In real life my own orgasm hit me like a truck. My ass clenched around my fingers. My cock throbbed violently and came, spilling over my hand and stomach. I cried out loudly.
I lay there, panting and sweaty, a total mess. But a satisfied mess.
Then, as the pleasure passed, the horror of what I’d just imagined dawned on me.
Even worse - I heard rapid footsteps coming up the stairs and then the door burst open to reveal the face of the very alpha I’d just had a sex fantasy about.
“Uh,” Jericho said.
His eyes were as wide as dinner plates and his expression was frozen in shock. He didn’t blink until a minute later.
Similarly, I didn’t know what to say. Or do. I kind of just wanted to evaporate and disappear off the face of the earth, to be honest.
“Uh.” Jericho finally averted his eyes. His cheeks burned with shame. “Sorry. I, uh. I didn’t know you were - yeah. I just ran up here because I heard you making noise and I thought you - I thought something was wrong, or you were sick again…”
Finally pulling myself together, I gripped the covers and frantically pulled them over my naked body. My whole face burned. I’d never been so embarrassed in my life. The gravity of what just happened was hitting me like a truck.
“I am so, so, so sorry,” I said. “Holy shit.”
Jericho chuckled nervously. “It’s okay. I’m, uh, the one who should be sorry for barging in.”
For a brief moment, we shared an awkward glance before we both quickly looked away.
“I guess if you don’t need anything, I’ll leave ya alone,” Jericho mumbled. He backed out of the door and closed it. I heard his footsteps scurrying away until he was out of earshot.
On one hand, I was suddenly immensely grateful that I hadn’t cried out his name while I came.
On the other hand, I had no fucking idea how I was ever going to live this down.
As my fantasy was shot and reality came back to me, I realized what the fuck had just happened. I was having sex fantasies and orgasming over the alpha I lived with. The alpha who I was definitely not in love with or even interested in. The alpha who had been taking care of me since the day I stepped foot in Indigo Mountain pack. The alpha who just caught me masturbating in his bed.
***
By nightfall, I knew I probably should drag myself out of bed. It had been hours since the debacle with Jericho walking in on me. I didn’t want to deal with this mess of a situation in the morning, so I knew I had to do it now.
I hauled myself out of bed and trudged to the door. As I slowly made my way down the stairs, I wondered what the hell I was going to say to him. Sorry you caught me whacking off in your bed?
I found him sitting at the kitchen table, his nose buried in a book - it seemed to be an encyclopedia. His brow was furrowed in concentration as he studied the pages.
For a second, I almost turned around and went right back upstairs. He seemed peaceful, reading here all by himself. Did I really want to disturb that?
But, of course, he saw me from the corner of his eye, and then there was no escaping him.
“Oh!” he said. A hint of a blush spread across his cheeks. “Mason. There you are.”
I froze mid-step. “Hey,” I said stupidly.
“Come on over,” he said, beckoning me with a hand.
Not having any other choice, I shuffled over to the table and had a seat. Earlier I had rehearsed some apologies and things to say, but none of them were coming to me now. Figures. I just
stared dumbly at the tabletop and waited for him to say something. Maybe he would scold me and tell me not to do it ever again. That was fine. I just wanted to get out of this situation as soon as possible.
Then Jericho pushed the book towards me. It was a thick hardcover with large pages, printed in big font that was easy to read. There were equal parts text and diagrams on the page.
“Look,” Jericho said, pointing at a block of text. “It says here that, er, omegas get… more easily aroused while pregnant.”
Heat flushed into my face immediately. “W-what?”
He motioned innocently to the page again. I looked down. It was a whole section about omega arousal during pregnancy.
Was this book an entire encyclopedia about shifter pregnancy?
“Why do you have this?” I asked bluntly.
Jericho just blinked. “Well, I… To be honest, I didn’t know if what you were going through was normal, and I was kind of too embarrassed to ask my friends, so I ran out and bought this book…”
I stared at him for a moment before bursting out into laughter. I hadn’t had this kind of gut-wrenching laugh in a long time. When I was finally done, Jericho looked equal parts amused and embarrassed.
“You really are something else,” I said, wiping a tear. “Don’t they teach you this stuff in high school sex ed?”
He looked even more embarrassed now. “Well, I mean… We had separate alpha and omega classes.”
I quirked a brow. This was supposed to be common knowledge; I assumed even alpha sex ed had some kind of discussion about omega pregnancy. After all, most of the alphas would eventually be finding omega mates and knocking them up.
“And… to be honest, I might have skipped a class or two,” he said with a wince.
I rolled my eyes at him. “Well, that explains it.” I sighed. “What else do you not know?”
He grinned. “How am I supposed to know what I don’t know?
“Well, if you have questions next time just… ask me instead,” I mumbled. “Or look them up online. Why’d you have to go out and buy an encyclopedia, anyway?”
He shrugged. “I dunno. I thought it’d be useful in the future, maybe, when I have my own pups.”
A prickle of irritation ran through me. Then I wondered why the hell I would be irritated about that. Jericho wasn’t my mate. Of course it would be natural for him to find an omega and have his own family once I was gone. And that was the plan all along, wasn’t it? To get the hell out of here?
“And besides,” Jericho continued, “a big book like this always looks nice sitting on the coffee table. Or being used as a doorstop.”
There he goes, diverting the situation again, I thought.
“Anyway,” I said. “I’m, um… really, truly sorry about what happened earlier.”
Jericho’s brows raised for a split second before returning to normal. He chuckled. “It’s okay. Wouldn’t be the first time I accidentally walked in on a friend doing that, if I’m being totally honest.”
A friend.
My heart twitched.
Jericho called me his friend. Not roommate. Not annoying omega who slept in his bed and mooched off him for weeks.
A friend.
I thought to myself: did I feel the same way about him? After living here for a month, could I really keep telling myself Jericho was nothing more than a source of food and shelter for my growing pup? How did I really feel about him?
The answer, much to my dismay, was clear. I considered him a friend, too.
And - unfortunately - maybe something more.
Chapter 6: Jericho
To both of our relief, Mason’s illness seemed to fade. He was able to go back to work for a couple of weeks. Seeing him come back every day, tired but with a beaming smile on his face made me so happy. I was glad he finally seemed to be at peace here at Indigo Mountain. He came with nothing, and managed to carve a place for himself here all on his own.
But then one day I received a call.
“Hello?” I asked, not recognizing the number.
“Hello? Is this Jericho?” came the panicked voice. I recognized it as Beth, Mason’s coworker. Instantly my heart rate sped up.
“Yes. What’s wrong?”
“Mason suddenly collapsed,” she said, breathless and scared. “We don’t know what happened.”
“Don’t move,” I growled. “I’m coming.”
I bolted out the door. As I ran towards the community kitchen, I whipped my phone back out and punched a certain contact’s name.
“Come on, come on,” I muttered as the dial tone rang.
Finally he picked up. A confused voice asked, “Jericho?”
“Ken, it’s me. I need your help.”
“What’s going on?” Ken asked, startled.
“Just meet me at the community kitchen,” I told him.
“Okay,” he said, a serious tone in his voice. “I’ll be right there.”
I exhaled in relief and pocketed my phone, running faster. I had never been so happy to have a doctor as a close friend.
When I got there, there was already a crowd. I pushed my way past them, following Mason’s scent. It was full of fear and hung thickly in the air.
I found him in Ken’s arms as my friend lifted him to sit upright in a chair. I noticed Ken was naked except for the white apron - he must have shifted to wolf form to get here faster. Although nudity in shifter culture wasn’t taboo like for humans, he still must’ve wanted to retain some form of professionalism by wearing the apron and covering himself.
“Jericho,” Ken said as he saw me run in. “Don’t worry. Mason is okay.”
Immediately I saw that although Mason looked weary and weak, his eyes were open. He blinked when he saw me.
“Jericho,” he croaked. “You came.”
“Of course I came,” I growled. “Are you okay? What happened?”
“I just fainted,” Mason mumbled. “It’s not a big deal.”
“One second he was standing, and then the other he just collapsed,” Beth said. Her face was scrunched up in concern, similar to the other employees who had gathered around. To my relief, they all seemed actually worried about Mason and not just rubbernecking.
“It is a big deal,” I growled. “You could have been seriously hurt. Ken, is he really okay?”
“He’s a bit weak and has a slight a fever,” Ken said. “He’s not badly injured but he should go home and rest. Usually this kind of fatigue doesn’t hit an omega until later in the pregnancy. How far along did you say you were?”
“About a month,” Mason said weakly.
“Strange,” Ken murmured. He turned to me. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to accompany the two of you home and do a more private exam, if that’s alright with you.”
I looked to Mason, who nodded. “Okay.”
“Can you carry him?” Ken asked me. “He’s too weak to walk.”
“Mason, is that okay?” I asked.
Mason nodded. “Yeah.”
Carefully, I lifted Mason into my arms. Everyone parted for us as we exited the building. We quickly made our way back to the house. I rested Mason down on the couch. Ken immediately went to work. He opened his briefcase and took out all his important tools. He took Mason’s temperature and measured his heart rate, and a bunch of other things I didn’t even understand. I just stood there helplessly and watched.
“Is there anything I can do?” I asked, feeling useless.
“You can comfort Mason,” Ken muttered as he was deeply concentrating on his work.
I kneeled down. I didn’t want to touch Mason without his permission. But suddenly, he reached out on his own and grasped around for my hand. His palms were clammy and cold, but at the same time his body was burning up. I was so worried, but all I could do was hold his hand. I bit my lip and intertwined our fingers. I hated waiting, sitting here and not being able to do anything.
Ken sat back and frowned. He almost looked puzzled.
“What?” I asked fra
ntically.
Ken stroked his chin in thought. “There’s something strange going on here. And before you get alarmed, I don’t think it's something bad. Just unusual.”
“What the hell’re you talking about, Ken?” I asked. I was so upset that I started slurring my words, but I didn’t even care.
“Mason,” Ken began, looking the omega in the eye. “Have you ever heard of something called a double heat?”
“What?” Mason asked weakly. “No, what is that?”
Ken crossed his arms. “It’s a very rare condition in which an omega who is already pregnant undergoes a second heat cycle. Basically, it renders you fertile even though you’re already carrying a pup.”
Mason and I both stared dumbly at Ken. Suddenly I got up and scampered to pick up the encyclopedia I’d purchased earlier. I flipped frantically through the pages until I found what I was looking for. There, in a tiny section of the page, was a footnote about double heats. It confirmed everything Ken had just told us. I sat back and stared at the page in shock.
“It’s here, too,” I mumbled, holding the book.
“I’ve never heard of that before,” Mason said, panic sliding into his voice. “It can’t be true. It has to be something else.”
“Have you been sick lately? More than would reasonably be expected during early-term pregnancy?” Ken asked.
Mason and I exchanged glances.
“Yes,” Mason murmured. “I… couldn’t move for a few days. I was so weak and sore and kept throwing up.”
Ken nodded gravely. “And your arousal levels? Higher than normal?”
Mason blushed, but nodded.
“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” Ken said. “It’s normal for every omega to get aroused easily during pregnancy, but especially because of your double heat. The good news is that once this period of sickness passes, you should return to normal. However, that’s when the heat will strike. So I suggest taking precautions.”
“Okay,” Mason said, then he sighed. “I can’t take any pills or anything to suppress it?”
“I’m afraid not,” Ken said. “Besides, it would be unhealthy for the baby you already have. I suggest waiting it out, or - if you want - you can have sex with an alpha, although that will probably cause you to have another child. Either choice is valid.”