by Eva Lyra
Somehow that had become Tiberius’s new mission in life: see how often he could get Reese to come, how loud to make him moan, how thoroughly to lose control.
Damn...
The need to be inside his omega was too much. He needed to feel him. Fill him up. Reese’s cock was rock hard inside his mouth now, and his scent of arousal was twisting Tiberius’s insides. He trailed one hand over his lover’s balls, then lower, to his hole, and pushed a finger inside.
“Oh... Ty...” Reese was shaking now for real, his cock pulsing in Tiberius’s mouth, sugar and salt exploding on his tongue. “More...”
God... Panting around the sweet cock in his mouth, his own cock so hard and heavy, Tiberius added another finger, spreading his lover, stroking him as deep inside as he could reach.
“Holy shit!” Reese tensed, rocked into Tiberius’s mouth, and started to come in a hot rush of saltiness. “Oh shit!”
Tiberius swallowed it all, milking Reese’s cock dry, then licking his lips. His omega was delicious. And now...
“Gonna fuck you now,” he said, his voice like gravel, his cock unbearably heavy.
Reese said nothing, only grunting when Tiberius pulled out his fingers and bent over him. His eyes were dark, his lids at half-mast. He looked decadent. Hot as hell.
As Tiberius guided his cock into him, Reese groaned softly, opening his legs more. So slick. Scorching. Tight. It was heaven. Too good, and Tiberius wasn’t going to last at all. Primed from watching his lover sleep, from going down on him, he gasped when he slipped inside all the way, his balls slapping against Reese’s ass.
Reese’s eyes fell closed once more. He was biting into his lower lip, and it was more than Tiberius could bear. Leaning in, he kissed him, prying that lush lower lip from the white teeth sinking into the soft flesh and nipped at it himself. Then he shoved his tongue into Reese’s mouth and moaned with pleasure.
God, yes. This was... so fucking perfect. The sweetness of Reese’s cum was still on his tongue, and his mouth was even sweeter. His hole gripped Tiberius’s cock in a vise, and strong, lean legs wrapped around him, taking him deeper.
Reese groaned in his mouth as Tiberius pulled out a few inches, then thrust back inside. His cock was hardening again between them, his nipples were stiff, rubbing against Tiberius’s chest. He hauled the smaller body against his own as he began to thrust faster, forced to break the kiss to haul shallow breaths, gritting his teeth against the impossible pressure threatening to bust his balls.
“Ugh... Reese... So close.” His balls were drawn up, swollen and heavy, his cock was twitching and burning. He was fucking into Reese like a maniac, every thrust shaking him with pleasure. |Fuck, oh fuck...”
Another thrust, and Reese gasped and cried out, clenching around Tiberius’s cock so hard that Tiberius saw stars. With a last-second thought, he pulled his cock out all the way and moaned as he came all over Reese, his cum hitting his own chin and painting both their chests with white.
Oh shit... What was this? He’d had sex with other guys, mainly betas, and he’d never felt such pleasure. It was as if every time he was with Reese, the sex got better and better.
That scent, god damn it. It made him salivate, made his canines ache.
Made him want to bite Reese’s neck and mark him as his own.
Fucking crazy...
***
“Wanna grab a bite?”
Reese gave him a faint smile. “Want me to bring you something?”
“No, I...” Damn, of course. He’d hired Reese back as his Boi, so he expected to be treated the same as before.
Only Tiberius couldn’t treat him the same. So much had changed.
Maybe everything.
It was just a fuck, he told himself. A good fuck, but still. Just that. Nothing more.
...Yeah, he couldn’t lie to himself that well.
“I was thinking of bringing something here, actually,” he said, feeling strangely shy.
Damn it.
“Here?”
“Yeah. I was thinking of a full breakfast. They make very good ones in the salon. Sausages dripping fat, beans in hot sauce, spare ribs, omelets, coffee and juice. What do you say?”
“I... shit, sorry.” Reese clapped a hand over his mouth and scrambled out of bed, eyes “wide. Be right back.”
What. the. Hell?
It took Tiberius a few stunned moments to get his brain into gear and go after Reese. He banged on the bathroom door. “Reese? You okay?”
“Yeah, fine! Just a sec.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh nothing. I had to piss!”
When the door opened, though, Reese looked a little pale. And all Tiberius could do was reach for him, pull him into his arms. He felt warm, despite being pale, and having him in his arms was good.
What was this, that made Tiberius feel as if he wasn’t complete when Reese wasn’t touching him?
You need food, Tiberius decided, alpha instincts taking over. He had to feed his omega, especially after exhausting him with all that sex.
“Ty...”
“I’ll bring breakfast, maybe not all that mentioned earlier, if you don’t like it. Tell me what you want, and you’ll have it. Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be back soon.”
***
Tiberius returned to the room as fast as he could, concerned about Reese, but relaxed when he found him sitting on the bed, smiling.
“You look better.” He sat beside the omega, brushed soft hair out of those big blue eyes. “You got me worried there for a second.”
“I did?” Reese’s gorgeous eyes got bigger. “I mean, you were worried?”
“You looked sick. Did I wear you out?”
Something shuttered in Reese’s gaze. “No. That’s not it.”
“Then—”
A knock on the door interrupted Tiberius. He cursed and got up to let the betas bearing the breakfast trays inside. After passing his card in the card reader, he all but shoved them out and closed the door.
“Reese...” He went to sit back beside him. “Listen—”
“Let’s eat,” Reese said brightly, interrupting him. “I’m famished.” And grabbing a piece of toast from a plate, he stuffed his mouth.
Tiberius shook his head, unable to stop a smile. So damn cute, that omega. Besides, he didn’t really know what to say. He was still trying to figure it all out.
***
“God, this is good,” Reese mumbled with his mouth full, a look of ecstasy on his face that had Tiberius going hard again. “Do you always eat like this in the morning?”
“Sometimes. At home, our cook made the best pancakes and crispy bacon. Emanuel’s favorite. But we always had a lot of dishes. Father said breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”
He wagged his brows, and Reese snickered. “If it’s such a feast, it sure is. Is Emanuel your brother?”
“Yeah.”
“He an alpha too?”
“No, he’s a beta. Damn annoying brat. Brilliant guy.” He waited for Reese to say something more, ask more questions, but the omega seemed entranced with the food. The color was returning to his face, coloring his cheeks.
He looked delicious. Tiberius longed to lick syrup from Reese’s lips.
“What about your family?” Tiberius eventually asked. “I mean, I know about your uncle—”
Reese choked.
Tiberius patted his back, frowning. “Want some water?”
Reese waved a hand. “No, I’m fine.”
“Okay. I know about your uncle winning that tournament ten years ago, but that’s it. What about your fathers, or—?”
“Does the TV work?”
“What?” Tiberius blinked, confused, then glanced at the giant screen on the wall. “Yeah, of course.”
“Hey, can we watch something?”
“Sure...” Tiberius glanced sideways at Reese from under lowered lashes. “What do you wanna watch?”
“I dunno. News? A food show?”
“Food show? For
real?”
Reese shrugged. “What? We’re eating. It fits.”
“It sure does.” Tiberius laughed softly and found a food show for Reese to watch. Reese really seemed to like food shows. His face lit up when Tiberius put it on.
What do you know... a tiny piece in the puzzle that was Reese.
Because Tiberius was no fool. Reese didn’t want to talk about his family. Question was, why?
Chapter Twelve: Reese
Reese couldn’t believe this was happening. He was back in Tiberius’s employ. And in his arms. Now Tiberius called him every evening to his room and kept him there all night, fucking and cuddling, eating and watching TV.
Kissing. There was a lot of kissing.
And had he mentioned the sex? Lots of it. Oh yeah. So much that Reese walked around trying not to wince all day, he was that sore below.
No regrets, though. He never thought sex could be this amazing. Hot. Crazy hot. Explosive.
Or that someone might hold him like that, so gently, and so possessively.
Not just someone. Tiberius... Just the thought of the alpha brought heat to his face, made his heart pound. Made his insides clench, his hole go slick and his cock hard.
What was this? This feeling, this sensation he had whenever he thought of Tiberius. When he was with him, he burned. When he was away from him, he felt cold. Even just two hours away from Tiberius, Reese missed him.
How could that be? Reese barely knew him.
He was happy, though, he knew that much. Happier than he’d ever been. Even if he felt off in the mornings and seemed to be bloated. He could barely button up his pants anymore, and he blamed the heavy breakfasts Tiberius liked to order. They had to talk about that...
About this.
Taking a deep breath, letting it out again, Reese placed a hand on his middle. This bloating... He was scared that he might be more than that. But no way. He couldn’t be. Couldn’t...
They hadn’t used a condom, that first time.
He’d tried not to think about that. Or about how his heat had suddenly stopped after Tiberius had fucked him. Tiberius hadn’t come inside him again ever since. Reese couldn’t be...
He couldn’t be pregnant.
So he tried not to worry about it. Live for the day. Well, and the night. God, the nights with Tiberius...
His phone chimed. A message from said alpha.
‘Hi, Reese. Want to come run with me?’
Tiberius’s messages were like that since he’d come back from taking care of his friend Marcus. Requesting stuff, but often fun stuff.
This, though...
‘You mean, to shift?’ he typed back.
‘Yeah.’
He hesitated. This was serious business. This was like dating for real, not just fucking like rabbits. He bit his lower lip, his heart thumping hard, and wondered if Tiberius meant it that way. They hadn’t talked at all about this...relationship they shared.
Was it a relationship?
His phone chimed again. ‘I see you,’ the new message read.
Reese looked up, surprised. And yeah, there was the alpha, grinning at him from across the courtyard, his face a pale oval under his dark hair, his mouth tilted in a wicked grin. God, he was so handsome.
He always made Reese’s heart pound.
Tiberius approached him, putting away his phone, reaching for Reese, and it felt so natural to tangle his fingers with his, to go with him, excited at the prospect of running with him in the woods. “I wanna know the color of your wolf.”
“That’s a very private thing.”
“I want to see your wolf, Reese...”
“Only if you buy me dinner,” Reese teased.
Tiberius laughed and wrapped an arm around Reese, tugging him along. “Deal. Come on, let’s go. I can’t fucking wait.”
***
It wasn’t working.
Tiberius was watching him from under lowered lashes, his shirt already off, displayed that chiseled chest that seemed to be sculpted out of marble. What’s wrong?
“I can’t... can’t shift.”
“That can’t be right.” Tiberius frowned, his hands on the fly of his jeans. “What do you mean, you can’t shift?”
“I can’t.” Reese concentrated again. He could feel his inner wolf scratching at the insides of his mind, growling, begging to be let out, but his body felt numb, heavy and unresponsive. “Ugh. Feels weird.”
“Do you have any broken bones?”
“No. I... I don’t think so.”
“That’s strange, then.” Tiberius bent to gather his shirt from the ground. “We should talk to the Academy nurse.”
“No.” And he couldn’t tell Tiberius why he didn’t want to. In fact, he couldn’t admit it to himself, either.
“Reese...”
“I got to go.”
“Where?”
“I forgot I need to do something.” Turning around he ran away, heading back to the Academy. “See you later, okay?”
“Reese!”
There was no reason not to see the nurse, right? Not being able to shift was a big deal in the shifter world. Not many reasons why one couldn’t shift...
One them being that he was carrying Tiberius’s baby.
And that was why he wasn’t going.
***
More days passed. They blurred, laced with pleasure. Tiberius didn’t ask him again to shift as the weather turned bad with storms and heavy rains, and Reese did his best to get the worry over not being able to shift out of his mind. He’d deal with that.
Later.
Now he had other things on his mind.
Like Tiberius, of course. And sex. Oh yeah. And thankfully he didn’t have to worry about expenses right now because the alpha insisted on paying for everything.
But he also had to study, and he just couldn’t focus. Not when Tiberius had started to act weird.
“Is it another meeting with your father?” he asked a scowling alpha as he helped him dress in a pressed gray suit. Talk about déjà vu.
“No.”
“Oh. A clan meeting, then? The Crescents gathering to howl at the moon?”
“Sort of.”
It really wasn’t like Tiberius to answer in monosyllables, and keep things from Reese. Then again, since when was Reese so confident about that? It wasn’t like he had told Tiberius anything about himself, so why should Tiberius tell him?
But the question of who he was going to meet ate at Reese for some reason. Maybe it was the bleak expression on Tiberius’s face that had Reese’s stomach in knots. Maybe it was a hunch that he was missing something.
Getting too attached, too close to the alpha. An alpha from a high-ranking clan, rich and powerful. An alpha so handsome all the omegas sighed when he passed. Why was he spending time with a lowly wolf like Reese?
And how long would it be before he went hunting after an omega of his own class to marry, leaving Reese far behind in the rearview mirror?
Stop it, he told himself, swallowing down bitter panic. Powerful clans have lots of meetings and social events. Tiberius wouldn’t dress up to court another omega. Wouldn’t ask for Reese’s help to dress to do that. He wasn’t cruel.
And you pretend to know him so well?
The thought was a stab in the chest. Sure, he didn’t know Tiberius well, he could own to that. They hadn’t been together all that long, but...
You’re together? Really? Are you sure about that? He fucks you. You like it. How is this “being together?”
Shit.
“You okay, Reese?” Tiberius straightened his tie, shooting Reese a look over his shoulder. Abandoning the task, the turned to him and grabbed his shoulders. “Hey.”
“I’m fine. Just fine.”
“You sure? You went white.”
Reese shook his head.
“You should see the nurse, Reese, you’re sick—”
“I said I’m fine. And you have places to be.”
“Hey. You can talk to me.”<
br />
But Reese had asked where Tiberius was going and had gotten no reply, so why talk any more about it? “Go on, you’ll be late.”
Tiberius leaned in, kissed him lightly on the mouth. “I’ll see you later.”
“Sure. I have to study anyway.”
It was the truth. He’d fallen behind his classes, what between being sick and getting fucked into the mattress repeatedly by Tiberius. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to concentrate on his studies now, but that was another matter.
Tiberius was still looking at him, looking conflicted. That wasn’t Reese’s problem, though. Tiberius was the one not talking, not explaining. Reese wasn’t some jealous lover to pick a fight over this, but... it hurt. A little.
Because he was afraid. Afraid of losing this.
Of losing Tiberius.
As if he had him. God, Reese, you’re pathetic, and an idiot, he told himself. You never had him, and never will...
Chapter Thirteen: Tiberius
Dawn was breaking by the time Tiberius paid the cabbie and stumbled into the academy, flashing his card to the bored guard at the entrance. The guard did a double-take when he saw him, but Tiberius was past giving a fuck at this point.
He’d been summoned to meet Fennix again and Tiberius had gone with the full speech prepared in his mind. He didn’t want to hurt Fennix. Didn’t want to anger his own father. But he had to tell Fennix that the marriage wasn’t gonna happen.
He’d managed that much.
And then his father had come at him as he’d waited for a cab and taken Tiberius down. They’d shifted and fought, and damn, the old wolf was damn strong. A huge black wolf who had torn down his enemies in ritual fights since before Tiberius was born.
Though for the first time ever, it had been a draw. Tiberius had never won a fight against his father, and he didn’t know if he ever would.
A draw was good enough. For a moment there, Tiberius had thought his father had meant to tear his own son’s throat out.
Fuck...
He’d almost succeeded, too. Clutching at his blood-soaked shoulder, he headed toward his room—only to stumble into a group of alphas laughing in the hallway. He knew those fuckers. Valerian, Alexander and Lucian, sons of powerful clans and assholes extraordinaires.