After dropping Max off at his mom’s house, Dean knew he had a few hours to get everything perfect. Maybe he was deluding himself, but the link between him and Max had already strengthened to the point where there was no doubting the shift in the omega’s energy when he’d brought up the idea of a mating mark. He’d been hesitant when he’d thought that Max would only be agreeing to it as a matter of convenience and protection, but now that he knew there was a chance the omega wanted him in the same way, he wasn’t going to let it slip away.

Everything had to be perfect. He’d already brought most of Max’s things over and cleared out space in the closet and dresser for the omega’s clothes. The scent of Max’s things mingled with his own gave him some kind of primal satisfaction he didn’t have time to dwell on. He didn’t trust his own culinary skills enough to risk ruining the mood with burnt dinner, so he’d ordered in from the nicest restaurant in town. He was still trying to decide whether the candlelight was overkill when he heard the knock at the door.

Max wasn’t due for another half an hour, and Dean had planned on picking him up, but when he opened the door to find the omega standing there, he’d never been happier to see anyone in his life.

“Hey,” Max smiled. “Your mom was going out, so I asked her to drop me off so you wouldn’t have to make another trip.” He paused, looking past Dean at the table set for two in the dining room. “Oh, wow.”

“Sorry, it’s not quite ready,” Dean said, stepping back to let him in. “I uh, thought you’d be hungry after all the moving plans.”

“This place looks amazing,” Max said, looking around. “And whatever you made smells delicious.”

“Well, can’t really take the credit for that,” Dean said with a laugh. “But I did take the food out of the containers, so… Here, let me take your coat.”

His fingertips brushed over the omega’s shoulders as he helped Max out of his parka and found his gaze lingering a bit too long on the other man’s bare neck.

“You didn’t need to do all of this,” Max said, exploring the living room.

“I know, but I wanted tonight to be special,” he admitted. “Can I get you some wine?”

“That would be nice. Thank you,” Max said, a hint of nervousness in his gaze as it flickered up to Dean’s.

The Alpha pulled out his chair and filled his wine glass before sitting down at the table himself. “Sorry about the candles,” he muttered.

Max smiled. “I like them. It was a sweet touch.”

“So, you think you’re gonna like living in Pennsylvania for the time being?” asked Dean.

“It’s beautiful,” said Max.

“You should see it in the snow. It’s been a warm winter this year, but we usually have at least eight inches for Christmas.”

Max pursed his lips and Dean groaned when he realized why the omega was trying not to laugh. “Can’t believe I said that,” he muttered, rubbing his forehead.

“Seems like a reasonable estimate,” the omega said in a husky voice before taking a sip of his wine. “Guess I’ll just have to find out myself.”

Dean nearly choked on his. “Sorry. You can tell I don’t really do this often.”

“Rescuing omegas or taking them back to your apartment for candlelit dinners?” Max teased.

Dean chuckled. “The latter.”

“What made you decide to go into law enforcement?” the omega asked curiously.

“My old man was a career Lieutenant,” said Dean. “Guess you could say it’s in the blood. Started out as a way to impress him, and I wasn’t sure what else I was gonna do after school, but it turned into a passion. I like helping people.”

“You’re good at it,” Max murmured. “I’m sorry about your father. I’m sure he was proud of you.”

“He was,” Dean said with a nostalgic smile. “He said the day I graduated from Academy was one of the best in his life, but it wouldn’t be anything compared to the day I started a family of my own.”

“I’m sorry he didn’t get to see that,” Max said quietly.

Dean reached across the table to take his hand. “I like to think he did. Max, I know the circumstances aren’t the way either of us thought they would be, but this is the real deal for me. When Henrietta walked into the police station with Gavin, I felt responsible for him in a way that didn’t make sense to me then. I just knew I had to help him, and the more I got to know him, the more I found myself wishing I could be there for him the way my father always was for me. At the time, I thought him going with the Newports was the right thing. That the connection I felt was just me being sentimental, maybe even trying to compensate for the fact that I didn’t have the family I’d always hoped I would by this point in my life.”

“He loves you,” Max said, smiling. “You’re kind of his hero. Especially now.”

“I’d do anything for that kid,” Dean admitted, holding Max’s gaze. “When I met you, it all fell into place. The same sense of connection, of family. In that instant, it all made sense, but it still took a while for my numbskull brain to put it together.”

“What are you saying?” Max asked, searching the Alpha’s gaze.

“I’m saying I imprinted on you, Max. I’d say that I knew you were mine from the moment we met, but the truth is, it happened a long time before that. All my life, I’ve felt this pull toward something out there, always out of reach until I found you. Now I know, it was you the whole time, but not just you. I want the three of us to be a family, you, me and Gavin. I already love him like he’s my own son, and I’d like to make it official by adopting him. I’d also like to make you my mate. Not because it’ll help our case in court or because it’s what people expect, but because it feels as right to me as breathing, and I can’t imagine it turning out any other way. I don’t want to.”

“Dean,” Max whispered, his eyes welling with tears. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because I didn’t want to be another Alpha who came into your life and took what he wanted whether you were ready or not,” he said, standing from the table to come around to Max’s side. When he got down on one knee and took Max’s hand in his, the omega’s eyes widened in shock. “I’d planned on waiting a little longer, wooing you the right way, but it feels like the right time. The right moment to tell you how much I need you and how deeply I want to make you mine, if you’ll let me,” he said, lowering his gaze to the omega’s neck.

“Yes,” Max said in a trembling voice, reaching out to stroke the Alpha’s firm jaw. His eyes were full of wonder as he gazed up at Dean. Full of curiosity and the same hope and excitement that filled the Alpha’s heart with the promise of everything good to come. “I—I want to be yours, Dean.”

That was all the Alpha needed to hear. He took Max into his arms and kissed him as fiercely as he’d wanted to from their first meeting. As he pulled the omega to his feet, he planned on taking him into the bedroom he’d adorned with candles and rose petals.

They made it only as far as the couch, but with the heat of Max’s lips pressed to his, the omega’s bare flesh begging for his mark, he considered that a victory. Max made quick work of the buttons on his uniform shirt, and Dean’s badge hit the floor with a plink. Dean peeled the omega’s shirt over his head, running his hands down Max’s lean, muscular chest and abdomen. The omega was smaller than him in stature, but he was still toned and Dean found himself exploring every line of muscle, all the way down to the cut of his hips.

Dean sank to his knees in front of the couch and unbuttoned Max’s fly, taking the omega into his mouth hungrily. The wine on his lips was nothing compared to the sweetness of the omega’s precum on his tongue. Max sank back against the couch and let out a faint moan as Dean’s tongue explored the crown of his cock, teasing the slit until it wept more arousal.

The Alpha tugged his mate’s jeans off so he could work a finger into Max while he sucked the omega’s shaft. Max was long and already rock hard, but his own shaft was a bit longer and a good deal thicker. The image of them rubbing together, hot with friction and need, was making his slacks unbearably tight, and the scent of the omega’s arousal was even more devastatingly erotic.

“Please,” Max gasped, his hips lifting off the couch as Dean found his prostate. “I want you…”

Dean didn’t need to call on his investigative skill to know exactly what the omega was asking for. Max was already sufficiently lubricated by his own arousal, so he slipped his fingers out of the omega’s tight hole and guided him onto his hands and knees. The sight of Max bent over the armrest, his ass offered fully to his Alpha’s care, was the hottest thing Dean had ever seen, and his own cock was dripping precum by the time he positioned it at Max’s entrance.

“Yes,” Max panted, digging his nails into the leather as Dean guided himself in. The omega’s tight hole offered little resistance, but once he was in, he felt the other man clench tightly around him. Dean let out a slow breath to brace himself as he eased into his mate’s passage. He could feel their heartbeats in perfect synchronicity as he began to thrust deeper inside of the omega until he was buried to the knot.

He’d planned on giving Max a little more time to warm up, but when the omega arched back against him, he knew it was time. “Just relax,” he coaxed, resting his hands on Max’s hips as he worked his knot inside.

Max whimpered, burying his face in a pillow, but Dean could feel his need intensifying as the omega bucked for more. His knot finally slipped in and swelled as he took Max’s dick in hand and started stroking. The omega was vibrating underneath him with need, his cries of bliss guiding Dean to just the right tempo. The Alpha could feel the omega tighten up every time his knot ground against his prostate, and their shared pleasure built and built until it finally reached its climax. The sound of his name on his mate’s lips as he came was all it took to give Dean that final push. As he filled his mate with his knot and his cum, he sank his teeth into the omega’s bared neck and Max came immediately in response to the pleasure and pain.

The omega was still shuddering from the aftershocks of his orgasm as Dean licked the wound from his mating bite clean. The bite was already starting to heal, but the mark would be there forever, telling the world that Max belonged to him and him alone.

Just the way it was always meant to be.