Ronin took a deep, calming breath, as nervous as he was excited about this moment—the moment when he finally, truly mated with Kell. Twelve hours into his heat, Kell had called for Ronin to help him through the surge. They’d already discussed mating, so Ronin trusted Kell when he called for Ronin’s knot.

And Ronin’s seed.

This act would finally seal the mating bond they’d felt for months and his blossoming family would be complete.

Kell looked over his shoulder with wide, wild eyes, his cheeks delightfully stained red. “Please, alpha. Mate me.”

Ronin nipped at Kell’s bare shoulder, and then nudged inside. He watched in wonder as his naked cock breached his omega for the first—and possibly only—time. And Ronin was okay with that. Despite Kell’s doctor assuring them Kell was healthy enough for a full knotting heat, no one could assure them Kell would survive a second birth.

They’d take the risk this once, in order to mate.

His dick slipped inside with little resistance, thanks to the slick and heat, and Ronin moaned. Nothing had ever felt so amazing, so perfectly right, as Kell’s passage taking his bare cock. Kell matched his moan with a sound of his own, followed by a few pants for air. Ronin didn’t stop until he was balls-deep in his omega, and then he paused. Leaned down to lick the shell of Kell’s ear.

“I will treasure this moment always,” Ronin whispered. “You’re mine.”

“And you’re mine.” Kell rocked his hips once. “Now fuck me.”

“Yes, sir.”

Ronin took his time, despite the instinctive, alpha urge to rut himself to completion. He’d never stop worrying about Kell’s comfort and physical health. And they still didn’t have penetrative sex outside of heat, so Ronin wanted to savor the moment. Savor being naked inside of his mate, pushing him to orgasm, preparing him to take Ronin’s knot.

He wrapped an arm around Kell’s waist, his fingers splayed, barely brushing the fine hair at the top of Kell’s groin. Tried to imagine that soft belly stretched again, carrying his child, and then he remembered Branson. They had one son they adored. Ronin wouldn’t risk losing his omega simply to massage his own ego and have a child bearing his DNA.

“Give me your knot, alpha, please,” Kell said.

“Soon, little one. When I’m ready.”

Kell whined, so Ronin had a little mercy and thrust a fraction harder. Both of Kell’s hands were braced on the headboard, so he had no free hands to touch himself. Ronin teased the head of Kell’s weeping cock, smearing the precome up and down his shaft, without applying any real pressure.

Teasing his omega the way Kell liked to be teased.

Their combined pheromones filled the room, and some of Ronin’s composure slipped. The urge to rut increased as did his thrusting. Kell pushed back into them, filling the room with the simple sounds of skin slapping against skin and two men gasping for air. The most natural thing on earth.

Kell came without warning, his passage clamping down around Ronin’s cock. Ronin wanted it to last longer, to last forever, but his cock had other ideas. His balls tightened, and his release tickled over his nerves, teasing from a distance. Then Kell looked over his shoulder, those dazzling green eyes blazing with pleasure and love, and Ronin lost it.

One, two, three sharp thrusts and he came, coating Kell’s insides with his seed, additional pushes sending it toward Kell’s descended womb. Ronin’s knot swelled, a second source of pleasure for an alpha, almost as sensitive a gland as an omega’s prostate.

Ronin gently rolled them onto their sides and cuddled Kell to his chest, mindful of where they remained connected. He played with Kell’s erection and balls, absorbing all of Kell’s small moans and gasps from the additional stimulation. Ronin’s dick gave another valiant pulse, but he was spent for now.

Still hard, but spent.

“No matter what happens, this is exactly what I wanted,” Kell whispered.

“Me too.”

“I’d love to carry your child, Ronin.”

“I know, but I’d be terrified to lose you in childbirth.”

“We’d take every precaution.” Kell reached back to thread his fingers in Ronin’s hair. “We’ll always be there for each other.”

“Yes. Each other, and our son.”

“Ours.”

As Ronin’s mind cleared a bit, his thoughts wandered to the news he’d been able to deliver to Kell only days after his trial ended. Not only was Kell overjoyed to discover his son was not biologically Krause’s, they also ruled it wasn’t Senior Iverson’s either. Branson had no remaining connection to the Iverson family.

They discovered Branson’s true sire had been Chip Uty, and the man was so thoroughly scandalized that he signed over all legal claim to the child. Branson, like Kell, was now officially a Cross. Kell had commented that he thought the name “Kell Cross” sounded a bit ridiculous, and Ronin had agreed, then proceeded to kiss Kell right into an orgasm.

Branson was currently visiting with Uncle Braun and Uncle Tarek while Ronin helped Kell through this heat. The pair were natural parents, which was a good thing, because their own official mating had ended in a surprise pregnancy. Braun was nervous, but also excited to have a child with his mate. And Branson was excellent practice.

Ronin absently stroked Kell’s belly. “What are you thinking about, love?”

“Having your baby. It’s a fool’s dream, but I do wonder, especially knowing how infertile the Iversons both were.”

Two alphas quick to blame Kell for not conceiving. One dead and gone. The other in jail, awaiting several trials of his own.

While the assault charge for hitting Kell was dismissed by an alphahole judge, Jenks had quite a list of conspiracy charges to throw at him. Not only relating to Kell’s horrendous treatment, but also from his ties to people involved in the sex trafficking ring. No amount of money or friends in the department were going to keep Senior Iverson from serving prison time.

His money and reach still worried Ronin and Tarek, though, and they’d both been hyper-aware of their omegas for the past few months. Instead of returning to his home province, Ronin opened a satellite office here in Sansbury, and he’d even hired Morris onto his team. Relocating meant a new, permanent address, and they were about to purchase a two-story, former rental home. Both floors were complete apartments with separate entrances. Ronin and Kell would take the top story, while Tarek and Braun would live downstairs.

The neighborhood was peaceful and safe, and it kept the Etting brothers close to each other, which was what they both wanted. Buying a house together was the perfect solution.

“I love the idea of you carrying my child,” Ronin said. “Of you and Braun filling our new home with children. But I’ll be content no matter what happens, because I have you, and you have Branson, as you were always meant to.”

“My heart is so full right now, Ronin. I never knew what true happiness was until you showed me. I never thought I deserved more than the life I was given, and I was so wrong. All omegas deserve love and safety and protection. I won’t stop fighting for that.”

“And I don’t expect you to. I want my omega to follow his heart.”

Kell’s story had played out in the news for weeks after the trial, as exposè after exposè was written about the Iverson family. Essays were published about Kell’s ongoing abuse, and psychological studies were done about post-traumatic stress disorder in abused omegas. The can of worms was open, and it wasn’t closing anytime soon. While Kell still turned down all requests for interviews, he quietly turned to activism by volunteering with local omega rights groups.

Sharing his story to real, live people, rather than a reporter, had become Kell’s new cause, and he planned to speak publicly at a rally next week. His first public appearance since the end of the trial and his surprise sentence.

Ronin flexed his hips a smidge, and he grinned at the flash of pleasure from his knot. Kell made a breathy sound. They’d part soon, and Kell could enjoy a longer time between surges. A hot shower, some food, and hopefully a nap before the next surge hit. His omega deserved a little pampering.

“Have I mentioned lately that you’re my hero?” Kell asked. “You saved me when I was fourteen, and ten years later, you’ve saved me again. You came back into my life exactly when I needed you. My protector. My heart.”

“You saved me too, in your own way.” Ronin nuzzled at his earlobe. “You saved me from a life of loneliness, Kell Etting Cross, a life of work without love. You came back to me exactly when I needed you, and I’ll spend the rest of our lives making you happy. Giving you and Branson the very best life possible.”

“And anyone else who might come along?”

“Anyone else who comes along. You’re mine and no one else’s.” He pressed tighter against Kell’s soft belly. “Always.”

“Always,” Kell echoed. He twisted his neck for a sloppy, over-the-shoulder kiss. “I love you.”

“I love you back.”

As Ronin’s knot faded and he slipped unwillingly from Kell’s body, his heart surged at the idea that maybe, just maybe, he and Kell had created a life together. He didn’t dare hope, but the possibility remained, nonetheless, as he helped Kell from the bed for a long, hot shower. Then maybe a ham and bacon pizza.

Because Ronin had an omega to spoil rotten.

* * *

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