Rain pattered against the window. Finn looked down at his scarred belly, his body squeezing around Dante’s knot.

He hadn’t been thinking about the consequences of Dante’s touch, back when Dante had been rubbing his feet. He’d felt safe with Dante, craved more of his alpha. Then he’d spread his legs on instinct, begged Dante to fuck him.

And now Dante had come inside him, his seed locked into Finn. By the end of tonight... Finn might already have conceived.

Finn’s face burned. Of all the people he could’ve been knocked up by... it was his student.

At sixteen, Finn had taught Dante to use the sawmill, the lathe. He’d shown Dante how to stain his carvings, to polish them so they gleamed. Dante had gotten into fights with the other students. Finn had always been there, breaking things up, teaching Dante to rein his wolf in.

It didn’t always work, but Dante had mellowed a little over the years. Finn had molded Dante into a person he admired.

And that went against the values of being a teacher—you weren’t supposed to shape your student into someone you bedded.

I made that choice, Dante said in his head, cupping Finn’s face in his hands. I chose to be your alpha.

He had.

Dante had volunteered to protect Finn from the wild animals around the canyon, and the alphas that sometimes tried to hit on Finn. He’d helped Finn move lumber, yelled at Finn’s carts when they disobeyed.

Finn had watched Dante grow into a man, his shoulders broadening, his voice deepening, his eyes growing sharp, hungry. Finn’s body had always answered with warmth.

Then Dante had pressed Finn into a wall and kissed him, and Finn had melted right into his arms. That had been when Dante was nineteen.

In the year they’d slept together, Dante had learned everything about Finn—his sensitive spots, his favorite touches. And Dante still remembered them. He’d made Finn shudder against him tonight, made Finn pant and drip.

He’d caressed Finn’s balls, squeezed them... Finn stopped breathing. How many eggs had been released into his body? How many had Dante’s seed fertilized? It couldn’t have been just one.

Finn’s blood ran hot and cold. Dante sucked in a sharp breath.

“There’s... there’s gonna be more than one?” Dante asked, his eyes flickering with unease.

Finn groaned, pressing their foreheads together. “You heard my thoughts?”

“Some of it.” Dante winced. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

Finn stopped thinking, embarrassed. Dante cradled Finn’s face with his hands. “I never used to know what you were thinking,” Dante whispered. “So I watched you for a long time. Then I kind of understood you. But this? This is so much easier. No misunderstandings.”

Finn chuckled uneasily. His mind wasn’t a great place to be. “There may be more than one pup,” Finn said. “I don’t know.”

I’ve never been pregnant before.

Dante sucked in a slow breath. “Pups?”

Finn touched his belly, his thoughts whirling. If he conceived tonight... he would become a father. He would have children. It was insane. He’d only just met Dante a couple hours ago.

Everything about Dante said Finn shouldn’t fuck him. He was too young. He was Finn’s student. He was from the Weregrits.

“I’m not leaving you,” Dante growled, covering Finn’s hand with his own. “I’m staying.”

Finn’s heart squeezed. “You’re twenty-five, Dante. You’re too young for pups.”

Dante hesitated. Then his eyes took on a steely resolve. “If I’m not too young to mate with you, then I’m not too young to be a dad.”

Finn chuckled, then. He remembered the boy Dante had been, lanky and handsome, his clothes ragged when Finn had found him on the edge of his property. Dante had growled and stood his ground, his eyes wary, his fists clenched. Finn had asked, Do you need something?

Dante hadn’t answered, and Finn had wondered if the boy was feral.

I’m Finn, Finn had said back then. Dante had smelled like the loam of wolves, and the woodsy scent of an alpha. He didn’t belong to Finn’s pack, but he’d seemed honest. So Finn had said, I could use with some help around here. Can you move this lumber for me?

Dante had agreed. He’d tucked himself away in the hollow of a tree at first, sheltering there. Then he’d moved to Finn’s shed, sleeping on a makeshift bed.

Over the years, he’d slowly moved into Finn’s cabin, and then into Finn’s twin bed.

And now... Finn had Dante’s seed inside him, merging with the fertile eggs in Finn’s belly.

It was wrong.

“I don’t care about that,” Dante said.

Finn cracked a smile. “Stop eavesdropping.”

“I want to know everything about you.” Dante pressed soft kisses to Finn’s lips, sliding his palms down Finn’s sides. “I’m not leaving you again.”

Finn’s throat grew tight. He hadn’t had an alpha in years. Before he’d met Dante, he’d been too busy focusing on his workshop, taking on the mantle his dad had left. He’d thought he had everything he needed—no alpha to distract him from his goals, just students he could nurture for a short while.

And then Dante had come along.

“Do you... regret this?” Dante asked suddenly, looking at Finn’s belly. “Me and you?”

His eyes were wide, uncertain. You’re so damn young. Finn cupped Dante’s face in his hands. “I could never regret you.”

In three months, his belly would be swollen with Dante’s pups. Healthy, strong, beautiful babies. These babies wouldn’t have terrible scars on them.

“Stop thinking that,” Dante whispered, pulling Finn closer against himself. Then he tucked Finn’s head under his chin. “You aren’t just made up of your leg. You’re made up of everything else.”

“But the scar,” Finn said. He couldn’t help staring at it. His leg worked fine on the best of days. And some days, he could hardly walk on it.

“You’re beautiful,” Dante said. “And you’re mine. My omega.”

Finn’s insides melted at those words. “Yours,” he breathed.

Dante laid Finn back against the bed, bracing his hands by Finn’s shoulders. Back when they’d tangled together, the bed had been too small for the two of them. It was even smaller now, when Dante had bulked up, all broad shoulders and hard muscle.

“I want to sleep with you tonight,” Dante said, his eyes dark in the shadows of the room. “Gonna fuck you into the bed. It’s never broken before.”

Finn groaned, his body flushing with warmth. One load of Dante’s seed wasn’t enough to end his heat. Would two? Or three?

Dante rolled his hips, his knot sliding deeper into Finn, stretching his body. Finn moaned.

“Gonna come in you ‘til I can’t come anymore,” Dante whispered in Finn’s ear, his cock jerking in Finn’s body. Musk coiled from his skin. “Maybe we won’t leave the bed at all. Gonna make you scream so loud you lose your voice.”

Finn gulped, his body tightening again. Dante’s knot hadn’t even receded yet.

“Maybe we should stop fucking for a while,” Finn said. “Mercy knows we’ve made enough rash decisions for today.”

Dante froze then. He shook his head, as though trying to clear his thoughts.

“Shit. Sorry. I can’t... can’t control my wolf. When you smell like that, when you’re so godsdamned tight... Fuck.”

He pushed into Finn. Finn gasped, his nails digging into Dante’s skin. It was difficult to think, with Dante inside him, Finn’s heat still coursing through his body.

“I’ll be pregnant before the week’s over,” Finn muttered. His body squeezed; his instincts howled. He wanted Dante to come over and over inside him, making sure every last egg was fertilized.

Dante groaned, burying his face in Finn’s shoulder. “I need to remember that. Can’t... can’t think very well when I’m inside you. I should’ve asked before... before this. Sorry.”

Gods, it wasn’t even Dante’s fault. Finn kissed him on the lips, savoring the warmth of his mouth. “Don’t be.”

He’d wondered, time and again, what children between him and Dante would be like. If they could have Dante’s strength, and Finn’s patience...

A growl rumbled in Dante’s chest. He stroked his knuckles possessively over Finn’s belly, then flattened his palm over it. “Mine,” he said.

Finn bowed his head for his alpha, his body singing. Yours.

Dante stroked his scent over Finn’s back.

But the rest of the pack also hated Dante—Finn’s mother, his brothers, every other person who had been here when Dante told them Finn had died. For six months, the pack had mourned Finn, casting Dante away, spreading word of his misdeed through the county.

Then Finn had returned. By then, the damage had been done—Dante had been labeled a murderer.

After five years of Finn trying to correct their misconceptions... who would believe him now?

Dante winced. “It’s not just that. I’ve... I’ve killed other people, too.”

“Oh, Dante,” Finn breathed, closing his eyes. “Why’d you do that?”

Dante looked away, his lips thinning. “Didn’t have anything else to live for. But it’s... it’s not like I wanted it to happen. I just... I just let my wolf take over. Hurt less that way.”

Finn imagined Dante wandering from city to city, alone and hurting. How much despair had he been in, turning from an eager young alpha into a jaded killer? “Was that because you thought I died?”

Dante nodded, his eyes fixed on the bed. “If I’d known where to find you... if I’d done better... It wouldn’t have happened. Fuck. I’ve failed you, Finn. I spent years just... I wanted to say I was sorry. I didn’t think you’d ever hear me say it.”

“It’s not your fault.”

Finn breathed in slowly, the gravity of the situation settling on his shoulders. Back at the market, his mom had shaken her head at the news clipping. His aunts had curled their lips. If anyone found out that Dante was back, if anyone discovered that Finn carried Dante’s pups...

The pack had its ways of ridding unwelcome babies.

Finn whimpered, sliding his hand over his belly.

Dante snarled. “I won’t let them hurt any of you.”

Finn shook against him, a sick feeling rising up through his gut. He couldn’t lose his babies—they were Dante’s flesh and blood. They were his alpha’s.

But by keeping his pups... what was the price of this relationship?

Dante hesitated. “If you don’t want me here...”

“No!” Finn said, his stomach twisting. Now that Dante was back, providing safety and warmth... Now that Dante had imprinted on him... the very thought of Dante leaving made Finn’s heart ache. “I need you here. Please.”

It was the one thing he’d never been able to say to his alpha.

Dante sucked in a sharp breath. “I’ll go wherever you want me to.”

“Thank you,” Finn whispered, relief unfurling in his chest.

For years, he’d never been able to accept Dante as his lover—there were too many risks, too many years between them.

But now that Dante’s seed was in him, now that Dante’s pups would grow in Finn’s belly... he could no longer push his alpha away, as much as it would damn them both. Finn looked down at their connected bodies, his face prickling with heat.

Lightning flashed, sending a flare of light through the bedroom. Then thunder cracked right above them, and Finn jumped, his body clenching.

Dante hissed, pressing Finn into the bed with the warm cage of his body. “I’m here,” Dante whispered above the patter of rain. “You’re safe.”

He drew Finn into a deep, scorching kiss. Finn’s toes curled, his body flushing with heat. His attention locked back onto his alpha—Dante, with his strong, sculpted chest, with his sharp eyes and full lips.

Mine, something in him whispered.

“Mine,” Dante growled, brushing his palms down Finn’s arms, his thighs, leaving his scent wherever he touched. “Gonna make you mine again.”

Finn trembled. He was Dante’s.

It shouldn’t feel so good.