Chapter Eight
By the time Finn reached Will in the weaving building, the poor boy was in bad shape. Bent over, shivering, and whining, he gave the appearance of being an omega who’d been unserviced in his heat for days. His mate’s condition surprised Finn, given that it had taken mere minutes for Mabel to fetch him. Seeing Will in such distress drove Finn’s wolf wild. It prowled and snarled under his skin, howling in response to the pathetic whines of Will’s timid wolf reverberating inside his head. He wanted to mount the omega immediately, and his cock strained to break free. Given that Kyle and Mabel were in the room with them as were the pups, he couldn’t act on his urge, however. The best he could do was to move Will to their room as quickly as he could manage.
Racing over to his mate, he scooped the small body into his arms. “Easy, baby. I’ve got you.”
Will shook in his arms and clawed at the front of Finn’s shirt. “Hurts.” Snuffing against Finn’s neck, he added, “Need you.”
He turned to the door. “I know, baby. I know.”
Will wrapped his arms around Finn’s neck and tried to burrow into his body. “Now.” A shudder racked him, jarring Finn right down to his bones. “Please.”
The smell of his heat was overpowering. Finn staggered near the doorway and had to take a moment to catch his breath and push his own growing need down. He had to get them to their private space before giving into the overwhelming desire to shove his dick deep inside his mate. His fingers clenched around the hot, shivering bundle in his arms.
He’d barely left the building when his mate strained against his hold and practically crawled over his shoulder. “Annie!” The omega’s wolf whimpered and gave a little howl of distress, torn between two primal urges—the need to mate and the duty to nurture.
“She’s fine. Mabel’s going to take care of her.”
Being beyond rational thought, Will continued to struggle. Finn was forced to control and distract him by using his superior strength to hug him tight. The trip to the longhouse was normally short, but this time it seemed to take forever. More than once, Finn’s wolf egged him to drop and take his mate on the ground. The more primitive part of him, the ancient shifter blood, longed to do so. Since the evolution of their species from long-dead mammals, their kind had lived their lives out in the wild. Mating on all fours, grinding into the dirt and grasping grass and leaves, had been their way of life until recently. Why wait until they reached their soft pallet?
Because Will deserved the privacy, the respect, of taking him through his heat with the kind of dignity that they had adapted within the last two hundred years. That didn’t mean he couldn’t get the party started a little bit. He grabbed the back of his boy’s head and used his braid as a means of dragging his face within kissing range. The moment he claimed Will’s mouth, he loosened his hold on the hair, mindful that others had used it to control the omega in bad ways. He knew the first time Will had gone into heat, he’d had a terrible experience, even though the boy hadn’t really given him any details. He was determined that this time would be better.
He poured all of his desire into the kiss, wrestling with Will’s tongue and scraping his lips. Far from shying away, the boy gave as good as he got, the first time he’d shown such passion. A wave of omega heat washed over him. Unable to resist, Finn clenched Will’s ass, making him wiggle and moan down Finn’s throat. Passion fogged Finn’s vision. He could barely keep his eyes open and focused on getting to the longhouse.
A helpful sigma opened the back door, then scrambled out of the way. Finn was somewhat aware of others watching them rush by. No one said a word, however. Everyone knew or had an inkling of Will’s past, so they didn’t call out any lewd remarks or hoot and howl in encouragement. Instead, Finn felt the empathy, the good-wishes for his mate as he strode through the kitchen and the great room and down the hall. Almost there.
Thank the Gods the door to their room stood open. The moment he passed the threshold, he kicked the thing closed, slamming everything out and cocooning himself and his mate within their own little world. They’d stay here until his seed took and Will was pregnant once more. The very idea of it sent his arousal into overdrive. Letting his claws punch out, he tore the worn jeans from the omega’s ass. Then he tumbled them both down onto the pallet, and ripping open his own pants, he dove between Will’s splayed legs.
He felt the bite of pain when in his haste, he scored his own flesh. The scent of blood mingled with the strong musk of Will’s slick. It all only served to make his cock harder. It leaked and pulsed with its freedom and hit straight home when he bucked his hips. He sheathed his dick inside his mate’s tight, wet channel and hissed as the muscles clenched around his hardened flesh. Gritting his teeth, he pressed forward even more, sheathing himself to the hilt. His wolf howled inside him with unbridled pride. He threw back his head and joined it with his human voice. The sound bounced around the room and roared through his blood.
Below him, Will writhed and groaned. His wolf whined, a pitiful plea that took Finn out of his own head and made him focus on his mate. He popped open his eyes and stared down. Will’s face was scrunched up in a frozen mask of either pleasure or pain. The uncertainty made Finn desperate to tip the expression in the right direction. So, propping himself on his arms, he kissed his mate once more. This time, he was gentler, slower. He could afford to take his time. They were joined now, his cock claiming Will’s demanding ass enough to ease the worst of the heat. Already, Finn’s knot had started to swell. As it pressed against the resisting walls of the omega’s anal passage, Finn lovingly fucked his mate’s mouth.
Will clung to Finn’s shoulders, the touch strong, and it pulled him closer, instead of pushing him away. The boy’s thin chest heaved with labored breathing, and every so often, he whined into Finn’s mouth. But the sound had turned to one of encouragement, not fear or blind need. Far from being a passive recipient of Finn’s mounting, the omega was trying to participate. His intent was confirmed when lifting his slender legs, he wrapped them around Finn’s waist.
His mate’s enthusiasm spurred Finn. He thrust once, hard, and grunted as his fully-swelled knot kept him from going more than a millimeter farther. Their bodies were truly joined now and would remain that way for hours. They clung to each other in various places skin-to-skin and cloth-to-cloth because he hadn’t had time to fully strip them. There was something oddly erotic about fucking partially clothed. He groaned loud and long.
Needing a breath, he broke the kiss and immediately started lapping up Will’s throat instead. He tasted his mate’s salty sweat, felt the heat of the skin along his tongue and smelled the arousal as Will bucked up against him with an urgent moan. The boy’s hard-on pressed against Finn’s abdomen, yet it was trapped within the part of the jeans still plastered to Will’s hips. The rational part of his brain told him he needed to remedy that situation, but the feral part was too focused on the growing ache in his balls. The wolf won over the human this time as his first climax hit.
He threw his head back once more and howled through his release, flooding his mate’s ass with his seed. An instant later, Will arched into him with his own cry and dug his fingers into Finn’s muscles. Will’s tight omega hole clenched around Finn’s dick strong enough to snap it off. The intensity sent Finn over the edge again. He drenched his mate so much, some leaked out around the tight seal of the knot.
This was the real claiming. Forget sinking his teeth in Will’s neck. Being stuck together, dick to ass, his seed flying up inside the boy, seeking an egg and knowing it would eventually find one, made the omega his. And, only his. How could any male ever share this moment, this omega, with others? The very idea made his wolf crouch and bare its teeth. Will was his and only his. He would claim this omega over and over until his seed took root.
****
Will lay too wiped out to help as Finn carefully ripped away the rest of Will’s tattered clothing. His mate had only his claws showing, slowly turning Will this way and that, to get the job done. Because he’d earlier broken some of Will’s skin, Finn also lapped up along parts of Will’s ass to help clean trickles of blood and heal the abrasions. The velvety bath caused some slick to descend, a sure sign that his heat was building again.
Gods, he didn’t think he had the energy to get through another bout so soon. Except, who was he kidding? He had no choice. This second heat had come on like a Nor’easter, battering him into a quivering mass with gale-force winds. It was nothing like his first one, which had been a slow burn that he hadn’t even recognized for what it was until he’d turned mindlessly needy. Like then, however, he’d still lost rational thought and all sense of dignity. He’d needed Finn badly enough that if the guy had mounted him right in the middle of the weaving room, he wouldn’t have cared.
Nothing had mattered other than being filled with a hard cock and potent semen. Although , that wasn’t quite true. This time, there was something else in his life. Rolling onto his back, he stared up at Finn as the beta removed the rest of his own, slightly less ruined clothing. He allowed himself a moment to admire his mate’s impressive body. All those big, rippling muscles, smattering of coarse, dark hair, and a long, thick rod that was still partially erect. Finn was masculine perfection, and as an omega, Will couldn’t help but want the shifter.
But, he was more than an omega in heat. He was a father, too. “Annie,” he said in a voice made hoarse from all the howling and crying he’d done.
Tossing his boots aside, Finn knelt on the pallet by Will’s side. “She’s fine. Remember? Mabel is looking after her.”
Will shook his head. “I don’t remember anything except needing you, craving your cock.”
A grunt of air passed Finn’s lips, and his dick rose to full hardness. He gave Will a smile that looked more like a snarl. “I know that’s your heat talking, but damn my wolf loves it.”
Will returned the look and raised a weak and shaky hand to skim his fingers along Finn’s square, stubbly jaw. “You were so kind. Thank you.” Tears swam suddenly in his eyes.
“Oh, baby.” Lying down by his side, Finn leaned over and caressed Will’s cheek. “Don’t cry.” He grunted. “I was actually going to apologize for being so rough with you.”
“You weren’t.” Will knew what rough mounting felt like. “You weren’t,” he repeated with a fierceness that surprised him. “I needed your cock, and I needed your seed. You gave me both while still holding and kissing me. You knew who you mounted because you could see my face. And, I could see you.”
He stared off into the space over Finn’s shoulders. “I wasn’t just some hole for your dick to fill, and you weren’t just some shaft lodged in my ass.”
The distinction was critical to Will. Unlike the first time, this heat didn’t make him feel used and ashamed. When his hole clenched with a rising itch that told him his need rose once more, he didn’t worry. He knew that Finn would take care of him, and that Will would like it. He’d come with an intensity that had robbed him of his breath. Nothing had ever felt so wonderful, and he wanted it again.
Switching his gaze back to Finn, he reached for the beta’s massive shoulders and tugged. “Fill me.” His plea was simple.
His mate’s response was equally so. With a low growl, Finn rolled onto Will and shoved a knee between the legs that Will was already opening for him. The invasion came swift and hard, filling Will’s ass with a quickness that left him breathless. Finn managed a few fast thrusts before his knot swelled up and impeded his movement. The pressure made Will wince until his mate changed the angle of his dick to brush that sensitive spot inside Will’s ass. Now, he gasped and wiggled to help with the effect.
Between them, his own dick rose, brushing against the trickle of hair that ran down Finn’s ripped torso. He moaned in delight and tightened his hands’ grip on the rock-hard flesh of Finn’s biceps. He clenched his ass, too, simply because he could and wanted to. The look on his mate’s face was all the reward he needed. As was the way the beta swooped down to claim both Will’s lips and his dick.
Oh, how he loved the kissing. Such a simple way to show affection, and yet one that only Finn had ever done for him. He moaned his appreciation into his mate’s hot, wet mouth and bucked into the firm hold of the fingers around his shaft. His climax grew quickly, and while part of him wanted to prolong the pleasure, he knew he was helpless to his nature. He erupted abruptly, spilling cum over Finn’s fingers. His entire channel squeezed in undulating waves in response, sending his mate over the edge with him. The hot seed flooded his ass, making him climax yet again.
He felt claimed, and knew this was only the beginning. But, he also felt safe, and that basic fact made him eager for more. Eventually, as with his first heat, exhaustion overwhelmed him even while he was still being mounted. This time, however, he fell into a deep, mostly restful sleep. In the end, though, he was plagued by fearsome nightmares.
****
His wolf ran through cold and misty woods, searching with increasing fear for something. No, someone. Annie. Where is Annie? His precious pup was lost somewhere in the dangerous, murky woods. He needed to find her before a horrible fate befell her, and she would become lost to him forever.
He woke with a start, heart pounding, cocooned in a light blanket. A single lamp in the corner cast a warm glow, so he could see that he was alone. He breathed a sigh of relief before remembering that things were different now. He didn’t need to fret over whether there were betas and gammas who had yet to mount him. No brutal male would come to claim some brief pleasure from his body. He belonged to Finn, now. Only Finn.
Rolling onto his back, he took stock of how he felt physically. A bit sore and achy, but that was to be expected. No pain, though, and that was a blessing. This was the new normal for his life. Nothing should hurt more than necessary for heat-mating. Non-stop mounting was going to take a toll on an omega’s body. Nothing to be done about it. Finn had told him, though, to speak up if something truly hurt, so that the beta could adjust his fucking. Will knew his mate didn’t want to hurt him. Believed it now that they’d spent Gods’ knew how much time together. The heat made his brain fuzzy and his memories suspect.
The darkness seeping in from around the curtains told him night had fallen. But, was it the first night or the second? He just didn’t know and supposed it didn’t matter. His heat plotted the journey, and he and Finn were merely along for the ride. All he knew for sure was that he was hungry and grubby. His lower half was covered in crusty cum—his and Finn’s. A shower would be bliss, yet he didn’t feel the urge to wash away the remnants of his breeding as he had before.
He knew, too, with comforting clarity that if he asked for Finn’s permission to leave the room to bathe, that the male would give it. That was one more difference between this heat and the first. Magnus hadn’t let him out of his cramped back room until every beta and gamma, save Caleb, had had a crack at Will’s ass. By the time he’d staggered to the communal shower, dried cum had coated his body like a second, disgusting skin. He’d felt the condemning gazes of the pack all along his walk of shame.
The bedroom door opened up and the smell of both his mate and food hit Will square in the nose. His stomach grumbled as he tossed the blanket aside and sat up. Finn grinned down at him, shut the door with his foot and carried a heaping tray over to the pallet. He set it and himself down next to Will. The food was a welcome sight, but no more so than his mate. Finn’s hair was still damp from an obvious washing, and he wore only a pair of unsnapped jeans.
The beta opened a bottle of water and handed it over. “Here, drink first. We can’t have you getting dehydrated.”
His mouth feeling suddenly dry, Will took the offering and slaked his thirst. The cool liquid soothed a throat sore from howls and cries. When he’d drunk his fill, Finn took the container back and pushed the tray closer to Will.
“Eat.”
Will didn’t have to be told twice. His stomach gurgled some more as he grabbed up a fork and shoveled a heaping amount of meat loaf and mashed potatoes smothered in gravy. Once he started, he couldn’t stop until the plate was nearly clean. His mouth working a mile a minute, he glanced up at Finn, who stared back at him with a weird look on his face.
Swallowing hard, he blinked rapidly. “I-I’m sorry, was this meant for the two of us?”
Finn rearranged his expression, softened it, and a ghost of a smile lifted the corners of his mouth. He reached over and tucked some wayward strands of Will’s messy braid away from his face. “No, I ate while Joey fixed this plate.” He glanced down at his lap. “I was just marveling at how nice it is to see you eat with such enthusiasm.”
“Oh.”
As he pondered why his eating would be so important to his mate, Will scraped up the last of the food with the chunk of soft, warm bread sitting on the tray. He bit off some and savored the mouthful with only a slightly diminished enthusiasm. Fucking used up a lot of energy. He supposed Finn worried about Will’s body being in good enough shape to carry a new pup to term, given how underfed he’d been until coming to the Rogue Pack. That made more sense than concern over just Will. No one had ever cared much about him.
He popped the last piece of bread into his mouth and stared down at the empty plate. He considered licking up the traces of the gravy before deciding that he was actually satisfyingly full. Putting the fork and plate down, he tried to work up the courage to ask if he could go wash. On some level, he knew that Finn wouldn’t deny him, but his experience was a hard thing to get over. He didn’t want to overstep his bounds with his mate.
“Here, take a look at this.” Finn shoved the tray aside, and held his phone up to Will’s face.
It took a second for Will to understand what he was looking at. When he did, he grabbed the phone without a thought and held it even closer. Delight rose within him. “Annie!”
“Yeah, I took that right after dinner. I, ah, thought you’d like to see that she’s okay.”
“Oh,” Will sighed. His daughter sat within the cradle of Mabel’s arms, grinning around a finger she had stuck in her mouth. He gave Finn a shy smile. “Thank you so much. In the back of my mind, I’ve been worried about her. Other than the night you took me as a mate, she and I have never been apart more than several hours.”
After taking a few more seconds to study the picture, he handed the phone back. On impulse, he leaned forward and kissed Finn in gratitude. When he would have pulled back to end it, Finn cuffed him by the back of the neck and held him in place. Their tongues wrestled inside Will’s mouth and by the time Finn let him go, both their dicks had hardened.
Clutching Finn’s forearm, Will panted with rising excitement. His hole throbbed and he felt that telltale drop of slick down his channel. All thoughts of cleaning up were squashed under the pressing need to be mounted. He let go of his mate and flipped onto his hands and knees. He spread his legs as far as he could and jutted his ass out shamelessly.
“Need you,” he whined and closed his eyes. Another flood of slick descended, this time copiously enough to dribble past the spasming ring of his pucker and coat his tightening balls.
The sound of Finn’s zipper rang loudly in the room. Then thick, hairy thighs pushed his legs even farther apart. A finger flicked down the crease of his ass before circling his hole with teasing slowness. He pushed against it in silent invitation, one that didn’t go unanswered. Two fingers slid inside him, making him clench. They crooked within his channel to caress that amazing bundle of nerves that sent him writhing.
Finn gripped him by the hip to hold him in place while he stroked and teased Will to maddening heights of pleasure. His cock bounced against his belly as he continued to buck and struggled. The hand on his hip slid down to grasp his rod, squeezing as it jerked up along the shaft. Will shoved back to send the fingers in his ass deeper and the one around his dick closer to the bundle of nerves below the glans. He clawed at the pallet with frustration. It wasn’t enough. His wolf dared to dance and yip to provoke Finn’s into action.
The beta chuckled. “Okay, baby, we hear you.”
Will’s ass was suddenly empty, but before he could voice a protest, he got what he wanted—Finn’s dick thrusting past the tight ring. Its way was eased by the large amount of slick that coated his insides. The abrupt invasion stretched his muscles more than was comfortable, yet he didn’t complain. He welcomed it, his heat demanding swift, almost violent, action all in the name of procreation.
And with Finn’s clever fingers playing with Will’s dick so aggressively, the moment the beta was fully seated in Will’s ass, the shaft gliding along his prostate, Will’s balls emptied. He convulsed with the strength of it and would have collapsed onto his face if Finn hadn’t kept him up. Not only up, but back. As Finn sat on his heels, he pulled Will with him so that Will landed on his lap. The beta’s dick pierced him to the core, in so deep, it robbed Will of his breath.
He leaned against his mate, panting, arms hanging limp along their thighs, as the knot began to swell. In this position, he felt the stretch and burn even more from that special knot of tissue that he, as an omega, didn’t have. The knot pressed against his prostate, goosing his cock to stiffen once more. Gods, would he never be satisfied? Was this incessant arousal what Finn felt? It overwhelmed him. His breathing had been reduced to short pants, and his fingers curled into fists.
His mate’s hot breath wafted past his hair. The massive wall of muscle against which Will was propped rose and fell with increasing speed. Finn slid his arm around Will’s chest. Claws had come out, and he flicked Will’s nipple with one, drawing a hiss past his lips from the bite of pain. It only served to make Will harder. The fingers that still gripped his cock, jerked him with fast, sure strokes.
This time, when he came, so did his mate. The undulating waves Will’s channel made from his orgasm, milked the hard shaft within him. When Finn sank his canines into the taut skin where Will’s neck met his shoulders, Will cried out and came again. He pounded his fist against his thighs and thrashed against the hold. With a growl, Finn tightened the grip of his jaw and fingers, plastering their bodies together. A flood of semen pulsed up all the way to his belly. Or, so it seemed.
He had the fleeting thought that this time, Finn’s seed would hit its mark.
Later, how much so, he didn’t know. He lay boneless on the pallet. Finn loomed over him, a wet cloth in his hand.
“Let me clean you up a little.”
Before Will could even think to mount a protest, Finn started rubbing Will’s stomach with lazy circles. The cloth was warm and sudsy, and his mate used it to wash away the worst of the grime coating Will’s body. He was so wiped out from the intense breeding, his cock lay limp and uninterested when Finn cradled it for a gentle cleaning.
Will sighed. “I was going to ask if I could go shower.” The idea of getting up seemed impossible at the moment. His eyes fluttered closed.
The sound of water sloshing and being wrung out barely registered, as did more soothing ministrations from his mate as he rinsed the soap away. Then Finn dried him with a fluffy towel, rolled him onto one side, lifted the soiled sheet off the pallet and replaced it, all without Will having to get up. A little water was forced down Will’s parched throat, and a blanket was tucked around him.
Finn laid a palm across Will’s forehead. “Sleep now.”
“Okay,” he agreed in a voice slurred with fatigue.
As he sunk down into oblivion, a thought flashed across his mind—his heat was over.