Braun’s new normal was nothing like he expected it to be in the very best ways.

Dex and Serge were more than willing to let Braun continue living with them while he tried out this dating thing with Tarek. Braun wasn’t yet comfortable spending time at Tarek’s house when Tarek wasn’t home, so when Braun wasn’t working, he made himself useful around the apartment by cleaning and learning how to cook.

At first, Tarek would spend his evenings at the apartment, and he always brought Braun small gifts. Dark chocolate bars with chili pepper in it. A glass knickknack that had reminded Tarek of Braun. A single rose. It was a little embarrassing to be fussed over in front of his roommates, but he also sort of loved it. His big, bad alpha was practically showing Braun his belly.

After the first week, they spent more evenings at Tarek’s home. Braun cooked mostly-successful dinners. He might have burned the rice once, but they salvaged enough from the top of the pot to feed them both. They also kissed a lot more at Tarek’s house, and as their arousals combined, it took all of Braun’s mental control to pull away. And Tarek never once complained about Braun’s reluctance to have non-heat sex.

At the end of their first two weeks of dating, Tarek took him out to dinner at one of the fanciest places in the province. An appetizer cost more than Braun’s entire outfit, hardly something Tarek could afford on a constable’s salary, but Tarek said they were celebrating. It was their two-week anniversary, yes, but it was also the six-week anniversary of the day they first met.

The sweetness of the date earned Tarek a blow job, which he eagerly returned. As Braun shot down his throat with a loud cry, all those same tender feelings he’d had during heat returned. The firm knowledge that this man was his and his alone, and that they could be happy together.

Tarek licked him clean, and then climbed onto the couch to smother him into the cushions. They kissed for a long time, enjoying the taste of each other and the wine they’d splurged on at dinner. Both naked from the waist down, Tarek slowly rubbed their dicks together, until Braun’s came back to life. Tarek took a bit longer, but then they were rutting, friction smoothed by their combined precome.

Braun’s hole clenched with need—not the need of an omega in heat, but the need of a man who wanted his mate to fill him. To claim him. “Please,” Braun said.

Tarek misunderstood. “Don’t worry, firecracker, I’ll get you there.”

“No.”

At his protest, Tarek instantly froze in place, then lifted his hips away from Braun’s. Braun whined at the loss of his alpha’s body. He tugged Tarek back down and reached between them to change the angle of Tarek’s cock. Down between his cheeks where it belonged.

Tarek gazed down at him. “Are you sure you’re ready?”

“Yes. Please, Tarek.”

“Here?”

“Right here, now.”

“Okay.” Tarek started to get up.

“Don’t want a condom.”

“Oh, sweetheart.” Tarek stroked his cheek, eyes dark with emotion. “I love you for that, but you aren’t in heat, and without lube, I could hurt you.”

Tears prickled behind his eyes at the incredible thoughtfulness, when the need to rut had to be driving Tarek mad. “Okay.”

“I’ll be right back.”

Watching a half-naked Tarek race across the room made Braun laugh. He sat up and yanked his shirt off, nervous but also eager to try this. To know what it felt like not simply to rut in heat, but to make love.

Tarek returned, also sans shirt, with a white tube in his hand. “I’ve only ever used this to jerk off with, so this is a wonderful surprise.”

“You’ve had sex with other betas, though, right?” Surely Tarek wasn’t a twenty-eight year-old alpha virgin.

“Define sex.” Tarek sat next to him, him hard cock jutting out between his thickly muscled legs. Braun stared, unsure now that he was truly paying attention to the size it. “I’ve had plenty of blow jobs and hand jobs, and I’ve rubbed off with betas before, but not…this.”

Braun gaped at the stunning confession. “I was your first?”

“Yes.” Tarek pulled Braun’s hands up and kissed his knuckles with so much tenderness that Braun’s knees shook. “I wanted my first time in rut to be with my omega.”

The innocence in Tarek’s eyes drew Braun in for a soft, loving kiss. “Thank you for waiting for me, my alpha.”

“Anything for you.”

It started slowly, with more kissing and gentle touches. A stroke here, a pinch there. Loving nips and bites. And then Braun was on his knees, hands on the back of the couch, with Tarek kneeling on the floor behind him. Pulling his cheeks apart. Braun’s cock pulsed with need, and he cried out at the first swipe of Tarek’s tongue against his hole.

This wasn’t Tarek reacting to the scent and taste of his slick, this was Tarek wanting to make Braun feel good. To soften him and open him for his cock. Braun didn’t censor his gasps or cries, he fed them to Tarek willingly, giving everything to the alpha worshipping his body. Braun lost time to it, as Tarek worked him with both fingers and tongue.

Then his tongue was gone, followed by more fingers and a cool, unnatural slick that eased the way. Three fingers in him burned, but didn’t hurt. It was an exquisite burn full of passion and need, and soon fingers weren’t enough. The unnatural slick wasn’t enough. He needed his alpha’s cock and he needed his alpha’s semen filling him. Marking him. It wouldn’t mate them, but his scent would change again, enough for others to notice.

He would be marked and claimed.

Those naughty fingers bent, pressing against his gland, and Braun cried out. “Tarek!”

Tarek did it over and over, driving Braun to the brink, his cock leaking fluid.

“Now, right fucking now,” Braun said.

Those fingers withdrew. “Yes, sir.”

The sir burned in his gut. Braun pressed his chest to the sofa and reached back to spread his cheeks for his alpha. Tarek growled low and deep. He pushed a single digit back inside. “Mine.”

“Yours.”

The finger slid back out. The head of Tarek’s cock pressed to his hole, and Braun keened. He tried to push back, to make this happen faster, but Tarek steadied his hips and held him still. Slowly, so achingly slow, Braun was filled. It burned more than with fingers, but not for long. Tarek seated himself in short thrusts that eased the burn into pure pleasure. As Braun’s body adjusted to his girth, Tarek sped up, deepening his thrusts, pushing farther into him on each stroke.

Braun released his cheeks to brace himself on the sofa, to take what his alpha offered him. Skin smacked on skin. Tarek drizzled more slick and took him faster, harder. Braun moaned and keened, needing to live in this moment forever, but eager for Tarek to lay his claim.

And then Braun was coming with nothing but air on his cock, his body contracting around Tarek. Tarek gasped and fucked him through it, before pulling out. Braun whined at the loss. Tarek put him on his back on the couch, hitched Braun’s legs up over his shoulders, and then slid home. Braun accepted him with a happy sigh as his alpha filled him.

Tarek bent him nearly in half to kiss him while his cock moved in and out of Braun’s ass, chasing his own release. The scent of their sex made Braun’s hole contract again. He swallowed Tarek’s moan, then squeezed, needing his alpha to come. Braun scraped his nails down Tarek’s back, over his cheeks, reaching as far as he could go. He slipped his fingers into Tarek’s crease, lightly brushed his hole.

Tarek shuddered violently as he came, pumping his release deep into Braun’s body, and he accepted his mate’s gift. Tarek continued fucking him for a long time after, spreading his seed, occasionally brushing Braun’s gland. He stayed inside of Braun, even as he softened, not because a knot kept him there, but because he belonged there.

Braun wrapped his arms around his mate, overjoyed to have been claimed by this man, and eager for the next step in their journey together toward being bondmates.

* * *

The constabulary busted the omega halfway house three days later.

They’d finally gotten judicial permission to set up surveillance on the house the week before, which was tricky enough on a regular residence, because of privacy laws. But to get permission for a home that worked directly with the constabulary to house orphaned omegas had taken extra work. No one liked to think they were working with the bad guys, and Fynn Lawry had a stellar reputation for finding mates for his omegas—mates who, their research uncovered, were largely fabricated names and addresses, created simply to get the paperwork filed and the omega’s name off the current resident roster.

Funny how Fynn seemed to manage clearing Braun’s name the day after Tarek’s personal visit.

Tarek wasn’t part of the overnight surveillance teams, because of his personal relationship with Braun and Braun’s ties to the case. Once the matter of their relationship was settled, Braun went to the constabulary with Dex and Serge to make a formal statement about his treatment and what he’d seen that night. Those documents had been what helped seal the surveillance warrant.

He was dead asleep in bed, dreaming about his omega, when his mobile went off. Tarek scrambled for it, his first thought that something had happened to Braun, but the number was assigned to Constable Higgs.

“Bloom, sir,” Tarek said.

“We got the slimy bastard tonight, Tarek,” Higgs replied. “Surveillance caught them red-handed dragging a bound omega out of the house at three o’clock this morning. Patrol followed and stopped the van. Fynn is in custody, and we’ve got warrants being served on every volunteer beta on the roster.”

Relief cracked open his chest. “How many omegas, sir?”

“Eleven, including the one Fynn tried to sell tonight.”

Goddess, eleven innocent souls.

“Has Fynn given any statements?” Tarek asked.

“No, he wants his lawyer right away, which surprises no one. We’re already looking into his financials, though. Bastard won’t have a leg to stand on when we’re through with him. Omegas might not be worth much, but you don’t sell people.”

Tarek growled at the omega statement; his omega was invaluable to him.

“Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention, Bloom,” Higgs continued. “You helped save innocent lives tonight.”

“I’m happy to have helped.” It would give Braun so much peace knowing that place was being shut down. “Sir, what will happen to the omegas?”

“They’re being kept in an isolation ward at the hospital for now, until they can be re-homed. And you can be damned sure we’ll investigate every home we consider. This whole thing has made the constabulary look bad. We sent some of those omegas to that man.”

Like mine. Thank goddess he got away when he did.

Tarek waited until sunrise to call Braun with the good news. Braun’s initial sleepy surprise turned into squealing joy as Tarek explained what he knew.

“I am so happy that place is getting shut down,” Braun said. “It’s stupid that they even exist. There are regular orphanages for alpha and beta orphans who aren’t yet eighteen. Why are omegas the only ones treated differently? Why aren’t we considered adults at eighteen and legally allowed to live with whoever we want? And if you say it’s for our protection, I will smack you the next time I see you.”

Tarek smiled at his firecracker’s threat. “Right now, it’s the law. Omegas are segregated and that’s the way it is.”

“Well, it’s stupid. That law got omegas sold to goddess knows who and for what reason. There are omegas out there suffering because of these idiotic, outdated laws.”

He couldn’t stop his mind from flashing to Kell. “Laws don’t change until someone challenges them,” Tarek said. “It’s what the omega rights groups are trying to do. Change the laws.”

Braun was silent for a beat. “Would you be angry if I said I want to join one of those groups?”

“Of course not. You know I oppose all the oppressive laws.”

“But you’re a constable, and you’ve sworn to uphold them.”

“Yes, I have.” Tarek struggled with that all the time, knowing he sometimes had to take action when it went against his better judgment, like the Kell situation. “But I can’t report anything I don’t know about, so you if you happen to not tell me everything you’re doing, that’s okay.”

“Isn’t that kind of like lying to you?”

“I don’t think of it that way, no. Think of it the same way I do my job. I can’t tell you details about my active cases. Same with you.”

“Except I don’t have a badge.”

“I’ll make you one out of paper and aluminum foil.”

Braun laughed. “You are so weird.”

“Yes, I know. I’m also hopelessly in love with someone who wants to change the world, and that’s an amazing thing.”

“I don’t want to change the whole world, just one part of it. Omegas deserve the right to drive, to vote, to live on our own at eighteen like every other man can. We deserve equality. Our wombs don’t make us lesser than.”

The fire in Braun’s voice delighted him to no end. “You’re right. Your womb makes you greater than, Braun. Without omegas, our entire race would die off. You should be treated with the respect and reverence you deserve.”

“Thank you.” Braun let out a long breath. “I’m too awake to go back to sleep, and I don’t work today.”

Tarek checked the watch on his bedside table. “I have three hours before my shift begins. Want me to come pick you up?”

“Nah, I’ll get dressed and take the bus.”

Every time Braun took public transportation it worried Tarek. Yes, Braun’s scent clearly said he was claimed, but he still wasn’t a mated omega. Some young, idiot alpha could corner him and try to take advantage. Try to erase Tarek’s claim.

“I’ve got pepper spray, don’t worry,” Braun said with a laugh. “And stop growling.”

Tarek hadn’t realized he was growling, so he quit. He loved it when Braun ordered him around. “Then get your perky ass over here so I’m not worrying about it riding a bus.”

“You just want my ass riding something else.”

Tarek’s cock hardened. “You have no idea, firecracker.”

* * *

Sweaty and sticky in Tarek’s bed was becoming Braun’s new favorite place to be. His ass was delightfully sore from a long, active round of sex, so he was sprawled on his stomach, Tarek lounging on his side next to him.

“Do all mated pairs have this much sex outside of heat?” Braun asked.

“I don’t know,” Tarek replied. He was tracing shapes on Braun’s back with a feather-light touch. “I image the ones who truly love each other do. It’s part of the mating bond. True mates can’t help themselves.”

“Do you think it’ll get even stronger if we mate and have a baby?”

“Maybe. And choosing to mate doesn’t guarantee a child on the first go. You said that fertility issues ran in your family. It could be months to years before we conceive.”

“Or it could be the first time.”

Tarek’s hand stilled on his lower back, just above the swell of his ass. “Would that be so terrible?”

“No.” Braun couldn’t shrug from this position. “I don’t know. I mean, yes, I’m a little old for an unmated omega, but sometimes I feel too young to be an omegin.”

“I’m not pressuring you into mating, okay, I swear. Besides, it’s only been a few weeks since your heat. We have plenty of time to keep discussing this. I need you to be sure, because if we do get pregnant, there’s no turning back from that.”

“Not legally, anyway.” As soon as the words popped out, Braun regretted them. He sat up, horrified by the open hurt on Tarek’s face.

“You’d abort?” Tarek asked.

“No, I didn’t mean it like that.” Braun reached for his alpha’s hands and squeezed tight, keeping him from turning away. “I wasn’t talking about us, but for an omega that’s in a bad situation, or who’s taken against their will during a heat, there’s no medical recourse except birth and adoption.”

“That’s because every child blessed by the goddess is a gift.”

“To the community, sure, but what about the life of the traumatized omega? For nine months, they have to carry the child of their attacker, and then live with the shame of being considered soiled for having a child outside of a mated bond.”

Tarek’s hurt eased, and he slid closer to hug Braun. “Another thing to add to your list of causes?”

“Maybe.” Braun laughed against his shoulder. “Considering open talk of abortion is punishable by a night in jail, you’re being very kind about this.”

“I’d never turn you over to the constabulary for any reason, Braun, I promise. You’re my mate, and I will always protect you.”

“Even from myself?”

“Especially then.”

Braun inhaled the spicy scent of his mate and held it, reveling in how lucky he was to have found Tarek. “Do you think I’d be allowed to visit the omegas in the hospital?”

“I don’t see why not. I doubt their guards would allow an alpha in, but there’s no reason to keep out another omega. I’m sure they’d appreciate the visit.”

“I want to see if they’re really okay, you know? I could have easily still been there, or sold off to a stranger if I hadn’t escaped when I did.”

“Believe me, I’ve thought that before, and I’m grateful every single day you had the courage to climb that fence and run.”

“Then I’ll go later today. I’ll bring them some treats, too, like books and candy. That house was so boring. All we had was the single television. Nothing to read but trashy magazines. I hated it there.”

“That sounds like a terrific, selfless idea.”

“If I was selfless I’d have found a way to take them all with me that night.”

“No, you were being smart. One person mounting an escape is possible, but seven? You’d have all been caught. You survived, Braun, and you got me involved. Now the other omegas are safe.”

“For now.” Braun didn’t want to grump when he was naked in bed with his mate, but this was a sore topic for him. “What if the hospital is so desperate to hand them off that they give the omegas to any alpha who wants one? What if they’re cruel, like Krause?”

“Won’t happen. The constabulary is guarding them, and we took a bit of a black eye with the media over that safe house. We were working with Fynn to place omegas there, and he was selling them under our noses. They’ll make sure these omegas are treated with kindness and care, and that they’re placed in good homes.”

Braun wrinkled his nose. “Ugh, that makes them sound like adoptable pets. They’re people, not puppies.”

“Sorry, bad turn of phrase. But you got my point?”

“Yeah, I got the point.”

“Good.” Tarek kissed his temple. “Let’s take a shower. You’re covered in my spunk.”

“I like being covered in your spunk.”

Tarek growled. “Keep talking like that and you’ll get another deposit before I have to leave for work.”

“Baby, you really need to work on your threats.”

* * *

Braun did get that second deposit before they left the house—right down his throat in the shower. After Tarek dressed and collected his things, he drove Braun back to the apartment. A long kiss in the car put Tarek’s scent all over him.

Serge was still home, and Braun couldn’t remember if this was his day off or if he had a late shift. Braun helped himself to coffee, and then told Serge all about the halfway house bust and his plans to visit the omegas.

“I don’t usually volunteer to spend my days off at the hospital,” Serge said, “but do you want me to come with you? I can drive, be moral support.”

“No, this is something I need to do on my own. I’ll be safe enough.”

“I’d hope so. You reek of alpha.”

Braun grinned. “Good.”

“Guess all the exciting stuff happens at the hospital when I’m not there. Those poor omegas.”

“I want to help them, Serge, but I don’t know how. If I had a giant house of my own, I’d try to take them all in under Tarek’s protection, but we don’t have that kind of room.”

“You know.” Serge leaned in conspiratorially. “You didn’t hear this from me, but there are apparently small communities outside provincial limits where betas and omegas, and even some alphas, live together as equals. Safe places for omegas to live and grow up, and then choose to mate and have children, rather than it being a role forced onto them by the government.”

“Really?” An odd sort of hope lit in Braun’s heart. “I’ve heard of omega rights groups, but safe towns?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know where they are?”

“I’ve never seen one, but I could potentially get someone who has to contact you.”

“Maybe. I have to find out if they’d be willing to go. Me forcing them is no better than what Fynn was doing.”

“Then go talk to them, but be as discreet as possible. Don’t mention the safe town, just the idea of going to a place like that. Gauge their interest.”

“How do you know about all this?” Braun asked, impressed by his friend’s depth of knowledge.

Serge shrugged. “These safe towns aren’t just for traumatized omegas.”

Braun left their conversation there. He stopped at several stores along the way to the hospital, changing buses each time, so his shopping took longer than he’d hoped. The public library wouldn’t let him get his own card without an alpha’s permission, which pissed Braun the hell off, and he couldn’t afford to buy very many books, so he stuck to magazines on every possible topic: fashion, music, art, books, poetry, cars, music. He bought a bunch of sweets from a small beta-owned candy store, too. His meager paychecks didn’t allow him much more.

The provincial hospital complex was as dizzying as he remembered, and it took a while to find the proper wing, never mind the exact isolation ward. Two constables guarded the entrance, both betas, and they let him inside after inspecting his shopping bags.

The isolation ward had six rooms, each with two beds, all but one full. Braun entered the first room after knocking. The pair of omegas were curled up together on one bed, watching television. He didn’t recognize either of them, but he did recognize the fear in their eyes. The uncertainty of not knowing where you’d be sent next, or who’d be there when you arrived.

They enjoyed the gifts of candy and magazines, though, and the excitement drew other omegas into the room, until everyone was crowded in together. Only one face from Braun’s few days at the halfway house was there—his former roommate Gill. Gill gave him a poisonous glare and remained on the fringes, accepting only a small piece of chocolate bark.

“You’re a hero in that house,” a red-haired omega exclaimed once Braun explained who he was. “Everyone talked about how you’d disappeared like magic, and now you’re the reason Fynn got busted.”

“Pretty much,” Braun said. “But I’m no hero. I was a coward who got scared and ran, and I left people behind.” He glanced at Gill. “I’ve thought about it every day since.”

“But you have an alpha now, right?” another omega asked. “I can smell him on you.”

“Yes. We’re bonded, but not yet mated, and he’s wonderful. I never knew alphas could be kind and generous and giving until I met him. I want that for all of you, if that’s the future you want.”

“What the fuck other future is there for us?” Gill snapped. “We’re omegas.”

“But omega doesn’t have to mean weak or subservient. My alpha treats me as his equal, not as a servant or a child who needs to be coddled. He serves me dinner.”

Someone gasped.

“You’re lying,” Gill said. “Don’t try to make us feel better with your stories. We know what fate is waiting for us out there.”

“You have no idea what you could have,” Braun replied. “If you could find a community where you’d be treated as an equal by your peers, would you go?”

“You can’t travel to fairy tales.”

“I’d go,” the red-head said. “Me too,” said another.

The consensus was everyone would prefer it to the uncertainty they faced now—everyone except Gill. As the omegas chatted quietly about the idea of freedom from societal expectations, Gill grabbed Braun’s arm and hauled him across the hall to another room. He shoved Braun, nearly sending him sprawling to the floor.

“What the hell?” Braun said.

“Why are you telling them all this?” Gill asked, anger blazing in his eyes. “Why are you giving them this false hope, when you know it’s a lie?”

“It’s not a lie. The world is changing, Gill. Alphas and betas alike are standing up for omega rights. They understand our value. Omegas had been oppressed for generations so we don’t recognize the power we actually have. Without us there are no children, alpha or otherwise. We’re kept under constant supervision as young adults so we don’t realize that before we’re stuck mated to an alpha who treats us like dirt. But it doesn’t have to be this way anymore.”

“Did your precious, kind alpha tell you this shit?”

“No, I figured a lot of it out on my own, but it took breaking free of my assigned gender role to figure it out. Am I bonded? Yes. Am I mated? No, and I could have been. I had my first heat a few weeks ago, and he could have easily overpowered me and mated me against my will, but he didn’t. That’s the man I fell in love with. It’s a love that’s possible, Gill, if you’re brave enough to look for it.”

Gill’s anger melted into anguish. Braun reached him before he collapsed onto the floor and held tight as the younger omega began to cry. “Fynn thought I knew,” Gill whispered between sobs. “He thought I knew you were planning to escape, so he threw me into the basement and he beat me. And then he invited an alpha friend to beat me some more, and when he was finished they took turns…they both…fuck!”

He buried his face in Braun’s armpit and sobbed in earnest.

Braun let a few of his own tears fall for Gill’s anguish, knowing exactly what the boy couldn’t speak out loud. He rubbed Gill’s back and tried to soothe him, waving away anyone who tried to check in on them. Eventually, one of the omegas shut the door, giving them privacy.

“Did you tell the authorities yet?” Braun asked.

Gill shook his head no.

“You should. The more charges stacked against Fynn the better.”

“Some of the others told. They don’t need me to tell, too.”

Braun’s chest tightened. “Some of the others?”

“Fynn did it to everyone eventually.” Gill lifted his head, eyes swollen, cheeks streaked with tears. “He didn’t do it to you?”

“No, but I was there less than a week. He obviously assumed I’d be available longer. Gill, I’m so sorry.”

“I hated you. I blamed you for what happened to me. I still hate you for being so positive and so fucking happy. It’s not fair.”

“I agree.” Braun used his sleeve to wipe Gill’s cheek. “I have a brother, also omega, and older than me by three years. He was mated at twenty to a cruel alpha who abuses him and belittles him. My brother finally had his first child last month, but his alpha gave the baby away because he was beta.”

Gill’s red eyes went wide. “What?”

“Yeah. He was devastated. So believe me, I know how lucky I am to have Tarek, and I will never take our relationship for granted. I’ve seen the evil alphas can commit.”

“I’m sorry.”

“So am I. It’s why I want more for you and the others. More is possible, if you’re willing to reach for it.”

“I don’t think I’m strong enough.”

“I think you are. I believe every omega here is stronger than they know, because they’ve been raised to think they’re weak. But we aren’t weak. You are not weak, Gill.”

Gill stared at him a beat. “Okay.”

“Okay what?”

“Okay, I’m not weak.”

“Damn straight, you’re not. None of us are. And we’re done letting people tell us otherwise.”

It was about damned time more omegas bucked the accepted norms and traditions.

It was time to resist.