At hour twelve, Braun couldn’t take it anymore. His asshole throbbed, he was leaking constantly, and his cock ached for relief again and again, no matter how many times he masturbated. There was no end to it. He needed his alpha.

He needed Tarek.

Braun undid the locks as another surge hit, and then fell to his knees as arousal gripped him in its unbreakable hold. “Tarek, please!” He screamed the name he’d come to love and adore and associate with everything positive and wonderful. He screamed for his alpha to save him from this torment.

The door swung open, and Braun looked up, dizzy from the strong scent of Tarek’s arousal. The bigger man knelt in front of him, his sweatpants tented, perspiration dotting his cheeks and forehead. Tarek didn’t touch him, only gazed at him with blazing brown eyes.

“Are you sure?” Tarek asked, his voice strained and hoarse.

“Yes. Yes, I need you. Please, my alpha.”

Tarek scooped up his naked body and carried him to the bed. Braun ripped at Tarek’s clothes, needing this man naked right the hell now. Tarek pulled the covers back, then carefully deposited Braun on the mattress. Braun whined at the loss of his touch. Tarek walked to the small dresser on the other side of the bed. Annoyed at being ignored, Braun rolled onto his hands and knees, and then presented his slick ass to his alpha.

“Fuck,” Tarek said. “Give me a second to do this right, my little firecracker.”

“Your cock in me is doing this right.”

“We’ll get there, I promise.” A drawer opened and shut, and then four condoms landed on the bed by Braun’s elbow. “Need to get these ready so I don’t forget. I’d never forgive myself if I knotted you without one.”

The tenderness in Tarek’s voice melted any resistance Braun might have still had about this. He wiggled his eager ass, the gathered slick sliding over his balls. Tarek growled softly, then shed his clothing piece by glorious piece. His erect cock made Braun’s hole clench in anticipation. On a normal day, he’d have worried about taking such a big cock, but he was loose and slick with heat, and he needed it so badly. He ached for his alpha’s cock.

“I’ve wanted to taste you since I first scented you,” Tarek said. “Oh goddess, you’re beautiful, presented to me like this.”

“Need you, alpha.”

“You’ll have me when I’m ready.”

Braun whined. The bed dipped behind him. No amount of conversation or research prepared him for the sensation of a hot tongue lapping at his hole. His over-sensitive nerve endings buzzed, and Braun cried out. He pushed his ass backward, needing more. Tarek licked and sucked at his juices, shoving his tongue inside his passage, fucking Braun with it in the most amazing way.

“Oh goddess, oh fuck,” Braun said, over and over. “I’ve never…oh!”

He came from Tarek’s tongue alone, shooting across the clean sheet. His hole clenched, wanting more, but Tarek simply kept tongue-fucking him, sucking up every drop of slick like he needed it to live another day.

“You taste so good,” Tarek said between breaths. “Like honey, only sweeter. Could taste you for hours.”

“Later. Need your knot.”

“Soon, sweetheart. Still need to suck that pretty cock of yours.”

Braun’s stomach clenched, but he didn’t have time to wonder why Tarek would want to do such a thing when that was an omega’s duty, because Tarek resumed his assault on his hole. Braun melted into it, his body soaring on pleasure, and he orgasmed a second time.

“Fuuuuuuck.” Braun collapsed onto his stomach in the wet spot, not even caring.

“We’re not done yet.” Tarek rolled him onto his back, and then sat on his thighs. His broad chest glistened with sweat, which trickled down over a perfect six-pack decorated with dark hair. That same hair surrounded his dripping cock.

Braun clasped Tarek’s length with his fingers and gave it a curious pull. Tarek gasped, his smile both tender and feral, so Braun did it again. Smooth skin moved over heated steel, and at the root, he felt the first slight swelling of Tarek’s mating knot. The condom would prevent them from officially mating today, so Braun had no fear of the knot. He craved it, how it would join them together in a way no beta ever got to experience. The knot rose solely from the mix of an alpha’s pheromones and an omega’s heat.

It was something beautiful they would create together.

After only a dozen tugs, Tarek spurted across Braun’s chest with a long groan. “Ah, oh that was too soon,” Braun said.

“It’s fine.” Tarek smeared his finger in his spend, then offered it to Braun. “I won’t have trouble staying hard for you.”

Braun accepted the finger, eagerly sucking it into his mouth. The sharp, musky taste of Tarek’s seed burst in his mouth, and Braun needed more. He used his own fingers to clean his chest and swallow every drop, loving how it made Tarek’s chest heave.

“I think you missed a spot,” Tarek said.

Impossible. Before Braun could sit up and check, Tarek slid down the bed, and then sucked Braun’s cock into his mouth. If having his ass licked was heaven, having his dick sucked was the next best thing, because. Oh. My. Goddess. Braun whimpered and writhed, wrapped his fingers in Tarek’s hair and held on for his life. Nothing had ever felt so amazing. The licks and sucks and teeth around his glans. Tarek worked his cock like he’d been born to do it, and maybe he had.

They were mates, after all.

Then Tarek blew his mind by sneaking two fingers deep into his ass, and Braun shouted, his entire body jerking. Not a cock, but it was bigger than a tongue, and so much better than a dildo. So much better because it was real and part of Tarek, and Tarek was his alpha. This was everything Braun had ever needed or wanted, wrapped up in a big, beautiful man who knew exactly how to make Braun’s body sing.

“Fuck!”

Tarek hit his swollen gland with those fingers, over and over, milking a fluid-less orgasm out of Braun that left him weak-limbed and mewling. Too much and exactly right, and his body craved more.

“Need you,” Braun whispered. “Please.” He burned for his alpha.

“Fuck, yes.” Tarek lunged for one of the condoms. A tiny voice in Braun’s head told him to say no to the rubber, but even if he did, he knew Tarek too well. Tarek would use it until they could have a rational discussion, instead of while they were both heat-drunk and horny to the point of madness.

Once Tarek was sheathed in latex, he grabbed the backs of Braun’s knees and pushed his legs back and apart, bending Braun nearly in half. Tilting his ready ass into the air. Braun clenched his hole, inviting his alpha to fuck him, but Tarek tongue-fucked him instead, lapping at his insides, sending Braun to the moon and back.

Braun was so far gone he barely registered his lower body resting on Tarek’s thighs. The first blunt press of Tarek’s cock at his entrance made Braun sigh with relief. His ready body allowed Tarek’s thick cock to slide in easily, filling him the way he needed to be filled, until his balls pressed against Braun’s ass.

Tarek released a long, low moan, then bent over to kiss him. The taste of Braun’s own slick combined with Tarek’s spicy flavor, and Braun nearly came a fourth time. “I don’t think I can be gentle, sweetheart,” Tarek whispered.

“Fuck me, alpha,” Braun replied. “Give me your knot.”

“Yes.”

Tarek was right—he wasn’t gentle, and it was everything Braun never knew he needed. Pistoning hips and rough slams against his ass. The drag of a hard cock against his insides, nailing his prostate, milking his own cock for drop after drop of fluid. His passage was wet and slippery for Tarek. His skin burned with desire for his mate. He dragged his fingernails down Tarek’s back hard enough to leave marks.

“Need you, need you, need you,” Braun panted between desperate kisses.

“You’re mine.” Tarek slammed into Braun’s ass. “Mine.” He pulled out and rolled Braun onto his hands and knees.

Hands and knees that barely supported him, so Braun settled flat on his stomach with Tarek straddling him. As he pushed back in, Braun bit back a scream. The pressure of this position was intense, almost too much to take, until Tarek began to move in earnest. Then it was everything and more. Braun was always meant to be here, on his stomach, giving his alpha his ass for his alpha’s pleasure and knot. To open for him and take his seed and be claimed as Tarek’s.

Tarek wouldn’t claim him today; Braun knew it without asking, but he wanted him to do it. To lay claim on Braun so no one would ever try and take what he wasn’t freely giving.

I love him so much.

Braun held tight to those emotions while Tarek chased his own release. Braun had only his alpha’s pleasure to seal them together as one.

“Close,” Tarek said far too soon. “Are you sure I should?”

“Knot me. Please. It’ll help. With. The heat.” Braun no longer had full sentences.

Tarek tilted Braun’s hips up a fraction, and then slammed home with bruising force, before pushing in one last time. Braun imagined Tarek’s hot seed filling his passage and making its way to his waiting, hungry womb. The knot at the base of Tarek’s cock expanded slowly, a magnificent, unrushed pressure inside of Braun’s ass. When it reached Braun’s sensitive gland, he sobbed for the glorious sensation of it, his entire body shaking with pleasure and completion.

His passage pulsed around the knot, sending wave after wave of pure sensation through Braun’s body. He shivered as Tarek eased his own broad body down to cage Braun in, their bodies temporarily joined. Tarek wrapped his arms around Braun and rolled them onto their sides, Braun crushed to Tarek’s chest.

“My perfect omega,” Tarek whispered. “Thank you for this gift.”

He clenched around the knot simply to hear Tarek moan. “Thank you for your gift, my alpha.” For the first time in half a day, Braun felt somewhat clear-headed. Less drunk on hormones and desire. “Why did you hesitate before? About knotting me?”

Tarek kissed his bare shoulder. “Because I selfishly didn’t want this to be our only time.”

“Our only time?” Braun couldn’t twist around and see Tarek’s face so he settled on staring at the far wall.

“I mean, isn’t a knot what an omega’s body needs during heat? After you take the knot, it’s over?”

Braun laughed out loud. “Oh goddess, you don’t know a lot about omega biology, do you? The heat lasts for forty-eight hours, period, Tarek. You could knot me once an hour for the entire span, and it wouldn’t change the timetable. The surges will keep hitting, no matter what, especially since this is my first.”

“Oh.” Tarek chuckled. “Well, that’s a relief. I quite like fucking you, and I absolutely love how your slick tastes, so I was worried I’d have to wait three months to taste you again.”

The idea of Tarek being there for his next heat both scared and elated Braun for all the usual reasons. Dreaming of a future with Tarek didn’t seem right while Kell was stuck in his own hell, but Braun could have this heat. He could have these next thirty-six hours of heaven with Tarek.

Until the heat was over, his personal problems could wait.

* * *

Braun was fast asleep and drooling on the pillow when Tarek’s knot softened and slipped from Braun’s body. The room smelled wonderfully of their combined releases, and as much as Tarek wanted to bask in it, he had to see to his omega. He slipped out of bed so he could fetch damp washcloths and a clean towel from the bathroom. Braun barely stirred as Tarek cleaned his bottom, then patted him dry.

That task done, Tarek took a quick shower to wake himself up, since it was barely past dawn. As he dressed, Braun shifted toward him, as if sensing his alpha nearby, but he continued sleeping. Probably the longest rest he’d gotten since the heat began. Tarek took advantage of the peace to make coffee and eggs for himself. Then he whipped up boxed pancake batter to feed Braun whenever he roused.

He had messages from Dex and Serge, asking how everything was going. Tarek wanted to crow to the world that he’d found and knotted his mate. Instead, he sent back brief texts that they were fine and not to worry anymore. Even though he was on temporary leave, he had a few messages about current cases.

New development in Hershel Farrington’s murder. By law, only basic, non-invasive autopsies could be done on any dead body, even murder victims, thanks to the old religious sect who thought body desecration was a sin, no matter the form, even for organ donation. The more progressive groups had won on organ donation, making it legal in all cases, but they lost on autopsies.

Full autopsies could only be performed with the family’s express permission—or if no living family remained, by court order. This meant they had a lot of unsolved Jack Does on the books. But Mr. Farrington had given them permission to do the full, exploratory work-up. And apparently they’d found something in Hershel’s stomach.

Tarek studied the image file attached to the text. The piece of plastic was deteriorated, probably from stomach acid, but it looked like a snapped-off toy part. The name of the company, Covfefe Toys, was still legible. Tarek vaguely remembered the manufacturing plant that had closed nearly a decade ago, because family friends had lost their jobs when the plant moved to a new province.

Why would Hershel swallow a piece of an old toy?

Unless…

Tarek called his supervisor with his suspicions. Constable Higgs said he’d look into it and see about obtaining a search warrant, since it was probably still privately owned. Then Higgs asked the bombshell question: do you want to be involved in the search if it takes place before your leave is over?

Yes, Tarek did, but he also couldn’t leave his omega during his first heat. They had a day and a half left. It was possible the warrant could take that long, especially on a weekend, but if they found a sympathetic judge who agreed with their evidence, it could happen in hours. If Tarek was right, they could possibly find the other missing teenagers.

Surely Braun would understand that Tarek was trying to save lives.

“Yes,” Tarek replied. “I need to see this case through.”

He owed it to Hershel Farrington to bring his killer to justice.

* * *

Braun woke slowly from a mix of hunger and the onset of another heat surge. His slick passage ached for what he knew Tarek could give him—and had given him four more times in the last twenty-four hours. The heat would end soon, and so would the wonder of being knotted, but Braun was also glad. He was exhausted, and so was Tarek.

Tarek had been amazing since their first coupling, always seeing to Braun’s needs, be it a shower, food, or simply holding him while he dozed. He’d never been so cared for in his life, and while he celebrated this amazing thing he had with Tarek, part of him also ached for Kell.

His stomach gurgled, but food could wait. He sat up and sniffed, curious at the shut bedroom door. They’d stopped shutting it when the locks became unnecessary. Tarek’s scent was in the room, but stale. Braun grabbed a damp towel off the floor where he’d dropped it after his last shower, too eager to slide into a clean bed and sleep to bother hanging it, and wrapped it around his waist.

Need for his alpha made him turn the knob. Dex’s scent hit him first, followed by fresh coffee and pepperoni. Dex was sitting on the couch, watching TV and eating pizza. He startled when he noticed Braun there and dropped his slice in his lap.

“Shit, Braun, you’re up,” Dex said.

Braun looked around the otherwise empty house and the open bathroom door. “Where’s Tarek?”

“He, uh, had to run out for a few hours.”

“Run out?” Braun grabbed the door frame to keep himself steady, as a wave of heat-induced dizziness hit him. “Why? I need him.”

“I know. I think he hoped he’d be back before you woke up.”

“What’s so important he had to leave me?” He didn’t care if he was whining. His slick hole needed his alpha. He couldn’t go through the agony of his first twelve hours again.

“He had a break in a murder investigation. I’m sorry, but I know what his work means to him. He takes the murder of teenagers pretty seriously.”

“As he should.” Braun could be an adult about this. He’d gotten through twelve hours of heat, he could manage two or three without Tarek. He shouldn’t have to, but he could.

“Do you need anything?” Dex asked. “Are you hungry?”

“I’m fine.” Braun retreated to the bedroom and shut the door.

And turned the locks.

* * *

The warrant to search the old Covfefe plant came at the perfect time. Tarek had just fucked Braun into a near-coma, helped him shower, and then put him to bed. He usually slept for three or four hours, the surges coming roughly every six hours, so it gave him a window. Dex had been free to come watch Braun, and Tarek had joined two other constables and four patrolmen for the search.

On the outside, the old factory was buttoned up and empty, but the rear parking area showed signs of recent use. Squashed weeds in the cracked asphalt, fresh cigarette butts, a discarded syringe that suggested a Flax user. They’d been told the best place to enter was the back entrance, because it had been sealed from the outside with a Master key lock.

Tarek lifted the lock from its hasp loop. It was a Tyson combination lock.

Everyone drew their weapons, except for the officer with the bolt cutters. He stepped up and snapped the lock off. Moved the hasp away. Tarek grasped the doorknob and turned. It didn’t squeal, like aged metal should. Every instinct in him was on high alert as he pulled the door open, and then stepped inside.

The stink of sex and sweat was overwhelming. The long corridor reeked of it, along with mixed alpha and beta scents. Tarek led the way, using his nose as much as possible, following the stink as it grew stronger. Halfway down, the corridor branched to the left, and on the wall two feet away was a window of some sort. Like a bank teller or ticket taker. It was dark inside, but appeared to be part of an office.

Next to it was another door, and it smelled of terrible things.

Tarek waved his backup into position, then reached for the doorknob.

It swung open from the inside, and a balding man stared blankly at them, mid-yawn, his sweatpants barely up around his hips.

“Holy fuck!” He tried to pull the door shut, but Tarek shoved his foot inside to block him.

“Sansbury Constabulary, hands in the air,” Tarek said. “We have a legal search warrant.”

“I didn’t do anything,” the bald man said, hands up in surrender. “Some guy pays me to sleep here during the day.”

“Why?” Constable Jenks asked. “What are you guarding?”

“I didn’t ask, it ain’t my business, long as I get paid.”

“Sure it isn’t,” Tarek said. “What’s your name?”

“Teo Snart.”

Sucked to be him. “What’s behind the door, Teo?”

“A room is all.”

“Show me.”

Teo led them down a short passage to the source of the sex smell. In what had probably been a large office space at one time, fake walls had been erected on two sides. Four round…well, portals of sorts were set around waist height. Two of them were three feet in diameter, with padding on the bottom and some kind of black leather with slices in it covering the opening. Two others were similar, but the circles were only about twelve inches wide.

“Goddess, I’ve heard about these rooms,” one of the patrolmen said. “It’s a sex parlor. Sex workers bend over the padded parts in those big circles, with their torso and face hidden behind the leather. The smaller ones are for guys to stick their dicks in and get blow jobs.”

“Do I want to know how you’ve heard about these places?” Jenks asked with a smirk.

“Not now,” Tarek snapped. He glared at Teo. “Parlors like this are illegal. Who pays you?”

Teo paled. “Guy named Norman. It’s the only name he ever gave me, pays me cash under the table.”

“Are you ever here while clients are being serviced?”

“Hell, no. I come and go at a very specific time. I wasn’t even sure what this rig was until you guys explained it.”

Tarek very much doubted that was true. “We need to finish searching the premises. Find something that ties this place to our case.”

“Case?”

He got into the bald man’s face, letting every bit of his alpha show to the cowering beta. “A murder case, Mr. Snart, so you’d better hope we don’t, or you’re facing accessory charges. Giraldi, watch this guy.”

Tarek and the others fanned out, searching rooms on the first floor, using their noses to try and track down anything useful, but someone cleaned regularly with bleach. It made scenting the rest of the factory difficult.

He found a door marked Samples and stopped. While many doorknobs in the factory were dusty, this one was shiny and clean. He inhaled deeply. Over the odor of bleach, he caught a whiff of beta. And blood. He tried the knob, but it was locked. Tarek took a chance and pounded on the door. “Is anyone in there?”

Multiple muffled voices shouted back at him, their words lost. Tarek grabbed his radio. “This is Constable Bloom, I’m in the east wing of the factory, and I’ve found something. I need a lock pick kit immediately.”

“Copy on the lock kit,” Jenks replied. “On my way.”

The yelling on the other side turned to indistinct wailing that hurt Tarek’s heart. He silently urged Jenks to get there faster, and he’d never in his life been glad to see the prejudiced little shit’s face until today. Jenks pulled out the slim instruments and began working the lock. Something popped and the knob turned.

Jenks stepped back. Tarek raised his firearm in case. The door opened outward. Tarek shined his flashlight into what was a semi-large storage closet, lined with shelves of boxes. Broken toys littered the floor, and in one corner was a pile of dirty blankets and four naked teenagers chained to the wall. The stink of blood, feces and urine made his eyes water, but Tarek stepped inside.

“You’re constables,” one of them said. “Thank goddess.” Then he began to sob.

Chaos erupted as the boys all tried speaking at once. They were thin and filthy from the waist up. Many were bruised on their faces and torsos. One of the boys has a swollen eye and split lip.

“We need medical here right away,” Jenks said into the radio.

Tarek ignored him in favor of the boys. They tried covering themselves with the dirty blankets, obviously used to being mistreated. “We’re here to help you,” he said gently, calming his inner alpha as much as possible, and so glad he’d remembered to take his weekly suppressant shot this morning. “My name is Tarek Bloom. I won’t hurt you, I promise.”

“I want to go home,” the boy with the swollen eye said.

“Soon. I think you all need the hospital first.” Through the grime and filth, Tarek recognized his other two missing Narrows teens. “Did any of you know a boy named Hershel Farrington?”

“Yeah, he was here,” another boy said. “But he fought too much, so he disappeared. Did you find him?”

Tarek ignored the question. The patrolman with the bolt cutters showed up, and everything became about getting those boys free of their chains. Medical assistance arrived, and one by one, they were whisked off to the hospital under the supervision of a patrolman. Teo was going directly to jail.

After coordinating with Jenks and their supervisor, Jenks and two patrolman agreed to watch the place and see who showed up to open their sex parlor. Maybe by nightfall, they’d have this Norman character in custody and his little kidnapping ring shut down.

Hershel Farrington would have justice.

Knowing that, Tarek smiled as he left the scene to go home to his omega.