Chapter Twenty-Two
The next few weeks were hard, for everyone. Dara’s time was divided between the Cove and River Den, trying to support Seth while being there for Max. Not to mention nursing Skye. He’d never been more glad to have a singleton. Twins or more and he didn’t think he’d have coped.
One evening, they left Skye with Angie, and he and Seth sat on the cliffs watching the sea.
“It’s been a crazy month, huh?” Seth said.
“Yeah, it has.”
“And all the back and forth you’ve been doing, I can see how much pressure it’s putting you under.”
“It’s not for much longer,” Dara assured him.
“Oh?” Seth seemed more uncertain than usual.
“Yeah. I mean, I guess that’s something we need to talk about.”
Seth smiled, taking his hand. “So, let’s talk.”
“You first.”
“You are such a taskmaster sometimes. Okay, fine. Well, you know I love having you here. I want you here all the time, every minute of every day. But I also know River Den is your home. If you need to be there, we’ll work something out. Lots of people do long distance successfully, and we’d only be doing short distance.”
He smiled encouragingly at Dara and Dara felt a sharp pang of love for the wolf.
“I don’t want any distance between us.”
“You… do you mean it?”
“Of course. I love you. I belong with you. There’s nowhere else I want to be. Me and Skye.”
Seth laughed. “That’s… that’s so great. But how will your brothers take the news?”
“Actually, they’re pretty keen on the idea. Cade thinks you and I can get the other wolf packs onboard.”
“Onboard?”
“Yeah. Once they see you can shift, they’ll start listening to you.”
“Oh? And what is it I’m going to be telling them?”
“About how we need to make alliances, with other packs, other species, and with the dens. We need to establish new dens, but we can’t do that without help.”
“Cool, forming alliances. I’ll put it on my to-do list.”
It was unusual for Seth to say so little, which was how Dara knew the idea was more than he was ready for.
“We start small. With your Uncle Shane and your cousins. Then the Black Tails, maybe. It’ll be easier than you think. They’ll be banging down the door to talk to you once word gets out that you can shift. That your pack can shift.”
“Ugh.” Seth held his head in his hands. “I’m so not ready for this whole responsibility gig. Being alpha is a lot of work.”
“Hey.” Dara bumped shoulders with him. “You’re not alone in this. I’m here to help. Your mom, too. You just need to learn to delegate.”
“Ah, the old tried-and-true method. When you can’t handle the responsibility, pass it on to someone else.”
“That’s not it and you know it. You can’t deal with every little thing. Besides, your mom needs something to keep her busy, and she knows the day-to-day pack stuff like the back of her hand.”
“You’re right, of course. You’re always right.”
“I’m not always right,” Dara contested before grinning. “But I’m never wrong.”
Laughing, Seth tackled him, pushing him onto his back on the grass and tickling him mercilessly.
“Stop, stop,” Dara said, breathless from laughing. “I surrender.”
Seth paused above him, his dark eyes holding Dara’s gaze, then leaned down and kissed him.
Dara melted under him, his body craving the alpha’s touch. Seth’s lips were hot against him, Seth’s tongue tangling with his.
They broke apart, the alpha moving to lie next to him on the grass.
“I can’t believe we found each other.” Sometimes, when Dara looked at Seth, he felt like he was in a dream. One he didn’t want to wake up from.
“I guess it’s true what they say. That these things happen when you least expect it.”
“And love comes from unexpected places,” Dara said.
“And family is about more than blood,” Seth said, adding, “Can you overdose on clichés? I feel we’re getting close to some sort of unspoken limit.
“Speaking of clichés. You know the whole activation of your wolf is only part of the whole mating experience.”
Seth sat up, looking confused. “But we did the whole I love you thing, you gave me amazing powers, and then we kissed. What part are we missing?”
He tried to look serious, but Dara saw the telltale curl of a smile on his lips.
“I’ll give you a clue,” Dara said. “It starts with an s and end with—”
Seth kissed him again, taking Dara’s breath away. “I know how this ends.”
His hands reached for Dara’s shirt, undoing the buttons.
“Here?” Dara said, stilling Seth’s hands. “Now?”
Seth smiled warmly at him. “There’s no one around. People don’t come this way too often. We could go down to the beach if you’d prefer but then we’d have to deal with sand in awkward places.”
He kissed Dara again and Dara forgot his concerns. If Seth said it was safe, it was safe. And he so didn’t want to wait anymore.
“Hold on,” Seth said. “Isn’t there supposed to be a heat thing? Hunter talked about it.”
Dara bit his lip, looking away. Seth caught his chin, gently directing his gaze back. “What is it?”
“It comes right after you start the mating process. I’ve been suppressing it. It just wasn’t the right time for you.”
Seth caressed his cheek. “You did that for me? God, have I told you I loved you?”
“You might have mentioned something.”
“Then let go now, Dara. Let your heat come.”
They went back to kissing, Seth’s hands roaming across his body, drawing gasps and moans from Dara. The first flush of heat swept over him and Seth stilled, his eyes widening. “Holy shit, I felt that.”
They undressed each other, the warmth of the evening and the high grass sheltering them from the chill in the wind.
Seth lay Dara back down, helping the omega wrap his legs around the alpha’s waist. The alpha sank into him slowly, grinning at Dara’s moan. Dara braced himself against the ground as Seth thrust into him, pleas and gasps slipping from his mouth.
“Harder, Seth, I won’t break,” he murmured, sensing the alpha was being careful with him. That wasn’t what he wanted. Still, the alpha’s movements were slow and careful.
“Seth!”
The alpha paused, and Dara sat up, wrapping his arms around Seth’s upper body.
“What, what’s wrong?”
Dara kissed Seth’s cheek. “Nothing’s wrong. Everything’s right. We’re made for each other. You can’t… you won’t hurt me. I want this, want you. Need you.”
His heat flushed across him again and he moaned, crowding closer to the alpha.
“I don’t want to push you,” Seth murmured.
“I’m going to push you in a minute if you don’t start—”
Seth grinned and shoved them both down onto the grass. “Message received.”
They kissed again, Seth sliding in and out of Dara, each thrust of his hips making Dara shudder with need.
“Harder,” he moaned, and Seth obliged, bracing himself against the ground. Dara’s hands locked around Seth’s arms, anchoring himself as the alpha took him at his word, pounding into him.
Dara could feel how close he was to the edge, waves of pleasure building and building. He could see in Seth’s eyes that the alpha was close, too.
“Shit, Dara.” Seth came, cursing under his breath and burying his face against Dara’s neck. Dara was a little slower, helped by Seth’s hand on him, stroking him to completion.
“Seth!” he cried out as he came, overwhelmed by the burst of pleasure that flowed over him.
Seth cuddled him closer, using his body to shield Dara as they took time to catch their breaths. Time ticked slowly by, the sweat cooling on their bodies.
“How about a swim?” Seth murmured into his ear.
“Sounds like heaven,” Dara replied, his skin hot and sticky after their lovemaking. “And then we’ll be ready for round two.”
Seth, halfway to his feet, paused awkwardly. “Round two?”
“Uh-huh.”
“How many rounds are we talking here?”
“Enough to really test your stamina,” Dara teased, letting Seth pull him to his feet. They carried their clothes with them down to the secluded strip of beach, setting them down on some rocks to keep them dry.
“Ready?” Seth asked, reaching to take Dara’s hand.
“Ready,” Dara said with a grin, grabbing his alpha’s hand and walking with him down to the shore.
As they waded into the water, Dara posed a question.
“How many do you think we’ll have?”
Seth, splashing water across his body, turned to him. “How many what?”
“Cubs. In our litter.”
The alpha’s eyes went wide, and he babbled out a reply. “But we… we… we only just had sex. You can’t be pregnant yet, right?”
Dara started to giggle, the alpha’s panic just a little adorable. “Not yet. But I’m in heat and unless we’re planning on having a chaste relationship and you know, building a time machine to undo the hot sex we just had… it is just a matter of time.”
The look on Seth’s face was comical but Dara felt a little flash of fear. Was it all too much for the alpha to handle? Losing his father, taking over his pack. Was a litter a step too far?
“If… if it’s not what you want…
Seth reached for him suddenly, tugging Dara into an embrace.
“Oh, I want it alright. I want all of it. The hot sex, the companionship, the cubs. Someone to laugh at my jokes. Just… one day at a time, right?”
Dara nodded, grinning. “One day at a time.”
“Yep. Today, sex. Tomorrow, sex. The day after… maybe some more sex? Then…
“Alright, alright,” Dara said, giggling. “We might need to fit in some other stuff, you know, running the pack, making alliances.”
Seth gave a put-upon sigh.
“If we must. I’m sure we can make time in our busy schedule.”
Dara kissed him. “That’s right. Our schedule. Our bond. Our pups. Our pack. We’re in this together.”
“Us against the world,” Seth agreed, throwing an arm across Dara’s shoulders and turning them both toward the horizon. “Maybe there’s something to that world domination plan. We’d make pretty good evil geniuses… genii?”
Dara laughed, cuddling closer to Seth.
“Yeah, I think we would.”