Alphas pride, p.5
Alpha's Pride, page 5
“Oh, damn,” Kean sighed. “Oh, fuck.”
Bray kept watching him as he closed his eyes, biting his lips as his hole stretched around Bray’s fingers. There was something powerful about this, something magical to see his body respond to Bray’s touch.
He changed his fingers’ position, curling them, and Kean catapulted off the bed. “Okay, that’s it. I’m ready,” the beta declared, and Bray pulled out. As much as he enjoyed fingering him, his cock was leaking and dying to get inside that tight hole.
He rolled a condom on within seconds, then applied extra lube, figuring it couldn’t hurt to be on the safe side, and was back in position, Kean watching him with hungry eyes. Just as he wanted to slide in, the beta said, “Bray, one more thing. In case you forgot: no knotting. That’s a little more than I’m willing to do for a first time.”
Bray’s brain registered the “first time” part first, already reveling in the fact that Kean wasn’t excluding a follow-up, but then the previous part sank in. No knotting. He hadn’t even thought of that, that betas might not like that part. Or maybe it hurt too much? That made sense, since they weren’t as flexible on the inside as omegas who were built to bear children. As much as he hated to admit it, it was good Kean had warned him. Shit, he could've fucked that up.
He wanted to wave him off but instead opted for a little more honesty here, since Kean deserved that much. “Okay. Tell me if I’m hurting you, okay?”
Kean’s blue eyes sparkled as they met Bray’s. “What if I want it to hurt a little?”
Bray’s mouth dropped open and stayed that way for a few seconds before he caught himself. He swallowed thickly, looking down on Kean as he rested himself on his arms. “You like it rough?” he checked to make sure he understood.
“Yeah. I’m not some fragile omega, Bray. I won’t break. I may bruise a little, but given the right circumstances, I may not mind so much.”
Bray swallowed again. “That’s a lot of trust you have in me.”
Kean’s grin softened. “I know you’ll respect my limits.”
“Always,” Bray swore.
“I know. Do your worst, alpha. Have at it.”
Call him weird, but hearing Kean call him “alpha” did something to Bray. He said it so rarely, and to hear him say it now, in that low, growly voice, when Bray was about to take him…man, he wanted to do things to him. Dirty things. Hot things. All-night-long-and-then-again things.
The buzz in his veins that had simmered down increased to a roar. His cock found Kean’s slick hole, and he pushed in, less worried now about hurting him. It was an unfamiliar feeling, to not have to be careful. Even in the club, with subs, he was still always aware omegas were fragile compared to him. Delicate was a better word, and that sure as fuck did not apply to Kean Hightower.
He plunged in, delighted when Kean let out a low moan of pleasure, opening wide for Bray’s onslaught. He pinned Kean’s arms down—loving the way their bodies fit together with him on top—then planted his knees for a better angle and went to town. It was rough, deep, deliciously slick, and so fucking tight.
Kean’s tan body moved with his, his hips snapping up to eagerly meet his thrusts, the two of them finding a rhythm as old as time. “Damn, Kean,” he grunted, sweat pearling on his body.
“Alpha,” Kean moaned, jamming his ass down, allowing Bray to sink his cock in even deeper.
Bray lowered himself on top of Kean, blanketing him, trapping the beta’s cock between them. He held on to Kean’s wrists, still pinning them against the mattress, though he wasn’t even protesting it. He’d never felt a body like this underneath him. Not this strong, this smooth, this soft and tough at the same time. His skin was like velvet, glowing and slick, setting Bray on fire everywhere their bodies touched. He’d always thought Kean gorgeous, but right now, the beta took his breath away.
He lowered his mouth, hovered until Kean’s eyes found his, then closed the distance. His teeth found his bottom lip, that stubborn lip that could smirk like no one else. He nipped, delighted when Kean let out a little growl, then bit again before soothing the sore spot with his tongue. Kean let him, surrendering fully, welcoming Bray’s invasion into his mouth and his body. It was magical, Bray thought, then his mind shut down to everything else but the urge to claim Kean.
They were in sync, their bodies moving in flawless harmony, Kean’s choppy breaths mingling with Bray’s. His balls churned, communicating their desire to unload, and he sped up. Kean met his pace, a string of moans falling from his lips now, each one spurring Bray on even further. He pressed down his stomach, increasing the friction on Kean’s cock, which was leaking like crazy.
“Bray…” the beta grunted, then louder, “Bray!”
Bray’s eyes screwed shut as he bent over deeper, every part of his body touching and claiming Kean’s. He shook, a tingle that inched down his spine settling in his balls, his cock, until the pressure was unbearable. He held on as long as he could by sheer will, not wanting this pleasure ride to end.
Then he couldn’t take it anymore, the pleasure blazing through him unstoppable. He allowed it to overtake him, and then he soared, flew. He vaguely registered Kean letting out a choked cry, but Bray was lost to his orgasm. Stars. He saw actual fucking stars explode right before his eyes as he emptied his balls and filled up the condom.
He barely had the strength to pull out after, holding the condom, then tying it off and dropping it on the floor for now. His body was still shaking as he gathered a trembling Kean close and claimed his mouth again, greedily swallowing the beta’s gasps as he rode out the last waves of his orgasm.
Kean’s arms found his biceps, then pushed off and rolled both of them over, with Bray on the bottom on his back, Kean splayed out on top of him, his hungry kiss signaling they weren’t done yet.
“That was an excellent first round,” Kean whispered a little while later, and Bray smiled.
Kean put his head on Bray’s shoulder, and Bray’s hands explored his back, smoothing down the planes of his shoulder blades, his spine, his lower back, and then those perfect globes. Kean had a clear tan line from working without a shirt outside, his pale ass in sharp contrast with that tan skin everywhere else. It was endearing, and Bray found himself wanting to explore that ass in more detail. Much more detail.
His fingers trailed lower, dipping down Kean’s crack. That was the downside of wearing a condom, he thought. One day, he’d love to see his cum drip down a man’s ass. How gorgeous would that look on Kean, those luscious cheeks all pale and white and then cum seeping out? He could picture it and was hard thinking about it. Then again, his erection had never gone down even after coming, the boost from Lidon’s shift still humming through him.
Bray smiled when Kean spread his legs wider, allowing him more access. The beta was clearly on board for more. He dragged his head up for another searing kiss.
“Let’s see if we can make round two even better.”
5
Ruari woke up from a slumber when his ten-week-old son started crying.
“What’s wrong, Jax?” he whispered, dragging himself out of bed to pick his son out of the crib. “Are you hungry?”
He checked the clock. Two hours since his last feeding. He shouldn’t be hungry, then, since he’d finished the whole bottle. He cradled him against his shoulder and slowly walked around the room, making swinging motions with his upper body. Hopefully, Jax would fall asleep again without needing the baby carrier, 'cause once he was in there, Ruari couldn’t get him out without waking him up again, which meant he’d be stuck for hours.
Jax’s cries decreased in intensity, and Ruari hummed a song. His son seemed to love that, but whether it was because of the sound or because of the vibrations in Ruari’s chest he found soothing, Ruari wasn’t sure. Jax had just closed his eyes again, letting out a last feeble whimper when Ruari swayed, dizziness enveloping him. He had to lean with a hand against the wall for support to keep from stumbling, his heart racing as he waited for the dizzy spell to pass.
This was, what, the fourth time this week? He let out a shaky sigh as he felt his body return to normal. This couldn’t go on. One of these days, he would fall down the stairs with Jax or stumble and fall on top of him. He needed to have his blood work checked, but how?
He once again cursed his body as he’d done so many times before. Even as a teen, something had been off with him in comparison with other omegas. His heat had been late, for instance, really late. Plus, he’d been so tired and slow, fighting some days to get out of bed. Depressed, too, but that could have been because of his parents. Well, his father.
His mother had taken him to the doctor plenty of times, but the man had never found anything abnormal. Of course, that was before he’d become a prisoner in his own home, before his father had decided he needed to be locked in his room. Ruari had never gotten an explanation, had never understood why, what he’d done wrong. Had his father discovered how much Ruari knew about his activities? That he’d overheard more than one conversation he shouldn’t have?
Whatever the reason had been, for the six months before his first heat had arrived—finally—he’d only left his room to spend time in the garden every day 'cause his mother had insisted he needed sunlight. He’d been ready to kill himself, and that was not even a joke.
Then his heat had come, that horrible, horrible heat, and they’d shoved an alpha into the room who’d gone all but feral on him. Not that he hadn’t wanted it at that point—he’d been clawing the walls for release—but he’d imagined his first heat a little differently. Thank fuck he hadn’t been a virgin, 'cause that would have been a fucked-up introduction to sex.
Jax let out a little smacking sound, then fell asleep—thank god—and Ruari lowered himself into the rocking chair, the only decent chair in his tiny one-bedroom apartment. As his son nestled against him in his sleep, Ruari thought about his predicament. Something was wrong with him, something serious enough to make him dizzy all the time, and he needed to get it checked out.
He couldn’t go to a regular doctor. His father would keep tabs on doctors and hospitals, somehow, probably through the electronic patient information system most of them used. The man had informants everywhere, including on the police force. Ruari had a fake ID, but it wouldn’t stand up to that level of scrutiny.
Even if he could find a doctor, payment was also an issue. He was low on funds, dangerously low, in fact. He had two, three months left at most—if he budgeted carefully—and that was it. That budget left no room for blood tests and a consult that could run up to five hundred dollars without insurance.
No, he needed a free clinic, but those were scarce for omegas. And many of them had long waiting lines outside, which would be impossible with Jax. Hell, he didn’t even want to bring a baby into a clinic like that in the first place. Fuck knew what it would expose him to, but what choice did he have?
Maybe he should see if there were other options. He reached out for his phone, one of the few things he’d taken from his parents’ home when he’d ran away, though he’d had to switch to a prepaid plan and had to limit his data usage. It took a little while, typing and holding the phone with the same hand, since his other was wrapped around his son, but he managed to start a search for free clinics for omegas.
The first few hits were the ones he already knew about. One was way too close to his father’s office, the other in a neighborhood Ruari didn’t dare to venture in even during the day. The third one had a good rep but was notorious for its waiting lines, which could be as long as four hours. Not an option with his dizziness and Jax with him.
Then his eyes fell on a mention of a clinic he’d never heard of before. Hayes Clinic. Huh, that had to be a new one. He clicked on the link, which led him to a basic website. He first checked their location. Damn, they were way out in the boonies. That would be a major hassle with public transportation, since he didn’t have a car. Then again, it was also far off the beaten track, so his chances of running into anyone were slim.
He scanned their FAQs, since that usually told him whether they charged for anything and if there were any special requirements he needed to be aware of. It all looked legit, and he got the sense this doctor—Enar Magnusson—cared about his patients. There was something about the tone of the website that was different, something warm and caring. It drew him in, like that clinic was a safe place to be. That made zero sense, and yet Ruari couldn’t shake it off.
He glanced through the rest of the questions, stopping when he saw something he didn’t quite understand. It said the clinic offered free testing for the Melloni gene. What the hell was that? He clicked on the name, which was a link to a different website, some kind of blog. Palani Hightower. The name sounded familiar, but Ruari couldn’t place it.
The blog post was a long one, he saw. Did he need to know all this? Then he saw a bullet list of symptoms and read through them. Delayed heat. Intense heats. Increased fertility. Depression. He almost dropped the phone, his heart racing as he recognized each and every one of them. It was describing him, this list.
He read the rest of the article, his heart speeding up even faster as he tried to take it all in. But when he saw that unsuspecting women had been injected by their ob-gyn with something that had created this genetic mutation, his heart all but stopped, and he got dizzy all over again.
This was it. This was what had happened to him. Oh god, it all made sense now. And his parents knew. That’s what had happened the six months before his heat. Those heated fights between his parents about his mother going behind his father’s back when she was trying to get pregnant, seeking help from this fertility specialist who’d injected her with that gene. He hadn’t been able to make sense of it back then, but now he understood.
That’s why they had locked him up, since apparently, his smell was irresistible to alphas. It also explained why that first alpha had gone nuts on him. And it was how Ruari had ended up pregnant despite using condoms. This explained everything.
He had this gene. There was no other explanation. He had to get to this clinic and get tested. And if he was lucky, they could check up on Jax as well. His mind made up, Ruari started looking for a way to get there.
Lidon was balls deep inside Palani for one of those quick fucks they both loved so much, when his phone rang. Palani’s look was almost comical, like he was personally offended that someone had the audacity to call at this time. Then again, Lidon was pretty sure he was sporting an identical expression. Their eyes met, the temptation to let it ring unspoken between them. Then Palani shook his head.
“You should get it. You don’t get that many calls, so this is probably important.”
Lidon pulled out with a frustrated sigh. “We will get back to this after.”
Palani grinned. “Is that a threat or a promise?”
Lidon was still smiling as he picked up. It only took seconds for that smile to disappear, and when he hung up, Palani had picked up on the fact that something was going on.
“That was Watkins,” Lidon told him.
“The PI? I thought he didn’t work for us anymore since he couldn’t find anything about Melloni or the fraud case against you?”
“He doesn’t, but he wants to meet with us. He says he has new information.”
Palani’s face showed the same surprise Lidon was feeling. “Now?”
“I told him we’d meet him in the city in an hour,” Lidon said. “I’ve never met him in person, so I don’t want him inside the gates.”
“Obviously. Let’s get dressed.”
Minutes later, they were on their way to the city, where Lidon had agreed to meet the PI in a restaurant. When they walked in, the man was already sitting there at the table they had agreed on. He was younger than Lidon had expected, in his early forties, a sturdy alpha with sharp, gray eyes and a face that showed he’d seen his fair share of shit.
“Mr. Hayes,” the PI said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you in person.” His handshake was firm.
“Likewise. This is my mate, Palani. You’ve spoken before.”
“Yes, the reporter. Pleasure to meet you. I admire your investigative journalism,” Watkins said. “It’s a crying shame they fired you from your job, but I think your reach and influence have grown bigger since.”
Lidon wasn’t sure if the man did it on purpose, but showing Palani respect was a surefire way to gain Lidon’s respect. He appreciated when people could look past labels and admire a man for their character and their talents rather than for their status assigned at birth.
When the server appeared, they all ordered, and as soon as the woman was out of earshot, Watkins leaned forward, lowering his voice. “I know that technically, I am no longer on a retainer, but I happened to come across some information that is of crucial importance to you.”
Lidon nodded. “We appreciate it. Please, go ahead.”
Watkins looked around as if he wanted to make sure no one was listening in, then lowered his voice even further. “I have credible information that Professor Melloni is still alive.”
Lidon’s heart skipped a beat before continuing its usual rhythm. “He’s alive?”
“Yes. You have to understand, I’m in a gray area here as I discovered this information through another client who hired me, a client whose name I cannot reveal.”
“We understand. We appreciate you sharing anything with us that you can,” Palani said. He of all people would understand confidentiality of sources, Lidon thought.
“This client who has hired me, he has a son who has run away from home. My job is to find him. I haven’t yet, but in tracking potential leads my employer provided me with, I checked out some properties he owns. He is…not exactly legal in everything that he does, let’s put it that way. One of the properties was owned by a dummy corporation. I did a cross-check to see what other properties this corporation held and discovered industrial buildings in another city. Even though my client hadn’t told me to investigate those, I did, wanting to be thorough, and one of those buildings turned out to be some kind of lab, which struck me as unusual. I didn’t manage to get inside, but I did talk to one of the guards there. The fact that it even had guards alerted me something was going on as this was a rather run-down neighborhood that didn’t look like it needed private security from one of the most expensive firms in the country. To make a long story short, the young guard and I connected well…"
