Slow Birth Read online

  “I think I should make sure, don’t you? I’m not sure fresh air and exercise agrees with my couch-loving omega,” Jason said, starting on the buttons of Vale’s shirt. He slid it off Vale’s shoulders, and then tugged Vale’s undershirt off, too. “Mmm, so beautiful.”

  He slid his hands over Vale’s skin, rubbing over the tattoos and tweaking his nipples. Vale squirmed but stepped closer instead of drawing away. Jason grinned. “You like that.”

  “I love it.”

  “Yes.” Jason bent to kiss Vale’s neck, his scent strongest there, and shuddered at the sweet, ripening smell of his Érosgápe’s arousal and slick. “I smell you opening for me.”

  “Always, darling.”

  Jason shuddered and kissed Vale’s throat. “Let’s go to the bedroom.”

  Vale voiced no argument for that. Clearly, he agreed that food could wait. Vale frowned softly, though, and shivered. “We’ll go home tomorrow?” he asked again.

  “If you want.” Jason took hold of Vale’s nipples, pinching gently, and then used them to lead Vale down the hallway to the bedroom. The slight pain of the tug was evident in the small grimace that came and went on Vale’s face, but his arousal was also evident in the way his hips bucked forward slightly, and the scent of pre-cum and slick rose all around them.

  Vale opened his mouth to speak, but Jason wasn’t in the mood to talk now. He wanted to screw and suck and fuck. He pinched Vale’s nipples rather hard and smiled as Vale tossed his head back on a gasp, stumbling forward. The scent of slick grew thick, and Jason laughed softly as he kicked open the master bedroom door, fingers still tormenting Vale’s red nubs. He led Vale to the giant bed, both of their pants distended by erections, and any thought of conversation slid away.

  “Dinner?” Vale whispered, but his trembling body and reaching hands gave away that he had no desire to stop what they were doing to prepare a meal together right now.

  “Fuck dinner,” Jason muttered darkly. “I’m going to eat you instead.”

  “Oh, darling, you say the sweetest things.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Vale had long been a fan of fucking and had little shame about that. He’d told Jason when they met that he was highly motivated by sex, and it hadn’t been a lie. But when it came to sex with Jason, Vale wasn’t just a fan. He was an addict. He truly could not get enough and would give up food, fun, friends, and anything resembling work to stay home, get naked, and spend his hours coming for Jason.

  “Twice already?” Jason asked, laughing as he fucked into Vale’s ass, shouldering Vale’s thighs and bending him nearly in half. “You’re so easy, baby.”

  “You’re so good.” Vale gasped and shuddered as Jason’s thrust filled him up and pressed perfectly against his omega glands and prostate. He’d already ejaculated twice, and he felt so close to an anal orgasm that he was already bracing for it. A few more thrusts and he was there, aching and twitching as he convulsed on Jason’s dick.

  “Oh, fuck, baby, that’s gorgeous. Look at you come,” Jason murmured, not slowing his hips at all, pounding into Vale like he wasn’t already in ecstasy and needed something more to push him over. “Don’t stop. Don’t fucking stop coming for me.”

  Vale couldn’t if he’d tried. He was at the mercy of his body now, and the ecstatic talons of keen pleasure had him. The convulsions went on and on, and as soon as they stopped, another thrust set them off again. Jason stared down at him with wide, adoring eyes. Vale never felt more beautiful than when he was coming apart on Jason’s cock, covered in sweat, cum, and slick.

  Time dissolved and resolved around punctuations of intense bliss. When Vale finally thought he’d lose his mind from pleasure and begged to Jason to fill him with cum, Jason slammed in deep, held tight, and cried out his climax.

  “Oh, darling, fill me up,” Vale whimpered. “Give me your babies.” It was raunchy omega bed talk. Arousing, yes, but also tender and full of longing because it was a plea he could never fulfill. Vale had internal scars, and a baby could never grow in him—not without risking his life.

  Jason shook and cursed, kissing Vale’s neck and shoulder as the orgasm dragged out. Young and full of spunk, he could shoot quite a huge load, and soon the excess spilled out of Vale and slid down his ass crack, adding to the wetness of the bed.

  Exhausted and still annoyingly aroused, Vale vaguely hoped there were plenty of clean sheets and blankets, because it looked like it was going to be a cold night, and they’d already messed up this set. Though here in Jason’s arms, he was plenty warm. He groaned as Jason pulled out of him and pressed kisses all over his chest, down his sternum, and then his ticklish belly. He huffed a chuckle.

  “Let me clean you, and then I’ll make dinner.”

  Vale had no idea how Jason had the energy for that after he’d walked all over the property with Vale, fucked him for an hour, and shot into Vale hard enough to fill him to the brim. But Vale wasn’t going to protest, though he didn’t feel particularly hungry. “I’m tired, darling,” he whispered as Jason wiped him down with a warm washcloth and tended to his slick ass.

  “Nap, then. Dinner will take some time to prepare,” Jason said, pulling a warm robe around Vale’s shoulders. “Here, this side of the bed is dry. I’ll change the sheets later.”

  Vale scooted over to the other side of the big mattress, the one closest to the windows. Then after Jason kissed his forehead, praised his tight ass once more, and made sure he was warm, Jason left Vale alone to stare out at the fading light on the trees and lake below. The bed was colder near the window, but it felt good. Vale opened his robe and lifted the blankets that Jason had so carefully bundled him in, and let his hot skin take in the coolness. He smiled, tweaking his own nipples, and thinking about the way Jason’s eyes always went so sweet and vulnerable just before he came. The most intimate gaze imaginable. Vale loved being the one to make his baby alpha feel that way.

  As his eyes grew heavier, the inevitable nap drawing him down, Vale noticed flurries begin to fall beyond the window. It was early for snow, so despite how pretty it was, he knew there was no hope of it sticking or being more than a quick snow shower. Drowsing, he remembered when he and Jason had first met, there’d been a night when snow had threatened, and Jason had promised to take Vale sledding the next day if it did.

  The snow hadn’t stuck that time, and the sledding had never happened, but that sweet night was still a cherished memory. After all, his baby alpha had stuck, even if the snow hadn’t. And Jason was the best thing that had ever happened in Vale’s life. Better even than the night he’d found out that his first book of poems was to be published. It astonished him now to remember that he’d thought that moment the pinnacle of potential joy. It came nowhere near even a simple morning spent with Jason. Waking by his side, breathing his scent, watching him putter in the garden at their house, or get ready for his day at work. These were all true pinnacles for Vale.

  Vale was happy, beyond anything he’d ever deserved, and he could only imagine that these beautiful moments would one day become mundane to him. But not yet. He thought there were still a few surprises in store for him and Jason. He just didn’t know what exactly they might be.

  But when he woke an hour and a half later, he was shocked to find that a freak snowstorm in the middle of autumn was one of them.

  That, and something much more ominous.

  Because in Vale’s sleep, he’d thrown every stitch off and still he felt way too hot. Pinpricks of heat danced under his skin. Worse, his body ached with that tell-tale yearning which heralded a rapidly approaching heat.

  “Jason,” he called, his stomach rolling slightly at the delicious scent of food in the air. Repulsion toward food…another sign of heat. Heart beating hard, he got to his feet and tugged the robe on, walking down the hallway toward the kitchen noises. “Jason?”

  Brightly lit, the living room glowed from the electric lights running off the new-fangled generator that Jason had shown him as they’d walked around the property e
arlier. Jason had the radio turned to some classical music like his pater listened to in his conservatory, and he slowly moved around the kitchen from pot to pot, lifting and stirring, and smiling at his work.

  “Jason?”

  Jason turned to him with such a beautiful expression that Vale hated to know what he was about to say would wipe it away. “Oh, good,” Jason said. “You’re awake. The food’s almost done. Just a few more minutes.”

  “I’m so sorry, darling, but we have to go home. Now.”

  “What? Why?” Jason tilted his head, and the motioned toward the large windows. “Vale, it’s snowing. It’s coming down in wet clumps. We can’t go home tonight. I doubt we can go home tomorrow, even. I’m sorry.” He grinned and winked. “But that means we can play more.”

  Vale’s knees went weak, but he managed to stumble to the front door of the cottage and open it up, unwilling to take the view out the windows as proof. Sure enough, the open sky that had been visible before he fell asleep was now dark, no moon in sight. Thick clouds let loose fat, wet snowflakes the size of silver pieces. It had accumulated quickly, already covering the path and the driveway.

  “Vale?” Jason came up behind him then, worry in his voice. He pressed along Vale’s back and hooked his chin over Vale’s shoulder, peering out into the eerie white darkness. “See? It’s going to be impassable before long, if it isn’t already, and it’s way too dangerous to try to drive in this mess tonight. What’s wrong?” He turned Vale around and took hold of his chin so that he could peer down into his eyes.

  The door was still ajar, and the cold air felt amazing on Vale’s hot skin. He was tempted to open the robe but knew that would distress Jason, and what he had to say was going to distress him enough. “Don’t panic,” Vale said slowly. Though he was panicking even now. His breath came in gulps, and his heart pounded so hard he felt faint. “Whatever happens, don’t panic.”

  Jason’s eyes went wide, and he shut the door before guiding Vale to the sofa and pushing him down on it. “What’s wrong? Are you sick?” He put his fingers on Vale’s forehead. “You’re burning up.”

  “My heat,” Vale muttered. “It’s early.”

  “What? No. That’s not possible. You just had it two months ago.”

  “Apparently it is, Jason, because it’s happening right now. I’m hot all over, inside and out, and I’m old enough to know what these feelings mean. I’ve been through these enough times now.”

  Jason swallowed hard. “Fuck.”

  “We need to go home.”

  “We can’t,” Jason whispered. “The weather is…” Then he squeezed his eyes shut. “I only have a couple of condoms with me. In the First Aid kit. I didn’t think this could happen.”

  “We have to try,” Vale said. He stood up and headed toward the door again. “Turn off the stove and the oven, leave everything else. If we go right now—”

  A big crash of thunder rolled, and a flash of lightning illuminated every shadow in the room. It was followed almost immediately by a cracking noise—a splintering that made him fear something had struck the house—and then a huge thumping bang shook the room. Jason turned back to the front door, jerked it open and stared in shock. “A tree fell across the drive. And on our car.”

  Vale stood up, his legs quivering, and with his heart pounding, he stepped up by Jason and peered out into the night. The tree was massive, the car ruined.

  “Call your parents,” Vale whispered. “They can come get us. We can walk part of the way down to meet them.”

  “Even if that was safe, and even if they could make it up the mountain in this snowstorm, the phones are down, babe.”

  “Down?”

  “The storm knocked them out about an hour ago. I noticed when I tried to call my parents to let them know we’d arrived safely. All it takes is a branch on the line anywhere along the mountain to do it.”

  “No.” Vale wrapped his arms around himself, scratching at his arms. The heat prickled even harder as the cool air rushed inside, obliterating the warmth from the fire Jason had laid.

  Jason pulled him into his arms and kissed the top of his head. “Let’s think. There has to be a solution. I have two condoms. I could use each one more than once until they…until they break.”

  “Jason, you don’t understand. I’m going into heat. We’re talking days of constant fucking.” Vale broke free and walked out onto the front porch and began to pace its length, watching as the snow piled ever deeper, moment by moment. “I have to get out of here. We can’t be trapped. We need condoms. We need to be safe!”

  “Don’t you think I know that?” Jason snapped, and then wiped a hand over his face, and his tone turned contrite and scared. “I know, okay? But what are we going to do?” He tugged Vale back into the cabin, shutting the door to keep in the warmth.

  Vale flung himself down on the sofa and rubbed his temples. “There’s a neighbor. Or there was. Maybe he has a working phone, or condoms, or both.”

  “How far is he?” Jason asked, already pulling on his coat. He headed into the kitchen and turned off all the burners and the oven, too. Vale watched him with wide eyes. “Which direction? I’ll go. You wait here.”

  “I don’t remember his name. But he lived down-mountain, and my parents would get honey from him when it was in season.” Vale explained the way down to Jason and then said, “We’ll both go.”

  “No,” Jason barked with more authority than he often used outside the bedroom. “You’ll wait here and eat the dinner I made. I don’t care if you’re not hungry, you’ll eat it to gain strength for whatever is ahead. If we have to weather a heat here, I want you healthy. If we have to walk down the mountain to meet help, I want you fueled for that, too. Do you understand me? Eat the food.”

  Vale’s stomach jolted warningly at the idea, but he nodded. His alpha commanded so he’d do what he could. “I don’t want you going alone. What if you get lost?”

  “I’ll be fine,” Jason said, grabbing a flashlight and a hat, too, a grim set to his face. “Stay here. I’ll be back.”

  The door shut on Jason’s back and Vale wished he’d gotten a kiss before he’d left. What if something terrible happened? What if Jason didn’t return?

  Vale sat down at the kitchen table with a bowl of soft-cooked vegetables and a plate of mashed potatoes—the only items Vale thought he could begin to stomach—and he ate it slowly as the oncoming heat swelled and released and worry ate at his heart.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Jason was soaked through, cold and miserable, and the house he’d finally located down-mountain from their cabin was empty. Not just empty of human life, but empty of anything. Whoever had lived there had moved out long ago and taken everything with him.

  He turned around, helpless and frustrated, and trudged back the way he’d come. The snow had continued to dump from the sky, covering his footprints and obscuring his way. He had to pay strict attention not to miss the turns and twists he needed to take to return to the chalet. Panic held him in its grasp, and he could barely admire the beauty of the eerily bright world of white he stumbled through.

  By the time he reached the driveway leading to Vale’s cabin again, his nose, feet, and hands were completely numb, and he was chilled bone-deep. As he approached, a deeper kind of chill went up his spine, and he found the energy to run ahead.

  Vale was screaming.

  Fuck. The heat had come on so fast. Jason had never seen anything like it. Though he’d heard rumors, of course, about older omegas having unexpected heats as they came near the end of their fertile years—especially those who’d endured rebound heats after trying heat suppressants. Urho had told him of a recent study, even, that spelled out a connection between the two. A warning that Jason really should have taken to heart. But he hadn’t. Vale always seemed so beautiful and perfect to him. He forgot most of the time that Vale was so much older.

  “Baby, no, no. Oh, no,” Jason said, thrusting the door open. He found Vale already naked and shaking—torso
on the sofa, knees on the floor, ass up, and the most pained scream coming from his throat. “I’m here. I’m here,” he said, tearing his clothes off, and then standing panting, dick hard and pointing straight ahead, and every nerve in his body telling him to take care of Vale, to plug him with his cock, to end his pain.

  But…no, first… First, he had to think.

  Think, Jason. Think.

  Condoms.

  He had two. Fuck. Just two. He scraped nails over his scalp, trying to focus over the violent urge in himself to put Vale’s suffering to an end. Finally, he caved, falling to his knees behind Vale and covering him with his body from behind.

  “I’m here, baby. I’m here.”

  “Help me. It hurts. Please.” The effort it took for Vale to say that alone was evident, and he shook all over, his entire body shaking. It was clear he’d been in pain a long time, too long. Possibly it’d started not long after Jason had left, and he’d been hurting for an hour or more now.

  Fuck.

  “I’ve got you. I’m going to help you, Vale. I promise.”

  He swallowed hard, wishing he had packed an alpha dildo. It wouldn’t do the job long term, but it would help. But he had something else. Something that might hold Vale off for a while, long enough to make the condoms last longer than tonight. Maybe.

  “Listen, baby. I’m going to need you to relax and let me in.”

  “Please,” Vale whimpered. He shoved his ass back and presented in lordosis position. Jason had done a study on the genetic origins of that position with Dr. Obi before graduating and still found it the most mesmerizing thing in the world. An omega in lordosis presentation was the sexiest thing imaginable. “Knot me. Please.”

  Jason kissed Vale’s heaving rib cage, the muscles and bone showing starkly with each breath. Then he slipped his hand down, pressing three fingers against Vale’s hole. It was sopping wet with slick, and he sank in easily. Then he pulled out and added his pinky before withdrawing and curling in his thumb. All four fingers and the widest part of his hand moved inexorably into Vale who held incredibly still, crying out as the swollen slick glands gushed and wetness slipped down his thighs to the carpet beneath his knees.