Chapter 24 How To Court An Omega
HOW TO COURT AN OMEGA
Titan gave Mathlin his largest slab of meat. Even before he’d gotten injured, he had been reducing his portion sizes because meat was expensive.
But watching Mathlin sink his teeth into a hefty hunk of beef?
Totally worth it.
Mathlin moaned, chewing slowly with an expression of pure bliss. He tipped his head back and closed his eyes, the line of his throat long and exposed. Titan watched him hungrily, trying to burn this moment into his memory.
“If you like that, I’ll go out and buy you more,” he blurted.
Mathlin grinned and held out the raw beef. “Want some?”
Titan swallowed his drool. “Finish it, sweetheart. You’re really enjoying that.”
Mathlin huffed and stood. He rounded the dining table and wriggled onto Titan’s lap, nudging the meat against Titan’s lips. “You eat it. You need more meat than me.”
Titan groaned, taking a small bite. His wolf howled with joy. “You should be—”
“Say ‘ah’.”
“But that meat is for you.” Titan frowned.
Mathlin frowned back so fiercely that Titan gave in and obeyed. With a quiet cheer, Mathlin stuffed more steak into Titan’s mouth. Titan bit down on instinct.
The meat was still fresh, juicy and rich. Titan groaned. “Fuck, that’s good.”
Mathlin looked incredibly pleased with himself. “You look good tearing meat with your sharp teeth. I like it when I see your wolf.”
And now Titan’s wolf was preening. Gods, he liked Mathlin so much.
It took a lot of chewing before he could swallow, because Mathlin had stuffed so much meat into his mouth. When he could finally speak, Titan asked, “How do you think an omega should be courted? You said you read a lot of books, but you’ve never had this conversation with anyone.”
“Oh!” Mathlin sat straighter. “You want to know?”
“Yes.” Inwardly, Titan congratulated himself on his sneakiness.
“Alphas should build their omegas a nest,” Mathlin declared. “And they should provide all the things!”
“Things like what?”
“A stroller,” Mathlin said. “Well, if it’s a single dad they’re trying to court. Babies get heavy when you’ve been carrying them for a while. It’s nice when you can push them around instead.”
A stroller, Titan thought. Maybe the pack had one lying around? “What else?”
“Lots of cuddles and hugs. And a listening ear.”
“I can do that,” Titan said.
Mathlin blinked. “Oh. Were you asking about what you can do?”
Heat exploded through Titan’s face. Fuck! So much for being sneaky. “I, uh. Yes?”
Mathlin’s smile was almost too bright to look at. “Oh.”
Titan was still cursing himself for ruining the surprise, but Mathlin’s eagerness took away the sting of it. He gave Mathlin a shy smile; Mathlin leaned in to nuzzle him.
“If you’re doing all that for me, I want to do something for you, too,” Mathlin said.
“What? But you’re already doing so much for me,” Titan spluttered.
“Not related to my contract.” Mathlin chewed his lip. “I’m not sure what.”
“A pickup line,” Hamilton sang from the next room.
Mathlin shuddered. “No!”
“Bummer,” Hamilton said.
Titan snorted. “You’re acting like you’re the one being courted.”
“I’m living vicariously through you,” Hamilton replied.
“Live vicariously through someone else,” Titan grumbled. He turned back to Mathlin and bumped their foreheads together. “I don’t need anything, sweetheart. All that matters is that you’re here with me.”
He caught the stutter in Mathlin’s pulse, and the blush rising to Mathlin’s cheeks. So beautiful.
“Um,” Mathlin squeaked. “I mean, I don’t think it’s so bad that Hamilton’s living vicariously through us. Your eyes are very intense.”
Titan huffed. “Yeah?”
“It’s like you have robot eyes and they’re going to shoot a laser beam straight through me,” Mathlin blurted. “But instead of lasers, it’s jizz.”
Titan cracked a smile. In the next room, Hamilton snickered.
Mathlin sighed, burying his face in his hands. “I never say anything cool or romantic.”
“Those are overrated,” Titan said, nudging him. “You’re perfect the way you are.”
Mathlin beamed.
Jannie made a loud sound in the next room. Mathlin turned. “Hang on, I have to see what Jannie needs.”
Titan trailed after Mathlin, admiring the sway of his hips, the strength of his arms when he hauled Jannie out of her playpen. Jannie kicked and grabbed at her dad, smiling toothily.
“Looks like she just wanted my attention,” Mathlin said, dropping a kiss on her head. He brought Jannie over and turned her to face Titan. “Hey, hon. Would you like a ride on the Big Wolf Dreamboat? You really liked him the last time.”
“I’m a dreamboat?” Titan grinned.
“Um! It’s just a... a slip of the tongue! You’re big and long like a boat. Not that I dream about you or anything. Especially not anything big and long.”
Here, Mathlin’s heart skipped twice.
Titan’s smile grew. He took a step closer, blowing a raspberry so Jannie giggled. “What dreams do you have about me?”
Mathlin turned bright red. “Bad dreams!” Another skip. “You put me in prison and you’re a very bad prison guard!” No skipped heartbeats this time.
“Huh,” Titan purred. “We’ll have to investigate that further.”
Mathlin hunched his shoulders and groaned, but his scent turned sweeter.
They hadn’t mated again. Between Titan being milked for his ‘cream’, and Mathlin overextending himself trying to heal Titan, they had been falling into Titan’s bed every night, asleep before their heads even hit the pillows.
In the mornings, they woke up tired, dragging themselves out of bed so they could start work at the bakery.
“Here,” Mathlin said loudly to Titan. “Lie down. I’ll lay Jannie on you and there will be no more discussions about weird dreams that did not happen.”
Titan laughed and complied, lying down on the floor. Mathlin carefully laid Jannie on his chest.
For a moment, Titan’s gaze locked with Jannie’s. She patted his face and smiled. Titan blew a raspberry; Jannie promptly stuck her fingers into his mouth.
“Hey, watch the sharp teeth,” Titan said carefully. “Don’t smack your hand around.”
“Wa ba ba,” she said.
She was adorable. What wouldn’t Titan give to have a baby like her? He wriggled his fingers and managed to tickle her leg; she giggled and kicked.
So he flashed his eyes gold. To his surprise, Jannie flashed her eyes back at him, but her shifted eyes were red.
“Look at you,” Titan murmured. He growled quietly; she growled back at him. Then something sprouted from her back, flapping under her shirt.
It was a tiny purple wing.
“Jannie!” Mathlin yelped, darting forward to undo her shirt. “She’s never done that with anyone else before.”
Titan grinned. “Yeah?”
He growled more loudly. Jannie growled back. Except this time, more of her changed: purple scales spread over her skin. Her limbs shrank, tiny hands turning into paws. Her face grew more snout-like, and she blinked bright red eyes at him.
There was a tiny dragon sitting on Titan’s chest, struggling against her clothes.
“Jannie!” Mathlin squawked. “Let me get those clothes off before you break something.”
“She’s adorable,” Titan murmured, completely charmed.
Mathlin freed Jannie from her clothes. Jannie gave a happy little roar, flapping her tiny wings.
Titan could’ve melted. “How many people have had a dragonet sit on their chest? I feel like I’ve been blessed.”
“Just hope she doesn’t poop on you,” Mathlin said. Then he groaned, hiding his face. “I make everything sound terrible.”
“No, you don’t.” Titan grinned. “It’s a valid warning.”
Jannie belched a tiny cloud of smoke. She thumped her tail and crawled onto Titan’s face, her little paws squishing his eyes.
“Ugh,” Titan said, laughing.
Mathlin yelped and moved Jannie’s paws so she was bracing her weight on Titan’s forehead instead. “At least she won’t set your hair on fire, if she’s sitting on your head.”
“Has she done that to you?” Titan’s yelp was muffled by Jannie’s foot.
“Yes... I had to run for the faucet. I didn’t get burned too badly.”
“I’m glad.” Titan breathed a sigh of relief. He hated the thought of Mathlin being injured. “Your clothes are fireproof, right?”
Mathlin nodded. “I got some from the safehouse. They fireproofed that place, too.”
“Good.” Titan sniffed at Jannie—she carried a faint smokiness that was almost undetectable, which was perfect. There were terrible people out there looking to kidnap dual-species babies, especially ones belonging to rare species.
Titan would protect her with everything he had.
Jannie babbled and tugged on Titan’s hair. She grabbed his ears and tried to stick her fingers into them, chirping when Titan blew a raspberry against her scales.
Need to provide.
The urge gnawed at Titan’s bones. He wanted to prove to Mathlin that he could be useful, that he could be a good alpha.
“I’m really enjoying this,” Titan said restlessly. “But I need to take off for a few minutes.”
Mathlin frowned. “Where are you going?”
“Just looking around on the pack territory. There are some things I need to grab.”
“Okay.” Mathlin scooped Jannie into his arms; Jannie whined and reached for Titan. “Aww, she likes you.”
“A raspberry machine she can stick her fingers into? I can’t tell why she would,” Titan said dryly, grinning when Mathlin laughed. “Yell if you need me. I’ll be nearby.”
He waited for Mathlin to nod, before slipping out of his cabin.
The pack stored its unused childcare supplies in a few places.
Titan went to the first of these; an old but well-maintained shed on the outskirts of the cabins.
This shed was filled with things he didn’t need—cribs, rocking horses, high stools.
He checked the second shed next. That was full of clothes and school supplies, but still no stroller.
On his way to the third shed, Titan found a lone shopping cart stuck on the tall roots of a tree, rolling back and forth but unable to climb off by itself. It squeaked its wheels when he approached.