Chapter 4
This wasn’t happening.
Sky watched as Kian entered his space, making what had once been considered a lofty-sized studio seem small with his over-the-top presence, and tried to convince himself he was imagining things.
There was no way Kian was here with him right now. Alone.
While he was about to enter a heat.
“Kian?” It was definitely him. Looked like him, smelled like the whiff of what Sky had picked up on at the Erskine’s home. But there was…something else to the scent. An edge. A hint of something that prickled at his mind.
The alpha had always been intense. When they’d been younger, he’d used that intensity to scare off bullies who bothered Elm and Sky. It was the quiet kind of intensity though, the kind that didn’t need to scream or yell to get its point across.
People at school had been scared of him.
And impossibly infatuated.
Sky never blamed them for it. He’d been ensnared by the alpha longer than most.
His gaze swept over him, tongue flicking out to lick his dry lips. The alpha was still bigger than him, still—
“Your heat’s coming on fast,” Kian interrupted his thoughts. “You should get comfortable while you’re still able to.”
He frowned. “What?”
“Why all of the confusion? It’s not like this is your first time.”
“No, but—” Sky shook his head. Shit, he’d been practically drooling over him just now! “You can go. I can take care of this myself.”
“Go?”
“Thanks for making sure the princes didn’t get to me.” A small, selfish part of Sky asked him what the hell he thought he was doing. He should be trying to convince Kian to stay, not leave. What if this was his chance? His chance to finally seduce the alpha and convince Kian to give him a shot?
A shot? Sky’s rationality won out.
A shot at what? At a lifetime spent waiting for Kian to return home from one dangerous mission after the other? Leaving Sky behind each and every time? That wasn’t the future he envisioned. It wasn’t what he wanted.
Sky wanted to be cherished and loved. Repeatedly. Neverendingly. He wanted an alpha who was even half obsessed with him as he’d been with Kian all his life.
An I.P.F. agent couldn’t give him that.
His crush on Kian Erskine had to die. If he could turn the alpha away now, Sky could prove to himself that, this time, he truly meant it.
“Leave,” Sky said more firmly, aware that Kian had done nothing but stand there staring at him.
Kian cocked his head, eyes narrowing slightly. “That’s new.”
Sky huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, secretly hoping to buy his body some time to cool down.
Once the process had started, there was no putting an end to it until he succumbed, but this was the first time the two of them had been alone together in years, and like hell was he going to let their starting conversation be with him slurring words, rubbing himself against the older man like a bitch in heat.
Which he would undoubtedly be doing in the next few minutes.
Damn it.
“You wouldn’t talk back to me before,” Kian said, still standing on the other side of the room. Despite Sky’s words, it was apparent they were both aware of what was happening here and the risk that brought.
Kian was an unmated alpha. From the looks of it, he wasn’t affected by Sky’s pheromones yet, but even the strongest of alphas wouldn’t be able to resist a prime omega indefinitely.
“You have to go,” Sky tried again, pleading this time. “If you don’t leave soon, my pheromones might—”
“What is this place?” Kian interrupted.
“…My studio.”
It wasn’t large, but there was more than enough space for him to work and display his pieces once they were finished. His kiln was tucked perfectly in the far right corner, and two long tables occupied the center area.
He hadn’t done much here as of yet, but he had plans. Plans to make it his own. To breathe life into the space and carve out a home away from home for himself within these walls.
“I heard you were studying art?” Kian kept the conversation going.
“Pottery,” Sky said. “I’m a potter.” He pointed toward the spinning wheels that lined the workbench that took up the entire left wall.
There were three of them, though this space was initially meant to be just his.
“I’m thinking Elm and some of our friends will hang out here sometimes.
After I get a decent body of work completed, I might even turn it into a storefront and open it up to the public. ”
“And if you don’t?”
“Then I’ll set up a website online.” He shrugged. “I’ll figure it out.”
“Pretty confident,” Kian drawled, but it didn’t sound like a compliment. A moment later, it became apparent why. “Is that how you ended up forgetting to take your blockers? Too confident to remember?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Kian gave him a once-over. “I’m sure you get attention on campus. You’re certainly not that gangly little kid from before.”
“And you’re no longer the nice guy I looked up to,” he retaliated.
“No,” there was something dark and unrecognizable in Kian’s tone then, “I’m not. Better get used to it. Last chance, Sky. Do you have any blankets here? Extra clothing?”
He pursed his lips. Why was he asking that?
“Nesting materials,” Kian reiterated. “Do you have any, omega?”
A shiver zipped down Sky’s spine, and he felt his dick grow rock solid in his pants. He’d already been wet for a while now, but slick gushed from his back entrance, preparing him for a mating he still wasn’t entirely sure was going to happen.
Or that he wanted to happen, for that matter.
“Please,” he gave it another attempt. “Please go.”
The Kian he remembered was kind, maybe not to everyone, but to Sky, he always had been. He wouldn’t take advantage of him. This had to be because of Sky’s pheromones. Kian was an alpha, after all, and one who’d spent years presumably on a planet that didn’t have omegas there who could satisfy him.
That was probably it. Kian was reacting so strongly, not because he wanted Sky, but because he was starved for omega pheromones.
That doused some of the lust he’d been feeling, at least enough for him to clear his throat and straighten to his full height. Not that it was impressive compared to Kian’s tall stature, but still.
“Leave, Kian. I don’t want or need your help with this.”
“You’re entering heat. You need to be knotted.”
“I can cover that.”
Kian bristled. “Excuse me?”
“I can.”
“Trying to get me to go so you can invite that alpha after all?”
Sky’s brow furrowed. What alpha—oh. Kenta. He meant Kenta. Considering this was sort of where he was hoping to take things with Kenta anyway, maybe Sky really should call him.
“Take off your multi-slate and set it on the other side of the room,” Kian ordered.
“Wh-what?”
“Do it. Now.”
“Kian. I don’t—”
“I won’t let you call someone else.” Kian stormed forward, easily pinning Sky’s hips against the edge of one of the center tables.
He had his multi-slate off his wrist in a flash, and he stepped away to discard it on the windowsill.
When he yanked the blinds shut, cutting them off from the outside world, Sky trembled.
Was Kian…really planning on staying? Why?
Was he worried Sky would get taken advantage of by someone else? Kian didn’t know Kenta or any of Sky’s friends.
“I don’t have to call an alpha,” Sky said softly, and when Kian’s head snapped up and his eyes locked with his, he panicked. There was a pile of gifts at the end of the room, and he went to the place where they were stored.
He’d placed Darby’s gift on the bottom, and he shoved all the others off with little care about whether they were damaged in the process of getting to it.
As soon as he spotted it, he grabbed it and stood, managing to tear through the shiny green and gold wrapping paper—the one he’d carefully selected specifically for her.
Sky practically drooled when he removed the toy, glad he’d left the batteries inside after testing it to be sure it worked at the store when he’d bought it. He’d also removed the original packaging and tied a cute dark green bow around it, mostly as a joke.
The whole gift had been for a laugh really, but now it would come in handy.
Sure, showing Kian he had a sex toy to settle his needs wasn’t ideal, but he’d handle the mortification tomorrow. Getting the alpha to leave before Sky’s pheromones made him do something he’d regret was more important.
“What the hell is that?” Kian growled.
The sound of an alpha growl coupled with the sight of the hefty silicone in his hand had the opposite effect that Sky had hoped. His heat hit him harder, causing him to cry out and double over, the sudden pain in his lower region urging him to mate.
The toy was the latest model, with four speeds and rotating pleasure beads at both the tip and base.
The long silicone cock was gold, which he’d thought was funny and a good opportunity for another joke, with a two-inch handle that held buttons for all its features, including the most important one.
Knotting toys were all the rage amongst omegas. Sky had one or two back home stashed in his bedroom even. Since not everyone wanted to spend their heat with another person, knotting dildos took care of that issue, providing omegas with the fulfillment they needed in all senses of the word.
He stumbled to the nearest long table, shucked his sweatshirt over his head, along with the gray t-shirt he’d been wearing underneath.
“Sky.” Kian’s warning went unheeded.
He barely even heard him. Sky trailed his right hand down from his navel, head tipping back slightly at the light brush of his own fingers against his overly heated flesh. When they slipped past the band of his underwear, he swayed on his feet.
Kian stripped out of his peacoat and draped it over the floor, but he didn’t leave Sky alone to his own devices for long.
He was at Sky’s side in an instant, dragging him across the room, shoving him down to the ground onto the coat.
Next, he practically tore Sky’s pants and boxers from his body, leaving him fully exposed.