The Rut
JON, a few weeks later
I woke in the middle of the night with a single purpose—to protect Cooper. It was promptly followed by another equally strong urge—to claim Cooper.
I sat up too fast, pulse racing, and looked to my right. Cooper was sleeping next to me. He looked peaceful, and not at all like he was in imminent danger.
But I needed to be sure.
I shuffled closer. Then a little closer. He opened his eyes to find me looming over him.
“Don’t move,” I rasped, my voice at least two octaves deeper than usual, and it hadn’t exactly been high to begin with.
“What? Why?” He looked alarmed and immediately tried to sit up.
“Stay here where it’s safe.”
He blinked. “What’s the danger?”
I paused. I didn’t actually know.
“I need to pee,” Cooper informed me.
I caught his wrist midair, my thumb pressing over his pulse. I dragged my nose slowly along the side of his throat, inhaling his rich scent.
“You’re mine,” I growled against his skin, making him whimper and snort at the same time.
“What are you doing?” Cooper giggled.
“I’m claiming you. Fuck, Cooper, you smell so good I’m going to lose my mind.”
“Cool, but I really need to pee.”
Completely unfazed by my caveman behavior, Cooper slipped out of bed and padded toward the bathroom. I followed, only to find him closing the door in my face. Soon, he was humming a Selena Gomez song—badly, but with enthusiasm. My affection for him filled me so completely I couldn’t help but knock.
The humming paused. “Yeah?”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m peeing.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“Yes, I’m okay. And don’t hover! Go back to bed.”
“Did you eat?” I asked, swallowing hard. Had I been neglecting his nourishment? There was a choking sound from the other side of the door.
“Did I what?”
“Did you eat?” I repeated, slower. “Before you went in there.”
“Jon, you know I didn’t eat. I just woke up. I woke up because you were growling in my ear and being weird.” A pause. “I liked it, though.”
“You need to eat.”
He flushed the toilet, then washed his hands. I leaned my forehead briefly against the door and waited.
Everything was fine. Except my entire body felt hijacked by something bigger than me. And that something was entirely Cooper. He’d been sleeping here since we got back, and I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to sleep without him ever again.
The handle turned, and I straightened immediately, fully returning to my mission of protecting and providing. As he stepped out, my hands landed on him instantly, pulling him flush against my chest.
My heart felt raw, wide open. “I love you so fucking much,” I choked out. Was it strange that I needed to say it in the middle of the night, right after Cooper stepped out of the bathroom? Yeah. Did I care? Not particularly, no.
My thumbs slid over his warm skin, confirming he was safe.
“I love you too, weirdo,” Cooper murmured, rising onto his toes to give me a sleepy kiss. “Let’s get back to bed.”
I pinned him against the wall, my teeth grazing the soft skin on his neck.
“I need to mark you,” I panted.
Cooper’s mouth fell open. “Did your rut start?” he whispered.
I considered that while nuzzling his neck. There was a primal, intense hunger burning through me.
“It’s . . . possible.”
“I’m going to run a test,” Cooper said, his voice dancing with mischief. “But I need to go outside to do it. All alone. In the dark—”
“No fucking way,” I growled. I didn’t think—I just hoisted him over my shoulder like a sack of flour.
He giggled. “Your rut is definitely on.”
I carried him back to the bed, flipping him onto the mattress. I moved with a frantic energy, tugging his boxers down. He looked up at me happily. “I’m guessing we’re not going back to sleep?”
“You’re guessing right.” I took him into my mouth, swallowing him down. My fingers were already working him open. It was easy with the slick he was producing for me.
“Good Omega,” I praised. Soon, I had him arching off the mattress, his fingers tangled in my hair
“Not gonna last long,” he whimpered.
I released him with one last teasing bite to his inner thigh. “On your hands and knees. Ass up.”
He obeyed eagerly, moaning when I spread his cheeks and pushed my tongue inside.
His slick had to be my favorite taste in the world; it was fucking phenomenal.
Ignoring his pleasure-soaked sobbing, I feasted on him until he came.
Even then, I continued the relentless tongue-fucking through his orgasm.
“You’re going to come again,” I told him, pressing him against the mattress with one hand, yanking his ass up with the other.
Then I pushed into him in one hard, unyielding thrust. I needed to claim him, brand him, make him mine in every possible way.
I pulled him up so I could suck the skin over his scent gland.
I wasn’t satisfied until I was sure there’d be a bruise to show the world he belonged to me.
Cooper was always vocal during sex, but this time, he was so loud the neighbors would be getting a full education on what it sounded like when an Alpha in rut was fucking his Omega.
Cooper was panting, meeting my thrusts the best he could, and when I reached to stroke him, he came with a keening sound, his body shaking under mine.
His hole tightened around my cock, milking me, and pleasure stronger than anything I’d felt before tore through me.
For a heartbeat, I was sure I was dying.
But I wasn’t dying. I was coming.
And coming.
And fucking coming. I buried load after load of cum inside Cooper, so delirious from the orgasm that for a second, I thought I might have impregnated him.
A jolt of pure Alpha satisfaction hit me until I remembered that male pregnancy had been defeated by evolution thousands of years ago.
Pulling out, I admired the way his hole glistened, pink and dripping with my cum and his slick.
I licked some of it, relishing our taste.
“Fuck,” I panted. “I got so into it, I wanted to get you pregnant.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if you succeeded,” Cooper murmured, already half asleep when I wiped him clean. “That was an obscene amount of cum you shot inside me. Something surely must grow out of it.”