Chapter 16
Chapter sixteen
Angus
Watching Ben suck himself off was the hottest thing I’d ever seen.
When I set him down, his legs wouldn’t hold him, so I swept him up in my arms and carried him out of the shower.
It wasn’t lost on me that a year ago, I wouldn’t have been able to come close to doing any of what I’d just done—not just picking him up, but spit-roasting him, holding him aloft and making marks all over his neck while Colt ate him out.
I felt like the virile alpha I’d been long ago.
As I stood on the bathmat, Ben in my arms, Colt made quick work of drying us off, and then I carried our omega to our bed.
Satisfied wasn’t a good enough word for the way I felt at that moment.
We lay in bed until Carter called us to dinner. I couldn’t help but notice what a hearty appetite Ben had, taking seconds after he’d finished the first plate. My eyes met Colt’s over the table, and his gaze seemed to say, We did that. We wore him out and gave him that appetite.
After dinner, Maddox lit a fire in the fireplace. Carter sat on the couch reading to Alisanne while Jackson nursed Serena and David nursed Oliver. The boy really was doing better, and I now believed to my bones that Ben had a hand in it. What that meant, I didn’t know.
Once the young ones were asleep and put to bed, the adults gathered again to chat.
Thankfully, the rain had finally stopped.
Maddox called Laura, and she told him that Jeremiah was still seriously ill.
Since she couldn’t make it back to the ranch due to flooding, she would just sleep on a cot in the hospital with Nova and Eric.
After Maddox relayed that information, Carter said, “I’ve been thinking of some of the questions Jackson asked me when he first came to stay with me.”
We all looked at him inquiringly.
“Chiefly, he wanted to know why omegas were considered to be bad for society—so bad that they couldn’t even stay with their families while a mate was found for them. Did betas so easily take their place in society? And if omegas were so detrimental, why did they exist in the first place?”
“All good questions,” I said, and beside me on the loveseat, Colt nodded.
“I’m sure David and Ben recognize those questions as ones we asked each other over and over while we lived together at Gleesa’s,” Jackson said, looking at his two friends.
“The older I get, the more I want answers to them. Mom told me recently that she’s been working with the SOS to record information, just like Laura does.
If any of her patients have given up an omega to the government, she’s been quietly inquiring about it, asking what kind of updates they’ve had, etcetera. ”
“Has she learned anything helpful?” David asked.
“Just that parents don’t get specific information about their omega son once he leaves.
They might be informed that he’s happy living in the Long Night Region with an alpha mate who is a trapper, but they aren’t sent an address or photos or even an email address.
The fact that, as the years pass, their child never reaches out to them makes them fearful that something happened to him. ”
Carter nodded, adding, “Since there’s always been a stigma attached to birthing an omega, it’s only been recently that, with the efforts of the SOS, these parents have learned that other parents of omegas have never heard from their children either.”
“I guess that’s raised a lot of suspicion,” I said.
“Yes. In the past month, there have been several rallies in big cities, protesting the lack of information given to parents of omegas.”
Looking at Ben, Colt said, “Your idea that Trey might be able to help us was a good one. See if he knows anything from living with his senator father.”
“We’ll have them over when the flood waters go down,” I said.
“Does your friend Bertram know about the SOS and its claims?” Carter asked.
“Not unless Trey’s mentioned it. David told him about hiding from the government when they met.” I looked at David.
“He seemed content to be sent here to be Bertram’s mate, so we never discussed it again. I doubt he mentioned it to Bertram.”
“But Trey’s parents kept him at home his whole life. That means they have their suspicions, right?” Ben pointed out.
“Maybe, but they never actually told Trey they were hiding him. They just kept him home and, as an omega, he was good with that. Then when it came time for him to come here to mate Bertram, he was happy he could mate and have babies,” David said. “Excuse me. I’m going to check on Ollie.”
When he came back a minute later, he reported that the baby was sleeping soundly and still cool to the touch.
Ben took the folded blanket we kept on the back of the couch and wrapped himself in it, leaning into me. I held him, feeling a little bad for how hard I was on him earlier. Hearing him talk badly about himself hurt me, and, well, I didn’t deal well with hurt.
The group broke into separate conversations. Maddox, Carter, and Jackson got into a discussion about what they’d researched about omegas. David asked Colt if they checked on the chickens in the coop during the storm. Ben’s head got heavy on my chest, and I realized he had fallen asleep.
“Do you think Ben really had something to do with Oliver’s turn-around?” Carter asked quietly.
“If you could see how Gramps looked a year ago, you’d believe it, too,” Maddox said.
“But that could have been from the bond, couldn’t it?”
“Have you ever heard of anyone healing because of a bond?” I asked.
“No. But before I met Jackson, I knew very little about omegas. I wasn’t even sure they were real. I mean, I’d never met one,” Carter explained.
The group talked for another hour until they agreed they were just rehashing what they’d already said and separated to go to bed. Colt picked up Ben and carried him to our room, where we undressed him and tucked him in.
“He must be really tired,” I said. “Didn’t even rouse a little during all that.”
He grinned at me. “Yeah. I guess we wore him out earlier in the shower.”
“Not proud of yourself, are you?” I teased.
He shrugged. “Maybe a little. You?”
I laughed. “It does feel good every time we’re all together like that.”
Resting his warm palm against my face, Colt said, “I need to tell you something.”
Worried there was information about Ben that I didn’t know, I asked, “What?”
Colt brought his nose to touch mine, then gently rubbed back and forth.
“I love you,” he whispered before kissing me.
The kiss was deep and lit me up. Our tongues brushed over and over, more and more urgently each time until it was if we were trying to swallow each other. I pulled him as close as I could get, wanting more of him.
“If I could have you…if you would let me,” I said on a breath before sucking hard at his neck, marking him.
Colt was breathing hard, but I sensed his resistance. “Angus…”
“I know,” I reassured him. “I just wanted you to know how much I want it sometimes. In the morning, we’ll both get inside Ben, the way we did during our mating. Loved feeling that close to you both.”
“Me, too,” Colt said fervently, and kissed me again.
We undressed, both of us so worked up we had to do something.
I took us both between my palms and stroked us, our foreheads resting together and breaths mingling, until our climaxes ripped through us, one after the other.
Then we crawled into bed on each side of our omega and held hands until we fell asleep.