Chapter 26
The next time Emerson awoke, he didn’t feel Dash’s heat clawing into him.
Nor did he sense Dash nearby. His eyes closed, he searched the bed with one hand—until he noticed the shower going.
Emerson was utterly exhausted—and he knew Dash had to be, as well.
Yet his omega was up and showering alone?
He forced himself out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom.
A humid wave of steam hit him in the face when he opened the door. Once the fog lifted and his vision cleared, he found Dash scrubbing his body, seemingly fine.
Just a single night? Heats were supposed to be days long. He’d been looking forward to more time.
Emerson knocked on the glass door.
Dash spun, wide-eyed.
“Aren’t I supposed to handle aftercare?” Emerson asked, one brow rising.
He asked that as if he remembered the instructions for what to do with an omega after a heat.
Most of it was basic care for anyone after a semi-traumatic experience.
A warm bath to soothe the body. Making sure they ate a small amount of something easy on the stomach.
Massages for spent muscles. Plenty of rest.
“You looked too peaceful to wake,” Dash said. “And I need to get into the office.”
“We’re out in the middle of the bay.”
Dash shrugged. “I’ve driven a boat before. Go back to bed. I can take us in.”
“We should stay here.”
“Why?”
Emerson scoffed. “You’ve just had a heat.”
“You’d need not remind me,” Dash said, brushing his teeth as he turned off the water. “And if you don’t mind, can we keep this news between us?”
Emerson frowned. “As if I’d run through the streets, roaring it?”
“I more meant your brothers,” Dash said, opening the shower door.
“Oh, I already sent out a group text,” Emerson said, grinning.
Dash’s gaze whipped to his.
“I’m kidding,” Emerson said as he handed Dash a dry towel hanging beside him. “But they already know we’re together.”
“And that’s more than enough,” Dash said, continuing to dry himself.
Emerson stood watching, sensing he wasn’t going to win this argument. He wasn’t ready for Dash to leave. He’d anticipated days of intimacy with his mate, not a single evening.
“It’s only been hours, not days,” Emerson said.
“My heats are typically mild. And brief. If you’re not going back to bed, can you bring us back into dock while I get dressed?”
Emerson didn’t answer. Once Dash finished drying his hair, he looked into the mirror at Emerson.
“We’re not leaving until I know your heat is over and it’s safe for you to return to shore.”
Dash spun to face him, anger alight in his eyes. “You can’t hold me here against my will.”
“I’m not. I’m making sure you’ll be safe to leave.”
“My heats never last long,” Dash said. “I know myself better than you do.”
“We should wait a while—just in case,” Emerson argued.
Panic shone in Dash’s eyes. “Can you not see that I want the fuck out of here?”
Emerson held Dash’s gaze, silent. Pain lanced his chest. What had he done wrong? “I know I lack the experience of a proper alpha and have never handled a heat, but I thought I did well enough.”
Dash sighed, the fight leaving him. “Of course you did… well enough.”
“Then why are you climbing the walls trying to escape me?”
“It’s not you I’m trying to escape,” Dash said as he stared at the floor, his voice barely above a whisper.
“It’s what I witnessed,” Emerson said, suddenly understanding.
Dash winced, closing his eyes.
“I hate being so out of control,” Dash whispered, reopening his eyes.
“Running from it changes nothing,” Emerson said.
“I just want to forget,” Dash said, hardening his stare.
“No,” Emerson said, his voice raw. Anger coiled through him. They’d just shared something monumental and he wouldn’t allow Dash to pretend it hadn’t happened. He yanked Dash against his chest before pinning him to the bathroom counter, growling his disapproval. “I won’t let you run from this.”
Dash stared into his alpha’s handsome, determined face, lifting his chin with arrogance.
He wouldn’t be ordered about, nor would he stay there another second longer than he wanted to.
Emerson had seen him at his weakest, most vulnerable moment.
Now that good sense had returned, he needed space to process their night together and figure out how they proceeded from there.
No way was he going to be forced into the role of obedient, submissive omega.
He’d rather die first.
Yet the timbre of Emerson’s growl had sent a wave of pleasure coursing through Dash’s body.
Emerson was his dominant, the one who held all the control.
Dash shivered with need, shame rising in his chest at the same time.
When Emerson trailed a fingertip up one of his arms from wrist to elbow, he shivered again.
Slick eased from his hole. He did everything in his power not to writhe against the big, strong man pinning him to the counter, but it grew more difficult by the second.
Gods, just fuck me already… deep and hard…
Dash turned his head, trying to hide his widening eyes—and his shock at his body’s betrayal. Another wave? He’d been sure his heat was over. They never lasted more than a few hours.
Emerson’s strong hand gently tugged on his cheek, turning his head back.
He pressed himself against Dash, angling his head down.
His lips were inches from Dash’s but too damned far away.
Dash stared at them, melting into Emerson as the seconds ticked by.
Emerson licked the seam of his lips before capturing them fully.
Within seconds, Dash was writhing against Emerson, once again a ball of raw need.
His alpha reared back, searching his face.
“You look near feral,” Emerson whispered roughly, his voice hoarse. “Pupils fully dilated. Body feverish with need. Do you really think it’s safe for you to leave?”
Dash clenched his jaw, ignoring the thick imprint of Emerson’s hardening cock against his belly.
“It is,” Dash lied. “Can we go now?”
“Maybe you should turn around and see what I see.”
Dash rolled his eyes. “I’ve seen myself plenty.”
Emerson grasped his shoulders and spun him around. He lifted a hand to Dash’s chin and forced it up. “Look now, mate.”
Dash met his own stare, shocked at what he witnessed in the mirror.
His eyes were large and glassy. His face was ruddy, except from the dark circles of exhaustion under his eyes.
His cock was rock hard and leaking onto the bathroom counter.
Emerson’s arm looked so massive snaked around his midsection, holding him in place.
He looked so small by comparison. It was only a few inches in height, both their bodies strong and muscled, but seeing him captive in Emerson’s strong embrace was utterly mesmerizing.
He’d never connected with the part of him that was supposedly omega—until that moment.
Dash didn’t—and very much did—want to surrender and be the obedient, submissive omega for his alpha.
Emerson trailed a fingertip over his neck, forcing his gaze to a bite mark. Dash trembled against his mate, cursing his body for being so fucking mutinous. It was just teeth marks… yet it was a sign of Emerson’s possession.
Why not simply give into it?
Because that’s not how he was built.
“I’ve already texted Jackson that I’d be in the office today—and that we needed to meet,” Dash said, changing the subject and ignoring the slick dripping down his legs. “I have to go.”
“Text him back. Something came up,” Emerson said before kissing Dash’s neck on the bite marks he’d left behind.
Dash stifled a moan, made harder by Emerson rubbing his thick, hard cock against his lower back.
Another moan rose up Dash’s throat and he rolled his hips, sliding Emerson’s shaft between his asscheeks.
He gripped the edge of the counter and rose onto his tiptoes to give Emerson a better angle.
Emerson slid halfway in, coating his cock with Dash’s slick, before driving deeper on the next thrust.
“Look,” Emerson growled again, tipping Dash’s chin up.
Dash met his own stare once more—and gasped at what pleasure had wreaked on his face.
Jaw slack, eyes hooded, Dash was seconds from yielding all.
His gaze flicked to Emerson’s in the glass, watching.
He played voyeur and exhibitionist at the same time, fascinated by how easily Emerson dominated him.
“Does the man in the mirror look like his heat is over?” Emerson asked, thrusting deep into Dash’s body.
“No,” Dash whispered.
“That’s right,” Emerson said. “He’s nowhere near being done. He needs my cock to sate his need, doesn’t he?”
“Yesss,” Dash hissed.
Emerson pulled out, spun him, and lifted him onto the counter. Dash was set between the two bowls, his bottom narrowly filling the spot. Emerson opened his hips and slid back home.
Dash gasped, a moan coming a second later.
They fucked for a few minutes before Emerson hooked his arms under Dash’s knees. “Hold tight.”
Dash grabbed Emerson’s neck without a second to spare. Emerson carried him out to the bedroom, still buried to the hilt. He stopped at the side of the bed without lowering Dash.
“What’re you doing?” Dash groaned. He wanted to be pinned into the mattress—just as he’d been pinned to the counter. He wanted to be near crushed by Emerson’s warm, welcome weight.
Emerson pulled out almost all the way and rocked his hips forward.
Dash moaned, clinging to Emerson’s neck as he was fucked midair, his mate his only anchor.
By the time Emerson finally laid him on the bed, he was too far gone to remember much after that—nothing by pure satisfaction, another wave of heat soon calmed.
When he awoke cuddled against Emerson sometime in what appeared to be the late afternoon, he went in search of his phone that he’d left in the bathroom.