Chapter 13
DARIUS
Xander had been sleeping when I arrived back at our room.
I was disappointed he hadn’t wanted to join us at the pack lunch, but I understood that there had been a lot of changes for him, and he was probably overwhelmed by it all.
And though he’d seemed okay when we’d done our tour of the compound, there had to be some anger and resentment festering beneath the surface.
Sure, there had been some signs that he’d forgiven me for the disaster of our mating night - like when he’d let me hold his hand and not taken it back – and I’d been hopeful we could make a go of our union.
But his moods fluctuated wildly, running hot and cold with me, and when he suddenly went cold, I couldn’t pinpoint the cause of the sudden about-face.
It was frustrating. I… well, I was going to have to talk to him about it.
Not something I looked forward to, as my mate was decidedly prickly.
As I stood beside the bedside, pondering my complicated mate, I noticed his breathing wasn’t regular. He rolled over, and the hair fell away from his face, exposing the flushed cheeks. Beads of perspiration dotted his hairline. His plump lips parted and a soft moan made its way out. I frowned.
He looked to be unwell, or at the least, in pain.
I was startled by a stirring in my pants. Fuck! Surely I wasn’t getting turned on by my mate’s pain… Oh! I wasn’t, was I? It was something else. The distinct scent of slick registered with my conscious brain and I finally understood what my body had instinctively known.
My mate was coming into heat.
This was unfortunate, as I would have liked us to have cemented our emotional connection first, but I could take him through his heat, I knew what to do.
Xander moaned, writhing under the covers. It was coming on fast, possibly triggered by our mating last night.
Trying to ignore the increasing discomfort in my jeans, I hurried to the bathroom to moisten a washcloth.
“Hey,” I put my hand on his shoulder and gave it a gentle rub, hoping to ease him awake. His body was going to be on fire when he came to, and he didn’t need to be startled into it.
“Don’t touch me!”
I placed the cool washcloth across his forehead, trying to ignore the bitter shaft of hurt that lanced through me. He was my mate; it was my duty and an honor to ease him through his omega heats.
“It’s okay,” I tried, “Your heat has started. Let me take you through it.”
“No!” My heart bled as he refused my help. Didn’t he know what he was going to endure? A mating-induced heat was far more extreme than a normal one, nature having decided a mate was on hand to help the omega with their symptoms and this being a good time to impregnate the omega as well.
I had no intention of doing that, however. We hadn’t discussed whether Xander even wanted pups, and until we had managed to establish our relationship, I wasn’t interested in bringing up the topic.
“Please, you need to let me help you,” I begged.
“No!” he clung obstinately to his refusal.
“Xander, if I don’t…”
“Get the fuck out of here!” Xander’s bellow was fierce but his voice broke pitifully at the end.
I didn’t want to go. I knew I could make him feel better. He didn’t have to experience the worst of it. I didn’t think any omega had ever died from an untended heat, but it had been known to traumatize them. And damn! He might even enjoy it if he let himself go.
But I had to respect my mate’s wishes, even if it was devastating my heart to leave him to endure this alone.
I tried one more time before I left the room, but the answer was the same.
“NO!”
I pulled the door closed behind me and leaned back, the wood reassuringly solid behind me.
My chest rose and fell as I drew in a deep breath, but instead of steadying me, a wave of slick and omega pheromones hit me, making me stagger forwards.
My head spun, the dizziness unexpected. Meanwhile, down south I popped a full boner.
I grunted. Man, I was in trouble. Xander’s heat was triggering a rut, which if we were a properly functioning mated pair wouldn’t have been a problem, but we weren’t, so I had to try to suppress this as much as I could.
I slumped down cross-legged in front of the door, banging my head deliberately against the wood with a thump.
It didn’t really hurt, but the shock of the impact did bring the blood back to my head a little, and I managed to maintain control of my lust. I needed to move away from here, get into fresh air…
A shadow moved down the end of the corridor, a face peeking around.
Oh fuck! I wasn’t going anywhere. The rampant heat hormones and scent of slick of an untended omega in heat were going to attract all the alphas within sensing distance, like an erotic siren song. It wasn’t even a lack of respect towards me, the Pack Alpha, but a physiological reaction.
A low menacing growl vibrated in my throat, rolling down the corridor.
There was a scuffling sound and the shadow disappeared.
I heaved a sigh of relief. Xander might not be tended to but he was not unattended .
My position as Pack Alpha was secure enough to ensure no-one would directly challenge me in order to get to him, provided I maintained a vigil here.
But the other alphas of the pack would certainly find it very odd that I was not tending to my mate’s heat.
It was going to give rise to questions, questions that currently had no answers.
Inevitably, it would undermine my authority here to some degree.
How much, was for later, as a moan made its way through the door and a fresh wave of slick scented the air.
My heart rate ticked up. A spike of adrenaline made me feel invincible and the rush made me want to break down the door and race in there.
I wanted to beat my chest and prove to the world he was mine!
My dick pressed hard against the zipper of my jeans, the metal teeth cutting into the soft outer skin of my shaft, and I regretted my preference for going commando.
The sharp bite of pain, however, prevented me from indulging my foolishness.
Whatever the personal cost, I had a mate to protect. And that included from myself.
I got up, planting my feet apart and stood erect in the doorway, back against the timber, growling.
I undid my waistband, and sliding one hand in to protect myself, slid the zipper down.
The release of pressure was immediate, and I grunted in relief as I set my cock free.
I still ached, my member standing erect and proud between the open flaps of my pants, the precum dripping in sticky globules to the floor, but I was protecting my mate and I felt fierce.
The whimpers and cries from the bedroom behind me wrenched at my heart, as my omega suffered through his heat.
Shadows came and went, as various alphas came to try their luck at reaching the omega in heat, but I stood my ground, dick hanging out possessively, snarling anytime anyone came near.
They came often enough that first night that I got no sleep, but by morning they’d got the message, and they came no more.
As the dawn claimed the sky, my mate’s whimpers and cries silenced and I slid down onto the ground, legs spread wide, head slumped against the bedroom door.
I was weary after the night’s struggles - fighting my baser instincts, warning away the wolves, and forcing myself to stay awake.
My eyes could barely stay open; they felt tired and gritty. My balls and penis ached.
All was quiet inside the bedroom, the first round of heat over, thank the Goddess. A soft snore punctuated the early day; Xander was sleeping, while his body prepared itself for the next onslaught of lust and need.
In the hiatus between the first wave and the next, my eyelids drooped. They startled open as I jerked awake, remembering I was still on guard. Then my eyes fell on the mess in front of me.
A puddle of cum lay congealed on the ground where I’d relieved myself a couple of times during the night. The tart, musky scent of it would serve as a reminder to any prowling alphas that this omega was under my protection. He was safe for now.
I let my eyes drift closed and a restless sleep overtook me.
*****
I stood guard at our bedroom door for three torturous nights.
The second wave of heat started that afternoon and lasted all night.
Xander’s anguished cries of “fuck” and “son of a bitch” and “fucking bloody alphas” rang in my ears, it seemed, for hours.
He was a foul-mouthed omega, that was for sure.
I gritted my teeth and stroked myself off as I listened to his moans and groans, my eyes nearly rolling back in my head as the unmistakable sounds of him coming pushed me over the edge myself.
The corridor stank of sweat and semen, but mercifully it warned away any interested alphas – they knew I was right there - and there were no more shadows to contend with.
It was just as well. I was struggling to control the overwhelming urge to rush in there and fuck that omega into the mattress and it took all my steely concentration to keep myself from going in there.
I could barely keep an eye out for interlopers.
The third night was less difficult physically.
My cock was red raw from my hands, but my balls were empty.
My body had nothing left to give. But listening to Xander’s muffled cries and weeping had torn at my heart.
I wanted nothing more than to ease his agony, and it broke me to hear him suffer.
I tried not to dwell on the rejection, hiding it behind my need for his pain to end.
When, finally, the last cry faded away and was replaced by rhythmic gentle snores, I raised my head, nostrils flaring. The heat scent had been slowly fading throughout the night, and now it had gone completely. My head sank back against the door with a thud . Thank the Goddess! It was over.
I needed to go and check on my mate, but… wait. A thoroughly unpleasant odor made me flinch. Ugh! My nostrils prickled. I lifted up an arm and sure enough, I wanted to gag. I’d sweated a shit-ton during the ordeal and I was still wearing the same clothes I’d started in. I stank.
I struggled to my feet, the loud cracking of my knees testament to how long I’d been down there. I stretched my arms out, rolled my shoulders. Yeah, I was sore all over. And I needed a shower.
I turned to grasp the doorknob behind me but it didn’t budge.
I shook the door and tried again. Nothing happened.
The door was locked! I listened to the sound of my mate’s snoring.
He must have gotten up and locked the door at some time over the last three nights and I hadn’t noticed.
Had he done it to keep me out? Or to keep out any strange alphas that might make it past me?
He must have known from my scent that I was guarding the door…
if he had thought to scent for me. Had he really thought a simple lock would keep a heat-inflamed alpha from breaking through the door? If he did, he was na?ve.
But now, I had a problem. I looked around in frustration.
What to do? My eyes fell on a door part-way down the corridor.
It was the door of a disused office which had been Alpha’s when he had been in the prime of his life and working long hours.
I knew he’d sometimes slept over there to avoid disturbing his mate after burning the midnight oil at his desk, so I guessed it must contain a couch or rollaway. Perhaps an ensuite, if I was lucky.
But was the door unlocked? Since Alpha’s passing and my becoming Pack Alpha, the room had not been in use. For all I knew, the housekeeper might have locked it.
There was only one way to find out.