Chapter Fifteen
Dustin
I Might Can Get Used to This
Dustin had never felt so awkward as he was paraded around town like a show horse. It was nice that everyone was so gracious and happy to see them, but Dustin wasn’t used to being fawned over and praised like some… oh, for fuck’s sake… like some god.
However, the gratitude in the atmosphere was contagious as he observed the people from Fhomhair celebrate their version of Thanksgiving.
Food and drink flowed freely at every turn, but instead of families celebrating in their homes amongst themselves, the entire realm feasted together in the streets like some huge block party.
No single person was left home alone with a plate that was dropped off on their doorstep because they had no partner or children.
Dustin loved that about this festival and that it went on for three days. One day of thanks wasn’t nearly enough.
He and Notalus were invited to eat and mingle every few steps, and all of the food was delicious, albeit some a bit interesting.
Dustin made a few middle-aged men—whom Notalus informed him were successors of an imperial cult that existed in Domhan Geal, the Bright World—guffaw and ridicule him when he spat out a native fruit his mate informed him was fertilized with centaur urine.
“You are beloved already, my alpha,” Notalus confirmed as they walked and waved at the crowd gatherers.
Heavens’ goodness did they wave. Dustin felt his arm might fall off if he lifted it even one more time.
He was slowly getting used to the large entourage that traveled behind Notalus at all times, most of them being guards.
While his mate assured him they were safe in his realm, there were still demons and otherworldly monsters that had tried to lay siege to their harvest. But the people of Fhomhair typically enjoyed long periods of peace.
“They seem happy for you,” Dustin acknowledged. In the few hours they’d been at the festival, they’d received countless congratulations and gifts for their new union.
“Perhaps they are,” Notalus agreed, gazing down at him.
“Kiss him! Kiss him!” the people chanted when he and Notalus got lost in each other’s eyes.
“Your people are insane. Why would they wanna watch me kiss you?” Dustin asked, confused but unable to lessen his grin.
“They don’t.” Notalus gently cupped his chin and tilted his head up to meet his gaze. “They want me to kiss you.”
Dustin pfft’d. “Don’t you think that’s kinda silly?”
“Kissing is not common in most realms, only Earth. To immortals, Homo sapiens are quite a fascinating species, shifters even more so. And you, handsome one, are human, alpha wolf, and god. A divine combination.” Notalus used his wind to close the distance tighter between them, his emerald cap sailing around them and making the cheers grow louder.
Notalus lowered his head until their foreheads touched.
“I have found that I very much enjoy tasting your mouth, Alpha. I understand the appeal of kissing now.” Notalus closed his light eyes and the last few inches between their mouths.
He pressed his lips to Dustin’s and breathed him into himself before he swept his tongue inside.
Dustin kissed back with vigor, all logical thought slipping away at the reality that they were putting on quite a show.
The scent of Notalus’ arousal made his pants pull tighter below his belt.
The crowd threw daisies and sunflowers at them as the shouts rose to a deafening level until Dustin slowly bought the kiss to an end.
Vades, the head of Notalus’ court—a demigod from Mag an T-Eolas, the Plain of Knowledge—leaned in and murmured close to their sides, “Perhaps you have associated enough for today, my lords. Eventide approaches, and soon the cups will be pouring freely.”
“Agreed, Vades. Thank you. We will return to the palace grounds momentarily.” Notalus waited for his court to leave before he turned back to face Dustin. “Now seems like a good time to take you to your gift. Do you want to see what it is now?”
“If it gets us by ourselves, then absolutely,” Dustin took Notalus’ hand, but Notalus stopped him and pulled him back into his chest.
“Hold on to me,” Notalus whispered in his ear, grasping him firmly under his shoulders.
Dustin didn’t have a chance to say, “hell fucking no, I’d rather run,” before Notalus propelled them into the air, coasting them over the rowdy crowd.
It was nothing like when they’d traveled from Earth to Fhomhair at Mach speeds.
That had been entirely too high and too fast. This was like surfing on a smooth wave.
Dustin wasn’t afraid as they drifted just above the houses and over orchids and blooming fields of crops.
Notalus buried his face in his neck and breathed against his throat, speaking to his wolf.
Calming him. Dustin kissed Notalus over his mark, making him sigh with pleasure as he slowly descended to the ground.
“Mmmm, my gods. You make me moan like a lavender in a pleasure house, my alpha.” Notalus set them down gently in a barren field that went on for miles.
His mate made sure his feet were secure on the ground before he eased his arms from around him.
Notalus’ gaze was adoring as he stroked Dustin’s beard with one hand, his other lightly cupping the back of his neck.
Dustin’s heart choked in his throat at that expression.
He’d never, ever seen that look directed at him before… that’s how he knew exactly what it was.
“I like being able to do that,” Notalus confessed. “To feel you gliding on my wind with me is like nothing I could’ve imagined. It accepts you.”
“I might can get used to traveling like that,” Dustin said, flirting with the edges of Notalus’ robe.
“I’d like that a lot. I can show you the rest of the realm from an aerial view. You’ll love it.”
Dustin nodded, staring and wondering how he’d become so blessed.
“But first…” Notalus turned Dustin in his arms so that he was facing the wide-open field.
“What am I looking at?” Dustin asked.
Notalus wrapped his arms around him from behind. “My son just acquired this land for me to do with what I wish.” Notalus kissed the side of Dustin’s neck. “And my wish is to give it to you.”
Dustin sucked in a surprised breath. That is acres upon acres upon acres. “What?”
“Yes. For you, my alpha.”
“But…” Dustin was at a complete loss for words.
Dustin knelt and touched his hand to the soil. His fingertips tingled, the sensation traveling up his arm and throughout his body as if the ground was fueling him with renewed energy… with life.
Dustin shot to his feet, scrubbing his palms together. “What was that?”
Notalus took a few steps backward and waved his arm across the field. “That was your power, Dustin. The full harvest moon is when you are at your strongest. You can not only grow anything you wish, but you can receive energy from this realm’s natural elements.”
Dustin could still feel the stimulating pulses racing through him and filling him with a sudden urge to let his beast out.
“Yes,” Notalus hissed close to him as Dustin stood there shaking with restrained strength. “Your wolf wants to give thanks to the moon for the bountiful harvest that will be here at morning’s first light. All you have to do is imagine what you want to grow.”
Dustin gazed across the field illuminated in a warm orange haze from the low-hanging moon that was so big and full in the sky it made his wolf claw at his chest to get out.
His mate’s crisp, apple-scented wind caressed his face as Dustin envisioned perfectly lined rows of winter squash, spinach, zucchini, and some of the biggest heads of ornamental cabbage anyone had ever seen.
Dustin saw pear trees and grapevines to the left and an assorted mum garden, possibly even some Russian sage, to his right.
He realized it all in his mind as clearly as if it were already there.
He wasn’t sure how long he stood there landscaping in his heart, but he opened his eyes to find evenly made rows in freshly overturned soil, some plants even already sprouting buds. Dustin’s chest rose and fell so fast it probably looked like he was hyperventilating. Maybe he was.
“Now you can see it, yes… and feel it?” Notalus’ voice carried to him on a sensual breeze. “You have always had these abilities in the earth realm, Dustin, but here, they are at their truest.”
Dustin began to shred himself out of his clothes, his claws extending and tearing through his linen pants.
After he was stark naked, he yanked Notalus into his body and pulled his mouth down to his.
He kissed him hard and insistently until he felt the erotic satisfaction of his submission.
Dustin growled and bit down over his mark on Notalus’ throat.
Dustin didn’t break the skin, but his wolf was close enough to make his mate feel the effects of it.
Notalus stumbled backward, appearing intoxicated, when Dustin released him suddenly and shifted into his animal in the blink of an eye.
He shook out his fur, letting the ripe fall air seep its way through to his core.
He felt bigger, stronger. He could feel his Notalus’ pride as he gazed down on him with even more reverence than the first time he saw his wolf.
Notalus went to his knees and tilted his head.
Dustin snarled with dominance as he pushed his muzzle where he’d just bit his mate, inhaling him before he turned and took off across the field.
Dustin was running faster than he ever had, then he thought possible, his huge paws sinking into charged earth that shot energy into him with each step.
He crossed over where his potatoes would be and veered up a steep hill that made him feel like he was running in the sky, the moon tugging at his chest, forcing him to climb higher.
Dustin got to the top of the hill and threw his muzzle up and howled to the moon with all of the love and appreciation that he felt in that moment. The ground trembled beneath him, and Dustin howled again, feeling as if the ginger beauty was receiving and accepting his praise.
When he was finished, Dustin gazed back down the hill and saw that seventy percent of the fields were now in full bloom. My gods.
Notalus opened his arms and levitated off the ground in a whirlwind of colored leaves and glided up to him, dropping down only a few feet away.
Dustin shifted, his heart racing, his eyes still on the field. How in the hell did I do that?
“You are the alpha and moon god of the autumn, Dustin, and you will be regaled as such.” Notalus gestured to the new crops.
“These are your true powers. Your harvest will grow with such richness that you will barely be able to maintain it all. You can provide generously for your Volkov pack and thousands more all over the world if you desire.”
Dustin took Notalus in his arms and laid him down on the lush grass. “I love you, Notalus.”
Notalus spread his legs wide for him. “Welcome home, my alpha.”
His titan flooded their link with so much love and light that he couldn’t wait until they were back in his bedchambers to make love to him again. He wanted inside him atop this fertile ground and under the new harvest moon.