It was always omegas who wanted their freedom.
His Nathan had never wanted a full commitment—he’d always loved his independence and reveled in the fact that selling his heats could fund that kind of life for him—free from responsibilities of children or running a house. It hadn’t occurred to Heath that Adrien’s motivations might be different.
“I didn’t want to think about it…about this,” Adrien went on, gesturing between them. “It was easier to put my schooling and work first and ignore that eventually I’d have to make a choice.”
Heath remained silently surprised. Nathan would never have ignored an opportunity to make money, or to use his status as an omega near heat to gain entrance to society he might otherwise have been denied. Heath tried to imagine an omega with other feelings, other perspectives.
“You were afraid?” Heath asked.
Adrien nodded. “I don’t know much about heat, or, well, the rest of it. My father…” He trailed off. “I never knew my omega parent.”
Heath nodded. He brushed the hair back from Adrien’s sweaty forehead and trailed a finger down his cheek. Adrien didn’t flinch or move away from him, which softened Heath even more, and the heat crush intensified with Adrien’s every unexpected word. Surprise was Heath’s weakness—Nathan had always kept him guessing, shocking him at every turn. And now his son was doing the same thing—though in a completely contradictory manner.
Adrien went on, his eyes cast toward the shadows of the room as though embarrassed by his next words, “For a lot of reasons, I was never close to other omegas until I came to university, and I never thought it would be polite to ask the omega friends I’ve made there what to expect. It was easier to pretend it wasn’t going to happen.”
Heath almost laughed. Polite? What was polite about heat? Nothing. It was the exact opposite of polite, and every omega had the right to know that going in. The bruise on his heart grew, tenderness swelling in his chest for this foolish boy who’d been too afraid of being impolite to get the information he needed.
Adrien went on a bit tiredly, “Obviously, I should have planned better.
My father always said I lived in a dream world too much. In the end, I needed the money to pay for my future.” He met Heath’s gaze, brows furrowed with worry. “I know the school vets you all before allowing you to participate in the auction. It’s just…I want to know more than you won’t kill me and you’re without disease, and—” He broke off and looked around the room, confusion darkening his eyes. “—and supposedly wealthy.”
Heath took a slow breath and let it out, trying to decide how much to share with Adrien given his own desire to keep a safe distance and not recklessly deepen the heat crush. “You can feel free to ask questions, but I’m also free to not answer them.”
Adrien swallowed another sip of water and looked around the room.
“This place is small. Given how much you paid for me, I expected something else.”
“This is my heat cabin. I bring omegas here when I want to breed them.”
Breeding only. Knotting and fucking during an omega’s heat was another matter. Before Nathan, he’d been young and randy, and taken on omegas in heat quite regularly. Usually the omega wasn’t a virgin, though, and usually he hadn’t handled first heats, deeming them too expensive and troublesome.
He’d only done it once before now; as a favor to his father’s steward, he’d taken on his omega son’s first heat. But after Nathan, Heath had been nearly abstinent, only indulging a few times but unable to tolerate the way he’d felt so close to falling for the omegas. Those interludes had taken place at one of his more remote vacation homes. This cabin was reserved for attempts at breeding. It was the place he’d been conceived, and it was the place he wanted his own child to be conceived.
“Do you do that often?” Adrien asked. “Breed omegas?”
“No, only twice before.”
“So you have children?”
“There was a miscarriage, and the other didn’t take from the start.” Heath grimaced. He didn’t like thinking about both failed attempts. One had been
taken on with the poorest of motivations, as revenge against one of Nathan’s betrayals—the bloody, awful miscarriage had seemed proper punishment for his pettiness. Luckily, the omega was still fertile and had delivered a healthy child to another alpha at his next heat. And the other breeding attempt had been instigated in his youth, a folly of infatuation with an omega he’d met just days before a heat. They’d both been lucky a child hadn’t ripened.
Good God, he was a romantic fool. His life was a series of passionate mistakes. This time, for once, he’d keep his heart out of it. Transactional.
He’d trade a soothing knot for the pain of growing a child and a pile of money for a piece of Nathan back in his arms.
Adrien drank more water and then whimpered, leaning back against the pillow and shuddering all over. Heath took the water glass from him and put it aside on the nightstand. It was clear Adrien had more questions, but the next heat wave was coming over him quickly.
“Don’t talk now. Save it for later. Rest and get ready.”
Adrien quivered and stared up at Heath with round, frightened eyes. “I don’t want it. It’s too much.”
Heath wrapped an arm around Adrien’s body, holding him in place, and then pushed down the blankets to expose his flushed body and already dripping cock. The scent of pre-cum floated up to Heath, and he licked his lips in anticipation.
“It only gets more intense from here on out,” Heath whispered. “Stop resisting, little one. Give in to the ride.”
Adrien cried out, his body jerking as he struggled against the rising tide of uncompromising lust. Heath kissed his throat, his cheek, his clavicles, and then sucked a nipple into his mouth.
Adrien squirmed and bucked, the understandable fear of an inexperienced omega trying to hold onto sanity during his first heat clearly gripping him.
Heath rolled on top of Adrien, firmly gripping his wrists and holding them above his head.
“Give in,” Heath barked. “Ride it. If you fight, it will only become monstrous.”
Adrien started to sob, tears running down his face, as he tried to escape the inevitability of what was to come. “Help me,” he whispered between gasping breaths. “Please. Make it stop.”
“It’s not going to stop,” Heath said firmly, using his own hips to push
Adrien’s slick-wet thighs apart. “Accept it. It won’t stop.”
Adrien shoved and kicked, trying to get away, but Heath knew it was really the heat he fought against.
Heath released one arm, enduring pummels as he pried the plug from Adrien’s ass and then positioned himself to shove inside. But before he did, he paused and said, “I’m ready to help you, little one, but you have to tell me you want my help.”
“Yes, please. Help me.”
“That means I fuck you. Understand? I fuck and knot you, and it helps.”
“Please,” Adrien begged, tears running down his face. “Just make it stop.”