Yes, he was aware of all of this intellectually, but he was still surprised to find himself following instinct in such a blind way.

Adrien blinked toward the dim shadows and then obeyed Heath, sliding between the covers with a whimpering sigh. The scent of their sweat and cum transferred from Adrien’s body to the bed, and it rose from the sheets as Heath fluffed them. His cock twitched, interest reignited, and he hoped Adrien’s next wave of lust hit soon.

In the meantime, though, food and water were a must.

Leaving Adrien stunned and exhausted in bed, he went to the small kitchen, donned an apron, and checked the soup on the stove. It was a hearty meat stew with chunky vegetables that his grandfather had always prepared for his omegas during breeding, and Heath had twelve uncles, so it must provide sufficient nourishment. His own father had stuck to only one omega, married him, endured years of unhappy marriage, and had only two sons, but that had been their choice.

After filling a bowl, he brought it in to Adrien, along with a giant tumbler of water. Climbing carefully onto the bed next to his wide-eyed young purchase, he ordered him to sit up and eat.

Adrien’s hands shook enough that the stew slopped a bit, and so, frowning, Heath took over. He fed him spoonful after spoonful, staring at his

lips glistening with the greasy stew and listening for his soft sounds of satisfaction.

“This is good, Heath,” Adrien murmured.

Heath said nothing in reply. He grew harder, his apron tenting, as he watched Adrien’s throat bob with each swallow, and he imagined the heat of the boy’s plump lips against his skin and the spasm of his throat around his cock.

When he was through and the bowl put away, Adrien sipped water greedily, a sheen of nervous, yearning energy glimmering over him. Heath sat beside him, staring at him, marking all the ways he was like Nathan and all the ways he was different. Same mouth, same forehead and chin, but the color of his hair was more golden than wheat, and the color of his eyes were brown rather than the pure, crystal blue of Nathan’s.

The similarities were comforting, like coming home to a warm blanket and comfortable bed after traveling far into the harsh world. But the differences were arousing. A newness that tingled in his balls and made him want to fuck Adrien again and knot him for hours. He hadn’t expected that.

“Am I allowed to talk?” Adrien whispered, glancing anxiously toward Heath. “Or is this just a thing where we fuck and you knock me up, and once I give birth we go about our lives like we never met?”

“You can talk,” Heath said, curious what this son of Nathan’s would say next. Already, his first few sentences were surprisingly Nathan-like: bright, curious, and a little challenging. He’d been so passive until now that Heath had started to wonder if any of Nathan’s damnable fire had passed down to him.

“I know nothing about you…” Adrien trailed off, the directness Heath had just admired disappearing behind a blush and embarrassed eyes that couldn’t meet Heath’s own. “I don’t know anything at all.”

“And yet you just experienced the most raw and vulnerable hours of your life with me,” Heath offered. He reached between Adrien’s legs and touched the plug there.

Adrien shuddered.

“And my cum is in your womb as we speak.”

“Yes.”

“And you will likely carry my child.”

“All of that, yes.” Adrien’s throat clicked as he swallowed anxiously. “I’d

feel better about all of this if I knew more about who you are. I didn’t plan…” He wiped a trembling hand over his mouth and started again. “I didn’t plan to auction my heat to the highest bidder. All my life I’d imagined that when the time came, I’d be in a relationship with a man who could take care of it for me, out of love and caring.”

Heath said nothing. He didn’t know why Adrien didn’t have a man like that if that was what he truly wanted. Alphas were eager to commit to an omega because it took the pressure off them for child care. It was in their nature, their instincts, to fall for the men who submitted to them so joyfully.

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.