his hips and gasping as the knot massaged his prostate.

Heath’s hand wrapped around Adrien’s dick, and he moaned, whimpering as Heath began to jerk him off at a steady, regular rate. The first orgasm was a kitten, purring and sharp-nailed, but the next one was a full-on tiger, and he roared when he convulsed on Heath’s knot, digging his fingers into Heath’s shoulders.

“That’s it,” Heath said with a bright avidness. “Do that again.”

Adrien closed his eyes, riding Heath’s knot as best as he could and shooting tiny cum loads onto Heath’s belly every few minutes. The heat stayed relatively reasonable and he was able to manipulate his pleasure to keep sane. He eventually collapsed on Heath, his body worn out as the minor heat wave faded.

“That was a ripple,” Heath said. “They don’t happen often. Your body hasn’t figured out how heats work yet. It’s natural. You probably need more food.” His knot was softening, and Adrien hoped it would release soon. His stomach did ache with hunger, but he was more tired than anything else.

When Heath finally pulled out, his cock left what felt like a huge vacancy behind. Adrien moaned and Heath soothed him again as he slipped the plug back in and kissed Adrien’s temple. “Rest. I’ll be back in a few minutes with more stew.”

Adrien slipped into a dream almost immediately. He was back at school with a big belly trying to sort through a huge stack of notes he’d made on Hontu fabric dyes, but the words all seemed to be written in gibberish. He couldn’t understand a word of it. Worse, the baby inside was going to come out very soon, and Lance was there asking, “How can you have him without the alpha that made him? How can you have him alone?”

“Shh, wake up.” Heath’s voice cut through and woke him. Adrien opened his eyes to find Heath leaning over the bed with another steaming bowl of stew. “You were having a bad dream.”

Adrien rubbed at his face, his stomach growling. “How did you know?”

“You were making frightened noises.” He sat down on the edge of the bed. “Sit up and eat. The next round will be here soon enough. You’ll need your strength.” Heath pushed the bowl into Adrien’s hands.

“Do you have peanut butter?” Adrien asked, feeding himself a steaming spoonful. He wasn’t so shaky this time. “And jelly? A sandwich would go great with this. Reminds me of when I was a kid and I was sick. Father

always made a hearty stew and PB&J then.”

Adrien spooned more of the savory warmth into his mouth, and chewed the chunks blissfully. He glanced around the room. Having grown accustomed to the dim lighting, he could now see the pictures on the walls—

all woodland scenes—and a photograph on a table. He squinted toward it, trying to make it out. Two men together, but that was all he could distinguish.

He ate in the quiet of the room while Heath watched without answering his questions about a sandwich.

“There,” Heath said, putting the empty bowl aside on the nightstand.

“We’re ready for the next round. I’ll make you a sandwich next time.”

“Are you eating?” Adrien asked, suddenly concerned. “You need your strength, too.”

Heath smiled gently. “I took a bowl while you napped. You looked too peaceful to wake at first. But then…” He shook his head. “Try to sleep some more. We don’t know how long the reprieve will be for you.”

Adrien tried to close his eyes, but he couldn’t fall into dreams. Questions crowded his mind. So, with his eyes still shut, he asked a few. “Is this hard for you? Servicing my heat?”

Heath hesitated, and when he spoke, there was a strange timbre to his voice, something Adrien couldn’t quite read, and yet he seemed to speak the truth. “The pleasure I take in you is beyond description. It’s an honor to be here with you for it. Hopefully our joining will produce a child to enrich my life going onward, too.”

“Honor…” Adrien hummed thoughtfully. He closed his eyes and drifted in exhausted calm, enjoying the softness of Heath’s mattress. It felt much more luxurious than his hard, dorm-room pallet bed. So good on his tired back.

“Yes, an honor. And perhaps it is even a blessing to share this with you.”

Again with the odd tone.

Adrien opened his eyes to examine Heath. He could see him fairly clearly this close up even without his glasses. His dark beard shone glossily in the dim light, and his gray eyes were troubled. He seemed to be confused by something, but Adrien couldn’t begin to guess what. His mind came back to the question of blessings, and he recalled his father calling up blessings every morning and night. Heath hadn’t prayed in front of Adrien that he could recall. He asked, “Are you very religious, then?”

“Not in the least. But the word still works for nonbelievers, too. I still welcome an undeserved gift from the universe, a surprise joy to be grateful for. Gratitude isn’t only for the religious among us.”

“So…” Adrien cocked his head, considering. “Is every omega’s heat a blessing?”

“I’d like to think so,” Heath said. But the he grimaced. “Who can say?

Let’s leave it that I’m more grateful for this heat with you than I had anticipated.”

This made no sense to Adrien. Heath had paid so much for him, more than was reasonable by any measure. What made this different for Heath? He seemed experienced; why was this heat not what he’d expected? “Because you want to breed me?”

Heath stiffened. “Because of personal reasons that I don’t intend to share.”

“You keep saying that. Why?” Adrien asked, raising up on his elbows, gazing steadily at Heath despite his exhaustion making that feel like a great effort.

Heath’s mouth twitched, a repressed laugh. “Perhaps I like the idea of keeping some mystery.”

“That’s not it.”

“No, it’s not,” Heath conceded, his voice so soft and somehow forgiving that it felt like a caress on Adrien’s skin. “Now rest. No more questions, little one.” He smoothed his fingers over Adrien’s forehead, and tingles broke out over Adrien’s body.

Deciding to obey rather than push, Adrien drowsed, his mind supplying him with lust-soaked pseudo-dreams that kept him from falling asleep entirely. Bright memories of what he’d done with Heath kept bursting into his consciousness, along with sleepy images of things they hadn’t done yet but about which Adrien had always fantasized.

Turning onto his side, the plug feeling almost natural inside of him now, he sighed heavily.

“If you can’t sleep, just relax. Your body needs the rest.”

Adrien opened his mouth and then closed it again.

“Yes?” Heath asked. Adrien wondered if the man would sleep at all during the heat or simply stare at him with those vigilant eyes for the whole duration.

“Will you…” Adrien blushed, not sure where the request was even coming from, only that his half-conscious mind had supplied him with the image and now he wanted to know more about it.

“Speak.”

“Will you lick…” Adrien covered his face with a hand. “I can’t say it.”

“If you can’t say it, then I can’t do it,” Heath said brusquely. “Rest, I said.”

“Will you lick my asshole? I’ve never had it done, and I’d like to experience it.”

Heath smiled, a white slash of teeth in his darkly stubbled face. Adrien shivered under the sharpness of it and simultaneously wanted to see it again as soon as possible. He felt praised by it. As though he’d earned a piece of Heath not usually shared.

“You want my tongue in your ass?”

Adrien squirmed, a low fire banking in his groin. His cock fattened up, and his hole squeezed around the plug. “I’ve never… I’ve heard that it feels…” The embarrassment crept higher and higher, burning his ears and cheeks.

“Another honor,” Heath declared, looming up over him.

“Should I…turn over?”

“Yes.”

Adrien scrambled to get on his belly. Humiliated and excited, he buried his face in the pillow.