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If asked, Zach would have freely admitted that he’d run up to his room the moment they’d arrived and thrown half his clothes out of his closet, trying to put together a sexy outfit in the few minutes he knew he had before Valerian arrived. Not that he had that many outfits—he’d only just graduated and hadn’t had any patrons to give him Courting Gifts—but he threw on the bed a couple lacy numbers he’d got and stared at them.
It didn’t help that his stomach was bloated and he had a strange outbreak on his face. Pimples? Since when did he get pimples? God. Fortunately, it was only two and not that big, so he only had to cover them up a bit and he was a go.
A go? Was he kidding himself? He had dark bags under his eyes and his lips were chapped, and his nipples hurt. And, oh my God, he was starving. He wanted something spicy and sweet, his new favorite combination, like... like gummi bears dipped in green chili salsa or something.
He gave a little hysterical bark of laughter. When you were thinking of food before a date, and even your nipples hurt, you knew you were a mess. He supposed they’d chafed on the flannel he’d worn to sleep? Like, chafed for the first time ever, since they’d never bothered him before? What were the odds, that he’d get achy nipples the night that Valerian had decided to return to his life?
To his bed, rather.
He froze, a lacy thong dangling from his fingers. Holy shit. What was he doing? Getting ready, agonizing over what underwear to put on to welcome the alpha who fucked him and left without another word, who frigging knotted him and made him come, like, four times in one night, maybe more, but who was counting...
His hole clenched, slick and hot. It had been that way from the moment he’d glimpsed Valerian in the crowd at the teahouse, and it hadn’t gotten any better. His body remembered exactly how good it had felt to have Valerian’s cock inside him, how mind-blowing those orgasms had been.
How much he wanted the rough alpha.
Sitting heavily down on the bed, he buried his face in his hands. He couldn’t do this. How was he going to do this? He’d run back to the academy like a kid impatient to unwrap his Christmas presents, eager to clean up and make himself pretty for Valerian.
How stupid was he, anyway? Lowering his hands, he took a deep breath. He had to think this through. Nobody was forcing him to let Valerian back into his bed this time. And no matter how much he wanted the alpha... he couldn’t let him come fuck him whenever he felt like it and then disappear. Zach had to find an alpha who’d Claim him, or he’d never get out of the academy.
He was going to talk to Valerian. Ask him what his intentions were before he even let him inside his room. That was it. The right way of going about things. The rational, survival-ensuring way.
It was about time Zach tried it instead of rushing headlong into situations. Not that the auction had been up to him, but still. He could have tried talking to Valerian sooner, back when he was sending him Courting gifts.
He took out the necklace Valerian had given him at the graduation show from its small black box and held it up in the light. It twinkled, the silver chain like a ray of light, the black onyx stone of the small crescent moon giving a lambent glow, smooth like butter to the touch, and warm.
He let it fall back inside its box and stood up, undressing quickly and putting on the black thong. Sexy but not as racy as the rest of the stuff he had. Just the thong, nothing else. He wasn’t trying to seduce Valerian.
But maybe he should?
God, why was this so complicated? His body wanted Valerian like nobody else, and in his heart, he’d longed to hear from the alpha that he wanted Zach for more than just sex. Here was his chance to seduce him—re-seduce him?—and...
And what? You wanted a rational talk, didn’t you? Where does seduction come into this? Sex obviously isn’t the issue here.
Hell.
Angrily, he pulled the robe over the thong. Maybe he should just wear his old, ratty pajamas and welcome Val while scratching his butt.
But Val still wasn’t there. Would he come at all? Had that been another play? Another opportunity to break Zach’s heart?
His gaze kept returning to the small black box.
Ah, what the hell, right? Taking out the pendant, he hung it around his neck. He’d worn it often at first, back when he’d thought Valerian really wanted him, then he’d put it away and hidden it, unable to stand the sight of it, and now...
Now hope was back and it was such sweet torture.
When the knock came on the door, his heart all but stopped. Clutching at the pendant, he hurried to open, all but tripping up over his own bare feet.
Crap... Those nerves weren’t good. His stomach churned. Rational talk, remember? Think of the future. Secure a promise from him. Will he Claim you? Is that his intention? You can’t afford to sleep with him again without a promise, Zach, and you know it.
But the moment he opened the door, he was doomed. Valerian stood there, tall and powerful, lips pulled back in a dangerous smirk, eyes dark as he took Zach in, a growl rising from his throat.
He advanced on Zach, a feral alpha wolf stalking his prey, and Zach stood no chance in hell of talking or even thinking rationally about this.
Like every time, where Valerian de Chateau was concerned, Zach belonged to him body and soul, logic be damned.
***
They fell into bed, Val somehow lifting him off his feet and throwing him on top of the covers, then climbing over him to cover him with his long, muscular body. Val was raining kisses on him, putting his mouth everywhere on Zach’s face and neck, hot like fire.
He put his hands on that broad chest, feeling muscles ripple under the fine cotton, and closed his eyes under the onslaught of Val’s lips and teeth, his hole growing wetter by the minute, his slick soaking through the thong and coating his thighs.
Then Val bit his earlobe, sharp teeth lightly breaking the skin, and Zach arched up with a moan, his cock hard and twitching. He slid his hands up to Val’s neck, tilting his head back to give the alpha better access. “Oh, God...”
Another growl vibrated against his skin, under his ear, setting off a cascade of shivers skittering over his body.
Good God, could one come just from this? The pressure down below was rising fast, his legs trembling, his cock hard and his balls painful. He was clenching deep inside, needing something to fill him up.
Needing Val’s cock.
A whine escaped him when Val buried his face in the crook of Zach’s neck and run his tongue over his scent gland, sharp canines scraping lightly over the thin skin there—the spot where an alpha bit down and marked an omega as his own, forging a bond that was hard to break, in essence Claiming an omega for life.
Zach trembled. He wanted Val to bite down, wanted to be his with a mind-bending need. He never thought he’d want to be bound to any man like that, any alpha, yet with Valerian, he lost his mind and couldn’t think of anything he wanted more.
But Val kissed the spot and pulled back, dark lashes sweeping over golden eyes with cores as dark and velvety as the moon pendant hanging from Zach’s neck.
“Beautiful,” he whispered, voice low and throaty. “So fucking beautiful, Zach. Want you so damn bad.”
Now was the time for that talk. What Zach should do was to push Val away, sit up primly, close his robe over his chest, tuck his hair behind his ears and explain that he couldn’t do one-night stands, that he was looking for an alpha who’d take care of him. Who’d want a family and a home and a future with him.
Instead, he moaned and crushed his mouth to Val’s, desperate for more contact, more touch, more pleasure. He couldn’t express what he felt, only that needed Val on him, inside him, everywhere, inside and out.
Kissing him back hungrily, Valerian shoved the robe off Zach’s shoulders, then all but ripped his own shirt off to press their bared chests together.
Finally, they were skin on skin. Zach moaned his appreciation in Val’s mouth, even though his nipples ached where they rubbed on the alpha’s sculpted chest. They rutted together, their groins still clothed, cocks hard beneath the fabric that separated them, thrusting against each other, and it was so good Zach thought he was going to come just from that.
And the kiss. The kiss was hot. His alpha tasted dark and peppery and Zach wanted to keep kissing him forever. Ice cream with pepper! That was how he tasted.
Damn, he was hungry...
Crap, thinking of food while making out...
It was just...
“Zach.” Val broke the kiss, panting softly against Zach’s mouth. “You okay? You kinda froze suddenly.”
“Uh, yeah.”
Mortifying.
But before he could voice his irritation at himself, and his shameful reasons for it, Valerian nuzzled his way down Zach’s neck, down to his chest.
That hot, rough mouth closed around a hypersensitive nipple and Zach cried out, caught on the edge between pain and unbearable pleasure, all other thought flying clear out of his head.
“Please,” he mumbled, caught on that edge. “Please, Val. Need you.”
That wicked mouth wandered to the other nipple and bit lightly, a hot, rough tongue swirling around the aching nub, and Zach’s cock jerked, spilling a little inside his thong.
“Ungh...” He wasn’t done. He hadn’t really come, but he was really, really frigging close, and when Val released the nipple from his teeth, Zach didn’t know if to beg again or take matters in his own hands.
As if reading his thoughts, Val grabbed both Zach’s wrists and pinned them above his head. He held them there one-handed, fumbling at his zipper with the other.
Zach wiggled, moaning.
Cursing, he released Zach’s wrists and nailed him with a dark look. “Keep your hands there,” he snarled, and Zach swallowed hard, turned on beyond words.
“Yes, alpha.” Zach squirmed on the bed, hard and throbbing and wet, still wearing his thong, tended by his cock, his robe pooling around him. He couldn’t stay still, couldn’t stay like that, he—
Oh. My. God. Zach stared, his mouth going dry, his hole tightening on empty.
Val was stripping, a teasing smirk on that full mouth. Stripping for him, pulling the shirt off his shoulders and off, slowly, sensually, then went back to the zipper and drew it down, link after link. “Am I doing it right?” he said, that ever-present low growl in his voice so sexy. “The striptease.”
“You’re certainly a tease,” Zach rasped. “Oh my...”
The zipper was all the way down, the slacks falling open, and there it was, that monster cock, fully hard, straining inside a pair of royal blue silken boxer briefs.
Begging to be freed.
“Let me,” he whispered, reaching for it, feeling its shape through the cloth, dragging down the elastic as Val hissed. “Oh, wow. Feels bigger every time.”
“Zach...” Val’s voice was strangled.
Pushing the boxer briefs down Val’s narrow hips, he let the alpha’s hard-on swing free. It almost hit him in the face, and then swung up to slap Val’s hard stomach.
Val fell back, panting raggedly, as Zach curled his hands around the alpha’s cock, around that fat girth, giving it a tentative squeeze. Definitely harder and bigger than the silicone dildos of the academy.
“Whatcha gonna do?” Val wheezed.
Zach bent over and took a tentative lick of the flushed cock head. Yeah, and saltier than described in class.
“Fuck!” Val’s hips snapped up, his cock brushing Zach’s lips. “Suck me.”
Zach didn’t need to be told twice. With a small moan, he took as much of his alpha’s cock as he could into his mouth, choking a little, giving it a good suck.
Next thing he knew, he was on his back again, seeing little stars, a tousled, wild-eyed alpha poised over him. Deft fingers pulled the thong to the side, freeing Zach’s cock and balls, his opening.
Then that huge cock breached him, a slow, overwhelming push into his needy hole, sheathing itself inside Zach.
And just like that, Zach cried out, coming in hot spurts, his hole clenching around that huge shaft, his cock jerking wildly.
“Mine,” Val snarled, rocking, shoving sparkling pleasure through Zach with every thrust. “Mine.”
The roughness of it, the sound that word—“mine”—from his alpha’s lips was getting Zach hard again, really fast, and he writhed, trying to rock up into the thrusts, moaning brokenly.
Val’s thrusts stuttered. The alpha grunted, sat back a little, grabbed Zach’s legs, and throw them over his broad shoulders, opening Zach wide.
Then he bent over him again and pushed deep, hitting a spot inside Zach that had him crying out and coming so hard he saw stars, spasming around Val’s cock.
Oh, God...
Val only growled and kept thrusting, fucking Zach through his orgasm. It prolonged it, drawing it out until Zach moaned, pleading for him to stop, but Val only growled and bowed his head, thrusting once more, and again.
And then his alpha was coming, spilling hot seed deep inside Zach, triggering another smaller orgasm that wrung him dry, his whimpers mingling with Val’s growling.
Holy shit.
Val slowly lowered himself over Zach, pressing their foreheads together, eyes closing. Then he rolled to his side, pulling Zach with him, so they remained connected, one of Zach’s legs thrown over Val’s thigh.
They breathed together, their harsh breathing filling the room, the sweat cooling on their skin.
It had been... amazing. Fantastic. Better than the first time, maybe, hard to tell. Different. That first time had been scary and stressful and excruciatingly good. This one had been... deeper. Sweeter. Zach had felt the pleasure in every part of himself.
“Now what?” Zach whispered after a while, when he wasn’t wheezing anymore.
“I want to see you again,” Val whispered back.
The answer to the question he hadn’t gotten to asking, the question that had been at the back of his mind from the moment he saw Val at the show.
“Good.” Exhaustion weighed Zach’s eyelids like lead. “Me too.”
And smiled.