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Reese’s heart was pounding. He couldn’t catch his breath. He’d never been so terrified in his life. Those two alphas were about to rape him, he had no doubt about that. They’d already half-ripped his clothes off and pawed him all over when Tiberius had come to his rescue.
He owed Tiberius big time.
And Reese’s suppressants obviously weren’t working. He’d told the Academy nurse as much, and the nurse had told Reese that it didn’t seem possible.
Well, life did the impossible sometimes, and now, his arm wrapped around Tiberius’s hips, he knew it was coming on for real. He couldn’t think straight, his head throbbing, his back aching, his hole clenching and burning.
He stumbled as they went, holding on to Tiberius as much as Tiberius was holding on to him for balance. He’d leave the alpha in his rooms and then flee. Go somewhere, hide, lock the door and jack off until he felt better.
It had worked in the past, and if it hadn’t worked in the past week, well, what choice did he have?
They made it to the alpha building and up to Tiberius’s room. Tiberius unlocked the door and they burst inside, staggering to the sofa and falling on it in a tangle of limbs.
“Reese, you—”
“Ow, just—”
Tiberius twisted them around, and suddenly Reese found himself perched on top, staring down at Tiberius, nose to nose.
Tiberius had very pretty dark eyes.
They were filled with heat.
And right between Reese’s legs was nestled a very large, very hard erection.
Reese moaned, rocking, unable to help himself as the alpha’s cock pressed right where he needed him.
God, Reese was warm, so warm. He was burning up. His blood burned in his veins. The alpha smelled right, delicious, the feel of him, so big and strong underneath Reese felt perfect. When those large hands landed on Reese’s hips, he gasped, rocking harder.
“Tiberius!” he breathed, seeing the alpha’s look of concentration as he slid Reese back and forth over his fabric-clothed cock. “Need...”
“You feel fucking good... Reese...”
He needed more. Skin to skin. Needed Tiberius inside him. He fumbled with Tiberius’s belt buckle, his zipper. Needed to taste his alpha’s cock.
Tiberius groaned when the head of his cock pushed out of his pants, then cried out hoarsely when Reese swallowed it, licking at the underside, the head. He tasted bitter and salty, so sexy. Reese couldn’t get enough. He took him in deeper, choking a little, but not caring one bit. Finally, he was touching and tasting, and he whimpered as the ache between his own legs intensified.
“Reese...” Tiberius was saying something, but nothing registered until rough hands cupped Reese’s face and made him pull back, releasing the heavy cock from his mouth. “Reese, are you sure you want this?”
“Please.” Reese swallowed hard, his eyes hot. So much need. He couldn’t contain it, couldn’t help himself anymore. He was quickly losing all control. “Please, alpha. Tiberius...”
“Call me Ty.”
“Ty. Please.”
“Oh fuck...” Tiberius was moving, pushing down his pants, then laying Reese on the sofa. “Need you now. Can’t fucking stop. Reese...”
His pants were yanked down, his legs spread, and they were kissing as Tiberius pushed two fingers inside Reese, stroking him. He needn’t worry, needn’t prepare him. Reese was dripping wet, wetter than ever. He moaned in Tiberius’s mouth as those long, callused fingers fucked him, only making the ache worse.
Just when he thought he’d go insane, the fingers withdrew, replaced by something hot and much, much bigger.
“Yesssss...” Frantic, Reese rocked his hips, trying to impale himself on it, but Tiberius held him still with apparent ease. Damn alphas and their superior strength. He had to...feel him... “Ooh god,” Reese hissed as Tiberius pushed into him, at long last.
Yeah, that cock was huge, so much bigger than Reese imagined it would feel. And it felt so good Reese started to come, moaning Tiberius’s name.
“Christ,” the alpha wheezed. “What are you—”
“Ooh,” Reese moaned as Tiberius slipped deeper. “Can’t...”
“You feel... Fuck, so tight. So hot...”
Another spasm of pleasure, and Tiberius shoved deeper, both of them gasping as that enormous cock went in all the way.
Nose to nose again, or not exactly since Tiberius was taller, but... oh god. Tiberius was moving, in and out, rocking into Reese, fucking him in slow, shallow thrusts, small grunts escaping him. He seemed to have lost control just as badly as Reese had.
And Reese didn’t fucking care. Couldn’t think. Couldn’t feel anything but need. The need to be knotted. The need to come. The ancient need to be bred by an alpha.
Tiberius’s thrusts turned deeper, harder. He was pounding into Reese, panting, groaning, arms braced against the back of the sofa, his breath washing over Reese’s brow, the slapping of flesh on flesh the loudest sound. And Reese felt it—the knot swelling in Tiberius’s cock, bigger and bigger, making Reese gasp and cry out.
“Oh fuck, oh fuck!” Tiberius was shuddering, still fucking Reese, and Reese was coming, unable to stop the freight-train of pleasure crashing into him.
“Tiberius!”
Locked together, they rocked, and then Tiberius was coming, too, cursing, the heat of his cum so deep inside making Reese shout, shaking on the sofa, the pleasure buffeting him, tearing him apart.
Oh shit... Dark edged Reese’s vision, and then it all bled to black.
***
He dreamed of a warm den, with rushes under his feet and a fire merrily burning in the hearth. Someone was waiting for him there, seated in a huge armchair. The air was scented with spices and sugar, and he knew he belonged there. That was home.
Then he woke up on a stranger’s bed, where he certainly didn’t belong.
Tiberius’s bed. Oh, hell.
“Call me Ty...”
Had the alpha really said that? And, wait a sec... had they really done it? Had they fucked? Reese remembered sex. Wild, hot, screaming sex.
Oh, shit!
Scrambling out of bed, he stood in the middle of the room, only then realizing he was buck-naked. Had Tiberius undressed him after they were done? Why? And why couldn’t Reese remember anything after the sex?
He’d... Oh, God, he’d begged Tiberius to fuck him. How mortifying.
And where was Tiberius now?
Reese shivered, rubbed at his bare arms. He spotted his clothes on a chair and hurried to pull them on. He was sticky between his legs but wasn’t going to use the bathroom. He should get out of there. What had he been thinking?
Right, he hadn’t been thinking. He’d been in heat, and desperate, and now...
He winced at the ache inside. He’d had sex for the first time in his life and he could barely remember it. Despite his resolve, he’d gone and been fucked by an alpha who didn’t really want him.
Great job, Reese... Great fucking job. He’d had sex with the alpha who had fired him, who’d sent him away so he wouldn’t touch him, and now...
Fuck. Pulling on his shirt, Reese hunted for his socks and sneakers, relieved when he located them by the bed. As he sat to put them on, he considered the situation.
Tiberius had taken care to undress him and put his clothes where Reese could easily find them.
Tiberius wasn’t there.
That meant that... Tiberius expected him to dress and leave.
Right.
Made perfect sense.
Didn’t explain the strange lump forming in Reese’s throat at the realization. This wasn’t good at all, this... attachment he felt to the alpha. He had to get over it, and quick. There was nothing between them. Tiberius had done him a favor, fucking him when Reese needed it. He was probably angry, even, at having been drawn into Reese’s heat as he’d been.
Reese would be the one blamed, even though he’d used his suppressants. Omegas were often accused of leading alphas astray as if the heats were something one got on purpose. It was so strange. Omegas were celebrated in the context of the family, as the ones that had kids and brought forth life—but outside of marriage, they were dangerous.
Able to cost an alpha a prestigious marriage to a high-born omega, if they got pregnant, and...
No, Reese wasn’t going to think about that now. No reason. Nothing had happened. Pregnancies rarely resulted from having sex just one time, so... Yeah.
He was getting out there and putting the whole thing behind him. He’d stock up on suppressants, study hard, find another job, make enough to live on.
And avoid a certain sexy, hunky alpha who’d touched him in ways nobody else ever had.
Wait... was there a pun in there?
Growling to himself, Reese cast one last glance to the elegant, masculine bedroom with its king-size bed and the scent of Tiberius all over—or was that on Reese’s skin?—and got the hell out.
***
It was weird.
He felt weird.
Weirdly good. It took him a full day to realize, but his heat seemed to be over. At last. He hated the dizziness and the aches that came with it. Maybe his suppressants were finally working. It was about time. It had been days since that night with Tiberius, and Reese had things to do and places to be.
Like the classroom.
And he really had to think about how to go about getting credits. The creds Tiberius had all but thrown at him the other day burned a hole through his pocket. At least he had enough for this month. Small mercies and all that.
You got this, he told himself. Chin up, Reese. You’ve been through rougher times. This is nothing. You can do it.
But concentration was eluding him. He found himself nodding off in classes that had fascinated him. He was so tired he felt that he could sleep all day. Coffee was his best friend. He wished he could inject it directly into his bloodstream. Keeping his eyes open was a feat these days.
First that strange heat, now this strange tiredness. This just wasn’t his month. Maybe he’d caught a bug. With the stress of starting here, working for the handsome alpha, then the rejection and the embarrassment over throwing himself at Tiberius, it was only to be expected that he’d come down with something, sooner or later.
He’d finished classes for the day and was thinking to go ask at the cafeteria if they needed any help there, trying not to think about Tiberius, not to wonder why he couldn’t stop thinking about him, when he couldn’t have him.
Have him. Ha. Reese had nothing. Having an alpha implied that he’d have him at his feet, wanting him as much as Reese wanted him, and that would probably never happen.
He’d always known this but for the first time, it seemed like such a big thing. A big awful thing. Like a black hole, trying to suck him in. He wanted Tiberius’s arms around him. Wanted his mouth on him. His cock in him. His scent all around him. He wanted to wake up in Tiberius’s bed, he wanted...
Too much. He wanted too much, craved what he’d never have. Especially this particular alpha who hadn’t even come to talk to him after the night they’d spent together. Talk about rejection.
Where was Tiberius anyway? Had he skipped all classes this week? Should Reese worry?
No. The answer was a categorical no. Reese should stop worrying about the alpha’s selfish ass—and why was he so upset anyway? He didn’t have the time to be concerned with someone who had everything. His friends could keep an eye on him. It was Reese who knew nobody in the Academy—because he’d spent all his free time running errands for Tiberius.
Enough already.
Slinging his backpack on, he hurried out of the school and toward the cafeteria. Safer with betas who might pay less. Safer for his heart.
And where had that come from?
He’d almost made it to the low, squat building, when a group of students stepped in his way.
Alphas.
There was no mistaking them. The peacocks of the Academy. Bad boys with tall hairdos and ink, huge muscular bodies, jaws so square you could cut glass on. They were giving off testosterone like nobody’s business, and Reese almost gagged.
What the hell. Their scent was so strong it made him want to puke. He began backpedaling, but one of them blocked his way.
“Here, here, pretty omega...” He grinned, showing off his long canines. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“I’m... in a hurry,” Reese gritted out.
“That so?” The alpha on his other side, the one who seemed to be leading the small group, examined him from head to toe, pale eyes half-closed. “I’ve been watching you.”
“You have?”
“You smell really good. Lately, you’ve been giving off this sweet smell... You know, an omega in heat shouldn’t walk around on his own. Isn’t that so, Val?”
The alpha called Val bared his teeth in a mockery of a grin. “Me and Luke have been wondering about that.”
“I’m not... not in heat.” Reese was telling the truth, too. He wasn’t in heat, not anymore. “Leave me alone.”
“What’s the hurry?” The alpha circled him, a predator toying with his prey. “Tell me. I heard Tiberius ditched you. How come I still smell him on you?”
“What?” Reese sniffed at his hand. “You can?”
“Mm... But it doesn’t matter. He ditched you. So come be my Boi. I want you. Me, Alexander of the Crown Clan. It’s an honor for you.”
Reese flinched. The thought of being close to this alpha turned his stomach. “Uh... no. Thank you, though. Very kind.”
“You won’t get a better offer. I’ll pay you well. Extra, if you submit to me. Let me do with you what I want.”
He backed away. “No. Not interested. Sorry.”
“I’ll take good care of you.”
“I said, no.”
What was he doing? Why had he refused? That was money, good money, and Tiberius didn’t want him working for him anymore, so...
It hurt, thinking about that.
It was that glint in the alpha’s eye, he thought. That hunger. And of course, the clear hint that he wanted to fuck Reese.
Like Tiberius had. God, that name stabbed like a knife in his chest.
What did the alpha want? Reese wasn’t in heat anymore. It couldn’t be pheromones. So what was going on?
“Listen, omega...”
Not waiting to hear, Reese turned and fled, breaking through the circle, incredulous at his luck—probably because they hadn’t expected him to run like that.
He raced as if devils nipped at his heels all the way to the omega building, and then he bent over and threw up his lunch.
Okay. It looked like things had just gotten considerably worse.