Page 46 of The Runaway

Connor moaned as he slid inside, and Gabriel was unable to hold back his own moan. Connor’s passage was tight and hot around him, his inner muscles dragging against Gabriel’s oversensitive nerves. He thrust forward firmly, still hesitant about this new development, but Connor wrapped his legs more firmly around Gabriel’s hips and dragged him forward.

“God, yes…” Connor moaned. “Just like that.”

Connor’s head was thrown back, his neck long and bare, and Gabriel couldn’t resist. He pressed open-mouthed kisses to that slender column of flesh, tasting the salt of Connor’s skin and the sharp, musky scent of his heat. Gabriel’s hips took on a life of their own, thrusting in, pulling out, rocking in slight circles to ensure Connor enjoyed this as much as possible. His climax was building quickly, and he didn’t try to hold back. There was something he should be worried about, he thought dimly, as he buried himself inside his willing omega again and again. There was some detail that should be making him pause, some dark fear that lingered in the back of his mind.

But then his climax hit, roaring out of him in thick waves, his knot swelling to lock him to his omega once again. And his omega gave a cry, fingers digging into Gabriel’s shoulders as hot fluid spilled between them. Gabriel collapsed on top of his omega, a vague worry in his mind that perhaps he was too heavy. Then he felt soothing fingers stroking his hair and he smiled into Connor’s shoulder, letting the worries float away like leaves on the wind.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Connor’s brain felt foggy as he attempted to surface from a vague but pleasant dream. The details eluded him, but the dream had felt comforting, like a warm, fuzzy blanket. He sighed and snuggled his face into the pillow, hoping to stave off waking for a few moments longer.

His body felt cool, just shy of being uncomfortably cold, but there was something large and hot pressed against his back which was doing a passable job of keeping him warm. The room was dim, lit by a single lantern, and the curtains had been pulled closed over the window. Nighttime. But closer to morning, or to bedtime? He couldn’t quite remember going to bed.

He assumed in the end that it must still be late evening. He felt tired, his body aching, his muscles stiff, but it was a new kind of stiffness from what he’d felt before; not the stiffness of bruises and sprains, but more like… Well, he didn’t really know what it was like. It was new, but not unpleasant.

He lay still as wakefulness returned, his mind wandering in circles as he tried to remember where he was. The bed beneath him was soft and comfortable. The room was cool, though not alarmingly so, given that it was still the middle of winter.

Was it still winter? He couldn’t quite remember.

Why was he in bed? Had he been ill? He moved his body experimentally, but felt no significant twinges of pain. There was a slight soreness in his back end, but nothing like as bad as it had been the last time he’d…

Oh! Oh, fucking hell. His entire body tensed, fear tumbling through his mind as he remembered going into heat, being taken to Gabriel’s room, then staring into the golden eyes of an aroused and eager alpha.

“Easy,” Gabriel said from behind him, his arm tightening a fraction around Connor’s waist. “It’s just me. You’re okay.”

Connor forced himself to relax, realising that the potent warmth behind him was Gabriel’s body, and that his heavy thigh was pressing down over Connor’s leg. “Sorry,” he apologised automatically.

Gabriel chuckled. “Well, I guess that answers my next question. Your heat’s ended?”

Connor turned around, wriggling his body until he could look into Gabriel’s eyes. “Why does me apologising mean my heat’s over?”

“You haven’t apologised once in the last eight hours. At times, you were quite actually demanding.”

“Sorry,” Connor apologised again.

“I’m not complaining,” Gabriel said, nuzzling his neck. “I liked it.”

Connor opened his mouth to tell Gabriel that he was strange, then thought better of it. But yes, now that he thought about it, his heat was well and truly over. He no longer felt even a hint of lust, his body quite thoroughly sated.

But what on earth had happened during the twelve hours he’d been a victim of his body’s hormonal needs and irrational desires? He lay still, trying to sort through his memories. And the answer was deeply unsettling. Comfort. Warmth. Desire. A pleasure so intense it made his head spin. An alpha catering to his every request, no matter how mildly phrased. The world seemed suddenly upside down. It was all so wrong.

He felt his pulse quicken and tried to calm himself. Panicking around an alpha in rut was always a bad idea.

But if his heat was over, then Gabriel’s rut would be as well. So why was he still being so affectionate? Why was he still wrapped around Connor like Connor wasn’t a lowly rat that would sully his bed with his filth? How was he supposed to make sense of any of this?

But more importantly, how was he supposed to get up out of the bed and walk away, knowing that he’d just been given a taste of paradise, and that it was a flavour that would be forever denied him in the future? It would have been better to have never known what it was to feel so whole, so desired, so cared for.

Perhaps Gabriel was too polite to bluntly tell him to leave – the man’s manners were impeccable, after all – but that didn’t mean Connor was welcome to lie around here all night. Feeling raw and unsteady, he pushed himself up onto one elbow, looking around for his clothes. He would need to go and bathe, and he grimaced at the idea. The bathhouse would be cold and lonely this time of night, and all of the warm water had likely already been used. But even getting that far would be a miracle, given his intense desire to just curl up against Gabriel’s side and stay here forever.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Gabriel’s hand was light against his arm, designed to merely get his attention, not to hold him down.

Connor glanced down at him, feeling a stab of longing as he looked into Gabriel’s deep brown eyes. “I should go,” he said, his voice wavering.

“Stay,” Gabriel said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He gave a lazy glance at the clock. “It’s well past dinnertime. There’s no point getting up now.”

“But my heat is over.”

Gabriel raised one dubious eyebrow at him. “That doesn’t mean I’m going to kick you out of my bed the instant we’re done.”