Chapter 6

6

C av leaned back in the chair, opposite the one Wynter had just abandoned. Under the table, his cock was as hard as stone. There was no doubt about it—he'd scented slick. Why? Now that was a curious question. Why had his little omega produced slick? The full moon was still two nights away. Most omegas didn't feel the effects of a heat until the evening before as far as he knew, but then, he didn't know as much as he likely should about the intricacies of a heat. He closed his eyes, seeing the need in Wynter's eyes before the omega had escaped the club car.

Mine.

The word whispered through his mind, and he froze, glass halfway from the table to his lips. No, no, no… fuck no.

He brought the glass to his lips and drained it in one gulp, the burn welcome. Wynter could never be his. The omega was already mated.

Wynter's alpha wasn't his fated mate.

But I am.

That thought had him ordering another drink. After he'd drained a second glass, he fought the need to rush back to the cabin and claim what was rightfully his. A third drink was likely a mistake, but better than the other mistake he was contemplating.

Wynter was his?

He didn't believe in fated mates, for fuck's sake.

Yet his gut screamed it, as did his head. Both had saved him time and time again on his adventures over the years, but in that moment, they threatened to send him down a dangerous path. After his third drink arrived, he forced himself to sip it, already feeling the effects of the previous two in quick succession.

Wynter was forced into mating… which means his alpha is not true. It could be another.

It could be me.

If I believed in that bullshit.

Believe or not, his body, heart, and soul knew it to be the truth before it had even entered his mind. That thought had Cav reeling, his stomach twisting. He'd spent his life denouncing fated mates as some hypnotic, collective lie they'd all passed down, generation after generation. It was simply giving power to hormones to explain away bad behavior, yet he couldn't explain the impact of a withering stare, the scent of slick, or the pink heat spreading across Wynter's cheeks. It had driven him into madness.

That slick? It called to him, knowing his omega's body ripened for him.

A contact heat? Was that it? That could be the only explanation he could come up with as to why it seemed Wynter was going into an early heat. He'd met his alpha, and his body's reaction was innate.

He'd done that by remaining close to Wynter.

It was his fault.

Now Wynter would suffer alone.

Regardless of if Wynter's mate was true or not, the omega was already claimed.

Claimed or not, he couldn't ignore the pull he felt. The fire he felt.

No. I can't do this to him. He's been through enough already. Cav lifted his glass to his lips, denying the thoughts racing through his brain. But the more he sat with it, the more it sounded plausible.

His omega… bound to another.

An omega I should never claim.

Maybe it's for the best anyway.

I have travel ahead and books to write.

I need to stay as far away from Wynter Jaymes as I possibly can.

His mind replayed Wynter's heart-wrenching tale. Forced to mate with a man who wasn't his alpha. Forced to bear the bastard's child. Allowed to suffer with depression and post-partum, to the point he'd nearly taken his own life before the alpha had sought help for him?

The instinct took hold. No one was protecting his omega, because that was his job. He was the one born to shelter his mate.

A thought hit him. Their car was full of alphas. Would they catch scent and go after his omega?

Cav drained his glass and tossed a few renos on the table before marching toward their shared cabin, ignoring the command he'd just made of himself to stay away. He stood outside the door, bracing both hands on either side of the doorframe, and told himself to leave.

They were too close. If he went inside, he'd make a bad situation worse… yet how could he turn his back?

His omega needed him.

"Wynter?" he asked, pressing his forehead against the glass insert.

He heard the barest hint of a gasp. Was the omega pleasuring himself on the other side of the door to fend off the effects of the heat? Cav clenched his jaw at that thought, his balls tightening against the base of his cock.

"Baby, are you okay?" Cav grimaced, the pain mounting. He needed to be inside his omega, easing that need between them. "No one's in there with you, right?" He lifted his gaze, terrified. "Wynter? Wynter? You're alone, right?"

"Yes," came a soft reply before Cav was sure he heard a whimper.

"Oh, baby. It's going to be okay. You're going to be okay." He screwed his eyes tight, deciding then and there to guard the door. It would be torture, but he'd endure it. One way or another.

No other alpha would touch his mate.

Wynter had already lost too much to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He'd not suffer again if Cavanaugh could prevent it.

"I'm going to stay outside and make sure no one comes in to bother you." He stretched his neck, his bones popping, and willed himself to have the strength to not bust down the fucking door himself.

A click sounded. The door opened a crack.

"No!" Cav roared. "Stay inside and lock it." The lock wouldn't hold up against his strength, he was sure of it, but it was the only barrier between them. It would have to do. "A few hours… we can make it a few hours."

Ignoring his command, Wynter opened the door wider, need glistening in his blue eyes.

Cav panted, clutching the doorframe as a lifeline. "Close it."

Wynter shook his head. "I don't want to."

Cav closed his eyes. "We can't do this."

"We shouldn't do this. There's a difference," Wynter murmured.

Cav took an involuntary step closer, his body and his intrinsic nature refusing to listen to his commands to stop.

Wynter backed away, panting as he caressed his hard cock through loose pants. "I need to know."

"What? What do you need to know?" Cav whispered. Why did he bother asking the question? It would only torment them both.

"What it feels like to be truly wanted. Without bounds." He sobbed. "Without disgust."

Disgust? Cav cringed, hating being reminded that another had claimed what was his. He moved closer before he'd even realized he had, hungry to give in to his omega's request. He closed the door behind him, the need to rut pulsing in his veins. He dragged Wynter closer, their bodies fitting together better than they should have. He grasped Wynter by the neck, and his omega shivered.

Fear or wanting?

He's already been forced once.

Be gentle. He released his tight hold on his omega's neck, trailing his hand down to caress Wynter's collarbone, and then lower. Lower.

Be gentle? What the fuck am I doing?

Leave… get the fuck out of here. Go sit on the godsdamned roof of the train if you have to!

Get out of here before you do something you'll regret for the rest of your life.

He met Wynter's gaze again and saw longing… and a loneliness he'd felt often on his travels.

"I should go," Cav whispered as his hand wrapped around Wynter's hard cock, covered in too many layers of clothing.

"Yes, you should," Wynter murmured, his voice sultry. He immediately shivered, his long, graceful neck arching, begging to be nibbled. He held Cav's gaze a few seconds. "But don't."

Wynter rose to his full height as he looked up, his eyes pleading. His omega was still a good foot below Cavanaugh's own six-five. He grasped the pretty omega by the back of the head, needing a kiss to prove what this man was to him—or not, or so he told himself. The second he slanted his lips over Wynter's, his whole body ignited.

The omega fought him a few seconds, a weak struggle at best. Wynter's fingers soon dug into Cav's thin sweater, dragging them ever closer. Wynter mewled against his lips before kissing him back just as hungrily. Breathless, Cav pulled away… just long enough to unbutton the omega's tunic.

Wynter pushed Cav's light jacket off his shoulders. "This is insane. What are we doing?"

"We can stop," Cav said. He would stop if his omega said so, but the hell if it would be simple. He stilled his fingers over Wynter's buttons, but the omega didn't stop, jumping in to help.

Wynter peeled off his tunic before dragging Cav's sweater off. Chest to chest, they kissed feverishly. A hunger unlike anything he'd ever experienced raged through him. He needed to know his omega intimately… or else…

He might die there on the spot.

Wynter knew what they were doing was a mistake.

With every fiber of his being, he knew that truth—yet there was no way he could stop it from happening, either. Legally, he belonged to another, but everything within told him he belonged to Wilder Cavanaugh. He'd realized in the seconds after he'd first left the cabin and had longed for the alpha to follow.

"Take me. Make me yours," Wynter whispered.

When Cavanaugh pulled away from him, a cry of disapproval tore from his lips.

Cavanaugh walked to the door—to test the lock. He turned back to Wynter but passed by. He closed the blinds to the large outer window, the dim light inside just showing the barest of outlines. When Cavanaugh turned on the wall sconce on low, barely illuminating the darkened space, they stared at one another, the simmering attraction ratcheting higher.

They were alone in the dark.

The outside world was gone.

No one could see.

It was just the two of them and the all-consuming need simmering between them. Cavanaugh pulled out one of the benches that apparently converted into a makeshift bed, giving them more than ample room to lie together.

"You've done this before," Wynter whispered.

"Slept on a train, yes. Slept with an omega I barely know? No." Cavanaugh closed the gap between them. "I don't make a habit of bedding mated omegas, either." He swallowed thickly, jaw tight. "You don't have to do this, you know?"

"Yes. I do," Wynter whispered. Even if he'd wanted to stop, it was too late for that. He'd gotten a little taste and there was no way he could survive not knowing how it felt to be loved fully—with passion and tenderness.

He lived a passionless existence, and it was killing him. While he couldn't be sure Cavanaugh would be tender with him, he sensed he could trust the man soul deep. Wynter had to know what he'd lost in those scrambling moments, scared and afraid of what was happening to him. With Cavanaugh, it was his choice.

He chose to burn.

Mistake or not, it was his decision, not one forced upon him. The power in that was heady.

Cavanaugh dragged him closer and continued to remove the rest of their clothes. Piece by piece disappeared, and finally they both stood facing one another, with no barriers between them. Cavanaugh's gaze drank him in, running all over his body.

"You can look all you want," Wynter whispered. "As long as you touch me before I die."

Cavanaugh yanked him closer. He sat down on the fold-out bed and drew Wynter between his splayed thighs, their heights near matching. Wynter slid his palms over Cavanaugh's muscled shoulders, his body so different than the only other one he'd seen besides his own.

Warden was soft and fleshy. Cavanaugh was hard and angular. The alpha's hands were rough, with callouses. His squeezes were almost painful, the strength in his grip, his arms… and even his lips, heady. His alpha was big and bold and brash… and for all Wynter's complaining, the perfect match for him.

Their arguing had been unsettling, perhaps their innermost parts recognizing the connection and subconsciously fighting against it. It had also been a form of flirtation, he sensed. It had jacked them both up and led them down that path to where they found themselves—naked and alone.

Wynter trailed his fingertips over the strong muscles of his alpha's upper arms, the skin so warm it nearly burnt the flesh there. Sweat dotted Cavanaugh's brow. Seed pearled at the head of his massive shaft.

He clearly burned for Wynter.

Yet he simply sat there, watching.

Waiting.

"Do I not please you?"

"You do," Cavanaugh murmured, his voice as rough as his hands.

"Then why haven't you forced me down on that bed and taken what you wanted of me?"

Cavanaugh closed his eyes, his body trembling. When he reopened them, Wynter saw the banked fire there. "I think you've experienced enough of alphas forcing you to do anything."

Wynter gasped, eyes widening. He held back a sob, his chest tight. Cavanaugh held back to… protect him? No man had ever sheltered him like that… not even his own parents and most assuredly, not Warden. "And what if I want you to force me under you and have your way with me?"

He'd never wanted it before… yet it was all he could think about with his alpha. His true alpha.

"Is that what you want?" Cavanaugh asked, his fists bunching in the hastily laid sheet over the surface of the makeshift bed. He was straining, holding back with a strength that stunned Wynter. "Or would you rather take what you need from me first?"

"I wouldn't even know where to start," Wynter answered honestly.

Cavanaugh leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to Wynter's neck. And then another closer to his ear. Wynter's head fell back, yearning for more.

"Does that feel good?" Cavanaugh whispered against his ear.

"Yes," Wynter panted.

"Can I touch you elsewhere?" his alpha asked.

"Where?" Wynter asked, closing his eyes—and knowing exactly where he wanted to be touched.

"Where do you ache the most, baby?"

Baby. The endearment was infantile, yet when Cavanaugh said it, it sent a thrill through him. "All over," Wynter admitted. "Everywhere." He arched his back, slick dripping down the backs of his thighs. "Please."

Cavanaugh slid off the edge of the bed, kneeling at Wynter's feet before lifting a hand to stroke the hard length inches from his lips. When his tongue shot out and lapped up the bit of cream on the end of Wynter's cock, he nearly came on the spot. "What are you doing?"

Cavanaugh looked up at him, his eyes darker with dilated pupils. "Has no one kissed you here?"

"No," Wynter replied, gasping. "I didn't know…" He knew little about sex, only what bits he'd shared in his mated bed. Warden shoved his face into the mattress, climbed on top, and rutted over and over again until the heat was mercifully over. "Is that what real lovers do?"

"That and more," Cavanaugh replied, his fingertips just barely stroking him up and down.

"Teach me," Wynter begged.

"It would be my honor," Cavanaugh murmured before drawing the head of Wynter's cock between his lips.

Wynter's entire body tensed, the sensation unreal. Cavanaugh sucked, licked, and nibbled, taking him all the way down to the root. The alpha's nose nestled in the small patch of white-blond hair at the base of his cock, drawing him deep.

Keening, Wynter orgasmed, shattering as he erupted in Cavanaugh's hot mouth. He sank his fingers into the man's hair, holding on as he bucked, his body no longer under his own control.

He'd wanted wild, and wild was what he got.

Cavanaugh drank of him, swallowing his passion through it all—and when Wynter finally stilled, legs quivering—his alpha gently drew him closer for a kiss, sharing the taste of that lust.

"How was that?" Cavanaugh asked as their lips parted.

Wynter chuckled, words failing him. "Good."

"Just good?" Cavanaugh asked, one brow rising. A hint of a smile played over his lips.

"I can't…" Wynter panted, still trying to catch his breath. "I don't have the words."

Cavanaugh nipped at his lips, quick, successive kisses.

"More, please…" Wynter pleaded, the kisses not enough. Already he wanted more, even though he wasn't sure what more looked like.

Cavanaugh chuckled before kissing him again, his taste still on his alpha's tongue. He was gently lowered onto the bed, and Cavanaugh rose up over him. When Cavanaugh lifted one of Wynter's knees and moved between his thighs, he frowned.

"What are you doing?"

Cavanaugh froze, frowning. "I'm going to make love to you." He held Wynter's stare as he pressed the head of his throbbing cock at the spot where his slick flowed like honey.

"How?"

Cavanaugh cocked his head to the side, appearing confused. "How? What do you mean?"

"Um… shouldn't I be on my stomach? Face down?"

Cavanaugh closed his eyes and tightened his jaw, appearing angry.

"I'm sorry if I said the wrong thing," Wynter whispered.

"Does he not even look at you when he's rutting atop you?"

Wynter shook his head. "No. Never."

Cavanaugh cursed under his breath before locking eyes with Wynter. "You look at me… the whole time. I want to see you. I want to see your pleasure. I want to know when it feels good." He pressed the head of his cock against Wynter's wet heat.

Wynter writhed, the need to be filled intensifying.

"Okay, baby?"

Wynter nodded, not completely understanding, but he wanted to. The gnawing ache within demanded satisfaction. He held Cavanaugh's gaze as the man bore down, spearing into him, wet and ready by his slick. There was a slight pinch of pain as he passed the tight band of nerves—Cavanaugh was a big man. Big everywhere.

Yet gentle.

He slid his massive cock deeper, inch by inch, watching Wynter the entire time. The second Wynter winced, Cavanaugh stopped, giving him a second or two to grow accustomed to the thick stretch.

"Are you okay?"

As soon as the pain passed, Wynter nodded. "Yes."

Cavanaugh moved again, gently stretching Wynter's body wider. When they were fully bound together, his alpha remained still, caressing the side of his cheek and lower lip for a long moment before claiming his mouth with a kiss to end all kisses.

When he moved, Wynter's whole world flipped upside down. He cried out, the sensation so foreign. The intense pleasure mounted with every stroke of Cavanaugh's cock. Something coiled tight in his belly, more at the base of his spine. He couldn't name it, but whatever it was, it grew stronger with each passing second—with each driving thrust. He'd come before, pumping a hand over his shaft, but this felt different somehow.

Bigger.

More explosive.

Cavanaugh kissed him over and over, swallowing his sobs of pleasure. Wynter returned those kisses with hunger, starving for the affection he'd been denied.

Cavanaugh turned him slightly, so he was almost on his side—and rested his knees over the alpha's thigh. Cavanaugh's cock hit new places, places Wynter didn't think he'd ever been touched before. The something aching within grew hotter, stronger… seeking, but what he did not know. He struggled to breathe, his chest tight.

When the mysterious something finally shattered within, his body erupted into flames. His thighs began to tremble forcefully, and he feared they'd never stop, not that he wanted them to as good as he felt. Back bowed, a cry rent from his lips and his womb trembled. His cock gushed more cream, dribbling from the head as he shook violently from head to toe.

Cavanaugh followed him a few strokes later. He bellowed, his knot expanding and locking them together before he painted Wynter's insides with hot seed. Through it, Wynter could barely breathe. He couldn't think. He couldn't do anything but feel like a missile detonating within.

They soon slowed, the experience over much too quickly.

Wynter needed to return to that moment and live in it forever. Seconds of explosive pleasure were not enough. Was that what other omegas underwent every heat?

"Again," Wynter pleaded between gasps of air.

Cavanaugh chuckled before pressing a kiss to Wynter's lips. "You have to let my knot ease off, which takes a few minutes. Then, we'll need a little time to recuperate between round one and round two."

"How many rounds can we fit in between here and there?" Wynter asked.

Cavanaugh laughed. "As many as we can, baby." He hovered above, both arms extended. "Shit, I should've reconsidered this position before I came."

"What do you mean?" Wynter asked.

"I don't want to hurt you by moving," Cavanaugh said.

Wynter shook his head, disbelief in his eyes.

"What?"

"I've… just… never had anyone care before if I was comfortable. Or not comfortable."

Cavanaugh growled. His eyes flashed with anger. "You can't go back to him."

Wynter closed his eyes, wishing it were possible. "I don't have a choice."

"Look at me," Cavanaugh commanded, collecting his face in both big hands.

He lifted his lids, the look of adoration in Cavanaugh's eyes almost enough to bring him to tears.

"You're not going back to him," Cavanaugh declared, eyes wide. "You're mine."

Wynter glanced up at his fierce alpha. "We barely know one another."

"I know all I need to know," Cavanaugh said. "He's mistreating you, Wynter. You can't live like that."

He couldn't live like that. It's why he sported the scars on his wrists.

"I know we've just met, but I can't walk away knowing you're returning to him." Cavanaugh continued. "It's screaming in my head to get you away from him."

Instinct, not affection—though it was more kindness than Warden had ever shown. He wanted to say yes, to disappear into the night with Cavanaugh, wherever they might land, but knew it would be impossible for them to be together. Warden's family was just like his—always fearing their position on the social ladder. He doubted Warden would allow him to run away… at least not forever. If taking his life would cause a scandal, what would him running away cause?

Warden wants space, though. I can give him all the space he wants… and more.

"You know I can't stay w?—"

Cavanaugh pressed his finger to Wynter's lips. "No. I don't want to hear can't and won't come out of your mouth. You're mine. You're not going back to him."

"Cavanaugh…"

"Sh-sh-shhhhh," Cavanaugh crooned, again pressing his finger to Wynter's lips. "Say it."

Wynter didn't want to lie. He knew it was impossible what Cavanaugh was proposing, yet he wanted to imagine the possibility existed. If he said it out loud, would that make it real? Would it change the course of where they'd been traveling and bind them together for real?

He knew it likely wouldn't change a single thing, but he had to hear how it sounded.

"I'm not going back to him." A lie, only—Wynter didn't want it to be a lie. He'd gotten a little taste of real intimacy, of desire, and he didn't want to let go. He wanted Cavanaugh. He wanted to see where their fate together might lead.

He wanted to be happy.

He wanted a reason to live.

"Damned right you're not," Cavanaugh said, smiling. "You need your alpha to love you right, baby."

Wynter stared into his alpha's eyes, wishing their lives were different. He wanted nothing more than to give in and leave the life he'd been forced to live behind. How could he? It was impossible.

Cavanaugh carefully moved to the side. The pull bordered on pain, but somehow, his alpha avoided more than a couple of seconds of it and slid behind him. He spooned Wynter and drew him close.

He lay in Cavanaugh's arms, sure he should feel shame for what they'd done yet how could he? In the law of nature, he was Cavanaugh's, through and through. Not Warden's

His true alpha had made him feel alive and desired for the first time in his life. His body was scorched by a lust so powerful they'd both been consumed by it. Hadn't he deserved to know what that felt like? To be truly loved?

But was that better to know? To have a little bit of amazing only to return to an alpha's indifference?

He didn't want to go back to the emptiness awaiting him.

Cavanaugh had showed him more care in one evening than he'd gotten his entire life.

"I never asked you—where were you going?" Cavanaugh cast a look down as he rubbed a gentle hand down Wynter's back.

"An omega spa."

Cavanaugh frowned. "One of those hoity-toity places where omegas avoid their alphas during a heat?"

"Or the alphas want to avoid their omegas."

Cavanaugh drew Wynter's face over so their gazes met. "You wanted his attentions?"

"No… of course not."

Cavanaugh frowned.

"I'm bound to him and… after I returned from the facility, I wanted to find a way to coexist. I didn't want to end up back in that same situation again. I thought if I asked for civility, maybe he would eventually warm and our arrangement could become… agreeable , at the very least. Perhaps even friendly in time. He fought me at every turn. He demanded I go to the spa this cycle, so here I am."

"I'm sorry." Cavanaugh trailed a finger over his chin. "But this is the exact reason you shouldn't go back. You don't belong to him. You belong to me."

Wynter fought tears.

"Hey, hey, hey," Cavanaugh murmured. "Don't do that. I'll take care of you. We'll make this work."

"You have no idea the prison I live in. There's no escaping it or him."

"You're already out."

Wynter scoffed. "Not really."

"You just said you wouldn't go back," Cavanaugh whispered.

"Wanting to… and being able to… are two very different things," Wynter said. "Of course, I want to see where this might lead us, but… I can't lie to you, either."

"We'll find a way." Cavanaugh kissed his cheek. "We'll make a way. Together." He chuckled. "We'll leave the Palatinate behind and travel the world, far from Alexandria and the bullshit there."

"You didn't like me when I first walked in—and now you offer me the world?"

"You're a godsdamned pain in my ass, Wynter Jaymes." Cavanaugh smiled. "And before I met you, I didn't think fated mates were real, but I'm a big enough man to say I stand corrected. Maybe it is just biology making my brain make these decisions, but I already know I don't want to live a life without you in it." He grinned. "Plus, the bickering turned me on."

Wynter laughed, but it turned into a sob, a tear escaping.

"It's okay," Cavanaugh whispered, hugging him close. "I've got you now. You're safe with me."

Wynter slid his hands over Cavanaugh's, holding on for dear life.

"Come home with me. I have a cabin in the hills of Blacksburg."

"The spa might inform my alpha th?—"

"He's not your alpha. I am," Cavanaugh said firmly. "At best, he's your husband."

"Betas have husbands. Omegas do not."

"Doesn't matter. That man is not your alpha, and you damned well know it."

"I do," Wynter admitted, voice low. "You're my alpha."

Cavanaugh traced his lower lips before lowering to capture his mouth. "My omega. Come to my cabin and let me take care of your heat. Let me prove I'd make a better mate than the one you have now."

"You already have," Wynter said. It was no lie. He'd never seen kindness like it before and probably never would again. One heat… a few days to know what he was missing out on. It was so tempting, yet the consequences of saying yes were weighty. He might end up with child, and only make matters worse.

Cavanaugh grinned. "So you'll come home with me? Where you belong?"

Wynter sighed. "What if the spa calls home? If I don't show up, I don't know what they'll do."

"Call the spa. Tell them you've changed your mind and you're not coming." Cavanaugh shrugged. "And if he finds out, he finds out. You're not going back to him anyway. He needs to find out eventually."

Wynter shook his head. I have a child at home. I can't simply disappear.

Could he?

Maybe Jamie would have a better life without him. After years of suffering, Jamie barely knew him. Of course he wanted to build a relationship with his son, but after their rocky start and Warden's interference, could they? He didn't know how to be a good parent. He'd never seen one in his own childhood. There was no behavior to mirror. What if he ended up just like his own papa?

His mind drifted to that wooden brush and the injuries it had caused.

What if he harmed Jamie one day?

He'd never forgive himself.

Warden already said the manny did a better job than he did. He'd seen the pair together, watching from the shadows. Alberto adored Jamie. He was kind and gentle and loving, all the things Wynter didn't know how to be.

Maybe… maybe it would be the best for them all, instead of living lives they hated.

Tears burned his eyes.

He couldn't walk away from his child, could he?

What kind of terrible parent did that make him to consider it?

"What is it? What has you so sad?"

Wynter grimaced, in real pain. "Why couldn't I have met you first?"

Cavanaugh kissed him again. "You met me last, and that's all that matters. I'll be the last man you ever need. And I'll take care of you this cycle… and show you how an omega should be cherished."

Wynter gasped, wanting to experience every second of his heat with Cavanaugh. "You know I can't do that."

"Can't or shouldn't? Those are two different things, I hear."

" Shouldn't ," Wynter whispered.

"He doesn't want you. I do."

Wynter shook his head. "It's one thing to cross the line once before my heat. To open myself to another man's child? That's too far, Cavanaugh. My heat starts in two days…"

"You could be pregnant right now."

Wynter's eyes widened. "What?" His mind raced. "No… my heat hasn't started yet."

"I'm pretty sure you're having a contact heat," Cavanaugh murmured.

Wynter frowned. "Contact heat? What's that?"

Cavanaugh growled again. "I knew that province was backward, but Alexandria needs to do a better job of educating omegas about their own damned bodies, for fuck's sake." He shook his head. "You're having a mild heat right now."

"I can't be. It's not time."

"The first time you meet your alpha—your true fated mate—it can supposedly cause a spontaneous heat, regardless of where you are in your cycle."

"This is nothing like the heats I've had in the past. I completely lose my mind when I'm in heat," Wynter countered.

"If my memory serves, I believe I've read that some contact heats are as strong as a regular one, others less so. The fact you're already—" His jaw tightened. "Claimed —perhaps lessened your reaction. That may be why you didn't lose complete control."

"And I can get pregnant during a contact heat?"

"I think I remember reading that it's harder, but not impossible, but I'm no expert on heats. All I have are bits and pieces from a long-ago Sex Ed class—and things I've read over the years." He pressed his palm over Wynter's lower abdomen. "But I'm pretty sure it's possible. Harder, but possible."

Wynter looked down at his stomach and Cavanaugh's hand there, the thought of a life growing there terrifying.

Yet mildly thrilling too—which was insane.

A baby boy with blond hair and gorgeous green eyes? He smiled to himself, sure the idea sounded better because of the supposed heat he was having. Instinct, the genetic, innate desire to breed new life—that's all it was. Right?

Wynter turned back to Cavanaugh, his body already growing needy again. "I can't do this, Cav. Not again. We can't tempt fate."

Cavanaugh frowned. "You're not going back to him."

His alpha's knot lessened at the perfect time. Wynter crawled away, putting space between them. "Stop… I beg you. This was a mistake."

"No," Cavanaugh murmured, frowning. He reached for Wynter. "Don't say that."

Wynter evaded his hands. "No!"

Cavanaugh frowned.

Terror pumped like ice in Wynter's veins. What would Warden do if Wynter returned home pregnant with another alpha's child in his belly?

He wasn't a good papa to the child he already had. He couldn't bring another into the world when he didn't have the strength and mental health to raise one. "My family would never allow it. Even if I did go back with you, they'd come after me. I know it. They'd never allow me to be happy."

"They'd never allow you to be happy?" Cavanaugh asked, frowning.

"Just as much as I know I belong to you, I know they will never allow me to leave. They will hunt me down and drag me back there."

"Then we run as far as humanly possible. We can travel the world together, like I said."

"I have a child, Cavanaugh. I can't just leave the continent."

"Shit," Cavanaugh said, closing his eyes. He scrubbed his face and sat up. "So, we take him with us, and I raise him."

Wynter scoffed. "Yeah, that won't happen. I doubt they'd let me go. They sure as hell won't let Jamie go."

Cavanaugh eyed him. The disappointment rocked him, soul deep, because he felt it, too. He wanted to run away from all his problems. It sounded so easy, but he couldn't abandon Jamie like that. Wynter didn't want Jamie growing up thinking he was unloved.

"What does this mean for us, Wynter?"

"It means… you have me until Blacksburg. However, many hours we have left between here and there."

"That's not enough. Nowhere near enough." Cavanaugh shook his head.

Tears burned Wynter's eyes. "Don't you think I know that?" Tears spilled over his cheeks. "I knew this was a mistake when I asked you to show me what I was missing. I'm so sorry."

Cavanaugh leaned forward and dragged Wynter back. He curled Wynter onto his lap, wrapping him tight as the tears came.

"Just give me time to think this over, okay? I'll find a way for us to be together," Cavanaugh said. "We belong together. There's no way we can walk away from this."

"Friction against stone hones the blade and makes it sharper," Wynter mumbled, stiffening against Cavanaugh.

"What?"

"Something my papa used to tell me. Pain is an omega's life. He said it made us stronger." Wynter brushed his tears away.

"Pain shouldn't be the only thing in an omega's life."

"It's all I've ever known," Wynter whispered.

"You need a strong alpha to help shoulder your burdens—not create them," Cavanaugh whispered, seeking his mouth.

Wynter mewled against his alpha's kiss. He told himself to turn away and be that strong omega he was supposed to be, but just as his papa had always said—he was weak. He slid back under Cavanaugh and ignored what lay at the end of the train's tracks.

"Let me take away the pain and give you nothing but pleasure," Cavanaugh murmured, moving into position again as the need rose higher once more.

Wynter lived in that moment—being wanted and adored—and hoped it would last forever, all while knowing down deep that it couldn't.

No matter how much he wanted it.