Karter

KARTER

I WASN'T USED to having things kept from me. I was supposed to be on top of everything, and be in control. It was a unique kind of torture watching the person who'd become the most important to me, crying and quivering on my couch in fear of what my reaction would be to whatever his horrible secret was. And he'd pulled away from me when I'd tried to hold him. That was a bad sign.

"Okay, so," he started, his voice still weak and watery. He'd stopped hyperventilating, but he was still crying. "I'm really, really sorry and it was completely an accident. I really, really didn't mean to, you have to believe me. It's just that I was in the middle of taking my pill and then your mom came in and I didn't want her to see and I thought I'd remember to take it later but I'm so stupid so I didn't remember and it's all my fault. I don't blame you for being mad at me, but you have to understand it was totally an accident. I wouldn't do that to you. And I know I probably ruined everything, but I just can't give it up, like I just personally couldn't do that, but I know that it's my fault so I can't expect you to help me but I'm just really scared and I'm really sorry, and-"

"Wait, wait." I raised my palms, trying to give him a visual indicator to stop talking. The gears in my brain were halted as I tried to piece together his jumble of nonsensical words. "I don't understand anything you're saying. Give what up? And what does my mom have to do with any of this?"

He huffed out a long breath before peeling his coat off, digging into the pocket to fish out a little stick and shoving it into my hands.

Staring down at it, my brain once again struggled to recognize what was in front of me. It was an object I was vaguely familiar with, from television ads and movies, anyway. As recognition dawned, my skin felt numb but my blood was buzzing in my veins.

Cameron's confusing tornado of words suddenly began to make sense with the new context. He'd missed a birth control pill, and now he was pregnant. That was really the only information that was pertinent. The rest of the words were just mental ramblings about horrific scenarios he'd imagined.

He'd missed a birth control pill, and now he was pregnant. By me. He was pregnant and I was the father. We were going to have a baby together.

Despite my overwhelming confusion and the harrowing sensation of my brain trying to cope with the new information that happened to be the most important information I'd ever learned in my life, my alphas instincts kicked in to remind me that I should say something to ease his suffering.

"It's okay. Don't be upset." Not the most eloquent or comforting words available in the English language, but truthfully I'd barely managed that. My mind was racing, screaming in my head. Cameron was pregnant with my baby.

"Don't be upset?" He repeated, raising his head from his knees to stare at me. His eyes were wet, the hazel irises shining in the low light from the lamp, and tear trails streaked his pretty cheeks. "Don't you get what I'm trying to tell you?"

"I understand," I assured him. "You missed a pill and now you're pregnant."

He stared at me, unblinking for several seconds before speaking again. "And you don't have a reaction to that?"

"I do," I said. "Sorry, I'm just processing everything."

"Are you upset? Mad? Hate me?" He asked, sounding desperate. "I need something, I can't just sit here waiting for you to yell at me."

The pleading in his soft voice broke me out of my self-imposed bubble of disorientation. He was expecting me to yell at him?

"Oh, baby boy." He'd pulled away from me before, but he looked so pitiful and alone now I couldn't help but move closer to him, pulling him to my chest again. This time he didn't wriggle away. "I'm not mad at you. I couldn't be mad at you for something like this."

"But it's completely my fault, and you're the one who wanted me on it so this wouldn't happen," he insisted, his voice muffled against my shoulder. "I mean, I'm not an idiot. Just because you're great with Ty doesn't mean you want a baby."

"You love making assumptions about me, don't you?" I mused. He sniffled, raising his face from my skin to gaze up at me.

"You really aren't upset?"

"I'm not," I promised him. But it suddenly occurred to me how incredibly upset he was. I gently cupped him under his chin so I could watch his eyes as he answered. "But is it so terrible to you, having my baby?"

He looked utterly confused for a moment, before violently shaking his head. "No! Of course I want to, but… I didn't expect it to be right now, and… I was so afraid of how you'd react."

"I'm surprised," I admitted. "I didn't expect this to happen, but… I can't stop thinking about how amazing you are with Ty, and how much I love coming home to you guys."

"So… You're happy?"

"I'm happy," I said, realizing now that it was true. "Very happy. I know it's fast, but… We've done everything fast, so this feels par for the course."

He laughed a little, though it still sounded a bit watery. "Yeah, I guess that's true." He paused, hesitant. "You're really, seriously happy?"

I chuckled. "It's a good surprise, sweet boy. I promise."

He shifted, moving from my side to sit in my lap, facing me. With his hands hooked behind my neck, his eyes were intense on mine.

"And you won't get tired of taking care of us?"

"You have no idea how much you contribute to my life, do you?" I asked. "I was so miserable before you, and I didn't even know it. I would be miserable again if you weren't here."

He sniffled again, hugging me tightly, burying his face in my neck. "I feel the same way. You're everything to me. You and Ty."

"Listen," I said, squeezing him as tightly as I could. "I know how terrified you must have been the first time you got pregnant. And I know how difficult it was, how uncertain you felt. But this time is going to be completely different," I swore. "You don't have to lift a finger, or worry about anything. All you need to do is focus on nurturing our baby."

"Our baby," he repeated, finally sounding relaxed enough to actually consider that we'd created a life together. He sighed, nuzzling into me. "I love you so, so much."

The words that both of us had been holding back for who knew how long finally poured from his mouth, like a crystal vial of spilled ambrosia.

"I love you, too," I said. It was such a relief to let them free.

He kissed me, his lips moving against mine sweetly and slowly, for so long that we were both panting as he pulled away. His pretty eyes were dry now, and clouded with lust and infatuation. My cock stirred, an intense longing for him welling up in me.

"Hey, Karter?" His mouth was close to my ear, his breath sending a strong shiver down my form. His hips were moving sinuously against mine, like he was trying to seduce me.

"Yes?"

"You know how when we're together, you want to bite me but you always hold yourself back?"

I huffed out a little laugh. "You could tell?"

"Yeah," he giggled lightly, pecking light kisses over my cheek and jaw and ear. His soft lips made me want to melt into the couch. His little body writhing in my lap was heavenly. "I could tell."

"What about it?"

"This time, I don't want you to hold back," he requested.

My breath caught in my throat, my cock twitching more insistently. Vanilla was clogging all my senses, drowning me in lovely sweet warmth.

"You want me to mark you?"

"Please," he whispered. "I've wanted you to for so long."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was afraid you weren't sure yet."

"Baby boy, I've been sure for longer than you would believe."

His smile was so sweetly happy, I couldn't help but reflect it back at him. My chest was pounding, my muscles tense with adrenaline.

I would be biting him to leave a mark that would signify him as my mate for the rest of our lives. It would alter aspects of both of our genetics. True mates would experience an emotional entwining, and become more in tune with each others' feelings. Added to that, marked omegas couldn't be scented by any other alphas, and I wouldn't be able to process other omegas' scents either. Not that I minded that. No omega but Cameron had even crossed my mind since I'd met him.

When his lips crashed against mine again, his hands fisting into my hair to anchor himself to me, I had to lightly push against his body.

"Ah, wait," I requested. "Are we allowed to do this?"

"Allowed to… Have sex?"

"Right."

He blinked, staring at me blankly for a moment. "Is there a reason we can't?"

"I just mean because…" My eyes flickered down to his stomach. He followed my line of sight, looking down at himself before raising his eyes back to mine.

"You mean because I'm pregnant?"

"Right."

He giggled a little, shaking his head. "You don't know too much about any of this stuff, huh?"

"I don't," I admitted. "But I'll learn. I want to make sure we do everything right."

"You're going to be such a good dad," he sighed happily. "The baby is like the size of a pea right now."

"Exactly," I argued. "I don't want to crush it or anything."

He laughed, hooking his arms back around my neck to kiss me. "Unless you're planning on reenacting a professional wrestling match, I think we'll be fine. And anyway… I really need you."

I needed him, too. Our lips met again and again, tongues swirling together, only pulling apart when we needed to breathe. We used the time needed for breathing to push and pull at each other's clothes until we were skin to skin. He whimpered against my mouth, clutching at the back of my neck as his hips moved against mine, sliding our hard cocks together.

"You make me so, so happy," he told me, his voice breathy and dreamy, like his love for me was oozing out of every pore. He wriggled out of my grip, sliding down my body to kneel on the floor before me, and proceeded to show me just how happy I made him.

His soft lips kissed my cock, up and down my shaft, until his sinful little tongue rolled out to caress it all over. Worshiping every inch of it, his gaze rose up to lock on mine as he licked my slit over and over until I was shuddering, digging my fingers into the firm leather of the couch.

Obviously pleased by my reaction, he smiled sweetly before wrapping his fingers around my base, sucking my head into his warm mouth. My hips rolled into him, desperate for more contact. There was nothing better than sinking into his slicked hole, but driving my cock in and out of his lovely pink lips was a close second. He moaned around me, the vibrations rocking my swollen flesh, dragging a groan out of me as my head fell onto the back of the couch.

"Cameron." His name spilled out as I carded my fingers through the silky locks of his dark hair. "If you want my come inside you, baby boy, you'll need to stop."

He fluttered his eyelashes at me, pulling his mouth away only long enough to say, "I'll have your come inside me either way then, won't I?"

I hissed, my toes curling as he braced his hands on my thighs, engulfing my cock back into the wet heat of his mouth. He took it as deeply as he could, his hand stroking the part he couldn't reach. The sounds of his lovely whimpers and moans coupled with obscenely enthusiastic slurping pulled me closer and closer until I could feel it building up.

Just as I was about to blow, he pulled his mouth away, speeding up the jerking of his hand to drag me over the final crest. He parted his lips, sticking his tongue out to catch the strong pulses of come. The visual of my sweet, shy omega eagerly licking up my seed, letting it pool in his mouth to show me before swallowing it was too much, intensifying my pleasure until my lips peeled back from my teeth and I let out a snarl.

The moment I was released from the grip of my mind-bending orgasm, I reached down, yanking him back up into my lap for a bruising kiss. The salty taste of my come lingered in his mouth as I plundered it, but I didn't care.

The awareness that I'd be marking him, biting through his beautiful skin and leaving a mark so that everyone knew that he belonged to me, kept my cock achingly hard. I would make him cry on it, begging and pleading for my knot.

I gripped his ass, squeezing the perky globes of flesh before driving two fingers into his hole. It clenched, perfectly tight and soaked for me already. His thighs quivered on either side of my lap as I fingered him, stroking and stretching the velvety walls until he was whimpering and rolling his hips for more stimulation.

"H-hey," he stuttered out against my neck. His soft voice was breathless, as it always was when we were fucking. "We shouldn't do this here."

He was right, of course. I was inevitably going to knot him, and when I finally pulled out, it was always a gushing mess of come and slick. Not that he ever seemed to mind. Thinking about how pliant and satisfied he always was after taking my knot only increased my desire and desperation to be inside him.

Grasping the back of his thighs, I stood, smirking at his little squeal and the way he scrambled to grip onto my neck for balance. His slender body was burning hot against mine, the skin smooth and soft and sweetly fragrant. And inside that gorgeous body was a tiny little life. Something we'd made together, without even meaning to. It reminded me how perfectly compatible we were, despite all of our outward differences. He was my fated mate, there was no denying it.

Making my way back to the bedroom, I dumped him onto the mattress and prepared to mount him. To my surprise, he scrambled up onto his knees, shaking his head. I couldn't help but stare at his perfect body, on display just for me. His pretty cock bobbed against his flat navel, his slim thighs tense as they supported him.

"I really want to see your face," he said, his skin flushing a rosy pink. "Do you mind if I…"

"You want to ride me, baby boy?"

He nodded, a lock of his hair flopping down over his eye. "Please."

"Of course."

Not that I could ever deny him anything, but there was no reason I would want to, anyway. He was always amazing at riding my cock, and I'd never knotted him like that. The thought of it made me shudder, and hurry into position, sitting up with my back supported by a pile of pillows against the wall. I gestured to my lap, which he happily scurried onto.

He didn't waste any time, reaching behind himself to line my cock up with his slick, stretched hole. As he lowered down onto it, his mouth fell open to let out a beautiful moan, precome oozing out of his tip to drip onto my abs.

Bracing his hands on my pecs, he rolled his hips perfectly, lifting off just enough that the slow sink of his tightly cushioned ass had my nerve endings on fire. When our eyes locked, his gaze was heavy. He leaned forward, capturing my mouth in a sloppy kiss.

Digging my fingers into his waist, I helped him bounce up and down on my cock, throwing back my head with a groan at the delicious friction. I canted my hips up into his movements, grinding into him as deep as possible. His moans echoed off the walls every time I nudged his prostate, his channel spasming around me in sheer ecstasy. Slick dripped from his hole, soaking my balls, while his precome smeared all over my stomach as he writhed on me.

He was wrecked by my cock already, his pretty skin sheened with sweat, a few tendrils of his dark bangs sticking to his forehead. The corners of his eyes sparkled with tears, and his lips were swollen from my kisses.

"I love you so fucking much." The words had popped into my head, tumbling out before I could consciously decide to say them.

"I love you, too," he whimpered out between gasps and moans as our hips slapped together. "Please mark me. I want to be yours."

"You will be," I promised him, my breath coming out in harsh pants. My orgasm was starting to build up at the base of my spine. "I'm going to fill you up with my knot before I mark you. Does that sound good, baby boy?"

"Oh, yes, please," he crowed. His hips were jerking helplessly now. I knew he was about to come.

I gripped him around his waist so he couldn't move, holding his body in place to take me balls deep as I pounded up into his perfect ass.

He wailed, his fingernails digging into my chest as his orgasm reduced him to quivers. His come splashed out hard, painting my torso a pearly white. The feel of his tight, slick muscles clamping around my pulsing cock was beyond compare, pleasure crashing over me with so much intensity I couldn't hold back the deep groan from my chest.

My knot formed quickly. I'd barely finished shooting into him when I felt it beginning to swell at the base, stretching his tight hole with its girth.

Cameron gasped, wrapping his arms around my neck, burying his face in it as he whimpered out my name. I couldn't speak, only able to answer him by stroking a trembling hand down his hair to his slender back.

"Now?" He whispered.

My alpha instincts were in full effect, surging inside me, and the soft pleading in his voice was indescribable and irresistible. He was my omega. It was my job to please him, to treat him like a prince and make sure he understood he was the most precious entity in the universe to me.

"Yes, baby." It was all I could choke out. The sensation from my knot was all-encompassing, shooting up my dick in powerful vibrations. He tilted his head back, pressing his neck to my mouth. His vanilla scent flowed into my senses, warm and serene and perfect, just like him.

My teeth sank into the spot between his neck and shoulder, his blood rushing to the surface to coat my tongue. He gasped sharply, squirming on my knot as it triggered another orgasm in him. I groaned, nearly convulsing with pleasure as his ass squeezed me, milking my cock for all it was worth.

Thrown into a bliss beyond anything I'd ever experienced, I couldn't process time or reason or anything beyond my omega's body in my arms.

When I finally surfaced, my knot receding as it spurted out the last jets of come, I realized I was licking the mark on his neck over and over, laving my tongue over it. It wasn't bleeding anymore, the alpha DNA in my saliva speeding up the healing process.

He seemed to realize I was spent, raising his head to stare at me. Tears were streaked down his cheeks.

"Did I hurt you?" I asked sharply. "When I bit you? Or with my knot?"

He shook his head, and I realized they were happy tears.

"No," he said. His voice was slightly raw from crying. "It's wonderful. It didn't hurt at all."

"You're wonderful." It was all I could think to say. He looked otherworldly to me, his skin glowing with sweat and satisfaction. It was the bond, I realized, intensifying my perception of him. I'd already fallen for him, completely in love, but everything between us now was magnified.

I held him carefully, slipping out as gently as I could. The mess he'd very cleverly suggested we bring to the bedroom instead of my leather couch seeped out, soaking into the comforter on my bed. Laundry service was included with my penthouse, something we'd taken advantage of many, many times in his short stay with me already.

He slumped down, rolling off me to rest on the mattress. Moving down the bed to align my body with his, I stroked a hand over his hair.

"What do we do now, sweet boy?"

He hummed, nuzzling his face into a pillow. "If you give me maybe 15 minutes, we can fuck again."

I chuckled, shaking my head in amazement. I supposed that was the consequence of being mated to a pregnant 22-year-old.

"My question was directed more at our future beyond this bedroom."

"We could get married?" He suggested, blinking placidly at me, very obviously not concerned about whether I'd turn him down or not.

"You can have the wedding of the century, with golden doves and a thousand cakes and diamonds crusting the walls, Cameron. But what I'm asking is what do we do now, about this?" I trailed my finger down his throat and chest to rest my palm just below his belly button.

"Oh!" He realized, bringing his hands up to cover mine, holding it to him. "Well, I need a doctor. To make sure everything's good, you know. And I guess I need to stop taking my birth control now. Oh, and I need special vitamins. And I need to check online for all the stuff I'm not allowed to eat anymore because I already forgot."

"Sounds like a lot," I commented, wishing I had more knowledge on the subject. But I'd be doing plenty of my own research in the days to come.

"Um, there's like 10,000 more things on top of that we have to do," he said, giving me a look I could only describe as sympathetic but incredulous.

"Ah. You'll have to forgive my ignorance on the subject."

"It's sweet," he decided, grinning. "I'm not used to knowing more about something than you are."

"I know how to buy a house," I said. "A house with enough rooms for a nursery for little Karmteron."

He snorted, shaking his head. "Gross, come up with a different placeholder name."

"I'll work on it," I promised, chuckling along with him.

He nuzzled into me, breathing me in, sighing in complete contentment.

I wasn't a lonely, bitter alpha disillusioned with the people around me anymore. I had the most adorable mate imaginable, who had already given me one veritably perfect kid, soon to be another.

People had called me lucky all my life, because of the money, and the status. But I could have managed without those things.

Cameron, and my perfect family, would be what I couldn't live without.