Chapter 1

USMAN

Together,me and Wren bought a tent that was now our home.

It wasn't much, but considering that we used to sleep huddled up behind one of the restaurants on Main Street because their vents stayed warm past midnight, it was a huge upgrade.

We had blankets and pillows inside, room for our bags and enough room for the two of us to wrap around each other to stay warm.

It was by the river, which meant the air was colder here, but it felt safer to be around all the other tents and the fire bins that we could all sit around at night and socialize.

For street shifters like us, that was the only good part about being homeless. We all looked out for each other for the most part.

"Here hun," Missy, an older omega who often took the younger ones under her wing, offered me the bottle she was hiding in a paper bag.

I didn't drink much, but on cold nights like these, it was hard to say no to the hard stuff. I took the offered bottle, taking as large a swig as I could without choking and my gaze caught Wren's across the firelight.

His normally icy blue eyes caught the orange light, glinting like fire as his lip quirked.

Swallowing, I wiped my mouth and offered the bottle back to Missy, who shook her head.

"Have more," she ordered. "You're far too skinny to stay warm in this kind of weather, even with your little boyfriend here to warm you up."

We both froze.

My gaze flickered to the others sitting around the fire. A couple of them smirked, the rest looked too out of it to have heard.

Wren's gaze was fixed on the fire, carefully not responding even though the pout on his lips made it all too obvious that he had heard.

Taking his lead, I ignored Missy's statement, took another drink, and then handed the bottle back to her.

She took it this time and then reached over the fire with the bag, her scarf going far too close to the licking flames for my liking as she offered it to Wren.

Glancing up, he took it quietly and drank long and deep before resting the bottle on his lap still looking down at the fire.

"Your boy's going into heat soon," she said quietly, leaning close to me so I could hear.

I didn't need to be told. I knew everything that Wren was going through. Each moment, each emotion across his face, even the ones he hid. I felt Wren like he was me. Like his feelings were my feelings.

Sometimes I wondered if it was because we spent so much time together. We'd been glued to each other's hips for years. Had been sleeping together for less than one though, because it had taken that long to realize... why not? We weren't alphas, but we were each other's. I may have been an omega, but I could offer him something an alpha couldn't. Sex that was filled with love and affection. Something neither of us had ever felt before.

And when he went into heat, I was always there, easing the burning desire into something more manageable until he needed an alpha to take over the rest.

And he did the same for me.

It wasn't perfect, but it was more than I'd ever hoped for, and I would cling to it, just like Wren did.

He stood up suddenly, pulling his blanket tight across his shoulders.

"I'm going to sleep," he said, pushing loose light orange waves out of his eyes to rub them.

"I'll come too," I said, but Missy put a hand on my arm, stopping me.

"What's the rush?" she asked.

I could see Wren holding back a smile.

We joked about how chatty Missy was sometimes. Clearly, he knew I was caught in her web for a bit longer tonight.

He didn't wait for me, coming around to hand Missy her bottle and thanking her before walking off toward our tent.

"You're making it too obvious," Missy warned in a low voice. "There's a lot of people that would have a problem with what you're doing."

Normally, we didn't talk about this with anyone, but a thrill of annoyance filled me at her words, and I couldn't help myself.

"It's no one else's business," I said quietly.

Across the fire, Shae let out a little laugh, the sound somewhat sinister as it hung in the air.

I glanced over at him. He was an omega too, but he was always getting in other people's business, starting fights at random, his behaviour erratic. I knew it was whatever he was on. It kept him zoned out or fighting. There didn't seem to be an in between. And he stayed close to one of the only alphas who lived out here with us. The alpha Jack was just like Shae, dirty and unpredictable and me and Wren typically tried to stay away from them both.

Shae's eyes met mine, his gaze surprisingly attentive tonight.

The grip Missy still had on my arm squeezed me comfortingly, bringing my attention back to her, and I realized her eyes were filled with worry.

"You're dead right, son," she said quietly. "Just keep your head down and find happiness where you can. It's all short lived anyway."

She released me to have a drink and stare into the fire.

"Not everyone is as lucky as that bait wolf everyone has been talking about," she went on. "Most of the us omegas who go missing don't get scooped up by their fated mate. Nope. They end up in the river."

She gestured to it with her bottle and suddenly the sound of the water rushing seemed so loud.

I swallowed and nodded.

I knew she was right, but I didn't want to deal with it, so instead, I pushed to my feet.

"Good night, Missy," I said. "Don't drink so much you forget to get back to your tent tonight."

She howled with laughter, a sound that meant she would make no such promises.

Shaking my head, I wove through the other tents toward mine.

It was dark inside and when I unzipped the doorway and climbed in, Wren's hands found me at once, pulling me in the dark to get under the covers and close to his warm body.

"It's cold in here," I shivered, and he wrapped his arms and legs around me, pulling me in tight.

"You're back faster than I expected," he whispered. "What did she want?"

"It doesn't matter," I said softly, trailing my fingers into his soft hair, feeling his erection pressing into my hip as I breathed him in.

"It's coming on strong," Wren whispered, addressing the way I sniffed his scent gland, tasting his oncoming heat.

"Maybe it's the cold."

"I don't know," he said. "I need you."

The selfish part of me loved when he was like this, when he wanted me desperately.

I pushed his shoulders until he was flat on his back. My hands slid over his collar, down his narrow chest.

He shivered, breaths already coming in faster.

It was cold, so I left his shirt on, but tugged his pants until he lifted his hips, helping me get them off. I shoved mine down far enough to be out of the way before returning my attention to him.

His cock was hard and his hole leaking slick by the time my hands found them. He was shivering all over, trembling with need.

He moaned, hips twisting as I pressed two fingers into his wet heat, stroking inside him until he was bucking.

"Fuck me," he begged, sounding almost like he was in tears.

I pulled my fingers out, stroking the slippery liquid over my own achingly hard cock before bending over him, lining our faces so I could kiss him deeply. His cheeks were indeed wet. A bad sign. Would we be out looking for an alpha for him by morning?

I pushed the thought away, gently biting his bottom lip.

This was just as good as sex to me. Feeling his mouth on mine, moving sensually, tasting his breaths and desperation.

"Please," he gasped. He lifted his hips and his cock pressed against mine, our lengths slipping together.

"Can you be quiet?" I asked.

"Yes," he promised at once.

He spread his legs eagerly around my hips, lifting his knees so that my tip rubbed his entrance.

When I pushed inside, his promise proved to be a lie because he immediately released a loud guttural moan.

I clapped a hand over his mouth for what little use it was. My hand didn't do much to muffle the way he cried out with every thrust.

And the conversation I'd just had with Missy, that had been heavy on my mind when I'd first crawled under the covers next to him, flew right out of my mind.

I released his mouth, unable to stop my own moans and gasps of pleasure as I canted my hips into him, railing him as hard as I could, feeling his hole clasp my length with each thrust.

My fingers dug into his shoulders, his gripped my back, the sharp points of barely controlled claws digging into my skin, making me buck without rhythm.

No. Wren had to finish first. I had to help him.

With a groan, I pushed myself up, gripping his thighs to pull him higher onto my lap, knowing that in this position, my cock would be tight against his prostate, the full length dragging against it from base to tip with every thrust.

When I started to move again, the effect was nearly instantaneous. Wren's entire body tightened. He dragged a ragged breath into his lungs and clung to the pillow under his head.

"Fuck," he gasped. "Manny."

His sweet nickname for me, used on the edge of an orgasm made me feel so good. So proud.

"Yes," I hissed. "Come baby."

He made a weak, desperate sound as his body tightened, his hole clenching me.

I didn't need to touch his cock. Even without an alphas knot, I could completely undo him.

His entire body shook with the strength of his orgasm, and I could take it no more, finally allowing myself to finish, my hips bucking into him, balls clenching tight as I emptied deep inside him.

I collapsed forward, gasping for breath, my cheek resting on Wren's shoulder.

"So good," Wren whispered, his gentle hands tracing my back. "You're so fucking incredible inside me, Manny."

I purred at the praise.

My lips found his neck, kissing his scent gland and making him shiver.

Maybe to some, we were playing pretend, but this was real to me. A relationship as viable as anyone else's. If it came to it, I would fight for it, but... I couldn't imagine Wren making me fight for him. He would choose me right back. Of that, I was sure.

"I love you," I whispered.

"I love you too," he returned sleepily. "Always."

For a while, he kept saying the word, always, always, always, as he drifted off to sleep. Like he was trying not to jinx it.

I drifted off with him, my cock still encased in his warmth.

When I woke, it was with a pleasured gasp in the early hours of the morning as my cock was being milked inside him.

I stiffened, balls already tightening with the desire to come as Wren strained beneath me.

He had his legs wrapped around my waist, his heels digging into my ass to use as leverage as he rocked his hips, clenching around me with each movement.

He was shaking hard. I could barely see him in the dark, but I knew before the words even came out of his mouth.

"It's not enough," he whimpered.

I shouldn't have been disappointed, but I was. It was unavoidable.

Every few weeks the man that I loved needed more than me, and each time, the pain of that fact deepened. There was nothing for it but to try to disentangle from his warmth and help him find someone who could satisfy him until his heat passed.

Of course, he could remain with me—he probably would if I insisted and my best efforts would take the sting off, but it would hurt Wren until it was over, and I didn't want that either.

When I tried to pull away though, his arms and legs tightened around me.

"Come first," he gasped. "Please."

Unable to deny him anything he wanted, I stilled and let him keep moving, allowing my eyes to flutter shut as he rocked back and forth, his hole clinging to me with each deep stroke.

"Fuck," I groaned.

I buried my face into his neck and ejaculated deep within him, his ass tight against my hips, no room in between us.

Wren didn't come though, he couldn't anymore. At this point, if he was going to get an alpha, I was going to have to be the one to get him there. We'd left it too long.

"Come on," I whispered.

He didn't want to move, to get up and face the cold. His body was probably hurting too much already, and I felt guilty pushing him even though it was for his own good.

I helped him into his clothes, his boots and coat. Every scrape of rough fabric across his skin made him gasp.

"I'm sorry," I found myself saying. "I wish I was enough."

Wren sank against my side and didn't say anything.

I should have kept my mouth shut. I didn't want to make him feel bad. This was just our nature. Nothing could change that. Next time it would be me seeking out an alpha…

"Come on," I repeated.

I hooked his arm around my shoulder and together, we went out of our little sanctuary, seeking out the busy streets in "The Valley" the roughest part of Lunar City, the spot where all the alphas knew to go when they needed an omega for cheap.

Or, in this case, free. Since Wren was in heat, alphas considered these fucks to be a favor for the omega.

Sadly, they weren't entirely wrong. But some money wouldn't hurt anyway, would it?

The fact that most—if not all alphas—were complete assholes wasn't worth worrying over right now. I couldn't change anything.

All I could do was help Wren.

And so, I found a bench for us to huddle on and put an arm around his shoulders to offer comfort while we waited.

He was running hot. As the sun began to rise and the sky lightened, I could see how flushed his face was. His normally pale skin was blotchy with red and touched with a sheen of sweat even though he was shivering.

"We should have stayed in the tent," he moaned piteously. He was shifting and uncomfortable, occasionally pressing his face into my neck and kissing me there even though we were out in the open where anyone could see.

"It wouldn't help," I argued, but I was tempted to help him up and take him home and do what I could for him.

Until a shiny black car slowed to a stop in front of us.

The window rolled down slowly, and my heart already felt like it was being crushed in a vice.

A man was in the driver's seat. He was handsome with thick ashy blond hair, cut short the way businessmen often wore it. He was masculine, with a strong jaw and brow, and even sitting in the car, I could tell he was big. He was alpha in all ways.

Wren must have smelled him, because his head lifted, face turning eagerly toward the car.

He didn't look at me as he stood and walked toward it.

Without so much as exchanging a word, the alpha reached back and opened the door for Wren to climb in and?—

I was on my feet.

"Wait!"

The alpha looked at me, his moody brown eyes fixed on mine, piercing me with their intensity. I so rarely spoke to alphas that my throat suddenly felt tight, my mouth dry.

He was waiting for me to say something, but I was just shifting from foot to foot, my heart thudding painfully against my chest, gaze flying to the back seat where Wren was watching me too, his blue eyes darkened from the arousal of his heat.

I didn't want Wren to go.

Not without me.

We had never gone together before, and what use would it be to be next to him while someone else fucked him? But I still couldn't let him go without me.

And maybe those unspoken thoughts between us really did go both ways because his hand shot out, reaching for me.

I glanced at the alpha.

He looked surprised but shrugged.

"Get in," he said.

Relief flooded me.

I couldn't get into the car fast enough.

My hand caught Wren's and he tugged me right up to his side, squishing us together in the back seat of this man's car.

Despite what it meant, what I might see, I didn't care. I wouldn't get in the way. I would just… be there at his side.

Just as I should be.