desire. It mirrored the hard length that pressed against Kai's hip when Ian stretched out over him. He covered Kai's face in kisses until his teeth found the young omega's throat to scrape over his pulse point. The bite wasn't hard, sharp, but insistent and possessive as he rutted against

Kai.

He was growing incessantly frustrated at the amount of clothing between them now. He was crazy in need to feel more skin and more of

Ian's warmth; to feel the Alpha's cock and his knot.

The flare of his heat was on him, consuming him from the inside. It was what drove him to run away to begin with. If Barry mated with him while he was in his heat, the instances of pregnancy went up. Getting pregnant by that brutal man was not an option Kai wanted to consider.

However, Kai's heat would no longer be denied.

"Ian, I need it. I need your knot. I need you. Please understand."

Ian's lips smashed against his, kissing him deep and passionately. It was a kiss that promised so many things

— possession. Protection. Desire.

Love

Kai craved it like a drug. Intuitively, he thought that was an artifact of his heat. But there was something more to it. An impetus behind it that drove him to tear impatiently at Ian's shirt, trying to get beneath the damp fabric to his warm body.

Ian helped in that frantic way of needing to be rid of clothing. The chill of the afternoon air was almost a painful sting against Kai's feverish skin. Any place Ian's hands touched him chased the creeping cold away.

Pulling back, Ian rose to his knees and urged Kai to his hands and knees. Kai

presented his ass to Ian. He lowered his face to the cave floor, resting his forehead on crossed arms.

Ian groaned behind him. The jingle of his belt was a whisper against the driving rain outside the cave. The wind whipped up and waves of mist

floated in with each gust. Finally, to Kai's relief, Ian's cock was pushing into his body. He braced for the pain that always came when Barry would take him.

Instead, he was surprised as Ian slid in easily until their bodies were touching.

Kai tried evening his breathing so he could enjoy how full he felt. Ian's cock filled him completely. Joy flooded him in a wave of contentment.

Then, Ian started to move and Kai cried out, his fingers clawing at the cave floor, trying to find purchase against the onslaught of thrusts that rocked him.

An overwhelming sense of comfort spread over Kai. He dropped into a zone of being distantly aware of what they were doing. The press of rock

beneath his knees was a dull sensation. He flew along the endorphins of pure ecstasy.

Coupling with someone who, oddly enough, felt to Kai like someone he shared a bond. It made no sense, but nothing in Kai's life was making sense.

So he just rode it, satisfied that he was having his desires filled on a deep, unknowing level. Knowing that the same thing was happening for Ian.

Ian's cool palm wrapped around his cock. He started to jack Kai in time with his thrusts.

Kai sobbed quietly; barely aware of what happened, as if he witnessed it outside himself.

Ian's forehead rested between his shoulder blades, his hips jabbing at blinding speed.

With a shout, Ian plunged in one more time, his knot slipping past Kai's ass to tie them together. The moment the swelling popped past the muscle,

Kai's orgasm slammed into him and he pulsed out over the cold, unforgiving ground.

Ian let out a soft sigh, his breath washing across Kai's back.

Clearing the ground of any stray rocks, Ian finally tipped them both over to rest on their sides, locked together. His arms wrapped around Kai and kept him pulled close.

The stars in Kai's gaze cleared. Ian's warmth to his back, he felt protected. And cherished. Two emotions that

were always absent when he had

submitted to Barry.

"Kai," Ian said softly behind him.

Kai managed a soft breath, snuggling back against the Alpha. It didn't matter if there was no emotion. He would take what Ian offered: Shelter.

"Yeah," he finally responded to his name.

“Are you okay now?"

"Yeah." Kai craned his head to look over his shoulder to catch Ian out of the corner of his eye. "Thank you. Thank you very much."

Ian searched his eyes, looking for the answer to some question he didn't give voice to. "Get some sleep. We'll leave as soon as the rain lets up."

"Okay." Kai didn't want to move. He wanted to stay wrapped in Ian's arms forever.

But Kai's life wasn't his own. These things weren't in his power. This wasn't a decision he could make for himself, no matter how much he wanted to.

Until the rain stopped, Kai would take what was offered, no matter how fleeting.

—

If there had been any chance Ian would get any sleep, it was all blown away in one, ill-timed moment of weakness.

Kai was designated for another Alpha. While Ian was as opposed to the Elders proscribing who mated with who, it was still the will of their ruling

body. Even though Pharrell was the

pack Alpha, the rules applied to him equally, although he had successfully dodged their political machinations until finally meeting his hear throb and producing the pack heir.

In the end, it didn't matter to the Elders how it happened, they were happy their Alpha had mated and produced offspring.

Would Ian get off that lucky? Most likely not, no matter what he did for the pack or how good he was at it.

But this?

This was not good. Not even one bit.

He'd taken gross opportunity of Kai, an omega who should have been off-limits. No matter how intense his heat was, Ian should have had stronger will to resist.

Damn it.

None of this was helped in any way by Kai curling up in his arms as his knot stayed firmly buried in Kai's body. His fingers clutched Ian's forearm with an iron grip. Every so often, shivers ran though Kai's body,

a reminder of the cold and the damp and their current, tragic situation.

Ian couldn't undo it now. The best he could do was get them safely back to the city.

Focus. Ian needed to focus on the here and now.

He glanced at his watch, noting the time. If the other omegas hadn't given into their fear and done what he told them to do, he calculated that Pharrell would mobilize soon and need about two hours to get into motion to meet him in town. Added in, waiting for the weather to clear

for a possible air evacuation, meant

they had some time before they needed to move. The more time he could give the rain to move on, the more he risked that Barry would wake and get free to come running after them.

Assholes like Barry would take what Ian did as a personal affront.

Most Alphas would, to be fair, and Ian didn't like that he was giving Barry any credence towards fairness at all. It irked him.

They needed to get off this mountain as quickly as possible.

And fast.