Page 5 of Slow Birth
“The storm knocked them out about an hour ago. I noticed when I tried to call my parents to let them know we’d arrived safely. All it takes is a branch on the line anywhere along the mountain to do it.”
“No.” Vale wrapped his arms around himself, scratching at his arms. The heat prickled even harder as the cool air rushed inside, obliterating the warmth from the fire Jason had laid.
Jason pulled him into his arms and kissed the top of his head. “Let’s think. There has to be a solution. I have two condoms. I could use each one more than once until they…until they break.”
“Jason, you don’t understand. I’m going into heat. We’re talkingdaysof constant fucking.” Vale broke free and walked out onto the front porch and began to pace its length, watching as the snow piled ever deeper, moment by moment. “I have to get out of here. We can’t be trapped. We need condoms. We need to be safe!”
“Don’t you think I know that?” Jason snapped, and then wiped a hand over his face, and his tone turned contrite and scared. “I know, okay? But what are we going to do?” He tugged Vale back into the cabin, shutting the door to keep in the warmth.
Vale flung himself down on the sofa and rubbed his temples. “There’s a neighbor. Or there was. Maybe he has a working phone, or condoms, or both.”
“How far is he?” Jason asked, already pulling on his coat. He headed into the kitchen and turned off all the burners and the oven, too. Vale watched him with wide eyes. “Which direction? I’ll go. You wait here.”
“I don’t remember his name. But he lived down-mountain, and my parents would get honey from him when it was in season.” Vale explained the way down to Jason and then said, “We’ll both go.”
“No,” Jason barked with more authority than he often used outside the bedroom. “You’ll wait here and eat the dinner I made. I don’t care if you’re not hungry, you’ll eat it to gain strength for whatever is ahead. If we have to weather a heat here, I want you healthy. If we have to walk down the mountain to meet help, I want you fueled for that, too. Do you understand me? Eat the food.”
Vale’s stomach jolted warningly at the idea, but he nodded. His alpha commanded so he’d do what he could. “I don’t want you going alone. What if you get lost?”
“I’ll be fine,” Jason said, grabbing a flashlight and a hat, too, a grim set to his face. “Stay here. I’ll be back.”
The door shut on Jason’s back and Vale wished he’d gotten a kiss before he’d left. What if something terrible happened? What if Jason didn’t return?
Vale sat down at the kitchen table with a bowl of soft-cooked vegetables and a plate of mashed potatoes—the only items Vale thought he could begin to stomach—and he ate it slowly as the oncoming heat swelled and released and worry ate at his heart.
CHAPTER THREE
Jason was soakedthrough, cold and miserable, and the house he’d finally located down-mountain from their cabin was empty. Not just empty of human life, but empty of anything. Whoever had lived there had moved out long ago and taken everything with him.
He turned around, helpless and frustrated, and trudged back the way he’d come. The snow had continued to dump from the sky, covering his footprints and obscuring his way. He had to pay strict attention not to miss the turns and twists he needed to take to return to the chalet. Panic held him in its grasp, and he could barely admire the beauty of the eerily bright world of white he stumbled through.
By the time he reached the driveway leading to Vale’s cabin again, his nose, feet, and hands were completely numb, and he was chilled bone-deep. As he approached, a deeper kind of chill went up his spine, and he found the energy to run ahead.
Vale was screaming.
Fuck. The heat had come on so fast. Jason had never seen anything like it. Though he’d heard rumors, of course, about older omegas having unexpected heats as they came near the end of their fertile years—especially those who’d endured rebound heats after trying heat suppressants. Urho had told him of a recent study, even, that spelled out a connection between the two. A warning that Jason really should have taken to heart. But he hadn’t. Vale always seemed so beautiful and perfect to him. He forgot most of the time that Vale was so much older.
“Baby, no, no. Oh, no,” Jason said, thrusting the door open. He found Vale already naked and shaking—torso on the sofa, knees on the floor, ass up, and the most pained scream coming from his throat. “I’m here. I’m here,” he said, tearing his clothes off, and then standing panting, dick hard and pointing straight ahead, and every nerve in his body telling him to take care of Vale, to plug him with his cock, to end his pain.
But…no, first… First, he had to think.
Think, Jason. Think.
Condoms.
He had two. Fuck. Just two. He scraped nails over his scalp, trying to focus over the violent urge in himself to put Vale’s suffering to an end. Finally, he caved, falling to his knees behind Vale and covering him with his body from behind.
“I’m here, baby. I’m here.”
“Help me. It hurts. Please.” The effort it took for Vale to say that alone was evident, and he shook all over, his entire body shaking. It was clear he’d been in pain a long time, too long. Possibly it’d started not long after Jason had left, and he’d been hurting for an hour or more now.
Fuck.
“I’ve got you. I’m going to help you, Vale. I promise.”
He swallowed hard, wishing he had packed an alpha dildo. It wouldn’t do the job long term, but it would help. But he had something else. Something that might hold Vale off for a while, long enough to make the condoms last longer than tonight. Maybe.
“Listen, baby. I’m going to need you to relax and let me in.”
