Page 104 of Omega's Flight
"Still early. I said I'd wake you." Lines of tension started to form around Raleigh's eyes, like he was watching Cas, waiting for him to blow up. That's what Degan would have done, if he'd read the spaces in the stories right.
"Yeah, okay. I'm a little slow to get going on—" How many hours of sleep? Not enough. "—short sleep."
"I shouldn't have asked you to stay." Raleigh moved closer and laid his head against Cas's shoulder, dark eyes peering up at him.
"Why? I enjoyed it. I just don't like waking up." Cas had to twist his head at an uncomfortable angle to kiss Raleigh's forehead, but he managed it, though he thought he might have pulled something in the process. Getting to be an old wolf. "Okay, I'm up now." How to get out of bed without making a big thing of the raging hard-on he had was another question. Not that he thought it would embarrass Raleigh, but that he worried Raleigh would insist he should do something about it and Cas had already decided he wanted all of Raleigh, not just his willingness. "You getting up?"
Raleigh nodded. "I'll get breakfast started and maybe lie down on the couch until the pups get up." He didn't move though, still perched on Cas's shoulder. "This is nice."
It was still a surprise to Cas, but Raleigh was right. "Yeah." He started to move, but Raleigh shifted closer, one leg sliding up and over Cas's until Cas was worried it would hit that tell-tale stiffness.
Then Raleigh sighed and his body went limp. "I thought, for a moment..." He made a frustrated sound and pressed his forehead against Cas's shoulder, but then put his head back where it had been, a thoughtful look on his face. "Bram said..." he began in a meditative tone, but the sentence stopped there.
After a few moments, Cas asked, "What did Bram say?"
"It makes sense." Raleigh sat up, a cold draft sneaking in to take his place against Cas's side. "He said he thought it was all about proximity. That the mating bond lasts as long as you're having sex with your mate and there isn't another eligible alpha around."
"Am I eligible?"
Raleigh tipped his head to one side and looked thoughtful. He pursed his lips and nodded, then slanted an amused glance in Cas's direction. "Hormones say yes, if you keep doing what you're doing. But we're not there yet."
"So what is it that the hormones want me to do?" He stretched out a hand to rub Raleigh's back.
Raleigh sighed and leaned back into Cas's caress. "Oh, don't stop, that feels marvellous." He was almost swaying where he sat, like his muscles were turning to rubber. Cas tucked the knowledge away in his mental folder for future use and expanded his efforts to coax Raleigh back down into the pillows.
A thump sounded in the room next door. Raleigh stiffened and Cas sat up. They stared at each other, appalled, then Cas scrambled for his clothes, bundling them all up with no care for the ardent display his cock was giving as he bolted for the window and tossed them out onto the grass. The first rays of the sun glowed over the top of the wall, setting the silver bars ablaze. He couldn't help laughing as he tried to climb out and Raleigh tried to help him out. He hadn't done anything this ridiculous since the middle of his third year of undergrad—he'd forgotten how silly love made people.
The ground was wet with dew when he landed on it, but the sight of Raleigh's worried face in the window made it a non-issue. "I'm fine," he said and jumped up to snatch another kiss from Raleigh's lips, so inviting in the morning sun. "Go look after your pups!"
"I'm sorry," Raleigh said and stole a kiss of his own before disappearing into the shadowy depths of the house.
Cas grinned and bent to pick up his clothes. Best to get dressed before he headed off into the more populated areas, though, so he was hopping around on one leg, trying to force his jeans up his damp legs, when he noticed he had an audience. He stopped, and promptly fell over. "Good morning," he said weakly to the beta watching him a little too closely.
"Morning," the beta said. His eyes narrowed as he made the connection between Cas naked on the ground and Raleigh's bedroom window.
"We haven't told the pups yet," Cas said, though even to his own ears it sounded like a weak excuse. "He's a little nervous."
The beta gave him an assessing look, then his eyes flew open. "You were there, that day we arrived. Inside the gate when I came in,” he exclaimed. "I've forgotten your name." He came forward and held out a hand to help Cas up.
"Hold on. I'd rather have this conversation with my pants on," Cas told him. He forced the jeans up his legs—giving himself a rugburn in the process, he was certain—then accepted the beta's help to stand. "Thanks." He dragged his t-shirt on over his head and shoved his feet into his sneakers. Socks and underwear went into his back pockets, and he felt his cheeks burn as he tried to maintain the casual posture. He glanced back toward the house just as Raleigh poked his head out the window.
“Pip knocked the book off her bedside table. They're all still asleep." His expression was sheepish until he noticed Cas's companion. "Oh, Lysoonka!" He sounded appalled.
Cas laughed and leaned in for a quick kiss. "It's okay."
"Not the way I wanted to introduce you to my new neighbors," Raleigh said sarcastically. He looked past Cas's shoulders. "Hi, Pat, is Ori up yet? I brought you two back some food from the mating last night."
"Oh, I—thank you!" The beta—far younger than Cas has originally guessed—stammered.
"Let me get dressed," Raleigh said and reached out to stroke a finger down Cas's arm. "Now that the guilty evidence is outside the house, you going to stick around until the pups wake up or are you going to go home and go back to bed?"
"I'll stick around," Cas said, then was overtaken by a gigantic yawn. "For a bit," he added, and smiled back at Raleigh's snort of laughter. "At least, I'll help carry the food over, then I probably should get some sleep."
"All right." Raleigh pulled his head back inside and closed the window.
Cas was tempted to hang around and watch through the window, but he was being observed, so probably better—at the very least, politer—to walk around to the back of the house with the new pack member. "Come on, we'll go in the back door." He started walking down the narrow alley between the houses. A few moments later he heard the crunch of sneakers on rock and mostly-dead grass as the beta followed him. "Patton, right?" Cas asked.
"Yes, sir," Patton answered. "And my mate, that's Ori. And Willie Rose is our daughter."
