Helovedhim.
“You’re free, pet,” Crawford granted as he set the humbler on the nightstand. “Relax.”
Owen slumped onto the bed. He was cold. The room wasn’t any different than before, but it felt like Crawford had thrown open the windows in the middle of winter. Owen didn’t have the strength to pull the covers up. He couldn’t even keep hiseyesopen.
“You did so well.” Crawford sank into bed next to him, wrapping Owen up in a robe that bore Crawford’s scent before he pulled the covers over their bodies. He tugged Owen close, and Owen found the strength to press himself against Crawford’s chest. All he wanted was to be close. Now that the torture was over, he was hollow. Crawford dulled some of that loss. “What are youfeeling?”
“Cold,” Owen whispered. He could barely bring himself to speak. “Weak.Wonderful.”
“Good boy.” Crawford kissed his forehead and stroked his hair. “It’s never easy to come down after something like that. Chocolate will help. Do youwantsome?”
“No.” Owen couldn’t bear the thought of being alone in the bed without Crawford there to hold him. “All I want is to be here with you. All I want is to make youhappy.”
“You’ve made meveryhappy,” Crawford promised. His erection pressed against Owen’s thigh, untended to, and Owen wished he had the strength to address it. “You did such agoodjob.”
All Owen could do was cling to him and revel in the way Crawford’s praise madehimfeel.
“I love you, Crawford,” Owen whispered. Never had he meantitmore.
“And I love you, Owen,” Crawfordwhisperedback.
Notpet.
Owen.
Owen would gladly suffer the agony of the humbler a thousand times more just to hear those wordsagain.
19
Crawford
Owen still hadn’t goneintoheat.
Six months bled into seven, and by that time, Crawford was beginning to grow nervous. Omega males were fertile twice a year, and Owen was long overdue. If it hadn’t been for the fact that they used condoms every time they had sex, Crawford would have been sure he was already pregnant, but they were alwayscareful.
Owen’s lack of concern for his missing heat wasunusual.
“Pet?” Crawford asked one Saturday morning as they curled up together on thecouch.
“Mm?” Owen lifted his head, glowing from the orgasm Crawford had worked out of him not fifteen minutesbefore.
“I’m worried. I’d like to bring you in to see thedoctor.”
The glow faded into nothing. Owen drew his lips together and pulled back from Crawford’s chest. It was like a wall had gone up between them, like they were back to the first few days of their acquaintanceship when Owen had insisted he didn’t have fun with alphas. “Forwhat?”
It wasn’t like Crawford to be afraid to speak his mind. The business deals he orchestrated and the investments he made required straightforward communication and boldness—but Owen wasn’t a business deal. Owen was his pet and his lover, and Crawford was beginning to think that soon, he might be even more. It had been six months and Crawford was still smitten. His mother hadn’t spent half as long wooing and seducing his father, and Crawford thought that it was about time he take his relationship with Owen to the nextlevel.
Owen was wonderful. Crawford didn’t want anyone else. If Owen was sick, Crawford was determined to take careofhim.
“It’s been six months, pet,” Crawford said. He kissed Owen to ease any potential panic. “Seven, really, if you count the day we ran into each other on the stairs.You’relate.”
“Oh.” Owen frowned and looked away dismissively. “I wouldn’t worryaboutit.”
“Are you suppressing?” Crawford asked. There were medications that diminished the intensity of an omega’s heat, but even the most effective ones didn’t entirely eliminate the scent of heightened fertility. Then again, Owenalwayssmelled sweet, like his heat was just around the corner. The tell was so faint it was easily masked by his cologne, but Crawford tasted it on his lips and even inOwen’scum.
“No.” Owen wouldn’t look at him. “Listen, it’s… can we pleasedropit?”
“No.” Crawford wasn’t going to let it slip by. Owen’s fertility was a shared concern. If Crawford woke up one morning to find Owen out of his mind with heat, the room saturated in his pheromones, there was no guarantee Crawford would have the mental faculties to put on a condom, let alone leave the room. He wasn’t ready to be a father. “I need to know. If it’s a matter of money, you can stop worrying. I’ll pay for any medical expenses. I’ll cover the cost of any medication. All I want is to make sure that you’rehealthy.”
