Gods, Dale wanted to say yes to him.
Except Greg Hastings was his student. And Dale was an omega who had been discarded, who had no use to an alpha.
He was infertile, and he’d been divorced for it.
“You know I need you around,” Dale said, giving June his most pathetic look. He didn’t know how else to decline Greg. Not when his own self-control was nonexistent.
June pushed her lips into a pout. “Come on, Dale, you can borrow another alpha’s scent. There’s plenty around here. About fifty on the campus field right now.”
“Most of whom would sue me for an inappropriate proposition.” Dale winced. He had no desire to deal with students, or his fellow professors. Which omega would ask a random alpha to mark them? It would invite trouble, or rumors, and Dale was far too close to tenure to risk it.
He looked at his screen again. June followed his gaze, grinning. “Basketball newsletter just got in?”
His cheeks burned. “I wish I’d never told you.”
“You’re glad you did,” June said, wandering around his desk. “Come on, let’s see it. I passed by Greg one floor down.”
Greg was here? Dale’s stomach flipped. He didn’t need to be distracted, especially not with Greg hovering so close. “Did he say anything?”
“Nope. Just stared at me like he was jealous. He’s one hundred percent possessive, I’ll tell you that.” June stopped by him in a rush of birch, scooping up the mouse. Then she scrolled up the email, back to the photo of Greg on the court. She whistled.
Dale stared at Greg’s biceps, his fierce gaze, and a slow heat burned down his body.
“You know, you should just tell him. He’d be the first to mark you. Take your virginity and all that.”
Dale frowned. “I’m not a virgin! And I can’t believe you’re saying that to me.”
“You know what I mean. Greg would probably time-travel just to have your untouched butt.” June laughed, bumping Dale’s shoulder with her hip. “Let him mark you. It’ll be a win-win situation, right? He wants you. You want him. Better still if he marks you in bed.”
“His dad’s the college president, June. Bernard will fire me before sunset.”
“You want Greg’s knot.”
Dale stared up at June, his cock twitching, his face scorching with the heat of ten thousand suns. “You did not just say that.”
“Yes, I did.” June winked. “Should I tell him?”
“No!” Dale covered his eyes. Greg knowing what he wanted? That would be the worst day of Dale’s career. Probably the day he locked himself up forever. “Oh, gods, no. It would be a train wreck if he found out.”
“So start thinking up some new plans. Because I’m taking Cher up north to Oregon and asking her to marry me. And you owe me enough to let me go on this sabbatical.”
Dale groaned, planting his face on his desk. Three times a week, before he went to his classes, June brushed her wrists over his face, marking him with her alpha scent. No one questioned it. The students who frequented his lab thought he and June were a thing, but June was a post-doc, and aiming for an Assistant Professor status.
Perfectly safe, compared to any connection with Greg.
June patted Dale on the shoulder, looking kindly down at him. “He’ll find out sooner or later, you know. I heard he’ll be staying on in Chem. You’ll have him for the next two years.”
Two years of Greg asking him out, his eyes promising sex? Dale groaned, his pants tight. “I need to look for some birch perfume,” he muttered. “Just to get through next week. Thanks for copping out right before my heat starts.”
June sighed. “I’m really sorry. I mean, I would’ve stayed, but this trip is important to me.”
“I know.” Dale didn’t have the heart to say no. June had been with her girlfriend nearly five years, and he’d listened to her through the ups and downs of their relationship. “Fine, take the two weeks off. I’ll deal with this.”
“Really?” June’s voice lifted, and Dale glanced at her from the corner of his eye. She squirmed excitedly. “I already have the rings, you know.”
She pulled them out of her pocket, two silvery bands that glinted in the light. They were sleek, smooth like satin, and Dale’s heart ached with yearning. He had had a ring, nineteen years ago. Then his alpha had wanted it back, and he’d left Dale alone and mateless, his clothes shoved into a suitcase by the door.
Dale smiled weakly, standing to give June a hug. “Go grab that vacation—you deserve it. And I’m sure Cher would love to be your bondmate. You’ll make a really happy couple.”
She hugged him back, leaving a faint whiff of birch on his clothes. She was taller than him by an inch, more muscular, whereas he was thin, weak for his age. “Thanks so much, Dale. I’m just hoping she’ll feel better, you know? Her job’s the one thing she was really proud of.”
I know that feeling. He patted June’s shoulder, looking down at the photo on his laptop screen.
Greg Hastings, the star of the court. The college president’s son. The only person who had asked, Want to grab some coffee with me? as though none of Dale’s past mattered. As though it was okay for him to be infertile, for him to be a waste of my time. Charles had said that, and Dale had believed it. And Greg knew about none of that.
If there was an alpha Dale wanted, it was Greg.
And more than anything, Dale wished he was younger. That he was fertile. So he wouldn’t be a pervert, hiding behind his screen, jerking off to pictures of Greg.
Who else wanted him that way? No one. If Dale ever said yes to Greg, he could lose his chance at tenure, and it would be ten years of wasted effort.
“It’ll be okay,” June whispered in his ear. “You’ll get through your heat just fine.”
Dale watched
