“Gonna be mine?” Greg whispered, licking over his pulse point. Dale’s pulse beat beneath his tongue. Then Greg dragged his teeth over the bonding scar from Dale’s ex, possessiveness roaring through his gut.
He needed to mark Dale. Make Dale his.
“Yes,” Dale said, rocking back against him, his fingers squeezing tight around Greg’s. “Mark me everywhere. I’m yours.”
Greg bit down hard over the bonding mark, sinking his teeth into soft skin. Dale arched off the sheets, clenching around Greg, his cock jerking.
“M-more,” he panted, his chest heaving.
So Greg brought Dale’s other wrist to his lips, thrusting deep, licking over where the hibiscus scent was strongest. “Yeah?”
“Yes!”
He bit into Dale’s unmarked scent gland, and Dale jerked again, whimpering, his cock a dark red, his body gleaming with sweat. When he could speak again, Dale’s eyes were glazed, his limbs trembling, his balls drawn up tight. The bites on his wrists welled with crimson blood, along the curve of Greg’s teeth marks, and Greg’s heart swelled.
“Last one?”
“Yes,” Dale whimpered, slipping his hand against Greg’s nape, pulling him close, until Greg’s lips pressed against his throat. Greg sucked along his skin, his tongue swirling against Dale’s pulse. Dale writhed.
Greg found his scent gland easily. They’d been in this exact position back in his apartment, when his dad had found them. Except Greg would not let his father get in the way again, would not let his fears cripple him. He wanted Dale to be his.
Dale grasped Greg’s forearm, bringing it up to his panting lips. Greg pulled back to watch him. Dale’s tongue dragged against Greg’s wrist, soft and wet, right over his scent gland, and Greg knew this was no mistake. Not when Dale’s teeth scraped over his skin, his eyes dark with desire and resolve.
“Mark me,” Greg whispered, thrusting deep into Dale, his balls heavy with cum. “I’m gonna fill you up. Make you mine.”
Dale groaned, biting down hard. Pain and pleasure jolted through Greg’s nerves, down his spine, all the way to his cock. Dale was marking him as his own. Greg fucked in deep, sinking home. And Dale took his other wrist, his teeth dragging over Greg’s scent gland.
Dale finally wanted him, and that thought was heady in itself, sending so much blood to Greg’s cock he couldn’t think.
“Gods, I’m gonna come,” Greg panted, reeling with the bite, with the pleasure, with his belonging to Dale.
“Come inside me,” Dale rasped, biting down hard on Greg’s other wrist. Pleasure sluiced through his body, down to his cock, and Greg snarled, so hard it hurt. He leaned in, finding Dale’s scent gland, licking over it. His cock pulsed. Dale found Greg’s scent gland, his lips hot on Greg’s neck, his teeth pressing sharp indents into Greg’s skin.
Greg bit down hard, burying his cock inside his omega. Dale shuddered beneath him, crying out, his teeth sinking sharp into Greg’s scent gland. And pleasure seared through Greg’s nerves, ripped his release so hard through him that he was coming, his vision blanking out, waves and waves and waves of pleasure bursting through his body.
Faintly, he felt the damp warmth of Dale’s cum on his abdomen. It took Greg a while to process that, then another moment to realize that they’d marked each other, that Dale wasn’t going away, wasn’t going to leave him anymore.
“You’re really staying?” Greg mumbled, his voice weak, his body trembling around Dale’s.
“Yes,” Dale whispered, his arms slipping around Greg’s waist. “I’m all yours.”
Greg sighed, relief washing through him. He leaned to the side to avoid crushing their baby, turning Dale to face him. As his knot grew inside Dale, Greg slid his thigh between Dale’s, holding him close.
He hadn’t done this in months, just watching his omega from inches away.
When Dale had left, Greg had realized that he’d taken their two months together for granted, until Dale was suddenly no longer by his side. Then he’d regretted it, wishing he could’ve had his omega back. Just touching Dale’s skin was special, and Greg didn’t know how much he’d missed it until he slid his arm around Dale’s waist, pulling him close.
Dale smelled like hibiscus and honey, like Greg’s, and holding him was like coming home.
“I’m just glad to have you back,” Greg murmured, tracing the new mark on Dale’s neck, where his own bite had written over Charles’. Dale was his. Dale had agreed to be his, he had marked Greg, and this had gone beyond Greg’s wildest dreams. “Gods, I missed you so much.”
Dale tucked his head beneath Greg’s chin, his fingers tracing faint lines along Greg’s side. “Same here. I shouldn’t have left you in the first place.”
“There’s no point regretting that now.” Greg scooped him close, running his fingers through Dale’s sweat-dampened hair. “But I’m really sorry about your tenure. I tried everything I could to get you your job back.”
Dale chuckled against him, pressing a kiss to his chest. “Thank you. I’ve made peace with it.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I realized there was no point in me pursuing tenure, not anymore. It was a way for me to find value in myself. A goal to work toward, you know? But I have different goals now. I have our baby. I have you. And I have a job—I don’t need to be a professor anymore.”
Greg mulled over his words, the guilt in his chest easing a little. “Okay. I’ll remember that.”
They held each other, Greg lulled into a doze, his omega safe in his arms.
He was woken by a faint buzzing noise—his phone?
When he pulled away, Dale made a soft sound of protest. This, too, was something precious, when Greg had missed Dale, missed every bit of their relationship. “I’ll be back,” he said, slipping out of Dale’s body. Sometime while they’d napped, his
