Glen looked at the blond standing in the doorway and a crease formed between his eyebrows. The werewolf had just remembered what happened when Eden marked him. What if he lost control and ended up claiming his mate?
He knew he could do so and everyone expected him to as he had already accepted his role as future alpha in front of the pack. However, his opinion hadn't changed. He wanted more than a bond that drew them together.
The dominant was convinced that, apart from the bond, if he let time do its work, feelings would bloom between them.
"What is it?" Eden asked, seeing the expression on his face change.
Glen snapped out of his thoughts and stared at the male omega who tilted his head in puzzlement. The alpha stepped into the cave without saying anything and turned around to face Eden who was still waiting for his answer and hadn't left the threshold.
"Can you promise me something about tonight?"
"Tonight? Tell me. Does something bother you?"
The dominant motioned for his mate to come to him and as soon as he was near, he locked him in a hug.
"I know we already talked about it, but I want to wait a bit before claiming you."
A pout formed on the young werewolf's face. Eden buried his face so that his mate couldn't see it.
"Eden?"
The interested party growled against his torso and he chuckled.
"Passing over the elephant in the middle of the room won't get us anywhere, you know?"
"I'm not! I'm getting ready because I know what you're going to tell me. When he saw that Glen kept quiet to encourage him to speak, he continued. "You want me to stop you if you lose control, right?"
"Yes. Will you do it?"
Eden freed himself and walked away before staring at his alpha. The werewolf gave him a look of the same intensity. Neither of them said a word for several minutes. Despite the calmness of his features, Glen saw a storm of emotions flashing in the blond's eyes.
He was conflicted. Still, after a sigh, Eden crossed his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes.
"Fine! I'll stop you. But you better try not to come after me too strongly. I'm not that patient."
He walked over to a shelf to retrieve the basket that contained his bathing essentials before opening his closet where he rummaged to look for clothes to wear.
The werewolf could feel Glen's eyes following his every move and knowing that made him self-conscious. He turned around when he heard a low chuckle.
"What?"
"Are you that eager to…" Glen started to talk but the male omega shut him with a glare.
"Don't finish your sentence if you don't me to throw you out this cave and come with me," the blond said as he walked towards the cave entrance.
"Where?"
Eden stopped on the threshold and pushed aside the curtain to clear the passage and turned to the alpha.
"Hot pools! You want us to fall in love so I give you some bonding time and occasion to romance me."
Glen turned to where he had left his things and retrieved some clothes and a towel before joining his mate who looked down at him as he passed him.
"You also have to make me fall for you."
"Sure," the blond retorted after a pause.
As if he knew something, Eden gave him an enigmatic smile and his golden irises shimmered as he stared at him. The Dominant's heart fluttered as he saw those gilt orbs peering at him. Flustered, Glen turned away and started walking down the hall.
In the hot, the two werewolves spent a good time talking. Wanting to take a break at least for a day, they refused to talk about the system or Light. Even though they knew that there was still everything to understand and know, none of them wanted to spoil this important day with questions and worries.
After washing, Eden sat down on his knees on a submerged stone behind his mate and squeezed a large amount of shampoo on the dominant's fur before starting to scrub with his hands. When he was satisfied with the amount of foam, he began to spread it all over Glen's back, taking care not to miss an inch.
"It's really beautiful, I never saw such fur. The balance between black," His long, clawed fingers slowly passed over the limit between the two colors, making his alpha shiver slightly in the process. "And the white… is pretty much perfect. Also your black is so deep. I'm not even sure that my father's fur is that dark and his fur was the darkest I had ever seen among the werewolves."
"It's that important?"
"Of course!" cried Eden as if the dominant had said something shocking. "I mean, the color of the fur and the intensity of the pheromones, or for an alpha, the potency of the pheromones and toxin are the two variants that determine the werewolves' hierarchy."
"Oh.. that's right, I read about it in my books, back when I was studying because I wanted to be a part of Red Creek pack. It seems so strange to me that it finally concerns me."
"I heard what Connor said that night when Elias accused him of only caring about you because he's a Skinwalker. Alpha Carter… Your father, he tried to kill you?"
"Yes," Glen replied softly. "He stabbed me and poisoned me with his toxin. He was angry because I still couldn't transform. The reaction caused my first and only shift. Well, that was before I met you.
I only survived because Laurent and Maria, Connor's parents, and my adoptive parents drove me to the Werewolves Hospital in Red Creek where they gave me an antidote." Eden heard the smile in his voice when he talked about his human family and it made him smile along, even though his heart was aching hearing the cruelty of the Red Creek Alpha.
"But that's wasn't your fault. If he had helped you and taken you to see the Soul Healers, you would have known about your curse and the threat that Light poses, much sooner."
"It's ok. I don't care. I like the way things happened because his hatred brought me a real family, a mate, and a pack that accepts me as I am. It's more than anything I could have dreamed of. "
Eden kept silent to let the alpha continue his story, his hands busy getting the fur cleaned.
Glen told him about his life with the Everetts. An uneventful daily life very different from the one a werewolf usually lived, but a life where the alpha had received enough love and affection to erase the years he had missed it.
"What… what happened to them? To your parents and your little brother?" Eden asked.
"How do you know something happened to them?"
"You talk about them in past tense... Also, you and Connor have a sad voice sometimes when you talk about your family."
Eden's hands stopped as Glen remained silent. He was afraid that he had touched on a sensitive subject and he held his breath, waiting for his mate's reaction.
"They died in a car accident right after we graduated from high school." He shrugged. "Sometimes life just happens and not the way we want it to."
They prattled for a long time while enjoying the baths. Eden chatted about him and told his mate about his, sometimes, intense relationship with his pack.
Even if his packmates had sometimes had harsh words towards him, especially when it came to the future of the pack, he had rather been sheltered by those around him. It was mostly the werewolves from the other packs that gave him a hard time. Their sometimes violent hostility and their rejection had made him live through hardships. Because of that and despite his family's attention, he never felt accepted for being him.
Nonetheless, his bond with Dante and Cherry had made him know the value of friendship and he knew that with them by his side someone would always have his back.
The young werewolf smiled as he remembered how his omega friend waged a war of silence on him when he wanted to give up his fated mate. He also thought of Connor who, in his own way, was watching over him and a warm feeling swelled in his chest.
"I'm done, you can finish on your own."
"What? You're not doing the front?"
Glen turned around and the male omega saw a defiant gleam in his eyes.
"I agreed to your conditions and told you to romance me and, yet, you test me out? Why?"
"Because it's fun!" The dominant's broad smile revealed his sharp fangs and Eden rolled his eyes before throwing the bottle of shampoo in his face.
Unfazed, Glan grabbed the bottle and squeezed the product into his palm before rubbing the white fur of his chest and abdomen while staring at Eden.
Annoyed by his attitude, the male omega pretended to get up to leave. Suddenly, he spun around throwing himself on his mate who tipped with him in the water from the stone where they had settled. They both sank and Eden was the first to float back.
Glen's head emerged from the water just as the blond, who had shifted back to his human form, hoisted himself onto the submerged stone.
He sat up and the drops of water that flowed from his hair along his back drew the dominant's attention to his curves. A lightly tanned fair skin, finely sculpted muscles that drew a silhouette that he wanted to grip between his hands, a round and firm buttocks, legs that he would like to see wrapped around his torso...
Glen gulped and sank into the water up to his nose while Eden turned his head slightly, a smirk on his lips as he notice the look on his mate's face.
"If you want me to keep my promise, don't provoke me too much." He walked away without any other words to get dressed, leaving his alpha to splash around alone.
The dominant watched his figure recede and plunged into the water. When he came back up, he had also shifted back to his human form. He hoisted himself onto the stone where he sat before looking down at his erection which he scolded.
"C'mon, why are you so easy when it comes to him?"
When night fell and the moon began to cross the sky, the omega corridor had been emptied to ensure the privacy of the couple who would finally be able to complete the ritual.
Settled down in the omega's nest, Glen faced his mate who was staring at him.
"So I just bite your neck and it's all over?"
"Yes! So do it and let's get over with it. The less we drag, the less chance there is of things going wrong."
The dominant smiled upon hearing it. He sat on his knees then moved towards the blond who tilted his head to give him free access to his neck. A strand of hair had stuck where his teeth were supposed to sink, and Glen reached out with his index finger to pull it back along with the rest of the honey-colored hair.
He couldn't help but swallow hard, and his fangs lengthened, ready to sink into the tender flesh. Eden's heartbeat filled his ears, and he noticed the slight blush on his cheeks before his mouth shrank the last distance.
Glen opened his mouth and paused before his teeth pierced the skin. He had planned to remove them immediately but as soon as they were planted in the flesh, he felt his mind become cloudy. The next moment Eden understood that what they had planned wouldn't be so easy to do when the sweet and inciting smell with cocoa notes tickled his nostrils.
Wanting to keep his word, he placed his hands on his mate's shoulders to push him away, but the alpha's body didn't move an inch and he felt the fangs sink deeper into his skin. Eden winced because of the pain.
"Gleen. If you do it any harder, you'll end up claim…"
As if he had heard his words, the dominant's fangs pulled away from his neck, but he didn't back down. The younger werewolf was pushed onto his nest by his alpha, whose pheromones were starting to bolt.
Glen's tongue slid over the spot he had just bitten as if to make amends for his aggressiveness before showering kisses down his neck to the line of his collar.
Without warning, he sat up, and, just as Eden thought he was back to his usual self again, the intoxicating scent intensified to the point that the omega's body began to quiver with excitement, unable to resist.
Panting, his arms and the rest of his body had lost all strength. Eden opened his eyelids and looked at the dominant whose gaze was devouring him. Glen's hand slipped under his t-shirt and Eden heard the sound of the fabric being torn apart. When he looked down at his chest, he saw the index finger of the dominant moving down to the bottom of the clothing after he planted his claw to lacerate it.
"I told you to…don't provoke me." Eden's breath was heavy. He didn't even have the strength to glare at his mate who had cleared his goal and found a new center of interest when his hand which was near Eden's hips had spotted a bulge.
The omega was ready to protest, but he had barely opened his mouth when Glen grabbed his hips to lift them and yanked the sweatpants down to half his thighs.
After removing the garment despite his mate's weak cries of protests, Glen stared hungrily at the cock proudly erected before his eyes. With the tip of his index finger, he traced the line just below his navel, between his abs and pubis. His own lips parted, as a warm breath escaped and he bent down.
He grabbed Eden's cock with one hand and his lips kissed the tip, where a drop of pre-cum liquid had already formed. A long trail of saliva slid down the shaft as Eden's hands tried to push away the head of his alpha who, gently but firmly, grabbed his wrists and moved them so that the blond's hands were on top of his head.
Eden straightened his chest to see what his mate was doing and immediately regretted his decision. The vision, as erotic as it was devastating, of the dominant's mouth filled with his bulging dick, led to a new rush of blood to his groin.
Glen looked up at him with medium-ocean green eyes that seemed to glow and his mouth opened to engulf the tip. When he thought things couldn't have been worse, Glen pressed his hands over Eden's and the movement brought the alpha's mouth down to the base.
"Ahh!"
A primal moan left the lips of the Sub who knew that if he didn't stop things now, he could kiss his promise goodbye.
Head dizzy, he tried to free his hands even though his instincts were begging him to drown in the wave of pleasure that was overwhelming his senses. A certain place was starting to throb, crying out for the dominant to take care of it.
When after sucking out a bit of his soul along with a good amount of pre-cum, Glen's face pulled away. When Eden felt his tongue caress the ultra-sensitive area between his testicles and his hole, Eden's body wiggled his way out of the sweet sensation.
His sudden spirt surprised the alpha who moved away and the omega took his chance. The blond knocked him down to exchange their positions.
"Please stop now or the next time you try, I won't put a fight! It's too much!"
Straddling his mate now, Eden had clapped his hands on his chest to force him to calm down. He saw the glim in the alpha's eyes lose intensity as the cocoa scent grew weaker.
When Glen passed out, exhausted from the blast of pheromones, the blond slid to the side and rolled onto his back. His penis was still ultra-sensitive from the stimulation and his whole body was crying out for relief.