upstairs in the apartment instead of on the sidewalk.”
Dorian made a sound that was part chuckle and part growl. “Then I’ll be knocking soon.”
“Good.”
Hyatt had packed a gym bag with personal stuff yesterday in anticipation of this, so all he had to do was grab his toothbrush out of the bathroom, and then wait. Khory and Asher were out, Aeron was at work, and the place was too freaking quiet. He turned on the TV for noise and paced for a while, the ache in his gut still faint as his uterus slowly descended to connect with his anal passage. This was by far the most uncomfortable part of heat as his lower body shifted to accommodate a potential pregnancy.
The idea of getting pregnant after one deposit worried Hyatt a little, because it did happen. And if it did, he believed wholeheartedly that he and Dorian would manage just fine. It wasn’t as if they’d ever struggle financially. He couldn’t wait to give Asher and Caleb a new playmate. To give Peyton and Caleb both their first biological cousin.
Dorian must have ignored all traffic laws, because he knocked far sooner than Hyatt imagined. He still checked the peek hole to be sure his future mate stood outside. Ever since the night Khory was nearly kidnapped from this apartment, they always made sure the right person was on the other side of the door. And he was. Hyatt let him in, and Dorian crushed him to his chest, his breathing already labored.
The scent of his alpha surrounded Hyatt, and the ache inside grew stronger with his proximity to the man who would knot him in the near future. “I am so happy right now, my dear,” Dorian said. “So happy I could burst.”
With Dorian so close, and a bed not far away, Hyatt was having trouble remembering why they couldn’t just stay here. “Me too. Nervous but excited.”
Dorian tipped his head up so their eyes met. “You’re still nervous about penetration.”
“Yes.” He hadn’t been able to bear using a dildo during his first heat, relenting to only two of his own fingers, so he had no idea how a cock in his loose hole would feel. Or a knot. More than any other act, the swelling of the knot and being stuck like that for ten to fifteen minutes worried him. What if it hurt and he couldn’t make it stop?
So much love and affection shined in Dorian’s dark eyes, and it eased some of his nerves. “I’ve never done this before either, my omega. Never been with an omega in heat or swelled with a knot. I cannot fathom how such a thing feels, either for myself or for you. To mate, I only need to come inside you once. The knot is a byproduct designed to ensure pregnancy, and since we aren’t trying for a baby this heat…Hyatt, if you ask me to, I will pull out far enough that my knot swells outside you.”
That Dorian would make such a promise, when all the stories they’d both heard about knotting was how orgasmic is was for both the alpha and omega, tipped Hyatt over the edge. He was completely in love with this man. Dorian owned his whole heart, and Hyatt had never been so joyful and grateful in his life.
He pulled Dorian’s head down for a long, toe-curling kiss that left them both panting and the room full of the scent of their arousal. “Your promise means the world to me, my alpha. While yes, I’m nervous for it, I do want to try it for our mating surge. If I don’t like it, I’ll exist through it knowing you won’t knot me again, even to the detriment of your own pleasure.”
“You have my word on that.” After another kiss to seal the promise, Dorian said, “We should get going. Your scent will only heighten, and we still have two apartment buildings to walk through.”
“Ugh, good point.”
“Will it help if I promise to break the hands of anyone who tries touching you?”
“I love the sentiment, but if you get arrested for assault, who’s going to be with me for my heat?”
“Hmm. Then we should go.”
Dorian kept Hyatt tucked under one arm on the long walk to the building’s parking garage. Hyatt relaxed once they were in Dorian’s car, but tensed back up when Dorian parked near his place. Almost there. Another alpha was in the elevator car with them, but he only gave them a cursory glance, so