A Cowboy for Caleb (Great Plains Shifters Book 1) Read online

  At least Dustin could give him that. He wasn’t equipped to give him anything he actually deserved, like a decent mate or an Alpha with the integrity to insist on waiting, but he could care for his physical needs, if nothing else. He took his time getting to know Caleb’s body with his hands, then his mouth, tasting the omega’s heat-flushed skin. He took extra care with the fading scar along his lower abdomen, noting the way the omega flinched, as if it bothered him. Lingering at Caleb’s neck proved dangerous, so he moved his attention down again, stroking the smooth contours of the omega’s sides as he traveled to the patch of hair below his navel.

  Caleb was already hard for him and the sight was enough to weaken what little was left of the Alpha’s resolve. He took the omega’s shaft into his mouth and laved until Caleb was panting, his nails digging into Dustin’s hair. The Alpha worked a finger into his hole to prepare him, stroking gently even though Caleb’s bucking hips made it obvious that he wanted more.

  As Dustin stroked his mate’s prostate, the whimpers that intimate touch elicited were music to his ears. Caleb’s cum filled his mouth, sweet and succulent, intensifying his arousal even further.

  By the time he rose to settle back on top of Caleb, his shaft was pulsing with need. He buried himself in the omega’s tight hole and even though Caleb clenched hard around him, his arousal made it clear he was more than ready to mate.

  Dustin’s tongue slipped past Caleb’s smooth lips as he dove deeper into the omega, making their bodies one. He’d never made love with such simultaneous abandon and care. Caleb’s pleasure was his own and as he wound his fingers in the omega’s soft brown locks, he knew that there was no turning back. What they were doing was wrong, but denying what he felt for Caleb had never been a possibility. Not forever. Certainly not if he couldn’t even make it past the omega’s first heat under his own roof.

  Dustin bit down hard on his bottom lip, hoping the pain would keep his knot at bay. Caleb had other ideas, bucking until they were perfectly sealed together with Dustin’s knot locking him in at the base. Despite the fact that he obviously wanted it so desperately, the sudden filling made Caleb whimper and he buried his face in Dustin’s neck. Dustin stroked his neck to soothe him and held him close. The slight change in position turned Caleb’s pained whimpers into silken sounds of pleasure and as Dustin finally came, so did he.

  Neither of them said a word while they were locked together. To do so would certainly mean the end of the fantasy that the beauty of what they’d shared could somehow erase the treachery of it. They both knew what was coming, but for the remainder of the night, all Dustin wanted to do was pretend it could be like this forever.

  Chapter 12

  CALEB

  When Caleb woke, Dustin was watching him and from the far-off look in his eyes, Caleb got the feeling he’d been like that for some time. The omega sat up slowly. He was still sore, but the maddening achiness and heat were gone. Guilt had settled perfectly in their place, but he couldn’t bring himself to regret what had happened.

  He could perhaps regret how it had happened. Certainly when it had happened, but making love to Dustin just wasn’t something Caleb’s heart could categorize as wrong even if he knew it was in every other sense. They had both needed it so badly. They’d needed the comfort, the warmth, the intimacy of contact with someone who understood the pain that only they shared.

  Even if it hadn’t been for the strong attraction Caleb had felt for the Alpha since long before he wanted to admit, he knew that falling for Dustin would only have been a matter of time.

  “How’d you sleep?” Dustin asked quietly.

  “Fine,” Caleb said, running a hand over his face. The truth was, he’d slept better than fine. For the first time since he’d come to the Meadowlands Pack, he’d slept in peace and without the nightmares that so often plagued him whether he was awake or asleep. “You?”

  “Not much,” Dustin murmured.

  Caleb watched him fearfully. He could tell the Alpha was thinking, and that couldn’t mean anything good, if only because Dustin was good. Too good for Caleb, certainly too good to accept what they’d done without questioning it.

  “Are you sure you’re alright?” Dustin asked, taking his hand. That touch soothed Caleb’s fears in ways that terrified him. Losing Alec had taken such a toll on him, even though their love had formed gradually over time. Could he ever find a way to survive if Dustin turned away from him when the Alpha already had such an impact on him?

  “I will be, when I know what you’re thinking,” Caleb admitted, pulling the sheet up over his lap as he sat up.

  “I’m thinking I should regret what we did last night, but all I can do is be afraid that you regret it.”

  Caleb watched him, fascinated. It was the first time he’d seen a trace of vulnerability in this mountain of a man, but Dustin didn’t seem any weaker as a result of it. Caleb couldn’t resist reaching out to touch the scruff on the Alpha’s jaw. It became him. “Maybe I should, but I don’t,” he murmured. “What does this mean?”

  Dustin shook his head, a thoughtful sadness in his gaze. “I don’t know. For the life of me, Caleb, I just don’t know.”

  The pounding at the bedroom door made Caleb jolt. He pulled the sheets up to his chest and his heart raced in panic as he and Dustin stared at each other.

  “Who is it?” the Alpha demanded.

  “It’s your mother.” Noreen’s voice was muffled but shrill.

  Caleb’s heart sank. She wasn’t supposed to be back until the afternoon. Leave it to Noreen to end what had been one of the best nights in his life.

  “Shit,” Dustin muttered. He grabbed his jeans off the floor and dressed hastily. Caleb quickly pulled on the Alpha’s T-Shirt and watched as Dustin cracked the door. “What is it?”

  “There’s some Alpha here from another pack, and he’s furious. Your betas tried to keep him out, but they just charged in and you obviously don’t have your phone on.”

  “My phone is right—” Dustin broke off, reaching into his empty back pocket. “Dammit. Where are they now?”

  “Downstairs,” she replied in a huff.

  “I’ll be down in a minute,” Dustin said, shutting the door. He cast Caleb an apologetic look and pulled on a shirt. “I’m sorry. I have to take care of this, but please, stay here. I want to finish talking about this when I get back.”

  Caleb gave him a noncommittal smile. When Dustin left the room, he pulled on the rest of his clothes and went out into the hall only to find himself face-to-face with Noreen. The other omega’s arms were folded and her eyes were as cold as ice as she watched Caleb like a rat had just scurried out of her son’s room.

  “My, don’t you work fast?”

  Caleb swallowed hard. “Mrs. Andrews, I —“

  “Don’t think you’ve won, dear. There’s a long way between a man’s bed and his heart,” she said in a sharp tone.

  “I know what you think of me,” Caleb said, struggling to keep eye contact with the older omega. “But I’m not your enemy, Noreen. This wasn’t planned. I never wanted to feel this way about Dustin, it just happened.”

  “Oh, I’m sure it did,” she sneered. “The way you ‘just happened’ to get into those men’s cars on Rose Street? That is where they picked you up, isn’t it?” she asked innocently. “

  Caleb froze. So she did know.

  “I’m assuming Dustin doesn’t know, judging from the look on your face,” she mused. “I wonder, do you think he’d feel the same way about you if he knew he was sleeping with a common whore?”

  Caleb’s eyes burned with tears once more. How easily they came in Noreen’s presence. “Why do you hate me so much?”

  “Because you’re not good enough. Not for Alec, not for Dustin, not for his family,” she said with a shrug. “I won’t have my line corrupted by the likes of you.”

  “What do you want, then?” he asked shakily. “You want me gone?”

  “I know my son. He’d take too much pity on you to throw yo
u back out onto the streets where you belong, even if he did know the truth.” She sighed contemptuously. “He’s already lost his brother. I can’t bear to shame him with the realization that they both fell for someone like you. If you care about him half as much as you pretend, then you’ll have some dignity. Tell him it was a mistake, that you feel just awful about betraying Alec and that it can’t happen again.”

  “And if I don’t?” Caleb gritted out. “If I tell him the truth?”

  Noreen’s smug expression took on a coldness that chilled Caleb to the bone. “Your little friend, Ariel? Let’s just say that there are options her arranged mate’s family has when it comes to getting what they want, and if you don’t stay away from my son, I’m going to make sure they know about them.”

  Caleb’s eyes widened. “You’re bluffing. She claimed sanctuary, they can’t take her.”

  “Not her, perhaps,” Noreen sang. “Tell me, did you know that some omegas are born with the gift to sense when another is pregnant? Even during the earliest stages.”

  “If that’s true, if Ariel is pregnant, then the baby belongs to her mate, not to the Smiths,” Caleb insisted.

  “Not true, according to the contract she signed with Futurus. It doesn’t specify that the baby has to be their son’s biological child.”

  “You’re a horrible woman,” Caleb seethed. He’d never said such harsh words to anyone, and certainly hadn’t imagined he would be saying them to his mother-in-law, but Noreen had a way of bringing out the worst in people.

  She smirked. “Think what you like, darling. At least I had the self-respect to wait for a mating mark before I opened my legs to an Alpha for his money.”

  Caleb watched in disgust as Noreen walked back down the hall. Her words echoed in his ears long after she was gone. He rushed down the hall, pounding on Ariel’s door.

  He had to know. If he was going to give in to Noreen’s threats and break things off with Dustin before they’d even begun, he had to know it was for a reason.

  When Ariel answered, her face was as pale as a ghost even though she wasn’t wearing her usual makeup. She looked like she hadn’t slept well at all the night before. “Is it true?” she asked shakily. “Are Bradley’s parents downstairs? Are they coming to take me back?”

  “It’s alright,” Caleb said, reaching to steady her. “They’re here, but Dustin’s not going to let them take you anywhere, I promise.”

  Ariel let out a choked sob and collapsed on the edge of her bed. “I can’t believe this is happening right now.”

  “Why right now?” Caleb asked, afraid of the answer.

  Ariel hesitated, looking up at Caleb. “I wasn’t feeling well, so I took a test yesterday,” she sniffed. “That’s why Zander took me to the doctor. I’m pregnant.”

  Caleb’s heart sank. He was happy for Ariel, despite the awful circumstances of her finding out she was pregnant. She was having a baby with the Alpha she loved, and he wished nothing more for her than to feel the joy he’d felt upon learning he was pregnant with Alec’s baby, but her announcement meant that Noreen hadn’t been bluffing. He also knew better than to think that the woman would show any mercy to either of them if she didn’t get her way.

  “What’s wrong?” Ariel asked with a nervous laugh. “I’m the one who should be freaked out here.”

  “Don’t be,” Caleb said, quiet resolution coming over him. “Dustin won’t let them take you. He’ll have you back with your mate before they can even find out about the baby, you’ll see.”

  “Do you think they’d try to take it?” she asked in a panic, pressing her hand to her flat stomach.

  Caleb shook his head. “I wouldn’t put anything past some people, Ariel. But it doesn’t matter. As long as you’re here, you’re safe.”

  And as long as he kept his mouth shut and denied his heart the very thing that had brought him comfort for the first time since Alec’s death, she would be.

  Chapter 13

  DUSTIN

  After escorting the pompous Alpha the Smith family had sent over off his territory and instructing his guards that they were to shoot him on sight if he returned and crossed the pack line again, Dustin returned home more fired up than he’d been in years.

  He knew the low birth rates had sent most packs into a panic, but it seemed that common sense was becoming rarer by the day. He’d taken pride in keeping to himself for years, as his father and grandfather had before him. It was the unofficial pack policy, but now that he had random Alphas showing up, scaring his packmates and demanding omegas they had no damn right to? Now, it was personal.

  He wasn’t sure if the anti-Futurus movement was still active, but if it was, he was going to sign on the dotted line for the first person who offered him a clipboard. The timing of it was just perfect, too. He could only hope that Caleb would still be willing to continue their discussion where they’d left off.

  Instead of finding the omega in the bedroom where he’d left him, Dustin couldn’t find Caleb at all even after he’d searched the entire house. He was starting to get worried when Caleb still wasn’t home by sundown. The knowledge that he should respect the omega’s need for space warred with his need to protect his mate and the latter was going to win out anyway, so he set out to search the pack.

  When Dustin finally did find Caleb by the riverside, his heart sank. One look at the omega’s guarded posture and he knew that even though it had only been a few hours since they’d seen each other, so much had changed between them.

  “Caleb?” he asked gently, moving to the omega’s side. “Are you alright?”

  “I’m just thinking,” Caleb said without looking up. He plucked a few blades of grass at his side and sprinkled them into the slow-moving water.

  “About what?” Dustin asked, afraid of the answer as he sat next to Caleb. When the omega finally turned to face him, his eyes were bloodshot even though he was no longer crying. The only thing that kept Dustin from pulling him into his arms to comfort him was the intentional distance he felt Caleb had put between them.

  “What we did was wrong, Dustin,” Caleb said, calm yet resolute. “It was a betrayal.”

  Dustin swallowed hard. He’d expected this. He’d known it was coming, and he knew Caleb was right, but that didn’t make those words on his omega’s lips any less painful to hear. “I know that, but it doesn’t mean it wasn’t real. It doesn’t mean we can’t find a way to move forward, together.”

  “Yes, it does.” The anger in Caleb’s voice took Dustin by surprise. He wasn’t offended, but he was worried. He’d never seen Caleb like this. “There’s no future for us, Dustin.”

  Dustin knew he had to tell Caleb the truth. It was now or never, but the words that came out instead were only half of it. “I love you, Caleb.”

  The omega stared at him, shock plastered on his face. For a while, Dustin worried he’d gone into shock. That the idea of being loved by him was just that awful. “You…what?”

  “I didn’t want to tell you before. I wanted to give you time,” he admitted. “But the way I feel about you isn’t going to change. It’s not something either of us can fight.”

  “You shouldn’t have told me.” Tears slipped down the omega’s cheeks. “I wish you hadn’t told me.”

  Dustin had never imagined words could hurt quite so physically. He swallowed the lump in his throat. “I’m sorry. If this is because what happened last night was too soon—”

  “It’s not last night,” Caleb said, standing. “It’s all of this. It can’t happen again, whether you think you love me or not. I’m not the person you think I am, and it just… it just can’t happen.”

  “Caleb, wait,” Dustin called as the omega took off running. At least he was going back in the direction of the house.

  Somehow, Dustin knew that didn’t mean he was any closer.

  Chapter 14

  CALEB

  Caleb spent the next few days in his room, both because he couldn’t stop crying and because he couldn’t bring himself
to face Dustin. The idea of the Alpha turning on him because of his past was one thing. He could handle that. As much as it would hurt, he would find a way to live with it, but knowing that another omega might have her baby taken away because he was too selfish to do what he should have done from the very beginning? He might have betrayed Alec, but he wouldn’t be able to look at himself in the mirror again if he let that happen.

  Someone knocked on the door, and judging from the fact that it didn’t sound like someone was trying to break in with a battering ram, it probably wasn’t Noreen. He wiped his eyes and pulled the blanket up to his chest. “Come in.”

  The door cracked and Ariel stuck her head in. She took one look at Caleb and her worried eyes went wide. “Have you been here all morning?” she asked, dashing into the room.

  “I’m not feeling that great,” Caleb said. It was some of the truth, even if most of it was absent.

  “You poor thing.” She touched his forehead. “I don’t think you have a fever, at least. Can I get you anything?”

  “No, that’s okay.” He hesitated. “Have you seen Dustin around?”

  “Yeah, do you want me to go get him?”

  “No! Please, don’t. I just wondered if he was doing okay.”

  “He’s been in kind of a funk now that you mention it,” she said, sitting on the edge of the bed. “Did something happen between you two?”

  Caleb wanted to lie, but he’d never been good at it. Especially not around other omegas. “Nothing that can happen again.”

  Ariel’s eyes widened even more. “I knew it,” she whispered.

  Caleb looked down at the blanket, ashamed. “You must think I’m awful.”

  “Why, because you love him?”