Page 10 of Taming The Omega

He was really glad he’d kept his jeans on because his cock rose instantly. Or, at least it tried to within the confines of the fabric. Good thing, too, because he didn’t want his patient to think he was doing all of this for carnal reasons. The blowjob incident had been a wake-up call to what this wild omega thought Caleb expected from him. His dumb gamma dick couldn’t be allowed to perpetuate that belief.

A noticeable tremble ran through Seth’s body, and he raised wide eyes to stare briefly into Caleb’s. “I’m sorry, Gamma. I’m still pretty weak.”

“I’ll help you.” Caleb kept his voice low and his touch soft.

He carefully turned the omega and himself so that the boy could lean against Caleb’s chest, propping him within the V of his legs. The skin-to-skin contact was electrifying, at least on his end. The quick hitch of Seth’s breath likely was born out of fear, not the rampant attraction that Caleb felt.

“You’re safe.”

He reiterated the reassurance as he eased the boy back to what he hoped was a comfortable position. He was careful not to press against the kid’s wounds as well as to angle his crotch away from the small, tight ass. No way he wanted the omega to feel the bulge filling out his jeans. Nothing would make his words ring hollower than a hard-on.

Then he started combing the long, tangled strands using his fingers. He went as slowly and as carefully as he could, trying not to cause any pain and inwardly cursing his big, clumsy gamma hands. At first, Seth lay rigid in Caleb’s loose embrace. As the detangling went on, the boy slowly relaxed until his back was completely plastered against Caleb’s chest. It made the whole process more awkward until Caleb tugged all of the hair frontward and wrapped his arms fully around the frail body.

In this position, he could feel every breath the omega took and his steady, yet quick, heartbeat. From his higher vantage point, Caleb could stare at the pulse at the base of the boy’s slender throat. With the hair pulled away, the delicate slope of the back of the neck stirred all kinds of bad ideas—ones that involved biting the tender area while thrusting deep inside the tight ass already pressed too close to his aching dick.

Whoa! That train of thought took him by surprise, although given how he’d been reacting to Seth’s proximity, it shouldn’t have. He took in a deep breath to damp down his inappropriate thoughts, which of course the omega felt. The boy weighed so little, Caleb could have bounced him off with that small movement alone. Using his arm, he settled him back.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to send you flying.”

A small hand reached up to still Caleb’s fingers. “You must be tired from caring for me all day. Please don’t trouble yourself with my hair.”

“It’s no trouble at all,” Caleb murmured in return. He flipped the wrist so that he could clasp and guide Seth’s hand back to his lap.

That’s when he felt what he’d failed to see over the omega’s shoulder. With the blanket pooled around the boy’s waist, the slight bulge of his dick was invisible. But, the edge of Caleb’s hand brushed against it enough to know that it was there. Not exactly a full on erection, yet no longer was it completely flaccid as it had been. Did that mean the omega was as affected by their touching as Caleb was? Did it even matter? There was no way Caleb would act on it even if he thought there was a mutual attraction. Given the omega’s dependency on him, it would be an unfair advantage regardless.

Caleb pretended he didn’t notice, nor did he remark on how Seth jerked at the brief contact. Instead, Caleb returned to methodically pulling strands apart and smoothing them down. It was a difficult and time-consuming task, especially as the hair could have used a good washing. Later, when he had the boy back at the pack’s compound, he’d see that he got a hot, sudsy shower.

The thought caused his movements to still a brief moment as the import of them sank through. But yes, he intended to take Seth to the Rogue Pack. It was the right thing to do, and Lorcan had already essentially given him permission to do so. Of course under the circumstances, he suspected he’d have to throw his figurative weight around. The idea of bullying the omega into doing what Caleb wanted didn’t sit well with him. Yet, he didn’t think the omega was thinking clearly about his own health and safety.

That was a problem he could put off, however. The boy wasn’t in any condition to travel in either human or wolf form. When he’d finished with the last knot of hair, he smoothed it down over Seth’s shoulder and simply held him for a few seconds longer.

“I’m sorry I don’t know how to braid hair to help keep it detangled.”

“It’s okay,” Seth answered in a sleepy voice. “I can do it.” When he reached up, though, he hissed slightly before dropping his hands again.

“You’re still hurting, huh?” Caleb didn’t wait for a reply. The answer was obvious.

Tilting the omega forward slightly, he peeled back the corner of the bandage on the boy’s shoulder. The pink puckered skin underneath looked better than it had even that morning. The ointment and plaster Andrea had given him coupled with shifters’ excellent healing abilities had closed the puncture wounds and tears well. The process could use some help, though, if he was going to get Seth out of this dank, dirty cave any time soon.

The idea of what to do came to him in a flash, and he put it into action without taking time to ponder the wisdom of it. Thinking could get gammas into trouble. At least, that’s what he’d always been told. His long arms made it easy for him to reach over and grab a half-empty bottle of water and some cloth. Using one to wet the other, he began to wipe off the remnants of the medicinals covering Seth’s skin.

“Tell me if I’m hurting you.”

“It’s fine.” The omega paused. “It kind of feels nice, actually.”

That observation pleased him. He hoped Seth would feel the same way about the next phase of the treatment.

Once the wounded area was clear, he draped the cloth over the bottle and eased Seth forward. Caleb hesitated just an instant before leaning over and running his tongue along the top crescent of the punctures. Seth shuddered at the first lick, but otherwise stayed where he was. The sound of his breathing speeding up told Caleb that the boy was not unaffected by the touch.

Using saliva to seal the bite closed was the last act of mating. Everyone knew that, although by the time he’d been old enough to ask his sire such intimate questions, the guy’d checked out of life due to grief. Caleb had never stopped to wonder if the healing worked only because the bite was being treated by the very male who had inflicted it. Obviously not because he could see his efforts making a difference already. He’d also never had the slightest inclination to try it on another shifter. He couldn’t say why he did now with this particular omega. It somehow instinctively felt like the right thing to do.

The partially treated skin closed up even more as he licked and laved with long strokes of his tongue. Likely the salve had made enough progress to give the saliva a leg up. If lapping at the wounds would have been sufficient from the start, surely the healer would have told him that. And, if it were that simple, the healer’s work would be less important. He supposed it fell into the same biological bucket as shifting helping small injuries. It was a boon to the species, but hardly a cure-all.

He felt rather proud of having come up with this idea himself. The fact that it gave him a legitimate reason to hold and touch Seth more, hardly signified. At all. He told both his big and his little head that. One of them was not listening, of course. He could manage it, though, by keeping it locked in tight and out of the line of Seth’s sight.

Eventually, logistics required that he lay the omega down on the pallet. The boy remained docile in his touch, letting Caleb turn him this way and that. Once the shoulder and arm areas were taken care of, Caleb started to repeat the process on the hip and leg. That’s when the omega came back to himself. He held the blanket tightly in place, quietly fighting Caleb’s efforts to pull it away.

“What’s wrong? I know this is, um, unusual, but it’s working. The wounds I’ve licked are better than they were only a few minutes ago.” He tugged on the edge of the blanket and shot the boy a smile. “Come on, let it go.”

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