Page 104 of The Price of Ice

Nouri was tall and built in that way that came so naturally to alpha men, though he was a little narrower than Kallen. He probably went to the gym a couple of times a week, but Kallen could have flattened him if they’d wrestled.

“Wow,” the strange alpha said, eyes dropping down Kallen’s body. His throat was working hard, a lovely column of tanned skin Kallen wouldn’t have minded licking. “You...”

“Take your clothes off?” Kallen suggested, and took a reluctant step towards the bed. Nouri seemed too stunned to move and for a moment, he thought about lure. Just a little to tug him over, which he’d agreed to do anyway... He turned his back on his visitor and went to pour more water down his throat instead, catching himself on the nightstand when he tripped over his own two feet.

There was a hand under his elbow almost instantly and he blinked up at the alpha holding him up. “Careful,” Nouri said, and led Kallen to sit on the bed, passing him the glass of water before stepping back and taking off his shirt.

He was hot, a scattering of dark hair over his defined chest that Kallen wanted to tug at. His green eyes had been almost completely eaten by his pupils in the dimness of the room and when he finally dropped his trousers and boxer briefs, his very nice cock was standing to attention.

Of course, the room must smell like a brothel to him already.

“Heat’s... This one is a bit weird,” Kallen told him, frowning as he tried to put his finger on it. “Took the pill last month.”

It wasn’t any of this guy’s business, except for how for once he was spending his heat with an alpha who maybe actually wanted to help him with it.

“Oh,” Nouri tsked. “Yeah, it’s... It happens.” He took a step closer. “But I’ll help you out, yeah? Just let me...” And he put a hand under Kallen’s chin and leaned in for a soft kiss, deep and exploratory. It was strange, whether because his body was off-balance or because Nouri was astranger, Kallen couldn’t tell.

He opened his mouth and sucked on Nouri’s tongue and by the time he was on his back with the alpha on top of him, thedreamy relaxation of heat was starting to fully descend upon him.

Nouri’s thigh was a solid weight between his bent legs, pressing against his sack but not his hole or cock—a delicious tease that was starting to get close to too much. His hips were twitching, and he was squirming under Nouri’s mouth on his throat and chest, but he couldn’t quite get it together enough to ask for more. Nouri was holding his wrists down to the bed, and it wasn’t bad, not really, but if he could have justreached outand pulled him closer, it would have been much better.

The low whine that came out of him surprised him as much as his partner, who paused to glance up from circling one of his nipples with his tongue with hunger all over his face.

Kallen met his eyes, lips parted but no words coming. The pressure on his wrists eased, and finally Kallen couldmove. He reached down and got him by the shoulder—probably too roughly because his fine motor skills were properly shot—until Nouri crawled back up his body. The alpha groaned as their cocks made contact and Kallen hooked his legs behind Nouri’s knees, thrusting upwards as he did.

“Oh fuck,” the alpha muttered into his cheek. “You’re...” Whatever it was, it had his dick hard as rocks against Kallen’s stomach. He needed itinsidehim, right where he was clenching desperately and leaking all over the sheets.

Even then, no words were coming to him, so all he could was squirm pitifully and beg, whole-bodied, for relief.

“Shhh...” Nouri was whispering, caressing his cheekbone, and Kallen could have bitten off his fingers, inexplicably enraged by the gesture. Fortunately for them both, Nouri’s hand was rapidly travelling downwards, forcing Kallen’s knees back against his chest while his other hand found his hole. They groaned in unison at the contact. “God, were you... You areso fucking ready. I—” He pressed inside, two fingers that were sucked in greedily by Kallen’s desperate body.

He threw his head back and keened, pushing back into the penetration.Oh, god, yes.

At the third finger, his knees fell to the sides, leaving him fully exposed.

Nouri had insisted on scissoring his fingers a few more times, ignoring Kallen’s whimpers or maybe assuming they were a sign of pleasure instead of frustration. Later it would occur to him that maybe it wasn’t standard for an omega to stretch himself before sex, but right now he was skidding dangerously close to the catatonic state in which he’d fallen when McKinley had refused to give him what he needed. It was better than crying, but even when Nouri at long last positioned himself and started pushing his cock inside, Kallen was only half there.

It felt good, of course, but only at a slight remove.

And even when the fucking sped up, the distance didn’t fade.

He’d come, and Nouri had got him food and been a proper gentleman about the aftercare, chatting about a recent holiday while they waited for his heat to rise again.

It hadn’t beenbad. Objectively it’d been fine. Just like objectively a protein shake tasting mostly of sand and coconut was nutritious.

By the time he’d woken up with the sun the next morning—he hadn’t noticed the drapes weren’t closed all the way, he’d already decided to never touch one of those fucking pills again.

If he could, he’d have rather not slept with a stranger either, but given the much worse choices he’d made when it came to alphas in the past, he was pretty sure the odd taste in his mouth and general discomfort were due to the chemical intervention.

He could have stayed at the hotel, since he’d booked it for two nights, but after showering, all he wanted was to get out of there,so he returned his key and got a recommendation for a place that did a good breakfast.

It wasn’t until he was halfway through the meal that the relief hit him and he could slow down.

Here waspleasure, finally. His body singing about each mouthful of bacon and eggs, relishing a sip of coffee and another of orange juice, the flavours rich and real. Unlike the sex from the previous night, which had been unlike any heat or non-heat sex he’d ever had.

He paused to breathe out slowly, silently giving gratitude for the food. Those fuckingpills, he thought viciously as he cut into a sausage. And to think they’d told him it was safe to take them for months! What would have happened then? Would he have just gone numb all the time?

Did Management know about that or did they contractually forbid their use just because they wanted their omegas to go into heat? Since he’d learned there was medication to help with heat, he’d sort of held the idea of it as a backup plan, something he waschoosingnot to use while he could handle heats but that he could resort to if he ever needed it.

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