Chapter 18: Royce - Marked By Love

This was killing him.

Theo’s beautiful large eyes were running with tears, his soft, round face screwed up in pain and frustration. All Royce wanted to do was wrap him in his arms and wipe away the tears. But he couldn’t because the only purpose that would serve was making Royce feel better while making Theo uncomfortable.

So he did the next best thing: feed him sweet treats.

After watching Theo gulp the oat milk hot cocoa and ravage the vegan pastry, Royce concluded he now owed several very large gift baskets to a few people.

Eventually he moved back to his nest of blankets on the sofa, his body relaxing into the plush cocoon. Royce was relieved this time around Theo’s cheeks had some color and his body wasn’t limp and lifeless. He was simply resting.

Royce took this opportunity to finish his dinner and then clean up the kitchen. Next, he split more wood, even though the stockpile behind the cabin was toppling over. Was he doing unnecessary busy work to keep himself from having to stare helplessly at Theo, worrying if he’d vomit up blood again or reject him? It was entirely possible.

When his limbs were shaking and his body coated with sweat, he collected the split wood and added it to the giant pile. It was now spilling out from the lean-to into the elements. Royce didn’t care. He was trying to wear himself out so his mind would shut up. Thus far it hadn’t worked, but he held out hope.

Inside the cabin, he deadbolted the front and back doors—new ones that he’d installed. He’d asked Buford to buy two new deadbolts for the cabin from the hardware store while he was at Theo’s bedside; he’d also asked Buford to bring him iron cages to bolt over the cabin windows. Buford had kindly told Royce he was insane and refused.

Royce was still contemplating the bars and hadn’t given up on the idea yet. Right now, though, he had more pressing issues, like sleep, but before he could give in to his fatigue, he needed a shower. Pausing on his way to the bathroom, he watched Theo. He was still on the sofa, curled up in his blankets. His cheeks had a faint rosy tint. Good, that was good.

After checking Theo was well, Royce knew he ought to move along. Go into the bathroom and shower like he intended. Instead, he just stood there … watching. He shouldn’t be doing this, he knew he shouldn’t be. Standing over someone and watching them while they slept was odd, especially if that person wasn’t yours.

Was Theo Royce’s?

Not in the sense that he’d accepted the fates’ gift and they’d bitten each other to solidify the mate bond, but he was his in the sense that Theo was Royce’s responsibility. His to watch over until his strength returned and they could figure out what their next steps were. His in the sense that the fates had put Theo in Royce’s life for a reason.

And what had Royce done with this most precious gift?

Squandered it, like the rest of his life. If he didn’t shape up, Theo was going to leave him. Honestly, Royce should be used to people leaving him at this point. In many ways he was. He never got close enough to anyone for their absence to hurt him again. But this was his fated mate. This was supposed to be different. This time Royce was supposed to be accepted for forever, as he accepted his omega. And yet it was exactly the same.

He let his guard down, got his hopes up, and all it was going to do was clobber him. He’d be nothing but a husk by the time Theo left, a cautionary tale of rejected alpha insanity.

His nostrils flared, and his heart skipped a beat.

Mint, chocolate, berries, and Theo’s omega musk were amplified.

Fates help him, was Theo going into heat? So soon after getting off the pills, was that normal? Should he call Dr. Shera?

His thoughts went blank.

Theo adjusted his sleeping position, a sleepy moan escaping his lips.

Oh, someone save Royce from himself. Theo was going to go into heat at any time. Then what was Royce going to do? His composure was hanging by a thread as it was.

His wolf whined.

After Theo got sick, his wolf had been subdued, his constant diatribe trickling into silent worry. Royce had an inkling the furry bastard knew they were at a precipice, their current position precariously standing on the edge of a knife. If they fell to one side, endless bliss with their fated mate. If they fell to the other, despair they would never recover from. Either way, they were going to fall and fall hard.

In the midst of these spiraling notions, Royce’s body had been responding to the raw scent of omega filling the cabin. His skin, which he thought was sweaty and flushed from chopping wood, was now positively feverish. His hands trembled, and his erection throbbed, leaking through his boxer briefs into his jeans.

He was a disgrace to behold.

Instead of falling atop Theo and doing something he’d regret for the rest of his miserable life, Royce ran to the bathroom. He clicked the little knob lock into place, then turned the water on. Peeling off his clothes, he doubled over. His knuckles brushing his nipples sent him over the edge as Theo’s scent was flooding his senses. Next, he shucked his pants and then briefs; he practically doubled over screaming when his erection was grazed.

Braced against the sink, he panted. He was harder than he remembered ever being in the past. The tip coated in thick pre-cum, he watched in shock as it dripped onto the floor. Despite not having penetrated anything, his knot was swelling.

Well, desperate times called for desperate measures, he thought as he fisted himself. Running his fingers over the tip, his cum coated his fingers, squelching under his grip as he moved his palm up and down. Squeezing at the tip, he yanked.

Royce bit his lip to stifle his scream as his hips bucked forward of their own volition. Thick, hot cum poured from him. Royce stood there, utterly shell-shocked, watching the pool of cum coat the bathroom floor and drip from his hand. He hadn’t stroked himself more than twice, and he’d jizzed that much?

Boner still raging, Royce used his dirty shirt to mop up the floor, then rinsed it out in the shower.

Finally under the streaming water, he scrubbed the dirt and sweat away. Only problem was his erection was nowhere near subsiding. If anything, it had gotten harder and more uncomfortable, his knot now throbbing to the point of pain.

Deciding there was nothing for it, he fisted himself again. Maybe if he went slower this time it would have the desired effects. His calloused fingers grazed his tip, teasing his foreskin before dragging up and down the length.

His thick fingers stroked across the underside. Theo’s fingers were smaller than his, but with his line of work, Royce bet they were strong and dexterous. He imagined they would move expertly over Royce as he worked him to the edge, teasing his foreskin as he played with him.

Royce’s body thrummed. Instead of a slow leaking, a steady stream of cum was flowing from him. His breath came in shallow gasps, his body tingled, and his balls tightened. Squeezing his knot with one hand, he pumped his length ruthlessly with his other. Water beating against his back and running down his face, he released again, and again. Doubled over, he ground his teeth to keep himself from shouting.

He lost count of how many times he released. By the time his erection subsided, taking his knot with it, he was lightheaded, and the shower was spinning around him. Of course he knew it wouldn’t get better until he was able to knot his mate, but he had to do something to keep himself in check. He’d jerk off until he fainted three times a day if that’s what he needed to do to keep himself from mauling Theo.

When he held composure over himself once more, Royce turned off the water and dried himself off. Pulling on clean sweats, he stumbled to the living room and collapsed in his spot in front of the sofa, where he’d made his bed for the last four nights. He pulled the pillows close to his head, the scent of Theo consuming him. Closing his eyes, he knew he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep; at least he’d be able to relax his muscles for a few hours.

“Royce,” Theodore whispered in the dark. Royce startled. In his masturbation induced haze, he hadn’t realized the omega was awake.

“I didn’t mean to wake you,” he mumbled into his pillow.

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“You didn’t.” Theo’s voice was hoarse. “I-I’m sorry I yelled. Earlier. None of this is your fault.”

“With everything you’ve been through, what’s happening, I think yelling a bit is the least of your worries. Some might even say it’s understandable.”

“You’ve been here for days, watching over me while I was sick.” Theo sniffed. “And you stuck up for me. You’ve been … that’s more than most have ever done for me. You don’t deserve to be yelled at.”

Royce stared at the floor, studying the grains in the old wood, tracing them with his eyes to the dust bunnies under the sofa. “Why are you saying all this? Isn’t this what people are supposed to do? Be there for their mates; understanding and patient.”

“Maybe, but it’s not what actually happens. At least not what I’ve seen,” Theodore said before going quiet for some time. “What happened to your family? You mentioned being an orphan.”

“Car crash,” Royce said. “My dads were driving with my two younger sisters. There was a truck driver, he was high, went across the median on the freeway, and hit them head-on. My parents died instantly, but my sisters hung on for days … They did as well as you can when you’re brain dead and every part of your body is broken.

“I sat in that damned hospital for weeks before they both eventually died. I was in our family friend’s car just behind them. I always wondered what would have happened, if I hadn’t decided to ride with them that day, that is.”

“That’s terrible. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Everyone has something. I was a preteen alpha. I was able to survive the system with less damage than most. Enlisting seemed like the logical option from there: structure, direction, a paycheck.”

“Twelve is still a child.”

Royce huffed, then rolled onto his back. “You said your dad was a doctor in Seerinoga, what happened to him?”

“They killed him. Injected him to look like a heroin overdose and left him in a ditch. It happens so frequently in omega territories no one bats an eye. I didn’t realize it was them that did it until months later. That’s how I found out they killed my mom too.

“Felt like an idiot … I always had worries, inklings of distrust toward the ‘system,’ but nothing I could concretely pinpoint. Until I cleaned out an old storage unit. The only reason it wasn’t ransacked by them was because it was under the name of an older woman we called aunt who wasn’t actually related from another settlement. If I wasn’t already outside Seerinoga when I found it, I’d probably be dead.”

“Why were your parents living in an omega settlement?”

“Mom and Dad were both omegas—I was so young when she died, I hardly remember her. But they’d had some issues with hostility. Apparently no one cares if two alphas shack up, or an alpha and a beta, but the world is ending the second two omegas get together. They thought living in an omega settlement would be safer.” Theodore sighed heavily. “In some ways it was, in most it wasn’t. There’s a lot of poverty and addiction in omega settlements.

“But Dad always told me not to let being an omega stop me from anything. He was a doctor after all, a shining example of omega achievement. He’s the one who encouraged me to go to Dessert Ridge University.”

Royce was quiet for a while before asking something that’d been bothering him since he looked at the flash drive. “How long?”

“What?”

“How long has it been?”

“How long have I been hiding? What year is it, seventy-one? Over three years now.”

“Were you alone all that time?”

“I’ve been alone since Dad died. Well, he worked so many hours at the hospital I’d sometimes go weeks without seeing him. I didn’t realize it at the time, but the government was forcing him to work unpaid overtime. I guess in a way I’ve been alone for a while.”

“Were you taking the alpha pills the whole time?”

“Yes.”

“Theo? Are you going to stop taking the pills?”

“I don’t think I have a choice. Vomiting blood and passing out for days wasn’t exactly what I’d call fun.”

Silence stretched between them as the night darkened. Royce wondered if Theo had gone back to sleep, but the occasional uneven breath told him the omega was lying awake next to him.

“Royce, you don’t have to sleep on the floor anymore. I’m okay now.”

“No, I really think I do.”

“What do you—?” Theo leaned over the sofa, poking his head out from his nest of blankets. “Oh.”

Royce knew what Theo was seeing, his eyes were shimmering golden. This close to the omega that was scented as his, while said omega was recovering from an illness and about to go into heat. There wasn’t anything Royce could do to control it at this point.

His chest was always tight, deep breaths almost impossible, his skin broke out into a clammy sweat on a regular basis, his stomach in knots, and his mind in snarls. Putting more distance between himself and his mate would only make the insomnia and discomfort worse.

“Is it …” Theo whispered. “Is it terribly bad?”

“I’m in control. I won’t do anything to hurt you. Or give you a mate mark against your will.”

“That’s not what I meant. Despite you kidnapping me.” Theo gave a halfhearted chuckle. “I don’t necessarily think you’re a bad guy. I don’t want you to be in pain. You can sleep in the bed if that’s better for you.”

“I appreciate that, but I’m not going to be getting much sleep anytime soon, and it’s just better to be close to you. It’s okay,” Royce was quick to add when the omega looked like he was going to protest. “You haven’t slept in a while. Let me watch over you now.”

“Royce?”

“Hmm?”

“I’m sorry about your family.”

“I’m sorry about yours too,” Royce said. “Get some rest, Theo. I’ll be here if you need me.”