Chapter 329

"Baby, you need to eat something." Virgil stops Hayden who is already reaching for his half hard dick although they just had sex a couple minutes ago.

Hayden blinks up myopically at him, his eyes a soft grey. "Sure." He beams guilelessly, leaning forward to wrap his kiss bruised lips around the red and throbbing tip of Virgil's dick.

"No, actual food." Virgil stops him again, the lightest or blushes fluttering across the tips of his cheekbones.

If he didn't remember how insatiable he had been during his rut, he might have been a little scared of his mate.

He didn't seem to need sleep or food and getting him to eat was a bit of a chore, sleep was another matter entirely.

He wasn't complaining, he knew exactly what he signed up for but he also signed up to take care of Hayden, which he would do.

"The puppy eyes routine went stale after the first couple times, pouting doesn't work too, baby…"

"But I don't want to eat anything here." Hayden grumbles, his heat was fading away now with help from his mate over the past three days, his need however was still going on strong.

"If you would just let me cook something for you…"

Hayden flinches at this, visible shock on his face. "You want to what now?" He asks in disbelief, absently letting go of Virgil's dick.

Virgil gives him a mock glare which tickles Hayden.

"Fine." Hayden says with soft laughter, grabbing the blanket that had been thrown to the ground during their early morning session to cover himself up. "Let's clean up first." He suggests with an innocent enough voice.

Virgil keeps a blank expression, pleasure shooting through his nerve endings, it always got like this when it was time to eat or sleep and Virgil never said he wasn't a weak man… especially for his sweet, little mate.

•~•

Dream wakes up first, the sun streaming through the windows, his haze clearing up for the first time, what day was it now?

Perhaps because he had suppressed all his heats, there was some sort of whiplash because when his heat had kicked off properly, it was all a haze of slick, joining bodies, need constantly burning hot in his middle.

He glances down at Dale who is still fast asleep underneath him and he doesn't blame the Alpha, he should be glad that he hadn't even managed to kill him off.

A soft smile stretches his lips as he takes in Dale's wild hair - courtesy of his fingers - the random hickies splashed on his face like lipstick, lower lip bruised from Dream's bites.

He rolls down carefully to the side to continue his interrupted view of a sleeping Dale, he has to say this is one of the best ways to start a morning, he should know, he's been here before.

The memories of the past view days are still a blur but Dream isn't in a hurry to unearth the memories, his heart full, he planned to make more of those though.

He's about to get out of bed to relieve himself and maybe clean up before coming back to snuggle up against his Alpha when something catches his eyes.

A mark, darker than the rest… a mating bite???

With a gasp the memories slam into him, when Dale had knotted him for the first time, desperately whispering frenzied words of his overwhelming love….

His heart started to soar but something was wrong, a wing was broken.

Slowly, he lifts a hand up to his neck, his heart dropping like a block of ice.

He hadn't been marked….

He turns around in a hurry, nearly tripping as he races to the bathroom to curl up on the cold ground.

No wonder Dale hadn't been overtly eager from the start, what did he think? That he was somehow different from the other slew of Omegas he had at his beck and call?

How did he go from feeling so full of warmth and love to becoming so cold and bitter, it hurt, his neck felt empty, just like his heart.

This one was all his fault, he blindly fell into the heartbreak, he chuckled bitterly, silently.

He couldn't stay here, he shot up to his feet with that sudden thought, he couldn't face Dale right now, maybe not ever with how open he had been with his feelings and heart over the past days, he wanted to disappear from the Alpha's life.

Maybe he would, it would be a couple days or at most a week to be sure if he was pregnant…

"Oh God!" Dream covers his mouth with both hands, what had he been thinking? Like the stupid Omega he swore he would never be?

He really needs to get out of here, his heat would still linger around for a while but he would take care of himself, like he should have done from the start.

Luckily he found his bathrobe hanging off a hook in the bathroom and hastily put it on, dashing out of the bedroom at top speed.

When he got to the door, against his better judgement he turned around to take one last look at the Alpha sleeping on the bed, that hadn't taken his physical declaration of love as something important enough to be given back and he wasn't angry… he was just sad… sad and broken.

Gathering up the folds of his bathrobe, his body still deliciously sore, he practically ran out of Dale's apartment, uncaring that his feet were bare.

Luckily the rest of the floor was empty because Dream was barely holding it together, if he saw someone, the dam would break.

Hopefully, the news hadn't spread like wildfire and at least he could still gather up what was left of his dignity, seeing as his heart was broken in so many pieces that he couldn't even pick the pieces back up.

He dashes into his apartment, locking up his door with shaky hands, trembling so badly that he barely gets it done.

He rips the bathrobe off with plans to light it up on fire, if he could he would burn the pages upon pages of now bittersweet memories imprinted in his mind of the two of them of what they could have been…

He needed to scrub away every last bit of Dale away from his skin, the hickies littered across his skin now seemed more like scars, scars to show his broken heart… he wished he could scrub them away too.

His legs finally give out under him when he gets to the tub, the scalding hot water doing very little to ease the iciness settling in layers over his heart.

He remembers why he doesn't do this now, it was very easy to get hurt when you opened up.

He sinks deeper into the steaming water, wishing the tub were endless so he could disappear into the depths, tears tracking down his cheeks to fall into the water he was immersed in.

Shit… when was the last time he cried?

He couldn't remember.

Growing up, crying had been very easy, it made his pain ease and his worry lighter but his father had been quick to trample on that, calling him weak for crying.

His mom had been livid when she found out and it just made them spiral into another of their endless bouts of yelling, crying didn't solve anything.

But that doesn't stop his eyes from clouding up and his nose reddening, his lips turn downwards.

•~•

Dale wakes up to an awful feeling, terror sitting somewhere at the back of his mind as he blindly searches around the bed for the now familiar form that was Dream.

His eyes flick open with a frown when he doesn't find him, looking around the room in a slight panic.

Had his heat broken? He thinks with a flutter of excitement, he had been waiting for that to ask for permission to mark Dream.

They hadn't discussed it beforehand, he had treasured the fact that Dream willingly mated him but then doubt had reared its ugly head, he was in heat after all…

But now… now he couldn't even find Dream.

Hurrying out of bed, he snatched up his sweatpants that had been thrown haphazardly somewhere on the floor, clothes hadn't exactly been a priority.

"Honey!" He calls into the seeming emptiness of the bedroom, making his way to the bathroom, was Dream taking a shower?

A quick search of the bathroom proves nothing, just that Dream wasn't there either, he throws open the bedroom door expecting to find Dream in his kitchen, cooking but the kitchen is empty… the warmly painted space is cold and bare.

He finds the front door thrown open and his paranoia hits new heights, without bothering to grab a shirt he hurries out, his mind coming up with the worst case scenarios.

Only to bump into Erin who had a small carry-on bag in hand and looking surprised to see him, her eyes blown wide, cheeks instantly coloring up.

"A-alpha D-dale?" She stuttered.

Dale barely spares her a glance, all of his attention taken up by the absence of Dream and his need to find his love.

He just changes direction, planning to take a different hallway to get to Dream's apartment.

"Alpha! Wait!" Erin yells after him, surprised that her rather quick return hadn't elicited a comment from him, plus was that a mating mark on his neck and oh God… she trails off mentally, choosing to cut off that line of thought.

"Your mom is back!" She adds when he doesn't even slow down, watching as he instantly freezes to a stop, turning around in horror.

"What?"