Secrets in Smoke by Ashe Moon

7

Rainor

I watchedThomas put his uniform back on, cursing as he tried to get the dust off his trousers. We’d washed our bodies in a small pool filled by the stream, and I’d heated the water to a comfortable temperature for a long soak, but Thomas was in a hurry.

“We need to get back,” he said. “I’ve been gone for too long.”

I rose from the steaming water and Thomas looked away from my naked body.

“What are you embarrassed about?” I raised my temperature to dry myself and collected my clothes from the ground.

“We need to get back,” he replied and got the bottle of scent mask out from his jacket. “And seeing you like that isn’t inspiring me to move any faster.”

“Do you have to?” I asked, grabbing his wrist as he opened the bottle. “Looks like there is something we both do well together. We could do it again.”

He snorted, but for a moment it seemed like he was considering it. “No time for that, I’m afraid.” And then he dabbed the liquid onto his hand and rubbed his neck.

I stepped back, frowning at the sudden sensory change—but it wasn’t as dramatic as I would’ve expected. Even though I couldn’t smell his scent, it didn’t stop me from wanting him. It might’ve made me want him even more. There was something about taking him while he was trying to hide it that excited me.

“Can you?” he asked, tilting his neck. “Do I smell right?”

“You don’t need that stuff,” I said.

“Yes, I do. Do you know what would happen if I went out there and my men found out I was an omega? The chain of command would be splintered.”

“I don’t think you know that for certain,” I said. “Your men are loyal.”

“They’re loyal to the alpha they know. Not an omega. Now, please. Am I hidden?”

I moved close, hovering my face by his neck. Then, I kissed him there. He was startled and clapped his hand over his neck.

“I need more?”

I gave him a wry smile. “No. You’re fine.”

“Then what are you doing?”

“I guess I don’t care if you smell like an alpha or not. I still want to fuck you.”

Thomas’s surprised look changed to a grin. “Well, that’s too bad.”

“That was your first time, wasn’t it?” I said.

“Yes,” he said. “Are you going to criticize my technique? Let me guess, you’ve had better.”

I scratched my neck. “Uh…well, actually, that was my first time, too.”

“What?”

“Yeah. Never really thought it was going to happen, either. When I joined the flight, I committed myself to the idea that I was going to live only for my work. Wasn’t until Altair found Grayson that I even started considering the possibility of a mate.” I cleared my throat. “I mean, we’re just…”

Thomas laughed. “I know. Whatever this is, it has nothing to do with mating. It’s just something that happened. Turns out I like it more than I thought I would.”

“So…I guess that means you need me for more than one kind of training. Since I’m the only one who you can practice with.”

He slid on his jacket and buttoned it up, and though he didn’t reply, I saw it plainly on his face that he was more than open to doing this again. Things had changed in an instant, and I was in a situation I never could’ve foreseen, no matter how I felt about Thomas. The fact that he’d felt the same draw to me as I did to him came as a bit of a shock. I was unprepared for all of it. In the din of that cave, my imagination went back to a time when dragons were powerful. I’d been completely overtaken by the presence of that place. It put me in a primal mind, and when Thomas’s scent had changed… It was intense.

We flew back to the delfun mound and walked down the path to the road that led to the Watch post. Neither of us spoke, though it seemed like we were both on the verge of saying something, we just didn’t know what. Now that we were back under the sky and Thomas had his captain face back on, what we’d just done seemed almost like a dream. It was hard to believe it’d happened. I was at a loss for what to do or say. What I wanted was to take his ass straight back to that cave.

After Dalia had been put to bed, Rainor, Delos, Grayson, and I took our dinner up to the roof as we usually did on evenings when we had time together between patrols. I’d grilled salted fish snatched up fresh from the ocean on my way back to the station, and we ate them along with some vegetables gifted from the Watch post’s garden. Soot perched himself on the landing pole jutting out from the side of the watchtower, his tail flicking back and forth beneath him as he stared off at the city like he was keeping sentry for us. Delos, of course, was on the verge of a panic attack. Even after having Soot around for two years, he still hadn’t gotten used to the cat’s daredevil nature—nor had he been able to fully admit that he loved the little beast more than anyone except probably Dalia.

I sat on the ledge with my legs hanging over and ate in silence. I wasn’t aware of it, but I was looking in the direction of the Watch headquarters. My mind was certainly over there, curious as to what Thomas was doing. I’d been impressed with what I’d seen that day, not just in the cave, but his leadership and diplomatic abilities.

But especially the cave.

Thomas pushed himself into my thoughts and made it near impossible for me to concentrate on anything else. His unmasked scent, both sweet and indescribably deep, lingered on the very edge of my memory. I strained to recreate it and everything else; to picture the way his face looked when commanded me not to stop, how his body reacted to me as I pushed my tongue against him, and what his moans sounded like. It was all so fresh but so far away at the same time, and I wanted to have it all again.

“Something happen today, Rainor?” Altair asked, and when I turned around I noticed both Delos and Grayson were looking at me, too.

“Oh, I went on a patrol with Thomas. He showed me how to ride a horse. Imagine that.”

“Rainor on a horse?” said Grayson. “That poor animal.”

“Hey. He was fine.”

“Was that the only thing you rode?” Delos said as casually as if he were asking about the weather.

I nearly lost grip on my plate and almost let my fish tumble onto the roof, which made Soot very excited.

“What are you saying?” I demanded.

“Remember when Altair and Grayson started banging and thought they were being so sneaky about it?” Delos said. “You and I both noticed they were different.”

Grayson was blushing, and he yanked the head off his grilled fish and threw it at him. Delos ducked, and when it landed on the roof, Soot wasted no time leaping down, snatching it up, and disappearing off somewhere with it.

“It’s true,” Altair said with a shrug. “Tried to hide it, but when you’re around your flight mates, there’s nothing you can hide.”

“So, who is it?” Delos asked. “You met some omega in the Watch?”

I sighed. I couldn’t lie to them, even if I’d promised Thomas to keep his secret. They were my flight mates, and deceiving them was not our way.

“This mustn’t leave our flight,” I said, and the three of them immediately moved closer to me, curiosity plain on their faces. I sighed again and muttered, “Dammit, stop looking so eager. You’re embarrassing me.”

Delos burst out laughing. “You know we won’t say a word. Come on, tell us.”

I scratched my neck. “Thomas.”

It looked like Delos was an inch away from falling off the roof in shock. “What? With an alpha?”

“This mustn’t leave our flight,” I repeated. “He’s an omega. He’s kept it secret and concealed it his whole life.”

Altair nodded. “That explains a lot.”

“You suspected?” I asked, surprised.

“No, not exactly. But now I understand why you’ve always been so mesmerized by him.”

“Hey, hold on, dammit. I didn’t find out he was an omega until we started this whole training thing. This entire time, he’s been an alpha to me, just like everyone else.”

“Doesn’t change what’s always been crystal clear,” Delos said. “You and Thomas have always been at each other’s throats. And you especially have always been chasing after him.”

“Not for any other reason than my entertainment,” I said defensively. “Although… thinking about it… I don’t know. Yes, you’re right, there’s always been something about him.” I groaned and ruffled my hair in frustration. “Dammit. But I’ve always truly perceived him to be an alpha. He had me fooled.”

“I knew he was an omega,” Grayson said, and we all turned to him in shock. He smiled and shrugged. “I mean, I didn’t have any idea about him hiding it. But there’s always been a thought in my mind since the very time I first encountered him. It was the night you three rescued me, and I was pregnant with Dalia. Maybe my senses were higher tuned because of the pregnancy or something, I don’t know. But I remember sitting there on the road, Altair treating my burns. Thomas came up to us, and I took one look at him and thought, ‘Omega.’”

“You never brought this up,” Altair said.

Grayson shrugged. “Why would I? It wasn’t important. I was more concerned about my house burning down.”

“So, this is why you’d asked Grayson if he’d ever considered concealing being an omega,” Altair said. “Thomas feels he has to keep this a secret.”

“He thinks he doesn’t have another choice,” I replied. “He’s worried about what his men would do.”

Altair shook his head. “There’s always another choice.”

“But humans are fickle, especially when it comes to matters concerning omegas. We know this,” Delos said. “Look at how they treated Grayson.”

“But perhaps the Watch is different,” Grayson suggested. “I’ve seen how much respect they have for him.”

“So, what are you going to do, Rainor?” asked Altair.

“I don’t think that’s up to me. Of course, I think he should live freely. No one should have to hide who they are. But these are human matters, and the human collective does things in a way that I don’t often understand. No offense, Grayson.”

“I don’t understand it either, so none taken,” he said.

“Does it matter?” said Delos.

“That’s right,” said Altair. “The question is, do you care for him? If so, you have a duty to guide him out of this darkness.”

I smirked and punched Altair in the shoulder. “Wow, look at you! Two years, and you’re an expert in matecraft. When are you going to start your matchmaking service, huh?”

He huffed and collected his empty plate. The others also stood up to go inside. “Think about it, Rainor.”

What could I do for Thomas, though? Nothing, if he wasn’t willing to take a chance. But was I willing to take a chance for him?

All alone on the watchtower, I lay down on the ledge to look up at the sky. There was a full moon out, but it was hidden behind a veil of passing clouds. The wind had calmed after the sun had dropped, becoming nothing but a gentle breeze, but I could smell bad weather was on the way. It was a season when, ironically, the risk of fires grew despite the rain because of the lightning it brought with it.

I groaned. Damn that man. Damn him for taking up residence in my head. And he’d always been there; that was the thing that I was having trouble reconciling. What I wasn’t aware of had been so obvious to everyone else. Altair said I was mesmerized by him, and it was true. That bastard had always had a hold of me.

And now, I couldn’t stop thinking about what we’d done in the cave.

I tried, though. I went inside and retreated to the common area hammock, but even my book failed to divert my thoughts. Every sentence seemed to be marked with something that would kick my head back to Thomas, and get my heat flowing. I burned for him, need swelling down between my legs. Again, his scent lay just beyond the abilities of my recollection, and it was infuriating. I knew I wouldn’t be able to rest until I had him again.

So, even though I probably wasn’t thinking clearly and this was a terrible decision, I flipped off of the hammock, strode to the roof, and flew into the sky.

I approached the Watch headquarters in a low glide, coming in from the training field in an effort not to be spotted by anyone—which was not an easy thing to do when you’re a twenty-foot long dragon. But I avoided drawing any attention and gently alighted on the rooftop just above the area where Thomas’s quarters were. I shifted forms and lowered myself from the roof, just above the small ledge that jutted out beneath each windowsill.

“What the fuck am I doing?” I muttered, carefully coming down along the edge of the window outside of view. The space was small, and with my size, I had to flatten myself against the wall in order not to fall off the ledge. I dropped to a crouch and then peeked inside.

Castelle bounced back and forth in front of a padded dummy, hammering it with rapid punches and a swinging kick that sent it flying across her room—and right towards the window. She turned to come for it and I pulled myself back just in time—or at least I hoped I did. Her shadow crossed into the lamplight on the ledge, and the window opened outwards. Castelle poked her head out and looked around—but I was outside her field of view. She shut the window, pulled the curtains, and I exhaled.

“That woman frightens me,” I said to myself, and quickly shimmied past the window.

The next ledge was about five feet over, easy enough for me to jump, and the sliver of light on the ledge meant that the curtains were drawn. I prepared myself, launched over the gap, and caught the edge with my foot. Momentum carried me forward and I fought to not stumble straight into plain view of the window frame. I threw out my hand and managed to hook my fingers onto the frame, but instead of stopping, my body swung towards the window. I threw my other hand out and slapped it against the opposite wall, my face just inches away from banging into the glass. I must’ve looked like a demented spider with the way I was pressed against the wall. And thank the Gods the curtains were drawn, because Thomas was just a few feet away from the window. His right side faced me, his eyes focused on something I couldn’t see, and he was wearing nothing but a pair of drawstring trousers. In his right hand, he bounced a small pouch that looked like it might’ve been filled with sand or something similar. Then he threw it, shook his head, picked up another from a pile at his feet, and threw that one, too.

I shifted my body to try and get a view of what he was doing, and then realized he was practicing. But nothing he did seemed to satisfy him and every throw seemed to be off its mark. No, no, not like that, I thought. How could someone do something so many times and still get it wrong? His dedication was there, he had the right spirit—but there was a wall in his mind that was keeping him from succeeding.

He threw the last pouch and, after wiping his face with a towel, walked straight for the window. Frantically, I looked to escape.

Hold on. Why am I trying to hide?I hadn’t come here just to watch him like a creepy voyeur.

I moved to the side, and Thomas pushed open the window. He leaned against the sill and took a deep breath as the breeze rustled his hair. Then he frowned and sniffed at the air.

“By the Gods. I must be going crazy,” he muttered. “I can still smell him.”

Grinning, I tapped the window that had swung out in front of me. Thomas jolted and his eyes went wide when he looked over and saw me pressed against the wall. I waved.

“What the fuck?” he shouted, stumbling backward into his room.

“Hey,” I said, filling the window frame.

“Rainor? How long have you been there? And what are you doing here?”

“Your throw needs a lot of work, Thomas. What are we going to do with you?”

Fuming, he grabbed one of the pouches off the ground and hurtled it at my face. And of course, now he had perfect aim. It smacked me right in the nose, and I fell away from the window. Thomas shouted in dismay and ran back to the windowsill.

Alright, I might have jumped, not fallen, but I just wanted to see what he would do. I shifted into my dragon form and caught myself in the air. My wings whipped the air around him, rattling the open window and whirling his hair into a mess. His fright turned to exasperation when he saw me hovering there, and he smiled and shook his head at me. And when I reached the window ledge and shifted back into my human form, Thomas welcomed me into his arms.

“See,” I said. “I know you can do it. Where’s that stellar aim when we need you to have it?”

“If you’re going to use your mouth, at least do something useful with it,” he said, grabbing my chin.

I slid my hand down his back and took a firm hold of his ass in my palm. “And what do you deem as useful, Thomas?”

“From you? Not much.” He pushed himself against me and herded me backward until my legs hit something—a chair—and its legs honked across the wooden floor as I fell into it. Thomas swung his legs around mine so that he was standing over my lap with my face up against his stomach.

“How’s this?” I said, and I kissed his rippling abs around his belly button.

“That’s certainly one thing you can do,” he said.

“Tell me if this has been in your head the entire day like it has been in mine.” I pulled the drawstring knot undone at his waist and tugged them slowly down his hips. “I felt like I was going fucking insane.”

“We shouldn’t even be doing this,” he said. “We really shouldn’t.”

I drew in a deep, satisfying breath of his scent, and slow contentment washed over me.

“So, was I alone?” I said. “Was it only me that couldn’t stop thinking about what we did in that cave today?”

“No,” he said quietly.

He had nothing on underneath his pants, and the waistband caught on his erection. I slipped my fingers underneath the band and pulled it around him. He stood free, right in front of my face. I cupped both my palms to his ass and pressed my face into the tangle of his pubic hair at the hilt of his cock and breathed him in. Then I moved downwards and let my lips skim the soft flesh of his sack. He moaned softly. I was doing things I’d never done before in the pursuit of his scent. No book in my collection could’ve described this. He was like pure fuel to me, the kind that sent flames raging wildly out of control. And there definitely wasn’t any containment now. This was a lifetime of reservation and denial suddenly released, and we were both far from getting our fill.

His cock filled my palm and I could feel the steady pulse of his heart through his shaft. I took a moment to admire it since I hadn’t had a chance in the cave. A human cock was quite different. Soft and smooth. Cute, I would say. His was thick with a slight curve, and unlike mine, it stayed an even size from the base until it reached the swell of its head. And it looked like the perfect size for my mouth. I pulled my fist along its length and watched as Thomas’s face changed, and I opened my mouth to treat myself to a little taste of the excitement that’d started to drip from his tip when suddenly there was a knock on his door.

Thomas spun around so fast that his cock slapped me against the cheek hard enough to leave a mark.

“What is it?” he shouted, reaching for his pants.

“Ow,” I mouthed, rubbing my face.

“Is everything alright, sir?” It was Castelle. “I heard a noise, like a fall.”

“Everything’s fine. Just training.”

“Yes, sir. Do you need assistance? I'm in the middle of practice, too…”

“No!” he shouted when it looked like the door handle might be moving. “No, I’m fine.”

“Yes, sir.”

We waited for what felt like at least a minute, Thomas staring at the door, ready to yank up his pants and kick me flying out of the window. Then, losing my patience, I grabbed his hips and swiveled him around to face me again (this time moving my head back to avoid getting slapped), and immediately swirled my tongue around his head.

Thomas groaned loudly, and I said, “Better keep your voice down or she’ll be back. That woman sticks to you like glue. If you were dragons, you two would be a flight.”

“There aren’t many I trust more than her,” he said.

I paused what I was doing, suddenly struck with regret.

“What?” Thomas asked, and I let go of him and sat back in the chair.

“I need to confess something to you. I don’t think I should continue until you know.”

“Then, tell me.”

“My flight knows about your truth. I had to tell them; they could sense that I’d been with someone today, and I can’t lie to my flight. So, I told them. But the secret will never leave our flight, I swear that to you.”

A whole course of emotions crossed Thomas’s face, and he turned away from me.

“I’m sorry, Thomas,” I said. “I know I made a promise.”

Then, after a few moments of thought, he shook his head. When he looked back at me, his expression was even and calm. “As far as I’m concerned, you haven’t broken that promise. I know what the flight means to you. And because I trust you, I trust them, too. Anyway, I’ve always known Altair’s honor. I think I feel better about him knowing about it than I do about you.”

“What?!”

Thomas grinned and straddled my lap. He hung his arms around my neck and kissed me, and I felt his cock throbbing against my stomach. Then he moved against me, slowly tilting his hips forwards and back, and I pulled off my shirt so that he was rubbing against my bare skin.

“You’re so warm,” he whispered into my ear.

I allowed my body temperature to keep rising, and Thomas pushed himself closer and squeezed me tightly like he was trying to absorb as much of my heat as possible. I kissed across his pectorals and took in his scent in long breaths. My cock pushed painfully against his weight, dying to be let out, and when I finally couldn’t take it anymore, I grabbed him beneath his ass and hoisted him up as I stood. He held me around the waist with his thighs, and I carried him to his bed, tossed him down, and immediately took his cock into my mouth.

His taste was as exhilarating as his scent, and it made my head swirl with such a potent need. I swallowed him deep and enjoyed exploring the shape of his cock with my tongue, feeling every pulse and reaction to the things I was doing. I never could’ve imagined being with an omega could be so fun—but it was also because it was with Thomas. Because it was his cock I was sucking, his moans I was hearing. I wanted to know every part of him and experience his reaction to everything I did to him.

We were discovering each other and ourselves.

I had him on the bed on his knees and elbows, his ass pushed up at me. I palmed his cheek and spread him open, and his entrance glistened with excitement. I held my cock in my hand and moved it close, and Thomas looked back at me, challenging me to take him. So, I jerked forward and entered him, and he stopped from shouting a moan with his hand.

“F-fuck,” he said, his voice muffled.

He was incredibly tight, and just that tiny motion was enough to make me grit my teeth and hope I could last. I moved my hips and slowly began to slide in and out, and Thomas’s body held me firm like he was trying to pull me back inside every time I retreated. I was losing control. I couldn’t stop myself from moving, thrust after thrust, until I was fucking him hard. The old wooden bedframe creaked loudly, but it didn’t seem to matter. There was no slowing down, no holding back.

Thomas bit into the bedcovers as I buried into him, and every thrust I made pushed me dangerously close to my limit. The way he seemed to grow tighter every second made me feel like we were in a battle for the climax, to make the other come first, and right now, Thomas was winning.

By the Gods, was he winning. He moved his ass against me, throwing it back again and again, somehow managing to take me even deeper every time. I fought hard to stay strong. My muscles burned with tension and the molten fire of defeat poured down to my groin, building unrelenting pressure.

Then I made one final thrust and gave in. I couldn’t hold on, couldn’t fight back at all. The orgasm rolled through me like thunder, whiting out my thoughts so that the only thing I knew in that moment was how incredible it felt to be with Thomas, how right it was. My cock poured into him, and when I tried to pull back, he stopped me and kept me inside of him.

“No,” he murmured. “I want it all. It feels amazing…”

His eyelids were heavy and trancelike, and he slowly rocked his hips back and forth as my cock continued to throb every last drop of finish into him.

Afterward, Thomas ran the bath and we both climbed into it, nearly overflowing the water onto the floor. I invited him into my arms and he slid against me, and I wrapped him up. There wasn’t any argument or combat between us, only the need to be close. A lot was going through my head, but I stayed silent. It seemed like Thomas was thinking, too. Maybe we both knew that if we opened our mouths, we’d ruin the rare peace we were sharing.

Thomas stepped out of the bath and wrapped himself in a towel. I watched him move about his room, and I realized there was something subtly different about him, that it was the first time seeing him unencumbered by the weight of his secret. This was him as an omega, the real him, without any of the shields he used as captain of the Watch. I doubted even Castelle had seen him this way. I was the only one, and he was gorgeous and full of genuine strength. A true omega.

When he turned around and saw me staring, I could feel the change happen immediately—the guard went up and I saw the alpha mask coming out.

“May I help you?” he said.

I climbed out of the bath and let my heat dry my skin. “Relax. I’m just admiring you.”

He chuckled. “I’m waiting for the inevitable snarky criticism. Tell me, what can I do better?”

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“No, I’m joking.”

“I am, too. You know that for as much shit as I give you, I hope you know that I do have a lot of respect for you.”

He looked surprised. “Never thought I’d hear that from you.”

I grinned and shrugged. “Never thought I’d say it. But it’s true.”

Thomas frowned. “Oh, I don’t know if I like this. This just feels wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

“Compliments from you.” He smirked. “I’m far too used to hearing you shit-talking me.”

“Don’t worry about that. You still have a lot of work to do, you know?” I slipped my arm around his waist and pushed him up against the wall. “Just because I respect you, doesn’t mean I’m gonna go any easier on you.”

“Good,” he said. He leaned up and kissed me, and then pushed me away by my chest. “You’d better not.”

I wondered if Thomas realized where the source of his problems lay. If he knew that he was creating his own limitations. A part of me wanted to say something to him at that moment, but I stopped myself. I was afraid that if I did bring it up, everything would be ruined. Things were too perfect right now, and it felt like the one misstep could break what we’d discovered.