When the sun set for the last time this winter, Paul and Eric watched it together from Paul's "observatory." He made the observatory out of blocks of densely packed snow. It was just a big ice couch that he'd throw several large pelts over and snuggle into with Eric while all the dogs piled on top.
Paul got satellite internet in the cabin so there was more typical entertainment to be had, but nothing compared to sitting in the middle of the vast silence of the arctic and watching the ever-changing sky over the pristine landscape. Paul had binoculars for stargazing and a green laser pointer that was strong enough for him to point things out in the sky. This was helpful for Eric because the few constellations he was familiar with were entirely obscured by the sheer quantity of stars visible. They were also on a completely different arc with Polaris being much higher in the northern sky than he expected.
The best nights were those when the aurora seemed to rain down on them. The dancing streaks of colored light like the tracks of a million shooting stars.
Neither man spoke much. From when Eric was first rescued, a week passed before he realized they hadn't exchanged names. Despite that, they fell into a routine, sharing chores and an easy companionship that avoided all the awkward questions they should have been asking. Like what they might do when Eric went into heat.
Unfortunately, avoidance is not a solution and it came as it always did, flooding over Eric in gradually intensifying waves. At first, he tried to hide it, babbling about sleeping in the barn. But he still feared being alone with the dogs so Paul knew something was up. When he finally coaxed Eric into the cabin and peeled off his scarf the situation immediately became clear. His pheromones swamped the small space.
"I'm sorry," Eric whined. "I'm so sorry." But he reached for Paul as he said it and the alpha held onto him with a fierce possessiveness he'd never felt before.
"I can go sleep in the barn," the alpha offered, though his voice was pained as he said it, and his grip never loosened.
"Don't," Eric groaned.
"If I stay...," Paul warned.
"You saved me." Eric was panting now and clinging to the alpha. "I think I belong to you."
It was Paul's turn to groan. He liked that a little too much. There were no options. No suppressants. No birth control. No collar. If he took the omega now there would be lifelong consequences. Yet...there was no stopping either. "Are you sure?" He asked, not at all sure whether the answer would matter.
Eric's head, pressed against his chest, nodded and the last threads of his self-control snapped.
Outside the aurora danced over the cabin so gloriously that colored light shone through the tiny windows. But inside the alpha and his omega performed another sort of dance. Kissing tenderly at first, and then desperately as though they might swallow each other whole. Shedding their clothing and diving under the bedcovers naked together, their skin desperate for contact.
It had been a long time for Paul with his self imposed isolation, but Eric's body responded so feverishly that his hesitance burned away. He realized this was different from anything he'd experienced before anyway. This was his omega, the boy he'd saved and felt safe with. Despite their heat, his hands were gentle because his lover was precious to him.
For Eric, his heat always meant pain. When he was alone the pain was a normal inevitable part of his gender. But even when he ventured to find a partner he always ended up hurting. He had believed his fiancé loved him, but even so, he'd been handled roughly during his heat. Just because he begged for more, it didn't mean he wanted to emerge covered in bruises. He assumed alphas couldn't help themselves, but Paul was proving that assumption wrong.
He'd been glad in the past for his collar and, given its abrupt termination, he was glad that he'd insisted on wearing it even after his engagement. He didn't know how he felt about not having it now. Paul's kisses strayed from his lips and face to his neck, nibbling behind his ears and licking the vulnerable spot on his neck where a mating bite would inexorably link him with an alpha for the rest of his life. With this alpha, because he had no protection and mating instincts were stronger than willpower. It was inevitable and he didn't hate the idea. Not while he was in heat when every fiber of his being ached for posession.
While they hadn't talked about it, Eric had frequently considered this situation. Paul made him feel safe, and even if he never said as much, Eric felt more loved than he ever had before. Whether it was common affection similar to that Paul gave to his dogs or something more, he couldn't tell. It had a purity to it that he'd never experienced before and it confused him. Expressed in the gentle consideration Paul showed at every turn without any impatience or expectation, this unacknowledged feeling drew Eric like a moth to flame. He followed Paul about, staying close even when he couldn't help with his work.
The venue provided his only reason for hesitation. Once mates were bound together, separating became impossible. And this alpha lived a two-hour helicopter ride from civilization, just north of the arctic circle in Alaska, by choice. Could Eric survive the rest of his life in isolation with only his alpha? It was beautiful and despite the physical labor required to live off the land, he felt happy and safe for now. But...forever? Returning Eric to civilization was yet another topic they failed to discuss. He didn't even know why Paul chose to live out here in the first place. It didn't seem like there was anything wrong with him.
Nothing was wrong with him at all, Eric thought as his nipples peaked in response to Paul's insistent attention and a spike of need shot straight to his core. Every touch reverberated inside him and he responded, arching his back and whimpering for more. His manhood dripped precum on his belly and his ass flooded with mucous and twitched in preparation.
Lower and lower Paul's lips moved along Eric's chest until the kissed the tip of his dick and he nearly jumped off the bed. He'd never been touched like that during his heat and it felt a million times more sensitive than it ever did outside his heat. By the time his pheromones amped up this much, his partners usually claimed to lose control and buried themselves in his ass as quickly as possible. Not Paul.
This sweet man was savoring his omega like the rare treat he was. It had been far too long since he held someone. There was also no competition or threat of interruption here to trigger any instinctive urgency and he didn't want to rush. The warmth of skin touching skin made him shudder in delight. The taste of that skin, saltly with a trace of sweet, redefined his idea of ambrosia. The way Eric's chest trembled as the roughness of his calloused hands drifted across it made him ache to explore further. All the while, his own woodsy scent mixed with the omega's jasmine and flooded his primitive brain with euphoria as a baseline on which every other sensation built.
By the time his mouth reached its second major objective, Eric was a whimpering needy mess. He arched his body so hard Paul had to grip him firmly by the waist to keep him on the bed as he licked up the length of his penis and then proceeded to stroke it with his tongue while holding it in his mouth like the best lollipop ever. While his mouth kept the omega distracted, he tested the readiness of his next objective. His sexual experience was limited. He'd slept with an omega once to see what the fuss was about, but the omega wasn't in heat. Avoiding omegas in heat was drilled into him as an alpha from a high-class family. He didn't want to get taken advantage of. But it was the family who took advantage of him in the end, so everything he'd learned from them was unreliable.
Was Eric taking advantage of him? He could have insisted on returning to civilization. There were ways out of the wilderness, even as late in the year as this. But Paul never suggested he leave either. From the beginning, he felt drawn to the boy. He realized he'd overdone his escape into solitude. If anyone could be said to be taking advantage of the situation, it was him. In the end, if they never talked about his heat or did anything to stop its inevitable consequences, they'd be bound together and this sweet boy could never leave him. His heart put his tongue in a vice grip whenever he tried to bring it up, so the truth was clear long before Eric's heat arrived.
He tasted a small explosion of cum as his finger breached Eric's pucker. The boy was as sensitive as he was beautiful. He licked his lollipop clean and removed his finger so his tongue could prepare his lovely partner for the next steps in their dance. Eric wasn't used to preparation during his heat. No one else took the time. It wouldn't damage him to be fucked forcefully with his body like this, but taking the time to be sure he didn't hurt at all...tears sprang to his eyes at the gentleness of his mate.
His mate. This possessive phrase echoed in Eric's mind like a mantra, a wish, or a prayer which if repeated enough might come true. Not a partner for the night, or through his heat. His mate. This was different from the usual psychological cry for "alpha" he felt during his past heats. This was specific to Paul and reinforced by deeper-rooted emotions he felt too far gone to identify. It grew in intensity fabricating images in his mind of them together building a life and raising children and he wanted it more with each happy possibility presented. He wanted this mate. His neck arched and presented instinctively even though his alpha's mouth was occupied elsewhere.
They danced this mating dance with no words, each understanding the meaning of the other's smallest motions and moving in sync. In Paul's mind he was sure he heard music, accompanied by the deep thudding of his heart and Eric's cries and moans as though they were the vocal track. It rose slowly, opening up into an aria as he enticed and explored, and then exploding and escalating rapidly as he penetrated and drove them to the final crescendo. He cried out loudly when he started to cum and his knot swelled up and locked them in place. As he came down from that high he nuzzled Eric's neck, inhaling the sweetness that drove him to this state, and then bit down hard, sending his mate over the edge one last time.