Corinthians

Love always Protects

It was such a little piece of metal to serve as armor against his basest instincts, but when Eddie wore Zane's ring it was enough.

There could be no excuse for having sex with an unconscious person. Even if they were unconscious because they needed it. Zane managed to wait patiently, placing cold compresses on Ed's body and stroking his face and hair until his eyes fluttered open and he reached for his alpha.

Their first coupling was silent and desperate. Tears streamed down both of their faces as they came together. Zane knotted him again and this time it made Ed groan in pleasure. While he lay on Zane's chest, coming down from his euphoria, Zane told him about the ring and asked him to marry him. Ed choked on his words and just nodded enthusiastically.

Food was already waiting when they finally called for it. Once he'd refueled, Ed was insatiable and Zane's body answered every call. They fell asleep locked together in the early morning and woke up midday to continue without missing a beat. When they called for more food that evening Ed couldn't walk to the table so Zane brought it to him in bed.

Ed licked his lips and asked to be hand fed. His lover complied and they ended up eating the meal off each other's bodies with heavy gulps of their own personal special sauce every now and then.

Heats were usually painful and lonely for Ed, locked away from every alpha for his own protection. But being locked away with his alpha was pure bliss. He couldn't even force himself to worry about getting pregnant. And when they were bonded he wouldn't have to be locked away. His pheromones wouldn't affect other alphas, just his bonded pair and he'd be able to better balance his life.

For three days they hid away from the world. On the fourth day, after a heavy dose of alpha semen to calm the remnants of his heat, they met Zane's parents again for Christmas Eve dinner in the restaurant.

"Mr. and Mrs. Johnston," Ed began formally. "I'm so sorry to have messed up your family vacation."

"It's Martha, or Mom if you'd like, now that you're family." Zane's mom grabbed Ed's left hand to examine the ring on it, as if she hadn't provided it herself.

The senator just looked on smiling mysteriously. "You didn't ruin anything son. In fact, I believe we've accomplished our primary goal for this year's trip. Bringing you into the fold. Perhaps with less finesse than we'd hoped, but you're here and you're ours." He placed one firm hand on Ed's shoulder and the other on Zane's. Then, apparently choked up and couldn't finish whatever he planned to say to them. Zane's arm snaked around behind Ed and squeezed. If the senator couldn't get any words out, nobody could.

The resort arranged holiday entertainment for this evening's diners so they listened to carolers and performances and ate, and mostly felt deeply their good fortune to be together as a family at Christmas.

When Zane smelled Ed's heat rising again he made their excuses and they returned to the suite. For the second time they both cried as they made love. When Zane knotted inside him Ed held onto him as tightly as the knot was binding him. Acceptance was a powerful drug.

As the desperation of heat waned, they slept and ate and rested quietly in front of the fire. Two days after  Christmas, Zane finally dragged Ed's California ass out into the snow for some sledding. The days before New Year's Eve were spent quietly like that. The boys did the little bit of homework they'd had to bring, and Zane searched out all the things you could do besides skiing at a ski resort. He couldn't pry himself away from Ed long enough to join his parents on the slopes.

When he got his brain back from the hormones Ed remembered he'd brought Christmas gifts for Zane and his family. Only tokens, but tokens of his love for their son. He'd read an article about Martha where the interviewer asked her about the charm bracelet she always wore and she pointed out charms for different things and an alpha charm with her son's birthstone. He gave her an omega charm with his own birthstone, and called her Mom, a name he'd never called anyone else. She cried and hugged him again.

The Senator's eyes were suspiciously wet when he received his gift and he tried to pass it off by joking, "well, now if you don't call me Dad I'll be mighty jealous."

"We can't have that, Dad," Ed responded with a smile. This was his gift from Zane, whether he knew it or not. Zane was sharing his parents with Ed, who never knew his own. And they were really wonderful parents.

"What's my gift?" Zane asked. Ed handed him the pregnancy test he'd taken that morning. Zane looked confused and started to pull what looked like the cap off a pen.

"Stop!" Both his mother and Ed exclaimed at the same time. "It's not a pen," Martha added.

He still looked puzzled. "It's three months reprieve," Ed explained. "It was negative." Martha laughed loudly. The senator stifled his chuckle behind his hand. And Zane turned bright red as he realized what he was holding. "I also got you a tie so we can match at the party, but this seemed much better. And...I love you."

While Zane sniffled and squeezed Ed's hand and generally tried to pretend that he wasn't completely floored by this confession, Ed looked at his soon to be mother in law. "Thank you, Mom. Zane told me what you did for us, and about the contraceptive. I promise to give you lots of grandchildren when the time is right."

Martha blushed with pleasure this time and pointed out all the empty space on her charm bracelet. "Can I ask you for one more gift?" Martha said. "Can we announce your engagement at the party tonight? I know you'll want to tell your grandma first, but she'll be here in the next hour."

It was Ed's turn to be pleased to the point of embarrassment. "You're flying in Grandma so you can announce our engagement at your annual big donor's New Year's Eve Party?"

"Politics are all about controlling how your information gets out," Martha explained. "You have a lot to learn too, to support Zane when the time comes, but for now you can trust that we'll say the right things at the right time. This is the perfect time for the senator to announce his alpha son is settling down with the grandson of the omega activist Carol Channing and preparing for his own political career. Expect people to say that one or the other of you are mercenary in forming this alliance. It's honestly too good to be true for us on the surface. But it's really too good to be true for us under the surface as well, because you obviously love each other and are going to be very happy. So, ignore the criticism, humbly accept the congratulations, and keep looking at each other with those goo-goo eyes until that's all they can talk about. Got it?"

"Got it."