The Alpha's Soul

13

Luke's rut was just past its peak, and that was the worst part of it. He'd been so close to forcing his knot into Tan, but when Tan cried out and snapped Luke from his haze, he pulled away completely and made Tan leave the room.

It had been nearly five hours since the incident and Luke had locked himself in their room, leaving Tan out in the hallway. It was as if Luke had switched from being possessive and needing Tan around every second to not wanting him around at all.

Every time Tan tried to get in, Luke told him to leave, and that was terrifying.

"Luke, I'm okay," Tan called through the door, leaning against it. "I just panicked, you didn't do anything wrong."

"Go away, Tan," Luke said, but his voice sounded strained, as if the words were painful to spit out.

Tan didn't listen and tried, once again, to open the door. "Luke, I need you to open the door. I'm supposed to be taking care of you!" he whined, knocking on the door again. "Please, Alpha. Your mate needs you."

He heard a low growl from Luke and knew that his mate was fighting his instinct to open the door and pull him inside.

"Alpha, please," Tan said, sounding as desperate and needy as he possibly could. "I need you. I know you'd never hurt me and I need you to protect me."

The lock clicked and Luke opened the door. He looked exhausted and there were tear streaks on his face, and Tan could see how hard and desperate he was.

"Baby," Tan said in a pitying tone, walking into the room and closing the door before pulling Luke into a tight hug. "It's okay."

Luke shook his head. "I'm sorry," he cried, burying his nose in Tan's neck. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

Tan kissed the side of his head and rubbed his back. "You didn't hurt me, I just panicked. You're in rut, it makes sense that your instincts took over and I'm not mad or scared of you."

"S-So you're okay?" Luke sniffled, looking at Tan with red rimmed eyes.

Tan sat in his lap and ground his ass against Luke's groin. "I'm perfectly okay," he said in a soft voice. "And I think you will be too once you fuck me."

Luke let out a shaky breath. "I c-can't," he whimpered. "This is wh-why I wanted to h-h-have my rut away from you. I'll h-hurt you."

"You won't, I promise."

"I almost did!"

Tan shook his head. "I'm alright, Luke. Trust me, I'm okay. Now, you're not because you're hard to the point that it must hurt. Don't you want to show your mate who's boss?"

Luke's eyes flashed gold and he lifted Tan up, dropping him on the bed. His eyes faded back to blue for a second before his wolf pushed him back to the side.

"You can knot me," Tan said, feeling more confident that he had been before.

If the moon goddess believed they should be together, Tan was confident his mate would be able to help him without being in too much pain.

Luke tensed at his words. "No, it'll hurt you."

"I can handle it, I promise," Tan said, pressing their lips together. "Please, it'll help you."

Hesitantly, Luke stripped Tan's clothes off and pulled his own shirt off. He sat on his knees in between Tan's legs, his nervous hands shaking as he stroked over the skin of Tan's thighs and admired his body. Luke didn't make any moves to go further than stroking over Tan's skin, so Tan sighed and grabbed Luke's shoulders.

"I'll be okay, Luke," he promised, sitting up and kissing Luke's lips. "Do whatever you want."

Luke shook his head. "I'm not ready," he whispered, burying his face in Tan's neck. "And I'm past my peak. I just wanna scent you."