AU: Contains spelling/grammar corrections, sorry about the mistakes before or the ones I still haven't noticed. Thanks for all the followers, I've never had so many in the space of three days x

Cas lay between Kate's knees, head resting shamelessly against her ever-comfortable chest as they lounged on the sofa in the attic-conversation/Kate and Gabe's rent-free apartment, watching daytime TV. Times like this, when no one else was in the house, when it was just him and Kate, when he didn't have to be ashamed to be a beta-male, he was tempted to switch to the daily, as-required heat-suppressants so he could just hang out with her for the week, unbothered by the throws of heat when in the company of a fellow beta.

He would never be able to even begin to guess how Gabriel of all people landed himself such a wonderful woman, and no one would be able to probably, not without extensive scientific research. But Cas was so glad he did. Kate was the best friend he could have asked for.

Kate and Gabriel had been together for eight years now, ever since half-way through their first year of high school and Gabriel's months of endless perusing and exhausting his best pick-up tactics had paid off. Now they shared the converted attic of the unnecessarily huge Novak house. Kate had been around during Cas' first heat when he was thirteen, making him a late-starter, but still mortified about being a beta-male and Kate had calmed him down.

That was when she'd first explained that when beta's grouped together their urges in heat were staved off, which is why girls almost always moved round in groups, and beta-males naturally favoured the company of girls. She'd promised that they could always hang out when he went into heat; despite her promise, the idea had died with Cas' admittance to his father that he wasn't an alpha, and he'd been forced into the stronger monthly pills. Only Gabriel knew how utterly furious she was with Mr Novak for being so homophobic.

His father's complete denial and rejection about having a beta for a son had led Cas to completely force it out of himself, even tried dating one or two girls from his class in an attempt to train himself into being an alpha. But no matter how hard he tried he was still, fundamentally, a beta, and girls couldn't help but treat him like their best friend. So maybe for one month out of the year he forgot to take his pill? So what? It didn't matter if nobody found out. 'Nobody' however, never included Kate, Gabriel, or his other brother Balthazar, because they didn't seem to mind.

Kate stroked his hair absent-mindedly as he inhaled the pheromones that clung to her skin, neither of them caring that his face was in her cleavage. She smelt of Gabriel, she always smelt of Gabriel, but it still didn't cover up the heavenly scent she had on her skin.

Suddenly, from nowhere, Castiel plucked up the courage to ask the question that had been playing on his mind all day now "Does getting knotted hurt?"

Kate flinched back, causing him to lift is head from the comfort of her breasts and look at her "Where the hell did that come from?" she asked, sounding a little panicked if the small quiver in 'hell' was anything to go by. Castiel had asked her hundreds of questions about everything, ranging from sex to 'that book she was reading the other week' so why knotting seemed like a sensitive subject he didn't know, and got the feeling that it was too personal to ask.

He shrugged and rested his head again "I was just curious, because today I…"

"It's natural for beta's to want a knot in heat" she soothed, a little calmer than before, settling back down with him.

"It's not just that…" he sighed "but that guy… I wanted him to watch while I – while I touched myself"

He didn't hear so much as he felt her chuckle vibrate through her chest "I think you wanted him to do a little more than that sweetie" she said, not really teasing him, jut encouraging him not to lie to himself. He buried his face in her chest as he mumbled 'maybe'. "Did you want him to fuck you or did you just want to be fucked?" she asked, he stayed still in silent contemplation, when he didn't answer she carried on "Okay, think about it this way. Did you picture a cock pounding into your ass, or did you picture him, all hot a sweaty, groaning your name as you rode him like a horny little-"

"The second one." He cut in quickly, before she could go into even more detail, because she was teasing him a little, not like that was new however.

"Aww" she cooed, pinching his cheek lightly "I reckon you should give it a go then"

Cas pushed himself up quite quickly "What?"

She shrugged casually "ask him out"

He slowly recoiled to the other end of the sofa "But I –I don't even know-"

"Dean Winchester" she told him "I see his kid brother in the library all the time, he's got nothing but the highest praises for his big brother" Kate was a Librarian at the local library, and sometimes it seemed like she knew everyone Cas could name.

Cas gritted his teeth in thought "I dunno…" he mumbled

Kate nudged him with her foot "Give it a go" she pushed, "And if he says no you're too good for him anyway" they both smiled and laughed a little

"Only if you talk to Gabe" he bargained, because he knew that the two of them – though clearly very close, and still intimate with one another – needed to talk about whatever had happened between them, because it needed to be sorted.

For a moment, Kate froze, before nodding her head I agreement "Alright then, but you better damn well try your hardest"

Cas took a deep breath when he finally saw the grounds keeper from yesterday, he was mopping the floor outside the guys' bathrooms, and walked straight up to him. His heat-suppressant had kicked in now, so he wasn't in trouble of a repeat of yesterday.

Dean sniffed and looked up as Cas approached, and he took off his headphones. But before he could speak, Cas rattled off into a well-rehearsed speech. "I just wanted to say – uh – thanks for yesterday and if you could, you know, keep it to yourself though? But still, thanks… allot for… that. And – uh – I was – um – wondering if you'd like to go for a – uh – burger or something? Later that is, not now, because I have classes and you're probably busy"

"Uh – no problem, and of course not, I wouldn't, and – uh – I'm actually busy later… sorry"

Cas didn't relax at all despite his promise that he wouldn't tell anyone. "No that's – uh – that's fine, of course, whatever. I'll – I'll see you whenever then" he said as casually as he could, turning on his heel to leave before he was stopped by a firm hand. He turned back to Dean.

"I'm free tomorrow" he offered, making Castiel's insides flutter a little, "Meet me by the front gate at say… 8:30?" Cas just nodded, unable to form words or suppress the goofy half-grin he had on his face.

The next day, the moment his shift ended, he raced home to shower and change for what he wouldn't admit was a date. After his shower, he stood in front of the mirror wearing his best jeans and boots, holding up one shirt, then the other, unable to make up his mind. Eventually he caught sight of Sammy in the mirror, he was watching him from the doorway. When the kid had turned fifteen, he'd had one hell of a growth spurt, suddenly going from short and chubby to tall and wiry, so he had a constantly under-fed look about him.

"What?" he asked bluntly, and Sam just tilted his head and continued to observe him

"Where're you going?" he asked cautiously, his voice didn't squeak hilariously any more so Dean didn't have much to quip at him with, but Dean had sure as hell taken the piss when it had.

"Out" Dean answered vaguely, going back to deciding on which shirt to wear

"Go with the dark blue one." said Sam casually, and without admitting the kid was probably right, Dean put away the green shirt and pulled on the dark blue t-shirt "Out where?" he pushed as Dean started on his hair

"Just out"

Sammy wouldn't give up that easily, although the stoic look on his face made him seem less nosy, and just curious. "With a girl?"

Now, Dean couldn't outright lie to his brother, but he could withhold information.

"Or is it a guy?" Sam asked, stepping into the room to put Dean's hair right after the onslaught of his slightly shaking hands. Damn his brother's perceptiveness.

Dean let Sammy fix his hair, trying to phrase it right. He was far from ashamed to find himself attracted to this guy, but he wasn't sure if he could really call it a date, because Cas was trying to keep his beta-male side a secret.

Sammy chuckled "Just gimmie a heads-up if you're bringing him back"

"Oh dude no, I don't think..." Dean had said it without realising it, but when he'd been on dates before (most of them being with girls, rarely more than once) he'd damn well planned to get them into bed. "I don't think he's like that" he finished "he's... real smart, doesn't look like he'd mess around"

"He cute?"

"Oh hell yeah" he gave a kind of dazed grin and he thought about those blue eyes, and good god did he want to see them blown open with arousal, his pale cheeks flushed and hear his voice completely sex-wrecked.

Sam raised his eyebrows, it might be a guy he was going on a date this time, but even with no guarantee of sex Dean was still eager to go.

Castiel hadn't expected his father to be home so early; usually he was back late and gone before anyone else had woken up. So even though he'd been ready for an hour, and he was meeting Dean in fifteen minuets, his father was sat in his chair, reading the paper, and Cas had no way of getting out the house unseen. So instead he stared down from his window, trying to see any way he could climb down.

That was exactly when Balthazar decided to appear at his shoulder, scaring Cas half to death with a simple 'boo'. Cas punched him in the shoulder for his troubles. "What the hell're you doing?" he snapped

"I could ask you the same thing" Balthazar responded coolly

"None of your business" said Cas, closing the window carefully

Balthazar grinned knowingly "Come on, it's easy climbing down from my window" he said with a wink

Kate glanced over her shoulder at Mr Novak, then to her left at Gabriel, who was drying the dishes she was washing from dinner. "Sweetie, I wanna talk to you about something" she whispered

Gabriel glanced over at her, recognising the look on her face, and quickly at his father "We'll do it tomorrow, when Dad's at-"

"No Gabe. Now." she fiddled with the dish-cloth for a moment, watching the dirty water circle down the drain, then added "...or I'll just have to leave" Gabriel didn't say anything as he stopped packing the plates away into the cupboard for a moment. "I might not go into heat any more but... God knows I still want you" she whispered, but not standing any closer. He didn't say anything as he finished putting the plates away either, he just took her hand, and led her up the stairs. "Come on" he said gently

Kate followed after him obediently. When they reached the stairs that led up to the attic, she heard one of the bedroom doors click shut behind them, but didn't care because she could smell a change on him that – ever since they'd first started dating – she come to associate with him getting possessive, and she knew that meant she was getting fucked into the mattress.

She was almost right.

The moment they got into their room, Gabriel grabbed her by her hips, lifted her off the ground and shoved her up against the wall. "You're mine" he growled in her ear "Like hell you're going to leave me" his fingertips pressed hard enough against her hips to leave bruises as he nipped at her ear, making her give the smallest of whimpers. He kissed her furiously, hardly stopping for long enough to even let her breathe.

He was in heat. Of course Kate knew this, what kind of girlfriend would she be if she didn't? But he always kept his distance from her during his heats; he didn't want to hurt her, and even suppressants couldn't keep you off a willing beta, especially one with a mouth that was the embodiment of lustful sin.

Unlike betas, alphas only went into heat once a year, and once they had a mate they usually became synchronised, going into heat at the same time, and became able to knot their mate as long as one of them was in heat.

Kate could feel his hard-on pressed against her thigh, and she wanted it like a fish needs water. But unbuttoning his jeans seemed to snap him out of the testosterone fuelled need to finally mark her and he pushed her hand away. "Stop" he said, gritting his teeth "I can't..."

He was so on-edge Kate didn't have to say a single word to get her possessive, greedy alpha-male back. She just dropped to her knees, slowly undid his zipper, before nuzzling her nose against his crotch, mouthing through his shorts against his cock, inhaling his heady scent and looking up at him with her best beta-eyes.

Castiel smiled as Dean continued his story "-then she turned to him and said 'how could you even think about interrupting us like that?' and he just goes 'oh, I'm sorry...' then leaves!" Cas shook with laughter

"So even-though he'd just caught you with his girlfriend, he apologised?" confirmed Cas

"Yup!" grinned Dean, Sammy had rolled his eyes when he'd told him, and the guys at the shop were more interested in what he'd been doing with the girl before-hand, not that neither of them hadn't found it just as funny, but being able to make Cas laugh like this gave him a warm feeling, not to mention his smile just about stopped his heart.

"So you've been with a couple of girls in the past then?" asked Cas innocently, pulling his eyes down to his meal, occasionally flicking up to look at Dean

Dean leaned back on the bench seat of the alcove they had "A couple yeah, one or two guys too, but... mainly one night stands... I think they were all one night stands actually..."

"Oh..." Castiel's heart sunk in his chest

Instantly Dean realised Cas had taken it the wrong way "Not that you are, of course not," he said quickly "You..." he caught Castiel's eye as the thinner man raised his head, and Dean was so sure that he was going to go into cardiac arrest some point this evening, the things Cas was making his heart do. "You're..." he tried again, but the words were gone, and his mouth had gone dry, still grasping for words, he watched Cas reach out across the table and trail his fingertips along the hard line of his jaw, leaving a soft tingling in its wake.