"Or uh, or do you want to come with my pack?"

Dean kept his hands on Cas' arms as he gazed into his eyes. The beta shook his head.

"I think my herd will warm up to us eventually."

"You do?"

"Yes," Cas said with a nod. "Gabe is already leading that. The rest will follow, I'm sure."

Dean smiled. "All right, then. I can live with that."

"But the heat? Is it true?"

"What?"

Dean went to one of the wagons and began getting his supplies. He didn't have very much.

"Cain said this is the same heat that came before the storm. Is it?"

"Heat's heat," Dean said with a shrug. "I don't know. It was hot before the storm, yeah, but it's been hot before. I think Cain is paranoid and I can't blame it. I'm worried, too, but I can't live my life like that. Storms that bad won't come back for…for probably forever."

Cas frowned. He offered to help Dean by carrying his wares. Dean handed him a quiver full of arrows, which he had never seen or heard of before, and a sack filled with tools. Cas happily carried everything back to his house. Dean followed with even more items—blankets, clothes, and some animal parts like teeth and bones. One inside Cas' house, he pointed to a space near the nest where Dean was welcome to keep his things.

"This is an awesome place to live, by the way," said Dean.

"Mm. Thank you. I've tried hard to make it so."

"Well you've done a great job."

Dean set down a sack of clothes then turned to Cas. He touched the beta's cheek and pulled him in for a kiss. Cas felt his body electrify at Dean's soft touch.

"Are you sad to leave your pack?"

"Kind of. But the pack that's here is different than how it was before the storm. I feel like I've already left it. Breaking away now doesn't feel as hard."

Cas blinked slowly and leaned against his mate more. He had too many opinions of things and wanted them all to stop rushing around in his head. When Dean put his arms around him, every restless thought settled and Cas was able to relax.

"For what it's worth," Cas mumbled against Dean's shoulder, "I love you, too."

"I know."

"Hm?"

Cas looked up at Dean with his blue eyes twinkling. Dean laughed.

"This is your first time but it's not mine. I've been around. I can read people, hunter or gatherer. You're pretty easy to understand."

"Oh!"

Cas flushed bright red. Was it so obvious? Dean nodded as if he could read his thoughts.

"Don't worry about it," Dean said coolly. "But hey, we're gonna have a nice meal today, huh?"

The beta nodded. Dean immediately broke off the embrace and began to put hunting supplies together. "I'll go catch something great and I'll show you how to prepare it. Now is a great time of year to find deer."

"Ah, then I'll—"

Cas stopped himself midsentence. He remembered what Meg had explained about hunting and how it made them horny. Compared with Gabe's advice on breeding multiple times, Cas thought he would join him. However, it might be more affective if he surprised Dean mid-hunt.

Dean looked to Cas while he put the quiver over his shoulder and took up a bow. "You'll…?"

"I'll just wait here, then," Cas lied quickly. He gave short smile and Dean returned it.

"Okay, no problem. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Goodbye!"

Dean walked out of the house but looked over his shoulder a few times at Cas. He smiled, but there was a gleam in his eyes that told Cas he may have been onto him.

Once he was gone, Cas gave him a fair head start but soon followed. As he walked through the settlement, it was apparent that the herd still wanted nothing to do with him. Scornful glances came this way at that, from alphas in their gardens and betas tending to their clutches. Their judgmental eyes burned, but Cas couldn't let it bother him. He reminded himself that they would understand in time.

Dean had walked deep into the woods. He held his bow with both hands as he dashed from tree to tree, an odd sense of focus over him. Cas was just close enough so that he could pick up on a faint trace of Dean's scent. Could Dean smell him?

Watching the man hunt was more fascinating than Cas expected. He had finely tuned tracking skills that were obvious to even the casual observer. Cas saw no animal for a while, but Dean was clearly picking up on something.

He would take a few steps, quiet but fast, with his head turning from side to side like a sprinkler, and his feet knew exactly how to avoid snapping twigs. Every so often he would pause and kneel down to examine the ground or a low part of a tree. Each time he did this, Cas froze and hoped that he wouldn't be seen. It surprised him that Dean never noticed.

At long last, there came a deer. It was a buck with large antlers—a creature that, despite its striking beauty, would have terrified Cas had Dean not been there. A shiver of fear still jolted down his spine, but he saw that the hunter was in complete control.

Now, his dance became more precise and detailed. Every move that Dean made was calculated. He did not run. He did not squat or turn too quickly. Tiny, careful steps carried him closer and closer to the unsuspecting buck, who was about as preoccupied with grazing as Cas was with watching his mate.

Then, Dean raised the bow, pulled an arrow from his quiver, lined up a shot and sent it flying. The oblivious deer was struck directly in the heart and fell down to his death within moments. Cas couldn't believe his eyes. He didn't have to know anything about hunting to tell that was a perfect shot!

With the need for stealth gone, Dean mounted his bow on his back and loudly ran through the brush to claim his prize. He squat beside the buck to retrieve his arrow, check to make sure was indeed dead, then started to wrap the legs together with a thin rope he had apparently brought. Cas didn't notice a particular rush of arousal, but he made himself known now.

"Dean?"

The alpha turned his head and shot a look right at Cas. He parted his lips and slowly got to his feet.

"That was amazing shot," Cas said humbly. "I hope you don't mind that I was watching."

Dean said nothing.

"Are you mad?"

Still no words. His face was intense but impossible to decipher. Regretting his decisions, Cas raised a hand over his mouth and whined the best that a low pitched voice can do.

"Am I in trouble?"

Dean was walking straight at him, as silent as ever with his stone-like face unchanged. He trudged up to Cas and opened his mouth more but refused to speak. Instead, held his tongue between his teeth and looked Cas over. This close, Cas could smell the pheromones. They were more intense than he had experience so far. In fact, he was growing dizzy from them.

As Cas attempted to steady himself, Dean suddenly sprang at him. This didn't knock them onto the ground, but rather against a tree. Cas' back slammed against it and he let out a groan of pain. Dean didn't seem to care right now. He had his hands on Cas' shoulders with his fingers digging into him.

"Nnnh—Dean—"

Cas struggled to speak as the scent was overwhelming. He felt his hole moisten and relax for entrance, begging to be touched more and more. Dean knew Cas' arousal. He fiercely turned the beta around and pulled down his pants. Cas was able to cling to that tree now. He bent over just enough to jut his ass out to Dean, who grabbed it roughly and mounted him at once.

"HOH!"

Cas let out a cry when Dean entered him with such great force. His thick, magnificent cock glided through him with surprising ease, filling Cas up with intense pleasure. He did his best to hold onto the tree, but his body was trembling beneath Dean's force, the intoxicating aroma of his pheromones, and the spine-tingling ecstasy that was mating.

Dean bent his knees and held Cas by the hips. He fucked him harder than the first time earlier, with quicker, stronger thrusts that, in Cas' mind, resembled the mating habits of rabbits or dogs. He couldn't believe how strong Dean was.

"Hhn—Dean—it's—good!"

Cas couldn't speak very well. Drool ran from his numb mouth and tree bark was scratching into his palms. Dean overpowered Cas, applying most of his weight against him as the fucking continued. Cas cried and cried with pleasure. He closed his eyes and arched his back more, feeling the entirety of Dean's member with him. A thin liquid dribble out of his own penis. He felt some embarrassment from that but the entire experience was too heart-stoppingly amazing that he couldn't be bothered to feel bad.

"Caaas," Dean finally uttered. His voice was throaty and full of desire, just a low whisper that cooed at the back of Cas' head. His breathing was rapid. The thrusting continued. Somewhere deep inside, Cas felt hot nerve endings being ramrodded so deliciously that his body was turning into pudding.

Then, finally, Dean's climax.

"CAS!"

His voice cracked as he screamed. Rope after rope of thick jizz pumped itself into Cas' innocent hole. Deans fingers had dug so hard into Cas' sides that his body was bleeding from small scratch marks. Cas didn't care. He felt too good. His dick, too, had ejaculated something clear and thin.

As soon as Dean's orgasm faded, he pulled himself out of Cas and tiredly sat on the forest floor. Cas collapsed against the tree. Dean's semen oozed out of him and the alpha suddenly shouted, "Stop! Keep it in!"

"Huh?"

Cas was so out of it that he didn't even feel it.

"Make sure it stays in ya!"

He tried to tighten his hole. Dean's come deserved to live within him. Hopefully he was going to make eggs now.

"Told you," Dean said, his voice less chaotic now, "Following me on the hunt means you get fucked."

"I know."

Cas pulled his pants up and turned around so he could see Dean. His face was bright red and his cock was still out, flaccid, sticky and beautiful. Cas liked how it looked, even as Dean held it gently in one hand and stroked his foreskin back and forth around it.

"I wanted to experience it."

"And?" Dean asked with a weak chuckle. "Everything you though it would be?"

"Oh, it was incredible! You—you—bred me so hard! I couldn't believe it! And your smell? And my…my penis!"

Dean laughed aloud now. "Your penis? What about it?"

"Something came out, too!"

"Just a little squirting, I bet. The beta females do it from time to time. Or was it piss?"

Cas shook his head. "It was too clear and runny. The consistency was more like what oozes from you."

"Yeah, that's fine. You just had a great nut."

"Hm?"

Dean continued to laugh. "You're so cute. Come here."

Finally catching his breath, Cas crawled on his hands and knees to Dean's lap. It was too difficult to stand. Not yet.

"Do you feel like you have eggs in you?" Dean asked in a quiet voice. This made Cas chuckle.

"I know it happens soon, but not that much."

"Yeah, well, how does it feel? In your mind? Your heart?"

Cas closed his eyes with the smile still on his wide lips. He groped around for Dean's hand, which instantly took his fingers within its palm.

"I don't know," Cas said. "I don't know what I'm feeling for."

They were both quiet for a moment.

"Hope?" Dean suggested.

"Maybe."