Chapter 5: Given the Dog a Bone

Dean awoke with a start on his second morning of freedom, his fading dreams leaving a flush across his chest and a strange hardness in his sleep pants. He had cuddled up next to Cas in the night, the alpha still sleeping peacefully in the huge bed with his back to the omega, clearly unaware of the younger man's sudden . . . problem.

Dean had been locked in chastity since his first heat, but he did remember what it was like to be hard, to have that urge to . . . well, when he had been in heat he had wanted desperately for his alpha to mount him, to breed him, to make the burning stop. This was different. His dick was hard, but he didn't feel any slick leaking from his hole and he didn't really have the same urge for sex that he remembered from his many heats. It was uncomfortable, though, and he would have preferred not to have it tenting his pants in such an unseemly manner. He wiggled a little bit to try to find a better position, gasping breathlessly as a shock of pleasure spread through his body when he rubbed up against Cas's leg.

Dean slid his arm around Cas's waist and moved closer, rubbing his erection against the alpha for a second time. That felt really good. The omega bit his lip and closed his eyes, rutting as quietly as he could against the older man, chasing those bursts of pleasure as something began to build inside him. He had never been allowed to touch himself, but after watching Azazel mate with Lilith for so many years he knew what he was heading towards. He could barely keep silent, panting into Cas's shoulder as he got closer to the edge, never noticing that the alpha had woken up and was holding as still as possible to avoid frightening the omega.

Dean came with a start, his broken gasp burning against Cas's shoulder. The alpha couldn't hold still after that, turning over and pulling the omega into his arms as he took a deep breath, storing as much of the boy's sweet apple pie scent as he could. He felt Dean freeze in his arms, but he would need a moment before he could force himself to loosen his grip.

"I'm sorry," Dean whispered, intensely aware of the cooling wet spot on the front of his flannel pants and the hard, hot length of his alpha's erection against his leg. He had taken his pleasure without thinking about Cas; surely his new owner was going to punish him now. Dean calmed his body, tilting his head to one side to expose his neck submissively as he waited for Cas to give him a command.

"Just give me a moment, Dean," the alpha whispered brokenly, his nose pressed tightly against the omega's neck. "Your scent . . . it's almost too much for me to handle. Give me a minute to gain some control."

"I'm sorry," Dean whispered, finding it easier and easier to speak the longer he was away from Azazel's cruel control. "Shouldn't have . . ."

"Dean, that's fine. I'm not upset at you, I promise." Cas finally released his iron grip on the half-starved omega, pushing himself into a sitting position. Dean slipped out of his wet pants and panties, frowning sadly at the stain on the satiny pink fabric. He turned sideways in the bed and got onto all fours, arching his back and presenting as Azazel had taught him, hoping that his new alpha would understand him without the need for words. He fully expected that Cas would jump him right then and there, the alpha's heady arousal coloring his honey and ginger scent.

What he wasn't expecting was a gentle, yet firm hand on his hip pushing his ass down and urging him into a sitting position. Cas smiled softly and ran his fingers through Dean's hair, waiting until the omega's scent calmed completely before speaking. "I'm not going to mount you, Dean. You're offering yourself because you think you did something wrong by coming in your pants without thinking about me first. I won't allow you to punish yourself."

Dean pointed at Cas's still prominent erection, a question in his eyes, and the alpha shrugged. "I will take care of it myself, or it will eventually go down on its own. Just . . . your scent . . . it was so strong right after you came and I just needed to smell you. Thank you for letting me."

"I . . ." Dean trailed off, pointing at his pink panties sadly. If he had realized sooner what that pleasure would lead towards, he wouldn't have come in his nice new clothes.

Cas traced his gaze, smiling gently at the younger man. "We'll just have them washed. The hotel has a service, according to Gabe. You can wear a different pair today, maybe the green ones. You should change them daily, in any case. If you wake up again like that tomorrow, you'll know what to expect."

Dean nodded, smiling as he tossed his shirt to the floor and headed for the door, knowing that he needed a shower after coming all over himself. Cas chuckled as Gabe entered a moment later, the blonde omega averting his eyes from Dean's naked form. "So, clothing is optional with that one, it seems."

"He came all over his pajamas," Cas explained, pointing at the small pile of clothes at the foot of the bed. "Apparently he's never dealt with the aftermath of sex dreams before."

Gabriel shrugged and moved to sit on the edge of the bed, pausing for a moment to ensure that his chosen perch wasn't wet and sticky before settling. "Buncha' people comin' in from the old homestead today, and Michael has some figures for you to run."

"Houston? I already gave him a recommendation about the business there. He should accept the offer from that fishing business for exclusive rights on docks four and five."

"He doesn't want to tie up two docks, and they won't settle for one."

Cas snorted and shook his head, reaching for a change of clothes as the sound of the shower filtered in from the main room. "Luci doesn't trust his clan leader out there, so he wants to micro manage the guy, but he's right in this case. The offer is good."

"You don't like Zachariah either," Gabriel pointed out.

"No," Cas conceded, "but I know a good business deal when I see it." He could see in Gabe's eyes that his argument wouldn't be enough for their older brothers, so he sighed and nodded before pulling on a shirt. "Fine, tell Mike I'll look over the numbers. And have Luci send me his plans for redistributing his people to deal with this Devil's Blood issue so I can make sure that we aren't going to have any problems with his choices."

"How do you know he's going to reorganize?"

Cas shrugged, finding a pair of pants, the green panties, and three layers of shirts for Dean to wear. The omega still wasn't comfortable choosing his own clothes, always deferring to his alpha. "It's obvious. The fight with Azazel was a clear threat to our dominance in the Midwest, and our brothers are nothing if not protective. They'll move people to the border cities, and I need to make sure that they don't leave our operations vulnerable anywhere else."

"Alright, I'll convey the message."

Dean returned from his shower a moment later, toweling his hair dry as he smiled and nodded at Gabriel. He spotted the clothes laid out on the bed and smiled at Cas, reaching for the satiny green panties in delight. "Thank you."

"Of course," Cas replied, running his fingers through his hair in an attempt to tame it enough to leave the room. "Let's head down for breakfast. Gabe and I will be busy working for most of the day, but Charlie will be over soon to start working on your lesson plan. That is, if you still want to get your GED?" Dean had agreed to the plan the day before, but Cas wanted to be sure that he wasn't just trying to please the alpha.

"Yes, Alpha," Dean replied, his voice soft but strong. He was getting better at speaking by the minute, proving that a large part of his impairment was mental, not physical.

"You don't have to call me 'Alpha', Dean. It's Castiel, or Cas. Please, do refrain from choosing the affectation that my brothers prefer."

"Cassie," Gabriel supplied helpfully, hopping off the bed at the promise of food.

"Thank you, C-Cas," Dean amended, struggling only a moment with the harder consonant sound. The alpha smiled at the reply, very much liking the sound of his name in the omega's deep voice. He might never tire of hearing it.

"Cassie! I'm home!"

Castiel, who had just finished a long but productive phone call with his east-coast brothers, let out a long-suffering sigh as his younger brother sauntered into the hotel suite. Dean looked up from the placement test Charlie had given him, eyes widening at the slender, outrageously attired omega who pulled Castiel up and wrapped him in a hug. This, then, had to be Samandriel, the youngest of the five Novak brothers, his scent suitably omega-sweet and his bright, airy clothes practically screaming his subgender to the world. He was attired in loose, flowing sheer layers of blue and green under his heavily embroidered white kimono top, none of the fabric thick enough to hide his lean, but decently muscled chest or the tattoos that decorated his upper body. The layers wrapped around his lower half in a split skirt, but the omega had worn indigo yoga pants under them for modesty and comfort on such a long ride.

Gabriel chuckled as he caught Dean staring, tapping Samandriel on the shoulder and nodding toward the newest member of the gang. A pair of intense, pale blue eyes met confused forest green, and even Cas grinned at the scene. "As you can see, neither of my omega brothers has any concept of traditional clothes or colors. Alfie has traveled the world and prefers the loose, flowing garments that he saw in southeast Asia last time he went. I don't think he has ever worn dark colors, even as Gabriel abhors bright, happy shades and sticks to dark jeans and simpler shirts most of the time."

"I like it," Dean replied, reaching out tentatively to feel the sheer fabric.

"I'm Samandriel, or Alfie depending on my mood," the other omega offered, holding out his wrist for his new acquaintance to sniff.

Dean, who hadn't had much experience interacting politely with other omegas, leaned forward and took in Alfie's scent, detecting hyacinth with a distinct lilac undertone. He offered his wrist in return, swallowing quickly before introducing himself. "Dean."

"Nice to meet you, Dean. Balth has already told me a little bit about you, and I'm hoping that we can be good friends."

"Better you than me," Balthazar drawled, winking conspiratorially when Dean looked up at him in the doorway. "Dean, you'll want to learn to talk pretty quick if you plan to get a word in edgewise around this pup. I swear he hasn't shut up since Chicago."

"It's hard to talk with the music that loud," Alfie snapped back, grinning playfully at his cousin. "What are you up to over there?"

Dean glanced over his shoulder at the computer Charlie had lent him, his latest test sitting there patiently, waiting for him to return. "Test," he replied.

Cas reached out and caught Alfie's arm just below the elbow, squeezing a gentle warning before he jumped in to explain. "We're helping Dean get ready for his GED and Charlie needed to know how much he learned before he had to leave school. Once he's done, he'll be free to hang out with you and Balth while Charlie analyzes the results. It'll be good for you to get to know him since I have a couple of big meetings coming up later this week and won't be as available as I'd like. Dean, is that alright with you?"

The green-eyed omega nodded eagerly, already liking this newest Novak brother. Azazel had never allowed him to have friends, and the one or two omegas he talked to were bought like him, property of Azazel's clan mates, and rarely were they good company. Alfie looked like he had a lot of fun in life, and maybe he would help Dean understand a lot of the social cues he missed out on growing up with an omega-hating dad and abusive owner.

Balth sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, having noticed that Cas volunteered him to watch his cousin and the newest clan member for at least the rest of the week. "I have a social life too, Cassie. You don't think they would enjoy someone else's company more?"

"I do not," Cas answered with finality, catching Gabe's eye and nodding at Alfie's bag on the floor. The older brother replied with an unimpressed glare, conveying that of course Alfie would share his bed; he had been doing it on trips since he was a tiny pup. Grabbing the bag, Gabe carried it into his bedroom, the brief interaction not interfering with the conversation at all. "You want to stick your knot in that surprisingly astute but surly real estate agent, you are welcome to do that on your own time, like at night when all of the omegas are safely in here with me. Until then, with the exception of our meeting later this week, you and Benny are in charge of them."

Balthazar blushed at the implication that he wanted to sleep with Crowley, not that it wasn't true but their interactions had not reached that point yet. He knew better than to argue with his boss when he was given a direct order, so he straightened his back and nodded sharply. "Of course, Cassie. You don't mind if I see Crowley tonight after supper?"

"No, I fully expect you to. You've been single far too long and I would love to have some pups in the family." Cas hadn't been talking about pups of his own, not intentionally, but he caught Dean's jade eyes from across the room and wondered what the omega's babies would look like. He didn't want to imagine the ones that Dean wasn't able to carry to term, the ones fathered by Azazel, so his mind helpfully supplied a picture of a green-eyed girl with raven-dark hair, her head tilted curiously just like Cas's did when he was trying to understand something.

"Do you want pups?"

Dean's soft inquiry broke Cas's chain of thought and he looked up at the omega, seated at the table and holding himself perfectly still. He was controlling his scent to hide his desperation to hear the answer, but his hands trembled slightly where they rested beside the computer and his eyes burned with eagerness.

"Yes, Dean, I do. I always have, ever since Alfie was born. You might not believe it now, but he was an adorable pup." The omega in question, who had taken over the television and was surfing through channels to find something interesting to watch, snorted. "I've never courted anyone or had a mate, so I have not had the occasion to act on that wish. Do you want them?"

Dean nodded and dropped his gaze, his trembling hand calming as he traced patterns on the table in front of him. "I do." There was more he wanted to say, but forming the words in his mind was easy compared with speaking them out loud. Azazel had never allowed him to carry any of his pups to term, but some of the alpha's friends' bought omegas were allowed to give birth, keep their pups. Dean had often wished that his master would soften on the issue, given time.

"Dean, you have that choice now. When your next heat comes, you'll be able to spend it with whomever you want, as long as they are amenable to your request, and if a pregnancy is the result then we will support you and your pup. I promise."

Dean raised his eyes to meet Cas's again, smiling as Gabe, Alfie, and Balth nodded in fervent agreement. He pointed at himself and then at Cas, a question in his eyes.

The biker smiled and walked over to the desk, reaching up to run his fingers through Dean's dark blond hair. It would probably be a light brown if he didn't spend so much time out in the sun, but a biker's active life had lightened his hair and sprinkled his face with freckles. "I would agree, if you asked me, but I want to make sure that you are asking because you want me, not because I saved you from Azazel. You don't, in any way, owe me, okay?"

"I know," Dean whispered, leaning into Cas's caress and nuzzling his palm softly. He was sure that he would ask Cas to be his alpha, but he understood why the biker wanted him to wait. Dean knew that he was damaged, that life with Azazel had made him different from these other omegas, but he knew that he could heal, especially since his new family believed in him.

"When is your next heat?" Alfie hadn't found anything interesting on tv, so he plopped down at the table beside Dean, phone in hand. It wasn't uncommon for omegas to trigger each other's heats, so having the approximate dates documented would help them all prepare.

"I, uh, I don't know," Dean admitted. They had always been pretty irregular and infrequent; he remembered that his last one had been about seven months ago and . . . Azazel got rid of the pup so it could be anywhere from a few months to a year before he went into heat again. "Lost the pup," he managed, swallowing sharply as he urged his mind not to return to the memory of the beating Azazel had given him for the crime of getting pregnant without permission.

"Seven months ago," Cas added gently. "That's when his last heat was."

Alfie reached out and wrapped an arm around Dean's shoulders, his scent supportive and kind. "Gabe was pregnant once, maybe five years ago? The alpha was an exotic woman named Kali he met at a biker convention."

"It was a short acquaintance, but I happened to go into heat that weekend and she offered to take care of me," Gabe continued, quickly realizing his brother's intention with the story. "She was wonderful, but not the kind of alpha I could see myself taking as a mate. Hell of a good time, though. A few weeks after the convention I found out I was pregnant; the birth control I was on at the time messed me up and apparently wasn't that effective. Eh, you live you learn."

Azazel had never put Dean on birth control, citing the high expense of a yearly doctor's visit to keep the prescription active and the monthly cost of the pills themselves. Now Dean understood that the alpha had been afraid of what a physical would reveal, so he was willing to keep paying for abortions, instead. "The pup?"

"I was willing to keep it, of course—the clan is happy to help single parents raise their pups if the partner is not around for some reason—but I lost the pregnancy around the middle of the second trimester. I didn't do anything wrong, just sometimes the fetus is 'incompatible with life' as they say. I want my next pregnancy to be with my mate, though, and a little more planned."

"Did you . . . did you know . . ." Dean trailed off and sighed, his voice failing him. It would take time for his vocal cords to strengthen enough for sustained conversation, and right now it was just too much for him to manage. He pointed at himself and then Charlie, the motion conveying his question. He hadn't known the gender of any of his pups.

"It was a boy," Gabe replied, his voice calm and steady. He had come to terms with the loss years earlier, as much as one can, but he still yearned for a pup of his own. "It took months for my heat cycle to settle back down, but spending time with other omegas helped. Eventually, Alfie went into heat for the first time, and I guess my body realized that it needed to get itself into gear. Our heats have been synced ever since."

Dean pointed at the other two omegas and then at himself, tilting his head curiously.

"Your heat should sync with ours, yeah. It's rare for omegas not to spend time with others of their subgender, so your body has probably been really confused for the last seven years or so. We'll get you fixed right up."

"Thank you," Dean managed in a scratchy whisper. He mimicked rocking a pup in his arms and then drew a tear down his cheek; he wanted Gabe to know that he was sorry that the other omega had lost a pup that he would have been allowed to keep.

"It wasn't meant to be, not then, so I don't mourn the loss too much. Stick around, kiddo, and you'll see me running around with lots of cute little pups. Hopefully with an alpha mate twice my size to spoil them!"

Dean smiled, the tension in the room fading. Gabe rarely talked about his pregnancy, but he knew that it was something that their newest clan mate needed to hear. Maybe it would help him come to terms with his past so he would be ready to have pups of his own one day.

Balthazar strode into Crowley's office, all alpha pride and biker swagger, a thick brown envelope under his arm as he nodded at the receptionist on the way by. The British omega offered his excuse for a smile, something between a feral grin and a mischievous smirk. It worked for him, though, and Balthazar smirked back as he dropped his envelope on the desk. "This should be all of the paperwork you requested from Cas. I also have the Due Diligence check and the Earnest Money one, made out to the entities you specified. He said that you mentioned that the sellers were pleased with his offer."

"They were pleased, especially after they read the letter I sent along with it."

"What do you mean?"

Crowley pulled the documents out of the envelope and checked through them, ensuring that every page was correctly initialed or signed and that the information on the paper matched the agreement with the seller's agent. "I send along a letter with every offer, something short that talks about the buyer and their situation, hoping to sway the sellers in a multiple-bid situation. There have been fifteen bids on that house in the past week, but I knew that the sellers were a nice family, local to Lawrence, and they have five pups, two of them omega boys. I mentioned that Castiel was attempting to make a safe home for a male omega saved from a pseudo-legal and morally unconscionable situation, something that they would be terrified to see their own newly-presented sons subjected to. Our offer was very similar to the others, but knowing just that small bit of Dean's history and seeing Castiel's nobility in taking on an abused omega tipped the balance in your favor."

"I suspect that not all agents write these letters?"

Crowley looked up from his papers and shook his head, nodding toward his window that looked over the small side parking lot. "I watched him play in the flowers. I could see the entire map of his life laid out, right there, and it's something I have seen before. What your cousin did for that boy is noble, and it's only right that he be able to give Dean the house he loved so much. It was so common even as recently as ten years ago for omegas, especially the less-desirable male ones, to be pulled out of school at a young age and sold off to the highest bidder before their first heat, and rarely as a potential mate. The laws are changing slowly, and I do some work with local politicians to encourage that trend, but there are so many boys like Dean who have lost so much that they can never recover. I can't give him anything more than a stable home, so I made sure that your bid was accepted."

Balthazar smiled and reached out to offer the back of his hand to the omega, fingers curled in slightly, a gesture that all subgenders used as a request for physical contact. "Cassie calls you surly, but astute," he murmured, smiling as Crowley leaned forward far enough to rub his cheek against the offered hand. "I don't think I've ever agreed with him more. You have layers that I did not expect."

"I rarely let anyone get close enough to find that out," the real estate agent replied thoughtfully, a faint hint of gold glowing in the outer ring of his irises.

"Do you want to have dinner with me Friday night, give me the chance to discover a few more?"

Crowley's eyes did flash gold at that, the color fading slightly as he tilted his head. "I thought your dear cousin tasked you with guarding the three omegas until this house thing was finalized."

"He did, but we have a big meeting around lunch that day, and a few of my other relatives and clan mates will be watching the boys while I'm guarding Cas. He's given me the night off in recognition of how much I hate clan meetings."

"In that case, as long as you have no other obligations, I would be glad to have dinner with you. Where are you taking me?"

Balthazar grinned. "I only know four food places in this whole town, and none of them would be appropriate. If it pleases you, I would like to take you to your favorite restaurant."

Crowley grinned and nodded. "That's fair. There's a Scottish pub my mother's most recent partner owns, and it serves some phenomenal authentic dishes, as well as having a wide selection of alcohols that both of us might enjoy. Pick me up at seven—in a car, if possible—and I will show you where it is."

"It's a deal. I'll see you then."

Castiel pulled on a green and navy flannel before grabbing his leather jacket, running his fingers over the patch on the back that proclaimed his clan. "Balth, where did you send your sister and her guests for the day?"

"She found some sort of museum that has a butterfly exhibit. Maybe bees, too." Balthazar shrugged, the heavy leather of his riding jacket giving his lean frame the illusion of bulk. "She's too much like you, with the bugs and whatever."

"Bees are noble creatures, and they provide most of the food that we eat."

Balthazar rolled his eyes as he led his boss down to the hotel lobby, nodding at Benny and Ishim as the pair of alphas met them just outside the elevators. "Maybe most of the food you eat," the lean alpha countered, "but I'm not fond of fruits and vegetables. I'm more of a red meat kind of guy, to be fair."

"Why are we talking about meat?" Gabe, who had headed downstairs earlier with Ketch to grab a snack before their lunch meeting, offered his brother a tiny blueberry muffin. Cas shook his head before patting Akobel on the shoulder, leading his small gang out to the parking lot. He fervently hoped that this meeting of the clans would be less eventful than the last.