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Dick grimly regarded the words staring up at him, mind spiraling even as his inner Omega perked up in interest. He thought he might have gone through the complete sequence of the five stages of grief in the past five minutes. He’d forgotten about this. How the hell had he forgotten about this?
The letterhead was official. Cold. The kind of bureaucratic precision that made personal catastrophes feel like tax forms.
Mr. Grayson,
Pursuant to Gotham Municipal Code §4.12-7(b) and Federal Omega Welfare Act §12.45, this serves as final notification of your legally mandated participation in the upcoming Annual Mating Run.
As an unmated Omega aged 28, you fall under Tier 2 Compliance Requirements.
Previous deferment requests filed by your Pack Alpha have been denied per GC-ORC review.
Non-attendance will trigger immediate detainment under Omega Retention Protocol 9-D.
Additional Notices:
Per Clause 22.1, any Alpha attempting to interfere with your participation from this moment forth constitutes a Class C felony.
Medical waivers require pre-approved documentation from a GC-ORC licensed physician.
Penalties for Non-Compliance:
Revocation of occupational permits.
GPS monitoring anklet installation.
Forfeiture of heat-suppressant medication privileges.
Please sign and return the enclosed form acknowledging legal consequences of noncompliance within 72 hours of receiving this notice. This notice supersedes all prior correspondence.
V. L. Pryce
Commissioner, Omega Regulatory Commission
By authority of the Gotham City Council
Dick had only gone through one mating run before. The mandatory one after turning eighteen. He’d been lucky then. Years of Robin training had kept him unclaimed, unbroken. Most weren’t so fortunate.
The kitchen counter felt cold against his palm as he braced himself. The words on the page swam like he was drowning, each legal phrase a weight pulling him deeper. His Omega preened at the attention, the promise of pursuit, of being wanted. Dick wanted to strangle that traitorous part of himself.
Damnit, damnit, damnit.
As someone whose official residence was technically Blüdhaven, he could probably attend their run instead. But that would be worse. The Blüdhaven run wasn’t as well funded, had even less safety regulations then the Gotham one. Somehow.
His eyes caught on the line again: Previous deferment requests filed by your Pack Alpha have been denied.
Heat flared through him. Not the biological kind. Pure, human rage.
Dick snatched the letter, grabbed his keys, and headed for Gotham.
***
He went straight to the cave, entering through the bike tunnel rather than bothering with entering through the main entrance. The underground route felt appropriate somehow. Descending into darkness to confront the shadows that had been kept from him.
When he got to the cave itself, his heart skipped a beat to see that Jason was there for once, still in Red Hood gear sans helmet and staring over at his sudden appearance in blatant surprise.
Jason looked good. He always did, but there was something different about him tonight. More relaxed, maybe. The rigid tension that usually held his shoulders was absent, replaced by something that looked almost like contentment. He was leaning against the computer console, close enough to Bruce to be having an actual conversation rather than hurling accusations and recriminations.
It was such a rare sight that Dick felt his anger falter for a moment. Jason was here. Jason was talking to Bruce without violence or venom. Jason looked... happy.
His Omega had perked up the moment it scented Jason, sending pleased little purrs through his consciousness. Good Alpha. Strong Alpha. The internal monologue was embarrassing in its simplicity, but Dick couldn’t deny the way his body relaxed slightly in Jason’s presence. Some primitive part of him recognized Jason as safety, as protection, as home in a way that had nothing to do with the manor or Bruce or Batman.
Dick was so glad to see him there that he almost turned on his heel and went back home rather than risk ruining it. Almost. The truth was, he was too worked up to actually be capable of doing that. Too annoyed that Bruce had gone behind his back while not reminding him of this, too pissed at his Omega who seemed pleased with the news, too secretly terrified of what might happen.
So instead of turning on his heel and leaving, Dick marched up to Bruce’s desk and smacked down the letter with a, “You couldn’t have given me a warning that this was coming, B?” while he left the men to read the letter and began pacing anxiously through the cave.
The words had come out sharper than intended, but Dick was beyond caring. He kept pacing, energy crackling through him like electricity seeking ground. Every shadow seemed to mock him with memories of freedom he was about to lose.
Jason snatched the letter first, his face darkening as he read. A snarl built in his chest. Low, dangerous, the kind that made lesser Alphas back down. “Seriously, old man?” He shoved the letter toward Bruce with barely contained violence.
Bruce took the letter and scanned over its contents with pursed lips. Dick watched him read, cataloging every micro-expression, every tell that indicated Bruce’s thoughts were racing through contingencies and strategies. When Bruce finished, he set the letter down with deliberate care and turned to regard Dick with a furrowed brow.
“You know the law as well as I do, Dick. You must have known this was inevitable.”
The words were spoken gently, but they hit Dick like a slap. Of course he’d known. On some level, he’d always known. But knowing and accepting were different things, and he’d spent years convincing himself that somehow, some way, he’d slip through the cracks. That being useful would make him untouchable.
“Yeah, well,” Dick said, waving his hands in wordless frustration, “I forgot.”
Jason snorted, but he seemed just as angry as Dick was about this, glaring at the letter on the desk as if he could set it on fire with his gaze alone. “It’s fucking bullshit that this crap is still going on. It’s fucking 2025, and we’re- what? Treating Omegas like they’re broodmares that are less than human? How the fuck is this shit still legal?”
The raw fury in Jason’s voice made Dick’s chest tight with gratitude and something deeper. Jason understood. Jason saw the system for what it was and was genuinely outraged by it, not just because it affected Dick but because it was wrong. Fundamentally, morally wrong.
“Knotheads in power don’t want to risk losing the ability to get their knots wet.” The vulgarity felt like spitting poison. Dick caught Jason’s raised eyebrows and felt a savage satisfaction at shocking him.
Good. Let Jason see what this system made of people. Let him see the bitterness it bred.
Jason had the discretion to not make any reply to it, which was great. Dick being thrilled over him being here wasn’t going to stop him from going for his throat if Jason said the exact sequence of words necessary to set him off. And right now, hanging from a hair-trigger as he was, those words could be anything.
The cave felt too small suddenly, despite its vast size. Dick’s pacing became more agitated, his movements sharp and predatory. He could feel both men watching him, could sense their Alpha instincts responding to his distress even as they tried to maintain respectful distance. The air was thick with tension and the beginnings of distress pheromones that Dick couldn’t quite suppress.
“There is a possibility that you can avoid this.” Bruce said with a furrow to his brow, causing hope to bloom in Dick’s chest for just a moment before he snuffed it with his next words, “If we could get you off world-”
“And what, B? I stay there for the rest of my life? Because if I ever come back, they’re just going to slap me with all the noncompliance legislation they have, and I’m not willing to live my life like that. Have you read them? They’re horrifying.”
Dick’s voice climbed with each word. The punishments for noncompliance weren’t just legal consequences. They were designed to break Omegas completely, to make them so desperate and dependent that they’d submit to anything rather than face continued persecution.
GPS monitoring meant no privacy, no secret identity, no ability to be Nightwing. Revocation of occupational permits meant no legal way to earn money, no independence, no self-sufficiency. And forfeiture of heat-suppressant medication... Dick shuddered. Without those, he’d be at the mercy of his biology every few months, helpless and desperate and completely vulnerable.
“Not forever. Just until I manage to arrange something else. I’ve been distracted myself, I haven’t given this the attention it deserves. I can get Clark to use his Superman persona to try to get people campaigning against this. If it’s for you, he will. People will listen to him.”
Bruce’s voice carried that particular tone he used when he was already three steps ahead in a plan that others couldn’t see yet. But Dick could hear the desperation underneath, the way Bruce was grasping at straws because he couldn’t accept that his influence had limits.
Dick’s laugh was harsh. “Not only would that legislative change take ages to fall into place, Clark’s an Omega himself and has only been successful in hiding it because no one is questioning that he’s anything other than an Alpha. If he did something like that, people would question it. We’re not risking it.”
The silence that followed was heavy with unspoken truths. Clark’s secret was perhaps more dangerous than his identity as Superman. An Omega Superman would be seen as a contradiction, a threat to the natural order that the current system was designed to maintain. If Superman’s true designation was discovered, it wouldn’t just destroy him. It would shatter the symbol he represented. The government may very well say he was noncompliant and try to breed superheroes out of him.
That was likely why Bruce hadn’t already asked him for this. Bruce was desperate, but he wasn’t stupid.
“Not to mention that some of us aren’t willing to ship you off to space for fucking years.” Jason muttered, sounding like it was something he hadn’t meant to speak out loud.
The words hit Dick like a physical blow, sending his Omega into delighted somersaults and making his own heart race with implications he was afraid to examine. Alpha wants us here. Alpha wants us close. Alpha cares.
When both Dick and Bruce turned to him, Jason drew into himself protectively, shoulders hunching as if he could hide from the weight of their attention. The vulnerability in his posture was quickly masked as he pulled his no-fucks-given facade back into place, but Dick had seen it. The moment when Jason’s carefully constructed walls had slipped.
“Well, hell, if we’re really that desperate, you could always find some way to die and then come back through the Lazarus Pit. Worked to free me of any governmental requirements.”
Dick laughed for the first time all night, the sound surprising even himself. Only Jason would suggest death as a bureaucratic loophole, and only Jason would make it sound almost reasonable. “Don’t tempt me, Jay. I might just take you up on that.”
The words were half-serious, and Jason’s reaction was immediate and intense. His entire body went rigid, a dark rumble building in his chest that spoke of Alpha protectiveness taken to its most primal extreme. The suggestion had been meant as gallows humor, but Dick’s tone had been too genuine, too desperate, for Jason to dismiss it.
“Don’t.” The word came out as a growl, low and threatening. “Don’t even joke about that shit.”
The protective fury in Jason’s voice made Dick’s Omega practically swoon, and even his rational mind felt a flutter of warmth at the display.
Bruce cleared his throat, his eyes seeming knowing as he glanced between Dick and Jason. There was something calculating in his expression, like he was filing away information for later use. “What would you like me to do about this, Dick?”
The question was simple. The implications weren’t. Bruce would risk felony charges if Dick asked. The offer was there in his eyes, genuine and absolute.
It was tempting. So fucking tempting. Dick could see the scenarios playing out. Bruce using his resources to spirit him away, to create a new identity, to fight the system from the shadows. It would be dangerous and illegal and probably ultimately futile, but Bruce would do it.
But Dick could never ask that of him. Not when Gotham needed Batman. Not when the increased surveillance of Bruce's affairs would have consequences that would far outstrip his own catastrophe.
“There’s nothing you can do.” He admitted for the first time that night, to Bruce and to himself. The words felt like swallowing glass, each syllable cutting his throat on the way out. “I’m just going to have to attend the next mating run.”
The admission hung in the air like a death sentence. Dick could see Bruce’s jaw tighten, could hear Jason’s rumbling growl, could feel the way the cave itself seemed to recoil from the ugly truth of it.
He was going to have to submit to the system. He was going to have to let himself be injected with heat-inducing drugs and turned loose in the woods to be hunted by Alphas who saw him as a prize to be won rather than a person to be respected. And there was nothing any of them could do about it.
The weight of inevitability settled on his shoulders like a shroud.
***
Three weeks later, Dick stood outside the medical processing tent, arm still smarting slightly from the heat-inducing injection he’d been forced to receive just a half hour ago. The serum was already working its way through his system, making his skin hypersensitive and his thoughts increasingly hazy. Every brush of fabric against his skin felt like a caress, every breath brought scents that made his Omega perk up with interest.
The loose silk pants he’d been required to change into were the only clothing allowed during the run. Lightweight and thin, designed more for the Alphas to appreciate than the comfort of the Omegas. Dick felt exposed and vulnerable in ways that had nothing to do with the amount of skin showing.
Around him, other Omegas were in various stages of preparation and distress. Some looked resigned, others terrified. A few seemed genuinely excited, their Omegas already responding to the injection with eager anticipation. Dick envied them their hope, their ability to find joy in what felt like a nightmare to him.
He grimly surveyed the Alphas that were filling the side of the field designated for them, pacing back and forth eagerly, some of them visibly leering over at the Omegas on their side. There were more Alphas than there were Omegas. There always were. While some Omegas looked to the run with hope, most saw it for what it was and avoided it when they could. Alphas didn’t need to have the same types of worries, so they always showed up in droves.
The disparity was deliberate. Scarcity drove desperation, and desperation made Alphas more violent, more willing to fight for their chosen prize. The system was designed to ensure that every Omega would be claimed.
Dick froze as his eyes caught on white hair. Then he noticed the scars. Then he noticed a sky blue eye, brilliant and intense as it fixed on him, even from dozens of yards away.
Slade fucking Wilson.
How the fuck was he here? Alphas with felonies attached to them weren’t allowed to attend, and Slade had plenty. He was on the FBI’s most wanted list, for fuck’s sake. Was he here under some type of alias? Had he killed someone and taken their identity? Had he bribed officials, or were there simply too many participants for proper background checks?
The questions were irrelevant. What mattered was that he was here, and the predatory interest in his gaze was unmistakable. Slade had been making his intentions clear for years. Subtle touches during fights, comments that walked the line between threat and seduction, the way he always seemed to know exactly where to find Dick when he wanted to deliver a message.
No question as to why he was here.
A large form stepped between him and Slade, breaking the staring contest that they were trapped in, and Dick jerked to recognize Jason standing there. He was confronting Slade with clenched fists, body language distinctly speaking of an Alpha warning another Alpha away from a packmate. Or warning off a competitive Alpha.
Jason looked magnificent in his fury. In the same silk pants they were all wearing, but somehow more dangerous for it. His dark hair caught the afternoon light, and his green eyes blazed with protective rage that made Dick’s knees weak.
Dick’s Omega, who had been trying to push its way forcibly up from the subconscious prison Dick was attempting to keep it in, was ecstatic. Alpha wants us. Will fight for us. Good Alpha. Pack Alpha. Choose him.
For once, Dick found himself in complete agreement with his Omega’s assessment. If he had to be claimed, if he had to belong to someone, there was no one he’d rather it be than Jason. The thought was terrifying and exhilarating in equal measure.
What was Jason doing here? Was this some attempt to offer Dick protection? It would fit exactly into Jason’s particular form of caring. Gestures instead of words, actions instead of declarations.
Or was it something more? Something that Dick barely dared to hope for?
The rest of the waiting period was mercifully short. It wasn’t considered sporting to make the Omegas fall into full heat before they were released for their runs, and the shot given could induce that within an hour. Dick lined up with the others, head spinning from the hormones that were beginning to rise within him, his whole body starting to feel tingly and heated as the shot did its work.
For the first time he was glad for the pants. Anything else would be irritating his skin by now. Even the silk felt too rough, too confining, and he found himself wanting to shed even that minimal covering.
The official stood at the front of the group, a middle-aged Beta woman. She held a starting pistol in one hand and a clipboard in the other, her expression bored as she went through the required speech.
“Omegas will be released first and given a ten-minute head start. Alphas will be released in groups of five, with thirty-second intervals between groups. The run will conclude at sunset or when all Omegas have been claimed, whichever comes first. Medical personnel are stationed throughout the forest for emergencies. Remember, claiming bites must be on the neck to be considered valid. Any questions?”
Dick’s stomach churned. The clinical language couldn’t disguise what this was. A hunt. A sanctioned hunt where he was the prey.
Then the shot rang out, and Dick ran.
He knew what he needed to do to not be caught. He’d done so before, though ten years ago his body had been younger, faster, less affected by the drugs. Stay away from Omegas that try to group together; Alphas will head straight for the greatest concentration of scent. There were no clothes to be shed, so Dick used his surroundings. Smooth rocks, tree bark, leaves, anything he could find that would pick up and keep his scent so that he could leave confusing scent trails that doubled and tripled and sometimes quadrupled back in on themselves.
The forest was familiar territory. Dick had trained in these woods as Robin, knew every path and hiding spot, every stream and cave. The advantage was significant, but it wouldn’t last forever. The injection was making his thinking fuzzy, his body increasingly desperate, and he could hear the sounds of pursuit growing closer.
He traversed through treetops when he could, leaping across branches in the way he was used to traveling rooftops. The familiar rhythm of aerial navigation grounded him, made him feel more like himself than the heat-addled prey he was becoming. Up here, he was Nightwing again, skilled and competent and in control.
But the illusion couldn’t last. A wave of heat struck him hard as he leapt between two massive oaks, his body suddenly seized with desperate need, and he nearly fell fifty feet to the ground. He caught himself with one hand, muscles screaming with the effort, but the brief moment of freefall had shattered his concentration.
(He was so empty. So fucking empty. Needed to be filled, needed to be claimed, needed to submit to a strong Alpha who would take care of him and give him everything he craved.)
The thoughts weren’t his own, but they felt real enough to make his hands shake as he pulled himself back onto the branch. He made his way back to the ground to continue running by foot, making his scent trail traps more elaborate, utilizing a nearby trickle of a stream to further their complexity.
The water was cold against his overheated skin, a shock that cleared his head slightly. He used it strategically, letting the current carry floating debris with his scent downstream while he doubled back, creating false trails that would take precious minutes to unravel.
It should have been enough. Against any ordinary Alpha, it would have been.
He should have known that none of that would ever keep Slade Wilson from him forever.
Dick froze like a hunted rabbit- not an inapt comparison, considering- once he caught the man’s blue eye across a small clearing. His mind raced over the best way to handle this, cataloging escape routes and fighting strategies even as his Omega scrambled in the back of his brain, telling him to just submit to the Alpha so he could give them pups.
Slade looked magnificent in his element, predatory grace in every movement as he stalked closer. He was barely winded despite the chase, his enhanced physiology giving him advantages that Dick’s merely human body couldn’t match. The afternoon light caught the silver in his hair, and his single eye held a hunger that made Dick’s knees weak.
“You gave me a good chase, little bird.” Slade purred, his bare foot crunching the twigs and leaves beneath it as he stepped closer. “But aren’t you tired of running from me?”
The endearment made Dick’s Omega practically swoon. He’s here. He found us. Strong Alpha wants us. The internal commentary was embarrassing in its simplicity, but Dick couldn’t deny the flutter of warmth the words produced.
Before Dick could respond- before he could think of a response that wouldn’t either provoke Slade into violence or encourage him to press his advantage- Jason was there again, cutting between them with a roar that shook leaves from the trees. Body-checking Slade with brutal efficiency and sending both Alphas tumbling to the ground. What followed was a mad scramble of fangs and claws as both Alphas tussled before breaking apart to circle each other warily.
It was primal. Beautiful and terrible and utterly captivating. Two apex predators fighting for the right to claim their chosen mate, their movements fluid and deadly as they tested each other’s defenses.
Both were bleeding from wounds scored; Slade from a bite on his right forearm, Jason from a wound on his right temple where Slade’s claws had raked across his skin. The scent of their blood mingled with the pheromones saturating the air, creating a cocktail that made Dick’s head spin with want.
Dick wanted to interfere, wanted to join Jason in bringing Slade down, but his Omega was too close to the surface to let him. Instead it was watching the fight with glee, keeping Dick frozen where he was through instincts older than recorded history.
This was what Omegas were designed for, according to biology. To be prizes fought over, to be claimed by the strongest Alpha, to bear the children of whoever proved themselves most worthy through violence. Dick’s rational mind recoiled from the primitive ideal, but his body responded with shameless arousal.
Dick continued to watch the two Alphas engage, snarls instead of words the only sounds that passed between them. They moved like dancers, each attack met with a counter, each feint answered with a dodge. It was brutal and graceful and utterly mesmerizing.
Slade was the more experienced of the two, and with his enhancements the stronger, though not by as much as the Alpha might expect. The older man’s movements were economical, precise, honed by decades of combat experience. But Jason fought with a fury that made up for it, his protective instincts filling in the gap.
Dick watched the two trade blows back and forth, the older Alpha almost seeming to toy with Jason; but Slade was so far in his Alpha mindset that he was missing what his tactical observation would have made clear to him: Jason was acting like he was weaker and slower than he was.
The realization hit Dick like a physical blow. Jason was playing possum, making himself appear vulnerable. Drawing Slade into overconfidence, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
It was brilliant. It was dangerous. It was so perfectly Jason that Dick’s heart clenched with affection even as his Omega purred with pride. Clever Alpha. Smart Alpha. Good Alpha.
The perfect moment came when Slade overextended on a particularly vicious swipe, confident in his apparent advantage. Jason lunged with lethal precision, his fangs sinking deep into the flesh of Slade’s throat, tearing it away in a grisly, grim display that painted the forest floor crimson.
The gurgling sound that followed was obscene in the sudden silence. Slade’s kick sent Jason sprawling, but the damage was done. The older Alpha pressed a hand to his ravaged throat, enhanced healing already working to close the wound, but it would take time.
The threat assessment was clear in Slade’s calculating gaze. He could probably still take Jason in a prolonged fight, but the throat wound would slow him down, make him vulnerable. And Jason had already proven himself to be more dangerous than Slade had accounted for.
With one last glance sent Dick’s way, brimming with frustration and rage and something hidden but intense, Slade whirled on his heel and made a tactical retreat. The look promised that this wasn’t over, that he would find another way, another time.
Dick’s Omega actually whined as the Alpha disappeared into the trees, mourning the loss of such a strong potential mate. The sound that escaped Dick’s throat was mortifying, but he couldn’t help it. The injection was affecting his control, making it harder to suppress his baser instincts.
Jason spat the flesh in his mouth onto the forest floor with disgust, wiping blood from his lips with the back of his hand. The display should have been revolting, and it was, but another part of Dick found it impossibly arousing. His protector. His defender. His...
Jason began to turn to Dick, victory blazing in his green eyes, but then Dick ran.
He wasn’t sure why he did it. The decision bypassed conscious thought entirely, his body moving before his brain caught up. Was it his Omega, his heat, pushing him to continue the chase? Or was it Dick himself, wanting to know if Jason had come only for protection or for something else?
The question burned through him as his feet found purchase on familiar terrain. Behind him, Jason’s snarl echoed through the trees. Primal, frustrated, wanting. The sound sent electricity down Dick’s spine, made his Omega purr with satisfaction even as his rational mind screamed at him to stop, to turn around, to end this madness.
But he couldn’t stop. Wouldn’t stop.
Jason was following hot on his heels. Dick darted around trees, leapt over the little creek he’d used to hide his scent earlier. His enhanced senses, sharpened by the injection, caught every sound of pursuit. The splash of water, the crack of branches, the labored breathing that spoke of determination rather than exhaustion.
He vaulted over bushes that were too high for Jason with his heavier bulk to clear. The Alpha cursed as he crashed through them instead of going around. The sounds of destruction left in Jason’s wake should have been alarming. Instead, they made Dick’s pulse race with something dangerous and thrilling.
He’s chasing us. He wants us. Choose him, choose him, choose him.
His Omega’s voice was clearer now, more insistent.
Up hills and down them, climbing up rock formations like they were playground equipment. Dick’s body moved with liquid grace despite the heat coursing through his veins, muscle memory from years of training carrying him when conscious thought began to fray. The forest blurred around him. Green and brown and gold, dappled sunlight filtering through leaves that seemed to dance in his peripheral vision.
Behind him, Jason’s pursuit was relentless. Not the calculated hunt of an experienced predator, but something more desperate. More personal. Dick could hear it in the way Jason’s breathing hitched when Dick pulled ahead, in the frustrated growls when obstacles slowed him down.
He’s not hunting prey, Dick realized with startling clarity. He’s chasing something he can’t bear to lose.
The thought made him stumble, made his carefully controlled breathing stutter. Because if that was true, if Jason was here for the reasons Dick barely dared to hope for, then everything changed. The mating run, the injection, the terrible vulnerability of being reduced to his most basic biological functions. All of it transformed from nightmare to possibility.
Dick’s foot hit wet leaves as he took a hard turn, Jason right on his heels. The world tilted sideways, gravity asserting its claim with sudden violence. He barely had time to register the inevitability of the fall, time to brace for impact, time to wonder if this was how it would end-
Jason caught him. Body-slammed him to the ground in a way not dissimilar from the way he had Slade, just moments before. But where the earlier tackle had been pure aggression, this was something else entirely. Protective. Possessive. Careful, despite the force of it.
They both lay there panting for a moment, Jason seeming almost stunned himself to have Dick in his arms. Dick could feel the Alpha’s heart hammering against his chest, could smell the complex cocktail of pheromones that spoke of arousal and uncertainty and something deeper, more complicated.
The weight of Jason’s body pressed him into the soft earth, into the carpet of leaves and moss that cushioned their fall. Dick’s skin burned where they touched. Chest to chest, hip to hip, Jason’s thighs bracketing his own. The silk pants he wore provided little barrier, little protection from the heat that radiated between them.
Dick shivered at the hungry look in the Alpha’s eyes as he stared down at him, his body melting beneath him, preparing itself to submit. Every instinct screamed at him to arch his neck, to offer himself, to make it easy for Jason to claim what was his by right of chase and capture.
But then- terribly, impossibly- Jason began pulling away.
“Don’t know what came over me, Goldie, I guess we should-” Jason began roughly, but no. No. Jason had chased him, Jason had caught him, that had to mean- Had to mean-
The words died in Dick’s throat, replaced by something more primal, more honest. He fisted his hand in Jason’s hair and used it to jerk the Alpha down into a kiss, needy and desperate for him in ways that he had always tried to hide. The kiss tasted like iron, like blood, but also like something uniquely Jason and that made it perfect, made it everything Dick had ever wanted.
Jason was stock still at first, his body rigid with surprise. Dick could feel the moment of hesitation, the split second where Jason’s control wavered between restraint and surrender. Then he was melting into it with a hunger equal to Dick’s own, taking control of the kiss and licking into Dick’s mouth like he planned to conquer every inch of it.
“Damnit, pretty bird, you better mean this.” Jason said between kisses, pulling away slightly to nip and lick at Dick’s neck.
The endearment sent shockwaves through Dick’s system. Pretty bird. Similar to the term Slade had used, but transformed by Jason’s voice into something sacred, something treasured. Dick’s Omega practically sobbed with relief, with recognition, with the bone-deep satisfaction of being claimed by the right Alpha.
“I mean it,” Dick gasped, his voice breaking on the words. “Gods, Jason, I mean it.”
But Jason was already moving, his mouth working against the sensitive skin of Dick’s throat with devastating precision. Each touch of lips and teeth sent sparks of pleasure-pain racing through Dick’s nervous system, made his back arch involuntarily as his body sought more contact, more pressure, more of everything Jason was offering.
“Fuck, you smell so good,” Jason murmured against his skin, his voice rough with want. “Been thinking about this, about you, for so fucking long.”
The confession hit Dick like a physical blow. Jason had been thinking about him. Had been wanting him. The knowledge was intoxicating, addictive, made Dick’s head spin with implications he was afraid to examine too closely.
“Want me to give you what you need?”
Jason’s hand moved to the waistband of Dick’s pants, and Dick nodded with thoughtless desperation. The pants were designed to be removed easily. One more violation disguised as convenience. Jason shed both his and Dick’s pairs with economical movements that didn’t take much more than a second.
Then he settled back between Dick’s thighs, his hardness pressing so close to where Dick most needed it to be.
“Jason, please-” Dick found the strength to beg, even as his heat threatened to drag him under, his Omega clawing its way to the forefront.
Jason pushed into him with a snarl, filling him up in exactly the way that Dick had so needed him to. Dick could only melt down into the leaves and branches beneath him with a gasp as Jason began thrusting into him hard, the Alpha’s desperation equal to Dick’s own.
Dick could distantly hear the crunch of leaves giving way to his and Jason’s movements, the more distant sounds of other Alphas and Omegas coupling somewhere deeper in the forest. He could feel the brush of cool air against his skin as a light breeze kicked up before the heat radiating from the Alpha above and inside and all around him chased the chill away. But all of that was secondary.
Secondary to the heat building within him. Secondary to the staticky bits of pleasure radiating throughout every nerve ending with every nudge of Jason’s cock against the good spot inside of him. Secondary to the feel of the Jason’s mouth as it laid claim to Dick’s in between promising nips and sucks to his neck that left his Omega arching against his touch and tilting his head to the side in wordless offering.
The fifth time this happened seemed to be the one to break Jason. The Alpha snarled, his hips moving more fiercely, his fangs distending as he sank them in.
Yes. Yes. Dick or his Omega or both cried in wordless pleasure as they felt the bond snap into place, the wordless euphoria that left them floating and senseless to anything but their bond with their Alpha and the way that his cock continued to fill them.
Then Jason’s knot was pushing inside and locking them together, and Dick… orgasm was too small a word. His mouth fell open and he wasn’t even sure he was breathing with the waves of rapture that were sweeping him under. Jason’s knot was so big, so perfect, filling him up in ways nothing ever had, nothing ever could. He was breathing, he realized distantly a few moments later. Little hitching gasps that were barely enough air as he came and came and came around Jason’s knot.
“Fuck.” Jason hissed against his throat, holding him tightly as Dick’s body contracted in waves around his cock again and again, milking it for all it was worth as the Omega’s body just couldn’t seem to stop coming. Dick could feel the streams of release that were pulsing out of Jason’s cock, making Dick even fuller, even if that seemed impossible. The sensation just made everything even more perfect.
Dick’s sight was beginning to grow hazy around the edges as his orgasm continued, longer and more intense than any he’d had before. With each wave of rapture he lost consciousness by degrees, lost everything that wasn’t the peaceful, floaty place of pleasure.
And then he was lost entirely to black.
***
When he woke up, he dressed in a clean pair of pants and resting on a cot, a large Alphan form wrapped around him from behind. He could tell from scent and the feel of the bond that it was Jason. They were probably in one of the tents designated for newly bonded pairs to ride out the rest of the Omega’s heat.
“Mmmph.” Dick mumbled as he squirmed in Jason’s arms, causing the arms to tighten briefly before loosening as Jason brushed his lips over Dick’s shoulder. Dick turned around to face him.
“Hi.” He said a little shyly, resisting the urge to hide his face in his Alpha’s chest.
Jason let out a little amused huff. “Hi.” He returned, but he wasn’t fooling anyone. Dick could see that he was feeling shy, too, could see the way his ears were turning red.
“You alright, pretty bird? That was… intense. I was a little worried when you passed out on me.” Jason continued, usual gruffness replaced by genuine worry.
Dick did bury his head in Jason’s chest then, but only to hide his laughter against it. “I promise you didn’t kill me with your cock, Alpha.” He said when he could manage it.
Jason released an annoyed little growl and jostled him slightly in his arms. “Hey, I mean it. Are you okay?”
Dick pulled back to smile at him, feeling happy and fond and so in love. “I’m fine.” He paused as he shifted his leg slightly and something hard brushed against it. Jason was no doubt affected by the heat scent that Dick was still leaking. “Want to see if you can make me come so hard I pass out again, Jay? Maybe I can be the one giving you a mate mark this time?”
His hand reached up to brush lightly against the scent gland on Jason’s throat, and this seemed to be enough to break Jason. He rolled himself over Dick and yanked Dick’s thighs around his waist with a growl.
He did, in fact, manage to make Dick pass out around his knot again. But that was okay. From what the nurses that came to check up on the pairs would tell him later, Jason himself passed out shortly after, overwhelmed by the feel of his Omega and the matching mate mark Dick bit into his throat right before he went under.
Dick wouldn’t stop teasing his mate about it for the rest of their lives.