Page 43 of Shifter Omegaverse AU

And they both drifted off to sleep.

It could have been five minutes later, or five hours, but suddenly Milo was woken up by their pony neighing loudly in their head.

Milo and their pony didn’t always dream together, and when Milo was in the throes of their worst nightmares, their pony was usually nowhere to be found. If Milo woke before their pony, they’d let the beast sleep, giving that part of their brain a rest.

They were a little peeved their pony didn’t extend them the same grace—that is, until their pony neighed again and Milo realized there was a solid weight lying across their lap.

Milo forced their eyes open and found Rowan, in his human form, sprawled across the couch, his legs thrown over Milo’s lap.

Milo blinked several times before rubbing the sleep from their eyes with their fists. Rowan was…completely naked…and absolutely gorgeous.

He wasn’t a gym rat by any means, with a soft layer of fat over his muscles. His legs were quite heavy, and Milo could feel the bulge of muscle and ligament through the blanket still thrown across their lap.

With more willpower than they thought possible, Milo forced their eyes up to Rowan’s sleep-slackened face, with his five o’clock shadow, and loose tendrils of auburn hair spilling down his shoulders.

Milo’s pony whinnied, and Milo found their gaze tracing the long locks down Rowan’s chest, to the smattering of red hair across his pecs and down his sternum. It tapered into a strawberry blonde fuzz towards his belly button, and then thickened and darkened again as it led down to his—

“Oh gods,” Milo grunted, yanking the blanket off their legs and tossing it across Rowan’s lap so he was at least not entirely naked.

Milo’s pony gave a startled shriek and tipped their head back, whinnying like their life depended on it.

Then, just like it had earlier that night, everything went still and unnaturally quiet. It was almost like the quiet that came in with the fog in their head, except there was something crackling in the air—a charge, or maybe a pull between Milo and Rowan that hadn’t been there a moment before…just like the new warmth across Milo’s lap.

Rowan’s bare legs were now draped across Milo’s. The warmth of his skin spread through them, racing through their veins and seeping into their heart. It crept right up to the edge of the chasm in their chest, and while there was no chance it could fill in the hole, it lapped softly at the edges as if it was trying to smooth out some of the jagged bits.

The apartment was so silent, Milo would have sworn they could hear Rowan’s heart beating in perfect time with their own. As far as Milo knew, that was impossible. They were a beta, which meant they didn’t possess advanced hearing. The only way for them to hear another person’s heartbeat was if they were fated mates. As Anabelle had described it, when two fated mates met, the world would shift and realign, like their souls were reforming to accommodate the new connection.

Milo had never understood what that meant. How could someone feel their soul reforming?

Their pony whinnied softly, and Milo thought back to sitting on that movie theater floor, gazing up at the gentle giant who, seemingly without even trying, would come into Milo’s life and encourage them to be their fullest, wholest self.

Milo’s pony whinnied again, high-pitched and excited. They conjured up an image of curling up next to Rowan’s hawk in their pony form and going for long adventures through the woods together.

“Rowan?” Milo whispered, pressing their leg up against Rowan’s.

Rowan didn’t stir, his breathing slow and even as he continued to sleep. Meanwhile, Milo’s world was splintering into pieces and rebuilding itself around this new truth.

Somehow, someway, it seemed like Rowan was their fated mate.

Milo’s pony let out a loud huff and tossed their mane, like somehow they had known this all along.

Maybe all that stuff people said about betas and fated mates was true. Milo obviously had a connection with Rowan that went well beyond surface level. It had been easy to chalk it up to being a crush, whether that be a platonic one or something more.

Milo glanced at Rowan’s naked chest and quickly looked away again. Yup, definitely more, but was fate really involved? Sure, the skin of their leg was now buzzing everywhere they were touching Rowan, but Milo loved physical touch and affection. It could just be that they were excited to finally get to touch their—

Milo’s pony whinnied again, and Milo squeezed their eyes shut as if maybe they could block out reality that way.

They were excited to touch their Rowan, but he wasn’t theirs. He was asleep and had no idea that fate or the gods or maybe the Tooth Fairy had predestined them to be together.

He was also averse to touch.

“Oh gods,” Milo grunted, frantically trying to get their hands under Rowan’s legs so they could move them off. Milo had no idea where they were going to move them to, but it was all kinds of wrong that the first time they ever touched Rowan was while he was asleep.

Gods, and they’d seen him naked.

“Damnit, eyes,” Milo whispered, as if they could shame their eyes into erasing the image of all that uninterrupted skin.

Milo’s pony grunted, not understanding what the big deal was. They were naked all the time, as was their gods-given right.