Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Xena had muttered some vague excuse before she left. Something about having alone time. It wasn’t hard to see it for the rejection it was. Even though she had said it to suggest she might return at some point, Gabrielle wasn't convinced anymore she would. Things had changed.

It was clear that Xena had found her out, and she didn’t want to be around her anymore. As simple as that.

They'd been apart for some three days or so now. Gabrielle had stayed put in the town Xena had left her in, not out of some spur of the moment inclination for obedience, but because she was still trying to decide where to go.

She should probably have headed home. Poteidaia wasn't far. It was maybe just a few days if she went straight that way.

But what she wanted to do was go after her.

She idly rolled the last of her drink around in circles at the bottom of her mug while she thought. This was the last drink she'd be able to afford before she'd have to make a decision. She'd already spent the rest of her money on the room she'd gotten for the last three nights, and all her meals.

Well, okay, a lot of the money she'd spent on meals hadn't been hers.

"Hey cutie," came the gruff voice of a man as he roughly put his hand over Gabrielle's shoulder. "Care for a drink?"

The steady supply of drunk alpha and beta men in this bar meant Gabrielle had a pretty reliable supply of food, when their offers extended to solids as well as liquids. Of course, that was as far as she humored them. It wasn’t like their generosity came from a well-meaning place.

When they were drunk, she supposed she must have smelled more like an omega to them.

She couldn't really blame anyone for not noticing. Female alphas were uncommon. Not unheard of, not even all that rare, just uncommon. And there were certain stereotypes about alphas which Gabrielle accidently subverted simply by existing. Alphas usually sported much larger builds. More muscled, and tall, aggressive, and stoic and… well, Xena was the very picture of the ideal alpha female.

Gabrielle was nothing like that at all. She was a runt of an alpha; a whelp, as she'd been told more than once.

She was often mistaken for an omega because of how she looked. Even her smell didn't register as alpha to most strangers. The only quality of hers she could really consider alpha at all was how distinctly un-submissive she was. That and… well, the anatomical things that came with being an alpha. But she wasn't in the habit of pulling up her skirt to prove it to strangers.

"No thanks," she said without looking at the man. "I was actually about to leave." She hadn't been, but she was now. It was probably about time she made her decision anyway. She set down her drink without finishing it, and stood up.

He grabbed her arm and attempted to pull her back. "Don't be all uppity, c'mon, be good and I'll treat you nice."

Sometimes it was really annoying to be mistaken for an omega. Not that being an omega could make his offer more enticing, but an omega might have cowed more easily.

Luckily, she had her staff sitting within arm's length, so she reached for it with her free hand and beat some manners into the man. When he was face down on the floor groaning and rubbing his head in pain, she strode off and out of the building.

Some of the patrons at the bar eyed her in confusion as she left. Some sniffing the air as she walked by to smell if she really was an omega at all.

As Gabrielle stepped out into the street, standing at the convergence of both roads, she had to wonder if Xena had seen her the way they did. Like an omega simply failing to be appropriately submissive. Maybe she had preferred that to the reality.

When they'd first met, Gabrielle had been sure that if anyone could have noticed, it would have been Xena. Xena was smart, and observant, and not the sort of woman who made judgmental assumptions about people based on their appearance. She hadn't said anything, of course, but she must have known. She must have known she was an alpha, despite all the signs to the contrary.

That first night, she’d said something about how hard it was to prove you were something else. Gabrielle thought there had been some deeper meaning to that wisdom. But, perhaps not. Perhaps Xena hadn't been talking about that at all, and was just speaking generally.

Gabrielle kind of thought that was why she'd let her tag along at all. She blushed angrily with the shame of having been so wrong. How silly she’d been.

Alphas rarely paired with other alphas. Unless to scratch the itch they got during the rut, when there was no one else around to claim.

But it wasn't all that uncommon for alphas as powerful as Xena to have younger alphas they'd take under their wing. Alphas like Gabrielle were in desperate need of teaching, and it was understood to be quite an ego boost for alphas to have younger alphas under their tutelage.

That tutelage was often accompanied by the aforementioned ‘itch scratching’ come rutting season. Not to pair up and mate, but just for the pure carnal needs that came with being an alpha.

Gabrielle would have been lying to say she hadn't been hoping that would be part of her tutelage.

Had Xena left because of that?

Gabrielle had thought that when Xena had agreed to take her along that she’d picked up on the implication of the mentorship. Sex wasn't a necessity, of course not, and Gabrielle would still have wanted to travel with Xena if she had made it clear outright that that would never happen. She would still have wanted the adventure, the companionship, the laughs, the conversations. She still would have wanted her friendship.

But obviously Xena didn’t know that. Or didn’t care either way. Clearly, after all the flirting, Xena realized what it was Gabrielle had been hoping for, and that was why she had abandoned her.

Or, the more upsetting thought; Xena -like so many others- had assumed her to be an omega, but now that she knew the truth, she was no longer interested.

That was very likely. After all, alphas tended to prefer omegas for partners.

The convoluted rules of biology dictated that omegas were generally more desirable to alphas, as a way of ensuring they went on to produce more pups. But Gabrielle knew firsthand that this was not always the case. Her boundless desire for Xena was far greater than she’d felt for any shy, soft-spoken omega. But most other alphas preferred to exert their dominance over the most submissive, small, and breedable hole they could find.

It would be… understandable for Xena to have lost interest once she knew her better. But if Xena had left because she thought a sexual relationship was what Gabrielle needed, then maybe she could do something to correct that assumption.

She knew what she had to do then. Gabrielle took in a deep breath, and let it out. Then she started down the road in the direction Xena had left.

She spent the first few hours of her journey trying to decide what to say to her.

'Listen Xena, I get it. You don't want me around because I made you uncomfortable by making it obvious how bad I want you to pound me. I totally understand. But if I promise not to be weird about it anymore, can we just forget all this awkwardness and move on together? Just as friends? Without the benefits?'

Ugh, no, that was terrible. And it would be mortifying to say out loud. She tried again.

'Xena, I'm sorry for not telling you I was an alpha. I guess I should have been clear about that from the beginning. Can we still be friends?'

No, that was even worse. She wasn't sorry for being an alpha, she wasn’t going to apologize for that. She should say something more forceful. More blunt.

'Xena, did you leave me because I'm an alpha? Is that the problem? Would you like me better if I was some passive, needy omega?'

Okay, okay, that was unkind. Even in her own head, she shouldn't talk about omegas that way. Being mistaken for one so often left her minorly bitter toward them at times. But she knew it was wrong to think of them that way. Even if it was a bit true.

She continued fruitlessly to think of something to say to her.

After a long enough time walking down the road, Gabrielle could pick up on Xena's distinctive scent. A deep, rich, outdoorsy smell. Like the fresh bark peeled off a tree, and heated metal. The smell of her grew more powerful as she walked, and Gabrielle found herself following the smell more than she followed the road. It was a good smell.

Actually, Xena's smell was… really good. Especially right now. Why was her smell so strong? She'd left town days ago. Her scent should have been very faint by now. And yet, it was so powerful, like she had only been here a moment ago.

But she wasn’t here right now. Gabrielle knew, because even from where she was standing, she could smell how the trail of Xena's scent extended further on. Off the dirt path, and into the wilderness. How odd. Why would she leave the road?

Curiously, Gabrielle stepped off the path and into the dense foliage that marked the forest's edge. And oh, dear gods, the smell was so much stronger. Gabrielle couldn't believe how pronounced it was. If she closed her eyes, she could imagine that she had her nose pressed up against the scent gland of her neck, right at the start of her jaw. She could imagine that she was licking it, and kissing it, and…

Fuck.

Gabrielle halted suddenly when she felt her dick harden. Even with no one around, it was embarrassing to have been worked up by scent alone.

There really wasn't any great way to hide it, so she just nervously shoved her palm over the slight protrusion in her skirt, and tried to hold it down. With her other hand she closed off her nostrils. A futile effort, really. She could still smell her. Could still taste the air of her on her tongue. Could still imagine her. And after an agonizing few minutes of trudging through the woods while holding down a boner, she found the source of the dizzying scent trail. Up ahead at the top of a slight incline of forest was a cave with a faint light visible within its depths. Gabrielle could smell her in there from where she stood.

She could also smell the distinct aroma of an omega in heat.

The hot, sweet scent that compelled the alpha in her to rub her scent into every tree within a mile of the area.

So, that was what had driven Xena off the road. She must have smelled the heat too, and had gone to sate her appetite with whatever omega was holed up in that cave.

A pang of jealousy shot through Gabrielle. Of course she would want an omega in heat, and not the runty alpha glued to her hip at all times. Gabrielle could hardly blame her. Even the omegas who Gabrielle had known had shown little interest in her, preferring the stronger, bigger alphas. Another alpha would, likewise, not choose a whelp.

And… even Gabrielle had to admit, the scent of this omega was tantalizing.

The pheromones of estrus mixing with the scent of Xena created a cocktail of delicious olfactory sensations. Gods… it was as if the smell was getting her drunk. Already she was forgetting why she was here.

Despite her best efforts to remain calm, her heart was racing. Pumping waves of blood down to her groin.

Gabrielle generally considered herself an alpha who was in control of her baser instincts. Certainly not the sort who got her knot stuck in the first hole she found when she got a whiff of someone’s heat.

She had been in the same room as an omega during his heat, years ago back in her hometown. She'd gone over to do chores on behalf of her mother, as some favor for this family she was barely acquainted with. She'd gone alone while the family was out, not knowing their son was holed up in his room aching with heat. It was an oppressive smell, to be sure, but the biological urge it called upon was not at all uncontrollable. If anything, it had been merely very uncomfortable. She had suffered through it and finished her chores without any fuss, just a bit of awkward blushing.

When the omega in question wasn't someone she was particularly attracted to, smelling their heat triggered a response much less amorous, and much more sympathetic. Like seeing someone very sick suffering in bed. It drove the alpha in her to help them, but not necessarily to breed them.

But this omega… whoever they were… was definitely causing a more amorous reaction, biologically speaking. Probably because of Xena's scent mixed in with it.

She should leave… shouldn't she?

If Xena was with an omega, then she wouldn’t appreciate being interrupted right now. But judging by the smells, Xena had been secluded away with this omega for days. And she would probably continue to remain with the omega for the rest of their heat. That might be another several days. Gabrielle was already out of money, she couldn’t stay in town and wait that long to have this conversation with her.

She had enough self-awareness to know she had to get ahold of herself before going anywhere near the cave. If she showed up there with a hard-on, that certainly wasn’t going to help things.

And yet, nothing she did to will it away was working. Even when plugging her nose, she was still imagining the things Xena was doing up in that cave to a very lucky omega. Her imagination was her worst enemy. It was useless to resist. She released her nostrils, and leaned back in defeat against the nearest tree.

Only one thing to do about it, she realized with a grim, dawning horror.

"Oh gods… am I really going to…?" Gabrielle hesitantly reached a hand under her skirt. This was going to be extremely embarrassing, but at this point she didn’t think anything else would work to ease it. And it would be less embarrassing to show up smelling like she'd just rubbed one off in the woods than to show up with a visible erection.

She slid her hand under her smallclothes, releasing herself from the confines of those articles, but still keeping her cock out of sight, beneath her skirt while she held herself. It was too cold, and too embarrassing to undress. It would be better to be quick about this, anyway. She moved her hand over herself and started pumping, desperate to get the act over with. Once this was dealt with, maybe she'd be able to think straight for a bit. Maybe even think of a plan, or something to say once she got up to the cave.

But there was no doubt in Gabrielle's mind that in Xena's presence, she'd last maybe a minute at most before the problem persisted. If she smelled this strong from this far away, fuck, she'd be so much more up close.

Her shaft was still half enclosed within its sheath. Hyper-sensitive skin pressing up into her skirt. She encircled it between her thumb and forefinger, winding down its length, urging it to grow. But her hard-on would only be satisfied with the source of the smell. Her own biology fighting her need for quick relief. It wanted a warm hole, not her own shaking palm. It was taking too long. She sighed, and gritted her teeth, pumping faster. “Ugh, come on!” she growled to herself. Her knot was still firmly sealed within her sheath. If she could just come, she’d be able to think straight.

She dreaded to think how the argument would go if she spent the entirety of it hard and high on pheromones.

She imagined Xena ridiculing her and berating her for her audacity. And then she imagined that Xena would turn and ignore her, and give her attention to the omega instead. She envisioned standing there and watching while Xena would demonstrate the proper way to mount and knot a desperate omega. Suddenly, the scenario wasn’t so bad.

She was almost finished when she heard a noise that sent her into a panic. Footfall over stone. She hurriedly removed her hand from herself, and darted her eyes in the direction of the sound.

Up the hill, at the cave entrance, there was now a figure. It wasn't Xena, it was someone else. Some alpha she didn’t know, by the smell of them. They were stepping into the cave.

The panic at the prospect of being caught was replaced entirely with a much more aggressive panic.

Someone she didn’t know, a stranger, an interloper, was following the same delicious smell that she was. And they were already a step ahead. It made her blood boil. The alpha in her was feeling overly territorial. Xena was not her territory, after all. She realized it was not her place to feel the way she did. But knowing how unreasonable it was didn’t stop her from wanting to give the stranger a good talking-to.

It had never been a secret how desirable Xena was. To everyone, not just omegas. Hell, Gabrielle knew first-hand how desirable Xena was to other alphas. Even if alphas rarely committed to mating permanently to each other, any alpha would have a hard time resisting the draw of someone like Xena. Even if the stranger had only been drawn by the smell of the omega, and even if Xena defended her claim to the omega, just the thought of someone else being near her right now was infuriating.

She wasn't going to just wait around and do nothing. Even though Xena was always perfectly capable of taking care of these sorts of things herself, it would be harder to defend herself if she really was, as Gabrielle suspected, knotted deep inside of some tight wet omega.

Gabrielle shuddered jealously at the thought.

No matter their disagreements, they were friends. And it was up to her to be there to help her. That was all there was to it. None of it had anything to do with the possessive alpha bullshit. Nope. Not at all. This was purely an impulse of friendship.

She ran up the hill as fast as she could, ignoring the throb which was now half-hard between her legs.

She got to the cave entrance and peered inside. There was first a short uneven hallway that led into the larger chamber of the cave. The path curved oddly in a way that made it impossible to see into the room from there. There were lights coming from there, candles flickering gently, their light cast soft on the walls where Gabrielle's hands rested against rock. And distantly, there were muffled echoes of some unintelligible argument.

She could smell the interloper’s scent on the side of the rock beside her, and she angrily smeared it away with her palm as she moved deeper inside. Xena's and the omega’s smell gradually became so powerful it made her weak.

Just before she rounded the corner, the intruder was making his exit. He shoved carelessly past her as he ran, sparing little more than a glance.

Gabrielle looked up at him, and instead of a face, saw only a bloody mess of features. One very wide split of flesh stretched across his forehead, coating everything below his brow in a thick layer of blood. He ran his sleeve across his eyes to clear his vision, just enough to look Gabrielle up and down. Trying to decide what she was. But after only a moment of assessment he simply shook his head and spat onto the floor as he left. His scent was thick with the shame of defeat. If he had a tail, it would've been tucked pathetically between both legs as he ran.

Well, it was good to know that Xena hadn't been so helpless after all.

But now, her imagination was racing. How had Xena so quickly and thoroughly defended her omega from the interloper? If she was truly now in the arms of some heat rattled omega, then even for Xena, surely it would at least take some time to disentangle herself.

While an omega in heat could certainly make an alpha more aggressive, they did not make an alpha more graceful.

This made Gabrielle curious. And as minor as this point was to be hung up on, it pulled at her. Compelled her to look around the corner and see for herself what exactly Xena was doing. Even if she might end up seeing something she didn’t want to. Rationality balked at the idea. If Xena had so very quickly disposed of that guy, then there was a chance that she would suffer the same fate if she so much as poked her head around the corner.

She steeled herself, and gulped.

"Xena?" she called out.

There was barely any time between her words and Xena's.

"Go away," she said, sternly.

Despite the clear aggravation in her tone, Gabrielle was pleased to finally hear her voice for the first time in days. She sighed in relief. "I know you're probably a bit busy right now, but I-"

"I mean it. Go. Away."

Gabrielle scoffed, feeling herself gain a strange confidence in retaliation. "I'm not here to try and take your precious little bed warmer, alright? I just want to talk. It can't wait."

Runt or not, she was determined to act like a proper alpha. She would not hide it from Xena, or be ashamed of herself. Right now, they would be equals.

From around the corner, she heard Xena groan. It sounded just as annoyed as it sounded erotic. "Gabrielle… we can't talk now."

Gabrielle held up her chin high. Part of her was afraid to look around the corner and see whoever it was laying with Xena. But she had the resolve now to speak her mind, no matter what. She confidently stepped around the corner. "We're going to talk, whether you want to or not. So, you better be…" she froze, unable to finish the thought.

Chapter Text

Gabrielle was stunned at the vision before her.

Xena was splayed out atop a pile of scattered blankets and pillows on the cave floor. She had her forearm resting over her eyes, and her whole body was covered in a thin sheen of sweat. She was, as far as Gabrielle could tell, completely and totally nude beneath the single thin blanket draped loosely over her body. It covered only half her torso. Her generous breasts were uncovered, drawing Gabrielle’s gaze with their dark and wide peaks. And while her breath heaved, her breasts slowly rose and fell in the most hypnotic way.

But most notable, was that she was alone.

Gabrielle blinked hard, forcing her eyes away from Xena to peer around the room. There were no other branching tunnels where someone might have gone. And no sets of footprints aside from those recently left by the bleeding alpha from earlier. In fact, no signs of any life at all aside from Xena.

The candle wax burning in the corners of the cave had kept Gabrielle from smelling it at once, but now she could tell, without any doubt, that the tantalizing smell of the omega in heat was emanating from Xena.

The cogs in Gabrielle's head began to slowly turn. Everything was suddenly making too much sense.

"You… wait… Xena…" she swallowed. "You're… you're an-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Xena groaned, pressing the back of her palm against her head in pain. "Laugh it up."

"L…laugh?" Gabrielle asked, in practically a wheeze. She swallowed hard. Laughing was about the furthest thing from her mind.

"You… wouldn't be the first to find it hilarious," Xena went on, speaking calm and evenly despite the clear exhaustion of her body. The way her chest heaved, and the way her neck extended to expose her scent glands… she was devastatingly beautiful. Which was to say nothing of her smell in this room. She must have been in the very middle of her heat. She smelled so rich, and inviting, and needy. How was she even speaking coherently? Gabrielle could barely breathe.

Xena reached a ways from her nest of blankets, and retrieved a rag. She ran it across the bloodied side of the chakram, before lazily setting them both back down. "Believe me, I can see the joke in it. I don’t need your help.”

Gabrielle was still trying to fully form this realization in her mind. Xena was not an alpha, she was an omega. She was not a breeder, but one who is bred. The air seemed heavy from just the thought of it all. Despite Xena’s size, her muscles, and her completely domineering attitude, she was an omega. A big, strong, and very sexy omega.

Without thinking, she responded, "oh… I think you do."

She didn’t realize she'd said it until Xena's eyes seized hers. For a moment, Xena seemed to consider her with some intent. It made Gabrielle shiver to be under her scrutiny. To have herself assessed by this powerful, imposing omega. As if Xena we’re sizing up the offer. She quickly backtracked.

"I-I've seen how bad estrus can be. You shouldn't have to go through it all by yourself in a cave, Xena."

All things considered, Xena was handling her heat extremely well. Gabrielle had known omegas who had to be locked away and tended to for all hours of every day during estrus. She heard that in the worst of it, omegas would writhe helplessly in their nests, unable to speak, unable to even know their surroundings beyond their need for attention.

Gabrielle considered herself lucky that she would only ever need to deal with ruts, which were much more infrequent, and energizing rather than debilitating.

Alphas could easily deal with their ruts alone. But for omegas, this biannual occurrence was designed to require the care of another. Specifically, the care of an alpha who would breed them. Plenty of omegas were forced to bear through it with help from those close to them. But never had Gabrielle ever heard of an omega attempting to fulfill these bodily demands alone.

Xena scoffed and looked away from her. Gabrielle breathed a sigh of relief once her analyzing eyes were off of her.

"It's nothing I haven’t done before. I don't… need you."

Gabrielle recoiled at that. It was probably true, she supposed. But the alpha in her was wounded.

Being the warrior she was, Xena had probably faced numerous heats more troubled than this. And judging by how she'd handled the alpha from a minute ago, she had experience rejecting unwarranted advances during this state. But that thought brought Gabrielle very little comfort.

She hadn’t meant for Xena to see her distress. But she did, and she softened when she did.

Xena sat up, and patted her palm over a pillow on the cave floor beside her. “You’re here now, anyway. Sit down. Tell me what you came here for.”

It suddenly didn’t feel important at all. But she wasn’t about to turn down the invitation. And as eager as she was to be beside her, she still lowered herself to the floor with a particular hesitancy.

Entering into Xena’s nest while she was in heat felt like an invasion of her privacy. The crossing of a social barrier. One her inner alpha was all too eager to make the most of, enthusiastic for what Gabrielle knew she shouldn’t be expecting. In an effort to center her thoughts on more rational things, she looked about the room, instead of at the gorgeous, fertile omega beside her.

This chamber where Xena had holed herself up in was not very large. The ceiling was high enough to make every slight breath echo slightly. And the floor was raised a little to one end of the room, offering a tactical view of the entrance, even from the floor. All the scattered bits of blankets and things were arranged in a way that suggested Xena had been taking a very strategic consideration to the make up of her nest. Her clothes and weapons were within reach of her sleeping arrangements. A small pool of cave water had a device in it which looked to be catching clean water. And a throng of dried herbs were arranged over a stone. Some were black at the ends, suggesting they had been burned as an incense of some kind. Something to ease her pain, or clear her head, maybe.

“I like what you’ve done with the place,” Gabrielle said, attempting to ease the tension.

“If I had more time, I could’ve set traps outside,” Xena sighed. “Clearly, I should have.” She tried to sit up more, but the blanket she was wearing over herself would not accommodate the movement. She laid back down before her breasts could be fully visible.

Gabrielle had to suppress a growl at the loss. She coughed to cover it up. “So… not that I mind, but why are you naked?”

“It’s like a fever,” Xena explained, “when I go into heat, my body paradoxically feels both cold and hot. One of the many ways my instincts compel me to undress and warm up with another body.”

“Oh.” Gabrielle knew this, of course. She knew approximately how being an omega worked biologically. But she was still struggling to wrap her head around Xena being that way.

Did that mean Xena felt an overwhelming desire to be bred? Was she struggling as much as Gabrielle to remain composed?

“Tell me what you came here for,” Xena said, impatiently. “Make it quick.”

She’d been determined not to be put on the defensive. But now, it was impossible not to shudder. All she could think about was what it would be like to touch her feverish body, and lick the scent of estrus off her cheek.

“W-well, I was starting to think you weren’t coming back. You were gone so long. I guess I want to know: are you coming back?”

This question seemed to confuse Xena. She breathed out a light chuckle. “I’m not staying here forever. When the heat runs its course, I’ll be the same as I always am.”

“And you’ll come back, right?” she pressed, “because if you’ve gotten sick of me, I want to know.”

“Gabrielle,” she said, the gruffness of her voice dissipating as she uttered her name. Her eyes were kinder now. “Did you really think I left because I don’t like you?”

“Of course I did! You left suddenly and with barely an explanation, what was I supposed to think?” She heard herself rising in volume, but couldn’t hold back the energy she was feeling. “Xena, do you even realize how thoughtless you can be? I mean, up until about a minute ago, I thought we were going to have to fight!”

Xena glanced away, tilting her head in an apologetic way that made her harder to be mad at. “Well, now that you know the truth, it should be a relief to you.”

Gabrielle lowered her voice, but still felt riled up in a way that had nothing to do with being mad. “I’d be more relieved if you had trusted me. If you had just told me before that you were going into heat, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“It wasn’t any of your business,” Xena muttered. “And besides, I wasn’t sure how you’d take it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Look at me, Gabrielle,” she said, gesturing toward herself. Gabrielle eagerly did as she was told. With more bare skin on display than usual, she could admire the shape of her body. Olive skin stretched taught over muscle, sweat glistening on the surface… she forgot that Xena was trying to make a point by it until she went on. “I don’t exactly look like an omega. People get ideas about me just from looking at me, and when they’re proved wrong, they get uncomfortable.”

Gabrielle was all too familiar with that experience.

“And… you thought that I’d treat you badly if I knew?”

“No,” Xena sighed, “not badly. You’re too kind a person for that. But you left home to follow an alpha, not an omega.”

She straightened up. “I left home to follow you,” she corrected. “Xena, none of that matters to me. What matters is that I need to learn from you, and you need someone to stick up for you. We’re more than our biological designations. We’re friends. Isn’t that what matters?”

Xena smiled up at her, in that way she did when she was charmed by her naiveté. “You’re right. But,” she pulled her legs up closer to her body slightly, causing the blanket to billow, and a waft of heat heavy air to find Gabrielle’s nostrils. It made her mouth water. “We should probably need each other from a distance for a few more days. You can wait for me in Poteidaia, and I’ll meet you when my heat is over. I don’t need you right here, right this minute.”

It was true. And, now that they’d discussed it all, this was probably an appropriate time to end it. This could be the satisfactory conclusion to their disagreement. But still, Xena’s heat held Gabrielle in a tight grip, and she found it difficult to work up the strength to leave. She swallowed, and decided to push her luck.

"Even if you don't need me, wouldn't it be better if I helped?"

Xena made a sound like a laugh, but strained. And yet there was still a cockiness to it. She knew what she was really asking. "What sort of 'help' did you have in mind?"

Her words and her knowing smirk sent a shock down Gabrielle's spine that converged in her groin. Her hand flew down to cover that area, and she didn’t miss Xena's eyes following the motion. Gabrielle blushed, but had no choice but to bear the embarrassment. She wasn’t about to leave the cave now. She wasn’t even sure her body would let her.

"I-I could bring you food, and water. And I could bring you more blankets if you need them. And I could keep alphas from barging in. You know, stuff like that.”

Xena cracked a smile. "Alphas like you, you mean?"

Gabrielle flinched.

"Y-you… how did you…?"

"I've known since I met you," Xena said, rolling her shoulders back in search of a more comfortable position. She looked as if it was a struggle just to hold her head up. "It isn't as subtle as you think it is. Your scent is…" Xena's voice went low as it trailed off. She shook her head, shaking away a thought she didn’t want to share. She became more serious as the strain of fighting her heat now more visibly gripped her. “…different,” she finished. A Bead of sweat trailed down her brow. In her supine position, it pooled around her eye.

“Here,” Gabrielle moved beside her, despite her protests. She took the edge of another blanket and wiped the moisture from her face. Her hands shook as she did. Every muscle in her body struggling to keep from getting up on top of Xena and humping her exposed thigh. She was proud of her self-restraint when she succeeded in not doing that. She’d never felt such an intense drive to breed.

Of course, now that she knew Xena was capable of getting pregnant, these thoughts were even more dangerous and complicated.

Even if Xena would accept her advances in her current state, she definitely wouldn’t enjoy carrying pups. Omegas were unique for their ability to produce larger litters, so that meant it would likely be several pups at once. She’d be in no condition to live a life of danger on the road in that state. Even considering omegas could gestate their young much more quickly, it simply wouldn’t do.

She and Xena would have to settle somewhere quiet for the final couple months of her pregnancy. She’d be so heavy with pups, she’d be confined to a bed for all hours. Omegas also needed much more attention, especially during pregnancy, so Gabrielle would have to do everything for her. Including a lot of slow, gentle sex. And in her pregnant state, Xena, like other omegas, would probably take on a temporary softness to her features. Her hard muscles would gentle with subtle layers of fat, and her breasts would grow, in preparation to feed her young. And then…

She pulled her hand away, and bit hard on her lip. No, she berated herself, stop wanting to get your best friend pregnant! Stop it!

Xena looked up at her as if she could hear her thoughts. There was amusement in her eyes, buried beneath a layer of tension. Then she frowned.

“The longer you stay here, the harder it will be to make you leave,” she said.

“I’ll go, if you want me to,” she promised, impossibly determined to honor her wishes, despite the unmovable object that was her lust.

“No,” Xena sighed, gritting her teeth. “No, I mean if you stay any longer, I won’t want you to leave.”

Gabrielle had to swallow down a buildup of nerves.

Xena’s body was releasing powerful pheromones from every pore. Chemicals in her breath, her sweat, her skin, all calling out for an alpha to breed her at the peak of her fertility. It was what her body wanted, even if Xena had no interest in raising a family with her.

She wanted to believe that Xena would choose her even if her body did not demand the presence of an alpha. But because she wanted to believe it, it was more difficult to.

“Is that why you wanted to keep me away?” Gabrielle asked. “You don’t want to need me? You’d rather be alone than with me?”

“Gabrielle…” she turned her head away, and her breath hitched as she struggled to find the words. “It’s not that simple. I should be the one keeping you safe, not the other way around.” Her hand came up and found Gabrielle’s, clutching it weakly. “Even if you left me now, how could you ever see me the same way again?”

Gabrielle squeezed her hand back in return, easing both their aches for contact. “For what it’s worth, this doesn’t change how I feel. I’ve always thought you were strong, and beautiful, and amazing.”

Xena’s mouth curled up into another smile. “I know. You’re not subtle.”

Any other day, she might’ve been embarrassed for her feelings to have been so easily read all along. But in addition to making her all hot under the collar, Xena’s omega scent was also strengthening the alpha nature in her. Why should she be ashamed of wanting Xena? Why be ashamed that it had been obvious? It was only natural to want her. It was good to want her.

“And I still think you are.” She trailed her free hand up Xena’s arm, over the hard muscle of her bicep. “I mean, gods, Xena, you’re the biggest, most powerful omega I’ve ever seen!”

“Never seen an omega like me before, huh?”

“And I never will. There’s no one like you, Xena.” She knew that now was not the best time to be confessing her feelings. Logically, these sorts of sentiments should be saved for when Xena wasn’t in heat. But it was even harder to hold back her feelings than it was to not lean down and kiss her.

Just as Gabrielle feared she would, Xena turned her face away. Closing herself off emotionally in order to turn her down. And shakily, she pulled her hand away from Gabrielle’s.

"I didn't want you to find me like this.” Her breath went in and out more deeply. “I know you want to help. But I can't let you."

"Why not?" Gabrielle asked, her own words stinging with the shame of rejection. Every nerve in her body was aching to help her. Even just to lay beside her. Anything. "Why is it so hard for you to accept my help? Don't you think I can?" She had never before felt so desperate to show Xena that she could provide for her. It was her alpha instinct, she knew it was, but that wasn’t all it was. It was more than that.

"You don't understand. You-"

"I'm what, Xena?" Gabrielle growled. "I'm just a runt? I'm not good enough? Would you be disgusted to let an alpha like me take care of you?"

Thankfully, Xena was unbothered by her burst of anger. "Gabrielle," Xena interrupted with a groan. "I can defend myself. I have plenty of blankets, and all the food and water I could need for days. There's only one thing you could do for me…" she said, putting a weighty emphasis on the last sentence.

Gabrielle felt her heart skip a beat. "I-"

"Go back to town and wait for me there," Xena went on, looking away from her again. "You're young, and if I let you do what you're asking I… Gabrielle, you aren’t ready.” The distress in her voice was raw. Surprisingly so. She sounded so strangely gentle. Even frightened. “I don't want to hurt you. I can't ruin what we have between us."

"I can," Gabrielle said, laying a hand over her clavicle.

Xena's eyes swept over her once more. She groaned painfully as she looked Gabrielle in the eyes, and let the mask of stoicism fall away just a little bit more. She was clearly in more pain than she was letting on. She bit her lip, and forced her eyes shut.

"Everything… can't go back to how it was before…" Xena muttered after taking in several strained breaths. "Please… Gabrielle, I don't want to lose you."

Gabrielle, without even thinking to, moved her hands up Xena’s neck to hold her face in her hands. She pushed her bangs away from her forehead, and felt the skin there, hot to the touch. Her thumb made small circles on her jaw and cheek.

Xena whined mutely, like the sensation was painful.

"I'm not going to leave you, Xena" she said, more confident now than she had been since first smelling her heat. "I know things won't be the same, and I don't care. I’ll still be your friend, no matter what happens."

There was no way Xena could ever do anything that would hurt more than rejecting her would right now. She needed to be with her. Had to.

Xena's resolve was breaking, she could see it. She'd been avoiding looking directly into her eyes for more than a few seconds at a time, but now her gaze lingered with hers, and drifted down to her skirt when it wasn’t on her eyes. Gabrielle wanted so badly to kiss her. Her instincts were screaming at her to put her mouth over her skin. At the very least, she had the confidence to ask for what she wanted.

"Xena, I might be young, but I'm not ignorant." She leaned in to half-lay beside her, eyes level to hers. She let her hand fall slowly downward until they held the strong, wide hips of the warrior. "Please, I know what I'm asking. I can help you. Let me.”

Xena let her mouth fall open to allow a moan to strangle through, sighing out the last of her resolve. “…Please…”

The moment the words left her, Gabrielle had her mouth on hers. Despite her hesitation, Xena needed no coaxing for her mouth to open. She surrendered to her, and Gabrielle boldly tasted her mouth. The sweetness of her heat was palpable on her tongue. It was everything she’d dreamed it would be.

She lowered herself against Xena’s body as she kissed her, pressing over her. Sinking into the kiss. Letting her legs and hands fall over hers, and letting her weight press over her.

Kissing her did a strange thing. It soothed the desperate ache, but simultaneously agitated it. Made her more hungry. The stiffness under her skirt, which had been half-hard since she entered the cave, was throbbing now. But the thick scent of an omega’s heat made her patient. Instinct compelled her to be sure her omega was well taken care of.

Sightlessly, she moved her hand down under the blanket to press against Xena’s thigh. At first, she felt hot skin, and the shape of the prominent muscles beneath. Then, following the contour of her leg, she moved her hand inward, toward the more sensitive flesh. She felt the lingering wet of an old heat. One that had been left untended for far too long. She pulled her hand away, and could swear it was dripping.

Xena quietly whined at the loss. “Don’t tease.”

“I just need to move. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you,” she breathed softly, lifting herself up just enough to tug the blanket away.

When the cover was gone, her hands followed her eyes, moving over every curve and plane of Xena’s hips. She quickly zeroed in on the wet, matted curls that hid her sex. So thick and dark and inviting. And below, the hot lips of her cunt. It was certainly different from the alpha cock she’d imagined on her. But this organ evoked the same feeling in Gabrielle as the one she’d imagined before knowing. She licked her lips and held back a moan.

“Next time, you won’t run off and hide when you go into heat, okay?” Gabrielle decided for her, running her fingers through the wet bush. “Tell me next time, and you won’t have to be in so much pain.”

“Yes…” Xena breathed, and it was hard to tell whether it was in affirmation, or in pleasure.

Gabrielle’s mouth suddenly became too jealous of her hand. She brushed away Xena’s dark hair to reveal more of her hot skin, and planted her mouth over her. With her face buried right at the source of Xena’s musk, instinct took over. Her tongue gouged its way into Xena’s passage, hungrily taking in her warmth. She felt Xena quiver around her. Heard her muffled moaning and gasping.

Gabrielle’s cock was so desperate to feel any part of Xena that without thinking, her hips rocked against Xena’s leg as she ate her. Grinding onto her bare shin in a desperate, rhythmless way. She was too focused on licking and sucking to notice.

She licked up to her hard clitoris, and pressed her lips against it in an erotic approximation of a kiss. She felt Xena’s hips bucking into her, and released the sensitive point. The last thing she wanted to do was accidentally bite. She reached around the outside of Xena’s thighs to attempt to hold her still, and felt her objection all around her as her body squeezed and tightened in its demand for pleasure.

She nuzzled into her affectionately, and mouthed over her labia in an attempt to sooth her. She took a moment to try to breathe without removing the delicious cunt from her mouth. Her nose was assaulted with hot, heavy smells that made her hump faster against Xena’s leg, grinding mindlessly. She didn’t catch her breath in time before her hunger brought her mouth enthusiastically over the clit once more. She sucked on it, teethed on it, went wild from its taste. A wetness flooded over her face in return, enough that it might have drowned her.

She was sure that Xena’s pussy must have been what ambrosia tasted like. Then Xena came, and Gabrielle realized that was ambrosia.

The sudden tightening of her insides was not so much a flutter of spasms as it was a crushing force. That, and the way her thighs suddenly shut like a vice around her head, made the force of Xena’s orgasm feel to Gabrielle less like the tempered soft thing she’d heard described in poetry, and more like the bite of a massive beast. It was amazing.

She wanted so badly to feel it on her dick.

When Xena’s body relaxed, and the bear trap that was her thighs loosened their hold, Gabrielle pulled her mouth off of her pussy. She returned her hand to pet over the softness of Xena’s groin. Fingers itching to be buried back inside. But she resisted. Estrus supposedly removed the need for ‘cooldowns’ between orgasms, but Gabrielle wasn’t sure if that was true. Better to err on the side of caution.

“So,” Gabrielle asked, her breath heavy. “Feel any better now?”

Xena made a sound deep in her chest that Gabrielle had never heard from her before. “Oh yes,” she drawled. She shakily rested her arms beside her head, and breathed a deep contented sigh. “Much. Thank you.”

Gabrielle’s inner alpha howled with delight. But her outer-self managed to remain a bit more dignified.

“Anytime,” she said. She realized after a moment that her hand was still idly stroking up and down the lips of Xena’s cunt. And Xena wasn’t recoiling from overstimulation. Maybe the rumors were true, after all. “Do you… want me to do it again?” she asked, hopefully.

Xena chuckled weakly. “If you had the stamina for it, I’d ask you to do it again and again until sundown.”

“I have the stamina!” Gabrielle argued indignantly. To which, Xena laughed again.

“That’s what you say now. My body will only keep demanding pleasure until it’s too exhausted to be awake.”

“Then that’s what I’ll do. I’ll keep going until you’re exhausted.”

Xena shuddered at the promise. She looked at her, biting her lip, and glancing down overtly at the tent Gabrielle’s dick was making beneath her skirt. She hummed thoughtfully. “Well, I’ll be happy for whatever you can give me. Gods know my hand was getting tired before you showed up.”

“Really?” Gabrielle was inexplicably fascinated by this information. Without waiting for permission to touch her, as she normally would have, she reached abruptly for Xena’s right hand, and brought it to her face for inspection. She could smell it now. Yes, so clearly. The bouquet of Xena’s cunt was buried so deep into the skin of her palm and the pads of her fingers. She must have been fingering herself for days. Gabrielle pressed her face into her hand. She ran her tongue over her palm, nipped lightly at the skin, and decided it was almost as good as the source.

Xena allowed this examination to continue. But the amusement written on her features gradually became impatient. She pulled her hand away, and heard a quiet protest from Gabrielle. A more experienced alpha would know not to put her own pleasure before an omega in heat, but Gabrielle needed to be told. After all, this was new to her. She would learn.

“What I really need,” she said, watching Gabrielle’s eyes continue to follow her hand. She slowly directed it down, combed her fingers through the black hair of her cunt, and spread her vulva open. “…Is to be filled.”

“Oh.” Gabrielle could feel her blood pulsing more in her groin than in her heart. She swallowed. “I can do that. But won’t that be… risky?” she wasn’t sure how much she really cared. She certainly wouldn’t mind getting Xena pregnant, changing the course of their whole future together just to give in to this urge. But she knew Xena would mind.

Xena lifted one arm up over her head to reach the pile of dried leaves on the stone beside her. she brushed some with her hand, as though Gabrielle was meant to recognize them.

“I didn’t have the herbs to make heat suppressants, but I have what I need to keep from getting pregnant.”

“Oh,” she mouthed quietly. Her ears rang with this information. “So… then… I can-”

“Gabrielle,” she growled, “if you don’t, and soon, I’m going to lose my mind.”

“Right, yep, on it.” She didn’t need more of an invitation.

She got to her feet so that she could finally remove her clothes.

Despite the fact that her hands were still damp with Xena’s come, she still felt a bit shy. Xena had never really seen her naked body for more than brief, partial glimpses during bathing. She was embarrassed to think that Xena would find her body lacking. She was a runt, after all. In height and muscle, she didn’t quite compare to most of her fellow alphas. She wasn’t sure she’d compare in this department, either.

She took off her top first. Less ashamed of that than she was of what was beneath her waist. She tried not to watch Xena as she undressed. Tried not to appear as desperate for her approval as she was.

When she unclasped her skirt and let it fall at her feet, she almost immediately covered herself with her palm and outstretched fingers.

“Oh, no,” Xena said, sitting up and reaching for her. She took the hand that Gabrielle hid herself with, and gently eased it away. “Don’t be nervous now.”

“I’m not nervous! I just… well, you’ve probably seen much more impressive stuff.”

Xena laughed warmly, thumbing over her shaft. “You’re fine.” Her grip tightened, and she began stroking up and down. “More than fine.” It wasn’t long before Xena had her panting and thrusting gently into her hand. That hand which still smelled so potently of her cunt.

It was all too much. And before long, Gabrielle could feel her knot beginning to swell under Xena’s fingers. Her alpha instinct took over.

She smacked Xena’s hands away, pushing her down and moving with her to straddle her hips. She was about to apologize for acting on the impulse, but when Xena’s head hit the bedding, it made her groan wantonly, and Gabrielle wasn’t sorry anymore.

She gazed down at her for a moment. How her hair was all tossed about her head, and her eyes narrowed with the pain of arousal. She was beautiful. And being eye-to-eye with her was just a little bit frightening. Her cock twitched readily against Xena’s warm thigh. She was overcome with a reverent sort of awe at being so close to inside her. But she hesitated.

“Gabrielle…” Xena urged her. The voice she used was strange. A concurrent of the needy omega, and the strong, demanding warrior.

Gabrielle reached down between her legs to grip herself, and guided her tip against the folds of Xena’s cunt. It was so different from having her hands or mouth there. With just the head of her cock she could feel her better than with any other part. She relished in the joy of feeling her vulva against her shaft, and slowly rocked herself up and down Xena’s soaked, aching slit.

She hadn’t been trying to tease her, but it was clear by Xena’s uncharacteristic whine that she shouldn’t be kept waiting. Still, she held down Xena’s hips when they started trying to urge her inside. She couldn’t believe the rush of power it gave her to feel Xena be so desperate.

“Don’t make me beg for it,” Xena growled, “just do it.”

Would she beg, though? Gabrielle realized she wanted to find out. But she was impatient, too. So, without waiting for her to beg, she eased herself into her.

The sensation of being inside her was so overwhelming, Gabrielle stalled for the first few moments inside her. Shivering with the overload of sensation. She slowly pushed deeper. Instinct quickly took over, and she slowly eased out and back in with increasing speed. She used long, deep thrusts at first before her knot slowly bulged fully out of her sheath. The huge, hot ring of flesh at the base of her cock kissed Xena’s cunt with each excruciatingly deep plunge.

“Nng, yes! That’s it…” Xena wheezed breathlessly. “Just like that…”

It spurred her on. She fucked harder. At the end of her most powerful thrust, Gabrielle pressed her overeager knot hard enough into Xena that she forced it inside, tying them together.

The knot was normally meant for the end of a fuck, to hold all its spend inside whatever hole it was shoved in. But Gabrielle wasn’t done yet. She kept pushing her hips into her, despite how the knot impeded her mobility.

Xena made some unintelligible sound, and threw her head back, drawing particular attention to her neck.

Gabrielle fell over her, pressing down on her with her whole little body as she fucked her. Xena whined at the impact, startled by the fall. She just barely cocked her head up to look at her, but Gabrielle shoved her head back down into the fur blankets. She continued to jostle her cock inside her as she pressed closer to her, moving as high up Xena’s body as she could without breaking the tie. But despite all her ferocity and alpha instinct, the length of Xena’s body was greater than her own, and she couldn’t reach her neck without pulling out.

She told herself she wouldn’t bite, and that all she wanted to do was taste. But whether that was true or not was impossible to know, because she couldn’t.

She satisfied herself by licking the sweat off her cleavage, and fucking her even faster. Enveloping herself between big, warm breasts.

She felt Xena come around her.

It had been one thing to feel it on her mouth, and her face. Taste the force of it. Become so well acquainted with the smell of Xena’s pussy that she’d smell it wherever she went for the rest of her life. But to feel Xena’s insides milking her violently was another thing entirely. To feel her insides burn and break her from within. It was as if her whole body was inside of Xena. She felt Xena’s orgasm as if it was her own. The only way she knew it wasn’t was because she came a moment later.

Her thrusts became more violent, and then her hips held still, pressing forcefully down into Xena as deep as she could go. She growled when she came, rumbling against Xena’s chest with an animal satisfaction. There was first one wave of come, and then another, then several more. The omega’s heat compelled her to be generous with her seed.

She continued to thrust as much as she could throughout the waves, plunging futilely deeper and deeper down Xena’s cunt, despite how little mobility she had during the tie. She was pressed so deep that they could both feel Gabrielle’s balls clench for another wave, over and over.

It was nearly a full minute before Gabrielle was spent.

The force of her body relaxed, and she rested on top of Xena. She nuzzled affectionately between her breasts.

Xena gazed up at her with a strange and wonderful smile. She smiled back.

Gabrielle snuck her hand down to feel between their hips, at the place where they connected. Then, she trailed her hand up to feel the space just below Xena’s belly. She tried to feel whether there was a noticeable protrusion from how full her uterus was. There wasn’t, of course. It probably wasn’t really possible to put so much come in her that she’d be able to feel it from the outside. But she sort of wanted to.

She knew the tie was meant to last a long time, but her dick was still hard, and her energy was still through the roof. Coming hadn’t made her tired, like it normally did. If anything, Xena’s heat made her even more energetic. But her orgasm had cleared her head slightly, and she was mindful enough to be a bit embarrassed of how aggressive she’d gotten in the moment. She would be more considerate now, and give Xena a little time before trying to pump her full of come again.

“Gabrielle…” Xena muttered. Her voice sounded so tired and dazed, but definitely satisfied. “Earlier, did you… want to mark me?” She sounded amused, too.

Gabrielle startled, and lifted herself up from her. “N-no!” Yes. Oh gods, yes. “I just… I mean, it was instinct, I think. I wouldn’t have done it.”

“I see.” It was unclear whether she was uncomfortable, pleased, or disappointed by this answer.

Was it possible she wanted the mating bite? No, that was just more wishful thinking on Gabrielle’s part.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to let this give me any ideas about us. I just wanted to help you, because that’s what friends do,” she assured her, while her knot was still plugged up her hot cunt.

“Well,” Xena sighed, “don’t let me ever tell you again that you aren’t helpful.”

She couldn’t resist, and so she kissed Xena again. She didn’t seem to mind.

Absentmindedly, Gabrielle began twitching her hips again, in slow, gentle movements. She couldn’t move much, with her knot still swollen. And she didn’t notice she was doing it until she heard Xena moan.

“It doesn’t hurt, does it?” she asked, pulling her lips away and forcing herself still. “Sorry, I wasn’t-”

“More.” Xena grabbed her by the back of her head, and forced her down into another kiss. “Keep going.” Gabrielle felt Xena slowly crane her hips into hers. With a slowness that beckoned Gabrielle to take over. So, she did.

She couldn’t give her more than brief little pumps of her cock, not the long deep strokes she could without the knot. This did not seem to bother Xena. But Gabrielle gradually became more and more uncomfortable with the position as her dick got harder, and her alpha instincts got more confident.

She sat upright, and yanked her knot out of Xena with a painful, resounding wet pop. Xena grunted with the discomfort, and pleasure at the sensation.

“Turn over,” Gabrielle said. Her hands were already pushing her hips to the side, urging the motion.

There was a strange flicker in Xena’s eyes when she understood that Gabrielle meant to mount her.

“Please,” Gabrielle added as an afterthought. She realized she might have sounded too aggressive in her demand.

But Xena did not challenge her aggression, or show signs of indignation at her tone. Instead, she smiled and turned over lusciously. She made a show of it, making sure to push up her ass up more than she really needed to as she rose up on her elbows and stretched languidly like a big cat.

Gabrielle was upon her very quickly. Her hands stroked reverently up Xena’s behind before she reached for a hold around her wide hips. She pulled Xena against her, and grazed her pussy, succeeding only in dragging her sopping wet slit down the top of her cock, and catching on the hood of her clitoris. Xena’s happy moan encouraged her do it once more, on purpose.

When she grew tired of not being inside her, she took more care to line herself up, and then shoved inside her wet, tender hole. Her vagina was already well prepared for her entrance, easily bidding her cock welcome as it held her. And already, Gabrielle felt the ache to jam her knot back inside. She tried to resist the temptation, and savor the long, deep motions that this new position allowed. But it only took a few hard thrust before she jammed her knot back where it belonged.

She pressed into her back as she fucked her then, feeling Xena’s arms struggle to hold her up. Gabrielle decided she wanted to fuck her into the ground.

This more natural position gave Gabrielle a better angle to fuck Xena with. She could reach a bit deeper, and could more easily press her weight into her. She had enough room to move just a little more, even with her knot stuffed deep inside.

She drove faster into her, and harder, and deeper, without regard for the knot holding straining to hold them together.

It might have been Gabrielle’s vigor, or Xena’s exhaustion, or both. Suddenly, in the midst of her mad pumping, Gabrielle’s knot popped out from the force of Gabrielle’s hips when she pulled back. It surprised them both, but Gabrielle barely missed a beat to jam it back in ferociously.

Xena moaned. “Fuck… fucking son of a bacchae!”

This accident sparked a sudden inspiration in her, and Gabrielle pulled her knot out deliberately on the next thrust, then quickly jammed the whole thing back in.

“Hhhng… fuck!” Xena yelled, and then whined as Gabrielle continued to shove her knot in, and then yank it out, on every thrust, over and over again.

At last, Xena’s arms gave out, and she fell down, face-first into the blankets as she came.

Gabrielle pressed down deep into her to feel her on the whole of her cock. The clench of Xena’s insides, and her weak, ravaged, defeated breathing spurred her into another generous helping of come. Xena’s orgasm lasted the whole duration of Gabrielle’s.

“Huhhh… guhh… ahh…” she wheezed. “Yes…”

When their orgasm ended, Gabrielle took the liberty of turning Xena back over, to allow her to rest in a more comfortable position. She did this without removing her cock, and so she felt Xena’s insides twist around her deliciously. She shuddered at the sensation, but Xena was too spent to remark on it with anything but a garble of groans.

Gabrielle gently caressed Xena’s waist, soothing her. And, gently moved her hand down to the smooth skin just above her pelvis and below her belly.

She could swear now that she felt a slight swell from the semen inside. She knew it might have been her imagination, but she rubbed proudly there anyway.

Xena sighed slowly. It almost sounded like a snore.

“Are you asleep?” Gabrielle asked.

Xena laughed feebly. Her voice sounded so hoarse and worn. Then she swallowed, and it was slightly less so. “I feel too much… everywhere, for sleep.”

“Did I hurt you?”

“No,” Xena breathed. There was a smile on her lips now, brought from the amusement of imagining Gabrielle even capable of hurting her. Slowly she reached to stretch out her tight muscles. Letting her legs uncurl, and her arms fall back at her sides. “You felt so good.” Her eyes glanced downward. “You still do.”

“Yeah?” Gabrielle smiled. “Well, good. I’m glad.”

She beamed down at her, perked up and elated with happiness. And her dick was still stubbornly hard inside of Xena.

“I can go again, if that’s alright with you,” she offered, trying not to sound as desperate as she felt.

“Fuck, Gabrielle,” she wheezed, “you’ve got way too much energy.”

Gabrielle chuckled sheepishly. “Xena, you’re in heat. Of course I have more energy! I don’t think this can really surprise you that much.”

Estrus had many effects on alphas. Namely, that. It was perfectly natural. Wasn’t it? She doubted herself suddenly, and was almost embarrassed to still be hard.

“Don’t be modest. I’ve had alphas with half your vigor, you stud,” Xena smirked, reaching up to rub her hand affectionately over Gabrielle’s hips.

The compliment went right to her cock. It was getting much more difficult to not start thrusting again. “Thanks,” she said, blushing. And slowly, she tested the waters by pumping gently in and out again. Xena made a very appreciative sound, and so she moved faster.

And thus, Gabrielle got a couple more loads into her before the tie was broken. And then several more, when the sun set and they started up again at nightfall. It was many hours before either of them slept. And when they finally did, they were still tied together.

Chapter Text

Gabrielle was out foraging. She was no good at hunting, but the forest was full of berries and mushrooms that she could confidently identify as edible. Not especially tasty, however. But, she knew how to make a pauper’s stew that would be palatable to herself and Xena.

The bland food out here was almost enough to make her eager for Xena’s heat to be over. But only almost.

Occasionally, the breeze would pick up, and carry the scents of many things. Bird eggs, flowers, ripe fruit, things that would send Gabrielle to venture out from the cave just a little bit further in search of them. But she was careful never to wander too far.

Over the past few days, she’d built a small territory around the cave. Every rock and tree within a quarter mile of the cave bore the distinctive scent of a patrolling alpha. The kind of scent that warded off interlopers. It had been so effective that even animals were repelled by it. The forest was usually quiet now. Quiet enough that if she took too long away, she’d hear Xena’s distant beckoning.

Right on cue, Gabrielle’s ears twitched at the sound of distant muffled muttering. Reverberated by an echoey cave chamber, and amplified by Gabrielle’s growing familiarity to the sound, and her instinct to treat the source of it.

She stood up, brushing off the dirt from her knees, and carrying her small haul of food in a bag slung over her shoulder.

Gabrielle returned to the cave earlier than she initially had intended. She was already thinking of when she’d have to set out again. As she approached the cave, she brushed the underside of her jaw against the entry way. It was an instinct that the omega’s heat instilled in her, to ensure this place was well marked by her scent.

She set the bag on the ground beside the small cooking fire at the entrance. The soft sound of it was enough to draw Xena’s attention. She had been on her side, but rolled over to greet her when Gabrielle returned.

“Gabrielle...” she whined softly. It was distinctly not the whine of a painful heat. She was well tended to.

There was water in the pot hanging above the fire pit, warm from the embers of the fire she lit before she left. Apparently, Xena had been energetic enough to boil leaves for some tea. A sign that her needs were being met. But now, she was curled up on her bed of blankets, with her knees curled up. She turned her head up just enough to gaze longingly at Gabrielle. The smell in the air made it no mystery what she wanted.

It had been nearly nine hours since they last had sex. Long enough to make the omega desperate again.

“Food first,” Gabrielle insisted, blowing over the warm coals to start the fire again. “And have some water, too.” She pointed over to the basin of clean water just beyond the nest.

Xena’s whine turned into a soft growl. “Stop trying to be nice. Fuck me. Now.”

Gabrielle turned her attention away from the cooking pot, and smiled back at her. Ever since Xena had burned through the last of her medicinal herbs, she’d become ten times as demanding.

“You’re the one that decided to go into heat in a cave. If I don’t keep our strength up, we’re both gonna catch something from being in here so long. So come on, eat.”

“I’ll eat after,” Xena said, maneuvering closer on her elbows and reaching for her thigh.

Gabrielle, with remarkable reflex, snatched her wrist before it wound its way under her skirt. She narrowed her eyes down at Xena firmly. “No,” she said, “you’ll eat first.”

The ‘alpha voice’ wasn’t something that had ever come naturally to Gabrielle. But it seemed to be working now. Xena groaned miserably, and released her.

With one hand stirring in pieces of root and mushroom into the soup, she reached the other down to gently pet over the back of Xena’s hair. Reassuring her that she was not in a poor mood. Xena sighed and leaned into her hand, pressing her cheek into her palm, and her lips against her thumb.

Gabrielle shuddered, but did not remove her hand.

They remained that way until the meal was hot, and then Gabrielle dutifully prepared both their bowls.

These moments were perhaps the most familiar to them both. The most reminiscent of their time together before the heat. And they would be the easiest to look back on when it ended.

No doubt, these events would have complicated effects on them both when it was over.

“Thank you,” Xena said, when her bowl was empty. Gabrielle took it from her and set it with hers to clean.

“You’re welcome,” she beamed. The warrior’s newfound proclivity for gratitude was one of the most appealing traits of her heat. “But it’s nothing. I’m actually kind of starting to miss having fish. I’ll be glad when we can have real food again.”

Xena smiled up at her. Not so much the sultry smile she’d been flashing her lately, but one without intent. A pure smile. “I’ll also be glad when my heat is over.”

Gabrielle wasn’t so sure she’d meant it that way, but nodded in agreement. Of course, she knew in order for their food situation to improve, Xena would need to not be bedridden anymore. Which would require estrus to have run its course. But she didn’t really want Xena’s heat to end.

Not simply because it would mean her sexual services would no longer be required, but also because she was afraid that Xena had been right in the beginning.

Once the biological imperative to fuck relentlessly was satisfied, how would their relationship proceed? Even calling it a ‘relationship’ made her uneasy. It was impossible to imagine going back to exactly the way things were before. Even more impossible to imagine things continuing being like they were now.

She was haunted by visions of Xena choosing to leave simply to avoid the awkwardness of it all.

Xena, observant even during her heat, squeezed her hand gently over Gabrielle’s hip to draw her attention. “You’re thinking about it again, aren’t you?”

“Yeah,” she sighed quietly. “I know I was the one who said I didn’t care. But… the way things have been lately, we’ve both not been quite ourselves. Outside of this place, you’re always the strong one. When you’re thinking clearly again, I’d understand if it’s too hard to let me travel with you. If you regretted it, I-”

Xena pulled her down, slamming her against the floor. She kissed her forcefully.

“You think I’ll be embarrassed?” she kissed her again. “You think some fundamental part of our dynamic will be ruined because this cute little alpha fucked the big strong omega, and not the other way around?”

“I… uh…”

“I wanted you long before I went into heat. A lot of things might happen once my head is clear, but I will still want you by my side. And right now, I just plain want you.” She reached down to fondle under Gabrielle’s skirt, in search of her hard-on. “Now, be a good alpha and stuff me with your cock.”

She didn’t need to be told twice. Blankets and pillows were scattered and messed in Gabrielle’s effort to mount her as quickly as possible.

This would continue for some time. And the pattern would repeat again. And over and over, Xena would have to reassure her that she would still be wanted in the coming days when her heat subsided. But she never got tired of reassuring her. And by the time it was finally over, Gabrielle believed her.

In another week’s time, they were both fully clothed, and bore no obvious signs of any change having taken place between them. They found a village under attack, Xena fought a warlord, Gabrielle helped, and at no time did either of them feel the need to distance themselves from each other. They carried on in their usual way.

But a change had occurred. And now, when Xena found herbs to postpone the effects of estrus, she passed them by, unpicked.