by Sara Fields
It took several days for Neegan to seek me out. I had been watching him closely so when he shifted in my direction and cornered me in an adjacent hallway near my chambers, I’d been expecting it, but I let him think he’d caught me off guard. He’d grabbed my arm and dragged me off alone. I went along with it.
He released me and then suddenly shoved me up against the wall. I didn’t show him even an ounce of fear. Instead, I just leveled my gaze with his. I had to make him think this was what I’d been planning all along for this to work.
“Why did you cover for me?” he snarled suspiciously. “You could have sold me out in front of everyone there and I would have been as good as dead. Why would you do that?”
I licked my lips and cocked my head, tracing my eyes up and down his form like he had done to me many times before. I needed him to think I wanted him. If he thought I was his ally, I could learn a great deal from him.
“Maybe I want what you’re offering. I scratch your back and you scratch mine?” I proposed evasively and his brow furrowed.
“What do you want?”
“My freedom. You want the crown. I’ll help you take it, but in exchange I want to be set free,” I whispered.
“You surprise me, omega. I thought you were just a mindless little whore obsessed with her alpha’s cock,” he murmured thoughtfully.
I grinned, giving away nothing of what was going on in my head. With a careless shrug, I shook my head just a little and he smirked knowingly at me.
“I’m a little more complicated than that,” I murmured, layering a sense of arrogance in my voice. His cocky grin widened even further.
“You really want out of Kingsworth? I could make it worth your while after the crown is mine if you’d stay here with me,” he pressed, and I shook my head.
“I want to return to the wilds,” I lied.
“Do you now?” he replied.
For what felt like forever, his eyes remained locked with mine, searching for answers and finding none.
“You will need to be tested. I do not answer solely to my own desires, so they will want to make sure you aren’t a liability. You understand that, right?” he pushed.
“I understand,” I responded. His volley to secure the crown wasn’t just his own. There was more to his words than I knew.
I was going to find out what it was.
His grin widened.
“Perhaps before you go, you’ll thank me for granting you the privilege of freedom,” he muttered, dragging his fingers along the line of my dress until he was cupping my breast. With two fingers, he pinched my nipple lightly and I had to use everything in me not to recoil in blatant disgust.
“Maybe. Maybe not,” I taunted salaciously, and his smile grew twofold.
He relaxed his hold on me and took a step back. I breathed a small sigh of relief, refusing to take my eyes off of him.
“I look forward to working with you, omega,” he murmured before he turned away. He walked around the corner before a servant rushed by. All alone, I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath.
I pressed my back against the wall before I left too.
I walked through the gardens, ensuring that I was seen for the next several hours. When I grew hungry, I wandered into the kitchens and asked the servants to prepare me something to eat. I sat down at the counter and when I was finally convinced that all of the watchful eyes that reported to Neegan had seen me, I finally returned to my chambers with the darkening of the night sky.
Magnar was waiting for me in my bedroom. His heartbeat pulsed through the bond and I folded into his arms, telling him everything as soon as his touch surrounded me. He was silent as he listened to everything I had to say and when I was finished, he kissed the top of my head. A gentle warmth burst through me at his sweetness and I turned just enough so that I could kiss him myself.
“Good work, Ariana,” he purred, and I pressed my lips to his.
The kiss was tender and sweet, drawing me into him with every last breath. His gentleness surrounded me, and I pushed myself up to straddle his hips.
“What do you want, little omega?” he asked with a seductive gruffness that shook me straight down to my core.
Instead of answering, I just pushed his pants down far enough to reveal his cock to my view. He was already hard for me. I’d known that though.
“Naughty girl, what do you think you’re doing?” he purred. He didn’t stop me as I climbed on top of him, perching myself just over him so that the head of his cock pressed against my entrance.
Since he’d punished me at dinner a few days ago, we hadn’t had much time to ourselves. The visiting king had kept him busy late into the night and I hadn’t felt my alpha’s cock in between my thighs for what felt like ages.
“If you take my cock without my permission, little omega, I’m going to have to punish you,” he warned, but it didn’t do anything but spur me on. Slowly, I took him inside me, lowering myself onto every inch like it was the sweetest gift in the world.
When I’d taken him completely, I smirked with triumph. I was feeling feisty tonight and I wanted him to remind me of my place.
“I need you,” I pleaded.
“Ride my cock hard, omega. Wear yourself out, but I want you to think about something when you do. Tomorrow, I’m going to take you out to dinner. It won’t be in the castle. It’ll be out in one of my favorite meadows on the edge of the city. There, I’m going to strip you of your clothes and take you over my knee for a hard spanking and an even harder switching for taking my cock inside your tight little pussy without my permission, little omega,” he warned, and a rush of slick poured down my thighs.
“A switching?” I asked, unable to stop the nervousness that his words invoked from showing in my voice.
“Oh, yes, my sweet omega. I’m going to enjoy leaving the mark of a switch all over your bare little bottom as well as the back of your thighs. Then I’m going to enjoy taking your tight omega cunt with my knot,” he warned.
I couldn’t stop my hips from rolling in fervent arousal.
“If you don’t ride me hard enough, omega, you’ll be taking my knot in your tight little bottom hole tomorrow too,” he threatened, and my entire body heated with frenzied need. My hips rocked back and forth and when I angled my body forward enough, I could grind my clit against him.
With his words of warning at the forefront of my mind, I rolled my pelvis, riding him with everything in me until I approached the precipice of my desire. I wound my arms around his shoulders and pressed my breasts against his chest. He slid his hands up along the curves of my torso before he took both breasts in his palms.
“This is just a taste of what’s going to come,” he whispered before he took my nipples in his fingers and pinched them hard.
The burst of pain jolted straight down to my core and I yelped at the same time I approached orgasm at breakneck speed. I rode him, grinding my pelvis up and down his length. My inner walls clutched desperately at him. His cock was so massive that with every movement I made I could feel him brushing against my cervix.
“I want to hear you scream as you ride my cock,” he growled, and I pitched forward as a cramp of forced arousal cut deep into my core. He twisted my nipples almost cruelly, but my desire rose higher and my body grew warmer. I drew in the muscles of my core and started to ride him hard enough that I bounced on his cock.
“That’s it, omega. Let me feel that tight little pussy clench hard around my cock,” he murmured, and my entire body started to tremble with unreleased tension.
I moaned, unable to keep myself quiet any longer. I rode him so hard that my muscles began to grow sore, but it didn’t matter. I took as much as I wanted, how I wanted, and I soared because of it. I could feel a bead of sweat dripping down my back, but that didn’t slow me down either. It made me move faster. It drove my need higher and before too long, I could feel my core quivering with the impending power of my release.
“Alpha,” I pleaded.
“Ye
s, omega?” he asked, his voice carrying with it a certain cockiness that wasn’t there before.
“Please let me come, Alpha,” I pleaded.
“Are you desperate enough, omega?” he answered instead, causing a tendril of fear to race across my limbs unabated.
“You took my cock without permission, little one. What do you think will happen if you take your orgasms without permission too?” he asked.
“You’ll punish me, Alpha,” I whimpered.
“I will, omega,” he warned. “Remember that.”
I couldn’t help myself as his words forced my pleasure even higher. My body wouldn’t stop moving and grinding against him. My clit was throbbing with desire. He smirked and a low growl escaped his lips, stoking my desire even higher until I was breathless with it.
I forgot that he’d told me I needed permission. I lost myself in my arousal and my first orgasm took ahold of me and didn’t let go.
My body took on a life of its own, riding him in a frenzy that I didn’t even know I was capable of. My arms tightened around him as I took everything I wanted, knowing that I better make it worth it now that I’d been so deliberately naughty.
Magnar was going to punish me.
My body pulsed and I came a second time. I wore myself out with one orgasm after the next and he groaned beneath me. I could feel his knot inflating just a tiny bit within me and I put in more effort than I thought possible. I didn’t care that I was growing sore. I’d enjoyed myself and I wanted to make sure he did too.
“Alpha,” I cried out as I came hard and I was rewarded with the burning pain of his knot stretching me open. It widened and my body took it. His fingers gripped my hips and held me down firmly against him, taking all of his cock and his knot at once before it anchored behind the bones of my pelvis. I cried out, taking the scalding pain and knowing that his seed would come next.
I always came the hardest when I took his cum deep in my needy little pussy.
This time was no different.
His seed spurted up deep inside me, over and over as I screamed with my pleasure. Ecstasy tore me open from within and I shattered on top of his cock. The vision of my upcoming punishment was permanently seared into my vision, making me come all the harder because of it.
My omega preened with bliss as he groaned loudly, the sound like a drug to me. I wanted more. I always wanted more.
This time he let me take it.
But I was going to pay for it and that made me burn all the hotter.
When I’d first met Magnar, I’d feared him. I’d thought he was the same as all the miserably cruel men in the Cult, but things had turned out to be far different than I’d thought. Underneath his cruel manufactured shell, he was sweet and kind and everything I’d ever wanted in a man.
He was more than just a man to me now though.
He was my alpha.
I was his omega.
“I love you, Alpha,” I whispered.
“I love you too, omega,” he answered, capturing my lips in a kiss that only cemented the power of his words.
He pulled me to his chest and laid me down beside him, his knot still anchoring us both together as one. I curled my body around his and laid my head on his shoulder, closing my eyes and enjoying the sated bliss buzzing through me and the gentle ache between my thighs at still having the base of his cock fully inflated inside me.
Pleasure and pain came together and made me whole.
Tomorrow, I would look forward to spending a fair bit of time over his knee and then on his cock. I fell asleep with those thoughts on my mind, my heart pounding with love, adoration, and just a little bit of nervous anticipation.
The next morning, Magnar was pulled away to a morning breakfast with the visiting king and I was left to my own devices.
I shivered, thinking about the moment Magnar had leaned down to whisper a word of warning in my ear before he’d left, reminding me that he would put me to bed with a very sore bottom that night. I’d moaned out loud when he’d also mentioned that all of my holes would hurt even more before he was through with me.
He’d dipped his fingers between my thighs and forced one sweet orgasm from my body that had left me quivering. He’d circled my clit firmly, forcing me to come hard and fast for him. My legs tensed around his hand as I started to rock back and forth, crying out as I came for him.
It felt so good that I was almost sad when his hand drew away.
“Good girl. I’m looking forward to seeing you this evening for your punishment, my naughty little omega,” he purred.
“Yes, Alpha,” I shivered, both nervous and excited at the same time.
He’d left the room and my clit still pulsed for his touch.
It had taken me a fair amount of time to push myself out of bed. I laid there for a long time wanting to slip my own fingers between my thighs, but I’d already stolen enough pleasure. I wondered how much this evening was going to hurt. I wondered how much harder I was going to come for him.
Finally, I climbed out of the warm mass of blankets and poured myself a cup of coffee. I moaned at the delicious flavors enveloping my tongue and watched the city down below from his window.
I took a long bath and dressed in one of my favorite light blue wrap dresses. I waited until my hair had dried before I braided it in a partial up-do. I even rubbed a few expensive oils into my bare skin to soften it in preparation for his touch later on. When I was ready, I left my room and made my way down to the kitchens in search of a freshly made breakfast.
I never made it there.
The moment I stepped out of the king’s chambers, a black hood slipped over my head. I was vaguely aware of the sweet scent of flowers before my eyes rolled back and I knew no more.
Chapter 13
Ariana
I woke up in a haze. For several long seconds, it took all of my focus to just draw air in and out of my lungs. My ribs ached and breathing was difficult. Feeling bleary and incredibly out of sorts, I finally opened my eyes. My muscles were sore, and my arms hurt. I couldn’t move them either. It felt like forever as I tried to figure out why.
My wrists were in chains far out at my sides. When I relaxed, the metal cuffs bit into my skin and I forced myself up on my tiptoes to relieve them, I soon realized that I wouldn’t be able to keep that up for too long either. My calves were already protesting the exertion and it didn’t take too much more time before I had to give in and relax enough to take the pressure off of them, which only made the metal pinch into my wrists once more.
I groaned, feeling the cruel ache of my stiff muscles. I knew it would hurt even more when or even if I was ever released from them. The blood would return to my limbs and fingers and I knew it would be excruciating. I shivered, feeling a gentle breeze carry throughout the room.
Where the fuck was I?
I lifted my head and as the gradual fog that plagued my mind started to fade, I was able to comprehend that I was in a circular shaped room. All around me were stone walls, but there was a window up high enough so that I could see that I was several stories up. The blue of the sky peeked in enough to light up a sunbeam on the floor. Seeing it offered me a small sense of relief that I held onto as tightly as I could. At least I wasn’t hidden somewhere far underground.
Small victories, I suppose.
I sighed.
The walls were made of the same stone as the rest of the castle, so I was likely somewhere within the upper towers. I wondered if we were in the abandoned wing of the castle. I’d only visited it once through the hidden passageways, but I hadn’t stayed for very long because there was nothing here to find. It wasn’t regularly guarded, and I knew that no one else would come looking here to find me.
For an hour or two, I watched the beam of light travel across the floor before the sound of metal hinges desperately in need of a good oiling screeched somewhere not far away.
I held my breath, trying to listen in the ensuing silence for footsteps and soon enough, I could hear those too. My e
yes flashed to the old metal door that enclosed me in the room and I couldn’t shake a terrible sense of foreboding. It swung open and someone stepped inside.
The blood-red color of the hooded cape was the first thing that came into my view. The black mask covering his face gave no clue to his identity, but I could see the color of his eyes staring back at me. They were a light brown and when he took a step, I noticed something familiar about the way he walked. His ankle rolled just the slightest bit, but he caught himself. Like he was hiding a limp.
I’d seen that before.
As he moved closer, I took some more time to study the bareness of his hands, taking note of the scar on his right knuckle that spanned all the way to the bottom of his thumb. Something like that couldn’t be hidden. I could use it to identify him if I ever got out of here.
I’d store that information away for another time.
Behind him, two other Cultists entered. Upon further observation, I realized that it was the triad who had delivered me to Magnar in the first place. The one with two differently colored irises and then the other with dark green eyes glared back at me, both of them seeming as if it was tiresome to be here. I didn’t like seeing their aggravation. That didn’t bode well for me in my currently imprisoned state. The metal door closed behind them with a resounding bang. The sound of it nearly made my heart stop.
The Cult had me right where they wanted me.
Fuck. I had to stand my ground.
I jerked forward in my cuffs, challenging them silently as they stood in front of me.
“It has come to our attention that you’ve become aware of a plan that we have been putting into motion for some time now,” the bicolored-eyed cultist began.
“Who are you?” I asked, showing not even an ounce of fear or a single hint that I knew exactly what he was talking about.
“You may call me the Prophet,” he started, then he gestured to the one with brown eyes. “This is the Acolyte and, on my right, here is the Recruiter. That is all you need to know about our identities. You will ask no more questions about it and if you do, you will exceed your usefulness and your purpose will no longer be deemed necessary.” His tone was final. It would be too dangerous for me to press the matter, so I dropped it. I didn’t need them to tell me who they were. I would figure it out eventually on my own.