Royal Affair

by Preston Walker

“If you would let me talk, Jace and I have been discussing an idea about the exact thing that you’re worried about! Maybe if you would listen, you’d learn something.”

  No one said anything, until that third speaker again let out a derisive snort. “Look, the omega is hormonal.”

  One of the female council members snorted as well, but not at Keiran. “That hormonal omega has the ability to rip your throat out if he so desires. Pregnancy does strange things to the mind.” She turned and smiled at Keiran from beneath silver bangs. “Go ahead.”

  Wasn’t expecting that.

  “Okay. Thank you. So. Clearly we, um, we all know what the issue is lately. No one in Dexus is happy with the way things are. And no one is going to ever be happy like this. It isn’t fair.” As quickly and succinctly as he could, he related what he’d already discussed with Jace on numerous occasions, explaining how the animal kingdom had a variety of individual slots for all its creatures that allowed them to coexist. The council waited, listening. Some of them seemed to be interested, while a few were clearly bored out of their minds and daydreaming of how to salvage the rest of their day off.

  When he ran out of words, one of the councilmen asked, “You make an interesting point, but what do you propose for us to do about it? This is the way things are. We’re just adjusting still to the situation.”

  “Gareth,” Jace said, “just listen. All of you, just listen.”

  Keiran took a deep breath and pushed on, knowing that this was going to be the hardest part. “We need to split up the kingdoms again. Dexus needs to return to being two, not one. That’s the only way there’s ever going to be peace. We’re just too different to live like this. We need the two kingdoms back, so prey can govern prey and predators will be ruled by predators. But we need to take what we’ve learned in the past 100 years so that we can actually have peace this time.”

  “Ha!” Gareth laughed, sputtering through it. “Are you kidding me? You want us to go backward? We’ve made so many strides forward!”

  “I know!” Keiran said. “I know! And we need to realize that we made a mistake and this isn’t working! We can’t change the past. We have to salvage the future. We divide everything up again, exactly the way it was before. We need to have a Head Prey and a Head Predator. We need to have new travel laws and we need to have laws put in place about crime. We need to make it so that everyone is treated equally while being allowed to be different. That means we can’t focus so much on the class system anymore. If someone can do something, we should judge their merit based on that and not on whether or not they have nice clothes and money to spend on fancy jewelry.”

  Everyone stayed quiet as Keiran finished speaking. Again, they all looked divided.

  “Are we seriously listening to this? It’s borderline traitorous!”

  “But, the omega…”

  “Keiran,” Jace interjected.

  “Right. Keiran has made some intelligent points.”

  Keiran suddenly laughed. He couldn’t help it. Nothing was funny, but he just felt the urge to laugh, almost immediately followed by the heat of tears pressing at the backs of his eyes. “You people are all so biased. All you can think about is your own station in life. You’re so privileged, sitting here in your big fancy castle while some people get sold to fucking slave traders because society thinks they’re worthless. Tell me something isn’t wrong with that. Tell me slavery, which was outlawed by both kingdoms over 300 years ago, is just part of the adjustment period.”

  He ran out of breath and looked down. He’d said his piece. They could do whatever they wanted now.

  “What do you think, Prince?”

  Jace spoke immediately. “I think Keiran is right. We came up with this idea together, and I stand behind it. Maybe you should take a vote.”

  “A vote to see if we’ll even participate in this nonsense.”

  “Fine,” Jace said. “Whatever it takes. Just know that you’ll be hearing from us again if that’s the course you take.”

  Keiran watched as the vote was cast. Six voted in favor of rejecting the proposal, and seven were for it. By a majority of one, the future was due to change.

  Jace pushed up from his chair and placed his hand on Keiran’s shoulder. His touch burned, the meaning clear. Keiran stood with Jace and looked out at the council, half of which looked like put-out children. “Thank you for your time. We’ll leave you to get back to the rest of your day. Keiran, let’s go.”

  Reaching out, Keiran caught Jace’s hand and followed him out the door. The moment it shut, Jace flashed a grin over his shoulder and started running. “Your reward awaits!”

  They made it back to the fifth floor in record time.

  Chapter 17

  Jace slammed the door to his bedroom behind himself, shoving Keiran deeper into the room. The omega twirled around to face him, as graceful as ever, but now it seemed as if he turned around his rounded stomach as a sort of fulcrum. Jace laughed and went over to him, wrapping his arms around Keiran’s waist. Keiran hugged him around the neck, pulling himself up to wrap his legs around Jace. Tangled together, Jace slid his hands under Keiran’s ass and gave it a light squeeze.

  “You’re mine now,” Jace growled.

  Keiran laughed and tightened his thighs around Jace, squeezing him in return. “I’ve been yours for ages now, and you’re just noticing?”

  Jace turned to brace Keiran against the wall, holding him up and touching their lips together. Keiran’s mouth opened eagerly beneath his, their tongues meeting between them. Heat and wetness slid together, back and forth, mimicking the thrusting of sex. Similar heat gathered in the pit of his stomach, tightening in his groan. His cock stiffened, pushing against the front of his slacks. “I knew all along, I was just waiting for you to notice. You dummy.”

  “I’m the dummy?” Jace pushed his lips harder against Keiran’s, claiming him. “You’re the one who went and got yourself pregnant.”

  Keiran growled and held onto Jace with his hips, using his grip to grind and thrust himself against the alpha’s firm stomach.

  And that was it. Jace couldn’t hold back any longer. Moving away from the wall, he backed up against the bed until the mattress struck the backs of his knees and he fell onto it. Keiran stayed on top of him, staring down into his eyes. “Look at us,” he said. “You almost died and I’m getting fat. Some rulers of the predator kingdom we’ll be, huh?”

  You do have a point. I just wish my father felt well enough to see this through. I want to know what he would do. What he would think.

  “Hey!” Keiran roughly patted at Jace’s face, bringing him back to reality. “Don’t go all dreamy-eyed on me! It’s time to have sex!”

  Jace brought his head back to Keiran, their lips touching once more. “Oh, is it?” he teased. “Is that what this tiny thing poking my leg means?”

  The omega leaned forward and lightly bit at Jace’s neck. It felt incredibly naughty to have done to him what he was meant to have done to him, sending a thrill racing through his entire body. He rolled them both over so that he was on top now, grinning when he saw that Keiran’s lips were swollen from being kissed so hard.

  “What are you going to do now?” Jace asked. He wriggled his hips, not putting his full weight on the omega but letting him feel the pressure of his body. “I’ve got you right where I want you.”

  Keiran giggled. “Well, maybe I have you right where I want you. Did you ever think about that?”

  “I have, extensively.” Jace grabbed at the front of Keiran’s shirt and tore it open, tossing the garment across the room before moving down to do the same to his pants. Those ended up dangling from the ceiling fan. Jace lifted up onto his knees to undress himself as well, loving the way their skin rasped together.

  He started to lean down to kiss his lover again, but was stopped when a small hand pushed against his chest from beneath. He paused and looked quizzically at Keiran, releasing his grip as the omega wriggled away from him. “I think this is the most we’v
e ever switched positions. Is something wrong?”

  Keiran blushed. His cheeks turned red as blood rose to his face. “It’s just that it’s kind of uncomfortable being on my back right now. I’m sorry.”

  Jace shook his head. “It’s okay. It has to be rough. Do you want to be on top, like we did the first time?”

  Keiran nodded. Jace smiled and grabbed at the omega, pulling the smaller man on top of him. Keiran kissed him and then trailed the kiss down Jace’s neck, licking at him with his soft, wet tongue. Jace trembled and slid his fingers into the other’s soft hair, caressing his shoulders and upper back while those kisses delivered from soft lips ghosted down his body. Lower and lower, between his pecs and over his stomach. He encountered the trail of dark hairs that led down from Jace’s navel and followed it all the way down until his chin brushed against his cock.

  Jace gasped and arched his back up, trying to guide Keiran, but the omega only continued to tease him with more of those kisses that went all the way up his length. He felt each one as a burst of fire, making his thighs quiver. The last kiss landed on his tip and stayed there, those lips parting to pull the throbbing head inside. Keiran didn’t suck, not yet, and he didn’t use his tongue, but he pulled the kiss away so that the swollen head slid free from his lips with an audible sound and it was enough to make Jace clutch at his hair and cry out.

  “Dammit! You fucking little tease! Suck me!”

  Keiran chuckled, hot breath searing against Jace’s balls. “If you say so!” he murmured, and took Jace’s tip into his mouth again, flicking his tongue around its soft-and-hard texture. The sounds of pleasure he made were a softer echo of the animalistic grunts pulling from Jace’s throat. His hips started to buck of their own accord, dangerously close to finishing already.

  His pleasure mounted even further as Keiran slowly took on more of him, holding his shaft in one small hand and guiding as much as he could into his mouth. He sucked hard, the pressure of his mouth increasing the suction. Groaning, Jace clutched harder at the hair caught in his fists and tugged upon it, trying to bring Keiran down even further so that he could take in more.

  Keiran resisted, sucking away happily on what he had in his mouth and occasionally sliding his tongue across it.

  Jace hadn’t ever felt anything so good in his entire life. He struggled to keep a grip on his control, to keep from coming yet. He wanted more of it, and he wanted to feel his tip strike against the back of Keiran’s throat. He ached deep in his loins to bury himself in Keiran’s ass with the omega captured beneath him, powerless and screaming in the throes of ecstasy that only he could provide. At the same time, he never wanted this moment to end. His thoughts were somewhere else, breath caught in his throat so that bright pulses of color flashed behind his eyelids. It was beautiful.

  They were beautiful together.

  Suddenly, he felt teeth grazing against his skin and cried out loud enough to be heard all throughout the fifth floor of the castle. It was too much to hold back anymore and his hips bucked up, shoving his cock past the hold of Keiran’s suction and hitting the back of his throat. Keiran made a soft sound, somewhere between a choke and a growl of pleasure, unable to draw away with Jace’s hands holding him there.

  The alpha cried out again and again as spasms shook through him, spilling his seed into the mouth of his boyfriend, who took it all eagerly. His cries softened as the spasms faded and he slumped down onto his back, though tremors still raced through his body.

  “Fuck,” he murmured. He could hardly open his eyes. Everything tingled. “You’re so good.”

  Something soft touched his face, and he struggled against his eyelids to see Keiran’s deep blue eyes right in front of his, stray golden hairs hanging down between them. Their noses nuzzled together, a gesture of sweetness in the middle of so much heat. Jace felt his heart ache, but in a strangely satisfying way, like when his tongue cramped after eating something with too much sugar.

  They kissed, and he tasted himself on his omega’s lips. Salt, to counteract the sweet. It was something no alpha should have ever done, because it was submissive to taste cum, but he allowed it anyway because, between them, such things didn’t matter. They were more than just alpha and omega. To consider themselves in only that way was still to be separate, and they were one.

  It’s nice to break rules every once in a while.

  “Want more?” Keiran teased.

  At that, Jace felt his dick start to twitch and move in an attempt to rise again. Fire raced through his body but different than before, mellowed and loving rather than intense. “Hell, yes,” he growled. “I think it’s your turn.”

  Keiran’s eyes danced with his laughter, sparkling like light on water. “You’re going to suck my dick?”

  Jace laughed out loud and grabbed Keiran around the waist, kissing him again fiercely. “No, but I have an idea. Tell me how comfortable this is.”

  Keiran waited patiently while Jace shifted them around. They ended up in a classic position, with Keiran on his hands and knees with his ass up in the air, while Jace crouched behind him. It wasn’t one that Jace preferred, and not one they practiced often, since he preferred to be able to look into the face of the person he had sex with, but if it served the purpose…

  Keiran wiggled his ass. “Oh, this is comfy. I could sleep like this tonight.”

  “If you do, you’ll wake up to find me pounding you.” Jace grabbed two handfuls of the small, round ass before him and gave it a squeeze so the omega could feel the pressure of his nails. He thought that he liked his boyfriend’s body even more now that he’d filled out some from his pregnancy, and wondered if he could convince the omega to keep a few extra pounds after giving birth. The contrast felt nice, soft yielding beneath him.

  Wiggling his ass again, Keiran tucked his face down into the mattress. Jace rose up behind him and held onto his waist again to brace them both while guiding the tip of his erection between those full cheeks. The fit was perfect, their bodies having grown used to one another after almost-nightly sex.

  “Ready?”

  “Give it to me!” the omega growled. The sound of his voice was like being stroked in and of itself, so smooth it was almost a purr.

  Smiling to himself, Jace slid himself deep inside Keiran and started to thrust. He felt every relaxed ridge of Keiran’s most intimate orifice gliding over his length, stroking him to new heights. Keiran rocked beneath him, pushing back as Jace thrust and moving away again when the alpha did. The rhythm was perfect, given a metronome to follow by the measured slaps of ass against thigh.

  Jace felt his control slip only after a minute, and Keiran sensed the lapse as well. His ass muscles tensed, grabbing at Jace and bringing the starbursts behind his eyelids out into their full, explosive glory. It was like a firework display in the darkness as he spilled himself for a second time, and he dimly heard Keiran do the same beneath him.

  Their bodies slumped down together, Jace still snuggled deep inside Keiran’s ass. He buried his face in the soft, downy hairs on the back of the omega’s neck and nuzzled around, pressing soft kisses here and there.

  “Now this?” Keiran said. “This is uncomfortable. You’re heavy. Eat a vegetable every once in a while, baby.”

  Laughing, Jace withdrew from Keiran and rolled off him to land on his side. “I have to save all the vegetables for you, since you’re supposed to eat healthy for the baby.”

  Keiran grumbled, nestling against Jace’s stomach and curling up into a ball. Jace wrapped himself around the other and they drifted off to sleep together.

  A few hours later, Jace opened his eyes and peered around in the darkness of his bedroom. Moonlight filtered in through the gap in the curtains, allowing his nocturnal eyes to see every corner of the room. He strained his senses, but couldn’t detect any threat. Body relaxing, he reached out one arm to cuddle Keiran to him.

  His hand slid over rumpled covers without encountering the omega, though he did feel a faint warmth that signaled he hadn’t be
en gone very long.

  Where have you gone off to?

  He reached out with that special awareness they had between them. It was so faint still because they weren’t officially bonded, but it was present all the same, and he didn’t pick up on anything that would have been a cause for alarm. No pain, no particularly strong emotions.

  All the same, he sat up in bed and resolved to be awake enough to welcome Keiran when he returned. The omega was safe enough in the castle and wouldn’t welcome Jace interfering in whatever he was doing out of bed. He might have just gotten up to use the bathroom, since all he did anymore was pee.

  Sure enough, a faint sliver of light framed the bathroom door, signaling that the omega was inside. Jace waited, listening, but as the seconds dragged by, and when he didn’t hear the toilet flushing or water running in the sink, he started to feel uneasy. When the warmth on the other side of the bed faded away entirely, he rolled off the bed and padded over to the bathroom. Floorboards creaked beneath his feet, muffled only slightly by thick carpeting.

  “Keiran? Baby, you in there?”

  No verbal answer came but, now that he stood closer, he heard labored breathing and feared the worst. Panic hummed in his throat like a disturbed hive of bees; he grabbed the knob and barged right in.

  Keiran sat on the floor with his back to the tub, small and pale with his face gone gray. His chest heaved with shallow breathing, pulled in through flaring nostrils. Jace dropped down to his knees with a thump, pain rattling through his newly-healed body, and took the omega by the shoulders to look into his eyes. “What’s going on? Is it the baby? Are you in labor?”

  “No,” Keiran groaned. “I wish. Then all of this would be over.”

  Though he worried still, Jace sagged with relief against the wall. Their child wasn’t due for another few months. For it to come so early would certainly mean death. But something was wrong, so he straightened up again and wove his fingers through Keiran’s sweat-dampened hair. The muscles up high on the back of his neck were so tight it was like rubbing steel. “Then, what’s wrong? Do you feel okay?”