by Zoey Ellis
The hand at her hair gripped tight and turned her head around to face him, his eyes burning into hers as a fury rose. “It can only be mine!”
Ana chose not to say anything at all. This man had to be the most entitled bastard she’d ever known. He wanted to be able to control her no matter what time of day, and thought he was owed her purr. It was not going to fucking happen. She watched his expression as he became more incensed; amusement flickered through her. If he desperately wanted her to purr, withholding it from him could be the one thing to give her control, just like Mother said.
Unfortunately, Maddoc read the challenge in her eyes. As soon as his knot shrunk, releasing him from the tight grip of her hold. He was fucking her again, this time on her back, with her legs over his shoulders as he bent her in half and slammed her into the bed. Then when she didn’t purr again, threw her to the edge of the bed and fucked her, gripping and spreading her ass cheeks as she braced herself on the floor. He fucked her repeatedly, demanding her purr each time, until soon, that no longer mattered.
Their sex was magnificently ravenous. Maddoc bent and twisted and pinned and bound her in any way he pleased, fucking her with a hard desperation as though he hadn’t just fucked her the night before. If he was still angry about her lack of purring or not doing what she was told, it wasn’t clear as the hours passed. He reveled in battering her little body with his enormous one, and seemed to be intent on dominating and marking her—more so than last night. He rubbed his seed into her skin, her hair, her mouth, and all over her face and neck. He bit into her ass cheeks, her thighs, her stomach, her arms, and her back, each time hard enough to break the skin but not to make her bleed. At first when he did it, she was so annoyed that she slapped him, but then remembered she wasn’t supposed to have those angry emotions. So she ignored the pain from the bite and focused on his other attentions on her.
The wet, sticky sloshing from their joining, her harsh breaths and whimpers, and his rough growls were the sinful symphony of his brutal possession of her. And Ana loved every moment of it. Even when he slapped her across the back of her thighs or yanked her by her hair. Each sting of pain deepened every beam of pleasure, and he was so rough and animalistic, it drew out the more instinctive elements of her behavior. At first she didn’t realize what a danger that was. She cooed and hummed with her lips against his skin, she licked his nipples and combed her fingers through his thick hair. After one particularly delirious orgasm, she told him he was the most handsome man in the kingdom. He simply grunted and twisted her hip to make her soaking channel squeeze him just right.
It was when he held her under her ass, working her on his cock while standing in the middle of the room, that things changed. She was gripping his shoulders to keep herself steady, her calves draped over his forearms as he pounded into her, when she slid her arms around his neck and leaned forward to press her body to his.
It was such a smooth and natural movement, that when her lips pressed against his, she didn’t think anything of it. Until he kissed her back.
Warm and intimate, his kisses were enticingly strong and sensual. A zing of rapture and longing tore through Ana’s body, and suddenly this wasn’t just about a night of mindless lust.
She tried to pull back quickly, but the Alpha had already wrapped his thick arms around her and pressed her close as he explored her mouth—she couldn’t escape.
And then she wasn’t sure she wanted to. Having him inside her and kissing her at the same time was so… sexy. It aroused her so much that within moments, her slick was splattering on the floor as he jerked his hips into hers. And when she climaxed, in his arms, on his cock, and with his tongue in her mouth, it was like an invasion of the most euphoric madness, galvanizing her body, mind, and heart.
And that was a problem.
7
Ana was furious with herself.
After Maddoc knotted her and carried her to the bed, he lay on top of her, wrapping her legs around his waist and tightening his arms around her torso. She was still trying to process what had just happened, but she knew it wasn’t good. Something had changed about their connection in the moment she kissed him, at least for her. She wasn’t sure about him. She wasn’t sure he felt anything at all, apart from the need to fuck her as brutally as he possibly could. But it was a problem. She wasn’t sure how much yet; she was too exhausted and too elated from the orgasm that was still trembling through her to make sense of it. So she didn’t try.
But now awake, still underneath him and remembering what happened, she was annoyed she kissed him, which made it seem like what was happening between them was more than it was. He held onto her and kissed her back thoroughly and completely, as though he had every right to kiss a princess in such an intimate way. Of course, she couldn’t exactly blame him. She was the one who instigated it. Fucking instincts!
She sighed, trying to find a more comfortable position under his weight. Even though his knot had shrunk, and his cock had slipped out of her, he still held her tight, his breath calm and heavy, but she knew he was awake too.
“You are forgiven,” he rumbled heavily, his eyes closed.
Ana already knew she was going to be annoyed, but she still asked. “For what?”
“Not purring.”
Ana’s mouth tightened. “It wasn’t for you.”
“Your purrs can only be for me,” he responded, a growl in his tone. “You decided it when you first did it.”
“I’m talking about the kiss.”
At that Maddoc opened his eyes and peered down at her. A growing storm was in them, wild and unbending, but Ana was too annoyed with herself and his attitude to care. “Then who the fuck was it for?”
“Not you,” she replied forcefully, glaring at him.
“Anything and everything you do in here is for me,” he barked. “There is no one else fucking here.” He lowered his voice to a growl. “I know what is happening here is offending your sensibilities as a princess, but you are an Omega first and foremost. And you are behaving in a way that is natural for your dynamic.”
Ana stared up at him, an inkling of dread forming. “And what is happening here?”
Maddoc’s gaze held that same intensity as always. He cuddled her tighter to him, and when he spoke it was almost soft. “Can you not tell, Analisa?”
Panic smattered across Ana’s chest and her throat started to tighten.
“You are at the highest height of society, and you are fucking the lowest of the low,” Maddoc said, answering his own question, his tone suddenly bitter.
When Ana glanced back up at him, his gaze had hardened.
“You are bound to want to reject that you offered those things to me, but it is normal for an Omega.”
“And how would you know?”
“How can you not know?” he shot back. “It is your dynamic. Omegas submit. Just because you are a princess it does not mean you bow to no one.”
“I do not bow to you,” she said sharply.
Maddoc released a gruff chuckle. “It was the first thing you did when I walked in yesterday. You didn’t just bow, you knelt.”
“Because you told me to!”
Maddoc’s beard twitched. “Exactly.”
Ana seethed for a few moments. She wanted to slap him, but she didn’t have the energy. “I don’t see how you would know what is natural for an Alpha and Omega,” she argued. “There is little literature on it.”
“Whatever I want to do as an Alpha,” he began, “and whatever you want to do as an Omega, is what is natural. I thought that would be obvious.”
“That is a simplistic way of looking at it.”
Maddoc shot her a look. “Do you have another?” A mocking tone entered his voice. “Tell me, Analisa, how does the most ignorant Omega in the kingdom determine what is natural between an Omega and an Alpha?”
“I’m not the most ignorant Omega in the kingdom,” she snapped.
“You are,” Maddoc said bluntly. “Tell me. How do you plan on ruling a kingdom when you
’ve never sat on the council?”
“Just because I turn twenty-two and will marry within the month doesn’t mean I will instantly become queen,” she replied, somewhat harsher than she intended. “There is time for me to learn. Father is in his prime, I will not succeed him for years, possibly decades. It is you who is ignorant if you think all princes and princesses succeed their parents at twenty-two.”
Maddoc said nothing following her retort, but he watched her carefully for a long moment.
Ana held herself tense, waiting for his mocking reply, but when he didn’t respond she couldn’t keep it up. Relaxing in his arms, she asked, “I suppose you are wholly educated and informed about Alphas and Omegas? Even though there are no significant documents, books, or texts about them.”
“I gave you one earlier.”
Ana frowned. “Where did you find it.”
“That isn’t important. The important part is what are within the pages.”
“You stole it probably,” Ana muttered.
Maddoc didn’t answer, but he leaned into her neck and scented her, causing a shiver to run down her spine. Her mind returned to their kiss, desire rising for another one, and suddenly she had something to ask. “Do you have a wife?”
“No.”
“Did you have a wife?”
Maddoc’s glanced down at her with a strange look. “No.”
“So you just have whores that you have sex with?”
Maddoc propped himself up on his elbow as he watched her. For the first time, there was a smile in his dark eyes. “You are concerned about whom I fuck.”
“No,” Ana shot back at him. “I’m just trying to determine how many diseases I’ve probably caught from you.”
His beard twitched. “If I fuck animals, you have already caught a multitude of fatal illnesses. There’s no point in trying to figure that out now.”
Ana scowled as Maddoc lay back down with a chuckle, pulling her to his hard chest. “What do you really want to know, Analisa?”
She thought for a moment. “Did you send those men to attack Father?”
“No.”
She glanced up at him. “How did you know about the attack, then?”
“We were watching them. They weren’t familiar to Allandis and I wanted to know what they were doing here.”
Ana swallowed slowly. For Maddoc to be watching them, he would have to have men all over Allandis. That was almost unbelievable considering how big the kingdom was. “Why did you save Father?”
“I explained that in court.”
She pursed her lips thinking back to the court hearing. “He could have killed you as soon as you arrived here, before knowing anything about the debt. Why did you risk it?”
“If Orick killed me as soon as I arrived, he wouldn’t be able to revel in the glory he would get from declaring me a criminal in front of his precious court. Killing me quietly is not his style—I knew it wouldn’t happen.”
Ana suddenly realized that Maddoc called her father by his name. Never “His Majesty,” or even “the king.” He hated her father that much? She shook her head slowly at the animosity between the two men. Even if Maddoc hated her father, any man with that much power outside of the royal assembly could do so much good, and yet Maddoc chose not to. “Why are you doing this?” she asked quietly. “Why are you so willing to destroy my life specifically? I know you don’t care about the hurt you cause across the kingdom, I know you don’t care about the towns you sacked, and I know you don’t care about the royals. But why me—specifically?”
“Your life will not be destroyed.”
“You know it will,” she snapped, annoyed he was still treating her like an idiot. “You don’t care because you don’t value it, like you don’t value anything. You think I’m a fool and an idiot who doesn’t—”
Maddoc leaned down and pressed his mouth against hers in a rough, hard kiss. Instantly, the anger that was building turned into a fierce, savage hunger. Maddoc kissed her like he fucked her—deep, volatile, and dominating, yet there were moments that were so sweetly tender, it left Ana breathless. He played with her nipples until she was moaning into his mouth, begging for release. Within moments, Maddoc had her on his cock, riding him while he pulled her head back and sucked her neck, her ear, her breasts, anywhere he could reach, before returning his tongue to her mouth.
Their mating had a different mood to it now. It was still frantic and raw and carnal, but now there was a stormy, irresistible feel to it that hadn’t been there before… and Ana was powerless against it.
When Ana woke again, she was pinned under Maddoc’s arm and leg. She lay still, quieting her thoughts, and trying to figure out what she was supposed to do now. She clearly failed in her attempt to withhold her emotions, although she succeeded in withholding her purr. But in the end, she had done something far worse—and now everything between them felt different. She didn’t like it.
Even though Mother had advised her to withhold things that made her vulnerable, the purpose was to try to control him with it, to try to get information out of him. But she just couldn’t see how.
She sighed and slowly crept out of bed. Heading over to the table, she drank her fill of the water, eying the plates of food. He’d left the food untouched this time, too concerned with fucking her when he first arrived, but that didn’t mean he still didn’t bring whatever he used last time. Ana padded over to the pile of his clothes, and keeping an eye on him, searched for his furs. His clothes were enormous and in the semi-darkness of the room, it was impossible for her to figure out what item she grasped. Only halfway through searching when he stirred, she quickly abandoned the task.
Her heart pounded as he turned over and reached for her.
“Come here.” His gruff voice lurched into the room.
Ana headed toward the bed, but as she neared her foot kicked something on the floor. The book he had given to her was by the underside of the bed. Picking it up first, she then slid back into the bed, and the Alpha engulfed her in his thick arms and kept her pressed against his chest. As she lay there, she marveled at the way he slept—holding her in his arms and completely unafraid. Did he sleep with all his woman the same way? Surely, there were some, more capable than her, who would take advantage of a slumbering outlaw—steal his money, try to kill him for the constant bounties placed on him. She traced his nose with her finger. It had only been two nights, and yet things felt so… she pushed the thoughts aside.
Using the moon’s light streaming through the window, she thumbed through the book she picked up.
It was difficult to know whether it was a story or a recounting of factual events. As she continued flicking through it, she realized it was about an Alpha and Omega. She carefully sat up and examined the book, turning it over in her hands to see how and where it was made. It was a simply bound book with nothing on either cover nor the spine, and no insignia of the bookmaker, which was strange. She started from the beginning and began to read.
Ana was almost halfway through when Maddoc stirred again. His hand brushed over her hips, swept down the back of her thigh and hooked under her knee to lift her leg and place it on his shoulder. When his lips caressed the inside of her thigh, her breath hitched.
He was already looking at her, that beautiful darkness in his eyes, and she slowly reached out a hand to brush the pads of her fingers over his dark bushy brows. He had such a distinctive look, and one that affected her in a way she never thought possible. Her finger trailed down his face to his beard, and she caressed his cheek slowly. He was definitely a handsome man, but in a different way from the other Alphas she knew. He wasn’t refined like those of the royal houses and was more rugged than Alphas who were soldiers or farmers. But that didn’t make him any less appealing, in fact, he was very attractive.
They stared at each other in comfortable silence for a long while, Ana taking her time to stroke the hair on his chin, brushing her thumb over his mustache while he stared at her with that dark desire.
&n
bsp; “I’m reading the book you gave me. You didn’t tell me it was an Alpha and Omega couple story,” she said finally, drawing her hand away.
Maddoc lowered his head again and kissed the inside of her thigh, sweeping his tongue along her skin as he headed inward, but he said nothing.
“It’s filled with magical portals and orbs and shields,” she said, unable to hide the smirk in her tone. “I didn’t realize you believed in magic. I thought I was the one who believed in children’s folktales.”
Maddoc lifted his eyes to hers. “It is rare, but it does exist.”
Ana had to stop her mouth from dropping open. “You believe in magic?” She would have laughed if his expression wasn’t so serious. “Magic does not exist!”
Maddoc kept his eyes on her and resumed his journey up her thigh.
Ana stared at him. “You really believe in magic?”
“There are pockets within the kingdom where unusual people and unusual things exist. Sometimes there is no explanation for them except to believe the unbelievable.”
Ana scoffed and shook her head, but didn’t know what to say. Who would believe that the notorious outlaw Maddoc believed in magic? But at least now she had a way in to a topic her parents might want to know about. “You’ve traveled all over Allandis?”
Maddoc nodded.
“It’s never been fully charted.”
“No,” Maddoc said pointedly. “Because some places cannot be reached without believing the unbelievable.”
Ana had to smile and Maddoc immediately lifted his head to watch her.
“What was your favorite place?”
“Right here.”
Ana did laugh at that. “Here? In the palace? Among people who want you imprisoned?” She shot him a look. “I find that hard to believe.”
Maddoc said nothing, but his eyes had a softness to them as he watched her. And that made her nervous.
“Is the Oakenshire forest as wild as they say it is?”
“Yes.”
“Do all your men also believe in magic, fairies, and folktales?”