by P. Jameson
“Listen to me,” he said. My face was in his hands, and his voice was low. “Adalai and Evander are on their way. They know Rielle is in trouble—”
“They’ll kill her.” They’d kill me for orchestrating this whole mess. I’d committed more crimes than I could even name to get here, and my beautiful friend was in danger because of it. Cassian got shot. Because they were trying to help me. And now we were going to die. Adalai probably wouldn’t even bother to bring me back to Luxoria before he did it. He’d leave me here to rot.
“They won’t.” The alpha growled and the sensation sent me over the edge.
“Cassian.” I could barely speak. “I need you to take me.”
His lips parted, and time stopped. “Charolet, are you sure?”
I braced myself as another wave of animal instinct ripped through me. “If you don’t want to, I’m sure one of the humans can take care of it for me.”
“Charolet.” His voice was hard, and in that moment, he was as close to his animal as I was. His expression was practically feral. “Believe me when I tell you I’ve never wanted anything more. But if we do this, you belong to me forever.”
I couldn’t even breathe, let alone respond. He couldn’t be saying what I thought he was saying. I went out of my way to drive him crazy, to get him to shut me out because I knew I could never have him.
“I will knot you, and I will come inside you until I have nothing left to give. I’m willing to give you absolutely all of me, all you have to do is say the word.”
Oh, he was definitely saying what I thought he was saying.
“Yes.” It was barely a whisper. “Gods, please.”
He brushed a piece of damp hair away from my cheek. “I didn’t want our first time to be when you were in heat, but I promise you, it won’t be the last.”
“Cassian,” I whined. “Please.”
His lips crashed against mine with such urgency I thought though I’d burst into flames in plain view of every omega and human in the keep. Let them come watch us, study us, use us as their fucking research. As Cassian licked along the seam of my lips, I welcomed him in. Welcomed him home.
I was done fighting. I was done putting up a front that I didn’t want him. His tongue tangled with mine, and his big hands were on my waist.
No one had ever kissed me like this before. Everyone else took what they needed without any regard for what I wanted. But Cassian had so much to give.
He broke the kiss, and tugged my tunic over my head. I wriggled out of the bottoms. That was all they’d given me, and I’d never felt more naked, more omega in my life. It had nothing to do with the windows, or the surveillance. Gods, would they kill us once they realized that an alpha was taking an omega in heat?
It would be worth it.
But there was no hiding from the way my ribs were visible under my skin, or the scars from a lifetime of living in the Badlands.
Cassian’s gaze swept over me and if I didn’t know what he was looking at, I’d think he’d fallen for the most beautiful woman in the entire world.
His shirt was already gone, revealing a plain of sun-kissed, rippling muscle. He was breathtaking.
A thin line of hair started at his belly button and disappeared into his pants, but not for long. Those big hands were on the zipper and he freed himself, letting his hard and ready cock spring forth.
My body throbbed at the sight of it. He was huge, and he had to know how ready I was for him.
Kicking his pants away from his body, he crawled toward me like the wolf he fucking was. My first instinct was to make him chase me, wriggling backward on the floor.
The alpha was having none of it. He grasped me by my hips, and then spread my legs apart, completely exposing me to him. My scent. My heat. The undeniable wetness that said that I was ready to be caught.
Knotted.
Had.
Owned.
Mated.
Cassian’s eyes were on fire as he lowered his mouth to my mound, licking a line just on the inside of my thigh. I cried out, I didn’t have words anymore. He moved that wicked tongue closer, teasing my outer lips before claiming my clit.
My hips bucked off the floor, but the alpha wasn’t letting me get away. I might have lured him to this hellhole in the Keep, but now he was making damn sure I knew he was in control.
I should’ve known how skilled he’d be with his tongue after that kiss, but there was no way to prepare for the way he made me feel. Wanted. Desired. Like I belonged in that castle.
Was that what this was all about, that I didn’t feel like I was enough to don a pretty dress and play royal mate? That I wanted to make someone prove it to me that I should be there?
He pushed inside me, fucking me with his tongue as he held me in place. Waves of desire radiated from my core, and I was about to explode. I writhed, bucking against him as hard as I could, urging him to go deeper, hold me tighter, claim me.
My orgasm crashed through me, the waves rolling harder and faster than I could handle.
Giving me a moment of respite, Cassian grabbed me by the throat and pulled me off the ground. My body was still shuddering from the orgasm and I wasn’t prepared for this next kiss. He might as well have branded me with his lips because no one would ever doubt I belonged to him.
“On your knees, my rebellious little wolf,” he growled in my ear.
“Cassian, I…” Could barely speak, let alone hold myself up on my knees. My body had become boneless.
“I want to take absolutely every inch of you, and I’ll be able to bury myself deeper if I take you from behind. Get on your knees, and turn around. Everyone is about to know that you belong to me.”
I groaned, and turned on shaky knees. His hand fell to my breasts, massaging them, bringing my nipples to painfully hard peaks before pinching them. My head fell back to his shoulder, my cheek brushed against the stubble on his jawline. My sweet, kind alpha had gone totally wolf. And I loved every second of it.
Wrapping one arm around me, he lowered his other hand to my sex, cupping my mound. I ground my hips against him, teasing that hard cock. He growled.
He lowered me down to all fours. I could feel the head of his shaft against my opening, and I cried out. I needed him inside me. The heat was unbearable.
But no, the alpha wanted to play. He dragged his cock along the length of my slit, teasing the tight muscles of my ass, but not coming inside. A wave of pleasure went through me, and I keened. I was losing all control.
His thick shaft was finally inside me. Pushing in, inch by inch, deeper than I thought was possible. He barely gave me a chance to adjust to him before he rocked his hips back and began thrusting. I was losing control again, and he slapped my ass to bring me back to reality. He planned to drag this out as long as possible.
I was a proven flight risk, and Cassian was never letting me go. His arm was around my waist, and I took thrust after powerful thrust, absorbing his power and pure devotion into my body. My muscles throbbed, and I was losing control as my orgasm started to build.
He was still inside me as I came. I could feel his cock swell, the knot growing impossibly large and I knew he was about to detonate.
“Mate,” he groaned before he sprayed his seed inside me.
We both fell to the floor, his cock deep inside me, his hot spray claiming me. The only sound was our raspy breath, and he kissed the back of my neck.
“Mate.” All he had left was a rough whisper. He pulled out of me, and turned me toward him.
That was when I realized we weren’t alone.
Chapter Twenty One
Cassian
There was a moment of pure perfection, where everything between me and my omega felt right. Whole. Complete. My knot swelled inside her, locking into place as I my release bathed her slick channel. I held her close as she throbbed around me.
Charolet was mine and no one could ever take her away from me.
My instincts prickled, drawing my gaze to the wide window that took u
p one whole wall of the room. Someone watched us from the other side. I’d half expected curious humans or other omegas who found it hard to believe an alpha would mate one of them. But I didn’t expect Rielle.
“Mate.” I forced my body to release Charolet and turned her so she was covered. Friend or not, I didn’t know if Rielle was safe anymore, and my mate was in a delicate position.
“We’re not alone,” she whispered against my chest. Even though she sounded weary, she was less frantic with my seed cooling her heat.
“No, we’re not.”
The door burst open and Rielle charged in, eyes rimmed red. Just as before, but this time, she seemed lucid.
“Charolet. I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Jacoby said you were in a bunker but when I went searching, you weren’t there.”
“He had them bring me here,” Charolet bit out. “Tossed me away because I didn’t play nice in front of his new friends.”
Rielle jerked her head back, seeming momentarily offended. “Jacoby is our friend.”
“How can you still think that, RiRi? He pointed a gun at me. Shot Cassian. Pumped you full of some kind of poison.”
Rielle blinked, confused. “The mead.” Her expression turned to one of horror. “What did they do to me, Char? Everything is fuzzy.” Her eyes moved to me. “Cassian. You… you warned me. I’m so sorry. I’m so… so…”
Charolet peeled away from me, bending to grab her tunic before tossing me my pants. She had it over her head in the next breath and faced Rielle, who seemed oblivious to what she’d just walked in on. “It’s okay. We’re getting out of here.”
Rielle shook her head, blinking over and over, as if she was trying to remember. “I never wanted to come. I didn’t even want to be here. You did this. You brought me here.”
Charolet’s mouth fell open and hurt flashed over her face. I wanted to defend her, comfort her. No matter how careless she’d been, no one could have guessed what was really happening to the omegas here. She had trusted Jacoby. Trusted her people.
“I’m sorry,” she rasped.
“Sorry… sorry!” Rielle was growing more and more agitated. “Your selfishness might be the death of us. Couldn’t you just be satisfied with the elimination of the Division, the rebuilding, everything the alphas and Zelene were trying to make better?”
I fastened my pants and eased toward my weapons. I didn’t think Rielle would attack Charolet the way Jacoby had, but I wouldn’t take any chances.
“I-I made a mistake.” Charolet held one hand out in a placating gesture. “We have to get out of here while my heat is sated. I promise, I will find a way to make this better.”
“Better!” Rielle shrieked. “How can you make this better? The mead is in me. I can feel it dragging me back to them. To the chairs. I want to stay. I don’t want to go.”
“Yes, you do. We are going back to Luxoria.”
Rielle’s face fell and tears slipped from her lids as she pleaded weakly, “I want to hurt you. What have they done to me?”
Charolet moved toward her, but I couldn’t let her get close. I put my body between them, and Rielle’s expression flipped again, twisting into a mask of fury.
“You!” she roared. “You’ve ruined everything. An alpha,” she spat. “You don’t belong here.”
“None of us do,” Charolet argued. “Please, Rielle.”
I watched Rielle’s eyes, her pupils fluctuating in an odd way. Was she about to shift?
Protect mate. It was too dangerous for Charolet to shift while she was in heat, and it was my job to guard her. Always.
“Stay back,” I warned Charolet. I could feel my own animal changing deep inside me. The beast had never shifted, but it was coming alive in a whole new way now due to the mating bond. She must have known because she took several steps backward.
Rielle pawed at the floor with her feet, as if expecting her wolf to have already shifted. She snarled through her lips, her eyes going cloudy. Spittle flew from her mouth and the sound of bones cracking brought a cry from her… but still no wolf.
It didn’t keep her from lunging for me, and when she did, my animal burst forth in a flurry of fur and twisting bone and gnashing teeth. I was an alpha protecting my omega.
“Cassian no!” Charolet screamed, and her plea brought me up short. “Don’t hurt her. She’s sick.”
“She will hurt you, mate.”
I barely got the words out before Rielle jumped on me, using her legs to get my neck in a chokehold. I wriggled free, desperate to restrain Rielle without harming her. In the melee, I didn’t notice the door of the room slam against the wall and two others rush in. There was just a tangle of limbs and snarls. Rielle’s human ones and my wolf ones. I prayed I could keep my mate safe without killing her friend.
Suddenly, Rielle’s weight was gone from my body and I came up howling a warning to whoever was next in line. But it wasn’t the threat I assumed it was.
Evander dragged Rielle backward, bracing his arm across her shoulders, his expression deadly and narrowed on me. “Stay back,” he growled at me as she continued to struggle. His face softened and he lowered his mouth to her ear. “Shhh…” The rest of what he said was lost on a whisper, but whatever it was, Rielle calmed, her body going still against him.
When she was docile, he nodded to where Adalai stood in the doorway, and I watched my king take something that the beta Alix offered him. It was a white cloth, soaked in something that burned my senses. He passed it to Evander.
“No, what are you doing?” Charolet objected as Evander pressed the cloth to Rielle’s nose and held it until she went limp.
“It’s for her own good,” Alix said, carefully.
“What is it?”
“It’s called chloroform. A human drug. We use it to tame out of control omegas when they’re brought here for treatment.”
“No, you can’t give her anymore drugs,” Charolet pleaded to Evander.
His expression turned grim. “We must get her home. This is the only way.”
“This one won’t hurt her,” June said from outside the room. “We’ve tested it many times. She will come awake soon, and you’ll want to be far from here.”
Evander nodded, easily lifting Rielle into his arms and storming from the room.
“Are the omegas evacuated?” Adalai asked June.
“They are waiting at the fence with your men, my king. The second we step past it, the trackers will alert the humans.”
The king’s eyes lit up, as if he was about to enjoy what was coming. “Good. I can’t wait for them to see what we’ve left in place of their discarded Weren.”
The look of relief on June’s face hit my chest like a hammer. This was right. Even if we’d gotten here the long way, led by my rebellious mate.
A blast of heat hit me as Charolet doubled over. She looked at me, her expression sad and fearful. She would need to be rutted again and again to keep her from aching.
King Adalai blinked, shaking his head as if he’d been hit with a club, and steadied himself with a palm on the doorway. “Fuck,” he said. “We can’t bring her with us like this. My alphas will riot.”
I growled low. He was too close to my omega. Too fucking close. I could rip him to shreds.
He faced me, his wolf gearing up for the challenge even though he didn’t want to. The beast would force him to fight me, the instinct would be too great. In my wolf form, Charolet’s sweet scent was already making me rabid. If I didn’t get inside her soon—
June cleared her throat. “I might have a solution, if Your Majesty would indulge me.”
“Speak, omega,” Adalai choked.
June stared at Charolet where she was nearly on her knees, her body jolting with heat waves. “I can give you the same drug we gave Rielle. It will put you to sleep. With your wolf subdued, it should dull your scent long enough to get you back to the castle.”
Charolet’s panicked gaze went to me. She didn’t have to say a word, I knew what she was asking.<
br />
“I will always protect you, little rebel,” I promised her. Her gaze went soft and she nodded.
“Okay,” she told June. “Let’s do this.”
Chapter Twenty Two
Charolet
I woke to a series of explosions. My head weighed a million pounds when I lifted it. I was in the back of a truck, speeding through the desert, as the human keep erupted behind us.
Opening my mouth to speak, no words came out. My eyelids, so heavy. The world was spinning. I had to put my head down.
A warm, rumbly wolf lay beside me, protecting me. Cassian. My mate.
“Mister alpha, sir. My alpha.” I mumbled before falling back into blackness.
***
“Charolet!” Zelene’s voice was a sharp whisper, as she rattled my aching body back to life. “You have to wake up.”
My eyelids were glued shut. I rolled onto my stomach and covered my face with my hands. “Don’t wanna.”
“I know,” she said sympathetically. “But His Majesty demands your presence.”
I groaned. “Tell him he has to wait.”
“Right. The king waits for no one. Char, I’ve done absolutely everything I can to protect you, but—”
My eyes snapped open. “But what?”
Thoughts moved through my brain like slush, slow and groggy. In flashes, it was all coming back to me. I remembered being in the keep. Cassian getting shot. Rielle being poisoned. Going into heat. Cassian coming back. Some really incredible sex. And then blackness.
“We kinda had to blow up the Human Keep to get you and Rielle home safely.” She sighed. She sat on the edge of my mattress which was on the floor of a cell. Her belly was so swollen with her baby. And she definitely didn’t belong here.
But I did.
“They poisoned Rielle. And hurt other omegas. Sarah. You remember her, she was hooked up to machines. They pumped the same stuff into Rielle.”
“Sarah’s safe. So is Rielle.”
“Where is she?” I perked up, sitting up way too fast. My head was spinning, and my body temperature rose. I couldn’t possibly still be in heat, could I? My inner muscles fluttered at the memory of Cassian’s huge knot inside me, spraying me with his hot seed.