“We have mated.”

  “Yes, many times.”

  “I intend to mate you many more times, my Omega.”

  I sigh as desire stirs between my legs. “That sounds divine.”

  He walks me through his chambers, Fluffy trotting alongside, and I catch glimpses of rooms I’m yet to explore — what looks like a kitchen packed with gadgets, another which must be a study, a gym with weapons and weights and finally to the bedroom. I am disappointed to find it small and bare and, most disappointing of all, containing only a single bed.

  Tor rests me down on the mattress and shoos Fluffy from the bedroom.

  “You can’t kick him out!” I say as Fluffy begins to whine from the other side of the door.

  “What is about to happen is not suitable for his viewing,” Tor responds, climbing back onto the bed and unfastening my gown. Almost immediately he tumbles to the floor.

  “This bed isn’t large enough for the both of us. Isn’t there a double? Where exactly did you plan for me to sleep?”

  “There are other rooms in my chambers with beds,” he mumbles as he trails light kisses down my throat.

  “We’re not sleeping in separate rooms!” He raises his head. “Don’t you dare tell me it is the Gryton way!” I warn him, tugging on his collar.

  “Undress Omega. I will sort this out.” He jumps up and jogs out of the room. I’m still wrestling with the layers of fabric when he returns with another bed balanced over his shoulders. He throws it to the ground with a grunt and shoves it into place. Then spends the next minute chasing Fluffy from the room again.

  “You’re not yet undressed,” he growls when finally he shuts the door.

  “I’m trying. This dress—”

  “Stand up.”

  I do as he says and in one swift motion he has the garment over my head and on the floor, followed by my underwear.

  “We need the tailor to design you more elaborate undergarments.” He pushes me down onto our makeshift double bed.

  “And how do you know about elaborate undergarments?”

  “I saw those in your films too. Yours are a little plain, Omega.”

  “They’re practical.”

  “And no longer big enough for these,” he says, giving each breast a firm squeeze. He is right. My breasts are swelling, the areola of my nipples darkening.

  Stripping off his own clothes, he leans down and takes a nipple to his lips, sucking it straight into his mouth greedily. I tilt back my chin and arch my back, forcing my tit further into his mouth, and it drives him wild. His wet tongue swirls from one breast to the other as his fingers knead and squeeze and tweak. It sends bolts of pleasure directly to my cunt and soon I’m jolting with pleasure, wetness streaming from my core. The smell of it permeates the room and catches Tor’s attention and soon he’s diving between my thighs, opening me wide and sweeping his tongues along the seam of my sex.

  “If the other Alphas knew how sweet you taste, how good you feel, nothing would stop them from breaking down the door to get to you.”

  His words vibrate against my clit, sending me wild. I grip his braids, tugging on them, trying to draw him even nearer.

  “So needy,” he murmurs, humming against my sensitive nub, sending pleasure rocketing through my body and sparks flying against my eyelids.

  “Tor!” I beg.

  He ignores my pleads, and continues his sweet torture, toying with me just enough to have me rocking and riding his face, but not giving me quite enough to send me tumbling over the edge. He laps at my nub, then thrusts his tongue into my centre, before returning to suck at my clit. The orgasm builds slowly and slowly, stirring into life in the pit of my belly, my skin warming until my cheeks blaze and every nerve tingles with pleasure, and then with a final flick of his tongue, I soar into heaven, the intensity of my orgasm so strong I practically lift off the bed.

  Soon it is so intense I can hardly bear it and I yank at his hair, trying to pull him away. He only grips my thighs tighter, teasing at my clit until I’m coming again and then again.

  When I’m a sopping, sobbing mass of limbs, he rolls me onto my side and lies out behind me, nudging the head of his cock between my legs until he finds what he’s looking for, then with a tight hand at my hip, he thrusts his way inside and I come again straight away, the feeling of having him inside too good.

  I expect him to fuck me hard, like he had me over the sofa earlier. Instead, it’s slow and gentle, as if he’s taking his time with me, wanting to savour every moment and every minute of our bodies entwined together. His hands dance along the curve of my waist, over my blossoming belly and the swell of my breasts. He whispers sweet words of Gryton into my ear, the sound melodic and beautiful and then he nuzzles at my neck, his mouth finally finding the gland at the back of my neck. The one I didn’t even know I had until I met him.

  He grinds deep inside me as his wet tongue sweeps backwards and forward over the tissue-thin skin.

  “That feels so good!” I say.

  “Then let me bite you, let me claim you, Omega.”

  “Yeeeesssss,” I moan as another orgasm sails through my body and I feel the pressure of his teeth at my neck. “No! Wait, Tor! No!”

  He pulls back his head.

  “It’s OK, Omega,” he says, although I can hear the hurt in his voice.

  “I love you, Tor,” I tell him, reaching my hand behind me, finding his own hip and encouraging him with a tug to rut me harder. He responds immediately and soon all other thoughts are banished from my mind and the only awareness I have is of his cock hammering into my core, and then his knot expanding at my entrance as he collapses against me with a low grunt.

  He pants as his cock continues to jerk inside me, more come filling me up.

  I find his hand on my waist and lace our fingers, bringing his knuckles to my mouth and kissing them gently.

  “Are you angry with me?” I ask.

  “Angry? No, why?” he asks, licking a shine of sweat from my shoulder.

  “I didn’t let you do it.”

  “And I won’t unless you do.”

  I close my eyes, pressing our hands against my breast bone. “I’m scared,” I admit in a whisper.

  “Of what?” His mouth is at my ear, his breath warm.

  “Of being claimed.” I take a deep gulp of air. “This is all still so new to me. And I can’t lie, Tor, I don’t like the way my body responds to you without my permission sometimes. I’m scared that once I’m claimed, I’ll have no control, no self-will. I’ll be your toy, your thing. And I’m so far from home.”

  He kisses the soft skin beneath my ear. “We are equals, Emma. I have saved your life and you have saved mine. Together we have created a new life. I will never take away your choices or your will. I will never subjugate or control you.” He kisses me a second time.

  “But what will the claiming do to me?”

  “They say it strengthens the bond between mates, but I only have my father and his cronies as a guide and I don’t see strong bonds between them and their Omegas. What I know is that it changes the scent of the Omega. And makes it clear to all that she is claimed.”

  I sigh. “Like staking land with a flag.”

  “It won’t be like that between us, Emma. I am as much yours as you are mine.”

  Chapter 8 — Tor

  We sit propped up against the pillows of the two beds I have pushed together and I feed the Omega sweet treats I have found in the cupboards of my larder.

  The pet has wormed his way back inside the bedroom and lies on the floor by the bed after I insisted he couldn’t sleep with us.

  Tomorrow I will need to send for more food.

  I like to watch Emma’s face light up as new flavours hit her tongue, the little sighs she makes as something delicious melts against her tongue. Emma has lived on bland, flavourless food for too long and my Omega deserves better.

  I peel another warunge for her and tug apart the segments, lifting the purple piece into her waiting lips.

  I need to tell her of my meeting with my father, but I am nervous. Everything seems more fragile between us here on Astia. The appearance of other people, of their prejudices and assumptions, of the demands placed on me as my father’s son, are already straining the newly formed bonds between us.

  My father’s desire for me to take the Omega Sia as my mate will infuriate Emma. The doubts I know she houses about me, about my culture, will only be multiplied.

  But tell her I must. Secrets nearly ended things between us once before.

  “Emma,” I say as she licks her fingertips, the image of her pretty lips sucking sending my thoughts places it shouldn’t when I have serious matters to discuss. “I must tell you what my father had to say.”

  She freezes and her turquoise eyes widen as she meets my gaze. “It’s bad, isn’t it? Is he mad at you for getting me pregnant? Or was it about the assassination attempts? Does he blame you for the deaths?”

  I shake my head.

  “What then?”

  She climbs up onto her knees and edges closer towards me.

  I hold her gaze and she must sense the heaviness I feel in my heart because she chews her bottom lip.

  “He has negotiated a peace with the rebels in the East—”

  “That’s good, isn’t it? If the war is over, you won’t be sent away to fight.”

  “True. But there was a price for the rebels to lay down their arms.”

  Her hands leap to her mouth. “What, Tor? Tell me.”

  “The leader of the rebels, Governor Krindo, wants me to take his daughter as my mate.”

  Her hands fall away and her nose crinkles. “To take a Beta as a mate? But you’re an Alpha.”

  “His daughter is an Omega. He has four others. This was the cause of the fighting. The governor refused to gift them to my father.”

  “Too fucking right!” Emma says, crossing her arms over her chest and I can see the cogs turning in her mind. “What will your dad do now?”

  “Do now?”

  “You already have a mate, Tor, me. So what will happen to the treaty?”

  “It still stands, Emma. My father still wants me to take Sia as my mate. He has promised the governor that she will be my principal mate, the future queen when I take the throne.”

  “He’s made you his heir?”

  “No, but knowing my father he has made him promises. Whether he will keep them is another matter entirely.”

  “But you’re my mate.”

  “Yes, and I am yours.”

  “So he’ll have to find someone else — another of your brothers.” Her shoulders tighten and she looks me directly in the eye. “I won’t be your concubine, Tor, your bit on the side.” She pauses. “I’m all alone here, Tor, if I don’t have you then …”

  “I don’t wish to take any other mate. I won’t!”

  “Are you sure?” she says. “You say that now, but perhaps you’ll tire of your little human Omega. Maybe I am exotic and different now, but soon enough you’ll grow bored with me.”

  Dragging her into my lap, I scowl at her. “I will never tire of you. I would happily spend every moment of my life with my head buried between your thighs, eating you out.”

  “You may not think that after the baby comes, when I’m tired and cranky and covered in breast milk and baby poop. Then this other Omega, all flat and tight, may be more tempting than ever.”

  I growl at her. “Or maybe you will grow tired of me,” I say. “Maybe this is why you have not let me claim you. Maybe you wish to bide your time, weigh your options, see if there is a more suitable Alpha out there for you.”

  She wriggles free of my grasp and scuttles to the other side of the bed. Her eyes are wet with tears and I regret my words immediately. “I told you my reasons, Tor.”

  I glance down at the plain blue cover between us.

  “You are the only Omega for me, Emma. I have never felt this way before — this love as you call it. It isn’t something that can be extinguished by baby poop or a few cranky words.”

  “But another Omega? How can you say no when peace on this planet depends on it?” she asks me quietly and when I look back at her, silent tears trail down her cheeks. “Because I know you are a good man, Tor, and you will want to do the right thing.”

  She is right. I can’t live with the knowledge that I could have prevented the deaths of other Grytons, of my brother soldiers. How could I sacrifice their lives for my happiness? But neither can I give Emma up, can I resign her to the life of shadows, to a mere Omega pet? I can not break my promise to her. And I cannot break her heart.

  “We will find another way.”

  “How?”

  “I will not take another mate.”

  * * *

  We talk long into the night about our dilemma, a sadness growing between us as we realise it is hopeless. Neither of us wants blood on our hands, on our conscience, we’ve taken too many lives already. The war must end.

  But the thought of me taking another Omega already breaks Emma’s heart and I can see the regret in her eyes at having come to this planet.

  In the end, we agree that I will talk to my father again. I will make him understand that there is nothing in the three universes that will move me to mate the Omega Sia. He will have to choose another of my brothers.

  My father has invited us to attend court the next day, so although we are both weary and would like nothing but to spend the day curled up with one another, we pull ourselves out of bed when sunlight sprinkles through the blinds.

  Emma wants to explore my chambers so I let her dash about while I go to order our breakfast. While I have a modest larder where I can prepare some foods for myself, the communal palace kitchens are vast and the Beta chefs are the best on Astia. I sit on a stall and consider what to feed my Omega for her breakfast, listening to her curious shrieks as she discovers one room after another.

  I radio down my order once I’ve decided, and then call for the tailor to return. Emma can not be seen in the same gown as yesterday, we need another.

  The piping hot food arrives as Emma steps into the larder wrapped in a soft robe of mine I have given her. It is open at the front and I am rewarded with flashes of her soft, pliable body and her doming stomach.

  “Something smells amazing,” she says, her eyes gleaming and I feel ashamed I did not treat her like this yesterday.

  “Let us go through to the dining room,” I say, leading her to the room in which I entertain my guests. Its ceiling sits as high as the entrance hall, but a chandelier of sparkling Gryton metal hangs low, skimming just above the heads of the guests that sit around my long oval table.

  “It’s a bit grand,” Emma says as the door slides back. “I think I’d lose you in there. Is there no where a bit smaller?”

  “You can sit on my lap, Omega.” I lead her to the head of the table, placing down the tray of foods delivered from the kitchens and taking a seat. But she doesn’t seat herself on my thigh, instead she drags one of the heavy chairs until it rests alongside mine and looks eagerly towards the food.

  I unwrap the parcels, fine slithers of meat, elaborate milk pudding, fresh fruits glazed with honey and the juice of Night Pears.

  “Did you make this?” she says as she scoops fruit into her mouth.

  “The kitchen did.”

  “You have a chef?” she asks.

  “Several.”

  She nods slowly like she’s trying to take this in. “And who cleans?”

  “The AI assistants.”

  She cocks her head. “Tor … what exactly is it that you do for a living?” I don’t understand her words and stare at her blankly. “How do you pay for all this?”

  “I am a prince. I do not have to pay for anything.”

  “But even princes have to pay for stuff, don’t they?”

  “My father is a rich Gryton,” I answer as if that is explanation enough. But I am embarrassed to say it is not a thought that has ever really crossed my mind before. Where does my father’s wealth come from? His people, their taxes. And in turn I am given money. “I serve him — on the battlefield, on missions like the one from which we have returned, and he rewards me for this.”

  Emma nods as if this makes sense when I’m not sure it does. “I suppose it’s not that different from being paid to do missions in the space cadets — although I always had more money than I could spend. There aren’t that many places for a girl to go shopping in space. I had quite a big retirement pot saved though.” She chews at a strip of meat. “Could we go shopping here?”

  “Shops are for Betas. Anything you desire I can have sent for and it will be delivered to your chamber. There is no need to leave these rooms.”

  “So what do Omegas do for fun then, if they don’t work and they don’t shop?”

  “Fun?” I wrap my arm around her waist. “I can think of a few things.”

  She punches me playfully on the forearm. “Apart from sex, Tor.”

  I am not sure of the answer. “My mother likes to embroider.”

  Emma looks at me flatly. “That’s it.”

  “Occasionally my father throws a ball or a banquet — like tonight. And the Omegas attend.”

  “And they come to the court?”

  “Mostly they stay away. They are not interested in the business of the court.”

  Emma raises an eyebrow. “They don’t want to come, or they’re not welcome.”

  I pop a berry in my mouth so that I don’t have to answer that question.

  “Well, perhaps I’ll take Fluffy for a walk around the palace today, explore the city a bit. I’m curious to find the other Omegas and I want to see the homes of your mum and friends too, see how everyone lives.”

  I don’t know how many times I have to tell her this is unsafe. She does not seem to want to believe it. Emma has been looking after herself for a long time. She is tough, a survivor. She thinks that because she overcame those Alphas on the ice, she can do it again. Or perhaps she does not want to believe she leaves herself exposed unclaimed. I don’t know how I can make her see otherwise without turning her against my world.

  “The AI assistants can walk Fluffy,” I reply, “They did a good job looking after your pet yesterday.”

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22