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As I lift her into my arms, her body yielding against mine with complete trust, I survey the battlefield once more. Dragon Commander Pyrax lies dead by my claws, his forces scattered without unified leadership. The territorial dispute thatthreatened both fortress and settlement now resolves decisively in our favor.

Victory through perfect understanding of my own capabilities and limitations—using flexibility and speed against greater size and destructive potential. The same balanced approach that characterizes what has grown between Aria and myself—adaptive partnership rather than rigid domination, strength through complement rather than brute force.

I carry her toward extraction point, my larger form curved protectively around her smaller one. She shivers against me, heat fever beginning in earnest now that immediate danger has passed. Her fingers tangle in my blood-matted fur, biological need and conscious choice merging into single imperative to maintain connection between us.

"Home," I tell her, the word encompassing more than physical location. Home to the fortress where she no longer lives as captive but partner. Home to the claiming that no longer represents force but choice. Home to the life taking shape between conquered and conqueror, predator and prey.

She nods against my chest, understanding without need for explanation. Another shudder runs through her—heat biology progressing despite the chaos surrounding us. Her scent calls to everything primal in my nature, but I maintain control, prioritizing her safety over biological satisfaction.

Time enough for claiming once secure within fortress walls. Time enough for the intimacy that now represents connection rather than mere reproductive imperative. Time enough to seal with actions what we've both come to recognize through battle and blood and unexpected alliance.

As I carry her away from dragon corpse and ravine battlefield, my senses remain alert for any threat that might emerge from surrounding forest. But my awareness centers on the woman in my arms—the omega who once feared mymonstrous nature now pressing closer to the very aspects she previously recoiled from.

The blood on my fur, the extended claws, the battle rage still simmering beneath conscious control—all accepted without reservation by the human whose initial claiming represented everything she dreaded. The transformation seems impossible yet undeniable, written in the trust of her body against mine and the certainty of her scent.

Not prey captured by predator, but partner protected by counterpart. Not possession claimed through conquest, but alliance forged through mutual choice.

The final evolution from reluctant claiming to chosen bond.

CHAPTER 24

CLAIMING HEAT

Aria POV

The fortress doorslams behind us, cutting off the mountain wind and dragon stench in one decisive moment. Fritz's arms never loosen as he carries me through the corridors, his blood-matted fur sticky against my overheated skin. The heat that had been building all day now rages through me unchecked, my body recognizing we're finally safe enough to surrender to its demands.

"Alpha," I whimper, the word escaping without permission. My body burns from the inside out, every nerve ending screaming for relief only he can provide. The slick between my thighs has soaked through my leggings, dripping down to leave a trail behind us as Fritz strides toward his quarters.

His nostrils flare continuously, drinking in my scent. The rumbling growl that's been vibrating through his chest since we left the ravine deepens, becoming something primal and possessive that makes my inner walls clench around emptiness.

"Almost there," he murmurs, voice barely recognizable through the rumble of approaching rut. The restraint he's showing—carrying me to safety rather than claiming meimmediately—speaks to control I once thought impossible from a Prime alpha.

His quarters appear ahead, the heavy door standing open where some forward-thinking soldier must have prepared for our return. Fritz kicks it shut behind us, the lock engaging with a decisive click that signals safety and privacy in equal measure.

The moment we're alone, his demeanor shifts. The careful restraint fractures, revealing the predator beneath. He sets me on my feet, letting me feel the full impressive height of him as he looms over me. Blood still coats his fur in drying patches, the evidence of battle adding to rather than detracting from his alpha presence.

"Mine," he growls, clawed hands moving to my clothing with barely restrained urgency. The fabric tears beneath his careful strength, my ruined garments falling away to leave me naked and shivering despite the fever burning through my veins.

"Yours," I agree, the admission no longer feeling like surrender but like a claiming of my own. I reach for him, hands tangling in the blood-matted fur of his chest. "Need you, Fritz. Need you now."

His pupils contract to vertical slits at my words, nostrils flaring as he processes my intensifying scent. I can see his control hanging by a thread, can feel the tension vibrating through his powerful form as he forces himself to maintain some semblance of restraint.

"On the bed," he orders, voice dropping to a register that seems to vibrate directly through my bones.

I comply without hesitation, crawling onto the sleeping platform with deliberate slowness, knowing exactly what the display of my slick-coated thighs does to his control. A growl confirms the effect, the sound sending another flood of wetness between my legs.

When I turn to face him, I find he's shed his own torn clothing, his massive form fully revealed in the chamber's torchlight. His cock stands fully erect, already alarmingly large even before the specialized barbs fully extend during claiming. The base shows early swelling that will become his knot, designed to lock us together and ensure breeding success.

Despite carrying his cub already, my body responds to the sight with primal need. My channel clenches around nothing, desperate to be filled by the alpha whose seed has already taken root inside me.

"You're in full heat," he observes, moving toward the bed with predatory grace that makes my heart race. "Dangerous, with dragons so close to our borders."

"But worth it," I counter, spreading my thighs in blatant invitation. "We used it against them."

His eyes track the movement, focusing on the slick that coats my inner thighs. "And now I'll use it to claim you properly," he growls, the last thread of his control visibly fraying. "To remind every Prime within scenting distance who you belong to."

He crawls onto the bed, his larger form completely dwarfing mine as he positions himself above me. His tail lashes behind him with anticipation he no longer tries to hide, the fur-covered muscle betraying the excitement his controlled expression attempts to mask.