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Each spurt of his seed inside me triggers another wave of pleasure-spasms through my oversensitized body.

I can feel the wet heat of it filling me, so much of it that my belly actually starts to round with the volume.

The knowledge that he's marking me from the inside out, claiming me with his essence, sends another aftershock through my trembling frame.

"Alpha," I whimper, the word barely audible as my body continues to pulse around him. "So much... can feel it... so full..."

"Mine," he growls against my claiming marks, his fangs scraping the sensitive scars as his wings fold around us both like a living shelter.

Dark feathers create a cocoon that shields us from the mountain winds, blocking out everything except the warmth of his body covering mine.

"My territory. My omega. My mate to breed and protect. "

That last word penetrates the pleasure fog clouding my thoughts—protection mentioned alongside possession, responsibility with ownership. It's different from his usual territorial declarations, and I don't know what to make of it.

His arms wrap around my waist to hold me steady as we remain locked together by his knot, the position awkward but somehow perfect. Bent over at the edge of a cliff with his massive body covering mine, I feel safer than I have since the night he claimed me.

"Such a perfect omega," he murmurs against my ear, gentleness creeping into his voice now that dominance has been thoroughly established. "Taking your alpha's knot so beautifully. Made to be filled with my seed."

"Mmm," I hum, too pleasure-drunk to form coherent words. My body feels like liquid, boneless and heavy with satisfaction. The claiming marks on my neck throb in time with my heartbeat, a pleasant ache that reminds me of his ownership in ways that no longer feel entirely unwelcome.

One hand moves to rest possessively over my flat belly, the gesture both threatening and comforting in ways I can't reconcile. "Such a good girl for me," he continues, his voice rumbling through his chest and into my back. "My fierce little mate, surrendering so sweetly when you need to."

I should hate these words, this praise for my submission to a monster who stole my freedom. Instead, I find myself leaning back into his embrace, seeking more of his warmth, more of his approval in ways that terrify me with their intensity.

"Just biology," I mumble, a weak attempt to maintain some fragment of my former defiance.

His soft chuckle vibrates against my skin. "Keep telling yourself that, little nurse," he says, lips brushing the shell of my ear with surprising tenderness. "Your body knows the truth even when your mind fights it."

As we wait for his knot to subside, mountain winds whipping around the shield of his feathered wings, I find myself wondering which lie is more dangerous—my pretense that I don't want this, or his growing suggestion that this forced claiming has become something more than simple territorial possession.

The answer, like everything else in these deadly mountains, remains a mystery that could either save me or destroy me completely. But for now, locked together on top of the world with his seed filling my womb and his scent marking my skin, I can't bring myself to care about the consequences.

For these few precious moments, I am exactly where my omega biology insists I belong—claimed, bred, and protected by an alpha powerful enough to keep me safe from a world that would consume me without his strength.

The thought should revolt me. Instead, as his knot finally begins to soften and he carefully withdraws from my body, I find myself mourning the loss of that perfect fullness, that complete connection that makes me feel whole in ways I'm not ready to examine.

"We should return," he says quietly, gathering my torn clothing as I struggle to stand on unsteady legs. "The afternoon patrols will begin soon."

I nod, not trusting my voice as I feel his seed leaking down my inner thighs, marking me with his scent in ways that go deeper than the claiming bites on my throat. As he helps me dress in the remnants of my shirt, his touch is gentle, careful not to aggravate the marks his claws left on my hips.

The flight back to the den passes in contemplative silence, my body still humming with satisfaction as we soar between peaks that no longer seem quite so threatening.

Wrapped in his arms with his feathered wings shielding me from the wind, I feel protected in ways that have nothing to do with physical safety.

Whatever this thing between us is becoming, it's no longer simple captivity. The knowledge terrifies and thrills me in equal measure, a dangerous emotion I'm not ready to name but can no longer deny.

As the familiar cave entrance comes into view, I steel myself for another day of pretending this is nothing more than forced breeding, nothing more than territorial claim enforcement.

But deep in my core, where his seed still marks me as his, I know the truth is far more complicated than either of us is ready to admit.