Page 51

CLAIMING HEAT

Aria POV

The fortress door slams 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 me immediately—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.

When his rough tongue drags along my throat, passing deliberately over his claiming mark, I arch into the contact with shameless need. The texture—slightly raspy in a way no human could achieve—creates sensation that draws a broken moan from my lips.

"You're soaked," he murmurs against my skin, one clawed hand trailing down my body to find the wetness between my thighs. "Dripping for me. For your alpha."

"Yes," I gasp as his fingers explore my slick-covered folds. "For you. Only you."

His touch is precise despite the lethal claws, the careful restraint with which he handles my fragile human form somehow more arousing than the raw power he's capable of unleashing. When one finger circles my entrance, testing my readiness without penetrating, I whimper with frustration.

"Please," I beg, past caring about the desperation in my voice. "I need you inside me."

"Patience, little omega," he growls, lowering his head to my breast. His tongue rasps across the sensitive peak, creating friction that sends lightning pleasure through my system. "I'll fill you properly. Claim you completely."

His attention shifts to my rounded belly, tongue tracing gentle patterns across the slight swell where his first cub grows. "Already carrying my offspring," he says, voice dropping with possessive satisfaction. "But your body demands more, doesn't it? Needs reinforcement of our bond."

"Yes," I admit, heat flushing my cheeks at the admission. "Need your seed. Need your knot."

The crude words draw another rumbling growl from his chest. His hand moves from my entrance up to cup my breast, thumb brushing across the nipple in a way that makes me arch toward his touch.

"These will grow fuller," he predicts, gentle possessiveness in his touch. "As our first cub develops. And then again with the second. I'll keep you constantly bred, constantly claimed."

The promise should terrify me, should remind me of forced claiming and biological imperatives beyond my control. Instead, it creates answering heat in my core, omega instincts responding to alpha promise of protection and provision.

"Yes," I agree, hands moving to tangle in the fur at his nape. "Keep me full. Keep me claimed."

Something in my willing submission breaks the last of his restraint.

With a single fluid movement, he positions himself between my thighs, the head of his cock pressing against my entrance with insistent pressure.

I feel the specialized ridges already beginning to extend along his length, the barbs that will create unimaginable friction once inside.

"Mine," he growls one final time before driving forward.

The penetration steals my breath, my body stretching around his impossible girth with burning fullness that hovers on the edge between pleasure and pain.

He's massive, bigger than should be physically possible for my human form to accept.

Yet my omega biology accommodates him with eager willingness, inner walls yielding to the invasion they've evolved to crave.

"Fritz," I gasp, fingers digging into his shoulders as he seats himself fully inside me. "So big. So deep."

"Made to take me," he rumbles, holding perfectly still as my body adjusts around him. "Made to be claimed by your alpha."

When he begins to move, I gasp as the world narrows to just this—the drag and push of him inside me, stretching me open.

Those ridges along his cock catch against my inner walls with each thrust, sending sparks of pleasure so intense they border on pain.

My body yields to him completely, slick gushing around his length as he drives deeper.

"Fuck," I whimper, my nails digging into his shoulders as he hits a spot inside me that makes my vision blur. "Right there, please?—"

"Here?" he growls, angling his hips to strike that same spot again. His tail tightens around my thigh, the fur tickling sensitive skin as he uses it to adjust my position. "Your sweet little cunt squeezes me so tight when I touch you there."

Each word from his mouth, crude and possessive, sends another flood of wetness between us. The sounds of our joining fill the room—wet, obscene slaps that should embarrass me but only drive me higher. I'm nothing but need now, nothing but the place where he fills me.

"Harder," I demand, surprising myself with my boldness. "Need more of you."

His eyes flash at my command, pupils narrowing to thin black slashes in pools of molten gold. "Greedy little omega," he purrs, the sound vibrating through his chest against my breasts. "Always so hungry for my cock."

He pulls almost completely out—I feel every ridge, every barb dragging against my sensitive flesh—before slamming back in with force that steals my breath. The impact jars something deep inside me, pleasure blooming outward like wildfire through dry brush.

"Yes!" I cry out, my back arching off the bed. "Like that, just like that!"

Fritz sets a punishing rhythm, each thrust more powerful than the last. The control he's showing—fucking me with abandon while still keeping his claws carefully retracted, his fangs away from vulnerable places—only makes it hotter.

This predator who could tear me apart instead uses all that lethal power to bring me pleasure.

His rough tongue drags along my throat, catching on the claiming mark he's left there. The raspy texture sends shivers racing down my spine, my nipples tightening to aching points where they brush against the fur of his chest.

"You taste like mine," he growls against my skin. "Sweet and ripe and claimed."