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“Say it again,” he commanded softly, his Alpha dominance threading through the request in ways that made her core clench with involuntary response.

“Which part?” she whispered, though she could see in his eyes exactly what he needed to hear.

“That you love me.” His voice dropped to that rough register that made her stomach flutter with submission. “That you choose me.”

But instead of answering, Naya rose from the cushions and approached where he sat on the edge of the bed.

Akoro’s eyes tracked her movement, his massive frame going perfectly still.

Even seated, he was nearly at her eye level—this giant of a man who could command armies with a gesture, reduced to motionless anticipation by her proximity.

She moved between his spread thighs, close enough that his scent enveloped her completely, close enough to see the way his pupils dilated as her own scent shifted with decision. Her hands came up to frame his face, thumbs brushing across his beard as she studied him, his handsome face.

His hands gripped her hips tightly as though she might disappear.

She leaned down then, eliminating the last inches between them, and pressed her mouth to his with the same eager enthusiasm she’d shown during her heat.

But this time, there was no hormonal haze clouding her judgment, no biological imperative driving her actions.

This was pure choice, clear-minded desire, the deliberate claiming of her Alpha by an Omega who finally understood what she wanted.

The effect on him was immediate and devastating.

A sound somewhere between a growl and a moan rumbled from deep in his chest as he kissed her back with desperate reverence, his control fracturing under the gift of her willing mouth.

His hands tightened on her hips, pulling her closer until she was pressed against him from chest to thigh, her smaller frame fitting perfectly against his larger one.

Her tongue swept across his lower lip, and he opened for her immediately, letting her explore and claim and take what she needed.

The taste of him—masculine and familiar and absolutely hers—sent liquid fire through her veins.

She kissed him like she was starving, like she was trying to pour every emotion she couldn’t voice into the connection between their mouths.

When they finally broke apart, both breathing hard, Akoro rested his forehead against hers. “You kissed me,” he said, voice gritty and full of wonder as though he couldn’t believe it had happened.

“I kissed you,” she confirmed, her lips curving in a smile that was equal parts satisfaction and promise. “And I’ll keep kissing you for as long as you’ll have me.”

The joy that transformed his expression was blinding in its intensity, brighter than the desert sun and twice as warming. “Forever,” he said simply. “I’ll have you forever, tmot zia .”

Naya drank in the beauty of seeing that expression on him. “Why do you call me that?” she asked. “ Tmot zia . What does it mean?

“It means ‘my little queen,’” he said quietly.

Naya cocked her head. “As in, a translation of princess?”

“No.” Amusement bled into his gaze. “It means little queen.”

Naya stared at him, thinking back to when he chased her in her forest. “You’ve been calling me your queen all this time?”

The Alpha just stared back at her, his eyes trained on her mouth.

She leaned in and kissed him again, lightly, but he grabbed the back of her head and deepened it.

His mouth claimed hers with the same possessive intensity that had marked their first desperate coupling, but underneath the familiar dominance lay something new—reverence, devotion, the careful attention of a mate who understood exactly how precious the gift of her surrender truly was.

Akoro’s scent deepened to something rich and musky, saturated with hunger that made her pulse race. “Stay,” he said against her mouth, his voice dropping to that Alpha rumble that always made her knees weak. “Stay and rule with me.”

Naya pulled back slightly, drinking in the harsh beauty of his face—the fierce intelligence blazing in eyes dark as desert nights, the subtle tension that marked him as an Alpha completely consumed by his Omega.

The same magnetic force that had drawn her to him during their chase through her forest still burned between them, electric and undeniable.

“But my empire needs me. My people trust me to return, to lead them through the challenges we’re facing.

I can’t abandon them.” Images of her parents, her younger siblings, Uncle Torin and Aunt Victoya flooded her mind.

She shook her head, even as her body responded to his proximity with shameless hunger.

“You took me, Akoro. You almost started a war. I don’t think. .. my father...”

“I know I don’t deserve you,” he said, his voice roughening with vulnerability that made her keen with the need to comfort him.

“I know the scars I carved into your skin will always remind you of what I’m capable of.

But if you’ll give me the chance, I’ll spend every day proving that I can be the partner you need, the Alpha worthy of your strength.

” His thumb brushed across her racing pulse.

“Your father will come around, especially when he knows you’re safe here. ”

Naya’s lips parted, the words escaping before conscious thought could stop them. “And especially when we give him his grandchildren.”

Fire blazed in Akoro’s dark eyes at the mention of children—possession and joy and fierce protectiveness combining into an expression that made her core clench with involuntary response. Her scent shifted immediately, in a way that made his nostrils flare in response.

She laughed, nervous energy crackling through her, but he lifted her with fluid grace, carrying her to the massive bed where their relationship had transformed through countless passionate nights.

This time, instead of the desperate claiming that had marked their previous encounters, he set her down with reverent care, his hands moving to the fastenings of her ceremonial robes with deliberate slowness.

“Then we will make him some,” he said, the deep rumble in his voice sending shivers racing down her spine.

“Did you... did you ever want children?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper as his fingers worked the silk ties.

His eyes burned into hers. “I never thought about it until you. Women were not a significant part of my life as king.”

“But with me… you thought about it?”

“Of course,” he said, his voice dropping to a possessive growl that made heat pool between her thighs. “All the time. And definitely now when Nnimi visits with her elaborate plans.”

Naya laughed, the sound bright and unguarded. “What plans?”

Akoro fought to suppress a smile as he drew her dress over her head, baring her skin to the warm afternoon light. “She wants cousins here when she comes to visit. And she has ordered that we provide them.”

“Ah.” Naya nodded, understanding blooming across her features. “She has lots of children to play with at home, but not here.”

Akoro scowled, his hands skimming the newly exposed curves of her waist. “I suspect Oppo is encouraging her scheming.”

Naya dissolved into rich laughter that filled the room with joy. Akoro watched her with hungry fascination, his own smile breaking free before his expression turned serious. He leaned over her, his massive frame surrounding her with Alpha dominance.

“We will visit your family,” he said, his voice gentle but certain. “And then you can decide if you want to stay. If you don’t, I’ll be beside you on your throne instead.”

“You would leave Tsashokra?” Shock colored her voice, her brown eyes wide with disbelief.

“I would follow you anywhere, tmot zia. ” His mouth crushed hers again, not with desperation, but certainty.

Their connection had shifted, solidified, and now every motion between them was steeped in possession and trust. She responded immediately, scent blooming, slick already wetting her inner thighs before he’d even touched her.

Heat flooded her belly, her inner muscles fluttering in anticipation, slick already starting to slide down her thighs. She couldn’t breathe through the want. Not when his hands were on her again—strong and unyielding—touching her like every inch of her belonged to him. Because she did.

Naya tugged at Akoro’s clothes, frantic, until his skin was bared just like hers.

His cock was hard already, thick and flushed, leaking against her belly as he laid her back into the cushions and spread her thighs open with his knee.

He pressed the thick head against her folds, groaning as her slick coated him, dripping freely down her ass and onto the bedding.

When he eased the head of his cock to her entrance, she cried out, already so wet, so sensitive, her folds aching to be filled.

And then he thrust all the way in.

The stretch stole her breath. Her body clamped down around him, her cunt slick and tight, sucking him deeper until her thighs trembled from the pressure.

He didn’t wait. He started to move, deep, punishing strokes that punched a helpless moan from her with every thrust. She drowned in sensation, sucking in the beautiful pungency of their joining.

Each time he slammed into her, her body gave more. Slick gushed around him, soaking the base of his cock, running down to his balls. She writhed beneath him, arms locked around his shoulders, the obscene, wet slap of skin on skin echoing through the space.

The Alpha leaned down to suck a hard nipple into his mouth, groaning around it while he fucked her harder. Naya’s breath turned ragged. Her nails dragged down his back, raking over muscle as she sobbed under him, her cunt fluttering around him in the early throes of orgasm.

“Mine. All mine,” Akoro growled against her neck, the words vibrating against her skin, and something in her snapped. Naya shattered around him, back arching, cunt squeezing so hard it dragged a broken groan from his throat.

She panted, trying to catch her breath, but it wasn’t enough.

He pulled out roughly, dragging a whimper from her, manhandled her into his lap.

Her legs opened instinctively around his waist as he guided her back down onto his cock.

She sank onto him with a whimper, fully impaled, the stretch from below so different, so deep it felt like he was pressing into her soul.

Naya began to move—rocking, grinding, riding him with abandon.

His cock rubbed her just right, dragging against her front wall, nudging her clit every time her hips ground down.

His hands roamed over her thighs, her waist, her breasts.

He sucked one nipple into his mouth as she fucked him, and then his mouth trailed up her chest, her neck, to her mouth.

He kissed her like a man starved, his mouth hot and claiming.

Their first kiss while he was inside her, brought another dimension to their coupling and her vision blurred, another orgasm crashed through her like a storm.

She shook against him, erratic and uncoordinated, slick poured down over his lap, messy, primal.

But he still wasn’t finished with his mate.

He growled and flipped her again, dragging her ass high into the air, pushing her knees apart.

She was boneless, dazed, but her ass lifted on instinct.

Akoro mouth latched onto her, making her whimper with every rough brush of his tongue.

Naya panted, ass high, cheek pressed into the bed; she tried to catch her breath as pleasure stirred, then he rose and he slammed into her from behind.

She let out a guttural moan, so full and stretched.

He fucked her like an Alpha in a rut, deep, relentless, the slap of his hips against her ass loud and savage.

Her channel was soaked, stretched, and ruined, his cock slamming in and out of her with raw, claiming precision.

Her legs buckled, her jaw dropped open, her body opened and surrendered for him.

And then she felt it. His knot, thick and swelling, grinded at her entrance as he rutted harder, desperate to lock.

Her body panicked—tightening and resisting—and then yielded, slick flooding in fresh waves as she sobbed through another climax, her channel milking him as the knot forced its way inside with a brutal, delicious stretch. She was plugged.

She cried out again, high and hoarse as he came. Hot, endless spurts poured into her, every pulse of it deep, possessive, filling her completely. She collapsed forward onto the pillows, boneless, trembling, body twitching with aftershocks as his knot pulsed inside her.

Akoro dropped over her, his chest on her back, one hand buried in her hair, the other pressed flat to her belly—pinned and claimed— and when she whimpered softly, shakily, against the bedding, he just growled, still locked deep inside her, and buried his nose into her neck.

As they lay entwined in the aftermath, skin cooling while their breathing gradually steadied, a belonging settled deep in her chest. When Akoro’s purr started, it rumbled from his chest, but vibrated over her whole body. And she couldn’t think of another time that she was so blissfully content.