Page 12

Chapter

Twelve

Leo

F or the second time, as soon as I was separated from Diamant, I regretted it. Badly.

“Are you certain you’re going to make it back to the castle?” Rumi asked as he rubbed my back while I curled in on myself as the wagon our father had assigned to carry us home jostled.

“I’ll be fine,” I said through gritted teeth, not sure if that was true or not.

Even though my belly ached, the egg inside me felt bigger by the second, too big to make it out of me easily, and every fiber of my being cried out for my mate, I wasn’t the one of us who suffered the most on that long, depressing ride home.

“I cannot do this anymore,” Misha wept as he sat against the opposite side of the wagon, hugging himself. “I just can’t do it.”

Obi sat beside him, one arm around Misha’s back, glancing worriedly at Rumi. I didn’t like the feeling like the two of them were all that was left to be responsible for their weaker brothers. I wasn’t weak, I was just…indisposed.

I grimaced at the thought. I hated being sick in the best of times. What I felt now wasn’t sickness, it was a complete change in my life.

As soon as those thoughts pinched me, I felt a wave of stubborn indignation from inside me. It was faint and new, but the emotion of it was so precise that I almost laughed.

“You’re going to be a stubborn one, aren’t you,” I murmured, rubbing my belly. “Just like your papa.”

I caught my breath. It was the first time I had thought of myself as a papa on a visceral level, and it didn’t feel half bad. I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath, pressing my hand against the bulge of my stomach.

Images came to me, whether of my own imagining or through some sort of profound sight. I saw a wiry young alpha boy with white-blond hair, like his sire, running through the garden brandishing a wooden sword. I saw him leading and entertaining several other boys, his cousins, as they staged mock battles against their friends.

The boy was happy, healthy, and strong.

That made my smile wider.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Rumi asked, a hint of humor in his voice. “That’s a strange smile you’re wearing.”

“Yes,” I breathed out, opening my eyes. “I don’t think it’s going to be easy, but I think I’m going to be alright.”

We reached the castle in the middle of the night. Once again, my brothers and I were all so tired that we slept for a good portion of the journey, even though the situation was fraught and we didn’t trust our escorts. We were shoved and poked awake by our father’s guards as soon as the wagon rolled into the sheltered courtyard beside the castle.

“You’re to be taken to your bedchamber at once and locked inside,” Rottum, who was once again in charge of the four of us, sneered. “Your father doesn’t want to see you.”

“Thank Goddess!” Obi muttered under his breath. “As if we’d want to see him.”

I sent him a grin of approval as the guards shoved us into a line and marched us through the silent, cold castle to our bedchamber. Obi would be a warrior omega someday, too.

As soon as Rottum slammed the door of our room behind us, as the sound of it being barred and chained shut echoed in the hallway, the four of us ran straight for Rumi’s bed.

“One of these days, Father is going to realize that mere locks and chains won’t do a thing to keep us contained in this room,” Obi said as we all pushed the bed aside, revealing the door.

“One of these days, he’s not going to be content merely with locking us away,” Rumi said gravely.

We let that heavy thought sit between us as Rumi pulled open the door and we descended into the magical world. I feared Rumi was right. My brothers would have to be incredibly careful in the coming days and weeks.

All thoughts of my brothers were brushed aside when I felt and spotted Diamant marching toward us through the enchanted forest. As undignified and unbecoming of a warrior as it was, I let out a yelp of excitement and relief and jumped down the last few golden stairs to run to him.

“My fierce darling,” Diamant gusted out as I slammed myself against him, wrapping my arms and my legs around him.

I didn’t care who was watching. I was back in my dragon’s arms, we were together in the magical world, and my body strained to complete the breeding that we’d started. I slammed my mouth over his, gripping the hair at the back of his head and kissing him like I could blend our souls together right then and there.

“Now,” I panted between kisses, squirming as my body came alive with desire. “I need you to get this egg out of me now.”

Diamant laughed and kissed me back. He swept a hand around my ass and immediately I felt my hole stretch and widen in anticipation and slick pooled and leaked out of me.

“Er, perhaps the two of you should return to your lair?” Emmerich suggested.

I yanked back as I remembered we weren’t alone and turned to see Emmerich and Azurus striding through the glittering, gem-filled forest to join us.

“Thank Goddess you made it out of King Freslik’s grasp in one piece,” Azurus said, presumably for all of us, but looking at Misha as he spoke.

“I’m not going back,” Misha declared with surprising strength. He started out his declaration looking at Azurus, but he turned to me, Rumi, and Obi as soon as the words were out. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to let you down or abandon you, but I’m not going back into our father’s world.”

“It’s alright,” Rumi said, stepping forward and hugging Misha.

When he let go, Misha went on. “I know that it’s important to be there for the people of our kingdom. Now more than ever, since Osric might have a real chance of taking the throne from Father. I know that my duty should be toward our world and our kingdom, but I cannot do it. I’m not as strong as the rest of you.”

“You’re plenty strong,” Obi said, his expression filled with love for our brother, as well as a touch of worry. “You could conquer an entire army all on your own with the power of your sweetness. But I understand if you don’t think our father’s world is the place for you anymore.”

“It isn’t,” Misha said, wiping the tears from his cheeks. He tried to stand straighter as he said, “I will give you whatever help and support you need to fight against Father, but I cannot do it from that world. I don’t want to set a single foot back in that world ever again.”

“And you won’t have to,” Rumi said with a nod. He hesitated for a moment before asking, “Where will you stay in this world?”

Misha hiccupped, then blinked. “I…I don’t know. I suppose Tovey or Selle or Leo will take me in.” He glanced to me.

My first thought was that of course I would take my brother in.

My second was that I wanted to be alone with my alpha and our egg. This was an important time for us, and as much as I loved my brother, as much as he would always be my family, I had a new family, and our story was just beginning.

“You’ll stay at the castle, of course,” Azurus answered with a compassionate smile, stepping closer to Misha. “Emmerich is in charge of the castle, but I’m certain he wouldn’t mind.”

“Not at all,” Emmerich said. “In fact, we should take you there now. Tonight’s dance is just beginning in the pavilion, but you look as though you need a week’s worth of rest.”

“I could use a week’s worth of the food served at the pavilion,” Rumi said, deliberately cheery to make Misha feel better. “What do you say?” he asked Obi.

“I want to see if there are any new, handsome alphas at the dance tonight,” Obi answered with a wink for Misha.

I was more proud of my brothers than I could say. Prouder, in some ways, than I’d been of them in the heat of battle, fighting for what was right. Battling evil was one thing, but showing such loyalty and caring toward each other, especially when one of us was in a bad way, was what being brothers were all about.

“If you don’t mind,” Diamant said, his arm tight around my waist, “we won’t be joining you tonight.”

Emmerich laughed. “Of course not. You and your beloved have more important things to do.”

“Yes, we do,” I said on a heavy breath, my body aching with the need to finish being bred.

Diamant cleared his throat. “If you will excuse us,” he said, blushing beautifully.

We all said a quick round of goodbyes and parted ways.

“And now, delicious, ripe omega of mine,” Diamant said, turning to me with a rakish growl in his voice. “Let us finish what we started.”

I laughed. “I’m too far gone to lift a finger to fight you on this one,” I said. “Take me away and fuck this egg out of me, dragon.”

Diamant purred deep in his throat at my aggressive command. Then his entire body transformed into his breathtaking, glittering dragon form.

Heart in my throat, I climbed onto his back and gripped him with my whole body. My dragon lover leapt into the air, and as soon as we were above the tops of the trees, his form expanded and he picked up speed at such an alarming rate that I could barely breathe.

I wanted to enjoy the flight. I was certain there would be many more times in the future when I would love the feeling of soaring and swirling through the skies on my dragon’s back. But with the heat and pressure increasing in my body with every moment, I just wanted to reach home. Our home.

“All will be well, my darling,” Diamant reassured me as we flew nearer to his magnificent lair.

I hadn’t really seen it from the outside before. We’d traveled straight into the interior when Diamant stole me away the first time. I was pleased to see that the home I would share with my beloved dragon and our brood for what would likely be a very long time was a magnificent mansion that stretched over a pretty hillside and was surrounded by pleasure gardens. It was the perfect place for a rogue like Diamant to live.

Even better was the private courtyard where Diamant landed. It stretched right outside his bedroom door, and as soon as Diamant had resumed his human form, completely naked, thank the Goddess, and flicked his wrist toward it, the doors opened.

I let out a vocal breath at the sight of the large, comfortable bed where I’d spent my short, eventful heat with my mate. It had only been days ago, but it felt like a lifetime and then some. I was so eager to finish what we’d started that my knees buckled as soon as I slipped off of Diamant’s back and my feet hit the flagstones.

“I’ve got you, sweetheart,” Diamant said, so much tenderness in his voice.

I didn’t think I liked tenderness, or being called sweetheart. I was wrong. As Diamant lifted me off my feet and carried me into the bedchamber, I reveled in the feelings coming through our bond. I was adored and cherished. My dragon would keep me and protect me forever.

Of course, along with those softer emotions were the hotter, carnal things I also wanted to feel.

“Are you sure you want to fuck a battle-weary, dirty, bruised omega, dragon?” I asked him as he set me on his feet beside his bed, one eyebrow raised.

Diamant laughed, low and almost menacing. “Oh, yes, omega. I’m sure.”

He grabbed me and yanked me into a tight embrace, slanting his mouth over mine with all the force I needed from him just then. If my entire life had to change and I had to be a papa, then I would do it on my terms.

“First, we get rid of these,” he said as he broke our kiss, his hands trailing down my body.

I expected him to unbutton my stained and torn shirt so he could toss it aside, but instead he grabbed the two halves of the front and tore them apart.

I sucked in a breath at the aggressive gesture and a shudder passed through me. What felt like a river of slick poured from my hole, and when Diamant tossed my destroyed shirt aside to tug and yank at the fastenings of my trousers, they came away soaked when he pushed them down. My cock leapt up, its tip already glistening with readiness.

“You are beautiful,” Diamant growled, staring at my body and sweeping his hand around my hip over the top of my ruined trousers. His eyes seemed fixed on the bulge of my stomach, which had moved slightly lower, as if the egg knew its time had come. “Whether you want to be or not.”

“I don’t mind being beautiful for you,” I told him, splaying my hands across his broad chest and teasing his nipples. “As long as you don’t treat me like something fragile and precious.”

“You? Fragile and precious?” Diamant chuckled. “Hardly.”

He followed those words by pushing me back so I fell across his bed, then yanking my boots and trousers off. I laughed at first, and then, just for fun, I rolled to my stomach, gasping at the sensation of my egg heavy inside me, and tried to get away as if I’d been chased there against my will.

Diamant laughed as well and lunged after me, grasping me around the waist and tugging me back. “Oh no you don’t,” he said, shifting onto the bed and using his knees to wedge between mine. “You have something of mine inside you, and it’s coming out, whether you like it or not.”

My whole body went limp with acceptance for a moment. As frightening as the prospect of being a papa was and as huge of a change in my life as the egg represented, I was ready for it now.

Well, I didn’t think I would ever be completely ready for papahood, but I was more ready than I would have been.

“You can’t make me do anything,” I said all the same.

I was certain Diamant felt how desperately I wanted to feel him inside me through our bond. I pretended to fight him, squirming and struggling to get away as he braced himself on the bed, then gasped as he slipped his arms under me and yanked me upright, my back against his chest.

He shoved my legs apart as far as they would go using his knees, then with a heady combination of dexterity and force, he brought me right down onto his cock, impaling me with a single, hard thrust .

I cried out, not just with the sudden pain of being speared but with the intense shot of pleasure that filled me. My cock strained in front of me as I fought not to come until the moment was exactly right. I adored this sort of rough intimacy with my dragon and I hoped that we would have a lifetime of hot, intimate, ecstatic mating ahead of us.

“You are mine,” Diamant growled just behind my ear as his thrusts grew stronger and more insistent. “My omega, my egg, my own.”

I could feel him growing in me, the girth of his cock filling and stretching me beyond what I would have thought I could tolerate. I could feel the changes in him as that tiny but important transformation to dragon made me feel like he could tear me apart from the inside. My cries of pleasure turned into grunts of endurance as the most tender parts of me felt like they were being pried open.

Just as the pain began to grow unbearable, I started to come. Pleasure like nothing I’d felt before, stronger even than the breeding orgasm that had caused my beloved’s seed to take hold in me, washed through me. I cried out with it, coming so hard I thought I might turn my balls inside out. I fell into the abyss of that pleasure, swimming in it like I might lose my mind.

And then came the feeling of something large and heavy moving through me. A different sort of pleasure entirely filled me. I felt Diamant slip out of me, and as he left me, something followed him. The pain was excruciating, but mingled with the pleasure Diamant had given me it confused my brain. I cried out as the pain grew pitched, shaking and momentarily panicked that I would be torn apart, but the moment passed.

A burst of joy, lust, and possessiveness, crashed through me. They were Diamant’s emotions, but I wasn’t sure where his started and mine ended. We were one, one heart, one soul, everything together. I knew in the most essential parts of my being that whatever we faced from now on, we would get through it together.

As the moment of perfection began to ebb, my body sagged back into Diamant’s embrace. I was limp, completely without energy to do anything. My head dropped forward in exhaustion, and for the briefest moment, I closed my eyes.

When I opened them, the diamond-bright surface of my egg, my child, glinted back at me. I felt the cheekiest swell of emotion from it, and I laughed.

“Are you sassing your papa already?” I panted, beyond tired.

“I wouldn’t put it past an egg of ours,” Diamant laughed with me.

He eased me back even as I reached for our egg, and when he lay me against the deliciously soft pillows at the head of our bed, he scooped up our egg and moved it into my embrace.

I groaned with longing as I held my baby close, pressing its warm, bright, and yet somehow also soft shell against my heart. My baby might have been as cheeky as its father, but it was also just as exhausted as I was.

“Rest now, baby,” I told it, curling in so I could kiss it over and over. “You were conceived and born in battle, and you deserve a rest before you need to join us fully and begin to fight your own battles.”

Diamant shifted the bedcovers around and slotted in behind me, making a cozy nest for all of us. I appreciated his efforts and fully intended to tease him about being the one to do all the nesting later .

“So you’ve made peace with the idea of being a papa?” he asked as he cuddled both of us from behind.

I made a noncommittal sound and dragged my eyes away from our egg to smile over my shoulder at him. “I don’t think I could ever be the sort of papa that Tovey or Selle are, or that I’m sure Misha will be, once his time comes. But I wouldn’t mind learning to be my own kind of papa,” I finished, looking at our egg again.

Diamant tightened his arms around me. “Whatever kind of papa you decide to be, I know you’ll be magnificent at it.” He kissed my bare shoulder. “And once you think the time is right, I would love for you to join the battle to make your father’s kingdom a better place.”

I jerked to look over my shoulder at him again. “You would allow me to continue to fight for Osric?”

Diamant laughed. “I don’t see how I could stop you. And to be honest, I want to fight, too. I’ve never felt the kind of purpose that I’ve felt battling by your side for what is right.”

I smiled, then twisted a bit more so I could kiss him. “I’ll make a warrior out of you yet,” I said, then settled comfortably into his embrace.

I closed my eyes, hugging my egg as Diamant hugged me, satisfied with the new life I’d set out on. It would be a life of adventure, that much was certain. My family and I would love every moment of it.