Page 3

Chapter

Three

Leo

M y heart raced with excitement as Diamant and I chased through the night, following the mercenary soldiers who paraded the poor people of the village through the darkened countryside. I loved the thrill of the mission before us, the feeling that people needed me to rescue them, especially as it was my father who had brought them harm in the first place. My pulse also hammered with rage that my father could stoop so low as to take his own people captive in order to manipulate the others into doing what he wanted.

“I can feel your anger from here and we aren’t even bonded yet,” Diamant murmured to me as we lay almost flat in a clump of bushes close to where the soldiers had finally decided to stop and rest for the night.

I twisted to look at Diamant, first with a frown that was born of my indignation over my father’s actions, then with a smile for the heat in his eyes. They seemed to glow white-hot in the night. Clearly, my fated dragon mate was a man of passion.

I’d known Diamant was my fated mate almost from the moment I’d spotted him across the pavilion on one of those first occasions my brothers and I had ventured into the magical world. I could have dismissed the attraction I felt as a natural draw, because Diamant was an extraordinarily handsome alpha. But after hearing Tovey and Selle talk about their feelings towards their dragons and how instantaneously they had formed, I knew that something greater than base lust was at work.

Of course, watching both Tovey and Selle fall into what I considered more traditional omega roles in a mated couple had made me question everything I felt. I wasn’t that kind of omega. I wouldn’t be satisfied with settling down and raising babies. It was fine for some, but I no more wanted to be trapped in a prison of domesticity than I wanted to be locked in my bedchamber in my father’s castle.

That was why I’d kept my distance from Diamant for the last two months instead of flinging myself into his arms, the way Tovey and Selle had with their alphas. I felt the pull to give myself to Diamant in every cell of my body. I’d lain awake, sweating and restless, as thoughts of what it would be like for Diamant to take my next heat assailed me. I’d even slipped behind pillars at the pavilion or out into the night to kiss Diamant a time or two.

But I didn’t want to become his docile houseomega anytime soon.

“You wear your thoughts in your eyes,” Diamant whispered as the commotion of setting up a camp began to settle as the soldiers tucked in for the night.

“I do not,” I protested, heart and womb both fluttering at the way Diamant looked as though he wanted to devour me with his compliments.

“Oh, yes you do,” he chuckled. “I can see the love and concern you have for your people, even in the darkness, and I can see your frustration that you were not born an alpha.”

I tried to swallow, but my throat had closed up. Perhaps Diamant could read me after all.

“Someone needs to stand up against my father and take the throne,” I whispered. “For the benefit of all the people of this realm. But the laws of our kingdom say it cannot be me.”

It was something I regretted deeply. I’d had dreams of rising up and changing the laws so that omegas could be kings, but if that time was ever to come, it would be so far into the future that I would be dead and gone. And now that I knew my future would be in the magical world and not this one, I wished even more ardently for someone who would do what I could not.

Diamant reached across and rested a hand over mine as it splayed on the dirt of our hiding place. “You are doing what you can, my brave omega. That is more than most people ever do. It is more than what I would do on my own.”

I smiled, warmed by my dragon’s confidence in me, but something about the comment didn’t sit right.

“You’re a dragon,” I told him. “Of course you are a warrior and a leader.”

Diamant shook his head, a touch of sheepishness that wasn’t at all dragon-like making his face look sad. “I’m a diamond,” he said. “We’re pretty and entertaining but more or less useless.”

“Don’t say that.” I scooted closer to him, resting a hand on his arm. “Diamonds are the hardest substance in nature.”

“A substance that is used for decoration and as an ostentatious display of luxury,” Diamant argued.

It was almost as if he didn’t know his own worth. “They are used to drill and carve,” I said. “You don’t have to be a silly plaything to be a diamond.”

Diamant faced me with a modest smile. “No one has ever thought as highly of me as you seem to,” he said.

My grin widened. “You’re my fated mate. Of course I think highly of you. And of course that means you are a fighter. I dare say you could fight all those incompetent soldiers on your own if you had to.”

Diamant laughed softly. “Only because they’re incompetent.”

I’d never known someone so magnificent to think so little of themselves. Diamant was the master of the dancing pavilion, but I felt in my soul that with a little encouragement, he could be the master of the battlefield, too.

Thinking of all the ways I could build my mate up affected me in more ways than one. My cock pressed hard into the ground under me, and the fleeting thought that we could slip off into the forest to truly enjoy each other before defeating my father tickled my mind.

But no, we had a mission ahead of us.

“We might not be able to stop my father from implementing his horrible plan on our own, but at least we can slow these soldiers down and stop them from taking this group of villagers to whatever camp my father plans to establish,” I whispered .

“What do you suggest?” Diamant asked.

My heart flipped in my chest. Diamant was a great and powerful dragon. He had magic beyond anything I yet understood, and while I knew from Selle’s investigations that there were actually laws and rules about him using that magic in this world, he easily could have taken charge and told me what to do. Instead, he asked for my opinion.

“It doesn’t need to be anything elaborate,” I whispered. “We simply need to foil the soldiers and make it difficult for them to move. Stealing their boots, perhaps.”

Diamant laughed. “I like your way of thinking,” he said.

“And if we can, we need to free the villagers,” I went on.

“Absolutely,” Diamant agreed with a nod.

Why no one had ever given my dazzling dragon a chance to prove himself before was a fault I would need to bring some people to task for someday. But not today.

I glanced into the soldiers’ camp. Studying what I could by the light of the few fires they’d lit and the lamps they carried. “If we move slowly and look as if we belong, they won’t question us or demand to know why we’re there,” I said.

“And a little of Rufus’s favorite trick to avoid notice wouldn’t hurt,” Diamant added.

He stood, helping me up. Touching him was exciting and sent swirls of desire through me. Whoever made the rules about how fated mates reacted to each other clearly didn’t understand the importance of focus and concentration while executing a plan to foil a tyrant. Once again, my body urged me to disappear into the forest with Diamant and to spend the rest of the night in pleasure.

Diamant laughed as if he could feel my thoughts. “Soon enough, my feisty omega. ”

“Damn your eyes,” I snapped in return, though I smiled as I cursed him.

We set out carefully into the soldiers’ camp. I couldn’t feel whether Diamant cloaked me with some sort of magic, but I assumed he had, since neither the soldiers nor the villagers seemed to notice me as we walked up to the edges of the camp.

I wasn’t certain where this particular band of mercenaries had come from, but they clearly weren’t trained and disciplined soldiers. Most of them seemed more interested in setting out their bedrolls, eating the rations that a wiry, old beta was dishing out from one of the larger fires that had been made, or teasing the hapless villagers, who were in a bad way.

“Your idea will work,” Diamant whispered to me, pointing to a pair of boots that one of the soldiers had removed before slipping into his bedroll.

I nodded, then tip-toed over and carefully took the boots away from the foot of his bedroll. They were old and smelly with holes in the soles. I felt no guilt at all about throwing them on one of the fires near the edge of the camp.

Several other pairs of boots were whisked away from their sleeping owners and tossed into one fire or another, or thrown into the stream that wound near the spot where the soldiers had set up their camp. Diamant and I didn’t stop with boots either.

“What are you doing?” I whispered to him in alarm as he walked up to the horses that Rottum and his deputy had been riding earlier.

“Setting the horses free,” Diamant said, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes .

“They’ll notice missing horses,” I whispered in return. “They’ll notice before morning.”

“No, they won’t,” Diamant said, tapping the side of his nose and winking.

I tried not to laugh as he unfastened their bridles from the tree branch they’d been tied to near the stream and patted their rumps to encourage them to wander off. I could have sworn I saw a sparkle of magic as he tapped them.

We subtly freed as many of the villagers as we could, too, though that proved harder. Too many of those weary souls had already fallen asleep on the grass of the plain.

“It’s alright,” the man whose omega was heavy with child said as he led his husband away. “Free too many of us and the mercenaries will notice. Free just a few and we can go for help and come back with an army of our own.”

“Are you certain?” I asked.

The man nodded, then stared at me for a long while. Then he gasped and his eyes went wide. “Prince Leo,” he whispered in awe.

I nodded, then said. “Don’t tell.”

The man made a sound of surprise that was close to laughter. “So there is good in the castle after all,” he said.

“There is,” I confirmed with a nod. “But we have to fight to conquer the evil.”

The man nodded, then led his omega off, along with two other alphas we’d managed to free.

I wished we could have freed more, but the man was right. We were outnumbered, and if all of the villagers went missing at once, we would have a battle on our hands that we couldn’t win. Diamant could have used his magic, I was certain, but that would have caused untold problems.

“I suppose part of fighting is realizing your limitations,” Diamant whispered to me as we made one final round of the camp, stealing boots, disposing of trousers where they’d been removed for the night, and hiding other supplies. “We will save these people, we just need to make certain we have what it takes to do that.”

I nodded and let out a heavy breath of frustration. It would have been so much more satisfying to save everyone and make everything right all at once. At least we could do what we were able to in the moment.

And working by my dragon mate’s side for a cause I was passionate about was a great deal of fun.

“Tie those two into their bedrolls,” I whispered to Diamant, almost giggling as we made one last pass through the camp. “They’ll have a hard time getting out.”

Diamant grinned, his smile surprisingly dragonlike in the firelight. “Gather up those weapons and bring them into the forest,” he told me as he crouched to tie up one of the bedrolls.

I nodded, grabbing every rusty sword and rotting cudgel I could find. It was a good thing Diamant and I were on the side of rightness and good, because we could have caused a great deal of trouble if we weren’t.

Once we’d finished our mission and retreated into the forest, disposing of the stolen weapons as we went, my heart felt light.

“That was fun,” I said as we walked deep into the cover of the trees, where I assumed we would wait until morning to see if our mischief did what it was supposed to do.

“Exceedingly enjoyable,” Diamant agreed, pausing as we reached the edge of a grassy clearing by the stream.

I had been glancing back over my shoulder at the faint lights of the camp in the distance, but when I turned back, I caught Diamant staring at me with a ravenous look .

My pulse kicked up, and my insides shivered with excitement and heat.

“I can think of something else that would be exceedingly enjoyable,” Diamant said in a low rumble.

I blinked. Could we do that? Right there, in the middle of the forest, deep into the night? I wasn’t even in heat. Could alphas and omegas just enjoy each other for fun?

But of course we could. It was ridiculous that I would even question that, not to mention a sign of how wretched my life had been so far.

I didn’t want to be a wretched, victimized omega. I wanted to be bold and take what I wanted.

So without being completely certain what I was doing, I flung myself into my alpha’s arms. I gripped the front of his dirty tunic, breathed in his rich, alluring scent, lifted to my toes, and slammed my mouth over his.

The effect was instantaneous. Diamant closed his arms around me and growled as he took command of the kiss. One of his hands slipped down to cup my ass and his tongue invaded my mouth.

We’d kissed before, but those stolen kisses seemed chaste compared to the way Diamant explored my mouth now. I could feel his hunger through the heat of his body and the way his thick alpha cock pressed against my belly, even though we were both clothed.

“Wicked omega,” Diamant growled before dipping close to me again to kiss and nibble at my neck.

It was glorious. I’ve never experienced anything like it. The two heats that my father had sold to noblemen of his court in the years before had given me a taste of what happened between alphas and omegas, but those incidents had been nightmarish at best.

Diamant was a dream, and I wanted it to continue for as long as possible. I fumbled with the fastenings at the front of his tunic as he continued to kiss my neck. He worked through the buttons and ties of my clothes as well and was far more nimble with his task.

“Yes,” I gasped as he peeled off the vest I wore, then tugged my shirt off over my head. “Yes to all of this, even though I’m not in heat.”

“I’ll have you in heat someday soon,” Diamant growled, lifting me off my feet and setting me down in the grass so he could cover my body with his larger one. “Very soon,” he added, then leaned down to lick one of my nipples.

It was magnificent. I’d always known pleasure like that was possible, but I’d never dreamed it was something I’d ever experience. Diamant worshiped my body with his mouth and hands, kissing my chest and suckling my nipples as he worked through the fastenings of my trousers and pushed them down.

I sighed loudly as my cock jumped free, then let out a deeper cry as Diamant took it in hand to stroke it.

“Yes, my brave omega,” Diamant said, lust and laughter in his voice as he watched my reactions to being pleasured for the first time. “Give in to what I know you want. You are passionate and greedy for it.”

He was right, and it was a revelation. I wasn’t the shy, retiring omega I’d always been schooled to believe omegas should be. I was filled with desire and wanted to embrace it.

Diamant must have known. He shifted down a bit and pulled off my boots and trousers to leave me completely naked in the grass under him. I loved it and writhed with all the good feelings pulsing through me. Then he grasped my thighs and pushed them apart before bending low over me so that he could pull my cock into his mouth .

I cried out and started to come almost immediately. My hole leaked slick like a dam had burst, and my insides wanted to be filled so badly that I was near tears. The night air against my skin made everything that much better as well.

But that wasn’t all I wanted. As my orgasm subsided, I pushed up, managing to flip Diamant to his back so that I could treat him to the same pleasure he’d just given me.

“Mine,” Diamant growled as he relaxed into the grass while I straddled him. It was a paradoxical thing to say, as I was the one pinning him down and stroking my hands over his solid, muscled body to learn it, but it felt right.

Diamant was beautiful in so many ways. He had the physique of a fighter, and as I stroked and kissed his body, I could have sworn that his skin glittered like diamonds in the moonlight.

I wanted to explore all of him, but a particular sort of desire continued to pulse through me, even though I’d just come. I scooted down so that I could undo his trousers and reach in to free his cock.

As soon as I did, a wave of awe and fear fluttered through me, as though I’d freed a potentially dangerous wild animal that wanted to eat me. Diamant was thick and long with a domed head already wet with moisture. Just the sight of him had slick pouring from me and my hole squeezing. I didn’t know if he would fit in me, but I wanted to find out.

I wanted to taste him first, so I leaned forward and closed my mouth around his head. He groaned and placed a hand on my head, gripping my hair like he would force himself all the way to the back of my throat. I could have managed it in heat, but I didn’t think I could do it right then .

Diamant seemed to sense that, and instead of pushing in that way, he let me slurp and suck and take what I needed and what I could. The taste of him drove me wild, and every omega mating instinct that had laid dormant in me flared to life.

Again, Diamant seemed to be in perfect accord with me. “I need to be in you,” he growled, rising up and grasping me under my shoulders.

I was so drugged with pleasure and need that I put up no fight at all as he flipped our positions once more so that I was on my hands and knees in front of him. The sudden vulnerability of that position had me catching my breath, and when he pushed my thighs apart and brought his heavy cock to my hole, I bore back on him before he could begin to thrust.

It was primal and sudden, but oh so right. Diamant grabbed my hips and thrust hard, burying himself in me. I stifled a cry of pain as he forced past the muscle of my hole, but that resistance was fleeting at best.

My alpha had me. He gripped me tightly as he pushed deeper and deeper, taking what was his. Part of my mind rejected the idea that he had that sort of right over me, but the rest of me gloried in the way he took me, thrusting hard and fast until he was hitting the opening of my tightly closed womb.

He didn’t just take. Once he’d set a rhythm, he reached around and stroked me, bringing me to orgasm again as well. My body shuddered and blossomed with the feeling of coming while he filled me. I made all sorts of wicked sounds as I reveled in the feelings he gave me, and when I felt suddenly fuller, I knew he’d spent his seed in me.

It was glorious. I wasn’t in heat so he didn’t knot me, but that didn’t matter. As the moment of completion faded for both of us, Diamant dropped to his side, still in me, his body sheltering mine as we caught our breaths.

“Beautiful Leo,” Diamant panted, pulling me close.

“My dragon,” I said in return.

I wanted to twist in his arms and say something clever or kiss him some more, but exhaustion overcame me and my eyes closed. But in the back of my mind I felt a distinct stirring. This was only the beginning of what would come for the two of us.