Page 5

Chapter

Five

Leo

I could handle pain. Despite what my father and nearly every other alpha I’d encountered believed, omegas weren’t fainting violets who burst into tears when they so much as stubbed a toe. Omegas, by nature, could manage extraordinary amounts of pain when called on to do so. I’d been through more empty heats by far than I’d had an alpha for. I would rather suffer through the agony of an empty heat than be given away like a prize to some lascivious old alpha who paid my father a fortune.

I would have rather toughed it out and dealt with the blinding, hungry pain that gripped my insides while helping the people of the village of Berk defend against my father’s mercenary army than be whisked off into whatever realm of pleasure and softness Diamant had in store for me.

“No!” I shouted, struggling in his arms and reaching for the portal he’d created between the two worlds, like I could fight my way back into my father’s world. “No, I don’t want this! My people need me. I have to be with them!”

Even as I shouted that, another wave of heat and pain and need nearly doubled me over.

“You don’t have a choice, my sweet,” Diamant said, his voice somehow lower and darker.

“Don’t call me that,” I insisted, twisting and writhing to get out of his embrace as he carried me away from the doorway and…down a dimly lit hall?

I gasped and stopped struggling long enough to assess my surroundings. Diamant had opened a door from the village straight into what appeared to be a great manor house. The hallway he pulled me down was wide and comfortable, with landscape paintings on the walls and several doorways into parlors and sitting rooms that would have my father’s courtiers drooling over their opulence. The floor we walked across was marble, but it appeared to have streaks of diamond spreading through the base stone.

“Where are we?” I asked, beginning my struggle again as we neared a wide, curving staircase. “Where have you taken me?”

“I’ve brought you home, my love,” Diamant said, shifting his hold on me as if he would take my hand and lead me upstairs. “I’ve brought you to my lair, where you belong, for your heat.”

“No!” I shouted, wrenching away from him. “This cannot happen. My people need me. I need to fight, to defend the village and save them, not?—”

My strong words were cut short by a wave of desperation so sharp that it buckled my knees completely. I sank to the marble floor, relieved by its coldness. So much so that I tipped back to sit on the cool stone, hoping my quivering hole would get the message and stop its heat-addled nonsense.

Instead, I was mortified by the sensation of slick pouring out of me and soaking not only my trousers, but the floor under me as well. It was undignified, but worse than that, it seemed to prove the worst of everything my father and his ilk had ever said about omegas. We were weak, libidinous, empty-headed fools who were only good for having our holes stuffed and our wombs expanded with children.

“Love, you cannot fight your nature,” Diamant said in a voice that was both soothing and thick with desire.

When I glanced up at him, incredulous at being accused of everything I didn’t want to be, I gasped at the shape of his eyes. They had gone from ordinary ice blue to slit like a dragon’s eyes. His pale skin was flushed with rut, and when I let my gaze drop a little, I could see his thick cock straining hard against the front of his trousers.

Without thinking, I lunged for him. A cry of longing and defeat left my lungs as I buried my face against his groin, clawing at his trousers as if I could rip through them to reach his cock and draw it into my mouth. I needed to suck and swallow him more than I needed air. I needed to feel his cum hit the back of my throat and slide into my belly, easing the need that pounded through me.

“I know, sweetheart,” Diamant growled, stroking my hair then reaching down to scoop me up under my arms. “I feel it, too. It’s never been this strong.”

I whimpered as he lifted me, but I hated that sound coming from me so much that I struggled against him once I was on my feet.

I managed to break free, and with all the resistance I had left in me, I bolted away from Diamant and across the wide hall towards a door I’d just noticed.

“No you don’t,” Diamant said, chasing easily after me and catching me around the waist. “I had hoped we could manage this calmly, but I can see that isn’t going to happen.”

“Let me go! Let me go!” I shouted as Diamant hoisted me over his shoulder and headed back down the hall.

His indrawn breath was audible as he breathed in my heat scent. My dripping ass was close to his head as I lay over his shoulder, and I felt the tremor that passed through his body as he carried me swiftly into what appeared to be a private wing of the house.

Being so close to him and so much at his mercy affected me, too. I panted with the need to feel him deep inside me, like the night before but deeper. My womb trembled in excitement within me, making my heart race, my cock stand up greedily, and my hole gush with slick.

It was as exciting as it was humiliating. I growled and thrashed, trying to roll off Diamant’s shoulder so I could flee back to the battle in Berk, but Diamant’s grip on me was too tight. I wouldn’t be able to break free, and that had me as close to tears as I’d ever been.

I lost the will to fight for a moment and lay over Diamant’s shoulder, panting and moaning as I caught my breath. As soon as he walked me into a large bedroom decorated all in shades of white, a huge bed draped with curtains of diamonds in its center, my energy returned.

“I don’t want this,” I groaned as Diamant gently set me on my feet. “I don’t want to be a brood mare for a dragon.”

“You aren’t?—”

Before Diamant could finish, I broke away from him, dashing toward the large, glass doors that led out to some sort of garden patio.

“Enough of this!” he roared. The doors slammed shut magically in front of me, arresting my progress. “You are my omega, you are in heat, and you will give in to your natural desires.”

“But that’s not who I am!” I shouted, turning to face Diamant.

“Yes, it is,” he insisted, stalking toward me.

I could sense that his patience had grown thin. It wasn’t just my heat that the two of us had to content with. We were fated mates, and my heat had sent him into rut. I could feel the change that had come over him. My good-natured, humorous, dragon companion had given way to a hungry beast with a look in his eyes that said he would have me whether I wanted it or not.

The thrill of those feelings might have been the only thing that kept me from despair. I couldn’t choose whether I was in heat or not, but I could choose how that heat went.

“You can’t force me,” I said breathlessly, dashing to one side.

Diamant knew that I meant the exact opposite of my words. His ferocity seemed to grow as he darted to the side, chasing me around the bed and grabbing for me, but underneath what was a truly frightening demeanor, I could feel the pulse of his love for me.

“If that’s the way you want to play it,” he growled, swaying to the side as I attempted to dodge around him.

I made a break for the other side of the room, but this time, he didn’t just swipe at me, he caught me around the waist and pulled me close. I thrashed and struggled, but he lifted me off my feet and threw me hard onto the bed .

I gripped the silken coverlet, trying to crawl my way to freedom across the cloudlike expanse of the bed. Diamant caught me by one ankle and pulled that boot off, then wrenched the other boot from my foot as well. Whether he used magic to assist him or not, he had my feet bare in no time.

“You are mine, omega,” he growled, stretching over me and reaching for my waist so he could yank me back toward the edge of the bed. “You will succumb to me. Your womb will open and I will fill it with my seed.”

Another burst of genuine panic cut through me. I thrilled at the idea of Diamant having his way with me and bringing us both mountains of pleasure, like he had the night before, but the idea of being bred made me want to scream in frustration. Mostly because my body loved the idea.

“No,” I panted, clutching at the bedcovers and trying to get away, even as Diamant wrestled my trousers off, leaving my lower body completely exposed.

“Yes,” my dragon insisted, pulling me even closer to him so he could yank my vest and shirt off.

He was quick and efficient with his movements. My body strained and sang as air swirled around my bare skin. My cock stood straight out in front of me, dripping almost as badly as my hole, which spilled volumes of slick across the bedcovers.

“You cannot escape your fate,” Diamant said, his voice rougher and more primal than ever as he flipped me to my back.

I gasped at the sight of him, naked and erect, by the side of the bed. He must have used magic to remove his clothing, but it hardly mattered. His body was huge and chiseled, like the finest sculpture imaginable. Sweat already shone over his body like diamonds. The look in his eyes was one of pure lust as he swept his gaze over my pink and straining body.

“My mate,” he growled, gripping my thighs and pushing them apart. “You are mine and mine alone.”

I groaned in despair, but that sound turned into a cry of pleasure as Diamant dipped down to rake his tongue across my slick-messy hole. He moaned as if tasting the most delicious treat ever. That sound combined with the sensation of his tongue stroking and probing my hole had me bursting with orgasm before I could stop myself.

It was powerful, intoxicating, and it rendered me completely helpless. More slick poured from me as thin trails of cum painted my belly. Diamant found that alluring and shifted to lick it straight from my skin. That had me coming again and writhing for more.

“Fuck me!” I demanded, gasping for air. “I want my dragon in me, now!”

I couldn’t believe I would make such a demand, but when Diamant laughed, the sound almost sinister, and shifted back to spread my legs wider and grasp my hips, I didn’t care.

He wasn’t gentle or easy with me. I didn’t want him to be. If I was destined to be a hole for my dragon to pleasure himself in, then I wanted our mating to be as raw and primal as possible.

I cried out as Diamant first breeched me, relishing the moment of pain as my body adjusted to his intrusion. He seemed somehow bigger than the night before and his thrusts more demanding. I gripped the bedcovers above my head and cried out as he pounded deeper and deeper into me.

I felt the swell of acceptance and excitement in my womb moments before the head of Diamant’s cock pushed right past any resistance it might have put up. There was no resistance at all, really. As much of a fighter as I was, my traitorous womb blossomed like a flower in spring and let my dragon mate in without so much as a pinch of defense.

It was the most amazing sensation I’d ever felt. I closed my eyes and cried out as I felt my beloved’s seed spill into me, filling me with life and pleasure. We were one in that moment, pulsing with carnal delight that was so good it felt as though the old me melted away and a new man formed in its place.

Greater still was the sensation of a door between me and Diamant bursting wide as our souls entwined. I was vaguely aware of him bending over me as his impossibly large knot formed, locking us together, and biting my shoulder at the junction of my neck.

Even more pleasure flooded through me, but it was my mate’s pleasure as well as mine. Every part of me was alight with magnificence as one, continuous orgasm crashed through me. It was so all-encompassing that I wasn’t sure where it began or ended.

“Leo,” Diamant moaned above me, rocking into me over and over as the last of his orgasm faded, his balls completely empty. “My Leo.”

I replied with a wordless sound of acceptance and despair. I wasn’t sure that I was his Leo anymore. I was different, changed. I could feel the spark of something inside me, feel the expansion of my womb as new life doubled and grew with lightning speed within me.

As exhaustion pulled me hard into sleep, I came close to weeping with the knowledge that my dragon mate hadn’t just taken my heat, he’d bred me .

I wasn’t certain how long I slept. I’d never known sleep so deep or so peaceful before. When I awoke and blinked to take in my surroundings, I saw that I was in the same bed, only the right way around. I could feel Diamant’s body behind me, almost wrapped around me, and felt the humidity of his breath against my shoulder. His spicy, alpha scent encompassed me, soothing me on a soul-deep level.

But it was the distinct awareness of him on a profound level that startled me the most.

“We’ve bonded,” I said groggily, reaching up to touch the slightly painful spot on my neck where he’d bitten me. My hand came away with a small collection of perfect diamonds that I dropped into the sheets.

“Yes, we have,” Diamant said, snuggling me as if I were some soft toy that he loved.

I both adored the feeling and frowned at it.

Then the greater reality hit me.

Heart in my throat, I lowered my hand to my belly. Sure enough, it was slightly round and I could feel something solid within me.

“It’s alright,” Diamant said, feeling my distress. He laid his hand over mine on my belly. “All fated mates conceive during their first heat together. I don’t know of a single instance where it isn’t true.”

I let out a sudden sound of despair and frustration. “It’s not who I am,” I said, sounding as pitiful as I felt and hating it. “I’m not some docile papa. I never wanted to have babies to begin with.”

I half expected Diamant to be angry with me. It was his child, his egg, I was carrying, after all. Instead, my mate radiated understanding .

“I’ve never imagined myself as a sire either. My life has been too frivolous for that. We will manage this together,” he said. “I will not be cloying and say that you will love our child as soon as it is birthed, but I do know that you have a good, open heart.”

“I’m a fighter,” I said, struggling not to weep. “That is who I am. I don’t know who I am anymore like this.”

“You are my beloved,” Diamant said, kissing my cheek and neck and as much of me as he could reach. “You are my fated mate and the bravest, strongest omega I have ever known. You make me a better alpha.”

“I don’t want the person who I have worked so hard to be taken away from me,” I breathed out, battling against the despair of an unknown life that I would be forced to live but that I didn’t choose.

“We will face this together,” Diamant said. “We will?—”

His promise to me was cut short by an urgent knock on the door.

“My lord,” a male servant’s voice came from the other side. “You are needed downstairs at once. Prince Selle and Prince Tovey are here seeking Prince Leo with urgent news.”

That was enough to startle me out of my stupor. I sat up along with Diamant and turned toward the door.

“What is the nature of this urgent news?” Diamant asked, as if inquiring whether it was really so urgent as to drag us out of bed.

“I do not know for certain, my lord, but they say they have seen something distressing in a certain scrying glass.”

I gasped. “The battle. They must have seen something about the battle.”

I threw off the bedcovers and scrambled out of bed, searching for my clothes. I needed a thorough wash while I was at it. Fortunately, there was a wide basin in the corner of Diamant’s room next to a screen.

I didn’t make it more than three steps in that direction before a cool breeze, like someone sweeping the finest silk over my body, swirled around me. When I glanced down, not only was I perfectly clean, I was dressed in a magnificent suit of white and blue decorated with diamond accents.

When I turned to Diamant, who rolled out of bed, stood, and was instantly dressed in a similar manner, he shrugged. “What is the use of magic,” he said, “unless you can use it to complete life’s more mundane tasks in the blink of an eye?”

I grinned at him and nearly laughed before remembering the urgency of the situation before us.

I walked around the bed and took his hand, and together the two of us left the bedchamber. We followed the middle-aged, beta servant downstairs and into one of the parlors we’d passed the night before. Selle and Tovey were waiting there, their dragons with them.

“Oh! You’re looking….” Tovey greeted me, but stopped, flushing pink, as if he didn’t know how to point out what we all knew I’d just done.

“What is the news?” I demanded, striding into the room like a general and ignoring the bulge of my belly.

Selle, who was wearing glasses again, adjusted his frames as he stared at my belly. He shook his head as though there were more important things for him to focus on, and there were.

“We’ve just seen in the scrying glass,” he said. “Father’s army attacked Berk. The people of Berk put up a long and noble fight, but in the end, they lost.”

“Dozens of prisoners have been taken,” Tovey added fretfully. “They’re being marched toward the camp Father established.”

My turmoil and uncertainty melted away. I knew with absolute certainty what needed to be done.

“We have to rescue them,” I said.