Page 10

Chapter

Five

Emmerich

I ’d known all along that when the moment came for Rumi and I to embrace our bond instead of fighting it off, everything would fall into place. I was right, but I hadn’t anticipated how contented and even docile sleeping with my half-bred omega in my arms would make me.

Rumi slumbered away like he hadn’t slept in years after our exciting and scintillating lovemaking.

I couldn’t think of it as breeding, exactly, since I’d technically already began the process of breeding my fated mate a year ago.

Whatever twists and tricks magic had played on the two of us as the spell I’d cast so long ago unraveled, the result was pure, perfect bliss.

Watching Rumi in his sleep was my new favorite thing.

He didn’t have the same youthful innocence of his brothers or some of the omegas I’d known ages ago, in the past, but he was deliciously sweet without the cares of the world creasing his brow all the same.

His face was relaxed and his body curled into mine as he slept with one arm and one leg thrown over me.

The bulge of his belly pressed into my stomach, filling me with the thrilling anticipation of being a father, perhaps sooner rather than later.

Ordinarily, once an omega birthed a dragon egg, it took that egg roughly nine months to mature to the point of hatching.

Rufus and Tovey’s eggs were ready to hatch any day now, and Gildur and Selle’s egg wouldn’t be that far behind.

I wasn’t certain what might happen with my and Rumi’s egg, though.

By date of conception alone, it should already have been born and hatched.

I didn’t know whether the pausing spell and the breaking of that spell would mean its entire development would be accelerated once it was birthed.

I didn’t truly know if it would develop too fast within Rumi and become impossible to birth without danger.

That thought had my heart pounding in no time. I tightened my embrace, sweeping a hand down to caress the bump of my mate’s belly where our baby rested, wondering if I should wake Rumi up to finish the breeding process.

As it happened, my worry must have roused my mate from his much-needed sleep.

Rumi sucked in a breath and stretched, limbs spreading as he shook away the last of his slumber. He hummed and smiled, stroking a hand up my chest, then opened his eyes and met mine.

“Good morning,” he said in the warmest, sexiest voice I’d ever heard.

I felt his delight at waking in my arms through our bond, and I was certain he could feel just how happy I was to see his sleepy, smiling face.

“Or is it even morning anymore?” he asked, twisting so he could look around the room a bit .

“I have no idea what time it is,” I said, brushing my fingertips over his face before cupping his cheek and leaning in to kiss him soundly. “Time doesn’t matter when I’m with you.”

Rumi’s smile widened as I kissed him. He kissed me back, rolling into me. I rolled to my back, pulling him with me and using him as a blanket to cover me.

“I like this,” Rumi said, a low purr in his voice as he wriggled against me. “I definitely like this.”

He adjusted so that he could balance over me and lean down to kiss me.

I loved how bold he was with his kisses, taking what he wanted.

I wasn’t too proud to admit that I didn’t always have to be the aggressor when I was with an omega.

One or two of my past lovers had been particularly skilled at taking the upper hand, but I didn’t want to think about them now.

I didn’t want to think about them ever again.

“I think we shouldn’t waste time in birthing our egg,” I told Rumi as his kisses turned more ardent. “I’m uncertain whether being paused for so long then restarted will cause it to grow faster than usual.”

“I can feel it growing,” Rumi said breathlessly.

“Then we should finish breeding you at once,” I said, grinning in anticipation of how pleasurable that would be.

I muscled myself to sit and pulled Rumi with me. He naturally straddled my hips and was well on his way to moving so that he could impale himself on my ready cock when the door to our bedroom banged open.

Rumi jumped in shock and I roared with fury and indignation at being interrupted in such an intimate moment, but as soon as I saw the looks of desperate alarm on Gildur’s and Selle’s faces as they hesitated in the doorway, my rage quelled .

“I’m sorry,” Selle gasped, turning his face away from what he’d witnessed. “I am so sorry.”

“Selle!” Rumi panted, shifting so that he could sit across my thighs without me burying myself within him, which was a huge disappointment to my inner dragon. “What are you doing here?”

“We wouldn’t have interrupted like this, believe me,” Gildur said with absolute gravity. “But we need you. The battle is a bloodbath and Osric is losing. We have to do something or the war against Freslik will be over, and our side will not be the victors.”

I gaped at my brother for a moment, fighting to let go of my instinct to be enraged at being interrupted in such a tender moment with my omega. I could see in my brother’s eyes that things were every bit as dire as he said they were.

As much as I wanted to finish breeding my omega, we were both needed elsewhere.

“This can wait,” Rumi said quietly, his gaze meeting mine, his cheeks flushed pink from desire and embarrassment.

I didn’t want it to wait, but I knew it had to. I nodded softly to him, then turned to give my brother a jerkier nod. “We’ll come,” I said.

“I’ll let Osric know,” Gildur said before hastily backing out of the room and shutting the door behind him and his mate.

“Do we have time to quickly birth the egg?” Rumi asked, even though I could feel that he knew the answer.

I shook my head and got out of bed, carrying him with me and setting him on his feet. “No. The process itself would be fast enough, but it is taxing on an omega’s body. You would need time to recover. Besides which, once our egg is born, you aren’t going to want to leave it. ”

“You’re right,” Rumi said with a sigh.

He stepped over to the side of the room where the pajamas he’d been wearing before sat in a pile, but we both knew those clothes wouldn’t do.

“We don’t have time for that,” I said, walking toward him.

With a quick wave of my hand, we were both instantly clean and dressed in clothing appropriate for battle.

I wasn’t about to risk my mate being hurt again, so in addition to a serviceable tunic and trousers, I conjured padded armor that would be strong enough to protect him but nimble enough for him to move around in.

Rumi glanced down at his clothing, then up at me with a look of affection. “I won’t put myself in a position to be hurt again if I can help it,” he said.

“I know,” I answered, taking him into my arms for one last kiss. “I just don’t want to take any chances.”

Our kiss lasted longer than it should have, but I eventually let my beautiful mate go. I stepped to the side and conjured a doorway back into the cruel world, then took his hand and stepped through.

Gildur was right in saying that the battle was still raging and that our side was losing.

Time moved differently in the magical world than it did in the cruel world.

By the position of the sun, no more than an hour had passed in the cruel world.

The sounds of battle, of steel clashing against steel, of men shouting and crying out for help, and of distant orders being shouted to whoever might hear them, filled the air.

The scent of blood and metal and mud was everywhere.

Worst of all, it was clear in an instant that Freslik’s forces had pushed Osric’s army back almost all the way to the hillside. As had been the case when I’d taken Rumi away from the battle, everywhere we looked, men who should have been allies were fighting against each other.

“The dark spell is still active,” Rumi called out over the noise, seeing what I saw.

I nodded grimly and conjured two swords, one for both of us. Rumi took his with a grave expression and raised it defensively as we rushed to the side of the melee where Osric, my brothers, and Rumi’s seemed to be concentrated.

“They’ve definitely been turned,” Osric called to us when he saw us coming. “We’ve been doing everything we can to break the spell, but as soon as we free a few men, others succumb to it.”

My brow inched up in surprise and I turned to my brothers for a deeper explanation.

“Whoever the traitor is, they’re still out there,” Rufus growled. “But it appears as though their spell is breakable if we can get close enough to the affected soldiers.”

“Then why don’t we spread out and help them?” Rumi asked. I could feel his twist of frustration at the appearance that everyone capable of magic was clumping together outside of the main thrust of the battle.

“Whenever we join the fray,” Diamant explained, “we become the one and only center of everyone’s focus and attack.”

I frowned. “Does that mean that the sorcerer traitor knows who you all are?”

“Everyone knows who we all are at this point,” Argus said with humor that was entirely misplaced.

“We can’t just stand here and do nothing,” Rumi appealed to his brothers. “I know we’re not magic, but there has to be something we can do. If we?—”

His words were cut short as a thrown knife came sailing through the air, missing his head by a fraction of an inch .

A burst of fear sliced through me, but I wasn’t certain whether the emotion was mine or my mate’s. Either way, it didn’t matter. I grabbed Rumi and pulled him closer, shielding him with my body.

“We have to end this battle,” I called out to Osric. “Even if we end it in defeat.”

“We cannot give up yet,” Osric said in return, shaking his head.

“You’re back!” the high, panicked voice of Nikkos cut through the clashing sounds of battle. “You disappeared, but you’re back!”