Page 24

Chapter

Twelve

Rumi

I should have felt joy at my father’s death.

At the very least, I should have been relieved that he would no longer punish his own kingdom with the iron grip of his tyrannical rule.

My father had been a terrible person for most of his life, and now that he was gone, Osric could usher in a new era of peace and prosperity.

I should have been jubilant, but all I could think about was the sharp, urgent pain in my belly and the feeling that I might explode.

It wasn’t just me either. It felt as though my egg was gasping for breath.

“I’ve got you,” Emmerich’s strong, caring voice murmured to me as we stepped out of one castle and into another, much better one. “Don’t worry, my love. It’s our time now, and once we birth this egg, I’ll make certain everything in our lives is wonderful from here on out.”

I dragged my eyes up at my mate, so consumed with love for him that I managed to smile through the pain gripping me. I believed him. Emmerich truly would make everything alright. I trusted my dragon like I’d never trusted anyone.

Whether it was that trust or feeling the full force of our bond again or simply the urgency of biology, gazing up into my alpha’s smiling face as he carried me across his bedchamber and lay me on his bed filled me with lust and the need to be one with him.

I shouldn’t have felt that way while in so much pain and with my baby distressed, but love and the scintillating excitement of a life and a world that was about to be eclipsed even the greatest pain.

“I love you,” I gasped, reaching for my mate and pulling him closer to me. “No matter what happens, no matter how difficult this moment and our entire life might be, I love you so much. I was made for you.”

“And I was made for you,” Emmerich said, brushing my hair away from my face, cradling my cheek, then leaning down to kiss me. “We were made for each other.”

He kissed me again, his warmth and his scent wrapping around me.

My body responded forcefully as pleasure and need pulsed through me.

Even though it was impossible, I could have sworn I was going into heat again.

My skin felt hot and prickly, my cock grew hard in an instant, and my hole started to ache and leak slick, as though desperate to stretch open to let my alpha in. Or more likely, to help my egg out.

“I don’t know how to do this,” I panted, more aroused than scared, but definitely scared as well. “I don’t know how to bring an egg into the world.”

“Neither do I,” Emmerich said with a sheepish smile that had huge amounts of love and desire behind it. “I know what is necessary, but we’ll find out the particulars together.”

He reached for my hand, threading his fingers through mine. It was a beautiful gesture signifying that we were together in every way, but when he raised our hands and pinned mine to the pillow above my head, a whole different feeling filled me.

“Take me,” I panted, writhing under him and tilting my hips up. “Breed me.”

Emmerich growled, and a burst of lust shot into me through our bond that had me groaning and wriggling for more. I used my free hand to claw at my clothing, desperate to get out of it. All I wanted was to be naked and spread and open for my alpha so that he could have whatever he wanted from me.

Emmerich saw my struggle and chuckled deep in his throat. The sound sent another burst of slick rushing out of me and came dangerously close to sending me into an orgasm. “Need help?” he asked me, a teasing twinkle in his eyes.

“Yes,” I gusted out, reaching for him.

With a simple sweep of his hand, Emmerich used magic to make my clothing vanish entirely.

I laughed at the expediency of it all, then moaned and arched into his touch as he brushed one hand up my side, over my chest to tease one nipple, then drew it down to rest over the bump of our egg, which had already begun to move lower in my abdomen.

“You are incredible,” he whispered, bending down to kiss my lips, then my chest, then the mound of our baby. “Truly incredible,” he said before slipping lower and taking my cock into his mouth.

It was only a prelude, but I burst into waves of pleasure all the same as my body tremored with orgasm.

Everything seemed heightened, and I felt helpless to do anything but give into the feelings my alpha created in me.

It wasn’t just his mouth either. He stroked my body, parting my thighs and lifting me so that he could delve into my slick-soaked hole.

I cried out with a renewed wave of orgasm as he plunged two, then three, then four fingers inside me, working deeper each time he did. The stretch was glorious, but the sense of being invaded and claimed by my alpha was beyond anything save a breeding orgasm.

“You’re so ready,” Emmerich growled, twisting his hand to find a particularly sensitive spot within me. “Spell or no spell, you’re going to bring our egg into the world with nothing but joy and pleasure.”

I prayed he was right. The reminder sent worry spiking through me, but Emmerich silenced that almost immediately with his touch.

He worshiped my body with his hands and mouth, finding every sensitive spot and celebrating it as I lay back, arching into him and dripping slick and cum like I was a waterfall.

I had no idea when Emmerich had removed his own clothes with magic, but before I knew it, he was lifting me into his arms and plastering me to him as he slanted his mouth over mine in a kiss.

It was the most natural thing to give into him and explore his mouth with my own, but as sensual as the sensation was, the increase in pressure in my belly from being upright told me it was time to birth our egg.

“I’m ready,” I panted, gazing up into my mate’s eyes with absolute trust. “I’m more than ready.”

“My darling,” Emmerich murmured, then kissed me again.

The kiss was short, and once it was done, Emmerich turned me in his arms so that my back was against his chest. Another wave of worry washed through me as he positioned me with my legs spread wide over his thighs, but when he gently lowered me onto his cock, everything fell into perfect focus.

I groaned as I bore down on him, loving the sensation of my alpha filling me.

I briefly longed for his knot and for the intimacy of heat, but what I got was even greater.

Emmerich’s cock seemed to grow inside of me, pushing aside anything standing in the way of my womb and our egg.

I rocked harder on him, and his grip on me tightened.

The first hint of pain was enveloped in so much pleasure that I didn’t notice it at first. I started to come, my head thrown back, embracing the pleasure.

Emmerich thrust harder in me, like instinct forbid him from being gentle and sweet.

I loved it, though. Even when the pain increased as his cock seemed to expand to the point where it would break me, I loved every second of it.

“Emmerich!” I moaned, gripping his hands as they clasped my body, holding me tight. “Oh, Goddess!”

My mate didn’t answer with words. Instead, I felt his love and his desire flood through our bond at full force.

It was blinding and wonderful. The pain in my lower body suddenly increased, and I cried out as our egg dropped lower, stretching me even more than Emmerich’s dragon cock and pushing him out.

I needed to move, needed to bounce on him and rock and do whatever I could to get the enormous egg out of me.

I wanted my body to be rid of it, and I was desperate to meet it and hold it in my arms in equal measure.

Everything came to a head as the egg reached my hole and pushed powerfully past any resistance I might have had left. The pain was unbearable and I screamed with it .

“We’re almost there, love,” Emmerich murmured against my ear. “Almost there.”

With a final push, I felt the egg slide out of me and onto the bedcovers. The relief I felt once it was out was matched only by the joy that filled me when I looked down and saw the perfect, glittering emerald egg between my and Emmerich’s thighs.

I let out another wordless cry, too overcome with emotion for words, as I reached down to scoop the egg into my arms. It was warm and vibrant, and as I clutched it to my chest, my heart beating madly with love, it seemed to sparkle and grow.

“I can’t believe it,” Emmerich said, his voice heavy with emotion. I twisted to smile at him and almost laughed when I caught him weeping. “It’s so beautiful. No one ever told me eggs are so beautiful.”

“It’s beautiful because its ours,” I panted, then laughed as I gazed down at our egg again, completely in love. “So beautiful and so perfect.”

Emmerich and I stayed in bed, wrapped in each other and enamored of our egg, sleeping for a while only to wake and stare at our egg all over again, for what felt like days after the birth.

Emmerich used magic to clean us up, which I found incredibly convenient, then tucked us all under the warm covers so we could enjoy our own little cocoon of love and peace.

I barely even remembered that we’d just fought in a war and won, and that Cousin Osric was now the king of my father’s realm until a soft knock at the door reminded us we weren’t alone in the world.

“I just thought you would like to know that we’re all back in the magical world,” Argus’s voice sounded from the other side of the door. “We’ve gathered in the rose garden, if you’re interested in joining us.”

“Are we interested in joining them?” Emmerich asked me quietly.

As much as I adored gazing at my egg while being held by my mate, I was eager to see my brothers again and to learn what had happened after we’d left the cruel world. I nodded.

“We’ll be down shortly,” Emmerich called to the door.

“I’ll let them know,” Argus said before the faint sound of footsteps walking away.

“You truly are wonderful,” Emmerich said, kissing the top of my head while caressing our egg.