Page 3

Chapter

Three

Selle

T ovey was right. Bonding with a dragon was a strange and disorienting thing. Logically, I barely knew Gildur. He was a handsome man I had danced and flirted with twice now, that was it. There were men from the magical world that I’d danced with every time my brothers and I had snuck down to the pavilion who I should have known and felt a thousand times more comfortable with.

But with that first whiff of Gildur’s linen and ceder scent, with the first warm touch of his skin and the first of his smiles that seemed to have been for me and me alone, it was as though I’d known him my entire lifetime.

Known him and been amusingly exasperated with him all that time as well.

“I’ll show you that I’m just as intelligent as you are,” I muttered to myself as I slipped away from him and the page who had come from the castle to deliver a message.

As much as I would have loved to know what the message was and whether I’d be able to help with any problem Gildur might have had, I had mischief to carry out. I started by finding my brothers, or at least Misha, since the others were all engaged on the dance floor, to let him know my plan and that I might not be returning to our father’s castle with them that night.

“Be careful,” Misha charged me, quickly hugging me before I peeled away and started for the edge of the pavilion. “There’s no telling what sort of danger you’ll find in a dragon’s castle.”

I was reasonably certain I knew exactly what sort of danger I’d find in the castle. It was a danger I relished and invited. Because Gildur was certain to come after me, and if I’d learned anything at all about dragons and their fated mates so far, it was that once a dragon decided you were his, you couldn’t ever get away from him.

At least, you couldn’t get away from him on a profound level. In the moment, it seemed like the easiest thing in the world for me to slip away from the pavilion over a convenient grass bridge that appeared just for me and to sneak through the shadows on the gold-lined path that led up the hill to the majestic castle.

It didn’t feel wrong or even naughty for me to creep up into the castle. It was one of many things about the magical world for which I had no explanation, but the castle felt as if it were mine as much as Gildur’s or any of the other dragons’. I remained as concealed as possible as I approached the large front door, then waited until it opened and a pair of servants exited, heading down to the pavilion.

As if it knew I belonged there, the castle doors remained cracked open just enough for me to slip through. The entire structure, though it was ancient and made of stone and wood, seemed to have a life and personality of its own. I was convinced it was amused by my attempt to prove my mettle to Gildur.

That feeling increased as I walked quickly through the halls, gazing around at the fantastical and beautiful tapestries, wall sconces, and sculptures that decorated and illuminated the castle’s interior. The walls practically oozed magic. I’d never been within the castle or even thought about adventuring in it, but it was as if my feet knew the way to the library Gildur had mentioned.

Perhaps it wasn’t my feet. It might have been the floor itself. It seemed to glow gold as I walked, and when I reached each cross-hallway, the glow turned to one side or the other or kept going, as if it were leading me.

“You know what I’m after, don’t you?” I asked the walls with a smile.

One of the portraits winked at me as I passed. Such a clear answer made me laugh.

The library was every bit as magnificent as I could have dreamed it would be. Unlike the small, dark room in my father’s palace that we called the library, the dragon library was as large as a ballroom. It was two stories tall with a balcony that ran around the upper level. The walls were lined with floor to ceiling bookcases, and all of the books that filled them seemed to buzz and pulse with life, as if the information contained within them was real instead of some written fantasy.

The center of the library contained several tables, almost as if it served as a school. Most of the tables were empty, though they contained beautiful lamps and stands filled with pens and pencils of every kind. A few had books lying out as if they were waiting to be put back on the shelf.

The table that immediately drew me was stacked with books and piles of loose paper, all of it containing handwriting. I strode straight to that table as though whatever research its former occupant had been doing had been left there for me to solve, my heart beating so hard it made my temperature rise.

My excitement doubled when I glanced over the papers and books, catching the general idea of what the research was about from the items on the top of the piles. One paper contained a report about doorways that had been opened between various worlds and discussions about whether those openings had been accidental or for some questionable purpose. I was as interested in the idea that there were many worlds, not just the magical world and the world my brothers and I had come from, as I was in the doors themselves.

I shifted to sit in the large chair at the side of the table where the researcher must have been sitting before and picked up another paper to scan that. The doorways were mostly harmless, bringing people into the magical world who needed to be there or who were fated to live the rest of their lives among magical folk. Most of the reports I ended up reading were from a long time ago, but one in particular caught my eye because it had happened recently.

“Someone slipped from our castle into this world through…a broom closet?” I murmured, eyes wide at the idea. The only people who entered broom closets in my father’s castle were servants, that much was certain. I didn’t recall hearing anything about any of the servants missing, though.

There was more to read and puzzle over, so I set that paper aside and picked up another. It was about a rumor that a noble from my father’s kingdom had discovered some sort of unknown magical item that had allowed him to open a door between worlds. Immediately, I worried that someone had found Rumi’s emerald marble, but that was ridiculous. We’d used that door only a few hours before to enter the magical world.

It stood to reason that there were all kinds of marbles or amulets or figurines that existed that could open doors between the worlds. I was filled with an insatiable urge to discover and catalog all of those items. The allure of learning more about the magical world felt like a powerful drive within me, like a compulsion that was…sexual?

I gasped suddenly, breathing in Gildur’s linen and cedar, as a rush of slick poured out of me.

“I was wondering when you’d notice me,” Gildur said from behind me, laughter in his voice.

I jumped out of the chair and turned to face him, breathing fast and hard. Only this time, it wasn’t because he’d startled me. I was startled, but for an entirely different reason.

“You,” I breathed, uncertain whether I wanted to smile or weep or moan with impending release. “You’re here.”

“As you see, I am,” Gildur said, holding his arms to the side, a wicked look in his eyes. “And you, my love, are here, sitting in my seat, looking at my work.”

A thrill of love and excitement shot through me at the idea that I’d been naturally drawn to whatever work Gildur had. No wonder I’d felt myself seduced by it so quickly. A deep sense of purpose, like the two of us should be working together on whatever the notes and books spread across the table were, swirled through me, and for a moment, I swore I could see our future .

“Magical items that can open doors between the worlds need to be cataloged and regulated,” I said breathlessly, stepping toward my alpha.

Gildur hummed low in his throat and moved toward me like he was stalking his prey. “Darling, you say the most delightful things.”

I laughed, but not so much because he was funny. Although I did find my alpha immensely entertaining. No, I laughed because I was starting to realize why the library felt so hot and why my body was suddenly hypersensitive.

“Are you some sort of law enforcement agent?” I asked, moving slowly toward him as if crashing in slow motion. “Is that why you’re researching doorways between worlds?”

Gildur tilted his head to the side. “In a manner of speaking. Peacekeeper would be a better word for it. But I—” He paused and sniffed the air as I came closer. Then a voracious grin spread across his face. “My, my, darling omega. It seems as though you have gone into?—”

Before he could finish, I threw myself at him. I had never felt a heat come on so strongly in my life, and I never would have dreamed of doing something about it. Thanks to my father’s hatred of omegas and cruelty toward them, I’d only ever had excruciating, empty heats. Not only did I know this heat wouldn’t be empty, I had my fated mate right there, in my arms.

I was only vaguely aware of jumping against Gildur and having him instantly catch me and support my backside so that I could grab his head and pull him close for a kiss. I’d never kissed anyone before, but I knew exactly how I wanted our mouths to be together. I opened my mouth to him, thrusting my tongue against his and sinking it deep into the warm wetness of his mouth. My glasses were knocked askew.

That wasn’t enough, though. With a whimper that I would probably remember with embarrassment, I tugged at Gildur’s tunic while trying to plaster my body as tightly against his as I could. I was suddenly wild, ferociously needy. I wanted my alpha. My fated mate was the only one who could douse the sudden inferno within me.

Gildur laughed even as he kissed me back. “Alright, alright, my love,” he purred, backing me toward one of the empty tables. “I hear your mating call, and believe me, I am primed to respond in whatever way you need me.”

“It’s my heat,” I panted, my mind telling me to be calm and rational about the simple bodily function but my body and heart screaming to meld with Gildur as deeply as possible with all haste. “It isn’t supposed to happen for weeks still.”

“Heats and ruts do not wait when fated mates meet,” Gildur said, a darker note to his voice.

I pulled back enough to gaze into his eyes, then gasped at the dark fire I saw there. “Rut?” I asked.

Gildur hummed, low and deep. “Can’t you feel it?” he asked, stroking my body and tugging at my clothes, pulling my shirt out of my trousers. “The time has come for us to mate, my darling.”

“But we’re in a library,” I panted, tugging at his clothes as well. “It’s happening so suddenly. We barely know each other.”

“We will get to know each other,” Gildur said, losing patience with the buttons of the jacket I wore over my tunic and pulling at it so hard they popped.

I gasped at the violent gesture, then moaned, my eyes rolling back in my head as Gildur slipped his hands under my shirt and up the bare skin of my torso. His touch felt so amazing that I was afraid I’d leak slick all the way through my silken dancing trousers. My cock responded as well, straining against the front of my trousers so hard that when Gildur reached a hand down to tear through the front placket, it burst loose, dripping precum.

“My delicious omega,” Gildur growled, stroking and caressing me. “Let me worship your body. Let me give you pleasure beyond anything you’ve ever felt before.”

I made some sort of vocalization, but it didn’t form into words. I didn’t know what I would have said in any case. The pleasure of Gildur’s touch was amazing and it scattered my mind entirely.

“Yes, my darling,” Gildur purred, tugging my shirt up and somehow, probably magically, peeling it right off my body and leaving my torso bare without me having to lift my body off the table. “Cry for me. Sigh for me. Let me know how desperately you want me.”

A part of me wanted to deny Gildur what he wanted just to be difficult. He was wily and deserved to be teased as much as he teased me. But I could only do what he asked of me, moaning my pleasure as he yanked my trousers down, again magically removing them and my boots from my body with very little movement or effort on my part.

“Perfection,” Gildur sighed, leaning over me and tracing his hands along the full length of my body. “You are everything I have ever craved. I could devour you just like this, as if you were the finest delicacy in all of the worlds.”

I wanted so badly to banter with him, but the only thing that came out of my mouth were desperate, pleasured cries as he kissed his way from my lips, down my neck, across my chest, paying special attention to my nipples as he went, and then down my belly to my cock. I cried out even louder as he drew my cock into his mouth, sliding his tongue along its length and swallowing as my body burst with pleasure.

I’d always thought mating with an alpha was supposed to be the other way around. Omegas serviced alphas. We were little more than breeding stock to them, holes for them to put their cocks in and wombs for them to fill with their seed. Instead, Gildur treated my body with attention and passion, bringing me to orgasm in his mouth, then pushing me farther onto the table so he could part my thighs, exposing my hole.

“My favorite treat,” he hummed, then sent me a wicked look before lowering himself to the level of my hole.

I cried out loud enough to shatter the delicate lamp on the table as Gildur closed his mouth around one of my small, omega balls, sucking for a moment as his hand slid up my thigh. Again, my mind rebelled, telling me that I should be doing the same to him. I wanted to do the same to him. I wanted to feast on his balls and suck his dragon cock to see how deeply I could swallow him. I wanted him to fill my insides with his cum and ease the intense, hot ache within me that needed to be filled by him and him alone.

All of those needs dissolved in fiery pleasure as he slipped his mouth lower, licking at the slick that poured from me, before thrusting his tongue through the tight muscles of my hole. I bucked and started to come again as he moaned, as if drinking the finest wine a magical castle could provide. My body convulsed with bliss, but the disconcerting feeling that something was missing, that I should be on my hands and knees, offering myself to him, had me crying instead of screaming in ecstasy.

“I need…I need,” I panted, unsure what I needed .

“I know, my darling,” Gildur said. “Let me give you what you need.”

He stepped back to tear through his clothes, leaving me spread and dripping on my back. I felt wicked and exposed. My body was spread open and alight with heat for anyone to see and any alpha to take. Ancient instinct roared within me to call out for an alpha to fuck me until my body was humming with joy, but not just any alpha.

I wanted my mate. I needed my alpha, my alpha, to claim me and mate me and fill me with his child. My body would explode if I didn’t have him lodged and pumping in me immediately.

“Fuck me, Gildur!” I gasped, my voice rough with desperation. “I need it! I need you to breed me, now!”

“Yes, my love,” Gildur said, acquiescent and demanding at the same time. “I know what you want and need.”

A quick moment of fear filled me as Gildur grasped my hips and jerked me toward the edge of the table. I could feel slick pouring from my hole, which fluttered and gaped with urgency. It wasn’t urgent for long. With a guttural cry, Gildur guided his cock to my hole then pushed in, deep and firm.

I cried out at the unexpected pain. Mating was supposed to feel good, I was certain. It did feel good, and as soon as my body’s surprise at being taken subsided, as soon as Guldur began to move in me with increasingly feral energy, all pain was forgotten as ecstasy took over.

“My omega,” Gildur growled as his grip on my hips tightened and his thrusts turned harsher. “You are mine. I want you. You will submit to me and be mine forever.” He leaned forward and closed his mouth over the top of my shoulder where it met my neck and bit down hard.

Whatever remaining shred of logic I had snapped. I gave everything over to him, going limp as he fucked harder and harder against the mouth of my womb. I should have resisted, should have given him a hard time and made him work for what he wanted, but we both knew that we belonged together and needed this.

My surrender was so complete that Gildur pushed right through my womb’s tight resistance, pushing the head of his cock into the most sacred part of me. The pleasure of his seed spilling in me drove me wild. I cried and thrashed and bucked against him, trying to get him deeper, trying to milk his body for every drop of seed it had. My mind dissolved in the pleasure completely, and the tiny bond that Gildur and I shared burst wide, as if the floodgates had been wrenched open.

I don’t know how long that magical moment of breeding orgasm lasted, but by the time bits and pieces of reality began to settle around me once more, Gildur had collapsed, spent, on top of me, and we lay across the library table as if it were a bed.

“You…you bred me…in a library,” I gasped, my body clinging to his even as my mind whirled wildly with disbelief.

Gildur started to shake, and a moment later, I realized he was laughing. We were knotted firmly together, but he pushed himself up enough to grin down at me with overwhelming love and said, “It seems only right, really, to breed you in the library.”

I started to laugh along with him, but I stopped with a sharp gasp. He had bred me. I could feel it. I peeked down at my body, which was blurry, since my glasses had been knocked entirely off at some point during the heat wave, and saw that my belly was slightly round.

“My Goddess!” I gasped, searching the table around me for my glasses. “You really did it. You actually bred me! During our very first heat wave together.”

Gildur found my glasses and put them gently back on my face. “Yes, my darling, I did,” he said. When I let out a long breath, he frowned. “You sound disappointed.”

“Well, I was hoping we could, you know, engage in the process of breeding a lot more before it actually took. For research purposes, of course.”

Gildur laughed out loud. “My brilliant, naughty omega,” he said.

I both beamed under his praise and groaned with disappointment when he rocked back and pulled out of me.

A moment later, as he helped me to sit on the edge of the table, Gildur said, “You’re in luck, my sweet. You’re only half-bred right now.”

I sat slightly straighter as I remembered what Tovey had gone through and how ill he’d become when separated from Rufus while only half-bred. “What do we do to breed me all the way?” I asked.

Gildur burst into a cunning smile. “I’m glad you asked,” he said. “Because the answer will be as exciting as what we just did.”