Page 7

Chapter

Four

Argus

B reeding my omega was bittersweet. Especially considering that as soon as the bond roared into place between us as we were both swallowed up by breeding orgasms, I could feel just how conflicted Obi’s feelings were.

He was exhausted after breeding and fell asleep before my knot went down. I continued to hold him even after we separated, hoping that he would feel my genuine care and affection for him as he slept. I slept a bit myself but woke before him and spent a good hour watching him slumber.

Obi was beautiful, there was no denying it.

He was young and unblemished in so many ways.

His blond hair was a bit overlong and had fallen into a complete mess as he’d slept.

His lips were full and parted slightly as he breathed.

I wanted to kiss those lips a thousand times and pepper his whole face and luscious body with kisses as well.

He was my mate, my omega, and now that we’d bonded and my egg grew within him, the urge to take care of him in every way was intense.

Obi wasn’t the only one captured in the net of perfect, unfamiliar feelings that came with having a fated mate.

I would admit that I had an advantage over him in that I had known who he was and that he was my mate for years now.

I’d been able to get to know him, even if that was from a distance, for the entire time that I’d been in his father’s castle, disguised as Councilor Dormas.

But that didn’t mean I was entirely ignorant of the disjointed feeling of seeing someone for the first time and feeling in my soul that my life was meant for theirs and vice versa without truly knowing who they were.

Having a fated mate was wonderous and comforting after time, but when two fated mates first met and reacted to each other, things could be awkward.

Whether Obi felt the uncomfortable shift in my thoughts or whether he was merely done sleeping, he stirred.

I could tell when he sucked in a deep breath and rolled from his side to his back that he scented me.

His expression tightened even before he opened his eyes to stare up at me as I propped myself on one arm beside him.

“It was real,” he said in a groggy, morning voice. “That all really happened.”

“It did,” I said, smiling.

I reached out to stroke the side of his face, but he closed his eyes again and turned his head away from me.

I sighed and rested my arm against my side.

“I’m sorry for the awkwardness of being fated mates,” I said, racking my brain for a way to get through his stubbornness about what he saw as being forced to feel love for a stranger.

“I can assure you that over time, this bumpy beginning will blossom into a wonderful life together.”

He opened one eye and looked over his shoulder at me. “That’s easy for you to say. You haven’t just had your entire life hijacked by a dragon you don’t know.”

I could feel his irritation through our bond. It was a young man’s frustration. Obi had yet to entirely grow out of a tendency for adolescent temper tantrums.

But then, I wasn’t surprised. My feisty mate had come of age after Freslik had decided that his omega sons were good for nothing but being political pawns.

He’d been short-changed on his education and kept far more isolated than some of his older brothers.

It was no wonder that Obi was a pulsing ball of energy just waiting to expand and explore.

And from his point of view, I’d come along and cut all that short by turning him into a mate and a papa before he’d had a chance to spread his wings.

Speaking of which….

“How are you feeling?” I asked. I had to force myself not to reach around to cradle the bump that now graced his belly.

Obi frowned and wriggled as he rolled to his back again, then stopped, even holding his breath. I watched his hand slide down his front under the covers until it reached his belly. Then he gasped and sat up abruptly.

“It’s an egg,” he said, as if being pregnant with an egg came as a huge surprise to him. “You put an egg in me.”

I winced slightly. “You put an egg in me” was a little too accusatory for my liking. It was clear my omega was still angry.

“Obi, will you let me hold you?” I asked him, sitting up and positioning myself so that he could fall into my arms if he wanted to.

Obi frowned, but that frown quickly turned into confusion. “Why do you want to hold me?” he asked. “I’ve already performed my duty. I’ve got your egg in me. Isn’t that what a fated mate is supposed to do?”

His irritation was fueling my frustration. Being bonded had its downs as well as its ups.

“I am not some monster who has set out to deliberately ruin your life, Obi,” I told him, fighting to keep my temper in check. “I want to give you the best life possible, a life better than either of us could have dreamed of.”

“By chaining me to your bed or keeping me locked away in some nursery incubating your eggs?”

I clenched my jaw and took a deep, cleansing breath. Neither of us were going to get anywhere if we let the resentment of our fate eat away at us.

As I blew out a breath, I tried to project calm and a sense of maturity through our bond. Obi’s youth was charming, even arousing, to me most of the time, but not when it caused him to fly off the handle or jump to conclusions.

“I have no intention of keeping you locked or chained in any room,” I said as evenly as I could. “I am not your father.”

Obi opened his mouth to hurl some sort of curt reply, but ended up closing his eyes and taking a breath instead. Whether that was because of my influence through our bond or because he actually was learning patience and maturity didn’t really matter.

“I’m sorry,” he said, opening his eyes. “I shouldn’t be so upset. I’ve watched four of my brothers go through this already. I know that fated mates just sort of end up pregnant after their first heat together. I still think it’s a stupid trick of nature, but I know it’s not your fault.”

Good. We were getting somewhere.

“Thank you for saying that,” I said, reaching for him across the bedcovers but stopping just short of touching him.

“And I want you to know that I’m experiencing the same inexplicable attraction to someone I don’t really know that you are.

” It was true, but to be honest, I had already gotten over the shock of meeting someone for the first time who I knew would be an integral part of my life when I’d first taken up my post in the castle.

Obi sank in on himself slightly. “I hadn’t thought of that,” he said. He peeked up at me and asked, “So dragon alphas find themselves suddenly in love with a complete stranger, too?”

“Yes,” I said, smiling cautiously. “Omegas aren’t the only ones who Nature plays that trick on.”

Obi sat straight, his indignation returning, but it was no longer directed at me specifically.

“You have to admit it’s different for omegas,” he said, reaching up absently to touch the bite mark I’d left on his shoulder, as if it were itching.

“Alphas are physically overpowering and dominant. Omegas are smaller and weaker. And you saw the way I behaved last night once we were going at it. I don’t know if you can appreciate how unnerving it is to—whoa! ”

His eyes went wide when he pulled his hand away from his shoulder and found it was filled with small, bright pieces of silver. He gaped at his small hoard of treasure, then glanced up at me in question.

I grinned. “It’s a dragon mate thing,” I said with a shrug. “The effect tends to go away as the wound heals, you will always be able to prove that you’re the mate of a silver dragon that way.”

“Magic is weird,” he said, dumping his handful of silver onto the bedcovers.

We had a short minute of silence as the two of us sat there, bonded strangers, mates who knew very little about each other. Even I wasn’t entirely certain what to do next.

“Do you have any other questions for me?” I asked once the awkwardness between us started to be too much.

Obi laughed ironically. “I have so many questions that I don’t know where to start.”

I smiled and reached out toward him again. This time, he stared at my hand for a long time before gingerly placing his smaller one in mine.

If only it had felt comfortable holding hands with my mate.

“You must be hungry,” I said, not wanting the awkwardness to continue. “Why don’t we get up and have breakfast on the veranda. It looks like a beautiful day today.”

Obi nodded and started to move, then stopped. “Wait. Shouldn’t I be getting back to the castle? My father will either storm in to check on me and Rumi and drag me away to do lines for Councilor Dormas or send someone to check on us for him.”

I arched one eyebrow at his statement. My mate had to have figured out that I was Councilor Dormas by now…hadn’t he?

“Time moves differently between the two worlds, if you will remember,” I said instead of pointing out what was, to me, obvious.

Obi sucked in a quick breath and nodded. “Right. That’s true.” He blinked, then focused on me and said, “So we could spend an entire day together here and then I could go back and it would still be morning or the night before in my father’s world.”

I smiled and slipped out of bed. “Or you could do as some of your brothers have done and forego the cruel world entirely and come to live here with me for good.”

Obi laughed wryly and scrambled out of the other side of the bed. “Not a chance,” he said. “I want to join my cousin Osric and fight by his side when he?—”

I turned to see what had cut Obi off mid-sentence. I was vain enough to think that he had caught sight of my naked body and gone speechless, but in fact, he was staring down at his own stomach. He was clearly with egg.

I felt a waver of emotion through our bond before Obi moaned slightly and said, “I’m really pregnant.”

Without waiting for permission, I walked around the end of the bed and took my mate into my arms. “You really are, love,” I said.