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by Alison Aimes
She couldn’t wait to burn with him deep inside her.
Several hours later, clean, warm and dry, well-fucked and knotted, Nikolai lifted her into his arms and, cradling her, plopped them both in front of the fire in his room, the plush couch more than big enough to hold them both with ease.
He pulled a blanket over her.
Sleepy, she snuggled in close, soaking in the dancing flames, purring softly as he played with her damp hair, his thick fingers gentle as they combed out the last of the tangles.
Sex between them had always been amazing, but now it was even better. Revelatory. Her newfound confidence allowing her to see what she’d been too uncertain and afraid to recognize before: the depth of his love and devotion, the scope of his need.
He truly was hers as much as she was his.
“I meant what I said in front of the Brotherhood.” His rumbled words cut into her thoughts. “I owe you a thank you.”
She smiled against his chest. “I believe you thanked me plenty already. Five times in fact.”
She thought he’d smile. He didn’t. “I hated every second apart. I thought it was the best way to keep you safe.”
“I understand.”
“Do you?” Lifting her, he repositioned her so that her legs straddled his and their faces were aligned. “It isn’t always easy for me to say what I feel, but I realized today that if I’d died without you knowing, it would have been my greatest failing yet.”
“Alpha, I do know.” She cradled his jaw in her palm. “I can feel it through our bond with every beat of my heart—and yours.”
He turned and kissed her palm. “But some things need saying aloud. Omega, what I feel for you is timeless. Vast. Infinite. It is past, present, and future. It is need and rage and pain and lust. It is every dirty sin, every ruthless act, every brief flicker of goodness and light in me. It is all for you. It has always been for you.”
“Nikolai.” She threaded her fingers through his hair. “It has always been you for me, too.”
“I survived a fire, years of hell and hunting, so I could come for you. I killed and lied and cheated so I could build an empire strong and sturdy enough to keep you safe. I rose to be the most ruthless, feared bastard of them all so I would be powerful enough to snatch you from my enemies and make you mine.”
She blinked hard to keep her foolish tears at bay.
“Every move I’ve made has been to bring you back to me. Love is too weak a word for what I feel for you, Dahlia Lundin Skolov. You are my beginning and my end, my wildest obsession, my greatest purpose. I would walk through fire for you. Burn down a universe if it kept you safe. So, you can be sure”—he pressed his lips to hers and whispered—“I will do whatever it takes to ensure you stay with me. You are not my property, you are my everything.”
“Thank you for those words. Like my necklace, I will cherish them always.” She kissed him back, tiny worshipful touches at each corner of his mouth. Their world wasn’t perfect, but with him by her side, it was beautiful and right, nonetheless. “You are my strength and my anchor.” Next, she worshiped his temple, his throat. “You are the dream I never knew I wanted. I love you so much.”
“I love you, too, my treasure, my mate, my queen.”
His mouth found hers once more and soon the bands at her wrists and throat pulsed with golden light as she gripped his horns and rode him while he growled and thrust deep inside her. They were frenzied in their fucking, consumed by primal need, unquenchable hunger, and wild, raw trust and honesty as only an Alpha and his omega could be. Joined in every way.
As they were always meant to be.
There was no greater bond than between fated mates, and no greater force in the Anarcheim Alphaverse than the love of two lost souls willing to risk everything to find each other once more.
Epilogue
“I wasn’t expecting you, Alexi. You’re not my omega.” Pushing off the wall in the outside corridor to his study, Nikolai peered hard at his younger brother. He’d summoned her over ten minutes ago and she should have arrived by now.
They liked to take an hour at lunch to be together, and sometimes they even ate during that time, too.
He was especially looking forward to today. His omega liked surprises, and he liked giving her them, especially since she was so enthusiastic after, bouncing on his cock as she purred and whispered she loved him.
His family’s challenging times were far from over, but he was still one lucky fucking Alpha.
“No shit.” Alexi shot him his usual smart-ass smile. “Good to see that all that fucking and happiness bullshit hasn’t interfered with your deductive skills.”
Nikolai growled low. The too-handsome-for-his-own-good fucker was healing up, but he was still skirting the edge. Yes, his brother was no longer sucking down mood enhancers like candy and he’d returned to his rigorous work schedule, but after work ended, he was still in those clubs of his until all hours, fucking like a madman and doing gods knows what else. Even after a shower, Nikolai could scent the stench of pussy, sweat, and desperation on his brother’s skin. As if that would somehow take away the memory of what had happened to him.
Trouble was, nothing seemed to be working and attempts at talking about it had been met with smart-ass rebuffs. But since his omega had come down strongly on the side of Nikolai not beating the shit out of his brother, Nikolai was doing his best to be patient. No easy task.
“Where is she?”
“She’s fine.” Maxheim appeared behind Alexi, hands out as if to block the way, and Nikolai’s gut went on the alert.
Maxheim barely emerged from his quarters these rotations, and it showed. After three months of hunting for their silver-skinned elusive enemy—and any signs of the twins—the neat, fastidious Alpha was gone, replaced by a bearded barbarian with wild golden eyes who divided his time between mumbling at a screen as lines of data streamed by him and honing his combat skills, fighting any soldier stupid enough to accept his challenge.
His brother was clearly taking the lack of progress hard.
Thanks to Dahlia’s last vision, they’d identified a distinctive skin design on the right forearm of the silver-skinned male who’d stolen the twins.
Nikolai and his brothers had instantly recognized the mark. They might not be in that line of business themselves, but it was easy to spot a tracking code. The kind used by slavers to tag their cargo. Which meant their prey might be a trafficker now, but he’d once been property himself. It was a useful clue, but it still left them searching for the equivalent of a single planetary piece of dust in a vast galactic storm. There were at least six different races in their galaxy with silver-skin and that meant over at least sixty billion creatures to weed through in search of a single scumbag slave turned slaver.
The knowledge that the twins were out there and he was proving helpless to find them was pushing Maxheim to the edge. He’d always been their fixer and yet he couldn’t fix this. With every rotation, he got worse. Less communicative. Harder. Colder.
For the first time, Nikolai was more worried about him than anyone else.
Almost anyone else, he amended.
“Where is she?” he repeated.
His brothers exchanged a look.
Maxheim was the one who finally spoke. “Dahlia’s with the doc.”
“Why? What’s wrong?” He pushed by his brother. “Why didn’t you tell me?” He hustled down the hall. All that stopped him from freaking out completely was the fact that the fated-mate bond glowed as bright and strong as ever.
His brothers sprinted to catch up.
“She’s fine,” Alexi repeated.
Nikolai moved faster.
“She was trying to have another vision and got a little dizzy.”
“What?” His roar shook the hallway. A few beta servants ducked back inside whatever room they’d been about to emerge from. “I distinctly remember commanding her not to attempt any more visions if I wasn’t around.”
Maxheim frowned. “She
was trying to help. Hells knows, we need it. Plus, you know the news of her mother’s death hit hard. Give her a break.”
Nikolai pinned him up against the wall. He appreciated his family’s growing allegiance toward his female, but some lines were not meant to be crossed. “Do not run interference between me and my omega.”
He let Maxheim go and picked up speed once more.
He knew better than anyone how much it had hurt Dahlia when she’d heard the news that her mother’s body had been found floating in space. The prime omega’s throat had been torn out, the familiar trademark of an Alpha kill. Small slivers of silver were discovered imbedded in her skin. There was little doubt her death had been ordered by an employer determined to snip off a loose end and prove she’d been nothing more than a pawn, after all.
After breaking the news to Dahlia, Nikolai had held his mate close, skin to skin, cuddled in his arms, and let her cry her eyes out, despite the fact that he hated the dead female more than almost anyone in the universe.
Because he loved his omega more.
She’d been a handful ever since she’d heard the news, and that was already saying something.
Even the reports from her sister, full of happy details about new adventures and freedoms, hadn’t been enough to assuage his omega’s grief—and, he suspected, her guilt.
She blamed herself for her mother’s death. She also hated that she couldn’t offer more information about the silver-skinned male or the employer who’d tried to take down the Brotherhood.
But Nikolai wasn’t surprised. Whoever had been pulling Tasha Lundin’s strings was a clever bastard.
The only thing that had seemed to help his omega was learning more about her abilities, testing herself and her limitations. Besides their bond, proximity to someone connected to the past event appeared to be critical to her ability to access it. Another reason she’d had the vision about the fire when her mother was near.
But because all the other witnesses who’d been at the fire were dead, there was no one left from whom Dahlia could try and pull a vision.
Which was why she’d been trying to push past those limits—despite Nikolai’s expressed command that she not push too far too fast.
No wonder she hadn’t wanted him to know about this latest attempt.
He pushed through the door into the doc’s office, his brothers right behind. “How is she?”
Four startled faces looked up at him. Damien, the doc, and Anya were all crowded around his omega, who lay on the cot.
He should have known Anya would somehow be involved. The two of them had grown as thick as thieves. And Damien, as usual, was their shadow. His youngest brother had extended his self-appointed protective duties to include not just Anya, but Dahlia. Nikolai appreciated his show of allegiance. Usually.
“Nikolai.” His omega smiled, joy pulsing along the bond between them. “I’m fine. Better than fine.”
He growled low.
Her grin faltered.
“Now, Alpha,” began his sister, “I think—”
He cut Anya off. “Everyone out.”
“Alpha, I know you’re upset—” This time it was the doc who was stupid enough to interfere.
“I will not repeat myself.” He pinned each with a warning stare as he stalked to the foot of the bed. “The only one here who really has nothing to fear from me is my omega, so if you are wise, you’ll get the hells out while you can.”
Everyone scattered, taking a wide berth around him.
Disapproval rippled through the bond.
He didn’t give a shit, especially when he noticed the faint bruise at her temple. “I told you not to have a vision when I wasn’t around.”
“You were busy, and I was doing fine.” Gaze down, she picked at the blanket covering her. “There were extenuating circumstances.”
He narrowed his eyes.
Red suffused her cheeks. “You’re ruining my surprise.”
He started. “You ruined mine first.”
Her head snapped up and she looked at him. Really looked at him. “What surprise?”
His chest went tight. With her face tipped upward it was easy to see the tear tracks on her cheeks, scent them on her skin. Along with a new smell he hadn’t noticed before.
Anger vanishing, surprise forgotten, he hurried to her side and scooped her into his arms, sitting half on, half off the small cot with her in his lap. “What is it, love? What’s wrong?”
To his consternation, she smiled. “Nothing’s wrong. Everything is just right.” She snuggled closer.
He felt the truth of her words along their bond. The grief that had been there since she’d heard about her mother’s death was still there, but it was lighter now. Layered with a new level of joy and excitement that vibrated through him and sent his heart pounding, even before his mind had fully caught up.
But his lungs figured it out next. That scent. Sweet, perfect, and unspoiled.
“You’re pregnant.”
“Yes.” She squeezed him tight. “A new Skolov is on the way.”
His heart, already so damn full, swelled inside his chest. He had no idea he could be happier, but he was. His family was growing, and soon the twins would be back with them as well.
His omega had already given him so much. But with every rotation, she gave him more.
His hand rested on her belly. “I will take good care of this little one. Count on it.”
She laid her palm on his. “That was never in doubt.”
“Doc—”
She covered his mouth before he could finish his summons, laughter in her gaze. “I already asked. The baby is fine. I am fine. Fucking and knotting is not only not a problem, but a very good idea.”
Relief slammed through him. Still, he had to be sure. “Doc said that last part?”
She smiled wider. “In so many words.”
A handful. Just as he’d said. But he was too damn happy to care.
“Then one good surprise deserves another.” Holding her tight in his arms, he stood and—cradling her in his arms because he liked it—carried her out of the doc’s office and back down the hall.
Thankfully, he’d scared everyone enough that they encountered no busybodies in the corridor. There’d be time enough to celebrate with the family.
For now, he wanted time with just his omega.
They reached the door to his study.
“My surprise is in here?” She looked curious.
He carried her inside.
There, next to his throne, was a matching seat, identical in every way except, instead of the fanged polar beasts that adorned his, hers was accented by two beautiful golden suns, as bright and pure and strong as his omega.
He set her down.
She hurried to it, running her hands over the sleek lines. “This is beautiful, and such a lovely gesture. I’m honored.”
He followed to stand behind. “It’s no gesture. A ruthless king needs an equally fierce queen by his side. I know you’ll do me proud.”
She turned to him, pleasure at his faith in her shimmering through their bond. His girl might be growing in confidence, but some wounds would take longer to heal. He intended to do whatever he could to help that along.
She seized his shirt and dragged him close. “Always.”
He pressed his mouth to her ear. “And when we’re not ruling together and no one else is around, I intend to be bending you over the seat and fucking you hard.”
She moaned.
He raked his fangs down her throat. “Or sitting in mine while you kneel at my feet and suck me off like a good omega should.”
She shuddered and melted against him. “Yes.”
He licked the fated-mate band at her throat. “And when you’re heavy with my child, I’ll seat you in my lap facing away from me and rock you up and down my cock until you come all over me.”
She shivered. “Oh gods, that all sounds so good.” Panting, she looked up at him, eyes dazed with the heat. “Let’s start now
, Alpha. Please.”
He’d always heard a pregnant omega was even more needful. Had he already said he was a lucky Alpha?
“Yes.” He spun her around, pressing her back down until she was bent over the armchair of her new throne. He’d always been careful with her, and he would be more so now with his offspring growing inside her, but he still knew what his omega liked, and he intended to deliver.
He slipped his hand beneath her dress, sliding it up the smooth silk of her thighs. “But before I do, there’s the matter of punishment.”
She stilled. “Punishment?”
“Don’t think I’ve forgotten the little matter of your disobedience. I waited ten minutes without a word of where you were, so neither of us is going to be coming for twice that long. I’m hoping that’s enough to remind you that it’s not just you who suffers when you risk yourself.” He wasn’t an idiot, and he wanted inside his omega. Especially when a celebration was in order. But he also knew his female, and the rush of need that slammed through their bond confirmed it.
She liked his care, in all forms.
“Yes, Alpha.” She squirmed beneath his touch.
He barely made it twenty minutes before he was fucking her on her new throne with her seated in his lap.
He’d once scoffed at the idea of happiness, certain he had no clue what it was or how to find it, especially in a place as dark and harsh as the Anarcheim Alphaverse.
But it turns out that holding his omega, feeling her grind against him, the scent of her need in the air, the knowledge that their baby rested safely in her belly while he held them both close and pleasured her, was ecstasy and contentment and boundless joy all in one.
For this ruthless king, there was nothing better than to be the ruler, protector, and keeper of his omega’s heart and soul.
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