Once again, I was running, this time barefoot with the taste of King Adalai searing my lips and this impossible pulsing between my legs. My muscles down there beat harder than my heart. Running was painful, especially since I didn’t want to go back to the Badlands.
The King’s body was hard in all the right places, including the ones that said more than his words did. He wanted me.
He just smelled your heat, my wolf insisted. And soon he’ll realize you’re omega.
It was a death sentence. I’d played with fire, and swallowed the flame.
I ran smack into one of his men, his leather jacket a butter soft shock as we collided. Another complication. My scent could linger on that jacket, and one of them could figure out exactly what I was running from.
“Where are you going?” he asked, his low tone was undoubtedly a sexy invitation, but I shook my head as I untangled myself from his steadying grip. That pulsing would override every other function in my body soon, and I had to get some place where I was safe before I ripped off my pretty dress and begged the closest man, any man, many men, to take me. Hard and fast to match the throbbing.
I thought of the hard length of the king’s erection that had been pressed against my belly just minutes before. His kind words, his deep voice vibrating over my body.
No.
I gripped my head in my hands, catching a flash of Rielle before I charged out of the grand ballroom. Again. She’d know what was happening, but she couldn’t help me. My heat could trigger hers, and we’d both be dead before sunrise.
So I ran. Right out the front doors, like I’d been invited to come here. For a moment, I didn’t know where I was. I always entered and exited the palace through the service entrance. The pebbles in the gravel stung my bare feet as I ran. Night had fallen on the city, and I hadn’t gone back for my omega dress. I’d have to figure out a way to slip past the guards and get home unnoticed. Which on the best of days, was almost impossible. But with this pulsing taking over my entire body…
I had to focus. Nothing looked familiar. I always worked the day shift. I just needed to get to the Badlands as quickly as possible.
We had a system for masking our heat. There were old bomb shelters that had been built for the people who still lived inside the city to protect them from some long forgotten war. We used them to stay underground for the days it took our heat to pass. The male omegas couldn’t scent us there. We were safe.
Right now, I was anything but. The pulsing became a flashing light in my vision and nausea rose.
I wasn’t going to make it.
A narrow alley beckoned me, and I slipped into its darkness, and sank to the ground. Maybe I could stay here until the heat subsided.
My wolf had the nerve to chuckle. Not unless you want to drive every man within city limits insane until they find the source of the scent and fuck it out of you.
At least I could take a moment to get my shit together. Think about all the magical things that happened tonight before my body betrayed me.
I danced with King Adalai. He kissed me. And it wasn’t just a kiss. He claimed me. My skin tingled with the memory of his hard body pressed against mine, our tongues tangled, and his strong hands holding me close. Possessing me.
The pulsing between my legs intensified until I could barely see straight.
On hands and knees, I peered out of the alley into the street. The city was quiet. Anyone who mattered was in the castle, at the party, and those who didn’t matter were already in the Badlands. Dizzy as I stood, I pulled down my dress, resisting the urge to rip it off, and wiped the gravel away from my knees.
My plan to get past the guards was enough to tamp down the urges, the impulses that came with the intensifying heat. I could offer to let a guard rut me, but there was no guarantee of my safe passage after I traded my body for that possibility.
Staying near the side of the road, I thanked the universe when all the guards were huddled together, laughing over something that probably wasn’t funny. Their jokes were usually at the expense of the omegas.
The throbbing was like a double bass drum in my head, and it had to be echoing through the valley. But it didn’t distract the guards.
Taking my opportunity, I ran.
“Hey!” A guard’s voice echoed through the street. “That bitch is in heat!”
Oh shit.
My feet burned, ripped open from the old pavement that had fallen into disrepair. I knew the Badlands like I knew the service corridors of the castle. I slipped in between buildings, and hid behind the door of an abandoned storefront. Guards ran past, following the scent. I only had seconds to get to our shack, and I ran as fast as my broken feet could let me.
Crashing through the door, I woke up my sister, as well as Ashla and Charolet, our roommates.
“Zelene?” Tavia’s concerned voice couldn’t keep my attention as she rushed to help me. I was on the floor, finally able to give into the heat. My pretty pink dress was shredded and filthy as I tore it away from my body. “She needs to get to the shelter!”
Tavia held me in her arms, trying to soothe me. But I didn’t want to be soothed. Not by her, and not like that. I wanted the king. I wanted that thick cock swelling inside me, spraying me with his seed. I wanted the royal heir growing in my womb.
Charolet brought over a bucket of cool water, splashing it on me. Transporting me to the shelter now was risky. My scent was too strong, and—
“The guards,” I moaned. I’d been so glad to get home, safe for now, that I’d forgotten all about them for a moment. A luxury I couldn’t afford. “They saw me.”
“Shit.” Charolet forced the word out between gritted teeth. “Where the hell were you, dressed like this?”
“She went to the victory celebration at the castle, thinking she could snag a beta,” Tavia said with disgust. “I told her she’d get herself killed.”
I meant to protest, but it came out as a feral whine.
Time moved like cool honey, thick and without definition. But eventually, the girls had me dressed in the only other frock I owned. Charolet wiped the cool cloth over my face before Tavia pulled me roughly to my feet.
There was chaos on the other side of the door. Each girl clung to me, pulling me back to the corner. But there wasn’t any place to hide.
Someone banged on the door, nearly knocking it from the hinges. Another whine escaped my lips and there was no hiding that I was here. That was, if whoever was on the other side of the door couldn’t smell my heat.
Any wolf’s mouth would be watering, craving my juices. Whether he could shift or not.
“In the name of the King, open up!” An unfamiliar voice, but powerful nonetheless.
“If we live through this night, I’ll kill you myself,” Charolet muttered before letting go of me to answer the door. Every omega knew it was better to cooperate. The plan wasn’t foolproof. But guards had carte blanche to punish us however they saw fit.
And once they realized I was a virgin…
Charolet gasped when she saw it was His Majesty who stood on the other side of the door. Still in his party clothes, the rich leather obscene against the backdrop of Badlands misery.
Guards stood behind him, guns drawn, pointed at my friend. Ready to kill first and ask questions never. But she didn’t flinch.
King Adalai scanned the room until his dark eyes landed on me where I huddled in the corner. He went still, only moving to hold up my filthy slippers. “Forget these, my rose?”
Chapter Seven
Adalai
I must go now. And you must let me.
Her last desperate words to me hammered through my skull with each step I took across the dry desert sand.
And she’d been right. My wolf watched her go, watched the space she took up in my office become empty as she got farther and farther away. The powerless beast had pawed at my chest to do something, even knowing that somehow, some way, I was bound by her words. King Alpha or not.
I must go now. And
you must let me.
But she never said anything about hunting her.
I had found her slippers tucked under the chair in my office, confirming what my warring animal already knew.
Her shoes weren’t the fine coverings of nobility. Not even those of a beta. They were broken and dusty. Rough canvas that served to barely protect the soles as one walked through the desert.
They were the shoes of an omega.
And she’d hidden them so I wouldn’t know what she was while we danced.
Goddamnit.
My men tracked her scent to the gates of the city, but I didn’t need their help finding her. That cinnamon smell was so deep in my lungs I’d probably never be free of it. My wolf was a constant growl in my chest.
Find mine.
Find and mark and mate.
No.
I wasn’t traipsing out to the Badlands in the middle of the night to feel the moon on my back. I was going to find my rose and send her to the dungeons until I could figure out what to do with her.
I passed a row of shacks. They looked dark and brooding against the deep navy of the sky, slanting this way and that, none of them looking very sturdy.
When was the last time I’d bothered knowing the condition of the Badlands? Had I ever wondered about it or the omegas who called it home, aside from what they could offer us in service?
It never mattered how they lived before. Not really. This was their station. Just like mine was to rule from the luxury of a castle.
But it pummeled my mind now.
I shook off the feelings of guilt that shadowed me, and continued following the omega’s scent.
It led me and my men to a shack at the edge of the desert. It was dark, as if empty. But the smell of omega heat was nearly overwhelming. One of the guards groaned, and I fisted my hands to keep from killing him. I wanted to kill them all. Each male that dared to breathe in the perfumed air. If they knew what was good for them, they’d fucking suffocate.
“She’s in here,” I growled at the same time my fist pounded the rickety door.
“In the name of the King, open up!” shouted one of my men as they pointed their weapons at the opening.
They could hurt the female, my wolf warned, as if it should matter.
Did it?
I couldn’t explain my reaction, but the idea of my omega injured sent a wicked fire licking up my sternum. She must be kept safe.
Except before I could command my soldiers to lower their guns, the door creaked open and an unfamiliar omega stood in the dark hole it made. Beyond her, the dim moonlight illuminated my writhing female where she huddled in a corner with another woman.
“Forget these, my rose?” I rasped.
Her delicious scent wafted from the opening, polluting the air until I couldn’t think straight. Rumbling with desire behind me were my men. They couldn’t be here.
Get rid of them, the voice of my inner wolf snarled.
I stepped through the doorway, not considering my actions until I was too close. She was like a magnet drawing me. A siren, luring me to destruction. I stared down at her where she huddled on the floor. A needy sound escaped her lips and she inched closer to me, her shaking hand reaching out and nearly making contact before another omega jerked her back.
A growl left my throat. How dare they keep her from me.
“Please, Your Majesty. Forgive her,” the closest omega stammered. “She’s just come into her heat and doesn’t remember she isn’t supposed to touch an alpha. Let alone the king.”
She thought I was angry because the female tried to touch me. Good. It was better they didn’t know what had already happened between us at the castle.
Crouching low, I tried to meet my omega’s gaze but she’d squeezed her eyes closed tight. As if… as if she was in pain. I didn’t like the idea even though I should.
As if to confirm my suspicions, she grabbed her middle and moaned. “Please… Tav, help…”
“Shh. You have to stay calm.” The other omega brushed her hair back from her face and blew as if to fan her off.
“Your Majesty…” The omega who opened the door came forward, her eyes lowered. “I understand that she has broken the law and must be punished. But if I might, I ask for mercy in this matter. Let us take her to the shelter until her heat has passed so that she might stand trial with all her wits about her.”
“How long will her heat last?”
“Four days, about.”
Four days of this torturous wanting. Needing. Would I be free of it when the heat was over? I didn’t know.
My female moaned once more, scooting closer, her hand pressing forward again only to be smacked away by the omega who held her back.
“Never do that again,” I snarled.
The omega’s eyes went wide before lowering to the floor. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Mmm, hurtsss.” My female sawed her legs together, stirring up the dust on the floor.
“She’s in pain.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
Good. She deserved the pain. Coming into my world, pretending to be something she wasn’t. Making me want her the way I did—
No, my animal interrupted. Help our omega. Soothe her.
Shit. The command from my beast made me feel out of control. The urge to reach for her was so strong it took all my significant willpower to hold back.
“What can be done to help?” I asked the one holding my rose.
“Nothing, my Lord. Nothing except—” She stopped when another omega shook her head in warning.
“Except what?”
“Nothing except mating, my Lord.”
Mating. My female whimpered at the mere word.
Mating.
My cock, which had been throbbing since the first taste of her lips, turned into a pillar of stone. I wanted to get inside my omega more than anything in the world. I wanted to obey my wolf and soothe her heat with my own.
The one who answered the door stepped even closer, causing my men to growl their warnings.
“But we’re used to this,” she said. “Know how to wait it out. How to…” She glanced nervously at my female. “How to survive. If you will only let us move her.”
“Move her where?”
“To the shelter. Where we wait out our heats.”
“Where is it?”
Her eyes went wide with surprise. “We don’t disclose the location to males,” she stammered. “It… it isn’t safe.”
“You will disclose it to me, female, and you will do it right now.”
Her eyes flicked to a spot behind me and fear creased her expression. Turning to follow her attention, I noticed my guards coming closer—too close—their lusty gazes drilling into my moaning female. I could scent their arousal thick in the air, mixing with hers and it riled my wolf to the point I thought I could feel my claws pricking my fingertips.
But that was ridiculous. I couldn’t shift.
Kill them. Kill any male who looks at mine. Who breathes her scent. Who lusts for her. Kill, kill, kill. Murderous thoughts clouded my mind, mixing with the fog of my female’s heat.
I needed to get my rose somewhere safe, away from any sniffing males before I went crazy and destroyed them all.
“Leave us!” I let the alpha note come through in my voice as I bellowed the command. The omegas flinched. Even the bold one who had opened the door. And my men finally snapped to attention, ducking their heads in deference. “Go. And don’t come back to the Badlands for the next four days. It’s my order that no one leave the city at all for the same span of time.”
“Sir, there are omegas in the castle .”
“Where they will stay until I return. Understood?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Go.”
My guards turned and disappeared into the dusty darkness leaving me alone with the omegas. I found my female again. Her eyes leaked tears now, and it was impossible to describe what those tiny streaks down her face did to me on the inside. I fel
t ripped open but there was no rational reason for the effect she had on me.
Reaching forward, I caught a single drip with my thumb and smoothed it away. “How far to the shelter?”
I never took my eyes off my rose but I sensed the other omegas’ confusion, felt them hesitate as they tried to comprehend what was happening, why the shifter king knelt on their dirty floor, worried about a hurting omega.
I wished them good luck figuring it out. Because I didn’t understand it either. Maybe I never would. Maybe four days, and this feeling would leave me. I couldn’t know. But I also couldn’t walk away from her. Couldn’t take her back to the city.
I was stuck.
She would pay for it. Somehow. But now, there was only one thing to do.
Carefully, I pulled her into my arms and stood. The contact with her body was like a million sparks of electricity shooting through my veins. But instead of paralyzing me, it was invigorating. Perhaps, I’d never felt this alive ever. At least I couldn’t remember any time that compared. My female’s nails dug into the skin at the nape of my neck as she clung to me. As if she wanted to crawl inside me.
“Wait, wait!” The omega who’d held her stood too, looking panicked. “My king, please. What will you do with her?”
“You will show me where the shelter is. I will take her there.”
The omega frowned, glancing to the other two in the small shack before meeting my stare again. “What do you intend to do to her?”
I lifted my chin. I didn’t have answers. And besides, a king didn’t have to explain himself. “Whatever I please, omega. Now show me the way.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” the omega whispered, pushing past me toward the door.
“We’ll all go,” the stronger omega said.
“Just this one,” I corrected nodding forward.
“You won’t make it through the Badlands with her like this,” she argued.
“I can protect her. And you will address me properly, female, or pay the consequences.”
“Forgive me, my King,” she squeezed through gritted teeth, “but it’s true. She’s too potent. Hounds will be on you before you reach the shelter, and you sent your guards away. You need us.”
His Forbidden Omega (The Royal Omegas Book 1) Page 4
