Choose Me

by Hart, Delmire

  He wouldn’t generally care but he didn’t exactly appreciate being on the end of continuous scowls as though he had something to do with his alpha’s clinginess.

  Which he didn’t.

  No, that was almost definitely Kiyomi’s fault.

  They had been parted for most of the day and then when he returned he didn’t smell like Kessler anymore; he smelt like the scented oils and perfumes she had used on him. It wasn’t a good idea to taunt an alpha at the best of times, but now? While Renato was already tense just being the capital? Plus Toru’s impending heat. It was asking for trouble.

  The alpha turned off the main corridor and a smaller one. It wasn’t long before they passed what appeared to be rooms before finally entering one. It was lavish, the opulence even more grand than the rest of the palace. A huge four-poster bed surrounded by light drapes dominated the room but it wasn’t there that Renato carried him.

  The entered a room with an even larger pool set in the middle than the one in Cosa. Toru could only gape at the steam-filled room. How on earth did they manage to keep the water warm enough to steam? There was so much water.

  Renato set him down but still kept a tight hold on his form. He stripped Toru carefully, removing the delicate chains first then the skirt before manhandling him into the bath. Toru opened his mouth to say something snarky about the treatment but the words died in his throat at the look on his alpha’s face. His eyes were dark and intense but there was a wildness to them that set his heart thumping violently in his chest.

  Lips met his own with a hungry, almost desperate, force and he was pulled to sit in his alpha’s lap. Toru groaned into the kiss as he felt the alpha’s huge length pressing against his stomach, hard and throbbing. Large hands caressed every inch of his body, stroking him even as they splashed warm water against his skin to wash the offending scents away.

  It was far more intimate than anything they had done before.

  The desperate edge to Renato’s actions pulled at something inside Toru. It thrilled him on an instinctual level to be able to reduce the powerful alpha to his basest needs.

  His lips felt puffy and swollen from the alpha’s ministrations but he didn’t want to move away. He drowned in the man’s masterful kisses and the hands caressing his skin sent waves of pleasure through him. The feelings were overwhelming in a different way compared to the first time the alpha had touched him. Even all the times since hadn’t sparked this level of want in Toru.

  Oh, how he wanted.

  It was hard to remember why he was saying no to more. He wondered if that was the alpha’s proximity, the alpha’s need, or his ministrations that sent his own instincts wild. His body craved to fall into this man with abandon, but he wasn’t going to ask for it. It still wasn’t time.

  Toru gasped as Renato wrenched his lips away before bodily picking him up and removing them both from the bath. The alpha didn’t even bother drying them, instead choosing to make his way back to the bed and laying the omega down in the middle. He became keenly aware just how wet he was and not from the bath, slick already wet his thighs and soaked the sheet underneath.

  The alpha caressed his hands down his sides and across his stomach as he slid in between his thighs. The touch sent waves of need through Toru and he whined high in the back of his throat. Renato covered his form, his lips demanding against his own as one arm pressed into the bed beside his head to keep the man steady. The location of the other hand quickly made itself known as fingers slipped between his cheeks to caress his twitching hole.

  His groan was eagerly swallowed by his alpha’s lips as one thick finger slipped inside. Toru could feel his body opening up, welcoming the alpha, asking for more. He body wanted, needed more. His mind might still resist but it was obvious that the omega in him had already chosen his mate. A wet mewl slid free from his throat as a second finger quickly joined the first.

  Without even thinking, Toru reached up and wound his arms around Renato’s neck, pulling him in even closer. The man’s weight pressed down the length of his body and he pushed up into his bulk even more as he arched in pleasure when the seeking fingers found their mark. The position was incredibly intimate; they were close enough to feel the entirety of the other’s body against their own and they shared the same breath when their lips weren’t locked together.

  Renato’s eyes were dark with want and need and the intensity of the way he watched Toru come undone underneath him only sent him higher. Was this the pleasure that could be offered by a mate? He felt like he was drowning in the other man.

  A third finger stretched open his hole and Toru quivered as he came with a wet cry. The alpha’s eyes burned into him as he drank in his form but as always, the fingers didn’t stop. The omega writhed as the fingers continued to milk him past his first orgasm and straight into the next. The clever fingers had been mapping him out during their travels and Renato seemed to know just how to get him off now.

  Toru’s fingers dug into the alpha’s shoulders as he held on for dear life, trembling under the overwhelming pleasure. His alpha’s face remained inches from his own and he continued to watch the omega lose all sense of himself under the onslaught. His golden eyes were blown almost completely black, and he remained perfectly still other than the hands working their magic between Toru’s thighs.

  Body shaking, Toru whimpered as he was forced higher and higher still. This time the orgasm bordered almost on painful and he arched up against his alpha, trying to escape the onslaught. Too much. Too much yet he wanted it. Wanted to see the heights his alpha could take him. The omega’s mouth fell open in a soundless scream as he came undone yet again. He lay there panting and trembling under the alpha for long minutes before Renato removed his still fingers.

  It was with slow deliberate movements that the alpha sat up and straddled his stomach. It took Toru’s fogged brain a moment to realise that the alpha was on the verge of losing control. His muscles bulged as he strained himself not to move, most likely not to take Toru then and there. His eyes were wild and his breaths came in rapid pants.

  Glancing down, Toru marvelled at how hard and straining the man’s cock was. It pulsed and twitched under his curios stare. A large hand wrapped around the length and he came instantly. Toru blinked in shock as he was marked by the alpha’s scent, his cum landing over his chest and face. The man groaned and rocked his hips but his hand didn’t move away.

  On no, he kept stroking, working his length leisurely while Toru watched, breathless. It set something in him alight to watch his alpha pleasure himself like this but he found his hole twitching, aching to be filled by this man and not by his fingers. Renato’s hand sped up and he grunted as he came a second time.

  They sat staring at each other for some minutes before the alpha reached out to smear his cum into the Toru’s scent glands along his neck. The omega allowed him better access without thought and let the scent of his alpha wash over him.

  He relaxed back into the bed and sleep quickly over took his exhausted body.

  ***

  “Well, you certainly are thorough, aren’t you, Ren?”

  The man in question growled at Kiyomi as she waltzed through the door without knocking. Toru flushed, he knew exactly what she referred to. Renato had been overzealous in scent marking him last night and removing all traces of the perfume that lingered on him. He had certainly put Toru through his paces, he practically came dry at the end just from the man’s fingers and had been too exhausted to react to the cum that splattered on his face to then be rubbed into his neck.

  It was embarrassing to think about now but there had been something thrilling about seeing such a wild-eyed look on the normally restrained alpha. He had honestly thought the man might finally lose to instincts and go back on his word to only claim Toru once he agreed. But by some great feat of will, Toru remains unbonded and unmated, just very thoroughly marked.

  Kiyomi moved to stand beside the other omega and gently ran her fingers through his blonde hair, earning he
rself a louder growl this time.

  “Honestly, Ren, I’m an omega too, what am I going to do?” Something in her tone suggested she was doing everything on purpose just to get a reaction from the alpha. It set him a little on edge, baiting alphas was not a good idea at the best of times and Renato still seemed a little wild this morning.

  The man forced his shoulders to relax and stepped back a little to continue dressing; he had dressed Toru himself that morning in what he could only assume was a fit of possessive need to not have anyone else touch him.

  “Go away, Kiyomi, surely you have better things to do than bait me.”

  “Oh no. It’s such a rare opportunity to see the sibling who is usually the most put together be almost fraying at the seams. I will never get such a good opportunity again to see you bite back, Ren. No doubt after this you will hide your cute little omega away from the greedy court vultures and I will never get to come visit. You take far too good care of your province, brother. I’m never needed to come and put people in their place.”

  She gave a dramatic sigh before continuing in a bored tone. “I quite adore your little omega, but neither Silia nor William approve. Silia’s a beta so she’ll never understand the whole alpha/omega thing. Not that you’ll ever get her approval unless you marry for money or land or some other such advantage.”

  Renato snorted. “I have enough to deal with without adding more to it. The Nohaivira Province is richer than even the Vokusal Province, why would I want more money or wealth at the expense of an arranged marriage? I’m not a power hungry idiot wanting any advantage I can get my hands on regardless of the cost to myself.”

  “No, you of all people don’t need such a thing,” Kiyomi agreed. She was still gently petting Toru and he wasn’t sure what to do, he wasn’t entirely comfortable with the gesture but it wasn’t exactly uncomfortable either. He could see Renato keeping a sharp eye on them even as he dressed and wondered if his need to go to Renato was an unconscious desire to soothe his alpha’s ruffled feathers. Deciding that’s probably what it was, he squashed down the urge to move towards the alpha and instead stayed put, he wasn’t going to pander to the man like a weak willed little omega.

  “Stress relief is a wonderful thing,” Kiyomi said wistfully. “As is someone you can actually trust. Silia is all work and no play, I feel like she will snap one day. William, on the other hand, is far too much play and has little right to look down on your choices when he has bedded half the court.”

  Renato grunted. “Still up to his tricks, is he?”

  “Oh yes. He always comes through the pass from the Northern Province before the first winter snow fall blocks travel and spends his winter days idling away in court, sleeping with all the pretties and just generally causing trouble. Gets in my way.” She sniffed in disdain. “I pity his poor steward who has to run the province himself. You would have thought the responsibility would have at least curbed some of his dallying. Perhaps he needs to land himself the right omega.”

  “I feel sorry for anyone who gets stuck with that foppish dandy. But I don’t particularly care what they think of me or my business. They can have an opinion once they can keep their provinces in check.”

  Kiyomi giggled and, much to Toru’s relief, finally stopped her petting. “You always were the black sheep of the family, it’s why you are my favourite big brother after all. I think Katsuo finally appreciates you and your odd ways. You might not help out with the vultures at court but at least he doesn’t have to deal with concerns from your province. You would like his omega, I think. She will be a puppet queen, but she’ll make a good wife and mother and is loyal almost to a fault. She’s a quiet, unwavering strength, the type that will not lead a battle but will be the last one standing, back straight and unfaltering. A northerner, so perhaps that explains why she’s less wishy-washy than those around here.”

  Toru’s confusion must have shown on his face as Renato explained, “A puppet queen is when a woman sits on the throne but does not wield the power entitled to her and instead her official actions are dictated by others. The queen is afforded a great amount of power but not all those that claim that title can wield it. It’s easy to drown in the political shifts here. There has been more than one puppet king in Rokere’s history as well. Usually it’s the spouse or the steward who wield the power instead. Our mother, for example, was an excellent woman but our father was the one who held the reins of the kingdom.”

  “It worked well until she died, when he went mad with grief and started a war in his madness. Rather unfortunate timing for the Tysealean king to do something so stupid as to try to claim one of our mining towns on the border,” Kiyomi added in with a small frown.

  “It was a stupid move, but it was nothing to start a war over. It’s been two years, Katsuo should call an end to it, it’s nothing but a waste of resources at this point. No, even right from the beginning.”

  “We are all well aware of your stance on the war, Ren. But it was father’s last wish and decree as king, he can’t very well call it to an end without seeing it through.”

  “Seeing it through how?” Renato was starting to snarl at this point, Toru had never seen him so animated in conversation before. “We have taken enough land now that we could claim it as a fifth Rokerean province and have that as reparation. Then send you across to set up and run the area, you are more than capable of managing such an undertaking, including the construction of additional infrastructure to link it to the capital.”

  “What, and lose their best assassin to such menial tasks?”

  “If Katsuo would just open his eyes to reality and do his own damn dirty work, then it wouldn’t be a problem,” Renato snarled, standing up to his full height and looming threateningly with his dominating alpha aura unleashed on full.

  “Well, aren’t you all riled up today?” Kiyomi didn’t sound unnerved at all, if anything she seemed to find Renato’s obvious agitation highly amusing and Toru wondered if she had directed that conversation intentionally. “I’ll spread a little gossip around court that your cute little omega is nearing heat so no one will be surprised if you bite back over the next few days. You are known to be a recluse and overly blunt but perhaps that knowledge will smooth the feathers you will inevitably ruffle. It’ll give you an excuse to keep him at your side and sitting in your lap through the wedding events as well. Least I could do in return for such amusement.”

  The omega giggled and Toru shivered at the evil glint in her eyes. Oh yes, looks like she had been intentionally baiting Renato into a conversation that would get a reaction.

  “Just get out,” the alpha gritted out and Kiyomi’s tinkling laugh followed her out the door.

  “I’ll come see you later, dearest Ren.”

  Renato ran a hand through his hair and seemed to force himself to relax. “It’s been a while since I’ve been the focus of her amusement, I had forgotten how annoying she could be,” he muttered before padding over to Toru, pulling him to his feet, and wrapping his arms tightly around his frame.

  Toru stood motionless and let the alpha hold him against his chest, nose buried in his hair. It was an odd feeling, on one hand he wanted to comfort his alpha and help calm him down but on the other hand, he hadn’t made his choice yet. Well, not verbally to Renato. He hated being beholden to his instincts, especially when confronted with those like his alpha who seemed to never let such things dictate their actions.

  Except for now, this was a distinctly alpha way to calm down. He made a strangled noise as he was squashed even tighter against the man’s chest and gave in, putting his arms around the man’s waist while he leaned against him.

  The response was almost instant; Renato took a deep breath and Toru could feel the man relax against him. He took a second to marvel at the power he seemed to have over this alpha and reached up to run a hand through dark hair. The alpha moved back just enough to lock eyes and whispered, “Why won’t you say it?”

  It was a moment of vulnerability, a crack in the co
nfident façade that Renato always showed the world. His eyes spoke of hurt and confusion and want. The look stabbed through Toru far more than any words could have. It was like Kiyomi had unsettled him enough that his mask had fallen and the omega now got to peer inside and see a man that was just as human as everyone else.

  He was intelligent and could read people well enough to react in such a way as to seem like he knew everything but for all that he wasn’t perfect. Once the mask slipped off, he was just like Toru. Strengths, weaknesses, and insecurities.

  He remembered Kiyomi’s words to him the day prior.

  “Ah. Did my dear big brother do the stupid alpha, ‘you are mine’ thing? Honestly, all the aristocratic alphas are horrendous when it comes to feelings.”

  For the first time, he clearly saw the emotions swirling in Renato’s eyes that he never seemed to be able to articulate properly but they told a tale that Toru wasn’t willing to hear just yet.

  “Not yet,” Toru whispered back and silently begged the man to see the answer in his own eyes. I’m not ready, not yet.

  The alpha tipped his head back and pressed a kiss to his lips. It felt like a promise. On a whim, Toru formed a tiny rosebud of ice and pressed it into Renato’s hand once he had pulled away again. The man brought it up for inspection and it sparkled in the low light. It sat small in the palm of his hand, fragile but beautiful with its furled petals closed tight. It sat as a real rose might, petals shut tight until it was time, until it was ready to bloom and show the world its full potential. He only hoped that the other man got the underlying meaning.

  The alpha suddenly pressed in and kissed Toru again, but this time it was not chaste kiss. Oh no, teeth and tongues clashed together and it was all the omega could do to just hold on as he was overwhelmed. Renato kissed him breathless and didn’t pull away until he started to feel dizzy for lack of air.