But he didn’t chase her, instead a deceptive calm settled over him. A calm that was more unsettling than his anger had been. “You wouldn’t know this, but a mated Omega who enters estrous without the aid of her mate suffers significantly. Perhaps a reminder of what I am to you is in order.”
Ianthe felt another jolt of fear as he rose, but the brooding Alpha did not make a move towards her, instead he went to the door. She pressed her back against the wall, trembling as he opened the door and then turned briefly to regard her, profile cast in foreboding shadow.
“When I return, we shall see how much you desire me to choose another for mate.”
The door shook on its hinges as he slammed it closed. Then she heard the distinct sound of the bolt catching as he locked her in.
He spoke to her once more through the door, voice heavy with threat.
“When I return, you’ll be begging me to fuck you.”
Chapter Thirteen
Ianthe had paced back and forth across the room enough times that a visible trail had been worn into the carpet. The looping path mimicked the chaos within her mind.
She had crafted a nest from the bedding, despite her best efforts to resist the urge, and there had not been enough linen to please her. The pillows were stacked, ripped down and piled again as it was the only thing that even partially relieved the insistent itch under her skin.
The stomach cramping had begun after about the first hour, waves that doubled her over and left her moaning in pain. The heat of her skin felt like enough to burn her alive but nothing in the room brought her any relief.
By the second hour, the worst of the pain had eased but a terrible longing replaced it that was somehow more difficult to bear. With every breath deeper than gasp, her insides tightened and a rush of slick soaked her thighs.
She could feel him in the room with her, even though she knew that she was alone. Whispers of wind moved over her skin as she writhed. The air smelled of his breath and each creak of the floorboards underneath her mimicked his footsteps.
When her eyes closed, she could hear his voice mocking her. They became more persistent as she lapsed further into delirium, insisting to her that this was what she had asked for. Asking if she wanted another mate for him now, when she would be left to suffer for it.
The voice became louder, more insistent.
Ianthe cracked open swollen eyelids that squinted even in the bare light of the room. She faced the apparition that mocked her weakness, demanding that she face her mate.
Legion regarded her with narrowed eyes as she flailed on the carpet, lost to the madness of estrous.
It wasn’t until he touched her that she realized the vision had become reality. The graze of cool fingers along her cheek brought her momentarily lucidity and she stared up at him with eyes gone overly wide, pupils so wide that nearly all of color was swept by encroaching black.
“Why do you insist on being difficult?” he murmured. She reached for him and he gently batted her hands away. “Just like the last time. The easy path is before you but you choose to hardest road.”
Another wave of cramping clenched her belly, and she curled into herself with a moan. Slick soaked through the thin dress she wore and seeped onto the floor.
“And whom do you think is going to clean that up?”
He was torturing her on purpose, leaving her in agony to prove a point.
“Please…” She grabbed for his hands but he evaded her.
“That’s not nearly good enough for begging. Please what?”
She was not longer above begging, the need overwhelming whatever pride that she had left. “I need you. Please.”
He bent low until his lips skimmed the delicate shell of her ear, but careful not to allow any other part of his body contact with hers. “Tell me how much you desire to be my mate. Tell me you yearn to carry my child.”
Ianthe wanted to crawl out of her own skin, anything to escape the agony of being without his touch. She would say anything he wanted for the torment to end and in that moment, part of her almost meant it. “I want to be your mate. I want your child. All of it. I’m yours. Please help me.”
Legion stood, backing away, and she felt the loss of his warmth like a physical pain.
“Get up.” His voice was without even a trace of compassion.
She pushed heavily to her feet, fighting a wave of dizziness. It felt as if the walls were closing in on her, making it difficult to breathe. The scent of Omega in heat permeated the room, from floor to ceiling. If her mind was clearer, she would have marveled at his preternatural ability to resist the biochemical lure of her pheromones. She nearly choked on the taste of him on her tongue.
How was he managing to resist the urge to fall on her like a rutting beast?
The righteous anger still simmering within him was at least part of the answer. He wanted her to suffer, so she would never again question her need for him.
“Take off your panties and give them to me.”
Her hands shook as she complied. His calm regard seemed to keep the worst of the estrous high at bay, keeping her lucid. Embarrassment was a distant thing as she pushed the scrap of fabric down her thighs, clutched it in her fist and tossed it across the small distance that separated them.
He brought the ball of lace to his nose and deeply inhaled. “As delicious as always.”
“Please…” She was so tired of that word.
He glared down at her. “Please what?”
Her voice barely rose above a whisper. “Please, sir.”
A brief smile touched his lips before the stern expression returned to his face. “That first night with you is one of my fondest memories, thank you for reminding me. Although I think I like you better on your knees.”
She whimpered but sank to her knees, too desperate to ignore the implied command. He watched her silently, like she was some exotic species of bug that he had trapped and pinned under glass.
“On your back.”
He wasn’t going to reward her insolence by allowing her the luxury of being fucked in her nest. Shameful tears pricked her eyes as she laid back on the scratchy floor.
“Put your feet up. Let me see that pretty little cunt.”
Ianthe obeyed, the world contracted so the entirety of her awareness centered on his voice and the heady stench of Alpha musk.
Her skin flushed as the skirt of her dress pooled around her spread thighs. She was no longer able to see him as she stared up at the ceiling, but she felt the air shift as he moved infinitesimally closer.
Unbidden, her hands moved to the burning place between her thighs, desperate for any stimulation.
“Keep your filthy hands out of your crotch, girl. I didn’t give you permission to touch yourself.”
She made a whining sound deep in her throat but immediately complied, aware that resistance now would only prolong this torture.
Cold air moved across her overheated skin, both relief and provocation. When he knelt beside her head and grabbed a handful of her hair, her eyes nearly rolled completely back as his scent overwhelmed her.
Legion wrenched her head ups that it rested in his knee and his still clothed crotch was inches from her nose.
Ianthe breathed deeply, practically hyperventilating.
He freed himself with one hand while the other kept its harsh grip at the base of her skull, keeping her head firmly in place even though she didn’t try to fight him.
“Open for me.”
But her lips had already parted, tongue dipping to lick the impossibly soft skin at the head of his cock. That small taste of him exploded across her senses.
There was not a question of what he would do next.
Legion shoved into her receptive mouth. The movement was harsher than she could have handled without the estrous high that slackened her muscles and dulled her awareness of pain.
He stared down at her, gaze never breaking from her face where his flesh disappeared into her mouth. The sides of her mouth ached fro
m the endless friction but she took him eagerly, aware of only her need to have some part of him inside of her.
Her hands rose to grip the fabric covering his thighs. He responded by thrusting further down her throat, forcing her to gag. But he didn’t let up, sawing in and out as she made helpless noises beneath him.
Perhaps he would force her to take his first knot down her aching throat, robbing her of the opportunity to have him where she wanted him most. It would be a fitting punishment for her resistance.
With the hand at her nape, he forced her head closer until he hit bottom at the back of her throat. Ianthe choked on him, eyes burning, but she did not attempt to pull away even when he used both hands to grip the back of neck with both hands and forced himself somehow further in.
Legion rewarded her submission by pulling away before she choked on his rapidly expanded knot. He leaned over her tear and snot-soaked face, close enough that their noses touched.
“Beg me to fuck you.”
She didn’t hesitate. “Please fuck me,” she breathed.
He lifted her up with the ease of picking an errant wildflower from an Astropolis garden and carried her to the bed, placing her more gently than she deserved in the frantically assembled nest.
Methodically stripping off his clothing, Legion loomed large over her prone and shivering body. His knees dented the mattress as he climbed over her, slowly so he could give his swollen knot time to partially abate. He wanted her to suffer but had no intention of tearing his mate apart, entering her with a swollen knot would do significant damage.
Ianthe was conscious of only her oppressive need for him, her small hands desperately pulling at whatever parts of him were in reach, which did nothing to speed his movement.
He maneuvered her willing body until the thick head of his shaft was held poised at her dripping entrance. Her hips were held tightly in his hands as she writhed beneath him, desperate for the torment to end.
His lips touched the fever hot and sweat-slick skin of her cheek. “Who do you belong to?”
She was beyond the ability to form words, her mouth moving in a parody of speech that produced nothing intelligible.
“YOU ARE MINE!” He drove into her with enough force that the wooden bedframe creaked in protest.
Ianthe screamed his name as the mating frenzy finally overtook them both, thrashing as he trapped her body beneath his.
An unnecessary growl rumbled through his chest to hers and an answering gush of slick flowed around the intruding flesh of his cock. She was already peaking after only a dozen strokes, her frantic cries drowned out by his roar as her passage tightened around him.
Estrous was fully upon her and Ianthe succumbed with relief. She came with a shattering cry, powerful muscles clamping down and forcing him impossibly deep as his knot swelled against tender flesh.
He followed close behind her, his shout loud enough to reverberate through the room as his knot fit tightly inside of her, fiery spurts of cum bathing her insides. Sharp nails scratched down his back as his Omega moved frantically beneath him, heedless of the need to allow his knot time to diminish.
Lost to the high, Ianthe grew frenzied with need, alternatively lashing out with savage violence and mewling like a trapped kitten. Her strength was no match for his, but estrous granted her a ferocity that was wholly unmatched by anything else.
Legion rolled them until she rose above him, allowing her to control the speed and depth of their joining. She rode him with abandon, heedless of the erotic display as he watched her with heavily-lidded eyes. The tight muscles of her thighs grew strained and taut as she moved until his patience reached his end and he gripped her hips with both hands, pounding into her.
Ianthe came again, her cunt clamping down in flailing spasms that milked him dry. Momentarily spent, she collapsed against his chest, the rumble of his purr momentarily lulling her into unconsciousness.
They alternatively slept and fucked in brief spells for hours as her heat cycle and his rut peaked then slowly subsided. Each time her nest became a wretched mess from the frantic pace of their mating, Ianthe would snarl and snap until he allowed her space to fix it to some exacting specification known only to her.
When she became to fierce, he forced her submission. Holding her down with ease while she fought, he would shove himself back into her mouth and spend down her throat, not releasing her until she had swallowed every last bit down.
But other times he was gentle, golden eyes watchful as he allowed her to show him what brought her the most pleasure.
And she also studied him as if finally able to truly see him, her curiosity no longer tempered by anger, as if aware on some level that things had fundamentally changed between them. Her fertility was a given with an Alpha this virile. She regarded him now not just as a mate but as the potential father of her children.
Ianthe was sane enough to truly contemplate the idea of becoming a mother with the usual burst of negative emotion drowned out by the hormonal rush of estrous. She wanted to hate him, for manipulating her, forcing her and claiming her against her will. But a strange sort of peace settled over her as she stared up at him, even as she recognized that the feeling couldn’t possibly last.
As if sensing the altered direction of her thoughts, his lips moved over hers in a kiss more tender than any they had ever shared before. Her fingers roved over the lines and planes of his face as he gently cradled her head in his hands.
She felt a spark flare in the pit of her belly: of desire, of life, of all of the things that existed between them.
And for the first time, she recognized this man as her true mate.
Chapter Fourteen
Legion woke his sleeping mate when he burrowed under the bedclothes to sniff at her belly, alert for any changes in her scent. It was likely too early to know with certainty whether his seed had successfully implanted, but he enjoyed inhaling the distinct notes of her scent just the same.
Possessive thoughts consumed him as his hands roved down her sides, kneading at the flesh under his hands as if testing the heft and weight of her.
Eventually, she would come to understand that there was a method to his seeming madness. All that he did was in service of protecting what was his from all comers.
And she was his, whether she willed it or not. Her and the child that she would soon be carrying. He would kill anyone who attempted to come between them.
Ianthe woke from slumber slowly, pulled unwillingly from the rest her body so sorely needed by the incessant weight between her legs.
“You’re crushing me,” she muttered, uncomfortable with the shift altered nature of her thoughts and desperate for the solace of unconsciousness in order to avoid this new reality.
She searched his face as his lips lowered to trace a dark blue vein that crossed the delicate skin of her stomach. His features were familiar — angled chin and high cheekbones beneath a heavy brow — but it was as if she were seeing him for the first time.
Sharp teeth closed gently on her skin. She shrieked and tried to shove him off but he held her tight until she subsided as she felt the curve of his smile spread against her skin.
“When your scent alters from the pregnancy hormones and you no longer risk the attention of other males, I would consider taking you to see your family.”
A sharp pang shot through her. “Truly?”
“Assuming you behave.”
His suggestive tone put particular emphasis on the last word, as if there were any question of the sort of behavior that he would see fit to reward.
Momentarily distracted by the thought of seeing her family again, Ianthe relaxed against the pillows as he continued to manhandle her.
He pressed his ear to the still flat plane of her stomach. The look of his giant head pressed to the side, face intent as he listened, was enough to make her giggle.
Legion glanced up her body to her face at the unfamiliar sound of his mate’s amusement. He had never heard her laugh before and the sound sang t
hrough him.
“Do you realize how rude it is to laugh at your Alpha?” He asked, face full of mock sternness.
A smile still played at the corners of her lips. “Do you realize that even if I am pregnant, it’s much too early for you to hear anything.”
“Little do you know that I can hear plenty.” He pressed closer, the swoop of hair falling across his forehead tickled her skin, making her squirm beneath him. “And I do believe that we’ve missed breakfast.”
Her stomach was rumbling with a sound that was embarrassingly loud, evidence of the days she had spent lost to estrous with no awareness of the need for sustenance. “Are you going to feed me, or not?”
He rose from the bed and stood at the end of it, gloriously unconcerned with his nakedness, and held out a hand. “Come with me. I’m sure Naomi has left something out.”
After donning a fancy dressing gown, he helped her into a matching one, thought cut much smaller and guided her out of the room.
Naomi had laid out a light lunch, although the woman was nowhere to be seen. Legion seated her at the long table before serving them both.
The scene was so hopelessly domestic that she found it hard to believe that she practically dragged her against her will. She had not forgotten that, like all Alphas, her mate could be a brute and that he would exert his will over her in whatever ways he saw fit.
But her formerly righteous indignation had been tempered by a wary acceptance, an awareness that she had never controlled truly controlled her own fate. Fighting him served no real purpose.
When Ianthe looked up from her plate, she once again found him studying her. She wondered if he would ever see enough to satisfy him or if her every moment would be closely monitored for the rest of her life.
Would he be this way with their potential child as well, obsessively fascinated in a way that would be stifling? Would her baby be trapped with her in a gilded prison because he refused to share either of them with the world?
She opened her mouth to say something, anything, so that he would understand the swirl of conflicting emotions sifting through.
Omega's Capture (Omegas of Pandora Book 2) Page 11
