Page 10 of Promised to the Alpha Prince

“Give us something, or she’s not going to end up delivered to you as unknotted as you seem to want her to be.”

“What?” His voice changed. Most people might not notice it, because his tone sounded mild, but he was irritated. “Johannes, this is my bride, my future queen, and my omega we’re talking about here. And you’re asking for permission to sully her?”

“No,” I said quickly.

“But you want to.”

“I just got done explaining how she smells, didn’t I?”

“That’s why I sent Nikolai with you, to keep you in line. And you can knot Nikolai, can’t you?”

“Nikolai likes her too,” I couldn’t help but say, even though… what? Knot Nikolai? Really?

“She’s an omega. Of course we all like her,” he muttered.

“No, it’s different,” I said, because it was. I’d long ago known that there was no chance of my ever having an omega to myself, because I wasn’t the heir to the throne and omegas were rare. So, I’d never had the chance to court an omega, but I’d met some. Dmitri and I had visited some other omegas in different royal courts, and they’d all smelled very nice, and I’d wanted them, but this omega…

When I first met her on the steps of her house earlier today, it had seemed the same, and I’d thought I could be in control of myself, but since then, every moment I spent in her presence, the effect of her seemed to deepen and intensify.

There were things that could happen to alphas when they were around omegas, things like ruts, where an alpha would stay hard and aroused until the omega was satisfied. I’d never been in a rut, and my understanding was that they happened when omegas were in heat. I’d heard it was a potent experience, out of control, very acute and protracted.

What happened if I did now?

If I knotted this omega, would Dmitri give her up and find a different one?

What if I… bit her?

I wasn’t supposed to ever do that.

I was an alpha, but an alpha in Valhn, second in line to the throne, and that meant I didn’t get to bite and mate an omega. Before this, it had never bothered me, but now it felt like a punishment, and I could feel something like anger building inside me.

I didn’t know what to do with that emotion.

Mostly, I liked being second in line to the throne. It meant less responsibility and less pressure. I saw what Dmitri went through, and my position seemed to me to be more fun. All of the benefits of being a royal, much less of the disadvantages.

I’d never been envious of Dmitri, never once.

Until this exact moment.

Shit.

“How’s it different?” said Dmitri.

“It’s…” She feels like mine, and I never even knew I wanted this for myself, but now that I do, I don’t know how to unwant it, and I don’t know how to exist in this feeling, and I want her very, very badly. “Intense.”

He snorted. “Look, Johannes, if you touch my bride inappropriately, I will break your fingers, that clear?” He hadn’t raised his voice, but I heard the lethal note in it.

“Clear,” I said in a sour voice. I hung up on him.

aurelie

WHEN JOHANNES RETURNED to the table, our first course had been brought out. He sat down, and his scent was different. I couldn’t quite describe it, not exactly, but it was murkier, somehow dangerous in a way I couldn’t quite explain.

It should have frightened me, that murky scent, but it didn’t.

It made my body lurch in a frightening way. I felt a strong urge to submit to him, to let that danger have its way with me. It seemed I was made for that danger, formed to be its vessel. I wanted to press into him, whining and gasping, show him my neck like a prey animal. I wanted him to…

Bite me?

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