Page 108 of Promised to the Alpha Prince

“Because she’s my fucking omega,” said Dmitri.

“Yeah,” I said. “Right.” And maybe that was the problem. His omega. Not ours. And he wasn’t even remotely interested in changing that.

Damn it.

20

aurelie

I WOKE UP to the curtains in my room being thrown open.

I grunted, squirming around on the bed. Oh, okay, so my ass was actually a little sore after that marathon knotting session last night. Guess I should have figured that was going to happen.

It was Johannes, silhouetted against the window, his long hair hanging around his shoulders. “Morning, omega.”

I grimaced. “What’s going on?”

“It’s a surprise,” he said. “For you and me and no one else.”

I sat up. Hmm. Interesting. “And Dmitri knows about this?”

He shook his head. “Nope. Neither does Corentin or Nikolai. Well, I did try to talk to Nikolai about it, but he’s pissed off at me because of something I said last night, so he wouldn’t open the door. But Nik and I will work it out, no worries. And he doesn’t like horses anyway.”

“Horses?” I said, sitting up straighter.

“I know you ride,” he said.

I did. We hadn’t had horses on the grounds at my family’s home, but I’d owned a horse that resided in nearby stables, and I used to go there a few times a week to ride. I hadn’t been riding in a year or two, though. It had fallen by the wayside. “It’s been a while,” I said. “I don’t have the right clothes or anything.”

“That’s not a problem,” he said, nodding across the room.

There, sitting out on a chair was a complete set of equestrian clothing with breeches, boots, and a jacket. It looked as if it would fit me perfectly. It was brand new.

“We’ll ride out to a spot I know about for breakfast,” he said. “Just you and me.”

I grinned. “That sounds fun.”

“I guess I ruined the surprise.”

I giggled. “That’s okay. I don’t really like surprises.”

“Noted, omega,” he said, smiling at me. “Get dressed. I’ll meet you in the hall in ten minutes.”

“But… I need to shower or whatever,” I said. “I’m all—”

“You smell like Dmitri, which does not even bother me at all,” he said in a rumbly voice. “Dmitri’s scent? Let’s agree, it’s fucking amazing.”

I giggled again. “Definitely is.” I hadn’t exactly wanted to wash it off me.

He crossed the room, bent down, and kissed me in the bed, and I realized we’d kissed less than five times, and I’d never even kissed Nikolai. Something about the way this was all progressing wasn’t exactly right, was it? He ran his nose over my neck and whispered that my omega smell was delectable as well.

I wrapped my arms around him. “I want to smell like you, too. I want your scent all over me.”

“We can definitely make that happen, omega,” he said with a mischievous smile.

I got dressed and met him in the hallway.

He reached down and intertwined our fingers, and I liked that, just holding hands. I hadn’t had much of that in any of this, sweet, simple courtship sorts of things. I beamed up at him and we went down to the stables together.

---