Page 7 of Promised to the Alpha Prince

I’d been owned by alphas before.

No, thank you.

If that was the case, I’d never tell Dmitri. If Dmitri had ever asked for my opinion on wanting an unknotted omega, I would have told him he was being an ass. I didn’t have any problem telling him what I thought.

Well, I hadn’t, though, had I?

He hadn’t asked, and I kept the thought to myself.

Dmitri was… Dmitri.

3

aurelie

I WORE A different pretty dress to dinner. My opinions on dresses hadn’t changed much since I was six years old. I liked them because they had ruffles and lace and were very nice to look at. And I wished they were more comfortable.

I did have a few shapeless t-shirt dresses that I liked to lounge in. Scandalously, I liked to wear them without anything underneath, though they weren’t very supportive of my breasts. Sheer comfort, no thought for how presentable I looked. Obviously, a t-shirt dress wasn’t appropriate for a dinner with Prince Johannes.

It was just him.

I asked after Nikolai, and Johannes said he’d be along later. “He gets distracted by things and we humor him,” said Johannes. “For instance, he’s convinced the fire escape near your room gives easy access to you, so he’s overseeing some modifications, which Dmitri will be paying for, undoubtedly.” He laughed, as if this was a joke.

I didn’t know if it was funny. “Is there a credible threat that someone might be coming up the fire escape?”

“No,” said Johannes. “No, of course not. He’s trained to look for death and murder everywhere. It’s all he sees.”

“You said that thing about his being an assassin,” I said.

“You heard that.” Johannes made a face. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

“But you also said he was a companion for alphas too young, and made it sound like he was…” A sex worker. I didn’t say that out loud, though.

“He won’t like that I’ve told you all of his secrets,” said Johannes. “He won’t like that at all.” He poured himself some wine from the decanter in the middle of the table. “Maybe he’ll punish me for it.” He sounded a little excited at the prospect.

“You said something about my punishing you,” I said.

“You remember everything out of my mouth with a shocking kind of accuracy,” he said, grinning at me. He nodded at my wine glass. “Wine?”

I held it out.

He poured. “I’m quite aware that omegas don’t typically do the punishing, so you needn’t worry. I’m well served in that capacity.”

I shivered a little, thinking about Nikolai punishing Johannes.

“Oh, your scent does go straight to the root of my cock, doesn’t it?” he breathed, shaking his head, struggling with his tie.

“Apologies,” I said. “Your scent is… also very nice.”

He drank wine, looking me over with a kind of open appreciation that made me feel loose and eager in a way I’d never quite felt with a man, not even with Corentin.

Corentin and I had been so young, and so much of it had been stolen glances and denial. We’d only made love once, and it had been because my heat had come on me, and I’d been mad for some relief, not that he’d been able to… relieve me, not in the end.

But this man, this prince, he had a knot, which was what I would have needed then, and I felt the knowledge of that work its way through me in waves of sweet anticipation.

I gasped.

“What are you thinking about?” he breathed.

---