Page 74 of Promised to the Alpha Prince

And then, there she was, asking me for it, and I felt like it was all supposed to happen that way. It was almost as if she and I had been fated for this, written in the stars, and I believed that we’d come together and everything would be perfect.

Except it wasn’t.

I fucked her adequately in the back seat of my car, and she seemed to like it, even, which I thought, at the time, was probably a good sign. I’d heard that it hurt girls the first time or even that girls just weren’t very responsive to the entire experience. It’s not like porn, was basically all my friend Mattie had said about it.

She was, uh, responsive. She kept moaning, “Harder, please, harder. More. I need more.”

I did my best. I was a seventeen-year-old guy, so it wasn’t as if I didn’t have stamina and that I couldn’t get hard for her again. I mean, within reason. It was just that it became pretty clear that no matter what I did, it wasn’t going to be enough for her. And then she started shaking and shivering and spasming in this way that wouldn’t let me ignore it anymore. She was an omega. She was in heat. I was never going to satisfy her. Whatever she needed, I didn’t have it.

So, anyway, yeah, then I left.

I didn’t mean to abandon her or ghost her or whatever she said. I was out of touch with everyone, even my mother. I was in a bad way.

It seemed to me like the sky had collapsed on me. I hadn’t realized how deeply some part of me had always believed that it would be me and her, that it really was fate, somehow? Knowing that I was wrong, that all those things I’d felt with her meant nothing?

It shattered something inside me.

I went on a bender. I started doing the drugs I was selling and then some that I wasn’t and then I ended up in Nilthin in some converted warehouse with a needle in my arm when I met the guy who told me the news that was going to change everything.

It wasn’t until then that I even had a reason to live, because I had the chance to get her back. Without her, it was like I didn’t even matter anymore.

Like I said, she made me feel complete.

So. I wasn’t giving up.

But I didn’t know what I was going to do. I needed to convince Aurelie that I was the better option than an alpha prince who would one day be King of Valhn, and who had already bitten and bonded her.

It seemed impossible.

I skulked around the castle, curious about these other alphas she was going to sleep with, with all of my competition. Eventually, I found them.

All together.

With their cocks out.

I could scent them through the door of the room, and then, while they were all distracted, I managed to pop the lock open—the doors inside the castle didn’t really have robust locks. It didn’t take a lot to undo them.

The door opened just a crack and I looked inside. They were not even looking at me, just looking at each other, very distracted.

Taking in a deep breath and holding it, I pushed the door open just enough so that I could get inside. I kept my gaze on them all along, and they didn’t turn.

I shut the door very quietly.

Then, carefully, I lowered myself to floor and crawled behind chairs and other pieces of furniture, staying low and out of sight, until I found a closet.

I eased inside to perch in the darkness and watch.

(And, um, play with myself. Because they were all very pretty men, and I liked looking at them like that, and I sort of couldn’t help myself.)

But eventually, it was over, and Dmitri started to tell them about me. I tucked myself away, after having wiped any mess I’d made on the clothes in this closet. Whoever they belonged to, I didn’t care.

I knew about Prince Johannes, because he was a public figure, and I figured out the tall, skinny guy’s name from conversation. He was Nikolai.

They listened, rapt, until Johannes broke into Dmitri’s explanation to say, “I can’t believe you didn’t say this right when you came in.”

“Well, I had things to settle,” said Dmitri, looking him over. “You two don’t know your place with the omega, and until we get everything settled within this pack, how am I supposed to trust you with her?”

“Pack?” said Johannes, crossing his arms over his chest. “This isn’t a pack.”

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