He chuckles, amused by my delirium and the confusing instructions that are babbling from my lips.

By the time he is done, I am utterly limp. My pussy is hot and achy, and every muscle on my body is sore.

I blink up at him through bleary eyes as he leans down to kiss me chastely on the lips.

“I love you,” he says, his eyes holding mine, the words shocking me. “With all my heart. You are mine now, claimed, forever.”

I swallow, and tears escape the corner of my eyes. I want to tell him he doesn’t know me, that I do not know him, and we have barely met. And yet his words hold such honesty, and I believe him.

He brushes the tears away and kisses me once again. “I know you are disappointed I have not bred you. Rest assured, I shall take on the duty enthusiastically. Likely you will get very lusty as you become fertile, will be presenting your pussy for ravishment, and using all your wiles to entice me to fuck whether your cunt is sore or not. I will take good care of you and tend your soreness between rutting you so you can better endure.”

My pussy clenches savagely over the fingers he has kept lodged in there.

He chuckles. “Fuck. I am a lucky bastard.”

There is no other explanation. He has infected me with his alpha musk. I see all he says playing out before me like the most salacious of plays, and one in which I have the starring role.

In a moment of startling clarity, I understand that an alpha is an entirely different breed.

Chapter Eleven

Alfred

“Alfred!”

My brother’s hail from beyond the curtain interrupts the moment. I bite back a curse as he continues on.

“The weather is turning for the worse. I thought you would want to know.”

I hear footsteps telling me that he is moving away, leaving the decision to me.

Penelope blinks up at me as I carefully release the cuffs from her ankles and massage her soft skin. I know she does not want to spend the winter here. It would not be the right thing to do anyway, for either of us, although my instincts clamor, telling me to keep her in my lair.

I have made the announcement. My brother will be king. If I am honest, I can acknowledge that he has shared the role for a long time. He will make a good king and does not need me lingering to interfere. It is better all around that we leave.

“Come, mate,” I say. “We must be leaving if you wish to return to your home.”

She nods, sighs heavily, and then bestows me the sauciest of smiles as she accepts my outstretched hand and allows me to help her from the bed. She is stunning in her disheveled, well-sated state. “If I could have a little water to clean up first?—”

“No,” I say, more harshly than I ought.

She raises both brows. “But I am filthy and full of seed!”

“Good,” I say gruffly, eyes narrowing as I sense resistance. “If you wash it off, I will need to fuck you again, and we do not have the time.”

She blinks a few times. “You wish me to be filthy and full of your seed?”

I realize she is asking a genuine question, that this is likely one of many occasions where our cultures will clash, but her choice of wording has a predictable, arousing effect. Also, she is naked, and I can see my claiming marks all over her throat and the upper swell of her tits, and that is likewise sending my thoughts down a lusty spiral. “Yes, I wish you filthy and full of my seed. All day, every day. It is an alpha thing and not open to negotiation.” I am thinking about bending her over the side of the bed and fucking her again… I would have time if I were quick about it… I can be quick if I need to.

“This is open to negotiation,” she counters, wrinkling her nose as she bends to pick up her discarded leather pants and giving me a nice view of her lush ass.

I throw a glance heavenward lest I put my hands on it and fill her well-used cunt with my aching cock.

When I glance back down, she is sliding them on, her plump tits jiggling as she tugs them over her ass.

It is no use. I need to fuck her again. A swift rutting will calm me down enough to endure the ride back to the castle.

“Oh!”