Page 5 of The Omega Thief

“You may go.”

If he’d been at all shocked at the order, he must’ve been professional enough not to show it but bowed again and said he would await His Highness’s pleasure in the anteroom. The door closed very loudly.

Before Attiker had a chance to ask what was happening, the prince seemed to suddenly appear right in front of him. Attiker nearly swayed as the gorgeous scent he’d smelled in the anteroom hit him with the force of a deadly Karseeni wind straight from the eastern plains. His eyes drifted closed helplessly even as a large hand closed around his arm.

“Impossible.” The muttered word was almost growled in his ear, and he felt the scrape of something sharp on his neck, which should have terrified him, but instead excited and aroused every nerve ending in his body. He was nearly drunk with the intoxicating aroma weaving its way around his body, teasing at his senses and whispering promises that soon had him straining in his breeches.

He wasn’t totally sure, but before the warm lips claimed his own, he thought he heard the soft words. “My bonded.”

Chapter three

Itwasimpossible.ButRaz’s body, his senses, and especially his wolf told him he wasn’t imagining things, and the man he held in his arms was his bond mate. He could feel Attiker shaking and knew—absolutely knew—his first shift was coming, and he needed to get him somewhere private to take care of him. Raz murmured soothing words as he scraped teeth that would soon become fangs along the side of his bonded’s neck. He could feel the pulse under his tongue, sense the heartbeat that thudded under his skin, and felt the partial shift of his wolf straining to be freed.

The man bonded with the human, but it was the wolf who marked him as theirs. Attiker’s knees wobbled as he murmured something indistinguishable, and Raz simply swung him up in his arms. He didn’t bother heading to the main door. His bonded wasn’t a sight he was about to share with others, and the thought of anyone seeing Attiker when he was so vulnerable had his wolf snarling its annoyance in his mind. Raz held him easily. His bonded was small, even for a human, but compared to a Fenrir, there was no man who would come close. Raz stalked toward the door hidden in the paneling of the great room, and balancing his bonded carefully, he reached out and pressed the hidden squares in the correct order to open it. Five minutes later, he exited the corridor from the identical concealed doorway into his own room.

He cautiously laid Attiker down and was unable not to press another kiss to those gorgeous swollen lips.

“What’s happening?” Attiker mumbled again in confusion, trying to sit up but not making it. His shivers were getting worse, and he was trying to curl in on himself. “Hurts,” he moaned.

“Be steady,” Raz said gently. “Let’s get you more comfortable.” And he quickly rid his bonded of his jacket and shirt. Raz hesitated even though he barely had minutes and no time to explain or warn his bonded what was happening. A sheen of sweat beaded Attiker’s pale chest, and Raz leaned down and licked the small area on the top of his shoulders covered in tiny freckles. Raz was trying to be gentle and slow, but his wolf was urging him on, and Raz knew the one thing that made the shift easier was the bite of his wolf.

Waiting was pointless when his bonded was beyond reason at this point.

He closed his eyes and searched inside for his wolf, but the animal needed no invitation. Raz didn’t even have time to undress as the change barreled over him, and he sank down to four paws instead of two legs as his clothes ripped.

Attiker yelped and tried to back away in fear. Raz swore to himself, but he didn’t think Attiker was even capable of any explanation at this point. Attiker moaned and thrashed as his body fought his instincts to shift. Raz knew the amount of pain Attiker would be in and sought out the omega wolf that had been dormant in Attiker for many years. His wolf would be as terrified and confused as the human it coexisted with, and he let the Fenrir try to communicate.

In his mind’s eye, he paused for a second in surprise as a beautiful white wolf tried to stand up, as Raz’s own wolf nudged it gently and licked its muzzle. Raz bent down, ignoring the desperate scrabbling as Attiker tried to move away, the smell of terror in his bonded, and wished there was some way he could explain, make it easier, but he knew he couldn’t. He licked a stripe on Attiker’s neck to mark him, and as the white wolf got to its feet, Raz’s wolf bared his fangs and sank them into Attiker’s neck just where his pulse was beating the fastest.

He felt Attiker freeze under him and sucked hard, the blood pooling in his mouth. It was a mixture of sharp and sweet, and he moaned as his body throbbed and pulsed in delight as he swallowed. He withdrew gently and licked the bite to seal it, along with his bonded’s blood that was running down his neck. Attiker cried out in pain and fear; then his body arched up off the bed as bones shortened, claws extended, and his pale skin bloomed with white fur as the change completed. He rolled over, still trembling, and Raz immediately shifted back and stripped Attiker’s torn breaches quickly, nudging him as he sat on the bed, stroking his fur, murmuring soothing sounds until the shaking lessened.

Raz focused on his wolf and gave the order for his bonded to shift back. He couldn’t complete the ritual until Attiker was human, and while Attiker would learn to control his shift in the future, Raz’s Fenrir would always be able to command it when needed.

Another moment and Raz gathered Attiker up in his arms. Human, shocked, and cold. He extended one partially shifted claw and used it to cut his other arm, blood immediately blooming on Raz’s skin. He held it to his bonded’s mouth. “Drink. It will ease your pain.”

Attiker looked at him with such a horrified expression that it broke Raz’s heart, but he simply held his arm closer and watched, seeing the instant Attiker caught his scent. Attiker sighed, his eyes fluttering shut, and he opened his mouth, latching on to Raz’s arm as if his life depended on it.

Raz breathed easily and watched his bonded as he sucked. Raz smoothed Attiker’s hair and held him close, knowing his wolf was getting the same comfort from Raz’s proximity as the man was. As Attiker swallowed, Raz smiled. An alpha’s blood to a bonded mate was powerful. Not only would it take away his pain, but it would send him into an almost drugged sleep. Raz held Attiker steady as his sucking slowed and his body relaxed. After another moment, Attiker went limp, and Raz licked his own arm to seal the cut.

Raz heaved a deep sigh and held Attiker close.

It was done.

He knew he couldn’t stay. Much as Raz wanted nothing more than to spend the day in bed with his bonded, he’d left Thakeray hanging, and announcements were to be made. He gazed at Attiker, sleeping peacefully, and wondered who he was. A merchant? He’d been in the market when he’d tangled with the duke and duchess, but he could have simply been browsing himself. He needed to get Thakeray to make sure his lodgings were emptied and brought across.

At least he lived alone. That would’ve been a heartbreaking complication. It had never happened in his lifetime, but his mother once told him of an aunt of hers that had met their bonded after being married for three years to someone else. It had ruined two families because the wolf and her bonded had been physically unable to stay away from each other. Long-term separation usually made the wolf dangerously sick, and one never lived long without the other.

He slid carefully from his bed and glanced down once more to make sure Attiker stayed asleep. The bonding usually involved the couple having at least forty-eight hours of undisturbed solitude as they usually couldn’t keep their hands off each other, but princes didn’t get that luxury, and he needed his bonded conscious and aware before he took the next step.

The prince opened his bed chamber room door after getting washed and dressed, sending the guards to fetch his secretary. Pinkerton had already retired with his family to join in the festivities, but formal arrangements needed to be made. The coronation simply couldn’t wait with the threat of the anti-shifters. His people needed stability.

His suite had another four rooms. His waiting room was less formal, and only his closest invited guests would see it, but the larger receiving room and huge office were usually full of secretaries or other people wanting him for the million different things that made up his day. The official salon where he’d seen Attiker was in another wing.

His secretary, Pinkerton, rushed into the room, his face hopeful and his smile wide. “Your Highness?”

Raz couldn’t help the answering grin, nodding, and allowed his secretary to congratulate him. Raz sighed. “I’m sorry, I spoiled your—”

“Your Highness, this is huge,” Pinkerton interrupted in his glee, which he never did obviously, but Raz wasn’t about to correct the breach of protocol when the man was so happy for him. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime honor.” He brought out ink, quills, and his ever-present notebook. “If you can give me a family name or his house, I can see to the colors changing.”

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