Page 85 of The Omega Thief

“He’s the prince—”

“And not only has his omega consort won a challenge for him while he was lounging in bed—”

“Fighting for his life,” Attiker snapped.

“He has a foreign army to win over and integrate,” Veda said.

Attiker hated it. They might be right, but then he didn’t trust Johannas further than he could throw him, and he had a Fenrir, and his stupid, utterly gorgeous mate had promised not to shift.

“Sire,” Benta acknowledged him as Attiker stepped up next to him and Thakeray. It was hard to tell if Benta was worried, as his face was still swollen, but Thakeray didn’t look pleased.

“No weapons,” Johannas said. “I cannot hold a sword in my shifted form. It would be unfair of you to do so.”

The ever-increasing crowd gasped, and Attiker put a hand to his heart, convinced it was going to stop beating. But the crowd didn’t like it. Attiker heard the soldiers muttering about Johannas being a coward, and that was from the Abergenny ones.

Raz grinned and drew his sword from its scabbard, then turned and marched over to Attiker, glancing at Thakeray and asking Thakeray if he’d mind holding it for him. “I won’t be long.” Then he turned and yanked Attiker forward into his arms, bending his head and capturing his lips. Attiker groaned and held on, ignoring the cheering and the laughter.

“You get so much as a broken nail,” Attiker whispered into Raz’s ear when he stopped for air, “and I’ll set Eldara on you.”

Raz stepped back, still holding one of Attiker’s hands, bowed, then kissed it, and whirled away. Attiker watched as Johannas shifted painfully slow, and the second the wolf shook his robes away, Raz pounced. Attiker held his breath as Raz had the wolf pinned face down on the ground and his arm around the wolf’s neck before the emperor knew what was happening, then Harcourt seemed to jump into action, and Attiker caught a flash of something in Harcourt’s hand as he raced towards them.

“A blade,” Attiker screamed at the top of his voice as Harcourt drew his arm back ready to plunge it into Raz’s back, but hearing him, Raz rolled so the emperor was above him when the blade hit.

Attiker knew the animal’s heart was in roughly the same position as a human, and Harcourt’s knife went straight into his chest. The emperor’s wolf shifted immediately to save its own life, but now human, Raz twisted his arm, and everyone heard the sickening crack as Johannas’s neck broke. Harcourt stood frozen, the knife falling from his fingers as Raz pushed Johannas’s dead body off him and leaped to his feet.

Harcourt dropped to his knees. “Don’t kill me, don’t kill me,” he nearly howled, bringing his arms above his head and cowering.

Attiker held his breath. What would Raz do? Would he finish him? The cruel, despicable man had gleefully joined in and had tried to kill both of them many times. But he’d surrendered.

Raz gazed at him, then glanced over at Attiker. “You know a lot of ship captains. Do you think any of them would like some free labor?” And Attiker laughed. He knew of at least two long sails leaving soon, the conditions of which would make Viscount Harcourt want to jump overboard in less than a week.

“Iwantedtothrottleyou,” Attiker admitted much later when all the excitement had died down. Both children had exhausted themselves and were in bed. Attiker had asked for some alterations to enable their rooms to be in the same wing and interconnecting. Raz had managed to distract Pinkerton long enough for them both to slip away. Carter was holed up with Grandmother planning the bonding ceremony and coronation, which was scheduled in another week.

“I knew Johannas’s wolf would be as lazy as he was. My mistake was underestimating Harcourt. I seem to have a bad habit of doing that with humans.”

Attiker huffed, still not mollified, but they were both silent for a while as Raz apologized most satisfactorily. “Oh, I forgot to say, why has Pinkerton had a missive from a Sera Templeton demanding we extend the port license and saying it was promised by the omega consort?”

Attiker chuckled, but he decided Raz was correct. Kissing was better than words.

One week later

Attiker stared at himself in the looking glass, but he turned as Raz walked back into the bedroom and gaped. “I understand why Benta had to help you. Can you even walk in all that?”

Raz flushed, and Attiker was immediately contrite. Every stick of clothing and ceremonial armor Raz wore had belonged to his father. “You do know,” he said, sidling up, “that I’m going to enjoy taking everything off afterwards? I’m glad you decided to prolong my anticipation.”

Raz relaxed and chuckled, then his eyes raked over Attiker. Attiker didn’t wear a military uniform, but Maxwell Davis, the tailor, had cleverly worked the Cadmeera insignia into the back of his overcoat.

“You are every inch a people’s champion,” Raz breathed out.

“So long as I’ll always be yours,” Attiker whispered and stepped even closer.

They could hear the horns start in the courtyard below, and Attiker knew they both had to leave. The coronation had always been in the throne room, but this time was a little different, as the gates had been thrown open to the people of Cadmeera. There was a huge tent set in the field next to the courtyard, and Raz was paying for everyone to enjoy food and drink. Music would continue far into the night.

Bartholemew was in charge of the beer obviously, but he now had a future son-in-law to help because Jack Karter (the guard named after his father who ran the tannery and who had died in the fire) had hung up his sword after meeting Jenny and they were both very much smitten with each other.

One of Attiker’s greatest fears had been that he couldn’t give Raz an heir, but Ash, who had been the only person he’d ever told, had taken it upon himself to whisper in a certain princess’s ear, and then someone had asked Laronne in a purely theoretical manner, and the master healer had assured everyone that there would never be any need for both parties to lie with each other.

And while Veda loved helping her brother secure his territory with a strong alliance, but had no wish to be a mother, she was very much on board with the plan.

---