Page 101 of Bonds of Hate

She squeezes her eyes shut, nostrils flaring, breath quickening. Her face heats and her nipples visibly harden even through the thick fabric of her dress. It’s a pity we’re stuck in this position, because I would enjoy nothing more than stripping her bare and laying her out on the table like a meal to devour.

She thrusts her hips hard enough to make the chair creak. Nikolai glances at us, but only slightly raises his eyebrow when I bare my teeth at him, and continues his speech without so much as a stutter.

The surrounding conversation grows heated. Xavier and Marcus disagree over whether the crown should respond to the rebellious elements in the nearby region of Farafal with force or persuasion. Even if my attention wasn’t focused on the girl in my lap, I wouldn’t bother contributing to the argument. I already know that Leopold has already tasked the secret police with infiltrating rebel groups in the area because I’m the one who suggested it.

My fingers thrust faster as I continue the unrelenting pressure of my thumb on the bud of her clit. Despite her ability to keep her responses tamped down, I can tell just how close she is.

Maya comes almost entirely silently. A frantic little inhale and the twitch of her belly are the only outward indication of her release. If I couldn’t feel her clench and tremor around my fingers, I might have missed it happenentirely.

I give her a soft kiss on the cheek when she collapses back against me.

“Such a good girl,” I coo in her ear, teasing. “Now, what do you have to say?”

I expect her to refuse me an answer, too mindful of attracting attention. Her flushed cheeks and blown pupils would give her away if anyone looks closely enough.

But she surprises me once again.

“Thank you,” she whispers.

It takes everything in me not to throw her over my shoulder and lock us both away long enough for her suppressants to wear off. The worst idea. So stupid that I should shove her away right now before I do something I’ll regret.

Instead, I cradle her closer and gently inhale the cherry-sweet scent of her hair.

I can’t keep her. I won’t. For reasons that I refuse to face, even in my own thoughts, at the risk of revealing more than I should to a curious onlooker. I chose her on wild impulse because the thought of another Alpha claiming her felt like a personal insult. I might have killed both her and whichever of my brothers tried.

This is all fun and games, but it’s all temporary.

It has to be.

But I can still enjoy her for however much time we have left.

Chapter Twenty-Two

MAYA

Ifloat alongside Logan through the marble corridors, my steps light and graceful despite the lingering tremors coursing through my body. The council meeting replays in fragments — the press of Logan’s thigh against mine under the table, fighting my body’s own impulses to whine and whimper in pleasure.

Then coming harder than I ever have before.

I don’t understand why he would do that. Or why he seems so relaxed and at ease, without the simmering anger he perpetually seems to feel toward me. That confusion might be worse than dealing with the worst of his mood swings.

“You carried yourself beautifully in there,” Logan murmurs, his hand resting at the small of my back as he guides me out of the council chamber. “Like you were born to this.”

I manage a weak smile. My skin still tingles where he touches me. I feel tightly wound enough to jump out of myskin. I try to remain cognizant of our audience despite the turmoil of my thoughts.

The embarrassment over being jerked off in public is second only to the realization that at least one of the other princes noticed what was happening. Nikolai’s well-timed throat clearing as I came couldn’t have been an accident. The friendly wink he gave me as Logan swept me out of the room was only more evidence.

What else is there to say?

“Thank you, Alpha.”

Logan’s smile widens as presses a soft kiss to my forehead, shocking me once again. This is a side of the prince I’ve never seen before, a soft side full of amiable smiles and genuine compliments because he genuinely appreciates what I can provide to him.

Exactly what I always dreamed of one day having with an Alpha.

A trade advisory panel follows the small council meeting, which I am also expected to attend. Thankfully, Logan actually allows me to sit in a chair of my own, though I would have been even happier standing behind him in a slightly less conspicuous position like the other Omegas.

His hand remains on my back during the meeting, moving in steady and calming circles no matter how heatedly he addresses his father’s advisors. I pay close attention to the discussion only because the alternative is getting lost in my own thoughts, a place I truly do not want to be right now. When I whisper a suggestion for how to counter the L’Angelian trade minister’s desire to increase tariffs, Logan listens intently to me before repeating my words verbatim to the panel.

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