Page 9 of A Mate for the King
It was madness.
There were fae folk in the woods, for All-Mother’s sake!
Zehr lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “I needed some peace and then…” His voice trailed off, prompting Cora to lean closer to him. She relished the hard feeling of his bare chest against her arms before she asked.
“And then?”
“Then I smelled you.”
“I see.”
“What’s your name, little omega?”
Cora’s eyes lifted to meet Zehr’s. She was grateful to see the amber had receded and given way to the most unusual eyes Cora had ever seen. They were almost green, but there was far too much amber in them, which gave his eyes a surreal look. Cora had only seen eyes like his once before, when her clan had happened upon a feral band of shifters—they were a cautionary tale to Cora and her peers. What happened when shifters allowed their animal sides to reign unchecked.
The amber she saw in Zehr’s eyes was a dead giveaway that a shifter was further from their human sides than was allowed in polite society.
She wondered if it was a result of his connection to the All-Mother. It had to be. She’d never seen eyes like that on anyone so in control of themselves.
Zehr’s eyes were, in Cora’s estimation, the softest thing about the Alpha, and that alone should have been enough to send her running rather than let him carry her. But somehow she felt safer than could ever remember in his arms, and she shifted closer to him with a contented sigh.
“Sweets.”
The single word made Cora’s eyes flutter open from where they had begun to drift closed as she nosed at Zehr’s collarbone.
“Your name?” Zehr raised an eyebrow and Cora wished she could magic herself to be invisible. She’d been musing over his eyes and mooning over the alpha while he waited for her to answer him.
“Cora,” she blurted out, and instantly winced at the shrill sound of her voice. Omegas about to enter their heat were supposed to be languid, soft, and throaty-voiced. All aimed at securing the attention of the alpha of their choosing. But here she was, in the company of royalty, and she was practically shrieking in her soon-to-be-king’s ear.
How utterly perfect for her first heat.
“Beautiful name.” Zehr smiled at her.
“Thank you,” Cora coughed out, and did her best to keep her breathing steady. Though she was sure her omega pheromones were telling the alpha a different story. There was no way he didn’t know how aroused she was by his presence, how affected she was by the his touch, even in such an innocent manner as him carrying her back to camp
Did he have to do it shirtless?
Cora bit her lip and rubbed her thighs together at the aching now beginning in earnest between her legs. Already she could feel slick beginning to wet her panties and dampen the jeans she wore. This was going to be...difficult.
But if she was quick she could manage to make it back into the company of her omega friends. They would know how to guide her through her first heat, an event that was much belated, and just one of the reasons for her ill-treatment by her clan’s alphas.
They had termed her broken. Defective because of her dirty blood. In their estimation, the magic in her had tainted the omega half of her. And for as long as Cora could remember she had believed them.
And then today, everything had changed.
Her heat had struck her out of nowhere. And now the Fireheart alpha was carrying her, shirtless. Surely this was a dream and she would awake disappointed, alone, and still heatless on the floor of the tent she had been sharing with her friends. But no: somehow she didn’t wake and Zehr kept walking on, his arms strong and sure around her while she did her best not to give into the thoughts of how nice her name sounded rolling off his tongue, and how much better it would sound right before he sank his teeth into her and knotted her.
Cora huffed out a sigh and wiggled, trying to discreetly rub her thighs together. Anything to give her throbbing clit some relief. Her thighs were already damp with her slick and she was starting to see stars from how touch-starved she was. Having Zehr holding her was good, but she needed more, and she bit the inside of her cheek to muffle her moan as she was finally able to create much-needed friction.
For a second Cora forgot that she was in a royal’s arms, but the brief feeling of ecstasy lasted only a second before Zehr coughed.
Cora’s eyes flew up to see that he was looking away from her, his eyes steadfastly fixated on the trees above her head. He was trying to give her the illusion of privacy, but she could have died because she knew the alpha knew precisely what she had been doing a moment before.
“Are you—can you make it back for me to clean your wound?” Zehr ventured. Immediately Cora stiffened and looked up at him, her cheeks red.
“I’m sorry. You’re just—” She swallowed hard, her hands tightening into fists. “You’re very hard to resist,” she confessed.
“Me?” Zehr shook his head, blond hair spilling over his broad shoulders. “You have no idea how delicious you smell, sweets.”
