Cock hard and throbbing, Nikolai forced the hand cupping the silkiest, softest skin in the universe to stop moving. “Was that your stomach?”
“Yes. Ignore it.” He could scent her embarrassment, along with her need. Even more, he could feel it. Feel her. Her emotions increasingly accessible to him along the fated-mate bond forming between them like tiny golden filaments, burrowing beneath his chest and sinking into his cells.
Strangely, far from annoying, the sweet, light touch of her emotions made him crave more.
He wanted fucking everything she had to give.
Except he could sense her resistance. Feel her holding back.
Still, some things took precedence. “When was the last time you ate?”
Cheeks red, she pressed her palm to her belly. “The doctor has been giving me broth several times a rotation, on your order. He said you insisted I finish every meal. So, I did. I’ve been getting more than enough nutrients.”
He’d made sure of that. “But real food?”
“I’m not sure.” She shrugged, her delicate shoulders lifting as her body moved, sending his cock deeper inside her.
He stifled a groan.
“I was nervous before the contract with the Verish family, so it’s hard to remember.” She wiggled against him as her channel squeezed him tight. “But it’s definitely not what I’m focused on now.”
He growled low but fought the rut.
His cock might be on board, but a deeper instinct prevailed. One more powerful than lust or his commitment to batter aside that block of hers for good.
The determination to provide for what was his.
No way was his omega going hungry on his watch.
“You need to eat.”
He’d been helpless to do anything but watch his family suffer from lack of food when they’d been growing up. He would never allow anyone under his care to experience that again.
“I’m getting you some clothes and a heavy cloak.” He pulled out of her—admittedly, with a fair amount of regret—and lifted her off his lap, setting her down next to him. Then, resolved, he jumped up and moved to the comms network, typing out his requests to the betas manning the system. “It’s colder in the dining room than here.”
He also didn’t want anyone else staring too closely at her perfection.
That sight was for him alone.
Because just as his eighteen-year-old self from her vision had predicted, every sacrifice, every humiliation—even the ones he wanted most to forget—was proving worth it. She was here with him. Her scent on his skin, her taste on his tongue. All the ugliness it had taken to get to this point was erased by the knowledge that she was his.
“So, we’re not going to . . .” She was still sitting in the nest of pelts, her beautiful white-gold hair tangled around her face, her hands gripped tight around the blanket now clutched to her chest. Confusion darkened her gaze. Something that almost looked like hurt, too.
He stifled a curse—and tapped down on his surge of arousal.
His control around her was shit.
He promised himself he’d satisfy every craving of hers.
But first things first.
“Not now. But definitely very soon. First, I am taking care of my omega properly.” Stalking forward, he stepped to the tantalizing nest of pillows and blankets. A quick search produced his shirt and pants. Pulling them on, he watched her watching him and couldn’t help the kick of pleasure at the lust in her gaze as his muscles flexed. Once dressed, he scooped her off the ground and into his arms.
“What are you doing?” Her hands looped around his neck by instinct, her small frame pressed tight to his skin, the mix of wary surprise and pleasure on her face confirming he’d made the right call.
Torturing myself. “Getting you dressed so I can take you to dinner.”
She blinked fast. “That’s so . . . thoughtful.”
He winked. “Let’s keep that little secret to ourselves.”
A burst of amusement reached him through their bond. “I can walk.”
“Maybe. But I’d prefer you save your energy.” He was already out of the room and heading down the corridor toward the dressing room he’d requested prepared for her when he pressed his mouth to her ear. “Because after you eat your fill of food, I’m going to fucking devour you.”
Out of nowhere, the fated-mate bond crackled and white heat slammed through him.
The eyes of the omega in his arms went black.
Somehow, he knew, this wasn’t going to be good.
“Come here, Alpha boy.” The scrawny beta with a comb-over yanked at the chain.
Laughter mixed with the stink of sweat, male musk, and lust as the circle of six males closed in tighter.
Nikolai gritted his teeth and let himself be dragged forward, each movement sending the muscles in his back screaming, small droplets of blood rolling into the divots in his skin.
But a whipping was far from the worst part of this experience.
“On your knees, Alpha.”
At fourteen, Nikolai was already taller than the forty-year-old beta bastard holding the lash and stroking his stubby, pink cock, but he wasn’t nearly the size he would become when he reached Alpha adulthood. Which is why this fucker and his beta pervert friends were willing to take a chance with him.
Still, despite the leash around his throat, it would have been easy to break the chain, pounce forward, and take out the lead beta and the five other grinning freaks, tearing his fangs through their flesh and shutting them up for good.
Easy, but not lucrative.
So, he shoved his instinct down deep, fought for control, and pictured all the cash this would earn him. Nothing paid as well as the beta pleasure houses, where betas were able to act out their twisted desires, including dominating the very Alphas they were supposed to serve.
He’d considered all other moneymaking alternatives before coming here, including pawning some of the gems in the necklace, but the moment those jewels surfaced, Olan would know he was still alive. That couldn’t happen until Nikolai had enough money to buy food, a safe house, and the loyalty of at least a few guards.
But other lucrative options were limited. Stealing from others who had little cash themselves was a waste of time and disheartening. Full-grown Alphas who would crush someone like him dominated the illegal fighting pits, and death meant no more ability to earn money. The gambling tables would have been nice, but he didn’t have the capital yet to be invited to the games that would earn him the score he needed. Snitching paid okay, but that was one thing he’d never do.
In the meantime, he needed funds now. His brothers were way too skinny for their size and age, Anya had a fucking cold she couldn’t seem to shake, and Alexi was eyeing the stash of the local mood enhancer peddlers as if they were the answer to his prayers.
Nikolai needed money to feed them and to put his bigger plans into motion. To reclaim what was his.
What was another piece of his soul lost if it gained him those other things?
His neck jerked as the chain was jostled. “You hear me, Alpha boy? I said, on your knees, that mouth of yours open wide.”
“Stick that nasty pencil dick of yours anywhere near my mouth and I will bite it off.” Nikolai smiled as the beta’s erection wilted.
“Th-they said you’d do what we wanted.”
“You want to whip me, fine. You want to watch me jerk off and get yourself off while I do, fine. But that’s where I draw the line.”
A moment of silence—and then the rush of air as the rawhide cracked against his back.
“Then get on your knees and take out the massive cock, Alpha boy.” The beta had decided he’d rather have something than nothing at all. “Nice and slow.”
Jaw clamped tight, Nikolai did as he was told, his knees slamming to the dirty floor. As he’d done for Olan Lundin.
Nikolai vowed then and there this would be the last time he’d ever fucking kneel.
He vowed too that he’d be back to kill this fucker some rotation soon.
He might be on his knees now, but soon he’d be standing above them all. Him and his entire family. Untouchable.
The dirt and pain, cum and sweat, shame and twisted ash that tainted his soul would be forgotten, washed clean. His power so great, no one would ever harm him or his again. All that was his by right and blood and bond would be returned into his keeping.
Nothing was more important than that.