Now I was in my study, working instead of having fun with Gus. I much preferred having fun, something I rarely indulged in. Elias was just being a nuisance, but I enjoyed his company too much to ask him to leave.
“Is time moving slower than usual?” I asked, watching my wall-mounted clock tick away steadily, then glaring at the pile of correspondence I needed to attend to.
Elias groaned. “I can’t wait for your heat to be over! You’ve never been like this before your heats. Is it the thought of breeding that’s got you all hot and bothered?”
Scowling at him again, I admitted, “It might be the breeding thing.” It wasn’t as if I could admit to him that Gus was different, that I actuallylikedhim. Because Ididlike Gus. He gave me so much unexpected joy by just being himself. Even if he was an alpha, he still seemed so innocent and kind, so attentive and careful with me. He didn’t seem to want to impress me like otherpeople did, and I really liked that. There were even moments where he made me forget I was king.
“Well, if what the servants said about his cock then yes, I get why you’re this angsty.”
My grip hardened around my pen, and ink splattered across the many papers I’d yet to sign.
“Seb!” Elias sat up on the small couch by the windows as fast as he possibly could with his big belly. “What happened?”
“Pen slipped,” I lied, my voice a tad squeaky.
He eyed me with suspicion. “You might need a good fuck before your heat. I fear for your clothes if you wait.”
I eyed my navy shirt with the gold buttons, now splattered with ink dots all over it.
Sighing, I stood, abandoning my work. “I’ll go change.”
I left the study and pondered if Elias was right and that letting Gus help me out before my heat would ease some of the tension I carried around.
Back in my royal chambers, I undressed, noticing my pants had been attacked too. Placing all my stained clothes to the side, I hoped one of my servants could save the fabric. A bath wasn’t necessary, but I still had to wash my hands as well as I could manage it.
A sharp pain suddenly tore through my middle as my skin turned clammy and slick. The telltale signs of my heat rippled through my body as my nipples hardened and my hole clenched with need. Now wasn’t the time for my first heatwave to come. Gus was somewhere on the property, but I had no idea where.
Breathing through the pain, I slowly made my way to the door, hoping I could alert a guard, but then I froze. It wouldn’t be safe. No one was allowed to smell me. During my other heats, I’d had the alpha close by at all times, so this didn’t happen, but Gus had been sent away togods knows wheredoinggods knows whatwhile I worked. He could be anywhere. I should’ve objected to it, but I’d been too annoyed with my advisors to think clearly.
Slumping on the floor, I tried to calm my breathing. Gus would come by soon for dinner. Or Elias would waddle his way in here when I failed to return to my study. I’d be fi—
Another wave of pain sliced through my body, and with it, more slick built and trickled into my undergarments. I groaned with anguish, then rested my cheek against the wooden floor as I panted for release. I felt empty and alone. Hollow as intense need echoed through my omega soul. I needed to be filled. I need to be owned.
Gus… I needed Gus.
Chapter 8
Gus
I knew nothing about courting a king, if that was even what I was doing. No one had ever prepared me for this. That I’d one day be on a honey quest, just minding my own business, and then BAM! a horde of cloaked royal advisors snatched me from a field. Okay, so they hadn’t been cloaked, but they had been pretty scary.
I had to admit that I liked the king. I enjoyed his company. When he asked me about myself, it was with such care and attention as though it truly mattered what I had to say to him. And not just that. He was stunning. Like, really, truly beautiful. Strong in a delicate sort of way, like he could break you, snap you into two, just by looking at you, then put you back together again with his soft, slender hands. Seeing him naked in the lake had been everything. And I meant everything. All of my alpha senses had been on full alert, words liketake, breed,andminecoursing through me with such unfamiliar intensity. Almost like he was a drug… likehoney.
The downside of courting a king was that he was away a lot. Right now, he was in his office, attending to paperworkof the utmost urgencyaccording to his advisors. They’d nearly shooed me out the door when I’d followed Seb to his office like a lost puppy. A horny lost puppy, because something had happened to my dick ever since we’d bathed in the lake. Perhaps there was some weird stuff going on with the royal lake water, because no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get my dick to deflate.
‘What am I supposed to do now?’I’d asked one of the advisors, my shoulders slumped, and my balls heavy and aching.
‘How on earth should I know? Think of something. His Majesty needs to work. He can’t spend his days dallying around.’The advisor had narrowed his eyes at me. ‘What do you usually do, Alpha, in your pastime?’
‘Pastime?’My head had started aching by then, along with my balls, becausepastimewas yet another word unfamiliar to me. The royal advisor had huffed, and I dare say Seb wouldn’t have liked it at all had he seen.
‘Yes. When you are not working in the field. When your time is your own?’
‘Oh. You mean after dinner and before bedtime?’
‘Apparently,’he’d sighed, rubbing his forehead.
‘I carve wooden figurines for the harvest market. I’m allowed to sell them there and keep the money for myself. I… I buy honey at the market.’
