Magnanimously, I loosen the chains that are binding Daire in reward.
He wriggles free, dropping to the ground.
Then he grimaces, stretching. “This doesn’t earn you forgiveness, aye?”
“What will?”
“You could start by kneeling.”
“Have you forgotten who is king between us already?”
“Not to me.” Daire prowls toward me, grabbing me by the shoulder and shoving me toward Freya. “You’re so bloody frightened that our Omega will reject you that you’ve even put up this barrier. Yet I can feel the tremors wracking you because you need her pheromones.”
“I’ll survive.”
“Don’t be a stubborn idiot. Kneel and say sorry to our Omega for this whole foolish plot of yours that put her in danger.”
I don’t even have to think about it.
Freya holds my heart, life, and soul in her small hands. She still has no idea how much she rules me.
Perhaps, it’s time to show her.
I drop to my knees.
Freya hisses out a shocked breath. “Aurelius…”
“My Goddess, I am sorry.” I vanish the barrier. “You once asked if there was anyone who wasn’t my enemy, and I answeredyou. That will always be true. Hate me for my plots but trust me that I will always love you.”
Freya takes slow steps towards me.
I hardly dare breathe.
When Freya reaches out her hand to touch my sensitive horn — the most intimate place for a dragon — it is like she is both claiming me and proposing to me afresh.
I lean into her hand, touch starved, too frightened that if I say anything else, I will fuck this up.
My cock presses against my tight breeches, as if Freya is stroking it.
My nerves sing.
I grit my teeth, clenching my hands not to come in my pants, untouched.
I am close to tipping into rut. I’ve been feeling it for days.
Without my Omega, when that happens, will I finally become feral?
Will I turn into the winged, shadowed death that everyone has taught me was always destined?
Freya strokes from the tip of my sparking horn to the base, before carding her fingers through my hair, pushing it back from my eyes. “You look like shit.”
Daire chuckles.
“A deeply romantic moment,” I drawl. “I am moved.”
“You really haven’t been sleeping.” Freya runs her thumb over the deep shadows beneath my eyes. “Did you know that you’d be this fucked up by not having me close?”
I don’t answer, and that’s answer enough.
