“You more than pass,” I told him honestly, leaning for a kiss and inhaling his comforting sandalwood scent.
Bedivere seemed pleased with my answer because the rumbling in his chest grew as did the pace of his thrusts again.
With every member of my pack, whenever we finally accepted each other it felt as if I was unveiling new facets of them with each passing moment.
Bedivere, who had remained mostly stoic for the entire time I had known him, was actually softer than a marshmallow on the inside and when he pulled away from our kiss his face wasflushed with a relaxed sort of lust—a far cry from his usual frown.
It tickled me somewhere deep that I had been able to draw such an expression from the alpha.
“May I bond with you?” Bedivere suddenly asked as his hips began to shudder and his hand drifted down so that he could press a finger to my swollen clit, circling the sensitive nub.
I nodded before throwing my head back as lightning bolts of pleasure began to sizzle up my spine as he ushered me towards my own climax. His mission was as clear as day: he wanted us to come together and he was going to come very soon.
“You don’t even need to ask,” I replied finally, biting my lower lip to hold off for a moment so that I didn’t tumble over the edge before my sweet alpha did.
Bedivere’s eyes seemed to glaze over as they trailed down from my face and down what he could see of my body. It was the same look Gawain and Arthur had gotten in their eyes as they let their inner alpha take over in order to choose the best possible spot for their bond mark.
Hazily I felt their interest down our shared bonds letting me know my control over them had slipped as I grew closer to climax. There was no anger—merely curiosity from my two other alphas as they seemed to realize that another would be joining their ranks in a moment.
My distraction with the bond must have given Bedivere enough time to decide on his bite because I felt his teeth bite down on a spot just below my collar bone. They slid in easily into my skin as the hormone that sealed the bond flooded the bite and burning sensation followed by nirvana filled me.
I gasped, shuddering around Bedivere as his hips slammed forward and his swollen knot was pushed inside, the thick ring of flesh swelling as soon as it slid in past the entrance, locking us together.
Holding onto the back of Bedivere’s head, my eyes were drawn to the swirling patterns in the ceiling as our bond clicked into place and it was like another piece of my soul lightened as it had the previous two times.
When Bedivere’s teeth finally released my newly marked flesh, the flat of his tongue quickly replaced them as he lapped at the wound. With each pass, it felt as if our bond was growing stronger and stronger until I could feel my heart beating in time with his.
Then I could feelhim. Behind the tough, stoic exterior I could feel the softness from his end of the bond. His affection for me, his worry about being enough, and the sheer level of affection wafting off of him in waves.
Fifteen minutes passed in a comfortable silence before Bedivere, whose head was on the pillow next to mine, spoke. “Has his majesty ever told you about how his foster-father died?”
“Bits and pieces,” I answered, my fingers tracing the scars on Bedivere’s hairy chest.
“Our fathers were best friends,” Bedivere began with a heavy sigh. “Mine was a blacksmith, but Sir Ector? Sir Ector was the only knight our little village had ever produced. I wished more than anything to be like him, and despite my father insisting I take over at his forge, Sir Ector offered to take me on as a squire. His majesty was still just a fat little babe then—only just out of infancy.”
I chuckled at that. It was hard to imagine Arthur as a baby, my brain just wanted to assume that he walked out of the womb a fully grown king ready to ride into battle.
“Sir Ector and his wife, Lady Anne, were the sort of folk who took care of all of those around them. His knighthood allowed them to live more lavishly than most, but that did not stop them from being one of us and I wished to be just like him.”
“He sounds like a good man.”
Bedivere nodded solemnly. “He was—it is why his majesty is a fair king now. Sir Ector would not tolerate a tyrant and he instilled those values into Sir Kay and his majesty early on.”
“And you,” I pointed out, splaying my hand flat over his chest where his heart was and turned so that I could look into his eyes.
“And me,” he agreed heavily. “But, in the end, he was just one man. After his majesty took the throne of Camelot, Sir Ector refused to leave the village to join the round table, sending Sir Kay in his stead. He believed the village needed him and Lady Anne to continue as it had for many years. We went back to visit as much as possible and they sent letters, but the village was a five day ride from Camelot. One day, Sir Ector’s letter didn’t come by falcon as it usually did. At first, we thought nothing of it. Then another day passed, and another until we agreed to ride out with our men.”
I could already see where this story was going, my anxiety ratcheting up until I felt his calming presence along the bond, soothing my frayed nerves as he continued his story dispassionately. “Upon our arrival the village was in shambles—burnt out buildings, released livestock, and worst of all, our kin slaughtered in the streets.”
“Your parents?” I asked, my voice a bit hoarse.
“Had died of sickness a few years before, but Sir Ector and Lady Anne were not so lucky to go that peacefully. When we made it up the hill to the house we found Sir Ector in the yard, his sword still in his hand, and Lady Anne was in the house. She had taken poison to avoid being attacked by the invaders.”
I pressed a hand to my mouth. Arthur had told me that they had been killed, but had never gone into so much detail as this. This washorrible.
“We buried them in their garden—their favorite place to spend time together.”
“And that’s why you’ve been afraid to take an omega,” I finally supplied, all of the puzzle pieces seeming to click into place. “You and Arthur.”
