I felt Lancelot’s fist clench under my fingers for a moment before he let out a long sigh.
“Very well,” he growled and suddenly I was lifted from the floor and into his strong arms. “This is not how I wished to court you, but it shall have to do.”
My back met covers as I was tossed into my nest, my and Arthur’s combined scents floating up around me as Lancelot stood at the edge, staring down at me.
His face was more flushed than I had ever seen it and his normally broody expression was gone and instead replaced with a look so intense I was half-afraid it would melt my gown clean off.
“What must I do from here?” he asked, his voice hoarse as he stared down at where I had piled cushions, forming a low wall around the bed.
It had never occurred to me that Lancelot would not know the instinctual words that seemed to be ingrained into every alpha at a genetic level. He seemed to ooze the confidence that most alphas carried with them—so of course it should have translated into the bedroom.
But now, as I looked up at him and nibbled on my bottom lip, I realized that the alpha had no idea what to say in order to enter my nest. He just knew he couldn’t come in unless I allowed it.
Lifting one slippered foot, I pressed it into his thigh and felt the powerful muscles underneath twitch beneath my toes.
“You have to ask properly,” I told him, my voice sounding nothing like it usually did. I sounded sultry and almost seductive. “Say ‘Guinevere, may I enter your nest.’”
Lancelot scrubbed a hand through his dark, curly hair. “I have never said such words before, your majesty.”
I removed my foot, sitting up abruptly.
“Fine then,” I said with a sniff. “I guess I’ll have to do it by myself.”
Tugging at my dress, I pulled it down around my shoulders and was suddenly grateful that Andrivete had chosen a loose one after hearing me complain about my itchy skin.
Even still, it now felt like too many layers and I wanted to be free of them as soon as possible.
Balling the dress up, I tossed it in Lancelot’s general direction, making the alpha growl as I hiked up my shift and pulled it over my head.
“Tell me the words again,” he mumbled, his dark eyes on my now naked skin.
Blissfully, I ignored him as I ran my hands down my fevered skin, digging my fingers into the tightness at the base of my neckand running my other hand down along the spasming flesh over my womb.
At their core, heats were meant to get an omega pregnant, the cramps doing their work to pull in the seed of an alpha and encourage the egg released by estrous to take root.
Right now, my slick insides ached to be filled and I had to force myself not to act like an animal and dig my own fingers inside of myself in order to find some kind of release.
“Guinevere,” Lancelot finally repeated on an exhalation of a breath, his growl low and dangerous as he stared at me. Yet still he remained a respectful distance outside of my nest.
“You know the words, Lancelot,” I teased, giving one of my nipples a light pinch.
“Guinevere, my queen,” he began, already yanking at his sword belt and pulling it away from his waist. “May I enter your nest?”
Scooting back up against the headboard of the bed, I nodded.
Lancelot stripped out of his clothing quickly—harshly almost—and threw it to the floor behind him.
Like the others, his tanned chest was also nicked with various scars including one that criss-crossed from the top of his shoulder down to his stomach.
I stared openly and unabashedly as he finished undressing—he was more wiry then the others, only a tad broader than Merlin and only in the shoulders. Each muscle on his body was honed as if he had spent thousands of hours working on it, and when I really thought about it, he probably had.
Then he was in the nest with me, bringing his musky, citrusy scent with him. The need I was feeling spiked in a flush across my skin.
Lancelot’s curly dark hair floated in front of his dark eyes as he crawled up the bed to me, his fingers brushing the outside of my thighs as we came face to face.
“You smell of the heavens,” Lancelot whispered, gaze intent on mine. “I fear I have never smelled anything quite like it.”
“Are you sure you want me?” I asked, feeling one last surge of insecurity enter my mind. Things seemed to be moving too smoothly now and I was sure that the other shoe was going to drop at any moment.
