Had never been interested.
My heart stuttered to a stop for a moment as I saw Edgar.
Jessabella must be very close by. Any moment now, I would see her.
Her scent was clinging to the Duke, and I felt wracked with jealousy.
He doesn’t appreciate her, I thought resentfully, even though I had to swallow my feelings and pretend like his Omega’s scent wasn’t making me feel feral.
He never has.
Her scent seemed to be coating my throat, clogging my lungs. Why was it so strong?
I couldn’t banish the forbidden thoughts from my head.
Jessabella with my knot in her, tying us together as she panted with desire underneath me. Her belly swelling, but withmybaby. Not their Pack’s. Her stomach tensed with contractions. A baby in her arms, her face pink with labor. Her beautiful breasts leaking, dripping, spraying milk all over.
I felt dizzy with desire, flush with fertility.
Omegas flashed by my vision. Everyone was going to want to be near the Duke, hope their scent caught my nose.
But I couldn’t focus on anything except that tantalizing taste of Jessabella under my tongue.
Where was she?
I was drowning in her scent, dragged under by it, my cock thick and dripping in my pants.
How could her scent have this powerful an effect on me? Mated Omegas weren’t supposed to smellthis delicious.
“Duke Alexei, it is wonderful to see you,” Edgar said, bowing his head respectfully, but there was something in his eyes I didn’t like. A sour note I didn’t remember.
He began to talk about Koval Estate, the river boat he was building for the spring thaw, but I couldn't focus on any of it.
“Hey, where’s Jessabella? How’s she doing?” I choked out.
Edgar looked strangely at me.
Was it showing on my face? The naughty lust I’d felt for her, ever since I became a man? The way she’d always been the one I craved, even though it was wrong? The way my eyes had always tracked her across a crowded room, even thoughshe wasn’t mine.
“Oh, we parted ways.”
They parted ways?
The fuck?
“Alexei, it’s so good to see you,” another woman squawked in my ear. “Are you thinking about taking an Omega?”
She smelled like stale perfume and I waved her away.
“Why?” I croaked out to Edgar. “Why would yourejecther? Where is she now?”
“No. Not you. Never you.”
My throat felt parched with thirst, my cock twitching in my pants, and I hoped no one could see the evidence of my arousal.
“She never gave us a baby,” Edgar shrugged. “That’s an Omega’s basic job. And she’s way too old. So we had to set her aside and try again with another Omega who is hopefully more fertile.”
The earth spun around me, the lights suddenly bright, way too bright.
