Feral - Alessandra Hazard
Feral - Alessandra Hazard
Feral - Alessandra Hazard
Feral
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Epilogue
From the Author
The Wrong Alpha series
Calluvia's Royalty series
Straight Guys series
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Alessandra Hazard
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be
reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written
permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book
review. This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and events are
the product of the author’s imagination.
www.alessandrahazard.com
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Chapter 1
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Chapter 2
Jules spent the next few days jumping at every little sound, scared
that Uncle Wayne had found out about his visit to the basement. What if
they noticed that someone had used a blood stancher on the Xeus? Jules
could only hope they’d think it was the Xeus’s superior healing at work.
But as three days passed without any trouble, Jules relaxed—enough
to start considering going back.
He knew it was crazy. It was a miracle he hadn’t gotten caught last
time. He shouldn’t tempt fate again.
But he had promised. Not to mention his own curiosity wouldn’t let
him forget about the Xeus. Who was he? Why was he locked up in their
basement? What did his uncle want with him?
Okay, research time. He needed to research it. Or rather, he needed
Eric to research it for him. Jules wasn’t the smart Blake brother, after all.
He liked to think he was fairly intelligent, but he wasn’t embarrassed to
admit that his baby brother was the resident genius.
“Why are you interested in it?” Eric asked.
“It’s a totally hypothetical question,” Jules said, putting on his most
innocent face.
Eric, bless his precious soul, didn’t suspect him of lying, of course.
For all his intelligence, Eric wasn’t good at people. Or reading people. Or
talking to people. Jules kind of dreaded Eric’s debut in society: there was
little doubt it was going to be a disaster, and Jules could only hope some
asshole alpha wouldn’t use his baby brother’s social cluelessness against
him.
Eric hummed and started typing on his computer. “I’d normally say
it’s impossible for a Xeus alpha to shift into his beastly form outside of
Xeus being full, but there’s an obscure drug that can force a Xeus to shift.
It’s called kerosvarin.”
Jules perked up. “Do you know a cure?”
Eric shook his head, pushing his light-brown fringe off his eyes.
Physically, he was the middle ground between the fair-haired Liam and
brown-haired Jules. He wasn’t quite as gorgeous as Liam—no one was—
but Eric was still very lovely. Definitely prettier than him. Jules was glad.
He was A-okay with being the plain Joe of the family, and he wanted Eric
to have it easier. Because as much as it sucked, an omega’s worth to their
family was still in their marriage prospects. Jules had heard that things were
different in Kadar for omegas, but Pelugia was still stuck in the dark ages
when it came to social issues like omega rights.
Jules hoped his baby brother would be able to find a nice match.
That said, everyone knew Liam was the brother who would be marrying up:
he would probably marry some rich, handsome, and important alpha, maybe
even one from the upper crust of society. As for Jules… Uncle Wayne said
Jules would be lucky if he got any marriage offer at all. Jules kind of hoped
he wouldn’t get any marriage offers, but obviously he didn’t share that
opinion when Uncle Wayne was around.
“There’s no cure,” Eric said, his forehead wrinkling as he read
something on the screen. “It’s funny that you asked about that, actually. I
can see increased activity for search terms ‘Xeus’ and ‘kerosvarin.’
Something is up. Considering the rumors…”
“What rumors?” Jules said.
Eric shrugged, his eyes still on the screen. “There have been all sorts
of rumors circulating since the Opal House event last month.”
“Really? I thought the event was NDA-locked?”
“It was,” Eric said. “But the NDA technology wasn’t enabled
immediately, so some things were still leaked. For example, the video of
Prince Haydn choosing his husband over King Stefan was leaked before the
NDA tech locked everything down. And there are reports of a feral Xeus
alpha attacking guests—there are some blurry pictures—but those reports
are really confusing, and no videos had leaked before the NDA tech was
enabled… Interesting...”
Jules frowned. “Why would they even use the NDA tech for such an
event? It’s weird.”
Eric shrugged. “If the rumors of a feral Xeus were correct, the Xeus
might have maimed or killed someone important. Or the Xeus was someone
important. In either case, they’d want to protect the Xeus’s identity. It’s
actually common practice at high-profile events, especially political
events.”
Damn it. So Jules was pretty much back to square one: he had no
leads. The feral Xeus in their basement might or might not be the same feral
Xeus that attacked people at the political event last month, but since the
event was NDA-locked, Jules had no way of ascertaining it.
“All right, thanks,” he said, dropping an absentminded kiss on top of
Eric’s head before wandering away.
He was disappointed by how little he’d learned, but even if he still
had no clue about the Xeus’s identity or how to help him, it didn’t mean he
couldn’t try to help him.
Jules spent the rest of the week planning. This time he knew what to
expect and prepared accordingly. He grabbed a flash drive, intending to
copy files from the computer he had seen in the basement, his first aid kit—
and some food. He had noticed how thin the Xeus was. Jules didn’t doubt
that the alpha could still easily snap his neck, but he really was thin, all
muscle and skin, with no body fat at all. He could definitely use some food.
When everything was ready, Jules went to Liam and attempted to talk
him into distracting the guards again.
This time his older brother wasn’t as cooperative, though. “Why?” he
said, looking at him suspiciously.
He looked ridiculously endearing.
Jules patted him on the head. “Don’t you worry your pretty little
head.”
He got a punch to the gut for the “pretty little head,” but eventually,
Liam grudgingly assented after Jules promised to tell him everything later.
They agreed that Jules would message him when he wanted to leave the
basement so Liam could distract the guards again.
As soon as Liam successfully did his part, Jules darted downstairs.
He had been half-afraid that someone would already be in the basement
despite the late hour, but his concern turned out to be unfounded.
The Xeus was alone. He was still shackled to the metal table, his
long, powerful body covered in bruises and cuts. Jules winced in sympathy.
It looked worse than last time.
“Who are you?” said a hoarse voice.
Jules froze.
His gaze snapped to the alpha’s face. He found him looking at Jules
with narrowed eyes. It was bizarre. The Xeus’s face still looked ugly as sin,
his features harsh and predatory, but there was real sentience in his eyes.
How was it possible? He couldn’t communicate last week at all.
“Hello,” Jules said when he recovered from his surprise. “You don’t
remember me?”
The Xeus’s nostrils flared. He was inhaling his scent, Jules realized
with morbid fascination. It seemed it was true that Xeus alphas had much
better senses. Jules couldn’t smell him from such distance. Granted, his own
senses were dulled by the suppressants he was on. All Dainiri omegas were
on suppressants after their first heat.
“You smell familiar,” the alpha said. His voice was hoarse and
gravelly, and it seemed every word took an effort. The suspicion in those
glowing green eyes wasn’t gone completely, but his body relaxed a little.
It wasn’t surprising, Jules mused. He had heard that untouched,
unmated omegas smelled sweet and soothing to alphas, and it seemed Xeus
alphas were no exception.
His heartbeat becoming steadier, he walked closer and clicked his
tongue in dismay when he saw the cuts on the alpha’s body. They looked
worse up close. “I was here last week,” Jules said, pulling out the supplies
from his first aid kit. “I helped you, remember?”
“No.”
The alpha’s muscles tensed a little but he didn’t make a sound as
Jules applied an antiseptic to the deepest wounds, even though it had to be
painful.
“What are you doing?”
“What does it look like?” Jules said, applying the blood
stancher. “Don’t be such a suspicious grump. By the way, it’s convenient
that you’re suddenly talking, but couldn’t you talk to me last time?”
“Don’t remember,” the Xeus said, boring a hole in Jules with his
eyes. “Who are you? Did they send you?”
“No one sent me,” Jules said, applying the blood stancher to the cut
on the alpha’s stomach and trying not to blush. He resolutely didn’t look
below the alpha’s waist. This close, he could smell the Xeus’s scent:
something rich and dark he couldn’t quite identify. The scent was… it
wasn’t unpleasant. Jules cleared his throat. “In fact, I’ll be in a world of
trouble if they find out I’m here.” He poked at the alpha’s ribs. “Do you
want to eat? I brought food.”
The Xeus didn’t say anything, still watching him warily, but his
stomach growled.
Jules smiled. “I’ll take that as a yes. Here.” He pulled out the food
he’d brought—chicken—and then paused, glancing at the manacles.
Oh. “I’ll have to feed you.”
“Free me,” the alpha said, flexing his clawed hands.
Jules laughed a little. “Do I look like someone who has keys to those
things? Sorry, but I’ll have to feed you. And I forgot to bring a fork I’m
afraid. Promise not to bite my hand?”
The Xeus just stared at him for a long moment before nodding with
obvious reluctance.
Feeding a grown man, especially a naked one, was… strange. Jules
found himself blushing as he brought chicken pieces to the Xeus’s mouth.
He watched his mouth as he chewed, watched his muscular throat work as
he swallowed.
Jules found himself inhaling deeper, breathing in the alpha’s scent—
he smelled so good. He was a little disturbed by the sudden warmth in his
nether regions. Well, this was just embarrassing. But maybe it was a normal
physiological reaction. He’d never been this close to an alpha unrelated to
him. Maybe it was totally normal.
Except he was becoming hard between his legs.
Hard and slick.
Fuck. Maybe all the debasing things people said about Dainiri
omegas were true. Jules had always scoffed at them, but for the first time in
his life, he wondered if omegas like him really would gladly spread their
legs for any virile alpha. Because there was no other explanation for why he
was suddenly getting wet just from being close to an alpha. A very ugly
Xeus alpha. The Xeus’s body might be that of a large, muscular man, but
his face should have repulsed Jules. It didn’t.
His cheeks hot, Jules couldn’t bring himself to meet the alpha’s eyes.
Could he smell his arousal? Judging by his flaring nostrils, he
could. Thankfully, the Xeus didn’t comment on it, eating ravenously. When
he was done, he licked Jules’s fingers, and Jules had to swallow the whine
that threatened to leave his mouth. Fuck, what was wrong with him? He
was trembling, his crotch aching and needy.
Those glowing eyes fixed on him. The alpha’s fangs nipped on
Jules’s finger.
His underwear uncomfortably wet, Jules snatched his hand away and
cleared his throat, trying to push away the mental image of sitting on the
Xeus’s face as the alpha licked him between his legs. What the fuck. Where
was this even coming from?
Focus, Jules.
Turning away swiftly to hide his flushed face, Jules walked to the
computer and put on his gloves—he didn’t want to leave his fingerprints
anywhere, just in case. His fingers were still trembling as he turned the
computer on. There was a password, of course, but that didn’t bother him.
His uncle wasn’t very imaginative. It took Jules only several attempts
before he guessed the password—his uncle’s birthday, pfft. He pulled out
his flash drive and started copying anything that looked remotely
interesting.
“What are you doing?” said the hoarse voice behind him.
“I want to find out what’s going on here,” Jules said, trying to sound
casual and not at all like he still had a boner. “Why he is keeping you here.”
“He? You mean that alpha?”
Jules didn’t need to turn around to sense the hatred in the Xeus’s
voice.
“Yes. Do you know him?” He nearly smacked himself. Why hadn’t
he thought of it? In his defense, he hadn’t expected the Xeus to be
talking. “Do you know why he’s keeping you here?”
“No,” the alpha said gruffly. “I don’t remember. I don’t remember
anything until the past few days.”
“But?” Jules prompted.
“I heard them talk.”
Jules made an encouraging noise.
“They’re looking for some kind of cure,” the Xeus said.
Jules frowned. His uncle was looking for some medical cure? He was
literally using the Xeus as a lab rat?
“I need to go,” he said when the file transfer was complete. He turned
off the computer and said, without looking at the alpha, “I’m going to look
through these files and then maybe I’ll find out what’s going on here. Please
don’t tell anyone that I was here or I wouldn’t be able to help you—”
“Come here.”
Jules wet his lips. “Why?”
“Come here,” the Xeus repeated, his voice so low it was nearly a
growl.
Was it Jules’s imagination or had the alpha’s scent become stronger?
Jules could still smell him all the way from there, and it really wasn’t
helping the situation in his pants.
He was pretty sure the Xeus wasn’t using an alpha’s Voice—Xeus
alphas didn’t possess that ability—and yet Jules still found himself doing as
he was told.
He put the flash drive into his pocket and walked back to the Xeus,
his heart pounding.
The glowing green eyes watched him intently.
The closer Jules got to him, the harder Jules’s cock got and the wetter
his hole became. Gods, it was horrible. What kind of slut was he? He was
leaking . He could feel slick running down his leg already.
When he stopped by the Xeus, the alpha’s hands flexed, his sharp
claws scraping over the metal table he was shackled to. “You smell good,”
the alpha said, his nostrils flaring. He licked his lips. “Let me taste you.”
Jules was speechless, his face flushing scarlet. There was little doubt
what he meant. “You—” he managed. “I’m not—” Glowering at the alpha,
he grabbed his stuff and all but ran away.
Jules had to stop at the top of the stairs and text Liam that he wanted
to leave. Leaning against the wall, he waited for his brother’s “all clear”
message, his thighs squeezed tightly and his teeth sunk into his bottom
lip. How dare that brute—that animal—!
When he finally got back to his room, Jules flopped down onto his
bed and glared at the ceiling. That was what he got for being a nice person
—treated like a slut by a Xeus! Ugh. Had that animal really thought Jules
would let him taste him? Lick him between his thighs, lap at his hole with
his tongue—
Jules wrenched his fly open and stroked his cock hard and fast,
imagining sitting on the Xeus’s face, riding it hard, the Xeus’s tongue soft
and wet against his aching hole.
He came with a weak groan, embarrassed and freaked out.
Fucking hell, what was wrong with him?
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Chapter 3
Jules was angry and embarrassed enough to push the Xeus to the
back of his mind for a few days.
But on the third day his curiosity—and his conscience—finally
outweighed his other feelings and he decided to check out the files he’d
copied to the flash drive.
Two hours later, Jules closed the files, feeling a little sick to his
stomach. And a little scared, if he were honest.
The files were a log apparently maintained by a Dr. Umberto
Navarra: his observations of the experiments done on the Xeus. The log was
absolutely disgusting in its lack of compassion. Dr. Navarra treated the
Xeus like a thing, dispassionately describing the drugs and toxic chemicals
used on him and the effect they had on the “subject.”
If Jules understood the log correctly, the doctor’s main goal was to
reverse the kerosvarin’s work and give the feral Xeus his rationality back.
Judging by the Xeus’s newfound ability to speak, the experiments were
clearly successful, at least partly. What Jules didn’t understand was why
they were doing it—why his uncle was conducting these illegal
experiments. It made no sense.
Although the logs were dry and matter-of-fact, Navarra’s growing
frustration was obvious. It seemed he wasn’t happy with their progress,
frustrated by their inability to reverse the Xeus’s beastly appearance and
instincts.
And then there was the other part of the “research”: their physical
experiments to test the Xeus’s healing ability. It seemed every time they
tried a new drug on the alpha, they had to make sure that the Xeus’s
superior healing factor wasn’t affected—it seemed to be their priority. There
was a log stating that they had tried a new drug that showed great potential
for reversing the alpha’s beastly appearance, but apparently it affected his
healing factor negatively, so they had to stop administering it.
It was bizarre. On one hand, trying to reverse the effects of
kerosvarin seemed like a good deed. Except it seemed the research was
being done for some other, less than altruistic reason. Not to mention that
the Xeus clearly hadn’t given his consent for these experiments, and he sure
as hell hadn’t given his permission to be physically tortured for the sake of
science.
Jules needed to get him out of there. He didn’t have a choice. His
conscience wouldn’t let him ignore the problem, no matter how ashamed
and unsettled he was by his reaction to the Xeus. Sometimes one had to
suck it up and put aside one’s personal feelings, and this was one of those
times.
Jules considered his options.
It seemed the Xeus’s rational thinking had been restored enough—in
his current state, he was unlikely to be a danger to others if Jules set him
free. But how was he supposed to do that?
He needed the key to the manacles.
Later that evening, Jules sneaked down to his uncle’s office. The
house was quiet. The hour was late enough for everyone to be in bed. Or so
he had thought.
He could hear faint voices coming from his uncle’s office.
Jules froze, looking at the door. Then he took off his shoes and
padded over before pressing his ear against the door.
“—it’s been over a month!”
“That’s not enough, Mr. Blake,” an unfamiliar male voice
said. “We’re doing all we can, and the progress we’ve made is frankly
incredible! If I were allowed to publish the results of our research, it would
be the greatest discovery of—”
“I don’t care,” Uncle Wayne growled. “I’m running out of time.”
“Sir, frankly speaking, I don’t understand why you wouldn’t allow us
to administer kerosvarin now. You will not become a feral creature such as
the one in the basement. You will simply be a normal Xeus alpha—”
“There’s nothing normal about those disgusting beasts,” Uncle
Wayne bit out, his tone full of disdain. “I won’t agree to be turned into one
unless I’m on my deathbed!”
A sigh. “We’re doing our best, Mr. Blake,” the man said, his voice
almost pleading. “But you must understand that you’re asking us to do the
impossible in a matter of weeks. Kerosvarin’s effects are normally
irreversible! You can’t expect us—”
“I’m paying you a fortune to do the impossible, Navarra,” Uncle
Wayne snapped. “Work faster. I refuse to become a filthy Xeus that turns
into a mindless beast every full moon.”
“Very well,” Navarra said with a sigh. “We will keep trying. Our
progress has been incredible. He can already speak and think somewhat
rationally, but so far we’ve been unsuccessful at fixing his physical
appearance and beastly instincts.”
“Try harder,” Uncle Wayne said bitingly. After a pause, he
added, “Does he remember yet who he is?”
“No, sir.”
“Hmm, let me know if he does. I’m somewhat curious about it. If the
Kadarian government bothered to use the NDA-tech for him, he could be
someone important. Perhaps a Kadarian senator, even.”
“Sir, isn’t it… Isn’t it dangerous? If he’s really someone important?”
“It doesn’t signify.” Uncle Wayne’s voice was flat. “You know it
doesn’t.”
The resulting silence made Jules’s stomach clench.
What…? Did his uncle mean that he intended to kill the Xeus?
“Besides,” Uncle Wayne said. “It could well be a different Xeus, not
the one that caused a ruckus at the Opal House last month. We have no way
of knowing.”
“Kerosvarin is a very obscure, forbidden drug,” Navarra said,
sounding skeptical. “Even I was barely able to secure it on the black market
after months of trying. The odds of another Xeus poisoned with that drug
seem rather slim. It must be the same one.”
“It doesn’t signify,” Uncle Wayne repeated, his voice harder. “The
important thing is, we’ve found a subject for your experiments. Now you
must do your part.”
“I will! Of course I will.”
The voices sounded closer, and after grabbing his shoes, Jules
hurriedly walked away, trying not to make any noise. His heart was still
pounding when he got back to his room, his mind reeling from what he had
overheard.
All right. Think . He might not be Eric, but he wasn’t stupid.
What had he learned?
Dr. Navarra wanted to use kerosvarin on Uncle Wayne. Kerosvarin
was an illegal drug that amplified the person’s dormant designation genes,
and it would turn Uncle Wayne into a Xeus alpha. It meant…
It seemed his uncle was sick. Seriously sick. With Uncle Wayne’s
disgust toward Xeus alphas well documented, there was no way he would
ever consider being turned into one unless he was on his deathbed. It wasn’t
difficult to guess why Dr. Navarra would suggest it as a solution: Xeus
alphas had heightened metabolisms and regeneration. Their bodies
destroyed bad cells, which was why they never had cancer.
Could his uncle have cancer? There were several types of cancer that
were incurable even with modern medicine. Theoretically, turning a sick
non-shifter alpha into a Xeus alpha with heightened regeneration should
probably help. Except Uncle Wayne clearly wasn’t happy with the solution
and had no desire to remain a Xeus. Hence the experiments on the Xeus in
the basement. They were trying to reverse kerosvarin’s effects.
And when they managed to do it, they were going to kill the Xeus.
They would never let him go.
Jules paced his room, his anxiety rising.
What if he tried to contact the Kadarian government? If the Xeus was
a Kadarian, if he was someone important enough to warrant NDA-tech, it
was likely that the Kadarian government would help him. Except Pelugia-
Kadar relations were strained again. There was no way anyone at the Opal
House would be willing to listen to some kid from another country. Jules
was unlikely to get past a low-level secretary. It just didn’t seem realistic.
Not to mention Jules didn’t want his family mired in a scandal. Liam would
absolutely hate him if he ruined his upcoming debut in society. Well, strictly
speaking, it was their debut, but Jules wasn’t the one who was going to get
all the suitors. Liam had been dreaming about his social season for ages—it
had been postponed twice already because of their grandmother’s and
mother’s deaths. His debut was important to him. Jules might mock his
brother’s vanity, but he still loved him. He couldn’t ruin Liam’s dreams.
So what could he do?
He could help the Xeus escape. In other words, his plan hadn’t
changed.
He still needed to find the key to those manacles.
***
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Chapter 4
They decided to turn the plan into action the very same evening.
Liam was having doubts, but Jules convinced him that they should do it
while their uncle wasn’t home. They might not get another chance like this
anytime soon.
So Jules huddled in the cupboard near the basement, waiting for
Liam to do his part.
He didn’t have to wait long.
Soon enough, there were Liam’s panicked shouts and then the sounds
of people in heavy boots running past the cupboard.
Then everything went quiet.
His heart pounding, Jules got out of the cupboard and quickly headed
to the basement. He had no idea how much time he had: probably ten
minutes, if he was lucky. It should be enough. It had to be. Hopefully the
guards wouldn’t think to check on their prisoner—they rarely seemed to—
so Jules hoped they wouldn’t find out that the Xeus was missing until the
morning. And hopefully no one would notice that Jules was missing, too.
Jules knew there were too many variables in his plan. So many things
could—and probably would—go wrong. But he had little choice. His uncle
was going to have the Xeus killed after they were done experimenting on
him. He couldn’t just do nothing. He had to help him.
The Xeus was already looking at him when Jules entered the
basement, his glowing green eyes alert and more than a little unnerving. His
tall, large body seemed tense, his muscles rigid. There didn’t seem to be any
new wounds on his body, which was a relief—there was no time to patch
him up.
“Hey,” Jules said, stepping closer to the metal table and pulling out
the keys he’d stolen from his uncle’s room. He felt a jolt of anxiety, but the
third key he tried did the trick.
He grinned in relief when the manacles unlocked. His smile was
wiped when a clawed hand grabbed his wrist in a punishing grip. A second
later, Jules found himself on his back, with the alpha looming over him, his
glowing eyes glaring down at him. Sharp claws pressed against his throat.
Jules moistened his lips with his tongue, his heart thudding against
his ribs. “Rude,” he said with a shaky smile. He felt hot. And shivery. In his
defense, he’d never had a naked alpha on top of him. “I’m trying to help
you, big guy. Don’t you remember me? And we really, really have no time
for this. Let me go.”
The Xeus inhaled deeply, his nostrils flaring. Gauging Jules’s
sincerity? Was his sense of smell that good, even despite Jules’s
suppressants?
Jules forced his body to relax, emanating safe-nonthreatening-omega
. It seemed to be working, because the predatory glint was fading from
those glowing eyes, some rationality slipping back into them. Some being
the key word. There was still something distinctly primitive about the way
the Xeus was looking at him. A different sort of primitive.
Jules swallowed, becoming increasingly aware of the heavy, naked
body on top of him. Of the hard hip between his thighs. Of a strong scent
that was pure alpha —a scent that was starting to do terrible things to his
body again. He smelled so good. How could someone who probably hadn’t
had a real, non-sonic shower in ages smell so good? It was fucking unfair.
Jules could practically feel his higher brain functions shutting down with
each greedy inhale, his cock stiffening and his hole becoming
embarrassingly slick. He was wet again, just from having this strange, ugly
alpha on top of him. It was fucking horrible. He wasn’t a goddamn animal,
and yet.
And yet he found himself lowering his eyes timidly and baring his
throat.
The Xeus growled and shoved his face into his neck, his pheromones
thickening and becoming so overwhelming that Jules whimpered and
spread his legs, aching with need between them.
The arousal was as sudden as it was overwhelming. Jules whined, his
body shaking with impatience and the rush of hormones. He wanted. He
wanted… something hard inside him. He wanted a cock. He wanted this
alpha to fuck him with his cock.
Part of him, the part that was still trying to think, was screaming,
Stop, what are you doing ?
But Jules couldn’t. He’d had no idea it was possible to want so much,
so fast, to feel so desperate for it, like he’d fucking die if he didn’t get this
alpha inside him, now .
As if hearing his thoughts, the alpha growled into his neck, his
powerful body vibrating with tension. There was the sound of fabric
tearing, and Jules realized that the Xeus must have ripped his pants and
underwear, leaving him naked bellow his waist.
Yes, yes—
The alpha pushed his thighs wide and pushed his cock into him.
Jules cried out, his eyes widening and becoming unfocused. Gods.
Such a rush. Had he just come? He wasn’t sure. But it felt so good. The
thick length in him would have probably hurt if he weren’t so wet, so ready
for it. His walls were squeezing the cock in him greedily, and he keened,
impatient for more.
The Xeus gave him more. He started fucking him, hard and fast, low
animal growls leaving his throat as his cock pistoned in and out of Jules’s
hole. Oh fuck, fuck, so good. Jules was whining and growling with every
powerful thrust. He couldn’t get enough, clenching around the cock in him,
his fingernails sinking into the alpha’s muscular back, urging him on. Yes,
yes, please, so good, more—
Part of him was mortified by his own shameless behavior—he was
letting a strange alpha fuck him, as if he were a bitch in heat and not the
noble, untouched omega he was. Not only that: the alpha was a Xeus in a
feral state, all claws and fur. It should have felt terrifying. It should have felt
disgusting. He shouldn’t have been moaning and clenching around this
strange alpha’s cock, begging for more. But he couldn’t stop. He felt like
he’d die if the alpha stopped fucking him. He felt like he’d die happily on
that cock, he loved this, he needed this, he wanted this more than anything
—
Jules arched, pushing back onto the cock pounding into him. “Ah—
deeper!” He knew he was being illogical—there was no possible way the
alpha could fuck him any deeper—he could feel his cock practically against
his stomach, but somehow it wasn’t enough. He needed—he
needed… “Deeper!”
The Xeus growled and sank his teeth into his scent gland, and the
world exploded , his senses going into overdrive, wave after wave of
pleasure washing over him. Jules came with a sob, clenching around the
cock in him, hard. So fucking good.
The alpha went rigid, and then Jules felt the thickness in
him growing, alarmingly so. Hot liquid filled him up.
Jules opened his eyes dazedly and stared at the ceiling as he realized
what he was feeling. The Xeus had knotted him, pumping him full of his
semen. He had knotted him.
A giggle left Jules’s mouth, and then another, before turning into
laughter. He’d somehow managed to lose his virginity to a Xeus alpha—and
had a knot in him—and he still hadn’t even been kissed. It was kind of
hilarious, in a way.
The alpha on top of him made a questioning sound, his face still
buried against Jules’s neck as he scent-marked him lazily. His teeth were
still—
Jules’s smile froze on his lips.
Fuck. The alpha had bitten him. And knotted him. Did that mean…
Did that mean they were bonded now?
He focused and listened to his senses, but it was difficult. His body
still felt too mellow and satisfied, the knot in him making him feel almost
high on the feeling. He couldn’t tell if the mark had taken. But the fact that
he still had no desire to shove the alpha away despite feeling sated was
probably worrying. In fact, the mere thought of being apart from this alpha
caused a panicky feeling in his chest, and Jules found his arms tightening
around the alpha’s back.
Fuck.
They were bonded.
Now what?
All right. There was no need to panic yet.
First things first, he needed to get the Xeus out of the basement. He
still needed to help him escape.
How long did it take for a knot to go down? Probably more time than
they had. He should move—he should pull away…
Jules lost his train of thought, a wave of warm pleasure spreading
through his body when he tugged on the knot. It felt unbelievably good, as
if it was meant to be there, inside him. It was a pleasure different from the
mind-blowing orgasm he’d just had, more mellow and low-key satisfying—
and incredibly hard to give up.
All right. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to lie like this for a bit. It wasn’t
like he could help the Xeus escape while they were stuck like this.
So Jules relaxed and closed his eyes, figuring he’d wait for the knot
to go away. He kind of felt too good to worry about anything else.
He honestly had no idea how much time passed. It could have been
minutes and it could have been hours. The knot in him felt amazing.
At long last, Jules opened his eyes, realizing that the alpha was
fucking him again—this time less urgently, but definitely fucking him. The
knot was gone. But the cock in him very much wasn’t.
“Look,” Jules said with a laugh that came out more like a moan. “We
don’t have time for this—we need to get you out of—oh yeah, there!”
So he might or might not have let the Xeus fuck him again.
He might or might not have come apart on the alpha’s cock with
shameless moans that would have made a whore blush.
At least this time he managed to stop the alpha from knotting him.
“This is all your fault,” Jules complained when it was over,
scrambling away from the Xeus and nearly falling to the floor, his limbs
were so shaky. His body felt… well used , his thighs trembling and muscles
he hadn’t even known about pleasantly sore. “I came here to help you, not
to lose my v-card!” He fished his phone out of his pocket and cursed when
he saw how much time had passed. Over an hour. Damn it. “There’s no
chance the guards haven’t returned. What are we going to do now?” All the
planning he’d done—it was all for nothing now. They were lucky the
guards hadn’t noticed that the door was unlocked, but how long would their
luck last? They were bound to notice it soon.
The Xeus got to his feet, too. He stretched his muscles, grimacing
slightly—they must have been stiff after a month of being shackled to this
table. In fact, his supernatural regeneration was probably the only reason he
wasn’t in immense pain now.
Rubbing his lips, Jules forced his eyes away from the alpha’s
muscular body and looked back at his phone. He had four messages from
Liam, each more alarmed than the previous one.
The fire is out. They’re going back! Where are you?
Did you manage to get him out? Everything is quiet.
Jules???
If you keep ignoring me, I swear I’ll kill you next time I see you!
Jules sighed, wondering what he should do. Liam would be beyond
pissed if he found out that Jules had wasted the opportunity Liam had given
him.
Jules looked down at his ripped pants and boxers. They were barely
holding up. What was left of them resembled a tattered skirt. Just great.
Fucking fantastic.
He reached down to his bag and pulled out the clothes he’d found for
the Xeus. “Here, these are for you,” he said without looking at the alpha,
wishing he had something to change into, too. The clothes belonged to one
of their servants—a tall, large alpha—so they wouldn’t fit Jules
anyway. “Get dressed.”
For a moment, he thought the Xeus didn’t understand him, but then
Jules heard the rustle of clothes and exhaled in relief.
Then he went back to worrying. What were they going to do now?
Jules was snapped out of his thoughts when a hand gripped his arm
and none-too-gently pulled him toward the door.
“What are you doing?” Jules said, looking at the alpha. He was
dressed, thank fuck, but the strange, disturbing effect he had on Jules’s body
was still there. Fuck, he smelled amazing. Like everything good in the
world. Jules could barely stop himself from shoving his face into the Xeus’s
neck and breathing .
No. He needed to get a grip. He needed to get his brain to focus on
their course of action, not to keep fixating on his base, primitive wants.
The glowing green eyes flicked to him for a moment, the alpha’s
nostrils flaring.
Jules blushed and cleared his throat. “There are guards outside,” he
whispered urgently. “We can’t just go out and—”
The Xeus leaned down and sucked hard on his neck—on his mark.
Jules gasped, his brain relocating to his lower body again. It took an
embarrassing amount of time to remember that it was neither the time nor
the place—nor the right alpha.
“Stop that,” he said weakly, even though his body was clinging to the
Xeus’s. “We need to find a solution—how to get you out of here.”
Something in his chest gave a jolt of unease at the thought of the alpha
escaping. Leaving.
Don’t be ridiculous, Jules told himself, annoyed. Of course the Xeus
would leave. He had to. That was the point of this. He had to leave or
Jules’s uncle would dispose of him after he outlived his usefulness. His life
was in danger. Jules shouldn’t be letting some… some pheromones affect
his judgment. This was serious.
“Stay here,” the Xeus said hoarsely.
Jules blinked at him for a moment, confused.
Before the words fully registered, the alpha pushed the door open.
Then there was a hard thud, then another.
Jules’s eyes widened. He ran out of the door and stared at the two
bodies on the floor. “Did you kill them?” he whispered, looking at the Xeus,
who was searching the guards’ pockets.
“No,” the alpha said in his gravelly voice.
Jules exhaled in relief. Glancing down the corridor anxiously, he
said, “There’s an aircar parked at the western gates of the estate. It doesn’t
have a lot of fuel, but I can drop you off far enough from here that you
should be safe.”
He looked back at the Xeus, expecting to see confusion on his face,
but there was none. Either he still had rudimentary knowledge of aircars or
he wasn’t listening to Jules’s words at all. Jules frowned. It was so difficult
to gauge the extent of the alpha’s capability for thinking rationally. It was
obvious that the Xeus was far from being rational, but how bad was it? Did
he understand him perfectly and was just unable to speak much, or was it
worse?
Judging by the fact that the Xeus had just taken money from the
guards’ pockets, clearly he understood some basic concepts of survival in
the modern world.
Taking the guards’ phones away too, the Xeus dropped both guards
into the basement and locked the door.
Jules nodded approvingly. It would win them some time before the
alarms were raised.
Then, the alpha turned and put a hand on Jules’s shoulder. “Walk,” he
said shortly, his touch heavy and distinctly proprietary.
Jules did as he was told, though he felt a little miffed. He had
expected that he’d be the one leading the rescue and showing the way—as
opposed to being manhandled and bossed around. It also didn’t help that he
felt self-conscious and flustered because of everything that had happened in
the basement. Ugh, he hated his stupid biology, hated how much this
alpha’s presence was affecting him. Hated it. Utterly despised it. Why
couldn’t he have been born a beta? He looked like one anyway.
They somehow managed to leave the basement without encountering
anyone. Not for the first time, Jules felt grateful that his mother had been
against installing modern surveillance systems in the Blake ancestral home.
Suppressing the wave of sudden longing—Gods, he still missed her so
much—Jules led the Xeus to the aircar that Liam had parked outside the
western gates. He unlocked it and told the alpha, “Get in the passenger
seat.”
To his relief, the Xeus did as he was told.
Jules got into the pilot’s seat and tried to remember how to fly it.
Liam was so much better at it than he was. Strictly speaking, aircars were
still forbidden on Eila. They were considered too fast for Eila’s air traffic.
Helicopters were widely in use by most of the population, but helicopters
were too noisy and slow for Jules’s purposes. This aircar was his mother’s
pride and joy. She’d had it imported from some Inner Core planet five years
ago and offered to teach her kids to pilot it. Eric hadn’t been interested, but
Liam and Jules had been all too happy to learn. Well, Liam had; Jules had…
tried.
“Here goes nothing,” he muttered under his breath, and started the
engine. Please .
He did manage to take off.
And the aircar didn’t drop like a rock, which he counted as a win.
Jules’s tentative smile transformed into a grin as he realized that this
part of the plan had gone off without a hitch. Finally something had. He had
intended to sneak the Xeus out of the mansion under the cover of the night,
not allowing him to see anything he might identify later, before getting him
as far from their lands as possible, choosing complicated routes and taking
numerous turns to confuse the Xeus—and any potential pursuers. It seemed
his plan was finally going as it was supposed to.
When Jules landed the aircar in the forest an hour later, there was no
way the Xeus could possibly identify where they had traveled from. The
Blake house was seven hundred miles away. They were now closer to the
Kadarian border than to any Pelugian city. They were safe, in every sense of
the word. Even Liam would be pleased—this debacle shouldn’t ruin his
social season.
“Well,” Jules said, killing the engine. “This is it.” He stared at the
dark woods outside the aircar for a moment before finally turning to the
silent alpha.
He found the glowing green eyes trained on him with unnerving
intensity.
“Go,” Jules said. “You’re free now.”
The Xeus didn’t move. He cocked his head to the side, his nostrils
flaring. Was he smelling Jules’s emotions again?
“You’re free now,” Jules repeated, ignoring the uneasy, tight feeling
in his chest. It was fine. Just a side effect of an ill-advised mating mark. It
would pass. It wasn’t a real attachment. These… emotions… they weren’t
real. “Go. You need to go. I think you might be a Kadarian. The Kadarian
government is looking for a feral Xeus. Maybe they’ll help you.” And
maybe not, Jules thought, his stomach clenching in sudden fear. “Be
careful, all right?”
The alpha finally moved. But not toward his freedom—toward Jules.
Strong arms dragged him into the alpha’s lap and tucked Jules’s head under
his chin. A low, guttural sound left the Xeus’s throat, and Jules found
himself relaxing, his body instinctively responding to the comfort offered to
him. He breathed in greedily, inhaling the rich scent of his alpha—no, not
his alpha. What was he thinking? He was being stupid, letting hormones
and pheromones rule him.
But his body didn’t care, melting into the alpha’s embrace. He didn’t
want to let go. He couldn’t imagine letting go, not ever. This was his. His.
His alpha.
Jules sank his teeth into the alpha’s scent gland, needing to put his
mark on him, even though rationally he knew the futility of it. Omegas
couldn’t mark alphas, much less Xeus alphas with their superior
regeneration. But he wanted it. Wanted it so badly he was shaking with it.
He’d heard the stories of it: of omegas being madly possessive of their
alphas, but Jules had always scoffed at those stories, not believing that
omegas could be as possessive as those knotheads. Well, the joke was on
him now. He felt nearly feral with that need to mark, to claim his alpha for
his own, so that every omega knew who he belonged to. Maybe it was an
instinct awakened by the prospect of being parted from his alpha. Maybe it
was something else. But he couldn’t control it. He didn’t want to let go.
Jules buried his face in the alpha’s neck and closed his stinging eyes.
It was stupid. He didn’t know this man. He hadn’t even seen his real
face , for fuck’s sake. But something inside him—probably something that
made him an omega—was incredibly sad that he’d never get to know him.
People didn’t believe in one true mate anymore, and Jules was no
exception. It had been scientifically proven that mating compatibility was
just a matter of compatible pheromones. An omega could have up to ten
“mates”—compatible alphas whose scents and pheromones appealed to the
omega enough to easily form a mating bond. This alpha was just one of
them. There was no reason to be so upset.
Except finding even one truly compatible alpha was rare enough.
Jules hadn’t actually thought it would happen to him. He wasn’t a dreamer
like Liam. He was the pragmatic one. When the social season started, it was
unlikely he’d find a compatible alpha. It was just statistically improbable.
He knew he wasn’t a beauty. Alphas wouldn’t come close enough to him
for Jules to smell them. Jules had told himself it was fine. He’d told himself
marriage could be good even without perfect compatibility. Not that he had
expected to find someone willing to marry him anytime soon.
Since he’d already resigned himself to that, finding a match in a feral
Xeus he’d never see again just seemed like a bad twist of fate. A bad joke at
his expense.
Or…
For a wild moment, he was tempted to stay. Stay with this alpha, help
him return home—wherever it was—and then maybe—
Then what? his rational side said. Kerosvarin had no cure. Was he
really ready to bind his life to a feral alpha Jules would never even get to
know for real? A feral alpha who would never love him for real, for the
person he was? Pheromones and great sex didn’t make a relationship; that
much Jules knew. Even if by some miracle his Xeus managed to shift back
into a man, he would be disappointed to find himself bound to an
unattractive omega like Jules. They had no future either way.
So this… this tight feeling in his chest was stupid. Irrational. It was
the mating mark’s doing. It wasn’t real.
But it felt so very real.
Swallowing around the tightness in his throat, Jules took one last
breath of the alpha’s scent and whispered, “Go.”
The arms around him didn’t loosen.
Jules bit his bottom lip hard. “Go,” he repeated, looking into the
Xeus’s glowing eyes.
The alpha stared at him.
“Mine,” he said hoarsely, his arms around Jules tightening. “Come
with me.”
No. He’d only slow the alpha down. And he needed to get back home
before his absence was noticed. He had to get the aircar back—it would
throw them off the scent and win the Xeus more time. His uncle’s men
would only be searching the lands around their house if they didn’t find out
that Jules had used the aircar to get the Xeus away.
He had to go back.
He had to.
But he also knew the alpha wouldn’t let him leave—unless Jules
tricked him.
His stomach in knots, Jules leaned in and kissed the alpha on his
furry cheek. He closed his eyes for a moment. Goodbye .
“All right,” he managed. “Let’s go. Just let me grab my bag.”
He waited until the Xeus got out of the car.
Then he locked the door.
His hands shaking, Jules started the engine and took off, quickly
gaining altitude so the alpha couldn’t stop him.
The bond lit up with loss and betrayal.
Swallowing, Jules set the course for home.
“It isn’t real,” he whispered determinedly. “It’s just hormones. It’ll
pass. Don’t be stupid, Jules.”
If his vision was blurry, it didn’t matter: there were only clouds in the
vicinity.
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter 5
Jules returned home feeling far more downbeat and exhausted than
the situation probably called for. It didn’t help that he had to spend half an
hour deleting the flight logs from the aircar’s internal memory and applying
a scent neutralizer all over it to eliminate even the barest hint of the Xeus’s
scent. Although his uncle didn’t have the aircar keys, Jules didn’t want to
leave anything to chance. He wanted his Xeus to get to relative safety,
wherever that was. If there was a safe place for a feral Xeus.
“None of your business,” Jules muttered, but the anxiety under his
skin didn’t disappear.
The house was mercifully quiet, but instead of calming him down, it
only made him more anxious. It felt like the silence before the storm.
After erasing his fingerprints from his uncle’s keys and putting them
back, Jules returned to his room. He climbed into his bed and closed his
eyes, willing himself to fall asleep. It was going to be a long day tomorrow.
When the Xeus’s escape was discovered, he would need to be at his
sharpest in order to convince his uncle of his innocence. He needed to stop
worrying and sleep.
But no matter how hard he tried to push those concerns away, they
kept sneaking back into his mind. The truth was, in their society, Xeus
alphas were looked down on. They were a dying breed, a throwback to their
species’ primitive past. They were considered too primitive, too irrational,
and downright dangerous when shifted. A shifted feral Xeus outside the full
moon would be considered a dangerous abomination, and other people
could easily shoot him down, citing self-defense. It was just a fact. No one
would let a feral Xeus alpha run amok. Sooner or later, he would be
captured. The question was, whether he would be captured by the bad guys
or the good guys.
Jules sat up in his bed, his mind racing. Then he quickly left his room
and darted into Eric’s across from his.
As expected, his baby brother wasn’t asleep. He rarely was at night,
instead doing something geeky on his computer.
“I need your help,” Jules said, closing the door.
***
The morning came far too soon for Jules’s liking. He could barely
stop himself from yawning as he stood next to Liam and Eric while their
uncle paced the room agitatedly.
“And you’re sure you haven’t seen anything?” Uncle Wayne said.
Liam gave him a confused, angelic smile. “I’m not sure what we
were supposed to see, Uncle. I thought there was nothing of value in the
basement? Was anything stolen?”
Sometimes Jules really envied how well Liam could lie when he
wanted to. His scent didn’t betray him at all, remaining steady, with an
undertone of confusion. Jules had never been that good of a liar, but
thankfully his suppressants made his scent faint, which made reading him
difficult.
Eric was the one Jules worried about the most. Although Eric didn’t
know everything about the Xeus, there were other things Eric did know, and
Jules wasn’t sure he could trust his baby brother not to betray them with a
clumsy lie.
So Jules cut in hurriedly, “If there was anything stolen, we didn’t hear
a thing, Uncle. Eric and I were playing video games in his room until early
morning—you know we get carried away when we play e-sports.”
Eric nodded and, thankfully, remained quiet.
“What happened?” Jules said, because it would have been stranger if
he didn’t ask.
Uncle Wayne gave him a long, scrutinizing look.
Jules held his gaze, hoping his face didn’t betray him. He knew he
would be his uncle’s main suspect: it was well known that Eric didn’t care
for anything but his computer and books, and Liam had the reputation of a
harmless, proper little omega. Jules was usually the one who had to bear the
brunt of his uncle’s anger.
Uncle Wayne stepped closer and, looking him in the eyes, said, “ Tell
me the truth. ”
Jules’s breathing hitched. Fuck. He hadn’t expected his uncle to use
his Voice on him. For a moment, he panicked, fully expecting his body to
obey the command, but… nothing happened. He didn’t feel the compulsion
at all.
Jules nearly grinned in relief when he realized why: the Xeus had
marked him. By putting his mark on Jules he had changed his body
chemistry—making him Jules’s alpha and overriding any power an alpha
related to him could have on him. Well, that was an unexpected upside.
“I’m telling the truth,” Jules said, holding his uncle’s gaze. “We
played video games in Eric’s room well into the night and didn’t hear
anything. We don’t know what you’re looking for.”
Uncle Wayne swore under his breath and turned away. He started
pacing again. “There was a dangerous beast locked up in the basement,” he
gritted out at last. “I thought someone might have let it out, but it seems the
idiot guards simply forgot to lock the door, thinking it was safe because the
beast was chained. Imbeciles. As if they don’t know magnetic locks can
sometimes fail.”
“How careless,” Liam said distractedly, reading a fashion magazine
on his phone.
Uncle Wayne grunted something and stormed out of the room.
Jules exhaled.
“Phew,” Liam said when their uncle’s footsteps receded. “He seems
really pissed.”
“He is pissed,” Jules said, plopping down between his brothers and
slinging his arms around them. “Thanks, guys! I couldn’t have done it
without your help.”
Eric shot him a look. “You still haven’t told me everything.”
Jules pinched his cheek. “The less you know, the safer you are. You
totally suck at lying.” Glancing at the door, he lowered his voice and
whispered, “Did he get the message?”
Eric nodded, his eyes sparkling. “It’s easily the most impressive hack
job I’ve ever done! Damn, I wish I could tell my online friends about it—”
“What are you two taking about?” Liam said suspiciously.
Right. Liam didn’t know about his plan.
Jules cleared his throat. “I asked Eric to hack into the phone network
and send Prince Haydn a message about the Xeus’s whereabouts.”
Liam’s brows furrowed. “Prince Haydn? Why him?”
Jules shrugged slightly. “You know a feral Xeus will never be safe,”
he said, looking at his hands. “He’ll be caught, sooner or later. So I just
wanted to make sure he’s caught by the good guys. Mother always said how
good and fair Prince Haydn was. If the Xeus is really the one who escaped
the Kadarian Opal House, it’s very likely that Prince Haydn knows him.
And the prince will be fair to him regardless of the Xeus’s nationality—he’s
a Pelugian happily married to a Kadarian, after all. And most importantly,
Prince Haydn isn’t prejudiced against Xeus alphas—his cousin is one, too.”
“Yeah.” Liam’s frown disappeared. “I guess it makes sense.”
Jules smiled faintly. He could only hope he hadn’t made a mistake. If
he was wrong… If he was wrong about Prince Haydn being impartial
enough to help his Xeus… well.
He wasn’t likely to ever find out, was he?
***
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter 6
Inner Core
Planet Calluvia
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter 7
The social season was even worse than Jules had expected. He had
thought he was prepared for the utter tediousness of it, but ten days after
their arrival at Faris, Pelugia’s capital, Jules already felt like punching
someone. Preferably Liam’s stupidly pretty face.
“Has your brother mentioned me?” said the blond alpha he was
currently dancing with, casting a heated look over Jules’s shoulder.
Jules didn’t need to follow his gaze to know that he was looking at
Liam. They all did.
Suppressing the urge to roll his eyes, Jules stretched his lips into a
smile and ground out, “No.”
The alpha looked disappointed but not disheartened. “Are you
certain? Perhaps he mentioned me by my title? Most people call me by my
title, not my name. Viscount Benley?”
Jules smiled wider. “I’m quite sure, my lord.”
As soon as the dance was over, he strode toward Liam—or tried to.
As always, Liam was surrounded by a large crowd of his admirers.
Elbowing twenty alphas out of the way, Jules finally managed to reach his
brother. “A word,” he said, pasting on another smile for the sake of their
captive audience. Not that any of those drooling knotheads even glanced his
way.
Liam gave his fans an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, but my brother
requires my attention,” he said, his long eyelashes fluttering prettily and a
dimple appearing in his cheek. Although Jules couldn’t smell it, he could
feel the air spike with alpha pheromones as the alphas’ eyes glued to Liam’s
face. Gross. How could Liam stand being around these knotheads all the
time?
“Of course,” the alphas chorused, their gazes on Liam.
Jules took Liam’s arm, dragged him away a little, and hissed, “If you
sic your fans on me again, I swear your face won’t be so pretty anymore.
You think I don’t know what you’re doing? Stop. Just stop. I get that you
have a veritable legion of suitors, but I don’t need your leftovers. Get it?”
Liam sighed, as if Jules was the unreasonable one. “I didn’t sic them
on you. I may have told them that I appreciate alphas that treat my family
with kindness and respect. That’s all!”
Jules scoffed. “Right. That’s totally all.”
Sighing again, Liam took his arm and walked them to the corner of
the ballroom, away from any potential eavesdroppers. “Look,” he said
softly, his expression serious. “I really hate that you’re not having fun. I just
wanted to help, Jules. I hate that you always look like you want to be
anywhere but here. This is our debut season, not just mine. I hate that you
hide in a corner of the ballroom and look miserable.”
Jules pursed his lips and dropped his gaze. “I’m having fun,” he
mumbled. “I just don’t like dancing.” That was a lie. He did enjoy dancing
—theoretically. He just didn’t like dancing with people who did it as a favor
to his brother.
“Did you like Baron Evler?” Liam said.
Jules shrugged. “He’s all right, I guess.” Evler had been a little more
tolerable than Liam’s other suitors. He had actually looked at Jules when
they danced.
Liam beamed. “See? I think he’s perfect for you! Give him a chance
maybe?”
Jules rolled his eyes. “Li, he danced with me to impress you, not
because he’s interested in me. And I’m not looking for an alpha. I don’t
want to marry.”
The smile faded from Liam’s face, his expression becoming
probing. “Are you all right?” he said, dropping his voice even lower. “Does
the bond still hurt?”
Cringing a little, Jules averted his gaze. “It’s fine,” he said shortly.
It was fine. Thanks to the increased dose of suppressants, he could
now barely feel it. All he could feel was a faint hollow thing in his chest
that he could ignore most of the time. There was another upside to the
increased dosage of his suppressants: his sense of smell was gone now, so
the various smells and pheromones in the ballroom didn’t affect him at all.
As for the downside… he knew he didn’t smell like an omega anymore,
which probably contributed to his lack of popularity, coupled with his plain
looks.
“Are you sure—”
Liam’s words were interrupted by a murmur of excitement that
suddenly rippled through the ballroom.
They both turned their heads toward the door.
Liam sucked a breath in. “That’s the Duke of Westcliff,” he
whispered, squeezing Jules’s arm.
Jules could see that.
He’d always thought that pictures and videos of the duke had to have
been somehow manipulated—because he had thought it wasn’t possible for
an alpha to be so handsome. But he had to admit the duke looked even
better in real life. The videos and pictures didn’t do justice to the sheer
presence and self-assuredness Westcliff’s tall, powerful body emanated. He
was mouthwateringly handsome: his strong face so perfectly symmetrical it
might have been sculpted by an artist, his green eyes unnaturally bright, his
full, firm lips sensual despite being curled into a sardonic smile, his jaw
strong and angular. He looked effortlessly elegant in his dark suit, despite
the five-o’clock shadow on his lean cheeks.
“Oh gosh, I think he’s heading over here, Jules,” Liam whispered,
blushing a little.
He was right: although Westcliff stopped here and there to speak to
people, he was clearly moving in their direction.
Jules snorted. “Of course he is. He would have had to be blind not to
notice you.”
He let go of Liam’s arm and took a few steps back. He had no
delusions about the duke’s destination.
He was right, of course.
By the time Westcliff finally reached Liam, his brother already had
his crowd of admirers around him. But the crowd parted for the duke
without him even saying anything. Jules was almost impressed.
Westcliff stopped in front of Liam and bowed slightly, more of a nod
than a bow. He stretched out a hand. “A dance?”
Liam cocked his head slightly. “I don’t dance with unfamiliar alphas
I’m afraid,” he said, his lips curling into a small smile. Liam looked
ridiculously lovely when he did that, and he knew it.
Jules shook his head with a fond smile.
To his mild astonishment, Westcliff didn’t look instantly besotted.
Raising a black eyebrow, he simply said, “Devlin Schaefer.” And then he
took Liam’s hand and led him to the dance floor. Just like that.
Jules crossed his arms over his chest and tried to pretend he couldn’t
hear Liam’s suitors gossiping about Westcliff’s interest. They seemed to
have forgotten that he was even there.
“You think he’s really interested?” one of the younger alphas said,
looking positively crushed. Jules could sympathize.
“Who knows,” another alpha said, her gaze on the dancing
couple. “But Westcliff is thirty already. He can’t sleep around forever. He’s
probably thinking of settling down soon.”
Another alpha scoffed. “Please. It has little to do with his age. If the
rumors are true, the king will want him to marry and produce an heir.”
The first alpha shot him a startled look. “You really think the king
will disown Prince Haydn and make Westcliff the heir?”
“It’s not just a rumor,” the Marchioness of Ferhum cut in. “I’ve heard
from a reliable source that the paperwork has already been drawn up. It
should be announced any day now.”
A murmur of unease rippled through the group. “But he’s a Xeus,”
someone said. “We have never had a Xeus on the throne. People will not be
happy.”
“Which probably explains why Westcliff is suddenly expressing
interest in a noble, beautiful omega,” another alpha said. “He’ll need a
picture-perfect mate on his arm to reassure the common folk that he’s a
normal alpha rather than the beast he is.”
“Careful with your words, Sodenberg,” someone else said. “If he’s
the next king, you’ll have to show respect.”
Sodenberg sneered. “Come on, I’m only saying aloud what everyone
else is thinking. A beast has no place on the throne.”
“Westcliff is not like other Xeus alphas. I actually would have never
guessed he was one if I didn’t know.”
The marchioness chuckled. “You foolish boy,” she said quietly, her
sharp eyes watching Westcliff as he led Liam through the steps of the
dance. “Westcliff is just better at pretending to be civilized. A beast will
always remain a beast, no matter how well it fakes being tamed.”
Frowning, Jules turned away, trying to digest what he had just
overheard.
He was still pondering it when the dance ended and Westcliff
escorted Liam back to his group of admirers.
“Thank you for the dance, Liam,” he said with a slight bow, holding
Liam’s gaze and ignoring everyone else. He smiled. “It was a pleasure.”
Liam blushed and nodded. “The pleasure is mine, Your Grace.”
Jules pursed his lips and looked after the duke’s retreating tall form.
There was something about the interaction that made him uneasy. He
couldn’t put his finger on it, but coupled with what he’d just heard people
discussing, it made him very unsettled.
He needed to find out if the duke was truly interested in Liam or if
there was something else motivating him.
Slowly, he followed Westcliff around the ballroom as the alpha made
his way to the door, clearly intending to leave.
The duke, however, was detained by another alpha. “A word?” the
other alpha said, clapping Westcliff on the back.
It took Jules a moment to place his face. It was the Earl of Terlaine,
one of Liam’s legion of suitors. The only reason Jules even remembered his
name was because the earl was uncommonly handsome—almost as
handsome as Westcliff was.
Westcliff nodded and gestured for Terlaine to follow him. They
stepped out of the ballroom into the garden. Jules followed them as
inconspicuously as possible, glad that the loud music was masking his
footsteps. In other circumstances, the alphas would have undoubtedly heard
him. His scent would have betrayed him too if it hadn’t been nonexistent
thanks to his suppressants. Jules crouched behind a large tree and strained
his hearing.
“Is your interest in Liam Blake genuine, Devlin?” Terlaine said.
Jules could have kissed him for broaching the subject.
Smiling, he leaned forward and peeked through the gaps between the
leaves.
“What is it to you?” Westcliff said calmly, lighting a cigarette. His
posture was relaxed, almost lazy, but his expressionless face contradicted it.
There was something hard and calculating in his gaze now. It was like
looking at a different man. The charming duke who had been smiling at
Liam a few minutes ago was nowhere to be seen.
Terlaine didn’t seem as unsettled by the switch in demeanor as Jules
was. He probably knew Westcliff pretty well if he was addressing him by
his first name.
“Because I’m interested in him,” Terlaine said. “And I wanted to
know if your interest is serious. I don’t want to waste my time.”
Westcliff gave a soft snort. “You sell yourself too short, Michael.”
Terlaine smiled wryly. “No. I know my worth. But I’m not you. And
I’m not about to become the heir to the throne.”
Westcliff sighed and took a long drag from his cigarette.
Jules stared at the cigarette between those finely shaped lips, the dark
stubble on that firm jaw, and pondered how a man so handsome could look
so unfeeling and cold.
“I am serious, I’m afraid,” Westcliff said at last, shrugging
slightly. “The king is pressuring me to marry, and I’ve been told Blake is
the most sought-after omega in the country, so it’ll make a good story.”
Jules nearly gasped from sheer outrage. A good story ? Westcliff
wanted to pursue Liam because it would make a good story? What a
cynical, manipulative dick of a—
“Don’t tell me you don’t find him attractive,” Terlaine said, sounding
stunned.
Westcliff shrugged again, some emotion flickering in his eyes. “He’s
beautiful,” he said without any inflection whatsoever. “He’ll do. It’ll be a
PR win, a stunt to distract people from the distasteful news that a Xeus will
be inheriting the throne. You know the common folk like romanticizing the
royals’ courtships and weddings. He’s beautiful enough to be a good
distraction from the bad news.”
Distraction? A stunt ?
Over my dead body , Jules thought viciously.
He must have made some noise, because Westcliff suddenly looked
right in his direction.
Jules froze.
Carefully extinguishing his cigarette with his shiny shoe, Westcliff
said, “You can come out now, whoever you are. Don’t make me drag you
out of the bushes.”
Jules clenched his hands into fists, considering darting back toward
the ballroom. But it would be pointless. He was no match for a Xeus alpha
—they were much faster, even in their non-shifted state, than omegas.
Slowly, Jules emerged out of the bushes.
Terlaine made a surprised noise, but Jules didn’t look at him.
Couldn’t. He was too busy glaring at the duke.
“And who are you?” Westcliff said, his green eyes flicking over him
without much interest. Dismissively.
Jules flushed.
“It’s Liam Blake’s younger brother,” Terlaine said. “James, I think?”
Jules bared his teeth in a smile. “Close enough,” he said, still looking
at Westcliff. “You will not use my brother as a pawn in your PR game,” he
bit out. “Find someone else. Your Grace.”
Westcliff took a step closer, his eyes finally losing their look of
indifference. They were more intent now. Sharper. Calculating.
Jules’s heart beat faster. Something about this alpha put him on edge,
causing his fight-or-flight instinct to kick in. It was bizarre, considering that
he couldn’t even smell him.
“You misunderstood me,” Westcliff said, his deep voice significantly
softer now. “I have no intention of using your brother. My intentions are
honorable. The fact that courting him will help me achieve my political
goals doesn’t take away from my genuine admiration of him.”
Jules laughed sharply. “You should be an actor, Your Grace. I would
have believed you if I didn’t just hear you say that my brother ‘will do.’
Find. Someone. Else. Liam deserves better than a two-faced, manipulative
asshole like you.”
Westcliff cocked his head slightly, studying him like one would study
a strange creature. There was a diabolical glint in his eyes now. “Don’t you
know that you should never tell alphas that they can’t have something? It
only spurs us on to prove otherwise. We’re very competitive. It’s our
instinct.” His finely-shaped, firm lips curled condescendingly. “But then
again, I wouldn’t expect a beta to understand it.”
Jules flushed, his eyes stinging. He had been mistaken for a beta
before, but somehow, coming from this ridiculously handsome alpha, it felt
doubly humiliating.
“Mr. Blake isn’t a beta, Devlin,” Terlaine cut in.
Jules flinched, having completely forgotten that he was there.
Westcliff raised his eyebrows slightly, still looking at Jules. “My
apologies,” he said, his green eyes sweeping over Jules before stopping on
his throat.
Jules had to suppress the urge to check that his fading mark was
covered by the collar of his shirt. The mark was barely visible now and
soon would surely fade completely, but for now he had to wear high-
collared shirts that covered his throat.
“Apology accepted,” he said stiffly. Insincerely.
“In my defense, you don’t smell like an omega,” Westcliff said,
looking at him with furrowed brows.
Jules bared his teeth. “One would expect a duke to have better
manners than to comment on such things,” he said scathingly.
Westcliff smiled, as if Jules had said something amusing . “One
would,” he agreed and offered him an arm. “I will accompany you back to
the ballroom, James.”
“It’s Julian,” Jules gritted out, pointedly refusing to take the offered
arm. “Not that I gave you leave to use my given name. It’s Mr. Blake for
you.”
“Allow me to accompany you to your brother, Mr. Blake?”
Jules glared into his amused eyes. The asshole was mocking him!
“No,” he said. “Go to hell, Your Grace. And stay away from my
brother.”
He strode away with as much dignity as he could muster.
It wasn’t a lot, because his bond hurt again and all he wanted was to
go home and curl up with his kitten.
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter 8
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter 9
***
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter 10
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter 11
“I’ll see if Master Liam is home, Your Grace,” the Blakes’ butler said
before disappearing upstairs.
Devlin took a seat on the couch and, leaning back, closed his eyes,
hoping some rest would help his pounding headache. He wasn’t used to
feeling in any way sick—Xeus alphas’ heightened regeneration normally
dealt with any issue. But these headaches probably had something to do
with his broken bond.
“Why are you napping in our house?” said a familiar voice before
someone plopped down next to him.
Devlin opened his eyes and found a pair of pretty brown eyes peering
at him suspiciously.
His lips twitched. “Hello to you, too, Julian.”
Julian Blake scowled at him. “Stop calling me that.”
“That? Your name?”
“My name is Jules,” the brat said. “But you aren’t allowed to use my
first name. It’s for my friends and family. You’re neither.”
“I’m practically your family—or will be soon.”
The glare Julian gave him was so vicious Devlin found himself
smiling. Liam’s younger brother was amusing. And kind of adorable when
he glowered like that.
“No you won’t be,” Julian said, lifting his chin.
“I will be your alpha,” Devlin said, tapping the little omega on his
upturned nose. He liked embarrassing and angering him probably more than
was healthy. “So mind your attitude.”
Two spots of color appeared on Julian’s pale cheeks. He glared at
Devlin, his lips pursing. “You won’t be my alpha. Our brother hasn’t been
declared dead yet. He might return yet.”
“You don’t really believe it,” Devlin stated. “Or Liam wouldn’t be in
such a hurry to marry.”
Julian blinked, his long dark eyelashes fluttering. “How do you know
that?”
“It wasn’t difficult to guess. Neither you nor your brother like your
uncle much. You clearly don’t want to depend on him.”
“I don’t want to depend on you, either,” Julian said with a scoff. “So
you aren’t marrying Liam.”
“Are you saying your brother won’t marry me without your
approval?” Devlin said with a smile. “You’re adorable in your naivete.”
Julian scowled. “I’m not adorable. Stop treating me like I’m a stupid
kid. I’m just a year younger than Liam.”
Devlin’s eyebrows flew up. He stared at him in bemusement. He had
thought Julian was at least a few years younger, perhaps seventeen to
Liam’s twenty.
It was probably the face, he concluded after a moment. Julian’s wide
doe eyes gave him an innocent look. His small upturned nose and small
pink mouth also contributed to making him look very young.
If Julian really was nineteen already, it somewhat explained why his
uncle was displeased with him for not looking for suitors. Omegas tended to
marry young, as young as sixteen. An omega was considered to be of age
after their first heat—just like alphas were considered of age after their first
rut. Devlin had always thought it was kind of disgusting to marry such
young omegas, but he knew that a lot of alphas weren’t as squeamish as he
was. Compared to that, a nineteen-year-old omega was more than ready for
marriage. Many omegas had a couple of kids by that age.
And yet the thought of this omega having kids—and an alpha—
was… strange.
His brows furrowed, Devlin said, “In my defense, your naive views
about marriage did make you seem like a child. Your brother’s pragmatic
approach is what I would expect from an omega of your age and
upbringing.”
Julian chuckled. “You’re the naive one if you think Liam is
pragmatic. He’s anything but. He’s just fooled by your face.”
A slow smile stretched Devlin’s lips. “My face? What about my
face?”
“You know what I mean.” Julian glowered at him, his cheeks
becoming pink again.
Devlin’s fingers twitched, itching to pinch them. “No, I don’t. Do
enlighten me, Julian.”
“You know exactly what I mean, you arrogant ass!”
Devlin grinned. “Are you saying you think I’m handsome?”
“Everyone thinks that! But I don’t. It’s not my fault people have no
taste.”
Devlin wondered if it was too weird that he kind of wanted to rub his
face against the brat’s flushed cheek. Probably.
“Your Grace?”
Devlin tore his gaze away from Julian’s scowling face and looked at
his older brother. Belatedly, he got to his feet. “Liam. You look beautiful, as
usual.”
Julian gave a derisive snort, but his brother smiled at Devlin
dazzlingly. “Thank you, Your Grace. But you didn’t tell me that you
intended to call on me today.”
“It was a spur-of-the-moment thing,” Devlin said, relieved that he
didn’t have to force a smile on his face anymore. His headache was gone, so
smiling at a beautiful omega wasn’t exactly a hardship. “Would you like to
accompany me to the Universe Park? You mentioned that you’ve always
wanted to see it.”
Liam’s eyes widened a little. He really was remarkably lovely, almost
ridiculously so. “Now?” he said.
When Devlin just nodded, Liam said, “Thanks, I’d love to. Let me
just change—”
“Great idea!” Julian cut in. “I’ll go with you. I’ve always wanted to
see the Universe Park, too!”
Liam shot him a skeptical look. “Really?”
Julian blinked innocently. “Of course! Who doesn’t want to gawk at
weird animals from all over the Union?” Grabbing his brother’s arm, Julian
dragged him upstairs. “Let’s go change.”
At the top of the stairs, Julian looked back over his shoulder, winked,
and stuck his pink little tongue out.
“Brat,” Devlin murmured, chuckling.
He was amused despite himself. He should probably have been more
irritated by Julian’s interference. Much more. It was ruining his plans for
the day. He needed to lay groundwork for a mating bond with Liam. A
couple needed a connection for a mating bite to take, a certain degree of
intimacy, which was harder to achieve if there wasn’t a high natural
compatibility. Although Devlin hadn’t really intended to seduce Liam, he’d
fully intended to kiss him—and maybe do more than that—but with Julian
there it would obviously be much more difficult.
He’d have to get Liam alone, somehow.
***
An hour later, Devlin wished he’d found an excuse to not take Julian
with them.
It was impossible to focus on forming a connection with Liam when
he had Liam’s younger brother hanging on his other arm and demanding his
attention—all the goddamn time.
“Holy shit, why would they put that troll with the poor monkeys?”
the bane of his existence said, gripping Devlin’s bicep anxiously—or
excitedly. It was hard to tell sometimes. “It’s going to eat them!”
Devlin snorted, watching the “troll”—the Eugarian gorilla, according
to the information plaque beside the exhibit—attack the smaller
monkeys. “That’s the point,” he said. “The Universe Park subscribes to the
notion that animals from different planets should be able to adapt in a
hostile new environment. The weak species die out, and only the strongest
—and smartest—survive.”
“That’s barbaric,” Julian said, his pink lips pursing into a scowl.
Devlin looked back at the exhibit. “Evolution works in a similar
way,” he said.
“This is not evolution. This is just cruelty, plain and simple.”
“Yet people love watching it,” Devlin said. “The crowds attest to
that.”
“Pfft. It proves nothing,” Julian said, lifting his chin. “All those
people are here to gawk at Liam and you, not at the monkeys.”
“I think it is very interesting,” Liam cut in, for the first time in a
while.
“See?” Devlin said, smiling a little when Julian shot Liam a betrayed
look. “Your brother is enjoying himself.”
Truth be told, he had no idea if Liam was enjoying himself—he
hadn’t had an opportunity to ask, considering that Julian had somehow
managed to insert himself into every conversation Devlin attempted to start
with Liam and get Devlin sidetracked into meaningless arguments. It was
bizarre how the little menace managed to do it every time despite Devlin
telling himself that he’d ignore him next time.
He couldn’t ignore him. It was fucking idiotic. He had the most
beautiful omega in the country on his arm, and yet he’d spent the past hour
bickering with his mouthy little brother. It was doubly idiotic, considering
the fact that he had no time to waste. He should have been wrapping up
Liam’s courtship by now. Instead, he hadn’t managed to form even the
shallowest connection with him—thanks to the menace on his other arm.
“Liam is just being polite,” Julian said. “He’ll say that even if he
secretly agrees with me.”
“I will not,” Liam said before taking in a sharp breath. He took his
hand off Devlin’s arm and all but ran forward. “Oh my! This is amazing!”
Devlin’s gaze followed Liam.
It was a giant sea exhibit, filled with various water predators from all
over the Union. Sharks—and big creatures that looked a lot like sharks—
were battling it out, with smaller fish trying to hide among the picturesque
caves. A huge white shark tore into the blue one right before their eyes,
coloring the water with blood.
“This is sick,” Julian grumbled. “Figures that Liam would like that .”
Amused, Devlin smiled, but when he glanced at Julian, he looked
genuinely nauseated, his face pale.
Frowning, Devlin hesitated. A glance at Liam confirmed that he
wasn’t going to leave the sea exhibit anytime soon: the golden-haired
omega was gesticulating animatedly as he talked to their guide.
“Let’s go,” he said, steering Julian away.
“What about Li?”
“I’ll return for him in a little while,” Devlin said. “Our guide will
keep him entertained for now.”
Julian didn’t protest—Devlin wouldn’t be surprised if the little
menace cheered on the inside, given his determination to ruin Devlin’s
courtship of his brother.
“You aren’t faking it, are you?” he murmured, guiding them toward
the next exhibit in the distance—a huge enclosure that imitated some kind
of alien jungle.
“That’s rather rude of you to suspect a noble omega of such a thing,”
Julian said, giving him an innocent look. “We omegas are very fragile
creatures, don’t you know that?”
Devlin chuckled. “I forget that you are an omega sometimes.”
Julian’s lips folded into a line. He gave a small smile without looking
at him. “Most people do. I’m used to it.” He shrugged. “I don’t look like an
omega.”
Devlin’s eyebrows knitted together. “What is that supposed to
mean?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t understand what I mean,” Julian said,
laughing a little.
“No, I don’t,” Devlin said. “I wasn’t aware all omegas looked like
each other.”
Julian shot him a sharp look before averting his gaze. “Stop making
fun of me.”
“I’m not making fun of you.” Devlin stopped and turned, blocking
his view. “Julian, look at me.”
Julian finally did. “Stop pretending you don’t know what I’m talking
about,” he said, glowering at him fiercely. “You thought I was a beta when
we first met.”
“I thought you were a beta because you don’t smell like an omega,”
Devlin said slowly, eyeing him. “It had nothing to do with your physical
appearance. If we go by physical appearance, you look very much like an
omega.”
Julian made a skeptical sound.
Shaking his head, Devlin touched Julian’s cheek with his knuckles.
Stroked it. “You have perfect skin,” he stated quietly. “Silky soft and
smooth. Alphas and betas don’t have such skin.” He took Julian’s hand and,
lifting it, rubbed the soft palm against his own rough, stubbled
cheek. “See?”
“Oh.” Julian’s cheeks were pink now. “That’s all?” he said, snatching
his hand away and shoving it into his pocket.
Devlin hesitated. “Your build is very… omega,” he finally said.
“Huh?”
Devlin ran a hand through his hair. “You’re curvy in all the right
places,” he said stiffly, looking at the sea exhibit in the distance. He should
probably return to Liam’s side now.
“Ha! I’m telling Liam you ogle my ‘right places’!”
When Devlin whipped his head around to stare at him, he found
Julian grinning triumphantly despite his blush.
Devlin laughed. “Newsflash, brat: all unmated alphas look at those
places, regardless of their intentions. No ogling is necessary. It’s an instinct.
We notice these things.”
Julian shot him an uncertain look before lifting his pointy chin. “Your
point being?”
Devlin tapped his thumb against Julian’s small nose, feeling a rush of
affection. “My point being, you’re not unattractive. When I’m your alpha,
I’ll find you a good spouse and I don’t expect it to be difficult.”
Julian glared at him, but there was something strange in his
expression now. Something almost… fragile.
“You will not be marrying Liam,” he said.
“Why not?” Devlin said. “I know your first impression of me wasn’t
the best, but you know my intentions are good. I’ll treat your brother well. I
promise.” He looked the young omega in the eyes. “I’ll take care of you,
too.”
Julian swallowed, just looking at him for a moment.
Then he turned and strode toward the jungle.
Frowning, Devlin hesitated, looking between the sea exhibit in the
distance and Julian’s retreating back. He really should go back to Liam, use
the opportunity Julian was giving him.
But Liam had their guide with him. Julian was younger and more
vulnerable. He could get lost. Or get hurt. Although there weren’t supposed
to be dangerous animals in the outdoor exhibits open to the public, entering
them alone still wasn’t recommended.
Devlin gritted his teeth, frustrated with himself. The politician in him
knew going back to Liam was the right choice. But his alpha instincts urged
him to follow the more vulnerable omega and make sure he was all right.
Sighing, Devlin followed Julian into the jungle. He consoled himself
that it was a good thing that his alpha side already felt protective of his
future mate’s family—it should help him bond with Liam.
As soon as he entered the force field separating the habitat from the
rest of the park, it was like he was in a different world. The noise of the
crowd outside was cut off, leaving only the natural sounds of the jungle.
Devlin found himself relaxing, the beast in him settling more comfortably
under his skin.
There were fewer visitors in this part of the park. It was a relief,
because otherwise finding Julian here would have been more difficult.
Devlin followed the shoe prints, his nostrils flaring in a futile attempt to
catch a whiff of the omega’s scent. He still didn’t know why Julian
suppressed his scent so much.
He found him sitting by a small waterfall, watching a pair of doe-like
creatures. Julian had his legs drawn up to his body, his arms wrapped
around them, and he had his chin on his knees.
“You shouldn’t be here alone,” Devlin said.
Julian’s shoulders tensed. “I thought you went back to Liam, Your
Grace,” he said without looking at him. “Why didn’t you?”
Devlin stared at his nape. Wavy brown hair barely touched Julian’s
pale neck. “You don’t have to call me ‘Your Grace.’ We’re going to be
family soon.”
A brittle laugh left Julian’s mouth. “The sad part is you aren’t even
being arrogant. No one will say no to you. Liam won’t.”
Devlin took a step closer and let his knuckles graze against the back
of Julian’s neck.
The brat flinched but didn’t move away from the touch. “What are
you doing?” he whispered.
I have no fucking idea.
“You don’t smell like anything,” Devlin said tersely. “A person
without a scent just isn’t normal. It’s driving my instincts crazy.”
Julian finally turned his head, his large brown eyes blinking up at
him. “And making me smell of you would fix it?”
Yes .
“It’s better than nothing,” Devlin said with a jerky shrug. “Why are
you taking so many suppressants? It can’t possibly be healthy.”
A look of discomfort appeared on Julian’s face. “I’m a Dainiri,” he
said.
Devlin shot him a look. “I know quite a few Dainiri omegas. They
still have a scent, no matter how suppressed. You have none.”
White teeth sank into Julian’s small bottom lip as their owner
regarded him for a few moments.
“My mate has died recently.”
Devlin stared at him blankly.
What?
“You had a mate?” he managed at last.
He couldn’t wrap his mind around it. He couldn’t believe how wrong
his first impression had been. Fuck, he had thought Julian was very young
and innocent… It seemed unthinkable that he’d had a mate.
“Yes,” Julian said, averting his gaze. “I’m on such strong
suppressants to make the broken bond hurt less.” He scrunched up his
nose. “Look, I know it must be off-putting to be around an omega without a
scent—but I have it much worse. I can’t smell anyone , thanks to the
suppressants. Do you have any idea how unsettling it is?”
Devlin processed that. He wanted to ask what had happened to the
boy’s mate, but that would be completely tactless. Speaking of
tactless… “Why does your uncle act like you’ve never been bonded?”
Julian winced. “He doesn’t know I’ve ever been bonded. Please don’t
tell him. I’m not sure why I’ve even told you this—it’s supposed to be a
secret. Only Liam knows. We decided not to tell anyone and just up the
dosage of my suppressants. It has to stop hurting at some point, right?”
Unbelievable.
Devlin pinched the bridge of his nose. “Are both of you insane?”
“Um, what?”
Devlin sat down beside Julian and then hauled him into his lap.
Julian squeaked. “What are you doing—”
“Fixing your careless stupidity,” Devlin ground out, pushing Julian’s
face against his throat. “Breathe.”
“Why?” Julian stammered. “I can’t smell anything anyway.”
“You may not be able to smell anything, but you’ll still be receptive
to alpha pheromones. And you need them, you little idiot. Have you been
taught nothing?”
The brat was very tense on his lap before slowly relaxing and taking
a deep, shaky breath against Devlin’s neck. “I don’t understand,” he said,
sounding confused and lost.
Devlin gritted his teeth, telling himself to be patient. It wasn’t the
boy’s fault that his irresponsible parents hadn’t educated their children on
mating bonds.
“Hundreds of years ago, there used to be a tradition that a widowed
omega must marry their deceased mate’s alpha sibling—if there was one,”
he said, acutely aware of how scandalous their proximity would appear to
an onlooker. Although they were in a secluded place in the jungle, it wasn’t
private. Anyone could come across them. At least his superior hearing
would warn him well before anyone could see them. Not that they were
doing anything wrong, but gossip didn’t need proof or facts to cause a
scandal, and a scandal was the last thing Devlin needed right now. But the
poor omega needed this. Needed his help. Needed him. “Do you know
why?”
Julian shook his head. “I feel weird,” he mumbled into Devlin’s neck,
his fingers gripping his shirt.
“Bad weird?”
“No,” Julian answered after a moment.
Devlin hummed, unsurprised. “When your mate dies, it’s always
painful. There have even been cases when the broken bond killed the
surviving bondmate. Thankfully, it happens rarely, only if the bond is
abnormally strong and you’ve been mated for years. The tradition to marry
your dead mate’s sibling existed because the broken bond heals only around
an alpha the omega trusts, whether it’s a sibling, a parent, or a new alpha
partner. A broken bond never heals without alpha pheromones, you idiot.”
“Don’t call me an idiot,” Julian mumbled half-heartedly. “And if
you’re implying I trust you—”
“You do,” Devlin said, propping his chin on top of Julian’s head. “Or
you wouldn’t feel ‘weird’ now. Your suppressants might be suppressing
your sense of smell and hormones, but your body is still somewhat
receptive to alpha pheromones. You feel better now, don’t you?”
Julian’s stubborn silence was the only response he got.
Smiling wryly, Devlin dropped a kiss on top of his head. “It’s okay,
brat. It’s normal. Nothing to be embarrassed about.”
“Shut up,” Julian grumbled, rubbing his nose against Devlin’s scent
gland and breathing unsteadily. “Fuck, it’s so confusing. I can’t smell
anything, but I do feel good.”
Running his fingers through his soft hair, Devlin said, “We are simply
used to equating scent with pheromones when scent is just one aspect of
pheromones. But it’ll still work better if you lower the dose of your
suppressants.” He dropped his smile. “It’s dangerous, Julian. The
recommended dose is recommended for a reason. You might lose the ability
to have children if you keep it up.”
Julian gave a soft snort. “It doesn’t matter. It’s not like I have a line
of suitors, and my popularity won’t exactly increase if people find out I’m
not an untouched virgin.”
Devlin’s lips thinned. He couldn’t deny there was truth to that: alphas
were too possessive to want a non-virgin omega as a mate.
He tipped Julian’s face up with his fingers and made him meet his
gaze. “I promise I’ll find you another mate if you want it,” he said
steadily. “But even if you don’t, you can stay in my house for the rest of
your life. After I marry Liam, I’ll be your alpha too. I will take good care of
you. You will want for nothing.”
Julian just stared at him for a moment, his doe-like eyes wide and
unblinking. Then, he looked away, his cheeks coloring slightly. “Arrogant
ass,” he muttered, getting off Devlin’s lap and springing to his feet. “Let’s
go back to Li. He’s probably looking for us.”
Devlin caught his wrist. “Julian.”
After a moment, Julian looked down at his hand before looking back
at him. His face was unreadable now. “What?”
“I was serious about the bond. You can’t just overdose yourself with
suppressants and hope the pain will go away—it won’t. Let me help you if
you don’t want to ask for help from your uncle. At least promise me you’ll
seriously consider it.”
Julian pursed his lips tightly.
He was silent for a while before finally nodding.
Devlin was a little surprised by the strength of the relief that washed
over him. Though the fact that Julian now smelled like him most certainly
contributed to his sudden protectiveness. Alphas took care of their own, and
Devlin was no exception.
He did want to be Julian’s alpha.
He was going to take good care of him after marrying Liam.
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter 12
***
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter 13
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter 14
Devlin followed the Blakes’ butler into the drawing room, already
feeling the tension in his temples ease in anticipation.
Truth be told, he hadn’t expected to enjoy courting an omega for PR
reasons, but it had turned out to be surprisingly pleasant instead of
irritating. His visits to the Blakes had been the highlight of his days lately—
they were certainly better than all the careful political maneuvering he had
to do the rest of the time. Not that marrying Liam Blake wouldn’t be a
political decision—of course it would be—but at least he found the omega
perfectly agreeable both in looks and demeanor. Liam was nowhere near as
arrogant and vain as one might have expected from an omega of such
exquisite beauty.
Besides, he liked Liam’s family.
The memory of Julian wrapped up in his jacket flashed to the
forefront of his mind, making his fingers tingle, his claws itching to pop
out.
Devlin glanced down at his hands with a frown, a little disturbed but
unsurprised. Julian had a real knack for bringing out his protective instincts,
which was both reassuring and irritating. It was reassuring because even he
couldn’t completely ignore his designation’s needs. An alpha was a
provider and protector by nature. The fact that Liam’s little brother pushed
the protective buttons in him was good. It would make bonding to Liam
easier. But those instincts were becoming too unpredictable. They were
something he couldn’t control or plan for.
“Your Grace.” Liam rose from the couch gracefully and smiled at
him. After a moment’s hesitation, he stretched his hand out, his wrist bared:
an invitation to scent-mark him, a gesture that was a little familiar but
perfectly proper for courting couples.
Devlin stared at the offered wrist before walking over and touching it
with his fingers lightly. He had to concentrate to consciously exude the
pheromones, because the instinct to scent-mark just wasn’t there.
“Liam,” he said, not allowing his displeasure and irritation to show
on his face. What was wrong with him? He had a stunningly beautiful
omega inviting him to scent-mark him and yet he had to force his alpha
nature to cooperate.
Dropping Liam’s hand, he glanced at the couch in the corner where
Julian was usually curled up with his tablet, but it was empty.
A wrinkle formed between his brows. “Your brother will not be
joining us?”
“Jules isn’t feeling well, I’m afraid.”
“What’s wrong?” Devlin said. When Liam gave him a startled look,
he realized that his voice had come out sharper than he had intended.
“I’m not sure,” Liam said, frowning slightly. “He said he feels under
the weather, but he usually never gets sick, so…”
“Could it be because of his broken bond?”
Liam winced, glancing at the door warily. “Jules doesn’t like talking
about it, Your Grace. I’m actually surprised he told you about the bond at
all. It’s a… a very sensitive issue.”
Biting the inside of his cheek, Devlin looked away. It was none of his
business. Julian’s former mate was obviously dead if the bond was broken.
It was none of his business who they were or how Julian had met them.
“Did his bondmate die a long time ago?” he still found himself
asking.
Liam hesitated for a moment. “Not a long time ago.”
“Why weren’t they married?”
What happened to that being none of your business?
Devlin grimaced on the inside. Truth be told, he wasn’t sure why the
subject interested him so much. It just… didn’t sit well with him.
“I don’t think it’s my place to talk about it, Your Grace,” Liam said,
avoiding his gaze.
Devlin stared at him, his instincts insisting that something was off.
But he could hardly interrogate him. Besides, Liam was correct that his
brother’s relationship wasn’t something they should be discussing.
“You’re right,” he said. “My apologies. Shall we? The race will start
soon.”
Liam nodded with a smile, clearly relieved that Devlin had dropped
the subject.
Their date that day was unexpectedly tedious.
Devlin found it difficult to keep his attention on his date, his mood
sour and distracted. He was aware that he was acting like a dick, his attitude
probably too cold and unapproachable. Liam seemed to have given up on
trying to strike up a conversation with him after a few hesitant attempts and
focused his attention entirely on the aircar race. When Liam spoke, he
spoke only to the beta chaperone who had accompanied them to the race.
By the time the race was over, Devlin had a headache once again, his
body brimming with tension and anxiety, the source of which he couldn’t
pinpoint. He barely had the patience to smile for the paparazzi as they left
the track, and his smile was probably very strained. Hopefully he didn’t
actually look like he wanted to punch someone.
He dropped Liam off, and then he hesitated, looking at the Blake
house. It would be only polite to inquire how Julian was feeling.
Devlin pulled his phone out of his pocket and entered his credentials.
Strictly speaking, he was using his privileged position to access private
data, but he did have the security clearance for it.
After finding Julian’s phone number in the database, he
hesitated. What the hell was he doing? This was abuse of power.
His misgivings, however, didn’t stop him from texting Julian. Are
you all right? I thought you wanted to watch the race. -Devlin
The reply came almost instantly. How do you know my number?
Don’t make me add ‘stalker’ to the list of your dubious qualities, Your
Grace.
Devlin found himself smiling. He could practically see the endearing
little scowl on Julian’s face, his brows furrowed, his bottom lip caught
between his teeth.
I have my sources , he typed back. You didn’t answer my question .
This time the reply took longer. Julian was typing and then pausing
before starting to type again.
Devlin drummed his fingers on the upholstery of his seat, looking at
the phone impatiently.
His pilot cleared his throat. “Should I take off, Your Grace?”
“One moment,” Devlin said as his phone screen lit up with a message
notification.
I just didn’t feel like being the third wheel tonight. I’m sure you were
glad not to have me there for once.
Glad wasn’t the word he would use. The date had been tedious.
After a moment, Devlin typed, I was really looking forward to your
commentary on the race. It’s always entertaining.
Julian didn’t start typing his reply immediately. At last, he
responded, Was it good? The race? Did you have fun?
Devlin stared at the message. He had no idea whether the race was
good or not—he hadn’t paid attention. Your brother seemed to enjoy it. Are
you going to the Irvings’ ball tomorrow?
Yeah , Julian replied after a moment. Liam has some kind of surprise
for me there. I promised to go.
Devlin frowned. I’ll see you there, then .
Julian didn’t reply.
***
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter 15
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter 16
***
“Tomorrow” passed in a daze of heat. By the end of the day, Jules felt
like crawling up the walls—or crawling out of his skin. Everything ached.
And when he said everything, he meant everything : his muscles, his bond,
his cock, his hole—hell, even his hair hurt, which was something that
shouldn’t have been possible. At some point, he thought he might be dying.
By the time it finally ended, it was evening. Jules curled up miserably
on the couch in the drawing room, because he couldn’t stand the thought of
staying in the bedroom that stank of heat, desperation, and loneliness.
“Are you sure you’re okay now?” Liam said from the opposite couch.
Jules gave a small nod.
Liam sighed, still looking at him with a frown. “No offense, but I’m
so glad I’m not a Dainiri omega.”
Jules didn’t take offense, but he glared at his annoyingly beautiful,
perfectly put-together non-Dainiri brother. He croaked out, “Anyone ever
told you you suck at comforting people?”
Liam grinned. “It speaks! And yes, you have. Multiple times.”
“I feel sorry for your future kids,” Jules grumbled.
His smile fading, Liam looked at the magazine in his hand
unseeingly. “Kids… I can’t imagine having kids in the near future.” His
forehead wrinkled. “I suppose Westcliff would want kids soon.”
Ignoring the way his stomach churned painfully, Jules said, “If the
rumors are true and the king is really making him the heir to the throne, of
course Westcliff would want kids.” He made a face. “Heck, the king would
probably demand it, too.” He looked away, looked at the ceiling, then at the
floor, before saying in his most neutral tone, “You’re talking like it’s a done
deal. Did I miss anything? Has he proposed already?”
“No, but I think he’s going to propose tonight,” Liam said. “It’s only
logical. Yesterday I overheard his phone conversation with someone—some
PR person, I think. Westcliff said the king was going to make the
announcement in a few days—about Prince Haydn, I mean. Westcliff would
want to announce our engagement around that time, too. It makes sense.”
Jules studied his brother carefully.
Liam’s lovely face was difficult to read, but his eyes weren’t exactly
shining with happiness.
“You don’t have to say yes,” Jules said, feeling painfully
uncomfortable. He was so damn torn about the subject he didn’t know what
advice to give. He didn’t want Liam to marry an alpha he didn’t love for the
sake of their family, but… He was scared that if he told Liam not to marry
Westcliff, it would be selfish advice.
To make things more confusing, there was a small, horrible part of
him that did want Westcliff as the alpha of their family. That part of him
would be content with the smallest crumbs of his attention. If Westcliff
married Liam, he would be Jules’s alpha too, and Jules would see him all
the time and—
Wincing, Jules quashed the pathetic thought. He refused to be this
pathetic. Refused.
“Of course I have to, don’t be silly,” Liam said with a rueful
smile. “He’s the best catch of the season. Every omega and beta wants to be
me.”
“But you don’t love him,” Jules said.
“I don’t know him,” Liam corrected him. “I’m sure I’ll come to love
him after we marry.”
“You don’t exactly look very sure.”
Pursing his lips, Liam drew his knees to his chest and wrapped his
arms around them. He looked painfully young right now, so very far from
the elegant, impeccable society darling people knew him as. “I just don’t
know him,” he repeated. “I’ve barely talked to him alone. We always have a
chaperone.”
“Sorry,” Jules muttered, dropping his gaze.
“No, it’s fine,” Liam said, pulling a face. “I’m not sure I want to be
alone with him. He’s so intimidating.”
“Intimidating?” Jules repeated, his forehead wrinkling in confusion.
He would call Westcliff many things, but intimidating wasn’t one of them.
He was very easy to talk to. Too easy, in fact. Jules hadn’t met a person he
felt so comfortable speaking his mind with.
Liam shrugged. “It’s hard to explain. It’s probably his scent.”
“His scent?”
“I mean, I knew that Xeus alphas had very strong, aggressive scents,
but I don’t like that his scent makes me want to timidly agree with anything
he says. It’s really unsettling.” Liam smiled crookedly. “Westcliff probably
thinks I’m very docile and empty-headed.”
Jules frowned. Westcliff just smelled good to him, not intimidating.
But maybe he would feel differently if he wasn’t still partially on
suppressants.
“Has he…” he started, unsure if he wanted to know. “Has he scent-
marked you yet?”
Liam gave an uncomfortable smile. “Yeah. I allowed him to scent-
mark me—with his fingers, obviously.”
Jules’s stomach clenched. “Yeah? Did you like it?”
“It was… weird,” Liam said, his gaze far away. “Until the duke,
Mother was the only alpha who scent-marked me. Well, I vaguely
remember Anthony doing it, too, but it’s been so long since he left that…”
Liam trailed off, and they both fell silent for a moment. “Having a strange
alpha scent-mark me was definitely weird,” Liam said, clearing his throat a
little. “But it wasn’t disgusting or anything. I can get used to it.”
Wasn’t disgusting?
Jules stared at his brother in bewilderment. He couldn’t wrap his
mind around the concept of Liam not enjoying Westcliff’s scent-marking.
But then again, maybe it was Jules’s broken bond making him
needier and more receptive to alpha pheromones.
Jules was still mulling it over when their butler announced the duke’s
arrival.
His heart jumped and started beating faster.
Licking his dry lips, Jules forced himself into a seated position. He
grabbed his tablet and pretended to be engrossed in it. He didn’t lift his
head at the sound of footsteps.
“Liam,” Westcliff murmured. “Good evening.”
“Your Grace,” Liam said.
Now that Liam had told him about his difficulty talking to the duke,
Jules did notice how uncharacteristically docile Liam sounded.
“You look beautiful tonight,” Westcliff said without much inflection.
He sounded… distracted?
“Just tonight?” Jules murmured snidely, knowing that Westcliff
would hear him. But as soon as he said that, he regretted it. What happened
to his resolution to ignore Westcliff? Though to be fair, he wasn’t talking to
him, was he? It was none of anyone’s business what Jules was muttering
under his breath.
Liam said something in response, but Jules could barely hear it. All
his senses seemed to attune to the alpha in the room. He didn’t know if it
was the aftereffect of his recent heat, but he could smell things better. He
could smell Westcliff despite the distance between them, and the scent made
him a little lightheaded. Jules scowled when he caught himself inhaling
deeper and deeper, trying to take in more of that musky, heady alpha scent.
Slag , he told his stupid body that clearly hadn’t gotten the memo that
they were ignoring Westcliff from now on. Fuck, how was he supposed to
ignore him when he felt like a junkie trembling impatiently in the proximity
of his fix? His fingers were literally trembling. Literally. He had to grip the
tablet harder to stop the tremors.
And it didn’t fucking help that he could feel Westcliff’s gaze on him.
“Good evening to you, too, Julian,” he said in his low, slightly husky
voice.
Jules squeezed his thighs together, feeling himself get slick. Gods,
this was horrible. Wasn’t his heat supposed to be over? He wasn’t supposed
to react to an alpha this way.
My brother’s fiancé , he told his body firmly. Stop being a slut. You’re
supposed to be on suppressants.
His stupid body ignored his brain. Of course it did.
When the silence stretched, Liam coughed pointedly, clearly
scandalized by Jules’s rude silence.
Jules sighed. “Your Grace,” he said, without looking up.
“I see you’re still sulking over what I said.”
Sulking?
“I’m not a child,” Jules bit out. “I do not sulk. Your Grace.”
“You do, or you wouldn’t be Your Grace-ing me.”
“I thought that’s how one addressed a duke. Though I hear we’ll be
calling you Your Highness soon. Out of curiosity, how does it feel to steal
your cousin’s crown?”
The air in the room thickened, vibrating with alpha pheromones.
Jules sucked a breath in, his mind becoming a little foggy. It felt both
good and horrible at the same time.
Liam made a strangled noise, and Jules finally looked up. Liam was
pale on the opposite couch, his body subconsciously making itself smaller,
his eyes wide as they stared at Westcliff.
At last, with great reluctance, Jules followed his gaze.
Westcliff looked… “Angry” seemed like a bad word choice, but Jules
couldn’t think of a better one. His gaze was intense. And hot. Scalding. It
was fixed on him with an expression that made Jules want to bare his neck
—and spread his legs.
Swallowing, Jules fought the impulse with great difficulty. “What?”
he said, his hostile tone probably an overreaction, but it felt like he couldn’t
control his mouth at all, his frustration after the unfulfilled heat needing an
outlet. “Did I hit a nerve? Your Grace.”
A muscle twitched in Westcliff’s chiseled jaw. “If you must know, I
had nothing to do with the king’s decision. He would have disinherited
Haydn anyway. There are other alphas from lesser lines that would become
the crown prince or princess even if I refused.”
Julian smiled. “I can’t help but notice that you said ‘alphas.’ I guess
betas and omegas aren’t people, right?”
“I didn’t say that,” Westcliff ground out, taking a step closer. “Don’t
twist my words into something they are not.”
“Not twisting anything. It’s your words, not mine.”
“It’s the king’s opinion, and it’s the one that counts in this case.”
Jules scoffed. “Are you actually claiming that you had nothing to do
with the king disinheriting Prince Haydn? That you didn’t say yes when the
king consulted you?”
Westcliff laughed. It was a harsh laugh. “This shows that you don’t
know the king at all. He doesn’t care for anyone’s opinion besides his own.”
“Like uncle, like nephew?” Jules said, lifting his chin.
A strange expression flickered in Westcliff’s eyes.
“I’m nothing like him,” he said, very evenly.
Something about his tone made Jules pay attention, his ire forgotten.
Jules studied the way the alpha’s tall body was practically exuding tension,
the way his handsome face was terribly blank.
“You hate him,” he said softly as the realization dawned upon
him. “You hate the king.”
Westcliff grimaced, taking the seat next to Jules.
He sighed. “Hate is too strong a word,” he said, suddenly looking
tired. “But yes, I don’t like him.”
Jules’s fingers twitched toward him, itching to touch, to offer
comfort. He balled them into fists, trying to suppress those instincts. They
were natural for an omega toward their alpha—but they were completely
inappropriate toward Westcliff.
It was so difficult. It didn’t help that he also had to actively fight the
urge to climb into Westcliff’s lap, unbutton the top button of his shirt, press
his face against his neck, and breathe .
Fuck, it felt like he had a multiple personality disorder sometimes.
“Why?” Jules said, eyeing the short space between them with dismay
and annoyance. Couldn’t Westcliff sit down on Liam’s couch? Jules ignored
the part of him that felt ridiculously pleased that Westcliff had chosen to sit
down next to him—that part of him was a stupid omega who thought with
his cock rather than his brain.
Westcliff sighed and leaned back against the couch in that
quintessential alpha male pose—big, relaxed, his thighs spread to
accommodate his—
Nope, not thinking about Westcliff’s cock or knot.
Wincing, Jules decided to blame those thoughts on his recent heat.
“It’s complicated,” Westcliff said, touching Jules’s wrist and stroking
it with his fingers absentmindedly.
Jules kind of froze, his lips parting and his nostrils flaring as he was
filled with the familiar wonderful feeling of safe-good-protected-alpha .
“Uncomplicate it for me,” Jules said, when he regained his ability to
speak. He still couldn’t make himself pull his wrist away and stop the scent-
marking.
Westcliff’s green eyes were grim as he murmured, “He’s my father.”
Wait, what?
Jules blinked. “You mean the king and his sister…”
Westcliff laughed. “No, his sister wasn’t my mother,” he said with a
rueful smile. “He’s an asshole, but he isn’t that sick. He convinced—forced
—his sister to pretend that she gave birth to me while she was in the
countryside.”
“Then who is your mother?”
Westcliff shrugged, still stroking his wrist. Their scents were so
mixed at this point that Jules’s head felt hazy with warm, low-key pleasure,
Westcliff’s face the only thing in focus.
“I have no idea,” the duke said, the tension in his shoulders easing as
they gazed at each other. “She or he is probably dead.” His sensual lips
curled into a wry smile. “The king and I hardly have the kind of relationship
that would allow me to ask about it—and get a straight answer. He likes to
act like I’m not his son at all.”
Jules thought about it for a moment, pressing his cheek against
Westcliff’s shoulder. He breathed in deeply. He felt better than he had in
days, the terrible frustration of the past few days shifting into something
else. “So you’re actually his firstborn son,” he said. “You’re a bit older than
Haydn, right?”
“I’m not his firstborn,” Westcliff corrected him, playing with Jules’s
fingers. “The king had another son, much older than me and Haydn:
Thander. Don’t you remember him?”
Thander. Right. The prince who had died decades ago in the war.
Jules would have been embarrassed by forgetting about the existence
of a prince of his country, except his mind felt so hazy right now he could
barely remember his own siblings’ names, much less someone else’s.
“In my defense, he died before I was born,” Jules muttered, trying to
gather his thoughts. But it was so difficult. Westcliff smelled so good. Jules
wanted to press his mouth against that chiseled jaw and suck, find out if
Westcliff’s skin tasted as good as it smelled. Jules moistened his lips with
his tongue. Focus, Jules. “So you aren’t actually stealing Prince Haydn’s
crown.”
A small, bitter smile curled Westcliff’s lips. “But that’s what people
would think anyway,” he said, releasing Jules’s fingers. “That I’m stealing
it.”
Frowning, Jules took Westcliff’s hand again and squeezed it, their
fingers entangling.
Those green eyes softened, losing their hard, bitter edge as they
gazed at Jules.
Westcliff lifted their entangled fingers and glanced at them. “Thank
you,” he said quietly, looking Jules in the eyes before brushing his mouth
against Jules’s knuckles.
And Jules’s heart soared and then dropped, breaking into a million
pieces.
He now had a word for what he felt for Devlin Schaefer, the Duke of
Westcliff. It wasn’t attraction. It was much, much worse.
Jules didn’t know what he would have done—he was this close to
just running out of the room, curling up into a small ball, and crying into his
pillow—if someone hadn’t coughed awkwardly.
Jules flinched and turned his head.
He almost flinched again when he saw Liam.
Liam. He’d completely forgotten that his brother was in the room,
too.
Flushing, Jules snatched his hand away and curled it by his thigh,
though rationally he knew he had nothing to feel guilty about—besides
falling in love with the alpha who was going to marry his brother.
His stomach clenching, Jules forced a smile. “I’ll go to my room. You
were right, Li: I still feel very tired.”
Liam had a strange expression on his lovely face. For a moment, he
didn’t say anything, looking a mix of stunned and thoughtful, before
nodding distractedly. “Sure. Go get some rest.”
When Jules got to his feet, Westcliff did the same. “Are you all
right?” he said, his voice brimming with tension once again. “I told you it
was dangerous.”
Jules couldn’t look at him. Not now, when he felt so fragile and
bruised.
“Yes, you did,” he said. “Good night.”
In his peripheral vision, Westcliff made an aborted move, as if he was
about to grab his arm but thought better of it. “Good night,” he said.
And Jules walked away, his heart breaking a little bit more with every
step as he left the man he was in love with alone with his beautiful brother.
I think he’s going to propose tonight , Liam’s voice sounded in his
ears, over and over and over. I think he’s going to propose tonight. I think
he’s going to propose tonight.
By the time Jules got to his bedroom, his vision was so blurry he
could barely see.
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter 17
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter 18
“Did you really break up with Liam?” Jules said the moment De—
Westcliff entered the drawing room.
Westcliff paused before closing the door.
And then they were alone.
Jules swallowed. He sternly told his heart to stop being stupid. This
was his brother’s future mate. His brother’s. Not his. Never his.
But fuck, Westcliff looked unfairly handsome in that dark suit and
pale-blue shirt—it made his tanned jawline and neck look mouthwateringly
good.
Jules dragged his eyes away.
“Liam is out,” he said when the silence stretched. “If you wanted to
apologize to him, that is. He’s out on a walk with another suitor.” Liam had
been confident that it would make Westcliff jealous and contrite and he
would soon “come crawling back” to him, begging his forgiveness.
Except Westcliff didn’t look particularly contrite. His expression was
very strange, actually. He was looking at Jules as if… as if he were seeing
him for the first time.
It made Jules feel self-conscious, acutely aware of his plain, casual
clothes. Not that wearing fancy clothes would make him less plain.
The thought made his stomach tighten. He’d always told himself that
he didn’t care that he wasn’t beautiful like other omegas, but at the moment
he wished he were more attractive. It didn’t help that he still felt very… raw
after the previous day’s realization. He’d barely slept last night, and his
morning hadn’t started well. He’d woken up to a very annoyed brother, who
had informed him that Westcliff was an unfeeling, dismissive prick, and that
Liam had broken things off to teach him a lesson.
The news had given Jules very mixed emotions. He hated that he
couldn’t quite squash down the small, stupid hope that reared its ugly head.
He knew how foolish that hope was. No matter the current state of affairs,
Westcliff and Liam were still going to marry. And even if they didn’t, it
wouldn’t change anything for him.
“I’m not here to talk about your brother,” Westcliff said, sitting down
next to him and laying an arm behind Jules on the couch. “How are you
feeling?” he said, his voice dropping to a husky, intimate murmur as he
leaned in. “You said you didn’t feel well yesterday.”
Jules squeezed his thighs together.
Fuck. That voice .
“I’m okay,” he replied, taking in a careful lungful of Westcliff’s
scent. Fuck, how could a man smell so good? Jules wanted to roll around in
that scent forever until it was all he could smell. Don’t act like a junkie,
don’t act like a junkie, don’t act like a junkie—you are better than that .
Repeating that mantra in his head, Jules said aloud, “You shouldn’t have
pissed off Li. He can be pretty bad-natured when he’s angry. What did you
two argue about, anyway? He didn’t tell me.”
Westcliff stared at him for a moment before speaking.
“Liam said you have a crush on me.”
Jules opened his mouth and closed it, feeling like he’d been punched
in the stomach. He blinked at Westcliff dazedly, his eyes wide and his heart
beating somewhere in his throat. How—? Was he that obvious? Apparently
he was.
“I’m going to kill him,” he said faintly.
Something shifted in Westcliff’s expression. “So it’s true.”
Jules’s face felt so hot it was probably a very unattractive red. He
couldn’t meet Westcliff’s eyes, looking anywhere but at him.
“Hey,” the duke said, taking his trembling fingers into his hand and
squeezing them. “It’s okay. As your brother said, it’s normal in your
situation.”
A hysterical laugh bubbled up in Jules’s throat as he looked at their
joined hands. In his situation? What did that even mean?
“Right,” he said.
“Look at me,” Westcliff said. Commanded.
Jules didn’t disobey him. He couldn’t. On some primitive level that
didn’t make any fucking sense, this alpha felt like his. He wanted to obey
him. It felt good obeying him— right . Shit, he was so screwed, wasn’t he?
Westcliff’s gaze held his.
“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” he said firmly, bringing his
free hand to Jules’s cheek and stroking it with his knuckles.
Jules shivered, swallowing back a moan.
“It is normal in your situation,” Westcliff said, watching his reaction
with a strange glint in his eyes. Was it his imagination, or did it really seem
predatory?
“You’re trembling,” he stated, stroking Jules’s jawline. This time
Jules couldn’t stop a small whine. He was so hard—and so slick his
underwear felt sticky.
Jules glared at him half-heartedly. “Stop that,” he said shakily, but he
wasn’t pulling away from the touch. He felt so oversensitive and needy, as
if it’d physically hurt if Westcliff stopped touching him.
Westcliff’s scent became headier, the air thick with alpha
pheromones. He eyed Jules for a long moment, his gaze very serious and
intense. “It is just a crush, right?”
“Obviously,” Jules lied, hoping that it wasn’t obvious that he kind of
wanted to curl up into a ball and hide from the world. Preferably after
crawling into Westcliff’s lap. Yep, apparently he was masochistic enough to
want comfort from the man who was the reason he felt like shit.
“I’m serious, Julian.” Westcliff cupped his cheek with his big hand.
Stroked it with his thumb. Jules tried not to shiver. Westcliff held his gaze
steadily. “Your brother thinks I should be colder with you. That’s why we
argued—I said no. I’m not letting your brother dictate my actions. But if
you really want distance, I will give you distance. But only if you want it.”
Jules just about melted, his heart so very warm he barely knew what
to do with it. Gods, he loved this man.
Darting forward, he kissed Westcliff on his stubbled cheek. “Thank
you, but I’m fine,” he lied, pressing his cheek against Westcliff’s and
breathing in deeply. “It’s nothing. I don’t need distance.” He probably
should want distance, but fuck, he was weak. He wouldn’t be able to bear
any distance between them. Even the small distance between them right
now felt horrible. He wanted them closer, so close there was nothing
between them but skin.
Damn it, he really needed to get a grip. But it was so hard, pun
intended, when he was surrounded by Westcliff’s scent and pheromones and
could feel him so very close. The prickling of the alpha’s stubble against his
cheek felt so good, and Jules couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel
like against his stomach, his inner thighs, his buttocks.
“All right,” Westcliff said in a low voice, pecking the corner of
Jules’s mouth. “No distance. If this is what you want.”
Jules nearly whined, his mouth searching blindly, needing. It was
pure bliss as his lips rubbed against Westcliff’s firm jaw, the alpha’s scent
so thick in the air he felt high on it.
“Sweetheart,” Westcliff said hoarsely, nuzzling his cheek. “Baby. I
fucking adore you, you know that, right?”
Jules shivered, warmth curling around his heart and spreading
downward until it turned into a needy heat between his legs. He burned. He
ached for him, for this alpha who didn’t belong to him but felt like his. It
was so very wrong, to feel this for him, but Jules’s body didn’t care. It
wanted. It wanted this alpha. His touch. His mouth. His cock. His knot.
“Tell me what you need,” Westcliff said, kissing his cheek, his breath
hot and unsteady, before nipping his way down Jules’s jaw, to his neck.
Jules could only soak it up, his head spinning and his gaze unfocused.
He didn’t understand what was going on anymore, but fuck it, he’d take
anything Westcliff would give him. Anything.
When Westcliff’s mouth closed on his scent gland, Jules jerked, as if
electrocuted, slick running down his leg, his hole aching. He wanted to be
touched there. He wanted to be fucked.
“Tell me,” Westcliff said.
Jules squeezed his eyes shut. “Can’t you smell it?”
He had thought he was stinking of arousal and lust, but Westcliff
shook his head against his neck. “Your scent is still too faint to discern any
nuances,” he said, taking a deep breath. “It’s not just the suppressants. Until
the mark fades completely, your scent will be faint. Mated omegas stop
smelling strongly to other alphas.”
Right. Westcliff wasn’t his alpha. As if Jules needed another
reminder of how wrong this was. His mate had died just a few months ago.
He had no business acting like a bitch in heat with another alpha, no matter
how good this alpha smelled to him.
“Tell me,” Westcliff said again, his tone like a demand. An
order. Was it sick that it only made Jules more aroused?
Alpha , his hindbrain thought dazedly. Stop fighting it, tell him
everything, he’ll take care of you.
Jules buried his burning face in the hollow of Westcliff’s throat and
breathed in deeply. Feeling drunk on alpha pheromones, he guided their
joined hands to his crotch, any semblance of shame and propriety forgotten.
He pressed Westcliff’s hand against his cock, shuddering at the contact.
He didn’t say anything. Couldn’t.
Westcliff went very still, just cupping the bulge for a moment that
seemed to stretch into forever.
Jules whined impatiently, his cock throbbing under the touch.
“Babe,” Westcliff breathed out at last, his voice low and husky. “I
don’t think we should—”
“I’m no innocent little virgin,” Jules snapped, lifting his head, his
sexual frustration finally overriding his embarrassment and shame. “I’m
still horny after my heat, that’s all. I want a cock. Give me yours.”
Westcliff stared at him like he’d grown a second head. But his scent
thickened, becoming muskier and even more mouthwatering, the air
charged with alpha pheromones.
“Come on,” Jules said, looking him in the eye. “I’m so horny right
now any cock will do. You don’t want me to go looking for a knot, do
you?”
Westcliff’s gaze darkened, his jaw tightening. “Stop saying such
crude things. It doesn’t suit you.”
“Why?” Jules said, pushing his hips against Westcliff’s hand. Fuck,
he was so hard he felt like crying from frustration. “Because I’m a noble
omega? I had a mate before. I’ve been fucked and knotted—”
Westcliff growled , his eyes flashing and his claws sliding out.
Jules froze, a little stunned by Westcliff’s loss of control, but mostly,
he was embarrassingly turned on by it. It was the first time Westcliff had
acted like a Xeus in his presence, and it was more arousing than it should
have been.
Westcliff closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His claws sank back
into his skin, and when he opened his eyes again, they weren’t glowing
anymore. But his scent remained thick and musky, his powerful body tense
and rigid. And there was a very big bulge between his legs.
Jules licked his dry lips, his hole clenching over nothing. Fuck, he
wanted him. He needed that inside of him. Now. “You’re going to be my
alpha if you marry Liam,” he said hoarsely, scraping his nails against the
bulge under Westcliff’s suit pants. “Aren’t you going to be a good alpha and
take care of me?”
Westcliff inhaled sharply, his pupils so blown his eyes seemed
dark. “Usually being a good alpha doesn’t involve knotting your mate’s
little brother.”
“I know,” Jules said lightly, ignoring the way his heart ached and hurt
at the thought of Westcliff mating Liam. His fingers trembling with
impatience, he unbuckled Westcliff’s belt and then unzipped his pants. “But
you aren’t mated to him yet. In fact, Liam called things off, so there’s
nothing wrong with this. There are no promises to break, and it’s not like
you love each other. It won’t hurt anyone.” Besides me and my stupid heart
, he thought as he finally pulled out Westcliff’s cock. He nearly moaned as
he squeezed it in his hand. So thick and hard, the fat head already leaking
pre-come. Fuck, he wanted it.
Jules leaned down and licked the cockhead. Mmm .
Westcliff made a low, guttural sound as Jules took his cock into his
mouth. Gods. The cock felt impossibly wide in his mouth and his lips were
stretched to their fullest, but Jules sucked him down, Westcliff’s taste
flooding his senses. He’d heard that omegas got high on the taste of an
alpha’s arousal, but he’d never believed it until now. He felt drunk, sucking
on the cock greedily and unable to get enough, moaning around it like a
whore, his whole world narrowed down to that thick, delicious cock—
until Westcliff’s hand buried in Jules’s hair. “Come here,” he bit out,
dragging Jules upward and into his lap.
Then he jerked Jules’s fly open. A moment later, his large hand
wrapped around Jules’s aching erection and started stroking it. Jules
squeezed his eyes shut and buried his face against the alpha’s wide
shoulder. Fuck, it felt so good, he couldn’t believe it was finally happening,
but it still wasn’t enough. He wanted more. He wanted something different.
He wanted Westcliff’s hand on his aching, empty hole.
As if reading his thoughts, Westcliff moved his hand lower, stroking
his slick opening, and Jules let out a long, shameless moan. He hoped none
of the footmen stood outside the door—they’d hear everything—but to be
honest, Jules wasn’t at all sure he’d be able to stop humping Westcliff’s
hand even if the entire staff watched them.
“Cock,” he gasped out, grabbing Westcliff’s erection again and
stroking it greedily. “Need your cock in me. Wanna be fucked.”
“Fucking hell,” Westcliff gritted out. A moment later, there was a
tearing sound—his pants, Jules realized dazedly—and then Westcliff was
lifting him and—
Jules moaned, impaled on the hard, throbbing cock.
Fuck fuck fuuuuck.
Nothing should feel this good. He’d almost forgotten how amazing
this felt, being pounded into, used like a ragdoll for pleasure as Westcliff
fucked up into him, lifting him up and down, as if Jules weighed nothing.
His strength was an enormous turn-on, and Jules could only take it, his
moans getting progressively louder, no matter how much he tried to muffle
them against Westcliff’s shoulder. They were fucking fully clothed, he
realized distantly. Somehow it made the act even more obscene, and Jules
moaned loudly, squeezing around the massive cock drilling inside him. The
wet, slurping sounds his hole made would have embarrassed him—if he
were capable of being embarrassed. All he could do was feel. Feel and fall
apart on Westcliff’s cock.
It took him a ridiculously short time to come, but Westcliff didn’t
stop. He toppled them over, Jules’s back hitting the couch, and kept on
thrusting. And thrusting. And thrusting. Soon enough, Jules was pushing
back onto Westcliff’s cock, needing to come again. His own cock was soft
after his first orgasm, but the need inside him didn’t lessen, the weird
pleasure taking him higher and higher, and he couldn’t get enough of it. His
fingernails digging into Westcliff’s back, he urged him on, moaning at
every thrust.
Jules cried out as he came again, his second orgasm even more
overwhelming than the first. Westcliff shuddered on top of him and pulled
out with a curse, coming against Jules’s stomach.
Blinking blearily, Jules pursed his lips, more than a little
disappointed, no matter how good he felt. “You didn’t knot me.”
Westcliff let out a strangled laugh against his shoulder.
“You’re unbelievable,” he said, still breathing unsteadily. “Of course
I didn’t knot you. It would have been irresponsible—more irresponsible
than this already is. You’re just coming off your heat. You’re likely still
fertile, even with the suppressants.”
Jules shivered. Fertile. Instead of scaring him, the word brought a
pang of irrational longing to his heart. He suddenly imagined it—and
quickly pushed the thought out of his mind. There was no use thinking
about things that’d never happen. Not to him. Not with this man.
Irresponsible . Right.
“Julian.” Westcliff’s tone was quiet but loaded. “I’m—”
“Don’t,” Jules said quickly, shimmying out from under him and
getting to his admittedly shaky feet. “It’s fine. There’s nothing to apologize
for.” He straightened his clothes, looking anywhere but at Westcliff. “It’s
just sex. We’re both consenting adults. It’s fine. I have to go!” And he ran
out of the room before Westcliff could say the dreaded “ I’m sorry, it was a
mistake.”
He didn’t need to hear it.
He knew.
He knew it was all he could ever be.
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter 19
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter 20
Devlin had a busy day. He spent most of it working with the public
relations team on his inauguration speech—because apparently he couldn’t
just wing it. Every word had to be perfect and reach the right audience.
These days, monarchies were an unpopular form of government, and to
remain supported by their people, they had to work for it twice as hard as
the republics did. Devlin understood that it was necessary, but all of the
public relations work was very exhausting and frustrating, and by the end of
the day, he felt like letting his claws out and growling, just to finally shut
Cormack up.
It certainly didn’t help that he had been incredibly distracted all day
long.
Sighing, Devlin leaned back in his chair and stared at the computer in
front of him without seeing anything. In the background, Cormack was
droning on about his approval ratings, as if Devlin couldn’t read the data in
front of him.
He could read it—but he couldn’t focus on it. It was a recurrent
problem that day, ever since…
Devlin tried to push the thought away, knowing that if he started
thinking about it, he’d get nothing done.
It didn’t work.
Of course it didn’t work.
He kept thinking of the way Julian had felt around him, tight and
slick, so slick it was like being wrapped in the finest silk… the way he
gazed at Devlin with that glassy-eyed, drugged look, his lips bitten red and
parted as he moaned—
“…as you can see, Your Grace, if you fail to secure the marriage to
the Diamond of the Season soon, it will cause your approval ratings to drop.
We can’t afford it when there is such a high chance for civil unrest—”
“Enough,” Devlin said.
Cormack pursed his lips. “But Your Grace—”
“I said enough,” he repeated, staring him down. “You’re dismissed.”
Cormack opened his mouth but closed it again under Devlin’s
irritated gaze. Nodding, he finally left.
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Devlin closed his eyes, his posture
sagging now that he was alone. Everything Cormack had said was true. He
couldn’t back out of his courtship of Liam; it would be beyond
irresponsible. The fact that he was even thinking about it was irresponsible.
He knew what he should do: he needed to pay a visit to the Blakes and clear
things up with Julian. It was important that they were on the same page. He
had to apologize. His lack of self-control was unacceptable. Julian was
young and relatively inexperienced. He might not have been a virgin—
Devlin gritted his teeth, fighting the inappropriate wave of ugly
possessiveness—but he was young and vulnerable after his recent heat. He
had to make sure Julian hadn’t been hurt by his careless actions. He had to
apologize and clear the air so that their friendship wasn’t ruined by that
mistake—because that was what it was.
He couldn’t afford for it to be anything else. He had responsibilities
he couldn’t easily walk away from.
The problem was, everything in him rebelled at the thought of
hurting Julian. He didn’t really believe that it had been just meaningless sex
for him. Or rather, Devlin didn’t want to believe that. Fuck, he really was a
dick. He should have wanted Julian not to have feelings for him, instead of
selfishly wanting him to be hung up on him. This was fucked-up. He was
fucked-up. He couldn’t afford to feel this way. He had responsibilities he
couldn’t walk away from.
Devlin sighed and got to his feet. All right. Clearly he wasn’t getting
anywhere. He was thinking in circles again.
He needed a fresh perspective on the issue.
There was only one person in the palace that he trusted: Ilona. His
childhood nanny still worked at the palace, having been promoted to Head
of Staff, and she always seemed genuinely delighted when he visited her.
As he’d grown older, he didn’t visit her as much as he used to in his
childhood, but he was still fond of her and he trusted her. She had always
been kind to him and didn’t seem as intimidated by his rank as the other
servants were.
The corridors in the servants wing were empty at this hour—it wasn’t
late enough for servants to be heading to their rooms yet—so Devlin didn’t
encounter many of them on the way to Ilona’s office.
He had stopped by her door and raised his hand to knock when the
noise in the room made him pause.
The door was cracked open, making its soundproof properties
useless. Devlin could hear the sounds of intimacy: breathy moans and
sounds of flesh moving against flesh.
He raised his eyebrows, honestly surprised. Ilona was still a very
attractive woman, but he hadn’t known she was seeing someone. She’d
never mentioned anyone and barely talked about her late husband.
Yet there was the unmistakable sound of kissing, wet and urgent.
Grimacing in discomfort, Devlin turned away. He’d come back later.
Clearly it wasn’t a good time.
“Not here,” Ilona said breathlessly. “Stefan.”
Devlin stiffened and looked back at the door. Stefan?
It wasn’t a rare name, but as he focused on his senses, letting them
sharpen, he recognized the king’s alpha scent. Ilona and Stefan? Since
when? Devlin hadn’t even been aware that the king had trysts with omegas.
It was well documented how little he thought of them. That said, the king
was just sixty-four—a healthy middle-aged man in excellent shape. Of
course he would have some trysts. Everyone knew he and the queen hadn’t
slept in one bedroom in decades.
“Shut up,” Stefan bit out. “I don’t want to hear your voice or your—”
He let out a guttural sound, and then there was the unmistakable rhythmic
sound of a cock moving inside a slick hole. “All these decades, but you’re
still poisoning my thoughts,” he gritted out, his voice thick with
resentment. “What have you done to me, you little—” His voice cracked
and turned into a groan, the slaps of flesh against flesh coming faster.
The omega didn’t reply, just breathed in hitched gasps and whimpers,
the sounds muffled as if she was trying not to make any noise.
Devlin stood frozen, his mind reeling as he connected the dots—the
oddities he had noticed as a child but had disregarded. Ilona, a simple maid,
being assigned as his nanny. Ilona, a simple maid, knowing that he was the
king’s son. Ilona, always being there for him and showing clear favoritism
to him over Haydn—despite everyone else on the staff preferring Haydn.
Ilona, who had apparently been the king’s mistress for decades. Ilona, who
had green eyes, just like his.
Devlin almost laughed. He couldn’t believe how blind he had been.
All these years, he had wondered about his mother, but he had searched for
his own features in members of high society. He hadn’t even considered
that the high-and-mighty king who despised omegas would lower himself to
an omega maid—and legitimize their child.
The room was quiet now. They must have finished.
Devlin stared at the door for a moment before rapping on it with his
knuckles and pushing it open.
He almost regretted it when Ilona let out a startled cry and jumped
away from the king, straightening her clothes hurriedly, her face
flushed. “Your G-grace!” she stammered, looking anywhere but at him.
Taking pity on her, Devlin shifted his gaze to Stefan.
The king was straightening his clothes unhurriedly, his arrogant face
slightly flushed but set into a hard, haughty expression.
Devlin’s claws itched to come out. “Your Majesty,” he said with a
smile. “What an unexpected surprise.”
Stefan pursed his lips, zipping his pants up. He said nothing,
exchanging a look with Ilona.
The air in the room was so thick with tension it was palpable.
Devlin sat down in the armchair, pulled out a cigarette and lit it.
Normally, Stefan would have berated him for smoking indoors. Ilona
would have chided him for smoking, period.
No one said anything.
He took a long drag, eyeing Stefan idly. “You know, for the first time,
I’m really convinced that non-shifter alphas are superior to Xeus alphas,”
he said, his tone conversational. “If you were a Xeus, you would have been
more likely to knot my childhood nanny, and this little scene would have
been very awkward. More awkward than it already is.”
Stefan glared at him.
Devlin’s lips twitched, his gaze cold. “Though, I suppose I should
have said ‘my mother,’ right?”
Ilona made a choked noise.
Stefan’s eyes hardened. “Listen, you—”
“Leave us, Stefan,” Ilona said quietly.
To Devlin’s immense surprise, the king did as he was told. With a last
hard look at Devlin, he left.
And then they were alone—he and the woman who had given birth to
him. The woman who had lied to him all his life.
Devlin stared at her, and he wasn’t sure what he felt. He thought he
should have hated her for lying, but all he could feel was confusion
and… hurt. Yes, hurt.
The silence stretched.
“I’m sorry,” Ilona blurted out at last, wringing her hands, her eyes
wide in her pale face. “I’m so sorry.”
Devlin looked away for a moment. “I don’t need your apologies,” he
said. “I want an explanation.”
“It’s… a long story,” Ilona said.
“I have time,” Devlin said, looking back at her.
Ilona chewed on her lip, her expression troubled and uncertain. It was
kind of funny how easily he could see his features in her face now that he
knew. People truly saw only what they wanted to see. It was kind of ironic
that it was the lesson this woman had taught him as a child.
“I was seventeen when I started working at the palace as a maid,”
Ilona said at last. “Your father was already married to his first wife and had
a son with her. When we met, it was…” Her gaze became distant, a crooked
smile curling her lips. “It was attraction at first sight. He smelled perfect to
me—he smelled like mine —but…” Her smile became sadder, bitter. “But
he wasn’t. He was already married. And he was the king. A man who had a
responsibility to his country and his family. I ran away from him, back to
my hometown. I didn’t trust myself. I didn’t want to be the other woman—
and that’s all I would ever have been if I’d given in to the attraction
between us—even though he was my true mate.”
When Devlin sneered, Ilona laughed a little. “I know you probably
think true mates are a thing of fairy tales—I thought the same way, too—
but if the last three decades have taught me anything, it is that true mates
are real. I did everything to fight the pull I felt toward your father—and I
mean everything.” Her eyes were glistening now. “I returned to my
hometown, waited for my heat, and gave myself to another alpha. I hoped it
would work. I hoped my first shared heat with another alpha would help me
bond to him. But it didn’t. Nothing ever worked. I still felt the yearning for
Stefan. But I became pregnant with another alpha’s child. And I married
him.” Her voice dropped to a hoarse whisper. “Stefan arrived the next day.
I’ve never seen him so angry—and so broken. He called me a whore and
left.” Ilona gave a humorless smile. “See, I’m the reason Stefan despises
omegas. He thought I slept with another alpha because I was loose. He
didn’t understand that I had done it because I didn’t want to be loose. He
was a married man. I didn’t want to break a married man’s family.”
“And then what happened?”
“I had two children with Charles—my husband—before he died in
the war,” Ilona said, dropping her gaze. “Truth be told, I was… I
was relieved when he died. I’m not proud of it, but… But do you know
what it’s like to share a bed with a man you don’t love when your heart
beats for another?”
Devlin didn’t say anything. He was too blindsided by the reminder
that Ilona had other children—his siblings .
Ilona was quiet for a while before continuing. “A few days after my
husband’s death, I received a job offer from the palace.” She gave a brittle
smile. “I know I should have declined. But I had two little children to think
about. Our financial situation wasn’t good, and it was a really well-paid job
with room and board included. I had to agree—or so I told myself.” She
shook her head, her lips curled. “In hindsight, I was weak. Weak and
foolish. After years of fighting it, I gave in. I wanted him. I yearned for
him. Only him.”
Devlin looked away. He wished he could make himself despise her,
but… all he felt was pity. He couldn’t really fault her: she had been young
and vulnerable. Stefan had so much power over her, aside from having age
and experience on his side. He knew Stefan had become the king and
married his first wife very young—at fifteen—but he’d been a grown man
by the time he met Ilona. He had no excuse.
“His wife died around that time, too, and I became Stefan’s mistress,”
Ilona continued, clearly trying to sound matter-of-fact and unemotional. But
she still sounded embarrassed. “Those were the happiest few years of my
life. I didn’t have to share him with anyone—anyone but his kingdom. But
in the end, the kingdom took him away from me. His son—his only heir—
died in the war, and he had to marry again.”
“Why didn’t he marry you if he loved you?”
Ilona laughed. It wasn’t a happy laugh. “Loved me? He’s never said
that he loved me. Our relationship has never been an easy one. I’m pretty
sure he hates me half of the time. He’s never forgiven me for sleeping with
another alpha—for having children of another alpha. Of course it’s highly
hypocritical of him, but you alphas can’t think rationally about such
things.”
Devlin gave a clipped nod. It really was immensely difficult to fight
one’s territorial instincts.
“Besides,” Ilona said quietly. “He’s the king. I’m a servant.
Kings marry servants only in fairy tales, Devlin.” She bit her bottom lip
hard. “I was already pregnant with you when he married a second time. It
was just a political match, he said. It wouldn’t change anything, he said. But
of course it did. I couldn’t be the other woman. So we ended it.” She closed
her eyes, a tear falling down her cheek.
She was still very beautiful, especially for a middle-aged woman. It
was no wonder the king was so fixated on her.
“Why did you give me up?” Devlin said, keeping his voice neutral. It
seemed it wasn’t neutral enough, because Ilona’s face crumpled.
“I know you probably hate me for that,” she whispered. “But every
mother wants the world for her child. I wanted you to grow up in his world,
not mine. I didn’t want you to have to serve your own father and his
legitimate children. It was the hardest decision I’ve ever made. I told myself
that at least I wasn’t abandoning you. I could be near you. I could watch
you grow even if I couldn’t be your mother.” She fell to her knees in front
of him and grabbed his hands, looking him in the eyes desperately. “I do
love you, my darling. Please never think for a moment that you weren’t
loved. A good mother should never have a favorite child, but you’ve always
had a special place in my heart, because you are the child of the only man I
have ever loved.”
Devlin cleared his throat a little, swallowing the discomfort in
it. “You should have still told me the truth,” he said stiffly.
“I wanted to,” Ilona said, her voice breaking a little. “I wanted to do
it so many times, especially when I saw you hurting—when I saw how
much hatred and cruelty you had to face as a boy because of your
designation. But I promised your father that I’d never tell you the truth. He
didn’t even want you to know that he was your father.” She squeezed his
hands. “Do you remember how you found out about it?”
“I overheard it,” Devlin said, frowning. “Stefan was arguing with his
sister about me. She wanted to send me away to the countryside, and he
forbade her from doing it.” He’s my son, and he’ll stay here , Stefan had
snapped. That was how Devlin had found out.
Ilona nodded, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. “He
promised me that you would always be around so I could see you. But he
also loves you very much, sweetheart.”
Devlin laughed.
“He does,” she said steadily. “It may not look like it, but he’s very
proud of you. I know he’s always pushed you hard, but it was because he
knew you could handle it. He loves you.”
“I’m afraid you’re delusional, ma’am,” Devlin said with a crooked
smile.
She gave him a flat look. “You’re a Xeus, and yet he’s about to make
you the heir to the throne,” she said. “What more proof do you need? We all
know it will be a very unpopular decision.”
Devlin opened his mouth, and then closed it without saying anything.
He had to admit this revelation had answered the question he’d been
wondering about for decades: why had the king bothered to make his
bastard a duke? He still didn’t believe that Stefan held a great deal of
affection for him, but so many things now made sense in retrospect. He was
a son born by Stefan’s omega. Stefan might not accept his feelings for
Ilona, he might resent her for them, but alphas really were territorial
creatures. The child born of one’s mate would be important to any alpha.
“You said you ended the relationship when Stefan remarried,” he
stated, changing the subject to a marginally more comfortable one. “But
what about what I’ve just seen?”
Ilona flushed, an expression of discomfort and shame flickering over
her face. She didn’t have to say anything; her face said it all.
“I see,” Devlin said.
“The queen knows,” Ilona said uncomfortably. “And she has a lover,
too. I know it doesn’t excuse me. You’re right to judge me—I’m judging
myself, Devlin.” Pressing her knuckles against her eyes, she
swallowed. “But… but you have no idea what it’s like to fight the pull
toward your mate. It’s like fighting gravity. It’s impossible. No matter how
strong your mind is, the flesh is weak. The heart is weaker yet.”
Devlin frowned and averted his gaze.
“What is it?” Ilona said, touching his hand.
“It’s nothing.”
“You are not being honest. I know you, my darling.”
Suppressing the urge to snap at her that she didn’t know him, Devlin
pinched the bridge of his nose. Breathed in. “It’s nothing,” he repeated,
getting to his feet. “I just remembered that I have somewhere to be.”
He walked toward the door, but her voice stopped him.
“Do you hate me?” she said, her lovely voice cracking.
Devlin looked back at her. Her eyes were glistening with tears, her
hands trembling before she wrapped her arms around herself. She looked
small, vulnerable, and broken.
Sighing, Devlin walked back to her and pulled her against his chest.
She clung to him, his shirt quickly soaking with tears.
He held her tightly, his throat uncomfortably thick. His mother. This
was his mother.
“I don’t hate you,” he said, looking at the wall behind her. “I just
think you deserve better than being the dirty little secret of a man who
doesn’t know what he wants.”
As soon as he said it, he felt a chill run down his spine.
He stood still, his mind reeling, as his mother cried in his arms.
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter 21
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter 22
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter 23
“Sit.”
Devlin and Haydn looked at each other before taking seats across
from the king.
Stefan looked at them in displeasure.
“You are here only because of your cousin,” he said, looking at
Haydn. “You’re still not forgiven, boy.”
Haydn huffed. “I have no need for your forgiveness . And you’ve got
some nerve to play the victim after what you did to me. Devlin is the only
reason I’m here.”
“And what did I do to you?” Stefan said snidely. “Gave you a
superior designation? What a crime.”
Haydn flushed, his scent thickening with his anger.
Devlin pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn’t believe he’d had
to leave Julian for this.
“Enough,” he said coldly, making the king turn his gaze to him. “We
don’t have time for this. Haydn is here as a favor to me, Your Majesty. Treat
him respectfully or we’re both leaving.”
Now Stefan’s face reddened, too. “You insolent—I should kick you
out of the country too, instead of making you my heir.”
Looking him in the eye, Devlin leaned back in his chair and
said, “You could. But you won’t. That would make my mother upset,
wouldn’t it?”
Stefan’s face went blank.
“You’re forgetting yourself, boy,” he hissed.
“What are you talking about?” Haydn cut in, his voice full of
confusion.
Devlin smiled, still looking at the king. Fuck it. He was sick of
lying. “Ask our father, Haydn.”
Haydn made a strangled sound. “Wha—”
“Shut up,” Stefan growled, glaring at Devlin. “You know nothing.”
Devlin’s smile widened. “I actually know a lot, Father . And now I
understand what I didn’t before.” Julian’s lovely eyes flashed to the
forefront of his mind as Devlin thought back to his own desire— need —to
do everything and anything his omega wanted. Julian had wanted him to
stay yesterday, and Devlin wouldn’t have left for all the power and money
in the world. He now understood that it wasn’t an exaggeration when
people said that alphas could kill to make their omegas happy. No matter
how much Stefan might resent his attraction to Ilona, she was still his mate,
and that was something an alpha couldn’t fight. One couldn’t fight one’s
own nature. It was a lost battle if one tried. Devlin wouldn’t repeat his
father’s mistakes.
“But that’s irrelevant now,” Devlin said, glancing at Haydn, who
looked like he’d been hit by a truck. “I’ll explain everything later,” he told
him more softly.
Haydn nodded, still looking dazed and confused.
Devlin gave him a small smile, suddenly realizing why he’d never
felt true animosity toward his half-brother, despite having plenty of reasons
to resent and envy him. Haydn’s suppressed omega nature likely affected
him on some level, making Devlin feel protective of him instead of
aggressive. It explained so much. Alphas usually didn’t get along with other
alphas well, after all.
“For all it’s worth,” Devlin said, looking at Haydn, “I am grateful that
you’re here.” He smiled crookedly. “I know how hard it must have been to
unglue yourself from your husband.”
Haydn gave a weak chuckle, still looking dazed. “But—how? Why
didn’t you tell me? Who is your mother?”
“That’s irrelevant,” Stefan bit out. “Let’s return to the subject at hand.
Tonight, we’ll be announcing that Haydn is willingly stepping down from
the line of succession.” He glared at Haydn, as if daring him to contradict
him.
Haydn didn’t take the bait, frowning a little. “If Devlin is your son,
that means he should have been ahead of me in the line of succession
anyway—he’s older by a few months.”
Stefan glowered at him. “It does not signify,” he said coldly. “As far
as the public is concerned, Westcliff is my nephew. You will step down, and
you will smile and congratulate your cousin at the ball tonight. Is that
understood?”
“Yes. But I’m only doing it because it’s the right thing to do,” Haydn
said firmly. “Not because you’re ordering me to do it.”
“I don’t care,” Stefan said. “All I care about is the end result.” He
turned his heavy gaze to Devlin. “You. You will announce your betrothal to
Liam Blake right after that—”
“No.”
Stefan stared at him. “I beg your pardon?”
Devlin held his gaze unflinchingly. “What I said. I’m not going to do
that.”
“Are you annoying me on purpose?” Stefan gritted out, a muscle
pulsing in his cheek.
“Not everything is about you, Your Majesty,” Devlin said. “I will not
marry Liam Blake, because I decided not to.”
“You can’t just—you can’t just decide not to!” Stefan snarled, his
face reddening again. “You agreed to that plan—”
“Plans change,” Devlin said.
“Everyone expects you to—”
“I don’t care,” Devlin stated. “I’m not marrying him.”
“You foolish—”
“My decision is final.”
Stefan laughed. “Fine! Be an idiot. You’re just sabotaging yourself
after all. And for what? Has another omega slut caught your fancy? Is that
it?”
Devlin closed his eyes for a moment, fighting the itching in his
fingers. His claws wanted out. Ignoring it, he said, looking at Stefan
steadily, “I find it ironic that you call omegas sluts when you’re the one
who couldn’t keep it in your pants for decades because of an omega.”
Stefan growled, the room drenching with his alpha scent.
Devlin growled back, his claws snapping out as he let his own scent
out from under his tight control. From the way his vision brightened, he
knew his eyes were glowing too.
Stefan flinched back, paling, his mouth opening and closing.
“Enough,” he ground out, a bead of sweat running down his forehead. “Stop
that,” he added, glaring at Devlin weakly.
Devlin almost smiled. He had to admit it was kind of amusing to
watch a proud alpha like Stefan try to fight the Xeus pheromones with his
own—and fail, of course. It was one of the reasons people didn’t like Xeus
alphas: they might be “a thing of the past,” a dying minority, but they were
stronger alphas than “normal” alphas. Sometimes the next stage of
evolution didn’t necessarily mean stronger. Non-shifter alphas had their
own advantages like self-control, their Voice, and easier ruts, but strength
wasn’t one of them.
“Stop that, Dev,” Haydn cut in, wincing. He didn’t look as
uncomfortable as Stefan, but his discomfort made Devlin rein his alpha in.
He got to his feet. “My decision is final,” he said again, looking at
Stefan. “You may kick me out of the line of succession, too, if you want.
But I’m not repeating your mistakes: I’m not marrying someone I don’t
love to spend decades in denial and misery.”
Stefan’s lips thinned. He said nothing.
Devlin turned and left. Haydn hurried after him out of the room.
They walked in silence for a while.
“You should have told me,” Haydn finally said. “I had the right to
know.”
“Would it have changed anything?” Devlin said.
“I guess not, but still…” Haydn grumbled, his jaw tightening. He
kind of looked like a kicked puppy. “Didn’t you want us to be brothers?”
Sighing, Devlin slung an arm around his shoulders and pulled him
into a loose hug. “You already were, you idiot,” he said stiffly. He’d never
been all that good at talking about feelings. He snorted. “You know, I really
tried to hate you at the beginning, but you were such a goody two-shoes it
was impossible.”
Haydn chuckled, hugging him back. “I’m glad you didn’t hate me.”
Pulling away a little, he peered at Devlin curiously. “So what were you
talking about back there? Are you really not marrying Blake? I thought you
were courting him. Even back in Kadar it’s all over the social media.”
Grimacing, Devlin pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it. “Oh,
I fully intend to marry a Blake,” he said, taking a long drag. It did nothing
to alleviate the agitated feeling under his skin. Fuck, he wanted to see
Julian. “Just not the one people think.”
“What?”
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter 24
Jules had attended quite a few parties and balls since they had arrived
at the capital, but the royal ball was something else.
He’d never been at the palace before, and the luxury was both
overwhelming and humbling. It made Jules acutely aware that they were
little more than country bumpkins, only invited because of Liam’s
undisputed success as the Diamond of the Season—and because Devlin
intended to marry him.
Jules bit the inside of his cheek so hard he tasted blood. Not thinking
about it, not thinking about it, not thinking about it.
Fuck, he was terrible at not thinking about it.
He should have stayed home. He should have made up some excuse
to skip the ball.
But he was so damn weak. So weak for him. He wanted to be there
for Devlin—this was a very important evening for him. Devlin would be
declared the heir tonight. Jules had no idea how people would react, so he
wanted Devlin to have at least one supporter in the ballroom, even if it was
just an unremarkable omega no one ever noticed. Maybe Devlin wouldn’t
even care whether he was there or not, but… Jules couldn’t not go. Even if
it shattered his heart into a million pieces when Devlin’s engagement to
Liam was announced.
Jules didn’t know for sure that it would be announced tonight. There
were strong rumors on the Internet that it would be—apparently some
reliable source from the palace had leaked it already. Liam was aware of the
rumors, too, of course, and he was dressed to the nines, in a pale blue suit
that looked amazing with his golden coloring. He looked even more
beautiful than usual, though he seemed rather pale.
“Nervous?” Jules said with a smile. It hurt his face.
Liam shrugged, avoiding his gaze. “Of course not. I just think it’s
extremely presumptuous of Westcliff to announce our betrothal without
even asking me first.” He scoffed. “But then again, it’s very in character for
him. Heaven forbid he actually admit being wrong.”
Jules hugged his chest with his arms. “Give him a chance. He’s not
that bad.” It felt like every word scratched the inside of his throat. He hated
himself for the ugly, burning jealousy twisting his insides. He loved his
brother. He did. He shouldn’t feel this way.
Excited murmurs suddenly filled the air and Jules turned his head.
“That’s Prince Haydn,” Liam whispered, taking Jules’s arm.
Jules could see that.
He now could understand why Prince Haydn was so loved. He
practically exuded warmth . He was very easy to like. The way he smiled
was good-natured and down-to-earth. While he was handsome, he wasn’t
too handsome—nowhere near as intimidatingly handsome as Devlin was.
When Devlin followed Haydn into the ballroom, Jules couldn’t help but
notice the stark contrast between how people looked at them: they looked at
Devlin with a mix of reluctant attraction, envy, and wariness, while they
looked at Haydn with easy smiles and fondness. Haydn truly was the
Golden Prince: genuinely loved by his people, despite all the recent
controversy surrounding his marriage to a Kadarian alpha. Jules now
understood why the royal publicity team was afraid of riots when Prince
Haydn’s disinheritance was announced.
Frowning, Jules dropped his gaze. But it returned to Devlin almost
right away, drawn to him like a magnet. His stomach lurched when their
eyes met, the whole world narrowing down to Devlin and him alone, his
thoughts a whirlwind of why are you so far away, need you closer, need to
breathe you in, need you, need you.
But then Haydn touched Devlin’s shoulder and said something, and
Devlin turned away.
Suddenly there were sounds around him again as if a lid had been
lifted. Jules felt the loss of Devlin’s gaze almost physically. He was glad
King Stefan’s entrance distracted everyone around him, because he
probably looked as stricken as he felt. Fuck, this was terrible. How was he
going to bear being Devlin’s brother-in-law ? The mere thought made him
sick. Maybe he should tell Uncle Wayne that he wanted to marry Viscount
Nasr. Or even Korf. Anything would be better than living under the same
roof as Devlin and Liam.
He was so distracted by his depressing thoughts that he’d missed the
king’s speech.
“… for coming tonight,” King Stefan was saying into his
microphone, looking as regal, proud, and handsome as ever. “Now I’d like
to give my son an opportunity to speak to you.” He stepped down from the
podium and Prince Haydn took his place.
“Good evening,” the prince said, smiling. “First of all, it’s wonderful
to see you all here.”
That was met with thundering applause. Jules thought it was a little
weird, maybe because he wasn’t as enamored with the prince as everyone
else was. He did like the prince, but he still couldn’t help but associate him
with his Xeus’s death. Jules knew it wasn’t fair—it was highly unlikely that
the prince had anything to do with it—but still.
“You’re probably wondering why I’m here after staying in Kadar for
months,” Haydn continued, his expression becoming serious. Everyone
quieted down. Haydn tugged at his tie slightly. “I will be frank with you. I
know there have been all sorts of rumors flying around—about His Majesty
disinheriting me. I wanted to personally state that it is not true.”
A murmur rolled through the crowd.
Haydn smiled. “I know what some of you are probably thinking: that
I’m being forced to say this. I’m not. The truth is, with my new duties as
Lord Chancellor of the planet, I have little time for anything else. I think
you all deserve a king who will be able to give you his undivided attention
—and his undivided loyalties.”
That made people break into whispers again.
“That said, I wouldn’t have stepped down if I didn’t consider my
successor worthy,” Haydn said firmly. “But it’s the Duke of Westcliff, and I
trust him as I trust myself.” He glanced at Devlin, his smile turning
wistful. “You all know we grew up together, but you probably don’t know
how much I looked up to him. How much I admired him for being strong
and calm in the face of adversity, in situations where I would have lost my
composure. I would have been a good king for you. He will be a great one.”
Someone clapped, and after a moment, people joined in, hesitantly at
first, then more sure and unanimous.
Jules breathed out, feeling a rush of fondness for Prince Haydn, a
man he’d never even spoken to. Although Devlin’s face betrayed very little,
his eyes were warm and soft as he gazed at his half-brother.
“That was very nice of him,” Liam murmured as Haydn stepped off
the podium. “This should make people accept Westcliff more easily.”
Jules opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, there was
the sound of a throat being cleared.
The noise dropped until the ballroom was silent once more.
“I would like to take this opportunity to make another important
announcement,” King Stefan said.
Jules held his breath, his stomach twisting into a knot. Surely…
Surely they wouldn’t, right? Surely it wasn’t necessary after Prince Haydn’s
speech?
“I am delighted to announce that my nephew will be marrying Mr.
Blake soon. Congratulations, son.”
Jules was distantly aware of the applause. It drowned out the noise
Jules made, a strangled sound that ripped out of his throat.
He had known it was coming. He had. Then why did he still feel like
he had been punched in the gut? It shouldn’t have blindsided him, but it still
felt like the ground had been yanked out from under him. Had he actually
hoped for something different, deep down? Idiot.
Even though all he wanted was to flee the room, his eyes still sought
out Devlin. He seemed… angry? It wasn’t very obvious to the casual eye,
but he could read anger in the tense lines of Devlin’s jaw and shoulders.
The king smiled at Devlin, something hard and smug flickering in his
eyes.
Devlin strode over to the king and took the microphone from
him. “Thank you, Your Majesty,” he said in a way one might say Fuck you,
Your Majesty . He turned to the crowd and said, “Thank you for your
support, too, but His Majesty should have been more specific to avoid
confusion. I know there has been a great deal of speculation about me and
Liam Blake in the media, but while I greatly admire Liam, it’s not him I
have been courting. Liam was simply kind enough to chaperone me and his
brother.”
Jules’s world tilted. Distantly, he was aware of the murmurs of
confusion, of people turning and staring at him and Liam, and of Liam
going very still beside him. He couldn’t register any of it. He stared at
Devlin, who looked right at him as he said, “I’d like to announce my
engagement to Julian Blake.”
There was a funny ringing in his ears, and Jules had to breathe
deeply in order not to faint—that would have been beyond mortifying when
hundreds of people were staring at him. But breathing was difficult, his face
too hot, his heart beating too fast, and—it’d be fucking great if people
stopped staring at him like he’d grown a second head. He wasn’t used to
people looking at him, much less staring at him.
A hand squeezed his elbow. “Smile,” Liam whispered,
smiling. “Smile, Jules.”
Jules smiled—at least he thought he was smiling. He wasn’t sure.
Was he in shock? Everything felt surreal and disjointed, including people
he’d never even spoken to suddenly congratulating him on his fake
engagement.
After what felt like forever, the crowd parted, and there was Devlin.
Jules grabbed his offered hand like a lifeline, the world finally
coming into sharp focus. Devlin lifted his hand and brushed his mouth
against Jules’s wrist, his eyes serious and intent even though his lips were
smiling.
“Will you dance with me?” he said.
Jules nodded, breathing in deeper. Devlin’s familiar scent washed
over his senses, bringing much-needed clarity to his thoughts, even if the
clarity was rather one-dimensional. Whatever this charade was, Devlin
needed him to play along. He could play along.
Smiling tremulously, Jules allowed Devlin to lead him to the dance
floor, and then there was music, and they were dancing.
“I’m sorry,” was the first thing Devlin said, very quietly, his gaze
anxious and apologetic. “It was an asshole thing to do without asking you
first, but I had no choice because of the king.”
“The king?” Jules said faintly, laying a hand on his broad shoulder.
Devlin shrugged slightly, his eyes hardening for a moment. “Never
mind—just your average alpha posturing. He’s pissed that I didn’t listen to
his opinion. It doesn’t matter.” His hand tightened on Jules’s lower back,
pulling him closer as Devlin looked at him intently. “I didn’t plan to do it
like this. I wanted to do it properly. Obviously you can very publicly dump
me and then blame it on me. But I hope you won’t.”
Jules stared at him, his mind reeling. Was he… was he really saying
what Jules thought he was saying?
“Sweetheart,” Devlin murmured, pulling him even tighter, so tight it
probably looked indecent. “Say something.”
Jules looked into his anxious eyes.
“I don’t understand,” he managed at last. This couldn’t be happening.
Not to him.
Devlin’s gaze softened. “Julian,” he said gently, bringing them to a
halt. “Marry me.”
Jules’s vision darkened, becoming blurry. “I don’t understand,” he
repeated in a small voice. “Is this because we had sex? You don’t need to
marry me because of that—I wasn’t a virgin anyway, and I promise I
wouldn’t make things awkward for you and Liam—”
“I don’t want Liam,” Devlin said, his voice hardening. “I want you.
Only you. No one else.”
Jules opened his mouth and then closed it when no sound left it. He
stared at Devlin, and Devlin stared back, his gaze a mix of exasperation and
affection and—
“I love you,” Devlin said, his expression a little pinched. “That’s
probably what I should have started with now that I think about it.” He
chuckled. “I swear I’m usually better at talking than this, but you make my
brain relocate to my knot, and I’m all instinct, no thought.” He smiled
ruefully, looking so very handsome and affectionate—and loving .
Jules made a small sound and hid his face in Devlin’s shoulder, partly
embarrassed by his blurring vision and partly because he needed to touch
him, to be closer to him, forever and always, breathe in his scent and never
let go. His . His alpha. Really his.
“Sweetheart,” Devlin said softly, hugging him close. He kissed the
top of Jules’s head, his rich pheromones making Jules a little dizzy with
pleasure. “Everyone is staring at us,” he said with a chuckle.
Jules winced. But he couldn’t make himself pull away, feeling
irrationally scared that as soon as he pulled away, Devlin would be gone
and then he would wake up and it would all be just a dream.
“Love you, too,” he mumbled into Devlin’s throat, his hands
clenching the back of his suit. “So much.” So, so much.
Devlin’s arms tightened around him to the point it hurt, but Jules
didn’t mind. It felt perfect. Everything was perfect.
“Fuck that,” Devlin muttered under his breath. “Let’s ditch the ball. I
need to kiss you.”
Shivering, Jules rubbed his face against his scent gland, shamelessly
scenting him. Because he was allowed to. “Okay,” he said with a smile.
He looked at no one but Devlin as he took his hand and let his alpha
guide him out of the ballroom. He was only distantly aware of the stares, of
all the gossip this would cause. He didn’t care. All he cared about was the
firm, strong hand wrapped around his own and Devlin’s green eyes full of
want and affection.
I love you , his heart beat wildly in his chest, his lips trembling with
impatience. He wanted to kiss him. He wanted to devour him. He still
couldn’t believe this was really happening.
Once they left the ballroom, Devlin led him to a room down the hall.
The moment the door closed after them, they were on each other, kissing
and moaning into each other’s mouths, bodies pressed so close it was hard
to tell where he ended and Devlin began. Gods. He wanted him, he needed
him, he loved him. So much. He wanted to consume this man.
“Baby,” Devlin said when they finally parted to get some air. He
cradled Jules’s cheeks with his hands and looked at him seriously. “You still
haven’t answered. Will you marry me?”
Jules laughed and kissed him again. Fuck, he couldn’t believe this
was real, that this man was his.
“Of course I will,” he whispered, smiling. “But your standards are
slipping, Your Grace. I thought I was just ‘kind of pretty’?”
Devlin half groaned, half laughed. “You’ll never let me forget that,
will you?”
Chuckling, Jules buried his face in his alpha’s neck. “Never. I’ll be
telling that story to our grandkids.”
Devlin hugged him hard.
“I’m looking forward to it,” he said, his voice full of wonder.
Jules grinned.
OceanofPDF.com
Epilogue
The End
“What’s wrong?” Jules said, watching Liam pace the room. He’d
never seen Liam look so agitated. “I thought you’d be happy now that
Anthony is back and you don’t have to marry anyone—”
“He’s not Anthony.”
Jules blinked. “Uh, what?”
Liam stopped pacing and looked at him. “That person who is
claiming to be our brother is an impostor.”
Jules laughed. “Come on, don’t be ridiculous! He looks like Anthony
—”
“Does he?” Liam said. “We haven’t seen Anthony since he was a
teenager and we were little older than toddlers! Do you honestly remember
what Anthony looked like? Besides the blue eyes and brown hair?”
Jules’s brows furrowed. “Come on,” he said. “He has an ID! His face
is on his ID.”
Liam’s plush lips pursed. “I know. That’s the part that baffles me.
The Inheritance Department confirmed his identity—”
“See? You must be wrong,” Jules said.
“I’m not wrong,” Liam snapped, starting to pace the room again.
“Then maybe tell me why you think he’s not Anthony?”
Liam didn’t say anything for a while, his expression tight.
“What is it?” Jules said, sitting up straighter.
Liam bit his bottom lip, looking anywhere but at him.
“He makes me wet, Jules.”
Jules opened his mouth and then closed it.
“I refuse to believe that I’m that sick,” Liam said in a harsh
whisper. “He must be an impostor. He must be.”
Jules’s mind was reeling. Liam’s words… made sense. Related alphas
and omegas’ pheromones weren’t supposed to be attractive to each other.
“Then who is he?” Jules said, thinking of the handsome alpha who
called himself Anthony Blake. Jules had liked him. He had been so happy
that his eldest brother wasn’t actually dead. But if that man was an
impostor…
“I don’t know,” Liam said, his eyes flashing with determination. “But
I’ll find out.”
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Acknowledgments
Thank you to Linda for always being there for me. Thank you to my
amazing editor, Eliot Grayson, for her invaluable input, encouragement, and
humor.
And thank you to my loyal readers for reading my stories and
allowing me to do what I love.
What’s next?
Just a Bit Bossy (Straight Guys Book 12) will be released in August
2021. It’s a book about Nate and his horrible boss, Raffaele Ferrara, the
characters that were mentioned in Just a Bit Wrecked.
There are other books I’ve been working on, but right now I’m not
sure which of them will release at the end of 2021. There’s Dearly Despised
(Calluvia’s Royalty Book 5), but I’m still struggling to get past my writer’s
block on it, so I’m not sure I’ll be able to release it this year.
Illicit (The Wrong Alpha Book 3) is another work in progress. As
you can see from the excerpt, it’s Liam’s story. The book will continue
where Feral left off. You’ve probably noticed that Uncle Wayne wasn’t
punished for his actions in Feral . He will be—I just still need him for
Liam’s story. I’m very excited about this book, and I can’t wait for you to
read it! I’m not sure yet when the book will be released, but December 2021
is likely if I don’t manage to finish Dearly Despised . One of them will have
to be released in 2022. I’ll keep you updated.
Thank you for reading Devlin and Jules’s story . I hope you enjoyed
it and you’ll consider dropping a quick review on Amazon. Your feedback
is very important to me.
If you’d like to get notifications of new releases and special offers on
my books, you can subscribe to my mailing list:
http://www.alessandrahazard.com/subscribe/
You can always contact me at my website
http://www.alessandrahazard.com or email me at
[email protected].
Sincerely,
Alessandra
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The Wrong Alpha series
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Calluvia's Royalty series
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