12. Chapter Eleven
Chapter Eleven
Briar
My body shivered, and I found myself alone in bed. Blinking, I sat up, rubbing my eyes. Where was my alpha? Panic started to claw at me. The curse. Had it finally claimed him?
“You need to drink something,” Hal’s voice startled me, and I turned to find him holding a glass.
Tears prickled my eyes at the relief of seeing him, but I forced them away.
I did need to drink something. I was nearing the peak of my heat, and it would only be minutes before another wave would hit me.
I drank the offered water, Hal’s eyes not leaving me for one second as he made sure I was taken care of. I felt cherished in a way I’d never felt before, like I was truly his. His omega.
“Thank you,” I whispered as he took the now empty glass. Hal smiled and placed it on the dresser, giving me a perfect view of his meaty ass. I couldn’t believe I was allowed to see him in all his magnificent nakedness. That I was allowed to touch him.
Goose bumps pebbled across my skin as my body awakened.
With a deep moan, I fell onto my back, spreading my thighs wide open.
Dried cum stuck to my skin, but I was already too far gone to care.
Another wave. “Hal,” I begged, reaching for him, needing my alpha to make the pain go away, to make everything better.
“I got you,” he hummed, joining me on the bed.
His cock was hard, pulsing in front of me, precum already leaking from the swollen head.
And I felt it, deep in my core. I needed Hal to breed me, to fuck his alpha seed into my womb and fill me.
To knock me up. I think he felt it, too—the change, the desperation in me, because he hesitated for a moment.
Then a wail tore through me, and he slammed into me, making the pain disappear as pleasure took over.
His cockhead pushed farther and farther inside, brushing against my sensitive womb, and I shattered as I came, shooting my release between us.
Hal kept fucking me, and I was hit with another wave of heat before he even came.
“Breed me!” I demanded, needing him to penetrate my womb and fill it with his seed. My omega longed to be claimed. “Hal,” I gasped. My sole focus was on my alpha breeding me, like my body finally understood what I’d been born for.
Hal’s eyes were the darkest shade I’d ever seen, his jaw tense, and his posture stiff.
“Come for me, sweetness,” he coaxed, stroking my dick while he fucked into me in shallow thrusts, no longer hitting my womb like I wanted him to.
I tried to fight the release that crept up on me, tried to beg him with my eyes to breed me, but Hal’s hand was too skilled, and I came long and hard.
Hal came, too, spilling his hot seed inside me, and the feel of his knot locking us together had me closing my eyes with a deep-seated contentment.
I woke up, delirious with need. “Hal!” I cried, needing him inside me. I was burning up, my skin clammy with sweat and slick, my body ready for his cum and knot, ready to be impregnated by his seed.
Hal was there instantly, sliding his huge cock inside me, making everything better. “I’m here,” he whispered, slowly thrusting into me, grinding against my inner walls and making me feel everything. “I need to massage your womb a little, alright?”
A strange giddiness overcame me at his words. “Please,” I agreed, so ready for some womb action that my toes curled.
Hal continued to move slowly, dragging his cock with purpose as he did exactly what he’d promised, his cock rubbing deliciously against my womb, making me see stars.
Finding a rhythm, he hit my womb hard enough to make me come.
He groaned, a tortured sound, but continued to fuck into me, making me forget everything else.
He came, without breaching my womb, and I groaned with disappointment.
His amazing alpha seed was wasted. It needed to be inside my womb.
I sobbed with frustration, but Hal just made soothing sounds and stroked my hair until I passed out.
When I woke up, the heat had subsided, but I was still burning for Hal, craving his touch. My need to be close to him wasn’t as urgent as the heat itself, yet more all-consuming, like I’d die without his arms engulfing me.
Hal came into the room, freshly washed from a bath.
He looked exhausted, and I instantly felt guilty.
It was my fault. I remembered begging him to breed me over and over again.
He just did as I asked, fucking me relentlessly, making us both come, but never breaching my womb.
A feeling of loss overcame me. Although I hadn’t thought of becoming pregnant, my body had still craved it, and it now mourned that I hadn’t.
“How are you feeling?” Hal asked tentatively, looking slightly worried as he dried his muscular chest with the towel.
There were marks on him, some fresh and pink, others darker, purple.
Marks created in the throes of passion as I clung to his body, digging my nails into his skin.
Although Hal hadn’t bred me, it’d still felt like a claiming.
And he’d claimed me back, biting into my thigh, the combination of pleasure and pain finally enough to sate me.
I gave him the best smile I could muster, knowing it didn’t reach my eyes. “Just tired,” I answered, wrapping my arms around myself. “I’m also trying to figure out if my heat is over or not.”
“I think it is. You slept for seven hours without interruption, so it’s unlikely another wave will hit.” He sounded a little sad, like he, too, missed the closeness.
“Oh.” Had I really slept for that long? Normally, when my heats broke, I’d get a fever or pass out for shorter amounts of time, like a sickness would replace the heat.
“It will start soon. The withdrawal. You won’t want my touch anymore. At least for a week or so.” He sounded as heartbroken as I felt.
I stood from the bed, feeling exhausted in my bones but still better than ever before after a heat. Hal eyed me curiously as I carefully placed my palm on his chest. My body sagged in relief as soon as I felt his warm skin against mine. His heart beat faster, wonder washing over his face.
“Briar,” he whispered, not touching me back, uncertainty in his eyes.
Unable to help myself, I leaped into his arms, clinging to him as I hugged him against me.
A sigh of relief left his body, then his arms came up and snaked around my waist, holding me close.
His hot breath caressed my naked shoulder, and then it hit me: I was naked!
And likely smelling like a farm animal left out in the rain overnight!
“Sorry!” I blurted, stepping out of his warm embrace as I rushed back to the bed.
Curling in on myself, my body tensed with a familiar feeling of wrongness.
In a flash, Hal was at my side, his comforting hand on my back.
I relaxed a little, although the feeling lingered.
“I’m sorry,” I repeated, unable to stop the tears from trailing down my cheeks.
I hid my face from him as I murmured, “I think I still need you around for a while longer, if it’s no bother. ”
“Whatever you need. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.” His deep voice wrapped around me like a comforting blanket, then he chuckled softly, massaging my shoulders. “I plan on staying forever, silly omega.”
I sighed as his forever echoed through me. I wanted that so much, to have him as mine, always. “I meant with me, Hal, not at the palace.”
In a matter of seconds, I was airborne, strong arms carrying me toward the bathroom. “I meant by your side, too, Briar.” He pressed a light kiss against my temple, then muttered something about a silly omega. I didn’t understand what he meant, but I was too wrapped up in him to care.
Inside the bathroom, Hal carefully lowered me into the steaming bathtub.
The water was warm and smelled wonderfully of lavender.
With a contented sigh, I relaxed into the warm water as Hal busied himself washing my skin with a soft sponge.
This was my first bath in what was likely a week, if not more, and I savored the feeling of his gentle touch.
If only my bathtub had been bigger, then he could’ve joined me.
I then thought about my father’s old rooms, and how they were just sitting empty, waiting for me to move into them.
There was a huge bathtub, and for the first time, I could see myself living there, but only with Hal by my side.
The rooms that I’d grown up in carried a lot of bad memories, but perhaps with Hal I could create new ones, happier ones.
I shook the thought away, not ready to have my heart broken just yet.
It was all an illusion. Hal had stayed with me through my heat, but he’d made no promises.
Just like I became a creature of instinct during my heats, Hal did, too.
I knew better than to trust words spoken in passion.
It was more likely that he’d just felt sorry for me, a poor, cursed omega who had no one to care for him.
“We need to get something to eat after this,” Hal said, carefully running clean water through my curls.
“The servants left some food for us yesterday, but it wasn’t nearly enough to even feed me.
Besides, you haven’t really eaten in days, and you need the energy so your body can recover.
Are you alright with leaving your room?”
Panic set in, but Hal read my mood change instantly. “I won’t leave you, Briar. I’ll be with you all the time.”
“Okay,” I whispered, feeling close to tears again.
When Hal deemed me clean enough, he helped me stand and dried me off while my feet were still in the tub.
He then carried me into the bedroom and dressed me, like he believed me incapable of doing even the most basic tasks.
I didn’t mind, though. It felt so unbelievably nice to have someone take care of me.