Chapter 1
Sebastian
The day I’d dreaded my entire life was apparently here.
I eyed my four royal advisors with masked fear as they approached me.
I’d thought this gloriously sunny day would be spent lounging in the shade and just enjoying the peace and quiet of the palace gardens, but my advisors seemed determined to ruin this tranquil moment, as they eagerly moved across the gravel to where I was sitting on a blanket.
“Your Majesty,” the eldest of them, Brennan, said, bowing his head. “It is time.”
I sighed internally. Yes, it was just as I’d feared.
“But,” I began, protesting like I’d done for years, but Clive, another senior advisor, interrupted me.
“You need an heir, Your Majesty. The entire future of your kingdom is at stake. It can’t be postponed any longer. The people are getting restless. They want an heir, Your Majesty.”
An heir. I scoffed. They’d always been pushy about me having a child, but they seemed to forget how dangerous alphas were to us omegas.
That was, after all, why they always insisted on picking the alphas who served me during my heats, stating it was a precaution to ensure my safety.
Never had I been able to choose for myself.
I was reluctant to let an alpha breed me and bear his child.
Couldn’t I just pick another omega as my successor?
Some distant cousin or something? I already knew the answer.
Another omega wouldn’t do. They wouldn’t have the power, the magic, to suppress the alphas, which was the only real reason I was king.
I held the unique power, passed on to me by my father and my grandfather before him.
My grandfather had been the first omega to be blessed with magic.
His own alpha mate had been a cruel man, like all alphas were, and my grandfather’s magic had protected him.
Once a year, my grandfather had used his magic to suppress the violent and destructive nature of the alphas and now, I was the one performing the ritual at a yearly ceremony, subduing the alphas’ instincts and urges so they posed no threat to us omegas.
“Your Majesty,” Brennan urged, sounding a tad annoyed by my reluctance.
“Can’t I wait another year?” I pleaded. I was the king, but still I had to listen to my royal advisors if I wanted to continue being a good leader. I knew that. It wasn’t just my future at stake here, but the entire kingdom’s. I just feared what might happen when I carried an alpha’s child.
My own alpha father had been shipped overseas as soon as my omega father became pregnant. It was customary for omegas to raise their children on their own since alphas were only used for the actual breeding. Would the alpha who bred me end up overseas too?
“Your Majesty,” Clive began, using the same tone as when I was a child. “You’re already past your prime time of conception.” Wow, okay, rude. “If you keep putting it off, it could prove dangerous for you to give birth.”
Sighing, I gave in with a nod. I knew it was pointless arguing any further. “Am I at least allowed to pick this one myself?”
Four shaking heads was all the answer I got.
Jerold gave me a pitying look. “It simply wouldn’t be wise, Your Majesty.
” He was my favorite of the four of them, not that it meant much, since I truly didn’t care much for any of them.
They were simply too old-fashioned to see reason.
I looked forward to the day their sons, some of whom were my close friends, would take over their positions.
Nicholai stepped forward and bowed his head. “Think of my Elias, Your Majesty. He protested this very thing himself, and look how happy he is today.”
Nicholai probably wouldn’t be this elated if he ever learned the truth.
That my best friend Elias had been taken by one of the royal guards and not the alpha Nicholai had chosen for him.
I loved my best friend, and his secret would stay with me, even if I found him foolish for having a child with an alpha this close by.
Elias could give birth any moment now, and I feared what the alpha would do once that happened. It was reckless, to say the least.
“You’re right,” I conceded, because Elias was happy.
I blamed it on the hormones. That simply had to be the only reason he was so damn joyful as he walked around with that big belly.
Elias had, like myself, not wanted a pregnancy.
He’d feared what would happen with the alpha, because we all knew there was a huge difference between being with an alpha through your heat and being bred by one.
“We’re only doing this to protect the future omegas, Your Majesty.
Remember that,” Clive stated before they all bowed their heads and left me.
A sudden chill ran through me despite the sunny day, and the ground, which had before felt warm and soft underneath me, was now hard and cold.
I shivered at the thought of my upcoming heat.
Would they be leaving to find my alpha already? Or would I have a few days to get used to the idea? Who was I kidding? Knowing my advisors, they would be leaving within the hour.
Sighing, I stood and went to seek Elias. Maybe talking this through with him would do me some good.
I spotted my best friend wobbling toward the palace library.
Since his job was to assist my royal advisors and one day take over his father’s position, he didn’t have much to do now that he couldn’t shadow them.
I quickly caught up with him, since his growing belly made it increasingly harder for him to move around effortlessly.
“Elias!” I called out as I reached him.
He sent a smile my way and held out his arm so I could help him walk the last few steps into the library.
“I take it you’ve heard the news,” he said, offering me a sympathetic look.
I let out a dramatic sigh. “I’m apparently a dying man. One who needs a baby in him or otherwise our kingdom is doomed.”
He winced at that. He knew how much pressure there was on my shoulders. If I failed to give birth to an omega child, then all omegas would be in danger, since only our bloodline could perform the magic.
“Maybe this will be a good thing!” Elias exclaimed with fake enthusiasm. “Our children will be close in age. Maybe they’ll become best friends like us.”
I had to admit that was a nice thought. “As long as they’re omegas, right?” I muttered bitterly. All alphas were sent away to work on farms once they reached their middle adolescence. In theory, we would still be able to visit them, but I knew most families lost contact.
Elias spoke in the firm, no-nonsense tone he very rarely used around me when he replied. “I will love this child with all that I am, regardless. Alpha or omega, it holds my heart forever.”
It was at that moment that I saw just how changed my best friend was. This child he was carrying would have all the love in the world; there was no question about it.
“He’s lucky to have you as his father,” I whispered. Other words failed me as we both sat on the loveseat next to the windows. It was our favorite spot to gossip and people-watch, since the window overlooked the front of the palace where people came and went.
“You’ll soon know of the love I feel for my child,” Elias smiled softly. “I’m just saddened by the thought that you don’t get to decide who will breed you.”
“None of us do,” I stated, giving him a knowing smirk. He just rolled his eyes at me and giggled while opening his book.
I had so many books to read, but I rarely had the time nowadays. With my never-ending royal duties and the constant need to hide away from my advisors, it seemed like it had been months since Elias and I had sat together in companionable silence and just read.
I’d missed it. Would things change once his baby was born? Of course it would. But then again, how much would I change once I carried my own baby?
Closing my book, I gazed out the window, watching my advisors get into their carriage to leave.
Would the alpha they picked for me be to my liking?
My previous heats had been with so many different alphas, all forgettable as they only came to serve one purpose.
But this time, I would be bred. Would that make a difference?
A shiver ran through me at the thought, alerting me to my approaching heat.
I had to admit, the thought of finally getting to feel claimed in that way…
It made the thought of a strange alpha more alluring.
Maybe he would be all silent and broody as he took me from behind?
Would he be allowed to stay until we were certain I was with child?
Or would they simply pick another one if the first one failed?
Elias had told me how different the heats were when breeding was the purpose.
Normally, we’d drink a special tea that prevented us from getting pregnant, and the alphas would drink tea themselves, which stopped their knot from forming.
The only reason we omegas felt relief when taken by an alpha during our heat was their seed, calming our instinctive need to be bred.
During my upcoming heat, I would not only experience a knot, but I would also feel a cock penetrating my womb. An enormous alpha cock. How would that feel?
I squirmed in my seat, unable to stop myself as more and more delicious thoughts came to mind.
I just prayed the alpha would be to my liking and not some Neanderthal brute. Then again, with my luck…