Chapter Forty-One
M y limbs ached fiercely when I finally awoke again.
It felt as if I had been run over by several monster trucks and then they had subsequently backed over me for good measure.
But there were two glaring problems with such a thing like that to happen though.
For one: if I had been run over by even one truck I doubted I would have lived to tell the tale, and for two: monster trucks didn’t exist in Arthurian England.
A soft groan left my lips as the familiar twist of heat cramps made me wince. “I thought I was done with this,” I mumbled, my words muffled by cloth.
“Not quite yet, little queen,” the soft purr of my husband filled my ears.
Jerking the rest of the way awake, my eyes flew open and I stared up at Arthur’s face.
“You’re you?” I asked, trying to conjure up the hazy memory of what had occurred before I fell unconscious.
I could remember Merlin’s soft lips and the smell of smoke, but everything else was a muddled blur.
“I am me,” Arthur confirmed, his words soft. “Everything is as it should be in Camelot again thanks to you, my queen.”
Pushing against his chest, I let him help me sit up only to find the rest of my pack, save Merlin, surrounding us in our bedchamber.
Lancelot, who looked better than he had in days, offered me the ghost of a smile but I could feel his excitement through the bond. Even if his face didn’t show it, it was obvious that he was happy to see me awake.
“It wasn’t me. Bedivere and Gawain are really the ones who did all of the hard work,” I pointed out a bit sheepishly. I wasn’t used to being praised for such things.
But Arthur just shook his head and gathered my face in his warm, dry hands. “They will be rewarded handsomely for their efforts, my love, but you were the reason they knew what to do at all.”
His lips were soft as they pressed to mine and I was reminded of my current predicament as a gush of slick coated my inner thighs and a small moan left my lips.
Hands—I wasn’t sure who they belonged to—kneaded into my back, working out the stiffness as Arthur’s tongue meshed with mine.
“I shall apologize over and over again, love, I am sorry,” he murmured against my mouth and I could feel his guilt down the bond.
“It’s okay,” I told him, resting my forehead against his so I could look into his blue eyes. “Just promise me you’ll never leave me again.”
I knew his promise would be empty unless I changed the fate set before us, but Arthur didn’t know that and he nodded.
“I promise with my very soul, Guinevere, that we will never leave you again.”
There was a chorus of agreement around me and I turned to face the other three alphas who were hovering on the edge of my messy nest, their pupils blown as they stared at me.
It was odd to see how much desire they wore so blatantly on their faces now. During the few times I used the heat services I was always too out of my mind on the hormones to remember what any of the alphas servicing me looked like when they approached.
Somehow, I was glad this was my first true heat experience—even if I was nearly lit on fire in the middle of it. I wanted to savor every moment of my first heat with these alphas. With my alphas.
“Let us take care of you, sweetling,” Bedivere purred as he held out his hand to me, glancing at either of the alphas at his sides.
“You must go first,” Gawain said, giving the older alpha a nudge with his shoulder. “The elderly must use their stamina whilst they have it.”
Bedivere rolled his eyes, clearly not enjoying Gawain’s joke as he pulled me into his lap and I pressed my nose to the column of his neck, inhaling a long drag of his sandalwood scent.
“You smell of the heavens,” he muttered into my ear. “I could not tell you before as you were otherwise indisposed, but I have never smelled anything quite so divine–it is as if the nectar of the gods has spilled into my palms.”
My face flushed as his pretty words sent a shiver rolling down my spine. “And you are still such a sweet talker.”
“I have never heard such flowery poetry before,” Gawain commented dryly from behind me as his hands tugged at the thin linen shift I had been dressed in before my would-be execution. The material shredded easily, almost as if it was paper, and both alphas pulled it away from my body.
There were still love bites marking my neck, leading up to Lancelot’s fresh bond mark behind my ear, but they had faded over the past forty-eight hours—just in time for some new ones to be placed.
Gawain got right to work, his lips sucking on my skin and leaving fresh red marks that would eventually darken over time.
“You are not the only one allowed to use such words, Gawain,” Bedivere chastised, his voice light as his warm, dry hands slid down my back and underneath the cheeks of my ass. His fingers dimpled the flesh as he lifted me higher up against his hardening groin which I could feel through his pants.
“Take it off,” I demanded impatiently, my inner-omega seeming to shove rational thought out of the way as my fingers dipped in between us to tug at the laces keeping his pants together.
Hands continued to touch and tease as I worked tirelessly to pull the knot I’d created in my haste free and shove his pants aside until his cock sprang free.
“Impatient little thing,” Bedivere said with a groan as I sank down easily onto his stiff length right up to his thick knot.
It was a sweet relief.
It was utter bliss.
“Do not grow comfortable, your majesty,” Gawain whispered in my ear.
Before I could ask what he meant by his words, oil was being poured down my back and it drizzled between the ass cheeks that Bedivere was still holding open.
“Wait—” I managed to say before the thick head of Gawain’s cock pressed into my back entrance.
My chin tilted up to the canopy overhead as I was filled to the brim with them.
“Is it not fascinating to watch her face?” I vaguely heard Arthur say to Lancelot.
Lancelot was silent in return, but I could feel his need through our bond as both alphas sandwiching me between them were hilted completely up to the knot.
The skin of their chests was cool against my fevered skin as they pressed me between them, moving with an almost practiced rhythm.
Before when Arthur and Gawain had done this to me, I had been lucid enough to feel a slight discomfort at my ass being used for the first time, but now I was so far gone that all I felt was heat, friction, and pleasure.
“More,” I said, my voice a growl. “Give me more.”
“Her majesty asks for more,” I heard Lancelot say, sounding awestruck.
I glanced over at him and found his eyes intent on me from where he sat next to Arthur. They had both pulled their clothes off at some point and seemed completely comfortable being naked in such close proximity with each other despite never having done such a thing before.
Lancelot was the newest to the pack but he seemed to be fitting in as if he’d been doing this his whole life.
Arthur, who was reclined against the headboard, completely content to watch, just shot the other alpha a grin.
“It is never good to keep our queen waiting, Lancelot,” was all he said as he nodded in our direction.
“Do you not wish to join?” Lancelot asked, his brows furrowing as he seemed torn between wanting to dive into the foray and also his deference for his king.
“No,” I said, lifting my head from where it was tucked into the crook of Bedivere’s neck. “Arthur likes to watch, right, Husband?”
Arthur’s smile was wry. “Lancelot, it seems our packmates are doing a poor job of distracting our omega—what will you do with such a cheeky mouth?”
Lancelot got onto his knees and scooted over to where we were on the edge of the bed.
As he approached, Bedivere’s hips snapped up roughly, causing me to gasp and reminding me that we were still very much in the middle of things.
“Lie back,” Lancelot told Gawain who complied easily, his back hitting the nest and taking me and Bedivere with him, bringing my face level with Lancelot’s stiff length that stood out proudly from his hips.
“Taste him, Guinevere,” Arthur ordered softly, making it clear who was really running things even if he wasn’t touching any of us. The command in his voice sent a shudder of pleasure through me as Bedivere’s grip on my hips was almost bruising.
I opened my mouth obediently—eagerly even—and stared up at Lancelot’s face as he fed me his length.
It tasted of flesh and smelled of him. Sharp, citrusy bergamot filled my nose and for a moment I was lost to it before the two alphas inside of me began to move again.
What followed was sheer sensory overload. The ricochet of their pleasure through the bond and the tandem thud of our heartbeats filling my ears was all I knew as I began to tighten around Gawain and Bedivere, the first of many orgasms to come.
Time began to meld together after that.
Sometimes when I became lucid one alpha was inside of me while another fed me water with their mouth.
Other times we all lay in a heap, just like I had once imagined we would.
When I finally seemed to come down from the high of my heat, I was in Arthur’s arms and he was lazily leaning against the headboard as I continued to roll my hips, seeking to eke out just a little bit more from him.
“You have run us ragged, little queen,” he joked softly as he glanced over at the alphas around us who were all softly snoring.
“It isn’t enough yet,” I told him, my voice coming out in a pathetic little whine.
“Shall we head to the baths then? Maybe the water will soothe you,” he said as he lifted me off of his cock.
I wanted to protest, to insist he stick his knot inside of me before we left so that I could feel close to him, but one quelling look from him kept me from complaining out loud.
Gently he wrapped me in a robe and pulled one over his own shoulders which were covered in bite marks that I couldn’t remember making.
Arthur, seeing where my gaze was drifting, just grinned. “For every bond mark we gave you, love, you gave us tenfold.”
My face warmed as I looked over the rest of our sleeping pack and found that there were little teeth marks marring their backs and arms.
“They asked for them, Guinevere,” Arthur reassured me as he lifted me up in his arms. “Begged for them even.”
The castle was dead quiet as we walked through the corridors. I wasn’t sure just how much time had passed since the day of the almost-execution, but I was pretty sure it had been at least a few days—though even that was just a hazy memory of the sun rising and falling.
The bathing room corridor was similarly empty save for the purple robed figure perched on the stool that normally belonged to the night guard.
“Merlin!” I gasped with surprise as he stood, his eyes taking in my rumpled appearance.
“Did you miss me?” he asked cheekily, though I could see that the man was nervous judging by the way he shifted from foot-to-foot.
I looked over at Arthur, my question clear on my face.
“I called for him, little queen,” he told me, pressing a kiss to my temple. “It is time you two came together—if that is still what you both wish?”
I knew how I felt. I wanted Merlin just as much as I wanted any of the alphas in my pack.
We may not have a scent-match or fated bond, but every single time I kissed or touched the man it felt like coming home—as if our magic was meant to come together the way it did.
But it wasn’t my opinion that really mattered.
Merlin knew how I felt, but did he want me too? He had been ready to spend the rest of his unimaginably long life trapped because the gods said so. Even still, he was here now looking at me with wide green eyes that seemed to realize what was about to happen.
Arthur set me on my feet and I turned to him. “Are you coming with us?”
He shook his head. “No, Guinevere, it is customary for each alpha—or lover—to have their moment with the center of our universe. It is Merlin’s turn to have you to himself.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, and shot the man an incredulous look. “How are there already customs when we’ve just formed the first pack in Logres?”
Arthur’s grin was wide as he took a step back away from us. “Because I am the king, my love, and if I decree such a tradition, then it must be.”
With a jaunty wave, Arthur turned and headed back in the direction we had come. I waited for him to turn the corner before I turned to shoot Merlin a sheepish look.
“We don’t have to do anything…” I trailed off, already feeling another echo of my heat starting to take hold. It was much weaker than it had been a few days ago and I didn’t feel nearly as weak, but if Merlin didn’t want me then I would need to make my way back to my alphas to sate it again.
But, thankfully, Merlin just shook his head.
“Come with me,” he said, holding one hand out as he opened the door to the bathing rooms with the other.
My heart was in my throat as I slowly slid my hand into his and let him pull me inside.