CHAPTER SEVEN #2
Ryung raced off to get a blanket and find our mate's pajama top. The one I’d dressed her in while she’d been unconscious, right after she’d tried to kill us. And now she was sleeping in my arms, after she’d run from me.
After she’d given me the middle finger. I wanted to be angry with her. I should be angry with her. I wasn’t. Now that I’d bitten her, marked her, I could feel her emotions. Our little omega wanted us.
She wanted forever with us. I swallowed, throat tight. I’d expected to bite her and feel her disgust for me. I’d damn near cried tears of joy when I felt her desire, her hope that we weren’t too mad at her.
I would never be mad at her again. She could try to kill me as many times as she wanted if it made her happy. I would even pretend to die a few times if she needed me to. Holding her close, I strode through the forest, heading toward the tower.
She was such a light little thing, all curves and smooth brown skin. I would have the seamstress make clothing for her. She would need underclothes also, for when we were in public. Inside, I wanted her naked. I wanted to be able to knot her anytime I wanted.
A rumble started in my chest at that thought. I had to take a deep breath and push those thoughts away before my beast took over and I rutted her in the snow right here, right now, while she slept. I wasn’t sure she’d be okay with that.
The scent of whiskey drifted my way. Ryung was almost here. He was running at full speed, eager to get back to our little one. I slowed down, waiting for him. He reappeared dressed in a pair of dark shorts. He had our omega's stuff in one hand and a pair of shorts for me in the other.
“Hand her to me so you can get dressed,” he told me.
My alpha didn’t like that idea. Even so, I handed her over to him and pulled my shorts on as quickly as possible. The moment they were on, I reached for her again, scooping her back into my arms and wrapping the blanket around her.
Ryung laughed softly. "And here I thought I was the possessive one." He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead, then stepped back. "Come on," he said, holding her pajama top. "Let's get our beautiful assassin home."
Like me, Ryung wasn’t bothered by our mate’s occupation. I guess that was just one more thing my guard and I had in common. In our kingdom, it was tradition for princes to be assigned a personal guard at the age of ten.
Not just any guard, a scent match, someone who would guard them for life. The royal physicians would draw our blood and use it to search for compatible markers in the medical databases.
My match had been Ryung Lee, a troublemaker from an orphanage who didn’t like following rules. Someone just as dominant as me, just as stubborn, just as fierce. The palace eunuchs had been concerned, worried that our similarities would lead to constant power struggles.
They couldn't have been more wrong. Ryung and I quickly became best friends. Some princes and their guards became lovers, falling into each other's beds as easily as they fell into step beside one another.
Others formed brotherhoods deeper than blood, a bond unbreakable by time or distance. Ryung and I had been the latter. From the moment we met, something clicked into place, a recognition, an understanding. Once we became adults, we’d spent years searching for our omega.
The royal physicians had scoured the databases, testing countless samples against our blood, finding nothing. No match. No completion to our pair. Most alphas would have given up, accepted that perhaps they weren't destined for an omega match.
I hadn’t. I’d known there was someone out there for us. I’d believed in that so much that I'd prepared a bedroom for her in the tower, with doors connecting to both my chamber and Ryung’s.
Over the years, I’d gathered soft blankets and pillows, things an omega would find comforting. I'd even gone as far as to commission special furniture for the room, sturdy enough to withstand an alpha's strength during a rut, but elegant enough that she would feel like the princess she was.
Now, as we approached the tower with our omega cradled in my arms, I found myself wondering if she would like the room I’d prepared.
Would this fierce, beautiful assassin who had tried to kill us mere hours ago be satisfied with soft pillows and sturdy furniture? Or would she find it, find me, lacking?
“Ryung,” I whispered just as we reached the tower door.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“Do you think we can make her happy?” I muttered nervously.
I knew I was kind of boring. All I did was train with my soldiers and guard the border. On full moons, I raced through the Frozen Forest and hunted. I worked out in my free time or sparred with Ryung.
Other than that, I was usually reading strategy books and imagining what my life would be like with an omega in it. When I’d pictured our omega, I’d pictured her as sweet, kind, quiet.
Someone who was okay spending most of her time alone because Ryung and I were usually busy with work. I was so glad that wasn’t what we were gifted with. Our omega was wild, vibrant, and full of life.
She’d resisted my alpha bark, had even almost killed us. She had a smart mouth and gave as good as she got. She was everything that was missing in our lives. But would she be happy with us? What was her life like outside of us? What were her hobbies, other than killing?
“We’ll learn how to make her happy,” Ryung told me as he opened the tower door for me to carry our mate inside. “The coast is clear for now. I told the guards to return in ten minutes.”
I sensed them close by, waiting to return to their post. We headed upstairs. When we reached the rut room, I gently laid her on the bed, her dark hair spilling across the pillows like ink. She stirred slightly but didn't wake.
"She needs to be cleaned," I murmured, my alpha instincts demanding I care for her properly.
Ryung nodded, already moving toward the adjoining bathroom. I heard water running, and moments later, he returned with a wet cloth. I accepted it from him, carefully wiping away the evidence of our mating from her thighs and from between her legs.
Ryung grabbed another towel and wiped her arms and legs. In the morning, I’d fill a tub with water and roses for her to bathe properly. Tonight, this would have to do. Once she was clean, I pressed a kiss to her forehead.
I then left her in Ryung's care while I quickly showered, washing away the sweat and dirt of the hunt, the chase, the claiming. When I returned, she was still sleeping peacefully, her breathing deep and even.
I couldn’t wait to see her in her nest instead of the room Ryung and I used whenever one of us was in a rut. Speaking of a rut...
"Chain me," I said to Ryung, moving to the wall where we had secured our omega earlier.
He moved to the chains, securing my wrists and then my ankles.
"Comfortable?" he asked, a teasing glint in his eyes.
"As comfortable as you are when I have to chain you up," I replied dryly.
Ryung snorted. "It’s been a long day. I’m going to sleep. If you decide you want to be unchained, yell for me."
Instead of returning to his room, he stalked back over to the bed where our omega was. Taking his shorts off, he climbed in, pulled our omega close, and tugged the covers over them. I was jealous that I couldn’t be cuddled up next to her.
But I didn’t trust myself right now. She needed her rest for when her heat took over. I’d let her sleep tonight. Come morning, I wanted to be knot deep in our omega for days. Tonight, I was content to stand here, chained up, watching my omega sleep.
My fierce assassin, deadly with a crossbow, lethal with her words, and yet she snored like a kitten when she slept. I smiled. Yeah, I was pretty sure this was love.