CHAPTER ELEVEN
EMBER
MY HEAT LASTED FOR four days. Four days of being knotted by my alphas. Four days of riding them, sucking them, pleasing them, and having them do the same to me. The only thing we didn't do was anal.
And that was only because Ryung said I needed to be prepared more. So, though he didn't knot me there, he teased me with his fingers, his tongue, working me a little more each day.
By day five, I was no longer a slave to my omega. The fever had broken, leaving me sore in the best possible way but finally clear-headed. My alphas and I showered together. Since I had no clothing, I dressed in Ryung's t-shirt and Moon's pajama pants.
They each wanted me to wear an item of theirs, marking me with their scents in yet another way. And I was more than okay doing that. However, I had to roll the pants up a few times to walk in them. I tied the shirt in a knot at the waist and made it work.
That day, they showed me around the tower. It was much more spacious than I'd expected. It was actually a real home, just with an unusual layout. Both Ryung and Moon had their own bedrooms.
Mine was nestled between theirs with adjoining doors, the nest they'd made for me now my official space. Each bedroom had its own bathroom, which was perfect. The tower had a kitchen and laundry room, which was mainly just a washboard and drying rack.
They didn't have many modern-day conveniences, not that I'd expected them to.
When the wolves overthrew the witch dynasty, they outlawed a lot of modern tech.
That was before my time, but growing up, my father and stepmother always talked about how the wolves set us back generations with their laws.
Each ruling dynasty changed the laws to suit its needs.
Wolves were one with nature, and weren't fans of the same things witches were.
If it weren't for my family and the people I knew on the black market, I probably wouldn't have ever used what the shifters referred to as relics.
In the mortal realm, such things were referred to as modern tech.
After the wolves came into power and they realized that our people were going to the mortal realm for their tech needs, they outlawed travel there. What would Moon say if he knew I often used a spell to travel there?
Yeah, it was probably best if I kept some things a secret for now. I'd have to slowly let them get accustomed to my rebellious ways. Moon let me know the housekeeper came once a week to do their cleaning.
I always magically cleaned my place, so I wasn't worried about that. They didn't take me to the lower level because their guards were down there. But that was pretty much the floor where they stored things.
"Have you always lived here, or did you all use to live in the palace?" I asked as we headed to the kitchen. It was Moon who answered.
"I lived in the palace until I was nineteen. Ryung joined me there when I was ten, and he was eleven. That's when he began training to be my guard."
Ryung went on to explain how the royal family handled scent matches. So, they'd been together that long. Amazing.
"When I turned eighteen," Moon told me. "That's when we completed our pack ritual and gave each other claiming bites."
"That was the most uncomfortable moment of my life," Ryung growled.
Chuckling, I asked, "Why?"
"I felt weak having another alpha bite me," Ryung told me. "But after he did, I could feel through the bond that he felt the same way about me biting him. And once the bonds locked into place, that uncomfortableness faded away, and our bond as brothers grew stronger."
I smiled, imagining these two proud alphas submitting to each other, how difficult it must have been for them both.
"The same thing will happen when you bite us," Moon said once we reached the kitchen. "The bond between all three of us will grow stronger.”
I kept my gaze forward, not daring to look at either of them. They were ready for me to claim them. But would they still be ready once they learned my story? Once they knew exactly how many lives I'd taken, how I'd earned my living?
Once they knew I worked for the very organization that wanted them dead? The thought of completing our bond filled me with both longing and dread. I wanted it, wanted to sink my teeth into their flesh, to mark them as thoroughly as they'd marked me.
But I feared their rejection once they knew everything. And rejection from these two would destroy me in ways my family's abandonment never could. I guess they felt my nervousness through our bond because they dropped the topic once we were in the kitchen.
"What do you want for breakfast, princess?" Moon asked me.
Princess? How cute! I moved to sit down at the table as both alphas headed toward the refrigerator. I half expected them to have an icebox. But they actually had a fridge. They caught me staring.
Moon smiled. "Yeah, it's against the rules. But here on the border, we sometimes ignore the rules." He winked at me, and I smiled brightly at him, a weight lifting off my shoulders.
My alphas were just as rebellious as I was. I practically had hearts jumping in my eyes right now. The Fates didn't make a mistake when they paired me with these two. Oh, right! They were staring at me, waiting for an answer to what I wanted for breakfast.
"Ummm...." I hummed, tapping my lips as I thought about what I wanted.
"Don't tap your lips like that, beautiful," Ryung said. "It makes me want to tap my cock against them."
I froze, eyes going wide. Both alphas were smiling at me. I wasn't really used to being teased. But I loved it.
"You're both welcome to tap those thick cocks against either set of my lips whenever you want," I told them with a wink.
Their growls filled the kitchen, mingling with my laughter. I honestly couldn’t believe this was my life now. We finally settled on what to eat after I strode over to the fridge to see what they had.
I returned to my seat as Ryung prepared sausages, oatmeal, and toast. While he did that, Moon started the coffee in a real coffee pot. I thanked the Fates once I saw it. A coffee pot was so much easier than using instant coffee and a mini cauldron, like most witches did.
"The emperor, my brother, is actually considering making some modern conveniences legal," Moon told me as he poured three mugs of coffee.
"Oh, really?" I said. That would be great, since most people found ways to smuggle them in anyway.
"Yeah. Now that my nephews are grown, they've started giving him ideas that are making him rethink the old ways," Moon continued.
"Some ministers of the court will probably try to stop him.
They don't like change. But I support him fully.
Unfortunately, my brother, Kwang Song, is against such a change. "
Both alphas turned to look at me. Did they want my opinion? Moon had said he was for it, plus their kitchen was pretty much modern.
"I'm for growth and anything that would make life easier for the common people,” I chimed in.
Moon and Ryung nodded, looking away from me. But I could sense their displeasure through the bond. Was that the wrong answer? Should I have lied? I was willing to wait for them to get to know me. But what I wasn't willing to do was be ashamed of who I was or what I believed in.
"Did you not like my answer?" I asked, unable to ignore what I was feeling. I needed to know what they were thinking. "Was this some kind of test to see if I was against the old rules or something?"
Both stopped what they were doing to stare at me.
"That's not it," Moon rushed to say.
"We're not mad at your answer," Ryung added.
"Then why do I feel like you're keeping something from me?" I pressed.
Ryung smirked. "Aren't you keeping something from us also, beautiful assassin?"
My cheeks heated in embarrassment. He had me there. I'd been worried about them judging me, but I was the one with the most secrets between us.
"We'll talk as we eat," Moon said. "And we'll all come clean. But know this, we are not mad at you or upset with you. There's no answer you could've given us that would've upset us. Your answers are always the right answers. Got that, mate?"
Okay, now they were just trying to make me cry. I nodded, blinking back tears.
"Use your words," Ryung urged.
"Yes, alphas," I whispered, making them smile wider.
Moon asked me how I liked my coffee. I told him with light cream and sugar. I took a sip of it when he brought it to me and was surprised that he'd gotten it just right. As Ryung finished up cooking, Moon sat down in the chair next to me and then patted his lap.
"Come closer, princess," he insisted.
"You want me to sit in your lap?" I asked.
"I do."
He didn't have to tell me twice. I'd just stood up when I felt something slither across my belly. I froze, lifting my shirt to stare at my stomach. My eyes widened at what I saw. When the hell had I gotten a tattoo?
And why did it look so familiar? Wait a minute! My gaze snapped to Ryung. His tattoo was indeed missing from his chest. But how was it on me?
"Don't panic," Moon started.
"What do you mean, don't panic?" I yelped as the dragon began slithering around my waist. "What is happening?" I wailed. I wasn't a scary witch. But this was some freaky shit.
"Imugi," Ryung yelled. "Return to me."
Imugi? This thing was a water dragon, not a tattoo! Wow. No wonder I'd thought it blinked at me that first time I saw it. I watched the imugi slither up to my arm and wrap around it.
"It won't hurt you," Moon assured me. "Sometimes it rests on my skin, protecting me. The fact that he's on you means he likes you."
"Just because he likes you doesn't mean he gets to disobey me," Ryung yelled.
I felt the imugi tremble against my arm. I patted it. "Stop yelling at it," I told Ryung. "You're scaring it."
Ryung's eyes widened. "You do know he's a ferocious beast, right?"
"So am I, but you don't yell at me. Right?" I countered.
Ryung's expression softened. "But you're our princess," he explained.
"Yes, and he's my new best friend," I said, sitting down in Moon's lap, staring at my arm.
Moon slid my coffee closer to me as I watched the imugi slither around my arm.
"It tickles," I murmured.
"It looks like he's abandoned me for you," Ryung sulked.
"Can you blame him?" Moon asked.
"I can't," Ryung stated, plating our food.
As he did so, he explained to me how he'd found a dragon that was supposed to be extinct. When I heard it could make itself invisible and fly me around anywhere I needed to go, I immediately started plotting on taking it to work with me.
With the imugi, I could keep my shop and travel back and forth without being seen. Ryung set my plate in front of me, then sat down in the chair I'd previously occupied. I went to reach for my fork, but Moon stopped me.
"Let me," he told me.
I watched, shocked, as he cut my food up and proceeded to feed it to me.
After eating a little, I mumbled shyly, "I can feed myself."
"Let him feed you," Ryung said. "It calms his wolf."
I stared up at Moon. His eyes were black at the moment.
"Don't worry. My wolf is calm right now," he told me. "I just want to take care of you, princess."
Awww. I rested against his chest and let him do just that. We ate for a bit before Ryung brought up the elephant in the room: my assassination attempt on them.
"Who ordered you to kill your mates?" he asked bluntly.
Normally, I wasn't a snitch. But the Silent Hex betrayed me first. I no longer owed them my loyalty. I took a deep breath and explained to my mates what the Silent Hex was and why I'd worked for them. I didn't leave anything out.
I talked in a rush, fearing that if I slowed down or paused, I'd lose my nerve. I even told them about me being a cold omega until I met them. I didn't plan to tell them how I'd become a cold omega.
However, the words slipped out anyway, tears blurring my vision as I spoke of my mother and how she'd died in childbirth. I told them how they had to do a C-section to save me after my mom passed away.
And because of that, because I was a child born of a corpse, I’d been born as a cold omega. When I reached the part about my family selling me to a brothel, both of my alphas began growling.
Ryung dropped his fork, causing the utensil to clink against his plate. Holding back tears, I rushed to tell them I never had to serve anyone at the brothel. The same night I was sold, I came into my full witch powers.
I lost control of my powers as I fought off my attackers and ended up burning the entire brothel to the ground, killing almost everyone inside, excluding some demons and other beings who were impervious to fire.
Upon hearing that, Moon wrapped his arms around me and held me close as Ryung grabbed my hand, placing it over his heart as he listened to me. They didn't speak until I'd gotten it all out, and I was thankful for that. Ryung brought my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles, then kissed my palm.
"Do you want me to kill your family for you?" he asked.
A tear trickled down my cheek as I stared at my sweet alpha.
Moon kissed the side of my head and then whispered, "Or we could bring them here for you to torture them. Your coven, too, and anyone who survived your fire that night. You can torture them all."
My heart melted. These alphas knew just what to say to make me fall deeper in love with them. I shook my head.
"Once they sold me, abandoned me, I was done with my family and my coven. Now, I look at their abandonment as Fate's way of putting me on my path to find you two,” I murmured.
My words caused my alphas to purr for me, a sound I'd fallen in love with.
“We’re your family now,” Ryung assured me. “And you’re ours. No one else matters to us but you.”
Awww. Would my heart flutter every time they said something that made me swoon?
Taking a deep breath, I said, “That's everything about me and why I was in the Frozen Forest that night. I don't know why the Silent Hex wanted you dead. But I do know they won't stop until they complete their task. And now that I've failed, they'll send someone after me, too."
"Don't worry," Moon told me. "We won't let anything happen to you."
That hadn't been my worry. I was actually worried about them. Yet, they didn't seem nervous at all.
"We know why the organization wants us dead," Moon continued.
"You do? Why?"
"Because my brother is the leader of the Silent Hex, and he’s been trying to kill me for years," Moon explained.
My mouth dropped open in shock. His brother? Another prince? Or did he mean the emperor? I swear, sometimes it be your own people.