Chapter Twenty-Seven
Kael
In the beginning, I worried. So many things could go wrong.
Serenya could refuse to go through with the ceremony.
My people could refuse to witness her claiming, leaving the Bonding Hall empty and support for the alliance destroyed.
I could lose control and rush the dais too soon, losing my chance to claim her and leaving her unprotected amidst other alphas.
I settled as the first Morraki trickled in, at least one of my worries eased, but new ones grew to take their place.
The omega chose the alpha who she wanted to claim her, but when the horns sounded, any alpha drawn by her scent could challenge me. Having multiple challengers was a sign that the omega’s draw was strong, that she was fertile and desired and worthy.
Having none could leave Serenya shunned since she was Human. It would be assumed that the serum hadn’t worked right, and that she was weak and undesirable.
I didn’t want that, but I also couldn’t stand the thought that someone might reach her before I did. My Veyrakk, three trusted alphas who used oils to block her tempting scent, were there to hold me back if I lost control, but they wouldn’t help defend Serenya from others.
The worries fell away the longer I watched her shape moving beyond the curtain. She was deep in her instincts, building a nest to welcome her alpha, and I wouldn’t allow any other to steal my place.
Her scent reached me, even beyond the sacred ring. Thick and sweet and rich with pheromones, it made my vorran throb.
I curled my claws into my palms, digging into the wounds I’d given myself over my failure in the Market, grounding myself in the sharp pricks of pain. I trembled with the need to claim my omega.
To mount and knot her.
To seed her womb and place my bite on her neck so all knew she was mine.
Vorrashan’s light brightened the chamber, revealing the first tier. Couples sat together while other alphas paced, eyes locked on my omega.
My lips curled back, tail lashing. I didn’t bother controlling my kethra or tail. This was the one time it was acceptable to show the height of my desire, and these alphas would know they faced a fight if they thought they would lay a claw on her.
I took a step forward when another alpha approached the ring opposite where I stood, but a hand on my shoulder made me freeze. I was toeing the line, risking removal from the chamber, and a growl built in my chest as I forced myself to step back again.
Green eyes met mine, lavender kethra flaring as the other alpha snarled at me.
He would be lucky if I let him live to limp away from the circle when the horns sounded.
It seemed like only a heartbeat later when my entire body vibrated with a sound from outside me, the whole chamber echoing with the call of the Horns of Claiming.
The curtains pulled back, and the sight of Serenya, wide eyed and staring at the crowd kneeling amidst her nest, cut through all thoughts of launching myself across the room at the other male.
My snarl rose as the sound of the horns died away, and I was sprinting before thought caught up with action. I launched forward, the weight of my need ripping through me like claws.
But I wasn’t the only one who moved.
A blur to my right caught my attention. The green-eyed alpha had launched himself toward the platform with a snarl that matched mine, but he wasn’t the only one. The others followed in an instant, the scent of Serenya's slick and her pheromones in the air a call none of us could ignore.
I struck first.
My shoulder slammed into the closest challenger, sending him sprawling across the stone. I didn’t wait to watch him fall.
I turned to intercept the next, roaring as I met his charge with claws and instinctive fury. His korrvek was open, kethra glowing blue, muscles bunched with the desire to reach the omega.
He lunged for my throat and I ducked low, driving my fist into his gut. I was hanging onto rational thought with everything I had, trying not to make killing blows, but the alpha side pushed to take control.
He smashed a fist into my ribs and I slashed his chest, blood splattering across my legs. He howled and stumbled back, but I didn’t stop to revel in the victory.
A third male crashed into me from the side, sending us both skidding across the stone in a tangle of limbs and snarls.
I landed on my back, but only for a heartbeat.
My knee rose to meet his stomach as I raked my claws across his face.
He snarled, trying to twist away, but I followed, my tail whipping around to slam into the back of his knee.
He crashed to the floor, his cry laced with pain, and my lips pulled back in a vicious grin.
Three challengers down.
But there were more.
Another alpha closed in. Older, his kethra a dull bronze. I couldn’t recognize him in my state, but he fought with the precision of someone who’d trained hard. A veteran warrior, most likely ranked somewhere in my command.
We circled, drops of blood slicking the stone beneath our feet.
He feinted, sending his tail to catch me unaware, but I knew the move.
I dodged, but his claws sliced across my shoulder, the sharp sting making my vision tunnel.
My blood joined the others on the tile, the scent of it only fueling the fire inside me.
Behind him, Serenya whimpered, and I spotted another alpha on the opposite side of the dais.
I snapped.
Rushing the challenger before me, I drove forward with sheer power, my fists slamming into his korrvek and yanking downward. He stumbled over someone who’d yet to rise from the floor, and I struck again. And again. Until he fell to one knee with a groan and bowed his head.
Submission.
It was what an alpha craved. What we hated to offer.
But it was sweetest from an omega.
Pain was nothing. The only thing that mattered was reaching Serenya and keeping anyone else from touching her.
Her scent called me.
Her whimpers.
The amber glow of her pulsing kethra.
I turned, chest heaving. Blood streaked my korrvek, smeared my hands, but it was proof I had fought for her.
The alpha with green eyes had struggled with others, slowing him, and we were the only two remaining. The male who touched the omega first got to claim her, but he circled the platform she waited on, coming for me.
A true challenger.
There was a storm of noise from the watching Morraki, but I ignored it. My chest vibrated with my growl and a trickle of blood ran down my arm from the claw marks on my shoulder, but I didn’t feel the pain.
Only the need to destroy the other alpha so I could claim my omega.
His slow approach turned into a rush, but I spun out of the way, lashing him with my claws as he passed but getting caught across the shins by his tail. It stung for a moment, but I was already turning to attack, the blow forgotten.
He was quick and managed to face me before I connected with the back of his knee, taking my kick on the thigh instead. He grunted and snarled, landing a hit to my abdomen with his fist before slamming his shoulder into me.
He was younger, broader, but my reach and experience would have bested him even without the drive of Serenya’s whimpers in my ears. The sound cut through the cries from the tiers, driving me on.
I let him take me to the ground but rolled so I landed atop him, foiling the attack of his tail with mine as I slammed a fist into his face. The back of his head hit the stone beneath us and left him stunned, and I found enough control to stand and walk away instead of making a killing blow.
My eyes locked on Serenya’s naked form, kneeling in the middle of her nest. Her eyes were wide and dark with need, her thighs shining with her slick, and I’d never seen anything as beautiful.
My vorran was stiff and I was a heartbeat away from losing all control, but the way was clear.
She was mine.
I kicked off my boots as I walked, shedding my belt and korrvek. I loosened the ties above my tail as I climbed the dais, my growl filling the bowl of the Bonding Hall.
The space around the dais was thick with Serenya’s sweet scent blended with the traces of mine on the bedding she’d had me mark, the alpha part of me swelling with pride at the sign that the omega had chosen me.
It pulled me forward, every part of me straining toward the omega waiting to be claimed.
The moment I stopped beside the mattress, everything else fell away. The distant throb of pain, the sting of my cuts, the challengers… Even the crowd of Morraki watching.
She stared up at me, cheeks flushed and lips parted. Her hair clung to her brow with sweat, her skin glowing with the shimmer of her kethra. She was bare, waiting in the nest she had built to welcome me, whimpering with need.
Mine.
“Kael. I need…”
I reached out and pushed her hair from her face, trying to wrestle control from my instincts. We had shared intimate touches, but we had yet to mate, and she deserved gentleness the first time we came together.
“Invite me into your nessha, veyrari.”
She nodded, leaning back and scooting away to give me more space, but the sight of her retreat tore my control away.
I dropped to my knees on the edge of the mattress, the tension that had left my limbs returning. Crawling forward, my chest rumbled with a low growl I couldn’t stop.
A warning.
I had fought, and bled, and triumphed.
For this.
For her.
Her breath hitched as I kicked off the rest of my korrvek, leaving me as bare as her. There was still blood smeared across my skin, but it was proof I’d earned my place in her nest.
She trembled when she reached for me, her fingertips brushing along my jaw as I covered her, and I leaned into the touch like it was the first drop of water I’d felt after a day on the surface.
I forgot who was watching.
Where we were.
All that mattered was the omega beneath me, ready and willing.