Chapter 28
ELISE
(Three months pregnant)
Something's wrong.
I wake up burning from the inside out, skin hypersensitive to even the silk sheets touching me. My nightgown is soaked through with sweat, and there's an ache between my legs that makes me whimper.
This isn't the normal pregnancy arousal I've grown used to. This is something else. Something that makes my magic spike wildly, frost forming on the windows in chaotic spirals.
"Aratus." His name comes out broken, desperate.
He's awake instantly, ice-blue eyes sharp with concern. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know. I feel—" Another wave of heat crashes through me, making me gasp. "Something's happening."
His nostrils flare, and I watch his expression change. Concern becomes something darker. Hungrier.
"Your scent," he says, voice rough. "Fuck, Elise. You're going into heat."
"That's impossible. I'm pregnant."
"Pregnancy heat. It happens sometimes with bonded omegas carrying powerful offspring." His hands hover over me, not quite touching. "The babies' magic is triggering it."
The explanation barely registers because another spike of need tears through me. I arch off the bed with a cry, every nerve ending on fire.
"Make it stop," I gasp. "Please, Alpha. Make it stop."
"I can't stop it. But I can help." He strips off his sleep clothes, and the sight of his body makes me moan with pure want. "This is going to last hours. Maybe days."
"I can't—" The heat spikes again, worse this time. My magic lashes out, ice covering the walls in violent patterns. "I need—"
"I know what you need." He settles over me, careful of my belly. "Your alpha's going to take care of you."
When he touches me, skin to skin, it's like relief and torture combined. The heat eases where we connect but builds everywhere else.
"More," I beg. "Please, I need more."
This isn't like my first heat, when I fought every sensation. This time I know exactly what I want. Know exactly what will ease the burning desperation clawing at my insides.
"Tell me," he commands, voice dark with authority. "Tell your alpha what his omega needs."
"You," I gasp, hands clutching at his shoulders. "Inside me. Filling me. I need your cocks stretching me open."
The crude words would have horrified me six months ago. Now they're pure truth, the only thing that matters in this moment.
"Such a good omega," he growls against my throat. "Asking so pretty for what you need."
His praise sends another wave of heat through me, but this time it's the good kind. The kind that makes me feel complete instead of empty.
He positions himself at my entrance, both cocks lined up and ready. The stretch is incredible as he pushes inside, filling me completely. Every ridge drags against my oversensitive walls, making me cry out with pleasure so intense it borders on pain.
"Perfect," he groans as he bottoms out inside me. "So fucking perfect. Taking me so well while you're carrying my children."
The breeding talk makes me clench around him, another gush of slick easing his way. He starts to move, slow and deep, hitting every sensitive spot inside me.
"More," I beg, nails digging into his shoulders. "Harder. Please, Alpha."
He obliges, hips snapping forward with more force. The sound of skin against skin fills the chamber, mixing with our gasps and moans.
"Love watching you like this," he growls, pace increasing. "My pregnant omega in heat, begging for my cocks."
"Yes," I cry out, feeling my release building. "Your omega. Only yours."
When the orgasm hits, it's devastating. I scream his name as pleasure tears through me, pussy clenching around him in rhythmic pulses. The sensation triggers his own release, knots swelling to lock us together as he empties himself inside me.
Hours later, I'm finally coherent enough to think. We're knotted together again, his seed warm inside me, our children safe between us.
"Better?" he asks, voice gentle.
"For now." I know it's temporary. Can already feel the heat building again at the edges of my consciousness. "How long will this last?"
"Until the babies decide it's finished. Could be days."
The thought should terrify me. Instead, it sends another spike of arousal through my exhausted body.
"Will you stay with me?"
"Try to make me leave." His arms tighten around me. "My pregnant omega in heat? I'm not going anywhere."
A soft knock interrupts the moment.
"Ignore it," I whisper, but Aratus is already tensing.
"Your Majesty," comes a servant's nervous voice through the door. "Message from the Vine Court."
Aratus sighs. "What is it?"
"Prince Thorian sends word that he's identified his omega. He's asking for advice on the claiming."
My heat-fogged mind tries to process this. Another court. Another woman about to face what I faced.
"Tell him we'll send our response tomorrow," Aratus calls back.
When the footsteps fade, I look up at him. "The next bond."
"Not our concern right now." His hands stroke over my skin, already building the heat again. "My omega in heat takes priority over court politics."
"But she's going to go through what I did."
"She'll adapt. They always do." His voice is matter-of-fact. "The prophecy continues."
The casual certainty should bother me. Instead, I find myself accepting it. The bonds have to happen. Other women will be claimed. It's simply how this works.
"Will it be like ours?" I ask.
"Every bond is different. Every omega requires different methods." He kisses my throat. "But the result is the same."
Another wave of heat begins building, and I lose the ability to think about anything except the need clawing at me.
Hours pass. The heat continues its relentless cycle—building until I can barely breathe, cresting in waves of desperate need, ebbing just enough to let me think before starting again.
My magic responds to each spike, creating ice formations throughout the room. Delicate frost patterns that mirror my internal state. Beautiful and chaotic at the same time.
When evening comes, Aratus still hasn't left my side. He takes care of me through every wave, every desperate moment when the need becomes overwhelming.
"Better?" he asks after another claiming leaves me temporarily sated.
"For now." I know it's temporary. Can already feel the heat building again. "How long will this last?"
"Until the babies decide they're finished triggering it. Could be days."
The thought should terrify me. Instead, it sends another spike of arousal through my exhausted body.
Another heat spike hits, and I arch against him with a cry. The need is overwhelming now, made worse by hours of his absence.
"Need you," I gasp. "Please, Alpha. Make it stop."
"I'm here." His voice is gentle, soothing. "Your alpha's here."
When we're finally knotted together again, both breathing hard, I feel complete. The heat is still there, will continue for days probably. But with him here, it's manageable.
"Any regrets?" he asks, echoing the question that's become our ritual.
I think about the life growing inside me. About the woman who will face what I faced in the coming months. About the choice I made to stay and build something with the man who claimed me.
"No," I say finally. "No regrets about where we are."
"Even knowing what's coming for the other courts?"
"Even knowing that." I press closer to him, our children safe between us. "The prophecy has to be completed. We're just the beginning."
"And if their claimings are harder than ours was?"
"Then they'll adapt. Like I did." The words come out steadier than I feel. "Because the alternative is worse."
He's quiet for a long moment. "You've changed."
"We both have."
"For the better?"
I consider the question seriously. Six months ago, I would have been horrified by my acceptance of what's coming. Now it feels like necessary truth.
"I don't know if better is the right word. But more complete. More honest about what this world requires."
Another wave of heat begins building, and I close my eyes as need starts clawing at me again.
"Again?" he asks, feeling my body's response.
"Again," I confirm. "Until our children decide they're finished."
As the next wave of heat begins building, I feel him hardening inside me again. My body responds immediately, slick flooding out around his cocks.
"Again?" he asks, feeling my renewed arousal.
"Again," I confirm, rolling my hips against him. "Until our children decide they're finished."
He groans at the movement, hands tightening on my waist. "You're going to kill me."
"Then what a way to go," I say, and he laughs despite everything.
The heat builds between us again, but this time it's slower. More intimate. Less about desperate need and more about the connection that binds us together.
He moves inside me with careful precision, hitting every spot that makes me gasp and writhe beneath him. When his knots finally deflate enough to move, he slides out only to position me on my hands and knees.
"Want to see you like this," he says, hands stroking over my back. "My omega presenting for her alpha."
The position makes me feel exposed, vulnerable, completely at his mercy. It should shame me. Instead, it sends another spike of arousal through my system.
He enters me again from behind, the new angle hitting different spots inside me. I drop to my forearms, presenting myself more fully, and he rewards me with a low growl of approval.
"Perfect," he says, pace increasing. "Absolutely perfect."