Chapter Twenty- Four
Rhydek
My mind had been in turmoil until Taryn entered the Bonding Hall. The moment I spotted her, everything calmed.
She was mine.
When she made it to the center of the hall and I could smell her, my lungs failed. I couldn’t breathe anymore, or I was going to launch myself at her.
Too soon.
I’d never been the best when it came to control. That was Kael’s thing. It didn’t matter if the Torashkar was a bit wilder.
But now it mattered. If I touched her too soon, I’d lose the right to claim her. And if I hadn’t already known the moment I saw her, the first whiff of her scent assured me I had to. There was no way I could let another alpha take her.
I stilled as I watched her, every muscle in my body locked. Her movements were unsteady, as if she were dazed or severely wounded, and it seemed like she was resisting the pull of her instincts.
I wanted to stomp over and tell her to give in. To peel the orange Shavari’zorr from her body and mark her with my teeth so my claim was permanent. My color on her had my shaft throbbing, but it wasn’t enough.
Desire surged through my veins, thick and suffocating, the first true wave of rut. It was different than the urges that had built in me since choosing her at the gala. It wasn’t the restless tension or the constant awareness that had grown between us.
It was need.
I needed to be with her. To mount and knot her. To pierce her flesh with my teeth and taste her blood.
It wasn’t an option.
I dug my claws into my pants to keep them at my sides. My tail lashed behind me, my kethra blazing, but there was nothing I could do about it. They would serve to warn any who thought to challenge me for her.
Mine.
The word slammed through me, violent and absolute. There was no doubt in it. No guilt. Instinct shoved all that aside.
The Karzhari moved around Taryn, their voices low and soothing. I couldn’t make out the words over the pounding of my pulse, only see how she reacted to them.
The tension she’d carried slowly bled away as she chose her bedding. I’d informed the Karzhari of her preferences, but there was always a variety for an omega to choose from in case they needed something different in the moment.
She finally moved through the curtains and climbed onto the nesting platform. I could see the shape of her through the gauzy material, see how she crawled into the center and began to nest, and something snapped inside me.
A low growl rolled from my chest that I couldn’t stop. I didn’t try. It echoed within the vast cavern, building as other sounds and scents informed me the Morrak were taking their places among the tiers, but I didn’t see any of them.
I only saw her.
My omega.
With instincts overriding thought, the guilt I’d struggled beneath seemed foolish.
A dead omega couldn’t be hurt if I chose another, but the one before me had been hurt by my reluctance.
Making myself suffer didn’t matter, but forcing Taryn to deal with my issues had been unfair to her.
She deserved a good mate who gave his all to her.
And if I couldn’t step away to let another be her alpha, then I had to step up and focus on what I had before me.
Taryn’s movements grew faster as time went on and she became more frantic. She gathered and shifted her bedding with an urgency that made her clumsy, and I heard her own sobs breaking through her feminine growls of frustration.
She needed too, but she didn’t understand what it was she needed. She didn’t know why making a nest was so important, only that something inside her said it was.
I clenched my teeth so hard pain shot though my jaw and I tasted blood.
I’d been too lost in trying to keep Taryn at a distance to be sure she was properly prepared.
It was my fault she was far from her home and the people she knew, going through pain, forced to be put on display, with no one but me to rely on.
And I was tired of failing her.
My heart slowed as she did, breath catching in my lungs when she sat still, only her head turning as she surveyed her nest. Vorrashan’s light poured through the opening in the cavern roof, drenching Taryn in red.
Her pale skin reflected enough of it to make her easy to see as her face turned my direction.
She’d trusted me. All this time, through every new experience, she’d trusted me.
A hollow laugh scraped the inside of my throat, but I held it in.
It was time to earn that trust.
To prove I was worthy of having an omega.
I’d always thought Shaira’s death was punishment for not being good enough. That Shaevrin had taken her from me because I’d cared too much and put her before my duties.
But perhaps Shaira had never been meant to be mine. Perhaps I’d had to experience her loss to bring me to the omega I was meant to have.
“It’s almost time.”
Kael’s voice reached me from behind, bringing me back to the present. I shifted, dragging my eyes from Taryn to prepare for the next part of the ceremony.
Movement to the left of the platform caught my eye and my lips peeled back to expose my teeth. Kael had admitted he’d feared there wouldn’t be challengers for Serenya since she was Human, but I’d seen the way other alphas watched Taryn. I knew they would try.
More motion to my right revealed two more alphas stepping forward, preparing for the horns. The threat calmed me, the chance of violence the distraction I needed to pull my scattered thoughts together and regain control. I couldn’t risk hurting Taryn, so I couldn’t be mindless when I went to her.
Another male stepped forward as the curtains pulled back, broad shoulders bunching, green kethra flaring when the vibration of the horns travelled through my boots to rattle my bones.
Close enough to mask the sweet scent of Taryn’s slick with his own dusty stench, he became my focus as I launched into action.
He was fast, but I caught him when he darted a glance at the nest. His fist swung for my jaw when he saw me coming, but my tail connected with his knee before he could land the blow.
A quick stomp on his lower leg assured he wouldn’t get up to try again as I ran for the alpha on the opposite side of the dais. The two I’d spotted together had to beat each other as well as me, so the one by himself was the bigger threat.
He tried to race for the steps to win without having to fight but realized he wouldn’t make it. He swung for me as I closed in, but I caught his wrist, twisting his arm until I heard it pop.
He snarled, driving his shoulder into my chest and forcing me back a step. The impact jarred enough to make me grunt, but he should have known he had no chance.
I twisted his arm further as my other hand lashed out. I slammed my fist into his ribs until I heard a crunch, and when he started to sag with a wheeze, I let him fall.
The other two were still fighting each other.
Too focused on the one in front of him, the one I came up behind didn’t know he was in trouble until my tail was wrapping around his ankles and my fist hit his spine, sending him to the ground.
A quick foot to the side of his head forced it into the stone beneath us, then his limp body was no longer a threat.
The last warrior eyed me warily. He was younger, slimmer, and his face was unmarked by scars, meaning he had far less experience.
But his pupils were blown, showing he didn’t have the ability to realize he should yield, and when he glanced towards where Taryn waited, I lost the shred of control I’d regained.
I had ahold of him before either of us knew I was moving, his hands coming up too late to claw at my wrist. I barely felt the sting of my skin splitting, the sensation one I was familiar with, just as I knew the scent of my blood in the air.
Nails digging into the sides of his throat, I snarled and pressed the tip of my tail beneath his ribs, making sure he was aware of the danger. One thrust and I could pierce his heart if I chose not to rip out his throat.
His pupils flexed, thought fighting with instinct, but I didn’t trust him not to rush me from behind.
It only took a quick tap of my fist to his temple to send his eyes rolling back, and then I tossed him aside to check for other threats.
Several alphas lurked at the edge of the lowest tier as if they wanted to step forward, but they’d retained enough sense to stay put.
“Zhal’kai zorrin!”
My call echoed over the sound of motion in the tiers, aimed at anyone thinking of challenging me further.
I glared at each of the alphas I could see near the edge, and each turned their gaze away, showing deference.
It eased some of the tightness in my chest, but there was only one thing that would end the burning craze flooding me.
My head swung back to where Taryn knelt in her nest. Her eyes were locked on me, darkened by her blow pupils. Her breathing uneven, her lips parted, the sweet musk of slick pulled me towards her.
She had seen what I’d done, what I was capable of, and yet there was no fear in her expression. She didn’t look away, keeping her eyes trained on mine as I took the first step toward her.
It was a mistake. She’d always challenged me, and I’d always done my best to hold back the alpha need to dominate, but between her pheromones and the fight, my blood was pumping, and there was no chance of letting it go.
I realized I was smiling, and it should have been a warning for us both. I was made for violence. Dominance. Not gentle rutting.
But Humans were smaller. Delicate. I could break her if I wasn’t careful.
Some deep dark part of me wanted to dominate her completely.
To see her fall apart, her challenge squashed into submission, her every thought beginning and ending with me.
It was the way omegas naturally tended to be, but total submission had always seemed so boring.
A sweet little omega who stayed home and followed orders with a smile wouldn’t make my shaft throb the way Taryn did.
My hands moved to my belt as I closed the distance between us. I passed the red tiles as I dropped it. Blood smeared my arms, most of it mine, but it didn’t stop me from reaching for the side of her nest once I’d opened my pants.
Taryn trembled, her hands clenched in the silk over her heart.
Over the thing I had said I didn’t want and dared not hope she’d give.
This was it.
The moment I’d avoided, that I’d feared, and I paused, waiting for the guilt to wash over me. For the image of Shaira to come to mind and make me turn away. For the certainty that I was the bringer of death to force me to deny what I wanted.
Because I wanted her.
I wanted to claim Taryn before everyone in the Hall and stop running from the fear that I’d lose anything I cared about. Taryn had trusted me, but I had to trust Shaevrin that this was how things were meant to go.
That she wouldn’t be taken from me, too.
A flicker of something washed over Taryn’s face as I hesitated on the steps to the platform. She shifted forward, as if about to reach for me, but the strength I’d seen in her suddenly seemed more fragile.
“Rhydek?”
The way she said my name wrapped around my mind and tightened until there was nothing left but her. A groan escaped that deepened into a growl, and I kicked off my boots before rising the last step.
“Invite me in.”
I barely got the words past my teeth, but I needed her to say she wanted me too.
Her kethra flashed in uneven pulses, the erratic rhythm betraying the way she felt. I had a moment of doubt before her hands parted the Shavari’zorr and she rolled onto her hip.
“It’s time, Rhydek.”
It wasn’t the same as saying she wanted me, but it was close enough for my instincts to push me forward, over the edge of the nest. Taryn leaned back, her curvy body open and waiting for me, but the moment my knee hit the bedding her lips twisted into a snarl.
“Off!”
Head jerking back, the harsh word was enough to clear my mind for a moment.
“But—”
She cut me off before I could protest that she’d just said it was okay, inviting me with her posture if not her words.
“Pants! Off!”
Lips twitching once I knew what the issue was, I backed onto the dais once more, thrusting my pants off my hips.
My shaft jutted before me, kethra flaring in time with the throbbing of my pulse through it.
My focus narrowed once more, and all that mattered was the omega spreading her knees as her expression smoothed into one of hunger.
When I crawled into the nest the second time, there was no snarl to stop me. With the source of the delicious scent that had been torturing me right in front of my face, I couldn’t resist dipping my head to breathe it in.
“Zorrash, you smell so good.”
I leaned closer to the dark curls glistening under Vorrashan’s light, the sight of slick on her opening too tempting. A flick of my tongue gave me a quick taste of her sweetness, and then I lowered myself with a groan, arms wrapping around her thighs to open her wider.
“And you taste even better.”
A breathy sigh was all that met me when my tongue swiped through her folds, collecting the heady fluid calling to me. The flavor of her made my head spin, my grip on her pale flesh the only thing keeping me grounded.
“Why didn’t I do this before?”
I muttered the words into the center of her as I nuzzled her lower lips wider. Thrusting my tongue into her opening, I tightened my hold on her thighs and dragged out more of the thick slick seeping from her.
“Rhydek!”
My name on her lips pulled a growl from my chest that vibrated the whole nest, and my shaft throbbed where it was pinned beneath me. Rocking my hips, I tried to ease the discomfort as I spread my own fluid on the blanket, marking the nest with my scent.
“This is mine.”
I hadn’t meant to speak the words out loud, but there was no holding them back. Taryn, her slick, her attitude, her perfect body… were all mine.
And I could finally have it without the past pulling me away, because all I could think about was her.
I feasted on her until she was writhing and bucking her hips, pleas filling the air around us.
Her small hands gripped my ridges, tugging me in a rhythm I matched until her thighs shook beside my head.
Her channel rippled around my tongue, pulling on it, trying to drag it deeper into her core, and my tail snaked beneath my chin to add to the pressure in her channel.
“Please, please, please.”
She chanted the words as if afraid I would stop. I could have pulled out of her grip without effort, but I had no desire to. I wanted her to fall apart on my tongue so I could drink down every drop of her slick before I filled her.