To Seduce an Omega (20 page)

“I’m okay with that too”—his wicked smile returned—”but it’s time to stop talking and start kissing.”

Chapter Nineteen

Titus quivered with excitement. He’d hurt so badly, waited so long, but tonight he would finally have his true-mate in his bed. His thighs straddled her hips as he placed his hands on either side of her shoulders. His wolves went crazy inside him, demanding more. Slowly, he lowered his head and kissed each of Viola’s nipples in turn.

Her soft moan sounded sweeter than any music. When she wrapped her fingers around his cock, he threw back his head and howled. She looked so beautiful with her hair spread across the pillow and her body open for him to love. For him, life didn’t get better than this.

He moved one hand lower and scissored his fingers over her clit. The way she arched her back and yelled out her pleasure thrilled him. His mate wanted more, and he lived to please her.

He opened the soft folds of her vulva and slid one finger inside her. She felt hot, wet, and ready, panting for it even. Careful not to hurt her, he slipped another finger inside her, preparing her body for his cock. After their coupling in the cell, he intended to go slow and easy and love her the way she deserved.

When she circled her hips, he withdrew his fingers and worked his cock inside her. Her channel was tight, the fit snug as her muscles pulsed around him. She moaned again and lifted her pelvis in invitation. He surged his hips forward. His cock filled her completely as she orgasmed around him. Another thrust, and he couldn’t hold out any longer. He bellowed and came inside her.

When they’d had sex to claim their freedom from the sphinxes, he’d not been able to hold her close and drink in her sweet herbal essence. This time, he tucked her into his chest and tangled his legs around hers. Masculine pride filled him as she made soft noises and nestled closer. He never wanted this night to end.

“You didn’t bite me,” Viola accused.

With a contented chuckle, he nibbled the tip of her ear. “Both your half sisters have pointed ears, but yours are round. Maybe that’s why none of the Rock Prowlers realized you were half-Fae. So, fairy princess, are you powered up from our loving, or should we go again?”

She ran her tongue over one of his nipples. “Again, please. Not for the sake of my magic, but because I love you so much I could burst. But you still didn’t bite me.”

Tenderly, he stroked her hair from her face. “Because when I claim you, we won’t surface for days. In four hours, I’m leading the rescue party and bringing those cubs home.”

She sat up abruptly. “Then you should rest. What were you thinking, coming for me when you’ll need all your wits about you to go into battle?”

He ran his hand down her back, the gesture both tender and possessive. “I can’t live, can’t think or breathe without you. If you’d turned me down, I had nothing to left to lose. I’d have fought long and hard to take down the sphinxes, but I probably wouldn’t have made it home.”

Tears filled her eyes. “Don’t say that. Try to get some sleep, and most of all promise you’ll come home. In the morning, I should introduce myself to Queen Sylvie and see what I can do to help.”

They snuggled and dozed for almost three hours. Finally Titus rolled over her and swept his tongue through her cunt. “Delicious. Just the breakfast I needed. When I come home, you’re mine. You can spend the time planning our wedding. I mean to show off my beautiful bride to the Rock Prowler pack.”

* * * *

Soldiers lounged at one end of the great hall, taking what rest they could before the coming fight. Small groups of women stood at the opposite end, all eager to rescue the cubs. Just as King Caleb started to marshal his troops, King Leonidas flashed into the hall.

He strode through the assembled she-wolves and dropped a brief kiss on Viola’s forehead, then shook his head when he saw her hand engulfed in Titus’s paw. “What is it with my half sisters and Lykae? I thought you had more brains.”

Titus growled and tensed to attack, but King Caleb stood between the two men.

Suddenly King Leonidas grinned. “Be happy, Viola. That’s all I ask. Once you and Titus have completed the bonding, I expect you to finish your healer’s training. Titus, no more swapping and changing true-mates. Stick with Viola, or suffer my wrath.” He turned to the Lykae king. “Caleb, I came to wish you all luck with your mission and let you know our healers are powered up and ready for anything. I have a squad of war dragons on standby, but I don’t expect you to need them.”

King Caleb relaxed. Leonidas let his voice echo around the great hall. “I hope the Rock Prowlers realize how lucky they are getting a Fae princess for their alpha female. Sylvie”—he glanced across at the Lykae queen—”I should have listened yesterday when you said these two belonged together, but I hoped at least one of my half sisters would grace the Fae court for a while. Send word if you need me.”

He flashed away as abruptly as he’d arrived.

Titus stared at the spot where King Leonidas had stood. “That’s it? No trial by combat or histrionics?”

Queen Sylvie grinned. “You should have seen him before Meena got hold of him. He was as stuffy as they come back then. Right, all the den mothers to their posts. Jilly, Fleur, are you ready?”

The women nodded and stepped forward. Since they could only flash someone they touched, King Caleb put his arm around Jilly’s waist while Titus looped his arms around Fleur’s. Two of the female warriors took the women’s free hands, each primed to grab a cub or fight depending on whatever situation they walked into.

Before they flashed away, Viola interrupted. “Fleur, can you piggyback one of the other women? Jilly, what about you?”

Fleur glanced at Jilly, and when Jilly nodded, they both beckoned the two smallest female warriors toward them. One leaped on Fleur’s back, the other onto Jilly’s, and they flashed to the sphinxes’ stronghold.

The boys’ dormitory was white-walled and impersonal. There were no toys on the floor and no bookcases full of children’s stories. Neat rows of cots filled the dorm, each one filled by a sleeping cub. Titus and King Caleb secured the door, swords drawn, while the women each snatched up two sleeping cubs and flashed away. A moment later, six groups of women, hands linked in threes, flashed back into the room. Again they snatched up sleeping children, but as planned, the women outnumbered the cubs, and some left empty-handed. Titus had insisted they run the rescue this way in case something unforeseen happened with the boys. A moment later Jilly flashed into the room, bringing two soldiers with her. “We’ve double-checked the headcount twice. That’s all of our cubs.”

The women all made one more trip, bringing soldiers, Cecily and Jethro among them, then flashed back to comfort the boys. The soldiers had all studied Jilly’s map of the sphinx stronghold earlier, and Titus led them unerringly to the women’s quarters. The Lykae were up for a fight, but they didn’t want the battle to start until they’d rescued the Rock Prowler she-wolves. Despite their bulk, the Lykae crept through the stronghold. The castle’s occupants hadn’t considered a surprise attack. They slept through everything.

Ten she-wolves jerked awake as the door to their almost empty dormitory opened. Experience had taught them not to scream or raise a fuss, but when they recognized the Rock Prowlers among the rescue party, they all spoke at once.

“Quiet,” Titus whispered.

King Caleb added. “You will each grab on to a soldier and let them transport you home.”

Oblivious to their nakedness, the women didn’t move. One woman, a brunette with a bruise on her cheek, stepped forward. “Get the cubs out of here first. Their safety’s paramount.”

Titus gave her best smile, but he envied the Lykae king his easy charm. “We already have. The boys are waiting for you in Prowlerville.”

Eager to regain their freedom and desperate to reunite with the cubs, the women swarmed the solders. In a flurry of hugs and reassurance, the warriors flashed them away. They returned immediately, bringing reinforcements.

Titus looked at the determined set of the Lykae warrior’s faces. “Right, everyone. You have the amulets Queen Meena made. Take prisoners if you can, but kill if you must.”

Jethro pushed forward. “Get a move on. One of the she-wolves said they’ve taken my sister to breed with one of their males.”

Titus briefly considered sending Jethro home, but he had a right to save his sister. “We will find her. I promise.”

A second wave of soldiers flashed in, cramming the room so tight Titus thought the walls might burst. The adrenaline level in the room skyrocketed as they prepared to avenge the Rock Prowler females and their massacred girl babies.

Cecily shot into the dormitory. “There’re three sphinx females heading this way.”

Titus inched the door shut. “Keep the noise down until they’re past. We’ll jump them from behind, snap amulets on them to stop them from shifting, and flash them back home.”

Silence settled like a safety blanket as the Lykae strike force waited to see their first action. They didn’t wait long. The door opened, and the women stood, two in front, one behind as they checked on the prisoners.

Titus sprang forward and punched the first sphinx female senseless. Beside him, King Caleb did the same to the second female. Both men shoved their captives into the dormitory where two Lykae soldiers flashed their captives to a holding cell in Prowlerville. The third woman shifted into sphinx form and bounded down the corridor. Her lioness’s roar echoed through the stronghold, warning her comrades to ready themselves for an attack.

Titus changed primal and leaped onto her back. Her animal form crouched low with the unexpected weight. Determined to lose her rider, she swerved and smashed him into the brickwork. He tried for a chokehold, but again she slammed him into the wall. Another roar reverberated from her chest, and she made a sudden twist to the right. His claws sank into her flesh, and he ripped out her throat.

She died in seconds, but more female warriors poured into the narrow corridor. The close confines favored Titus and King Caleb as they led the attack. Killing women came hard, but they were in full battle mode now. Taking prisoners wasn’t an option. Besides, these women had preyed on Titus’s Rock Prowler pack. They deserved the swift justice the Lykae wrought.

Together, Titus and King Caleb pushed the sphinx attack back until the corridor opened into a chamber large enough to rival a Lykae great hall. A sphinx war party—all females—stood ready to stop the Lykae attack. Lykae warriors teemed into the room. The sphinxes charged. Lions’ roars vied with Lykae howls. The battle came down to teeth and claws. The sphinxes fought as individuals, but furious at how the sphinxes had mistreated their she-wolves, the Rock Prowler forces swept through the hall. Titus surrendered to his beast’s killing frenzy, punishing the sphinxes who’d preyed on his pack. A sphinx pounced, ripping her claws down his torso before he knocked her unconscious. He plowed forward, tackling another female warrior and tossing her limp body behind him. Another woman pounced, scratching a deep furrow in his cheek. Claws out, he tore into her flesh. A solid punch, and she lay unconscious at his feet. Soon his arms were red-stained, but he didn’t know if it was his blood or his enemies’.

The sphinxes relied on surprise and superior numbers to hunt down she-wolves. They’d never expected an all-out battle, but they fought to survive. Their lack of training showed as the sphinx corpses mounted.

More Lykae flooded the hall to replace their wounded. Finally, all but five sphinx females had perished at Lykae hands. The survivors formed a circle in the center of the room. Their lunges grew more desperate. Their movements slowed as exhaustion took them. One turned human and screamed. Another followed, unable to maintain her animal form. As they shifted, their clothes and weapons changed with them. Soon five exhausted human females faced the full might of the Lykae, but they held their swords at the ready.

Titus and the Lykae forces turned human and surrounded the she-sphinxes. The women cast quick glances around the room, clearly seeking an escape route. There wasn’t one. The Lykae waited, letting the women’s own fears weaken them. A quick nod from Caleb, and the front rank stepped forward. Each soldier, Titus and King Caleb included, grabbed a sphinx’s wrist and jerked her from the circle. Within seconds, the sphinx’s blades clattered to the floor, and Lykae soldiers flashed them to the holding cells.

“Where are your males?” Titus demanded of the last female.

She grinned. “Gone. Except for Wallis. He’s busy fucking one last she-wolf.”

Jethro pushed through the crowd. “Where’s my sister?”

The woman spat at his feet. “Screaming as our leader screws her.”

Jethro turned primal and launched himself at her. Lost in his fury, he tore out her throat. An arc of scarlet blood shot from her artery. Jethro’s primal howl echoed through the hall. He shifted to natural wolf form and sprinted away.

Titus heaved a long-suffering sigh, then turned to King Caleb. “I’m his alpha. I’ll get him. You should go question the prisoners while the rest of you spread out and search the place. Tell Viola I’ll be back as soon as I can, and I’ll be wearing Jethro’s hide like a cloak. Not that I blame the lad, really. I’d be the same if I had a sister.”

King Caleb clasped Titus’s hand. “Take care. I’ll send a message if one of the prisoners tells us anything you need to know.”

As the Lykae king flashed away, Titus turned primal and raced after Jethro. A maze of corridors opened up off the hall. Ideally, Titus would have moved slowly, checking each room before moving on to the next. Instead, he growled and sprinted after his insubordinate pack member.

Up ahead, he heard Jethro’s frantic shouts. “Rose? Rose?”

A fainter female voice called, “Jethro? Go home.”

Titus skidded around a corner in time to see Jethro throw open some double doors and burst into a wood-paneled room. Titus backed around the corner and counted to ten, praying the sphinx hadn’t seen him before he backed off. His primal beast chafed at the delay.

He heard a male’s leonine roar; then the sphinx sneered at Jethro. “How sweet. The bitch knows you. Don’t make me slit her throat. Turn human, and see that silver bracelet on the table? Snap it around your wrist, or the woman dies.”