Omega’s Gambit by Flora Quincy

Syon

I gasped,pulling in deep lungfuls of crisp winter air that was not saturated by Viola’s enthralling scent of violets and vanilla, the hypnotic way her violet-eyed stare cut through me. Her eyes had looked so vulnerable but also near black with desire. And her slick. Goddess! her slick. Then how she’d wanted to…How she had! My balls ached, and my cock hard again. The urge to return and give her what we both wanted… Except would she want me to fuck her mouth, quim, or ass? I wanted to give her my knot in all three. How could I have left her when she smelt needy and ready for an alpha’s knot? It was cruel to her, and torture for me.

Viola Hartwell. I looked up to the drawing room window and saw her looking up at the clouds. An unattainable ideal for any alpha. And for me a temptation I had rejected.

She was more than I could have hoped for. More than I could have longed for. She put me in danger more than her twin. For Viola, I was feral. I could grasp control of myself with Hartwell. She was an alpha. In Viola were all my ideals and requirements in a wife—and ones I’d not realised I wanted. But she had one quality I could not discount: Viola tempted me into taking her as my mate. The way she had so gently bared her neck for me, and I’d been on the brink of mate-marking her there. Unlike with the countess, I lacked the control to rut Viola and not mark her then and there. Her scent so strong I knew that even though she wasn’t in her heat the mark would have taken. Then where would I be? In a marriage with a mate and no guarantee I wouldn’t turn as jealous as my father had. Jealous to the point of challenging alphas if they dared look on my mate? I would not hate her as my father had hated my mother. But Viola deserved a mate of her choosing rather than a feral alpha. I owed Hartwell that much if I married her sister. Worse still, it didn’t change my feelings for either of them. Could I take them both? I was hard from the fantasy of the twins in the duchess’ nest—easily the most erotic things I’d ever imagined. Twin perfections. Who would refuse that?

And yet the passionless marriage to the countess put me on edge. If I subjected myself to such a connection, would I then become my grandparents, who were married in name but mated to others? I’d not give up Hartwell. I could not. Amongst the peerage, packs were acceptable when the parentage of the heirs could not be questioned. Hartwell was a woman. She could give me children, alpha children… Except not. Alpha-alpha pairs were barren more often than not. And if my wife were to take a mate? If I married Viola in order to keep a facsimile of my secretary near, what would I do if Viola mated another? If I mated her twin? The thought of Viola near another alpha nearly had me returning to her and claiming her, ruining her on my knot, holding her close until someone discovered us and saw exactly how an alpha claimed an omega. It would be a rape and I would never do that.

No solution came to mind. None that would solve my problems and keep others safe.

“No good can come of this.”

What I had done with Viola was a betrayal of my relationship with my secretary, my Hartwell, but I could not regret it. I must do the honourable thing. I needed to marry the countess. Save her. There would be others for the Hartwell twins. An omega for Iris. An alpha for Viola. I’d give them up despite what Viola had said. I knew if our situations were reversed, she would do the right thing. Save the countess.

* * *

I passed a restless and frustrating night. No matter the number of times I jerked my stone hard cock or squeezed the life out of my knot, I returned again and again to a state of perpetual arousal that only an omega’s, only Viola’s slick coated cunt could provide. I was near to a rut and no easy lie could change how I fixated on violets and vanilla. I had to find some relief and flirted with the idea of kidnapping Viola. I could just keep her in the duchess’ nest. I didn’t need to touch her, fuck her. Just knowing she was there… Building a nest… That was a lie. I could not have her or Hartwell near with me without my near feral alpha taking over. Violet eyes were the only thing that might provide relief. Violet eyes looking up at me as lips over my cock, which I would thrust deep into a hot and willing mouth. Or violet eyes dilated in ecstasy as my knot stretched a hot and slick hole. Or violet eyes half shuttered with the bliss of too many orgasms.

As dawn approached I came to my conclusion. I could not marry the countess. I could not deny myself and my needs. Let another save the countess. It was arrogant of me to think other alphas wouldn’t be interested.

I held off for two days before I headed to Weymouth Street and demanded of Florey where my secretary was.

“Kellingham House,” was the unwelcome reply, but at least it was across the square from my own residence, from the duchess’s nest. It would suffice. “The countess is receiving alphas. My niece and mate…”

But I was off before he could finish.

The countess’ butler tried to forestall me when I arrived, but I pushed past and stormed the drawing room.

The widowed omega sat on an elegant little sofa in an equally elegant room. She could have fit into my pocket, the perfect representation of an omega. But I could not look away from where Hartwell stood by the window talking with a woman I did not recognise.

“Countess,” I bowed to my hostess.

Then I turned to my quarry, who looked pale as the tucker that spilt from a gown of cornflower blue, which set off her eyes to perfection. I knew it was Hartwell and not Viola from the little frown and disapproving shake of her head. So different from Viola’s omega instincts when I’d been with her the other day. I did not think I had beheld anything as perfect as my secretary being irritated with me. I grinned because I realised two incontrovertible facts: Hartwell was my best friend, and I was wildly, madly, deeply in love with her.

“I would talk to you before I leave. Now,” I said. Not quite a bark but I would not permit her to thwart me.

She hesitated for a moment, looked at her companion before following me out the door. A fortunate thing, for if there had been a hint of reluctance, the feral alpha inside of me would have pounced and dragged my prey from the room. Once within reach, I grabbed a slim wrist and pulled us into the nearest room, a library, the curtains thrown back to reveal a room that looked like it had not seen a soul in many months. What more proof did I need that the countess was not for me? The abandoned chamber was more than adequate for my purpose. A lair for me to press my case, and make it known I would have mine. But civility. I clung to my control, despite the fight put up by my alpha to claim, even in another’s house, what belonged to me. For now, we were alone. I must depend on every expectation of polite behaviour to hold me back. I could not scare her—if Hartwell could ever be scared. Another grin played with my lips as her frown deepened.

“I am taking you now. Hartwell, you are mine,” I spoke plainly so she would not misunderstand my meaning.

“Your Grace, you are mistaken. I belong to no one.” Her voice might tremble but the chin and eyes were all proud defiance. “I’m Viola,” she hissed.

“I know exactly who you are. You are mine.”

“Fool! You are blinded by an omega’s scent,” violet eyes flashed. I knew who those eyes belonged to because they were the eyes of the one I loved. This creature before me could stop my world with a smile or a spark of temper. She had demonstrated a knowledge of politics I wanted to nurture and encourage. I wanted to see this incredible woman before me grow and flourish. Yet, I could not allow myself to get closer. Whatever scandal might come, I could allow it to fall on my broad shoulders. But the thought of it touching my dear beloved—for that is what the owner of those violet eyes was to me—to allow even a breath of scandal to harm this perfect formation of body, mind, and heart was a knife through my chest. I could bear it, though. I had the power and the will to clear the path. But first I would have her in the duchess’ nest. Alpha or omega I would rut Hartwell in her nest as my mate and wife deserved.

“No scent could hide you from me,” I purred. “I would know it is you by looking in your eyes. Those flashing orbs which sent forth our souls to combine… See Hartwell, I turn poet for you. You enthral me.”

Those startling eyes shuttered, hiding whatever emotions were coiled and pleading to get free. The delicate throat rose and fell as she swallowed down some words before looking back into my eyes. Violet eyes, so slightly dilated that I knew we both rode the rising, tumultuous passion. Her actions had already proved as much. Yet there was sad resignation in them. My heart pulsed as if it had been dealt a blow it would never recover from.

“Did you speak with Viola?” I asked, suddenly afraid the twins had revealed all to each other. “So much has changed since then. I should have come to you sooner. The very moment I knew my mind…”

“What is’t you want, Your Grace? Did you not tell Viola you must marry the countess. What need to speak with me except to tell me to leave and never see you again?” Her nostrils flared, and I relished how her violet eyes dilated when she realised exactly how aroused I was.

“Whatever was said to Viola about you, about the countess—ignore. I will have you. You are mine. Understood?” I growled.

“I…” she began. That delicate flush I’d become so painfully aware of in the past weeks swept from fair cheeks to what was exposed of her chest. “You cannot want me… Not forever.”

“Oh, but I do,” I would not permit dissent. I was an alpha and I would have what was mine. “You might be too young for me. Eighteen. But it won’t stop me.”

“I shall turn twenty this year, my lord,” she choked out the interruption. “Why would you think I am seventeen!”

“Truly?” I chuckled, amused and distracted by the way Hartwell would interrupt me with such suppressed outrage. This was why she was so much more mine than any other. This challenging, amazing creature belonged to me, body, mind, and soul.

“I would not lie to you about my age when the information is readily available. Ask… You cannot mean what you said. You cannot. That you would know me like… I cannot believe you. You are… There are omegas… You are responding to Viola’s scent—”

I would not let her continue like this. I had spent weeks, days, and nights with her. Everything in my being told me to rut and mate Hartwell. But to force myself on her, in the house of the omega I’d asked her to woo in my name! I was infamous enough for telling her of my passion in such an abrupt manner. To go further would be intolerable. The worst possible insult to her.  Still, the things we’d done. The kiss. The way that mouth had licked up my spend. How she’d taken me into her mouth...

“Not your sister. I can count on a single hand the number of times I have been in her presence. Once, once I have been in her company and that two days ago. I am wild for you, Hartwell. Do you understand me? I was wrong to tell Viola I would not see you again. I have been tormented these past days. But it is no struggle to put duty aside when you are by my side.”

A sound caught in her throat.

“Viola smells delicious, but when I see her, I am not seeing her but gazing upon you in my mind. Wishing it was you I was with.”

Dark lashes fluttered closed contrasting to the porcelain skin.

“Please stop, Your Grace… Syon, can you not see what you do to me?” she begged. I saw tears gather and with reckless instinct bent my head so I could kiss them away. A whimper escaped. I rested my forehead on hers and breathed in deep. There it was, beneath the heady scent of violets and vanilla, the thing that made her mine. Mine irrevocably and for all time. “Please.”

This time she spoke “please” as a supplication I could not ignore.

My lips travelled along her brow, across cheeks that were faintly seasoned with salty tears I wished away with all my heart. I hesitated. To kiss? Not to kiss? I did not wish to take more than was freely given. While I felt trapped with heady need and indecision, lips reached up and brushed mine.

The kiss was chaste but did not stay so for long, for once I had tasted, I was a man starved for more. My hands, so carefully held to my side, sprang up to pull my dear beloved into my embrace. The alpha in me rode me hard, urging me to press forward, gain entrance to this temple of temptation. Despite how my body ached from arousal, how my cock pressed hot and hard against my breaches, I held back. This moment, too precious to ruin by rushing us. There would be years of frenzied fucking, but only one first time. I would tease it out as long as possible. It didn’t stop the growl from echoing in my chest to feel her retreat and step away from me until once again we were at a respectable distance.

“I cannot do this.” She sounded physically pained. “Syon… Please. Take the choice from me.”

The plea was all I needed, and I backed us until she was pressed against the wall and I could fit myself firmly against her body, grinding my erection against too many layers of skirts. Hands clutched my arms as we renewed the kiss, more fervent this time. I demanded entry to her hot wet mouth that tasted too right. I did not believe I could taste anything else again but find it lacking. At first tentative, she became bolder. Soon the kiss turned wild as we battled for dominance. She would never back down or show fear even after the briefest of hesitations. Around us, our scents built and heightened, until I knew of nothing but my alpha need and that precious violets and vanilla paired like a fine wine. A scent I desired to lick from every inch of her skin.

I trailed kisses across her neck until I found where her scent was strongest. Her mating gland was normally covered by her poorly tied cravats, but in a gown, it was exposed. A mating gland. Of course, my Hartwell would go beyond the bounds of nature and possess something that should only be found on an omega. I dared to bite, not hard enough to break the skin and bind us forever together, but the desperate moan nearly broke my resolve. My hands wandered to the cinched waist and along the lithe back, down again to cup the perfect orbs of her bottom, so much fuller than I could imagine. I pulled her tight against me, regretting the fabric keeping us apart. And with each caress, the most intoxicating sounds tumbled forth. Half expressed thoughts and mumbled words as we rode this mad passion together.

“I need to be inside you,” I growled into the mating gland. “I shall go mad if I cannot have you.”

“Wait!” small hands pushed at me, forcing me back. Only surprise allowed her to succeed. “We cannot. Not here. What madness has overcome… You will never forgive me. What was I thinking? Your Grace—“

“Syon. You will call me Syon,” I murmured into her mating gland, running my teeth along the thin skin. The sweet toxin within would flare hot when I bit and infect me with her very essence. In return, she’d be left with a scar to proclaim to all that she was mine. So damned perfect that she could be all in one.

“Syon. Please. You are tipping into rut. I can smell it. We cannot. Not here… The consequences.”

“Damn the consequences,” I reached to pull up the skirts I so desperately wanted to burn. My fingers barely touched a thigh covered in a silk stocking when she gripped my wrist. I could have forced it. Broken free of her hold but...

“Stop,” Hartwell begged. “We cannot. Please.”

Then I noticed how bitter and distressed her scent had become. No alpha, however lost in their instincts, could let their mate—my future mate, because as yet there was no mating bite for me to lick and worry with my teeth until we truly were mindless—be in distress like this. Soon, though. Soon, she would be mine.

“Please. I must… I must tell you—“

Whatever she wished to tell me was cut off by the knocking on the door. “My apologies, there is someone here for Miss Hartwell…”

We froze. Some beta servant had come upon us. Broken through the spell of lust that held us both enthralled.

“I shall be out in a moment,” Hartwell’s voice was harsh.

I looked down. Her dark hair was mauled making her look ravished. I wanted her to be ravished. Fucked deep into the duchess’s nest. We could be there in moments. But I must shut up that feral instinct for I should not force my mate when she was so distressed. I could wait a few more moments as the end was a foregone conclusion.

“There is a mirror. Your hair,” I motioned to the coiffure I was certain she would not be able to fix without a maid. I wanted to pull it apart, let it fall against bare skin so that everyone knew what we’d been doing.

“Who helps you with your hair?” I could not help but ask. It was an attempt to fill the pregnant silence and distract me from air heavy with the scent of slick. Slick? I pushed the thought away, my mind must be playing tricks on me. I watched with wonder as deft fingers smoothed the hair.

“No one. Styles have altered so there isn’t much to do. My curls are impossible to manage anyway. Do not look at me like that, Syon,” she snapped. Our eyes met in the mirror. Mine burned with passion. Hers showed little of her thoughts, but the slight crease between her brows was eloquent. She was thinking hard. “We cannot do this again. Not like this. Syon, you know I speak the truth. To… To continue as we have is madness. It will ruin us both. And I… I am nothing, but there is so much for you to lose. And I could not let that… I…”

“You are all I have to lose,” I growled. “You think that everything is so complex. You would complicate the natural act of breathing if you put your mind to it. The fact remains, I am an alpha. A strong, powerful one. One who can exert control over his instincts. For if I wished, I could take you now. You know that is within my power. Yet I exert restraint. Hold myself back as a sign of my respect, my regard. But make no mistake, you are mine. For as strong as I might be, even the smallest look from you makes me weak”.

She groaned. I grinned. There was a special kind of torture in knowing her well enough to recognise when she knew I’d won an argument. It made me love her more.

“I do not think it is simple! I know, better than you, how complicated…” she spun about and in her anger took a step and then another closer to me until she could prod my chest with a finger. The fierceness in her look so enchanted me when contrasted to her much smaller size. “Stop looking at me like that.”

“I will look at you how I choose,” I clasped the hand poking my chest and held it above my heart.

“Let me go, Syon. Let me go. Leave for Ayleigh just as you planned. You say I am too young, very well. But leave now. Forget me. I will endeavour to do the same. You will regret this. Perhaps not at once, but once your ardour cooled? Marry Olivia. She will make you a good duchess. Give you alpha children and not complicate your life.”

“Have you not been listening to what I have said? However you are, you are mine. Damn the dukedom. Why should I care for its future?”

A whine escaped her and without meaning to, I reached up to place a comforting hand about her throat. The racing pulse smoothed out, and I breathed a sigh of relief. She might reject me with words, but her body responded to mine perfectly. Just like it had every other time I chose to touch her as an alpha would touch his mate.

“I will let you go this time on one condition,” I purred.

She nodded.

“If I ever wish to see you again, you will permit it.”

“I—”

“Do not deny me this,” I tightened my grip and felt her pulse flare.

“Syon, I would not deny you anything that is in my power to give you,” she purred and stroked her hand over mine, which relaxed, mollified by her words. “But no one, not alpha, beta, or omega, can promise the—”

“You deny me now?” I growled.

“Because I must. Anything else… It would dishonour you and me. I must go.”

“Say your goodbyes, then return to me.”

She gave a defiant shake of her head and slipped back into the hall. I followed my Hartwell, who sought to rebel against me. I would permit her to return to the drawing room without interference.

Then we would go to the duchess’ nest.

Then I would speak to her mother.

Then she would be mine in the eyes of the law.