Savage Prince by Alison Aimes
29
“Do you like it?”
Tess was surprised Maxheim even had to ask.
She stared down at the decadent dessert. “It’s gorgeous.”
Another rotation had passed and with it arrived another over-the-top indulgence from her Alpha that touched her more than she could express.
He truly seemed intent on making up for all she’d missed out on as a slave. This time with a stunning, three-tier high cake covered in shimmering silver frosting. One that looked almost as good as the male himself, the light from the flickering candles on the cake dancing lovingly across the muscles encased in his tight, long-sleeved shirt and low-slung trousers.
He was so beautiful. So precious to her. So wonderfully good to her. So sexy she could still barely breathe when she looked at him.
And yet . . . despite all his incredible generosity and thoughtfulness, she couldn’t help but feel as if the strands of her beautiful dream were unraveling.
The alarms had gone off two more times since her arrival three rotations ago.
No intruder had shown up in her room and no one had been caught entering the compound, but someone was either deliberately causing upheaval or, more likely, testing the Skolov’s defense systems for weaknesses.
“Can you guess the occasion?” Maxheim’s question pulled her back to the present as he sat in one of the chairs and then pulled her on his lap. He positioned her sideways, her legs draped over his thick thighs while her right side pressed against his solid chest, a source of security and shelter as always.
Casting her worries aside, she tried to think of a good answer to his question but came up blank. “You didn’t kill either Alexi or Damien today?”
He laughed. He’d worked through dinner but found her afterward, his expression serious as he’d swept her up from the dining table with little more than a grunt for the rest of his family before dragging her off.
So, the sound of his laughter now—and the fact that she’d been the one to cause it—made her doubly happy.
“Not strangling one of my brothers is worthy of celebration, but no.” His expression sobered. “You never got to commemorate the rotation you were born. We’re starting now.”
Pleasure whispered through her. “I don’t even know when it really is,” she confessed.
“I know. Which is why I thought we could celebrate it alongside your arrival here.” He nuzzled the hollow of her throat while one hand landed high on her thigh and held her in place. “Without that rotation, without your mother, I would never have found you. So, it needs to be honored.”
He really was so sweet, even now, with everything piling up on him. And to think of her mother too . . .
“Thank you. I love the idea.” Her gaze bounced from the cake to his beautiful face to her stunning ice castle sculpture spinning slowly as it floated on the bookshelf in its place of prominence.
She didn’t know she could be this happy.
And worried.
Rotation three and still no sign of Byrel. The Council was growing more impatient.
And Maxheim . . . she could sense his growing concern, and yet he refused to discuss it with her. The more she pushed, the more he shut down. In fact, he appeared to want to pretend as if they had no worries at all.
Except while she slept, he only worked harder, grew a little more focused, disciplined.
Unless he was rutting and knotting her.
Then he was ferocious. Almost out of control. As if that was the only time he’d let his guard down.
She didn’t know how to soothe him.
He’d helped her to feel so much less alone. She wanted to do that for him too.
But instead of growing closer and their bond solidifying, it seemed stuck at an impasse. Like them.
No matter how much she willed the fated-mate designs on her wrists and throat to close, or told herself to trust her instincts, she could not make them darken or lengthen since that visit to the doctor.
Perhaps because her instinct was telling her something she didn’t want to hear?
Or perhaps it was the comms from Rav that still rested in the pocket of her cloak. It hung in the closet, only a few steps away, tormenting her all the while with questions of what if?
“Make a wish.” Maxheim dragged the cake closer. “Then, blow out the candles. It’s a tradition on Abzal.”
She liked it. There was nothing like that in the Federation cities, as if the citizens there already knew better than to hope. But here, with Maxheim, anything felt possible.
If he’d only let her in.
She made her wish and then blew the candles out. A sweet, smoky scent filled the air. She seized her chance to make her wish come true, her hands toying with the edges of the plate he’d placed in front of her. “Do you celebrate your birthday every planetary rotation too?”
“No. I used to plan something for my brothers and sister when they were young, but then they got older and I got busy, and . . .” he trailed off, his expression thoughtful. “After a while, each year passing just seemed like one more reminder that some in my family would never grow older.”
Her palm covered the hand he still rested on her thigh. “You missed the twins.”
“Yes, but there was little time to grieve. All my energy went into surviving and figuring out how to keep from losing anyone else.”
“Which you did so well.” She squeezed his fingers. “How did you manage it?”
He shook his head. “Not easily. When we were young, we hid out in the mountains, but we knew we couldn’t stay there forever. Nikolai and I spent a lot of time plotting and planning, and I worked on my inventions . . . Even then, I was good with my hands.” He winked at her once more.
And this time, she was comfortable enough with him to return his mischievous smile and agree, her fingertip tracing the rise and fall of his knuckles. “You really are. Extraordinarily good.”
His gaze heated. Her skin tightened in response.
But she was not yet ready to stop learning more about this fascinating male who gave her so much and yet continued to withhold even more.
So, she asked, “Was it those inventions which helped you to build up the Skolov dynasty?”
“Yes. We used a poxy I’d made to build weapons stronger and lighter than anyone else’s and to build structures like the Skolov compound. Both proved to be in great demand and made us rich. They weren’t the only factors that got the Skolovs out of those mountain caves and made us into a force to be reckoned with, but they helped.”
He was being modest. She knew it. His work had been critical to his family’s survival and success.
“And yet,” she studied him, “you don’t feel like it was enough.”
He looked away, the light from the chandelier flickering over the grim lines etched in the corners of his mouth.
He was silent for so long she feared she’d pushed too far and that he wouldn’t answer, but finally, he did. “It was my choice not to take the twins with me the rotation they were stolen from their crib. Nikolai wanted me to, but I was going to the ice slush sector to poke through the trash for anything useful. I already had to bring the others. Alexi and Damien were being such pains in the ass. I just wanted . . . I don’t know . . .” He shifted beneath her, his hand rising to toy with the ends of her hair, curling a strand around his finger. “A little time to slack off. I thought if I left the twins home, I could send the others off on their own for a short while and get some time to myself.”
“That seems very normal.”
“I should have known better. Our parents had always been next to useless. Our father was always off fighting or rutting, and our mother was concerned only with herself and securing her ambitions. She wasn’t a bad female, but she wasn’t a great mother. It was always up to me and Nikolai to keep everyone alive. Except, that rotation I failed in my duty.”
Her chest hurt for him. “You’ve been trying to make up for it ever since.”
He shrugged. “Maybe.”
She understood regret. “You couldn’t have known.”
“I should have. I’ve always known my siblings were safest with me.” He rubbed the strands of her hair between his fingertips. “That no one would watch over them as well as I could.”
And now he thought the same about her. No wonder he worked so tirelessly. Tried so hard to maintain control. He was such a fierce protector. Even as a child, the impulse had beat within his blood—and led him to hold himself to a standard no one else ever would.
“It’s easy to look back and wonder,” she said at last. “You made a choice that rotation that will always haunt you, but think of all the other ones you’ve made that led to better outcomes. The decision to leave the safety of the mountain caves and try to make something of yourself. The choice to work with Nikolai to build this compound. All the times you trusted your instincts, and it led you to success.” She paused. “The rotation you came to that auction and found me.”
The hand that had been toying with her hand stilled.
His gaze heated. A low rumbled purr erupted from his chest. “That is one decision I will never regret.”
“Same.” Her heart beat faster, the need and tenderness in his gaze still hard sometimes for her to accept was possible for someone like him to feel for someone like her. But it was there. And, despite what Rav had said, it was real. “Mistakes get made along the way, but they should never be allowed to obliterate all the good.”
The hand on her thigh tightened. “You are as wise as you are beautiful.” He pressed his mouth to her ear. “What did you wish for, omega? I have an urge to ensure that it, and every craving you ever have, comes true.”
Touched, she whispered the answer to his question, too afraid to say the words too loud and jinx herself forever. “I wished for the chance for us to be together. Always.”
He wrapped his arm around her and held her to him. “I am going to make sure of that.”
Her breath stuttered in and out of her lungs. She wanted it so badly, but . . .
“I made a wish too.” He pulled back. “One that involves a lot of frosting and licking.”
Just like that, he was back to teasing her, his eyes light and unclouded—as if he expected her to pretend right alongside him that she couldn’t sense the seething tension he’d pushed down deep. But her gift knew. And her heart worried.
Except he knew the perfect distraction.
He ran a finger through the frosting on the cake and then placed the tip against her mouth. “Open.”
Unable to deny him anything, she did.
His thick finger dipped inside, the sweetness blending with the force of his will. Her thighs pressed together, the taste of him making her hungry for more. She sucked.
He groaned, his golden eyes streaking red. Her body responded, heat pooling low in her belly.
His other hand rose, smearing frosting on the tops of her breasts. Her nipples peaked, aching for his touch there too.
Turning in his lap, she straddled him, grinding against the bulge between his thighs. Because as much as she wished otherwise, if this was all they could have, she would make sure she had no more regrets. That she seized every moment she could.
“Show me this wish of yours, Alpha.” She offered up her body like a feast. “If I could make them all come true, I would.”
“You do. Every rotation.” Fangs flashing, he bowed his head, his tongue trailing across her skin as he licked at the frosting.
His head descended lower, the tip of his tongue dipping between the valley of her breasts before he circled a nipple.
She moaned.
He added more frosting, smearing it across the swells of her breasts, the sticky frosting cool against her skin. Then the warmth of his mouth closed around her flesh once more, and her concentration shattered.
Her fingers came up to tangle in his dark hair and hold her to him.
He sucked. Nipped. Devoured. Until she was squirming and near to coming from the pleasure of his mouth alone.
“Alpha, please.” She slid her hand between them to grip the base of his cock.
That was all it took.
In the next instant, she was lifted, his immense strength on display as he stood, her body still wrapped around him, the flat of his tongue working her stiff nipple.
He stalked toward the bed, his hands gripping her ass.
She was in such a haze of need, it took her lust-drenched brain a second to process what was about to happen. “Wait! Not the nest.”
He froze. Growled low again, only this time it was not a happy sound.
“Please, Alpha. I’m covered in frosting. It’s going to get all over the beautiful furs you gave me.”
“You and your obsession with dirt.” He scraped his fangs along the curve of her breast. “I like you dirty. Filthy, in fact.”
Her clit throbbed at his suggestive words. “You’re right. I just . . .” she tried to explain. “I’ve just never had nice things of my own before. And each one is a gift from you. That . . . that makes them precious to me.”
He sucked down a harsh breath.
In the next heartbeat, he swiveled away from the bed and headed across the length of the room.
She bounced in his arms. “Where are we going?”
He growled low. “Somewhere I can show you just how precious you are to me.”
He entered their bathroom.
Excitement flowed through her.
It turned out to be a great new plan.
But, of course, it was. Maxheim was amazing at making plans—and following-through.
Especially when he used his hand and tongue to clean every drop of frosting from her skin—and then, with the water cascading over them both, pressed her against the shower wall, pinned her arms above her head, and fucked and knotted her until she was stickier and filthier than when they began.
It was the best birthday celebration she’d never imagined.