Savage Prince by Alison Aimes

6

Maxheim had been so close to pulling himself back under control—until she’d pulled his weapon on him and stared at him with such defiance.

Game over.

The taste of her flooded his senses, wild, sweet, addictive.

He’d never sampled anything like her. Sex, sin, and honey, all in one delicious bundle.

Every instinct shouted for him to claim her. To rut and knot her until he’d fucked the defiance right out of her.

He fought to rein himself in. He was a fucking ice-cold strategist. He planned, plotted, strategized. He didn’t lose it or forget duty and mission because of one tiny omega. So, why the hells couldn’t he stop kissing her?

Especially when the bitter tang of her fear mingled with her natural, luscious flavors on his tongue.

She was afraid.

He didn’t like it.

She believed she was about to be brutalized, maybe even killed, for daring to point a weapon at him. Nor was her dread unwarranted. After all the ugliness she had likely experienced as an omega slave, she would expect the worst. Discipline was a way of life in Anarcheim, violence as natural as breathing, and most Alphas met aggression with greater hostility, especially when it came to those who were weaker.

But he wasn’t most Alphas.

And while he wanted this omega’s compliance, he didn’t want her terror.

But words would only confuse.

There was really only one way for her to understand who she was dealing with and what made him different from all the rest: show her his worst and let her see for herself that it was nowhere near as bad as she imagined.

Calling forth every bit of restraint, he tore his mouth from hers and extracted the weapon from her grip. “Time to establish some ground rules.”

“No!” She was so light. Dragging her with him toward the center of the room was no hardship, even as she thrashed and fought.

Damn, he liked her spirit.

Hooking his heel around the only upright chair left in the room, he commandeered it, dragging her over his thighs as he sat.

His cock went hard as stone.

She was so gorgeous, all lush curves and shimmery skin.

He positioned her on her stomach, her hair falling into her face.

“No.” She struggled to use her bound hands as leverage, but the floor was too far away.

Good. He wanted her to rely on him entirely.

“I’m not yours to discipline.” She continued her futile struggles.

“Wrong.” Unable to resist, he ran a hand along her silky, smooth skin, following the curve of her spine.

She was so soft. So fragile. He could hardly believe this small female was the cause of all the death and destruction related to the Brotherhood killings. It floored him to think she’d brought down handfuls of Alpha Brothers three times her size.

She might be tiny, but her will was not.

Neither was the force of her gift.

Keeping her was going to cause more mess and complication than he would have liked, but he’d figure it out. Not having his dick stuffed inside her tight little pussy was no longer an option. He just needed the violet-eyed omega to accommodate herself to her new circumstances so he could get on with business as usual.

He was already feeling better about his ability to handle the situation to his liking as his hand slid beneath her belly and lifted her bottom higher. “You don’t belong to Aldar anymore. You belong to me.”

“I don’t wish to belong to either of you!”

“Wrong answer.” Crack. He was careful to modulate his strength, giving her no more than a light tap. Hurting her was the last thing he wanted.

But he did want her thinking long and hard before she pointed a weapon at him or anyone in his world again. Such a rash act could get her in big trouble. And, now that he decided to take her as his, his primary objective was to ensure that she followed his rules and remained safe.

Crack.“You will never take such a risk again, going up against an Alpha three times your size. It’s too dangerous.”

“I’ve done it before and come out on top.”

Her blatant defiance surprised him. Crack. “You will submit.”

But instead of weeping or agreeing, she snarled back. “Aldar couldn’t break me. You won’t, either.”

He frowned. As a slave, she must have learned you fought back or crumbled. She thought there was no other way. He’d have to show her differently. “I’m not interested in breaking you. But you will behave.”

Control was essential.

He spanked her again.

Fighting, panting, she struggled to rear upward.

Her puny efforts to resist were easy to overpower . . . but the same could not be said of her overall effect.

Because he might have set out to prove he was the one in control, but with every slap of his palm against her flesh, his self-mastery frayed a little more.

Precum leaked from his dick as his shaft swelled against his unlaced trousers.

Sweat pooled down his back.

With a low curse, he realized he’d been a little too quick to assume he had a firm handle on the situation.

The need to come to an understanding was becoming less important as the roar of rut drowned everything else out and the urge to fuck her right here, right now, became the only rallying call he heard.

* * *

Crack.Tess shrieked in fury, kicking her legs and wiggling in a futile effort to escape the Alpha’s palm.

None of his strikes were beyond her ability to bear. The Alpha was clearly holding back. Compared to the whippings she’d received, this was nothing.

But her powerlessness was still hard to take. Her reaction to his handling even more so.

She was a slave. She was used to pain. To helplessness. But this was different.

Aldar had always had his guards use the lash or collar to punish her. It hurt more, but a part of her still wished for it now.

Skolov’s discipline was too personal and intimate.

Each slap jolted her forward, sending her nipples pebbling as they rubbed against the smooth leather of his trousers. Her clit swelled while her folds turned slick.

Her body loved the way he was touching her.

She was enslaved as never before, her instincts shrieking at her to adjust, to please, to do whatever this Alpha commanded of her.

Which might not have been so terrible—except for the fact that this was not just some Alpha here to claim and rescue her and make her his. This male was Skolov royalty and Brotherhood, and therefore a threat to her own life and everything she held dear.

Except her body didn’t seem to care.

She trapped in a moan.

Crack. “Mine.”

“No!” She fought herself as much as him.

Crack. “This juicy little slit says differently.”

Shame slammed through her. He knew.

“Whoever the fuck Aldar and Byrel were to you, they are no longer.”

Crack. “You will accept your new position.”

Crack. “You will submit.”

On the next slap, his fingers dipped lower to brush her folds.

She fought not to spread her legs wide.

“Do you understand me, omega?” His hand hovered just above her stinging bottom. “Do you understand your new ground rules?”

Her needy response left her raw. Exposed in a way she hated.

“Stop. Please.” Falling limp over his thigh, she tried to project surrender. “I-I understand your rules.”

Didn’t mean she would follow them, but she understood.

He grunted, and she worried he’d intuited her resistance.

Breathless, she remained still. Her bottom throbbed. Her core, too. Strangely, her wrists and throat did as well.

But it was her soul that felt rawest of all.

She didn’t know what it meant that he hadn’t actually inflicted any lasting damage to her body, but it left her off-kilter, uncertain what to think of the male she’d been so sure was the worst of the Alphas.

The silence stretched.

Her heart beat fast as she awaited his verdict. Had she said enough to appease him?

Her skin prickled.

She felt the heat of his stare like a tangible caress.

The back of her thighs tingled. Her clit ached.

“Fuck.” His cock swelled beneath her belly, and she realized why he hadn’t spoken before.

She wasn’t the only one affected by his discipline.

Like her, he was struggling to keep control. She could sense how hot it made him to see her over his knee. Feel the wild need that burn in his veins as a tug-of-war raged inside him.

“Look at you.” His voice was thick with lust. “Primed and ready for my cock.”

Her breathing hitched. She didn’t understand this strange connection. Or her desire to please him. But it was there.

And it was suddenly irresistible.

She rubbed herself against his thigh. “P-Please.”

He broke, like the snap of a branch.

Her resistance fractured too.

The omega heat consumed her.

His head dropped back in a roar.

With a low growl, his hand cupped her pussy. “Mine.” His voice was a low rasp. “Mine to fuck. Mine to use. Mine to please.”

She mewled.

The rough pad of his finger ghosted over her clit. “Spread.”

She hurried to obey. It felt so good. Too good. His filthy words pleased her so much.

She’d always hated the way the other Alphas commanded her and the other omegas. But not this time.

Her eyes sunk shut as his arm pumped between her thighs, the bands at his wrist rubbing against her sensitive skin as his rough fingers delved between her folds to toy with her clit. Fast, then slow. Rough, then gentle.

All the reward she could ever want.

Pleasure sparked from her core to the tips of her fingers. Her nipples ached. Her throat and wrists too. Pressure built inside her. Slick dripped.

Strangely, she didn’t feel taken over. Only pleasured. Cherished.

“Wider.” His other hand tangled in her hair, arching her back and locking her in place.

She complied.

“Good girl.” He worked her harder, the rapture between her legs a golden surging wave that crested higher and higher. Gods, she was going to . . .

Without warning, his finger stilled against her clit. She screeched in protest.

Crack.“How I want. When I want.”

More slick dripped from her, her omega instincts elated at his show of dominance. “Yes, Alpha.”

Grunting in approval, he lifted her off his thighs. In the next heartbeat, she hovered above his cock, her legs straddling him, her bound wrists pressed to his chest, right by his pounding heart.

His nostrils flared. “They’ll be no stopping this time. You are mine.”

She whimpered.

His blood-red gaze locked with hers.

He pulled her down onto his shaft, impaling her without finesse or remorse.

She moaned. Her head fell back as she was stretched and claimed.

There was pain. Just like before. But this time she knew what to expect. This time, she was so needy, she welcomed it.

She never wanted him to stop, his possession accompanied by that same incredible fullness as before.

She was desperate to move, to feel him stretch her wider.

Except he wasn’t moving. Why wasn’t he moving?

Writhing against him, she begged. “Please, Alpha.”

That was all it took.

With a roar, he let loose. One hand gripped the edge of the chair as the other palmed her ass, his hips lifting off the seat as he punched upward, her small body bouncing as he hammered into her.

Pure ecstasy.

His pelvis slapped her clit while his balls smacked against her bottom, and the swelling knot at the base of his cock hit an angle that made her even wetter.

“Fuck, yes.” He moved faster.

“Alpha.” She screamed his title.

“Maxheim,” he snarled.

“Yes! Maxheim, yes.” She quivered against him.

He tunneled deeper.

“Come for me, Tesstala. Come for me, now.”

Her name, issued in that commanding tone, hurtled her over the edge.

Pleasure exploded through every cell.

She soared—and then flew even higher as he came as well.

Molten liquid spilled inside her as her walls squeezed him tight and white-hot satisfaction flooded through her.

His knot swelled to full size. The friction set her off again.

Her channel stretched to near pain as his knot locked them together, her body surrendering as she clamped down tight and climaxed over and over on his cock. The rough grip of his hand against her ass and the throb of his rod inside her the only anchors that kept her from floating away altogether.

How many times had she wished for such peace and freedom only to find it here in this dirty fuck den with a brutal Alpha criminal? Fate was strange, indeed.

She had no idea how much time passed before the ripples of pleasure subsided, the intense aftershocks ended, and she came back to herself, her channel now sticky and filled with cum.

Freed from the heat, she took in several little details at once: the crinkle of his hair against her thighs, the hard heat of his chest against her breasts, and the soreness of her pussy.

Gods, she’d actually done it.

She’d allowed herself to be used, fucked, and knotted like an omega whore. Nor had she simply stoically endured or fought tooth and nail, she’d actively and eagerly participated.

I screamed his name.

Cringing inside, she looked upward to find his gaze locked on her, his expression unreadable.

Tears gathered in her eyes.

She wasn’t sure where they came from. Of all the things she’d suffered in her life, this was far from the worst.

Still, her chest was tight, her throat thick, breathing difficult.

She was an omega. She knew submission and surrender were a part of her life and her nature, but she’d never believed herself capable of capitulating her will to someone out to use her and hurt her friends.

It was the worst kind of betrayal, and she’d done it to herself.

Without warning, Skolov withdrew, his knot still just swollen enough to drag against her channel as he pulled out of her.

The world spun.

She was lifted and set on her feet between the Alpha’s spread thighs.

A crackling sounded close by.

It took a breathless moment to register it wasn’t her heart surging into overdrive, but the comms on his wrist.

It buzzed again.

He ignored it.

His hands gripped her shoulders. Even while sitting, his head was still a touch above hers. “Are you . . . crying?”

“No.” She didn’t owe him a damn thing. Especially the truth.

“Don’t lie to me.” His hand gripped her chin. “Was I too rough?”

“No.” The truth only made her eyes fill more. He hadn’t been too rough. She’d loved his ferocity. Relished his dominance. How twisted was that?

He swallowed hard, his cold eyes no longer so cold. “I . . . hells.” A longer pause. “I don’t like your tears. You will not cry again.”

A claw slashed forward. The binds at her wrists fell away.

Wary of this sudden shift, she rubbed at her wrists. “That’s not up to you.”

Even Aldar and the guards hadn’t made that demand. They’d liked her tears. Which was why she rarely allowed herself the release.

But something about this damned male was turning everything upside down.

He blew out a breath. “My control around you is shit.”

Her eyes went wide.

He didn’t seem like the kind to make such an admission easily.

“I thought Nikolai acted like a fool when he met Dahlia, but I’m behaving even worse. I will speak with the doc.” He nodded as if he’d suddenly found the answer to all life’s questions. “Yes, that’s it. He’ll know how to fix this.”

His stare dropped to her wrists.

She looked too. Only to gasp in shock.

The binds were gone, but new marks had formed on her skin. Not the usual raised red welts, but faint golden bands that formed a light line on the back of each wrist. Exactly where they throbbed.

Just like the sensation at her throat.

Her hands flew to her neck. Was there a faint golden line there too?

The thick leather bands around the Alpha’s wrists prevented her from seeing if he had them as well.

But even without that proof, there was no denying hers.

Her breath came hard and fast. Oh, gods. No wonder everything was so different between them.

The suspicion she had been trying to deny blossomed into full-fledged certainty. She was his fated mate.

The marks on her body were an undeniable indicator that she was the best genetic incubator for this particular Alpha to produce strong offspring. But most Alphas, selfish to the core, did not consider that outcome worth the individual cost they were forced to pay. They detested the permanence of such a bond as well as the risks to their own autonomy and independence and the strange, unwieldy emotions that often erupted when in the presence of an omega-fated mate. As a result, most Alphas actively avoided such entanglements.

So why was this particular Alpha so intent on keeping her? He must want the information about Rav and Aldar very badly, indeed.

“It should be darker and thicker.” Skolov studied her wrists and throats, the V between his eyes deepening. “Yours are barely visible and less than a thumb nail long. I doubt anyone would even notice them if they didn’t know to look.” His scowl deepened. “I will ask the doc how to change that. We can always use a brand.”

Her mouth went dry.

The comms at his wrist crackled once more, drawing his attention.

Thank the gods.

“Stay.” Releasing his hold on her, he slammed a finger to his comms. “I’m here.”

She wrapped her arms around herself.

He took the moment to lace up his pants. No easy task since he’d sliced through them with his claws during the heat of rut.

She wished for her covering as well. It wasn’t much, but it was still better than being naked.

The torn red fabric lay on the floor within reach. Except he’d told her to stay, and he wasn’t the kind of male to disobey—at least not while he was within arm’s length.

“Maxheim? What in the hells?” The shout that emerged from the comms was deafening. “We’ve been trying to reach you. Why didn’t you answer?”