18

corentin

"HE WAS RIGHT in the middle of taking her anal virginity when I left," Nikolai was saying to me as we climbed the steps.

I grimaced a little at that.

He glanced at me over his shoulder. "Well, I want you to be prepared, all right? It's going to be like that."

"You're acting like I want to watch this," I muttered.

"Well, you showed up, didn't you?" He raised his eyebrows at me.

He kind of had me there. But, fuck, the thought of watching her with another man made me feel a little queasy. Just the thought made me crazy jealous, and I was voluntarily going to watch it happen.

On the other hand, I was turned on by the entire idea of it, very turned on. Hell, just knowing what I was going to be walking in on, when I drove up to the castle, I'd been all knotted up for it. I'd had a knot for a while now. Maybe, if I was honest, when I saw her coming out of the cathedral on his arm, the two of them together, maybe that had gotten me going.

It was all kinds of fucked up, that was for sure.

I was apprehensive but excited in some way.

"If you try to hurt him, I'll have to stop you," said Nikolai. "Don't do that."

I swallowed. "You're sure you could stop me."

"I admit, I'm out of practice," he said. "It's been too long inside the high walls, on the soft beds with the soft sheets and the soft food. I'm not as vigilant as I used to be. But if there's danger, it won't matter. I still remember how to kill."

The way he said it, so casual, it chilled me.

I'd thought about killing Dmitri, thought about it, and it wasn't as if I'd never killed anyone in my life, but… not a lot, and it had been a big deal, and I still didn't feel great about it. This guy, he was something else.

He would stop me.

I would keep that in mind. I would respect that about him.

We continued up the stairs, and now, I could smell her. I could smell him, too, and some other scent, something intense and rich and delectable . "Is that Johannes?" I asked.

He turned to look at me, nodding. "That's what Dmitri does to Johannes. That's why you know you want to be his, too. That's why you're here."

I swallowed.

"Dmitri's a little rough around the edges, but he's good," said Nikolai.

"He hates me," I said in a rough voice.

"That might make it hotter," said Nikolai.

I considered. True. It might.

When we reached the door, Nikolai pushed it open, and the scent that rushed out made my eyes water and my balls go painfully tight. My cock jerked, like an orgasm, it even felt like one, but nothing came out of it.

I staggered inside, to see Aurelie wearing lacy white thigh highs and little white ribbons against her skin, framing her breasts, in Dmitri's lap.

Dmitri looked huge and wild, his golden curls going every which way, his chest covered in golden curls, one thick forearm banded around Aurelie's middle.

When he saw me, he got to his feet, and Aurelie came with him, and that was when I realized he was inside her, his knot buried inside her ass.

She gasped. "Corentin!"

"You brought him here, Nikolai?" said Dmitri, his voice hard.

Nikolai put his body between me and Dmitri. "I did," he said. "I don't know, but I think he's meant to be here. He scents…" He shook his head.

"Wait, seriously?" Johannes was on his feet too, a long black robe like the one Nikolai was wearing whisking over his nakedness. His long hair fell around his shoulders.

I looked from Dmitri to Nikolai to Johannes and I felt intimidated, not only because there were three of them and one of me but because they were so very, very attractive, these men. With the scents in the air, with my cock this hard, it was overwhelming.

"Get him out of here, Nikolai," said Dmitri.

"That what you want, omega?" said Nikolai to Aurelie. "You want him here, right?"

"Corentin, I didn't think you wanted to see this," she said to me.

"I don't," I said, but when my gaze went to the place where he was inside her body, it didn't look bad, I had to admit. "Did he already, uh, fuck you there?"

"Yeah," she said in a small voice.

"Is he going to do it again?" I said, licking my lips, gazing at them connected. "He's still, you know, knotted in you, isn't he? He's still hard. I bet he wants to fuck you again."

"Oh," said Dmitri, and now his voice was different. "Corentin, come here."

Fuck, when he gave me a direct order, it was intense. I lurched forward, and it felt very, very good to obey him.

Dmitri reached out with one hand, his voice deep and husky. "Well, well, well, that scent of yours is nice, isn't it?"

I swallowed. Hard. "I want…" I looked down at the place where his cock disappeared into Aurelie. Into the asshole of the love of my life, who he was dominating, who he was mastering, who he was fucking . My cock twitched. "I want to watch you fuck her."

He reached out and touched my face, his fingers feather-light against my jaw. "If you want me to do that, you have to admit that you're mine, Corentin."

I shuddered, all over, and then, fuck . I let out a purr.

Aurelie's eyes widened at it.

"I'm yours," I breathed, and his scent washed over me, into me, like a tidal wave. "Please. Fuck my Aurelie."

"Take your cock out, Corentin," said Dmitri in a voice like maple syrup.

I groaned, doing exactly that, pushing my pants and boxers out of the way so that he could see all of it, see my knot and my swollen head.

"Look at how decorated that is," said Dimitri with a smile, taking in my tattoo, brushing his fingertips over my jaw. "Don't touch it, understand?"

"Y-yes."

"You'll address me as alpha," said Dmtri gently. "Try again."

"Yes, alpha," I breathed.

"I'll fuck her now, and you won't touch yourself, and when I tell you to come, you'll come," he said to me.

Bullshit . I nodded anyway.

He raised his eyebrows, waiting.

"Yes, alpha," I said.

He turned to Aurelie. "How about you, sweet thing? You'd like to get ass-fucked in front of him, wouldn't you, my pretty bride? Show him who you belong to?"

She swallowed, cringing, unable to look at me. "Y-yes, alpha," she said.

Fuck, that was hot for some reason. I gasped.

"Very good, omega," he said. "Let's turn you on my knot. I want you facing me, legs spread, little pussy on display, breasts quivering as I show him how I fuck you."

"Oh, yes, please," she breathed.

It was hot as all hell watching the slow process of turning her on the knot, and when she was finally facing him, Nikolai and Johannes helped put pillows under her to prop her up so that she was both comfortable and easily on display for all of us.

Dmitri ran his hands over her body, as he knelt there, plucking playfully at her nipples, affectionately circling her clit, penetrating her pussy with one finger, all of which made her writhe and sigh and perfume.

"You see this, then, Corentin?" said Dmitri. "You see how she responds to me?"

"Yes, alpha," I breathed.

"You think she likes it when I touch her?" He was taunting me.

It was hot. "Yes, alpha," I said, meeting his gaze. Maybe it was a game. Maybe I liked playing it.

"You wanted me to fuck her. Still want to watch that?"

"Yeah," I breathed.

"Yeah?" He was disapproving. I hadn't addressed him properly.

"Yes, alpha," I said again, giving him an insouciant smile.

He started to thrust.

She threw back her hand and moaned. "Oh, I like it from this angle a lot, Dmitri, a lot ."

"Good girl," he said, teeth clenched as he drove himself in and out of her. "Take your alpha's knot, then."

"Oh, give me your knot, Dmitri," she said, sighing, obviously feeling too much pleasure to stop herself, which made me crazy hot, watching her like that.

"Never fucked her here," said Dmitri to me.

"No," I breathed.

"Never knotted her," he said.

I just grinned.

"Dmitri," said Aurelie. "Do you have to talk to him during this?"

He glanced down at her. "He likes it. I know what I'm doing, pretty girl."

She looked at me, eyes wide.

"Never knotted her," I said, grinning at her. "Nah, Dmitri, she's all yours in that way."

"Yeah," she gasped. "You're the only one who's ever knotted me."

He turned to me, his expression wild. "Say it again."

"Say what?" I panted.

"That she's all mine," he said, gaze boring into mine.

Fuck, why was that good? Why did that get me going so much? "She's yours," I panted, my balls tightening painfully.

"Alpha," he said to me, his voice also labored. He was really fucking her hard now.

She moaned. "Shit, Dmitri, so good."

"She's yours, alpha," I said, very out of breath.

"Come," he told me.

Damned if I didn't, spurting so hard that it arced all the way into her, painting a line of white over her rib cage and onto the underside of her breast.

"Good," he panted. "Very good, Corentin."

I let out a sobbing breath and spurted out the rest of my orgasm, groaning (embarrassingly) his name, which didn't quite go that far.

He pinched Aurelie's clit. "Come, omega."

She did, and he did, too.

And then there was nothing but the sounds of Nikolai and Johannes jerking themselves for several long moments until they came too.

aurelie

EVERYONE WAS ASLEEP .

Except me, and except Corentin.

I was stuck on Dmitri's cock. It was still in my ass. He'd fucked me there twice more before we all fell asleep and his knot had never gone down, like he was practically in a rut. Even now, while he was asleep, I couldn't get free of it. I wondered what kind of explosion of come it was going to be when he finally came out of me. Embarrassingly, I thought that seemed kind of hot, despite its relative grossness.

"I can't believe you came here," I said to Corentin, finally, once I was sure everyone was asleep, which I determined by whispering their names over and over again. When they didn't respond, I assumed it was all right.

"No?" he said. "Well, maybe me either." He was naked at this point. He'd come on command three times just from Dmitri's orders. He'd done whatever Dmitri told him to, which had included sucking both Johannes and Nikolai, which I had really freaking enjoyed watching happen.

"You said that you couldn't do this, that you couldn't watch me have sex with other men. You said it would wear on you."

"Probably will," he said. "But, uh, Dmitri, he's… wow."

"Yeah," I said quietly. He had never made me come on command, just from his voice. Could he? Would he be interested in even trying, considering he liked having his cock shoved inside my various holes so much? "So, it's about him?"

He laughed softly. "Jealous?"

"I…" I considered. "Sort of, maybe."

"You wanted all of us to be here for you ," he said. "You wanted to have four pussy-whipped alphas who—"

"Stop it," I said. "Don't be a dick, Corentin."

"It's funny is all," I said. "I'm supposed to accept that you want other people besides me, but if I want other people besides you —"

"That's not a problem, actually," I said. It wasn't. "That's not why I'm jealous. I'm jealous of the affect he has on you, I think, on all of you. It's not like that with him and me."

Corentin sat up, furrowing his brow. "Are you kidding, yes, it is."

"No," I said. "I don't think so. You don't even like him and he makes you come."

He shrugged. "You didn't used to like him."

"But I do now."

"Maybe after I have a bunch of orgasms with him, I'll like him too."

I scoffed.

"Anyway, what do you mean?" he said. "Why is it a thing that I don't like him and yet I can get off? Let me tell you, I can get off whether I like a person or not."

"You can, huh?" I gazed at him, across the nest. "So, how much sex have you been having without me?"

"You are jealous," he said, laughing. "I like it."

"Fuck you," I muttered.

"No, it's just kind of nice to know you care, I guess." He shrugged. "Sure as fuck didn't seem like you cared, really. You just got engaged to the prince and went about your business—"

"When you left, I went into my room for a month, and I didn't speak to anyone," I said in a cold voice.

"Yeah, yeah, poor sad little rich Aurelie—"

"No, I mean this literally," I said. "They had me institutionalized, and it was awful there, so I decided to start talking again."

He furrowed his brow, propping himself up on his elbows. "Shit."

"I lost friends during that. I lost, I don't know, something." I rearranged myself on Dmitri's knot, thinking about the person I was before all of that happened, versus the person I was now. I could never quite untangle the threads of all the things that had happened to try to determine exactly what it was that had caused the change in me. Had it been presenting as an omega? Losing Corentin? Growing up?

"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I was pretty fucked up afterwards too, you know. I didn't mean to abandon you, not exactly, I just ran."

"Where did you go?" I said.

"Nowhere," he said. "I did a lot of drugs. I was trying to numb everything out. I never wanted to give in to you. I always knew it would never work. I guess I just didn't realize how disastrous it really would be."

I sighed heavily.

"You still haven't explained," he said.

"About?"

"About why it's different with you and Dmitri than it is with me and Dmitri."

"Right," I said. "Well, any of you, really. Johannes, too. He's fighting it, and then—when he does submit—it's explosive."

"It's because we're alphas, my love," he said with a little laugh. "Submission feels different when you're an alpha."

"Right," I said. I chewed on my bottom lip. "So, what does dominance feel like when you're an omega?"

He laughed, delighted. "Seriously? Man, I'm getting hard again. How do you do that to me?"

"Do you want to be hard?" I said.

"What would I do with a hard-on when you're stuck on him, huh? Does his knot, like, never go down?"

"Stop being hard then," I said. I did it on a whim, thinking about how Nikolai could ease my arousal, and I didn't concentrate on doing it. Instead, I just assumed that if I said it, it would be true. I was arrogant and confident.

"Shit, that, uh, worked." Corentin sounded disturbed.

I laughed.

" Does he have a perpetual knot around you?"

"No, obviously, we're not constantly connected," I said. "It's looser now while he's sleeping, actually. I could get it out of me if I wanted, I think. Usually, we fall asleep joined and he wakes me up fucking me."

He groaned. "This is no kind of life for me, my love, and I think you know it."

"What are you talking about?"

"He's taking up too much of you," said Corentin. "There's a thing about him, yeah, and I'm affected by it, but it's out of control. He can't fuck you before bed every night, leave his cock inside you while you sleep and fuck you first thing every morning, because you do not just have a relationship with him. You have three other alphas."

"He is out of control," I breathed, thinking about the first time, when I was in heat, when he'd been like some kind of wild beast rutting into me. It had been incredibly hot and incredibly powerful, but I also remembered our conversation about how we both felt out of control around each other.

We'd decided to surrender to it, to whatever it was, our designations, instinct, nature… I didn't know.

But it wouldn't work if I tried to surrender to all of them in that way, not if all the alphas wanted competing things.

"You like that he's out of control?"

"No, but it's powerful."

"It's hot, you mean," he said.

"What kind of life do you want with me?" I said. "You can't have one where it's just me and you."

"I want to be with you one-on-one sometimes," he said. "At least that."

I bit down on my lower lip, because I didn't know how Dmitri would feel about that. Would he let me have separate relationships, one-on-one relationships, with the other alphas? And how was it that I had gotten myself in so deep with a man who I felt the need to get permission from to do things? What kind of marriage was this going to be? The kind where he really was the lord and master, and I was here to cater to him?

I felt discomfort unfurl in my belly, and I reached down and carefully detached myself from his knot. I found a towel, and gently (so as not to wake him) wiped at him and at me. Corentin got up and helped.

Then, quietly, we left the nest together and went out to the balcony area. It was freezing out here but there were blankets and the long, rectangular firepit was gas, easily turned on with a flick of a button, which Corentin did.

He and I huddled in blankets and stared into the fire together.

"Let's just go," he said, tightening his arm around me.

"You know I can't," I breathed.

"But part of you wants to, though, at least admit that."

I was quiet for several long moments. Then I came out with, "Where would we go?"

"Everywhere," he said, and I could hear the way he was smiling. "You always wanted to travel. You wanted to see everything. I remember the way you used to keep that Pinterest board of places you wanted to see."

"Oh, yeah," I said, laughing.

He squeezed me close. "That what you lost, sweet girl? The wanderlust?"

I lay my head on his chest. "Sort of."

"Why?" He stroked my hair, kissing the crown of my head. "It's my fault, huh? What did I do to drive that out of you? I liked that about you."

"It wasn't your fault."

"Uh, you said it was before."

"I just mean, it was everything," I said. "Before, the world was all open, all opportunity. And then, after, it was closed. All these paths were gone. You were gone. Traveling was gone. Being my own person was gone. I was an omega, and it was all set. I was never going to belong to myself ever again. I was going to belong to… him." I felt dejected suddenly. Why hadn't I even attempted to fight this? Why had I just meekly signed myself over to Dmitri?

I did belong to him now.

Hell, he had me saying it to him in bed like it was some sexy game.

But it wasn't a game.

It was real.

I was a bonded omega, with his bite right on my chest, and I didn't own myself anymore.

Suddenly, a sob rose up in my throat. I scrabbled at the blanket at Corentin's chest and then the sob welled up and burst and tears came in waves against him.

He clutched me close. "Oh, hey, hey, my love, I didn't mean to make you cry. I'm so sorry. We don't ever have to talk about it again, okay?"

I was still crying, but it was less. "No, it's good. Maybe I needed to get it out somehow. Maybe I needed to face it. I'm trapped here, and I need to face that, and I need to make peace with it—"

"You are not trapped," he said in a low and urgent voice. "I will take you anywhere you want to go at any time. I swear that to you, my love. Anything you need, ever, I will do it for you."

"Corentin…" I could feel something now, something heavy, at the edge of everything, something familiar.

"Say the word, Aurelie, and we can leave."

"And this," came the deep voice of Dmitri, "is why you were not invited."

That was the heaviness. Dmitri. He was there, and I could feel him, through the bond.

He melted out of the shadows, wearing a pair of drawstring pants. I wasn't sure where he'd gotten those. I hadn't been allowed to have any clothes in the nest. He peered down at us, at me in Corentin's arms. "You're upset," he said. "I felt it in the bond. It woke me."

My crying came through the bond? Really?

I wasn't entirely sure how these bond things worked. From what I understood, it wasn't predictable. Strong emotions could travel through the bond, could be shared with one's mate. But that didn't mean that all emotions would travel. We couldn't read each other's thoughts or anything, but there was some heightened level of connection, something that couldn't be extinguished.

"What did he say to you?" said Dmitri, glowering down at Corentin.

Corentin still had his arm around me. "It wasn't me. She was sad because she's trapped with you."

"Shut up, Corentin," I said fiercely, pulling away from him. I got up and put a hand right in the middle of Dmitri's bare chest. "Dmitri, we both feel this sometimes, the way it's bigger than us, the way we're out of control. Neither of us like it."

He bowed his head. "Right, right. But it's me doing that to you in the end. I'm the one who tied you to the monarchy here and gave you those duties. I'm the one who bit you. I'm your alpha."

I sighed. "But I don't blame you. You're not doing it on purpose—"

"The fuck he's not," said Corentin, laughing. "He loves dominating everyone. He's the one who wants a harem. You and his little alpha boys who he can make come on command. He's having a great time."

Dmitri rolled his head on his shoulders. "You didn't mind it yourself there, boy."

Corentin stood up. "Oh, you're… yeah. I mean, my cock thinks you're great. But my cock? Not a good judge of character."

Dmitri laughed again. "Why are you here? Just to try to steal her away from me?"

"I think we'd both miss you if it's any consolation," said Corentin, grinning at Dmitri.

"Omega," said Dmitri.

My gaze snapped up to look at him. "Yes, alpha?"

"Oh, for fuck's sake," muttered Corentin.

Dmitri ignored him. "I think we need to think about getting you more bites."

"Oh," I said, surprised. "I didn't think… In Valhn, it's not tradition to let that happen, and you seem so intense and possessive, and really?"

"Well, I'm happy enough for Johannes and Nikolai any time," he said.

"But I don't even know them," I said. "I want Corentin."

"Of course you do," muttered Dmitri. He rubbed his forehead. "Okay, well, it's our honeymoon, sweet girl, so after that, we'll work it out."

"Okay," I said, leaning in and offering him my lips for a kiss. "Thank you."

Dmitri kissed me.

"You don't need to get permission from him for me to bite you," said Corentin.

"She does, actually," said Dmitri.

"If you think I'm doing it in front of you, you're insane," said Corentin.

"We'll see about that," said Dmitri. "I think you'd like it, actually, being told where on her body to bite, being told when, being told how."

Corentin's scent rose in a way that told me he would like it.

"But I get to choose," I said. "Because when Corentin and I talked about it, he said I could."

Corentin touched me. "Absolutely, my love. And don't think I'd let him steal this moment from us just because he makes my dick hard. You and me, it's more than that, and we both know it."

I looked up at him, smiling, reassured.

"You're saying that what I have with her isn't real?" said Dmitri.

"Who cares what he says?" I said, turning to Dmitri. "You and I are the only two people who need to understand our relationship."

Corentin snorted.

Dmitri shifted on his feet, looking worried.

I patted his chest. "Dmitri, I'm yours."

"Yeah," he said, looking at Corentin, not at me. "I bet he doesn't ask you to say that."

Corentin just shrugged. "I mean, she is mine."

"Oh, fuck you both, maybe I don't want to be anyone's." I pushed past Dmitri and went back into the nest.

I looked down at the place where Johannes and Nikolai were still sleeping, thinking about lying down there and trying to sleep, and then thinking about Corentin and Dmitri coming back in and fighting over who got to sleep with me and deciding I didn't even want to be part of that.

I stalked out of the nest, down the stairs, and all the way back to my room, where I dove into my bed and pulled the covers over my head.

Maybe the only thing I actually liked about multiple alphas was the sex.

I wasn't sure the relationship aspect would ever work.