Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Alfred

" A lfred!"

My brother's hail from beyond the curtain interrupts the moment. I bite back a curse as he continues on.

"The weather is turning for the worse. I thought you would want to know."

I hear footsteps telling me that he is moving away, leaving the decision to me.

Penelope blinks up at me as I carefully release the cuffs from her ankles and massage her soft skin. I know she does not want to spend the winter here. It would not be the right thing to do anyway, for either of us, although my instincts clamor, telling me to keep her in my lair.

I have made the announcement. My brother will be king. If I am honest, I can acknowledge that he has shared the role for a long time. He will make a good king and does not need me lingering to interfere. It is better all around that we leave.

"Come, mate," I say. "We must be leaving if you wish to return to your home."

She nods, sighs heavily, and then bestows me the sauciest of smiles as she accepts my outstretched hand and allows me to help her from the bed. She is stunning in her disheveled, well-sated state. "If I could have a little water to clean up first?—"

"No," I say, more harshly than I ought.

She raises both brows. "But I am filthy and full of seed!"

"Good," I say gruffly, eyes narrowing as I sense resistance. "If you wash it off, I will need to fuck you again, and we do not have the time."

She blinks a few times. "You wish me to be filthy and full of your seed?"

I realize she is asking a genuine question, that this is likely one of many occasions where our cultures will clash, but her choice of wording has a predictable, arousing effect. Also, she is naked, and I can see my claiming marks all over her throat and the upper swell of her tits, and that is likewise sending my thoughts down a lusty spiral. "Yes, I wish you filthy and full of my seed. All day, every day. It is an alpha thing and not open to negotiation." I am thinking about bending her over the side of the bed and fucking her again… I would have time if I were quick about it… I can be quick if I need to.

"This is open to negotiation," she counters, wrinkling her nose as she bends to pick up her discarded leather pants and giving me a nice view of her lush ass.

I throw a glance heavenward lest I put my hands on it and fill her well-used cunt with my aching cock.

When I glance back down, she is sliding them on, her plump tits jiggling as she tugs them over her ass.

It is no use. I need to fuck her again. A swift rutting will calm me down enough to endure the ride back to the castle.

"Oh!"

I yank her pants down to her knees, pick her up, and drop her over the nearby table facedown. Thank fuck all the furniture here is sturdy.

"What are you—Ummm!"

I am buried to the knot. Her inner walls are hot and clench over my length.

"I will be quick," I say, offering this as a selling point… although it is a little late now either way, for I am inside her and pounding her hot cunt with all my savagery.

"Goddess! Oh!"

"It is your own fault," I say between thrusts. All the things on the table bounce about. I clamp my big hands over her jiggling ass, consumed by the vision of my cock plowing her. "You were a bad little girl, talking about washing off my seed. Now, I have no choice but to fill you again."

"Gods, come already," she bemoans. "Or I may never walk straight again!"

I come. I chuckle. It feels fucking good. Reaching around her, I get my fingertips all over her slippery clit.

"What? No! Do not make me come. Oh! Goddess have mercy."

She comes with a wail, clamping all over my dick and compelling a final heady gush of cum from me.

I sigh contentedly. There, she is thoroughly fucked and filled to my satisfaction. She lies against the table, panting and twitching. I believe she will think twice before talking of cleansing my seed away again.

I pull out slowly, and she wails yet again as my cum splatters down her thighs and the inside of her leather pants. Lest she gets any fresh ideas for cleaning, I pull them up and fasten them in a no-nonsense way.

"What is wrong with you to do this? Oh, you… savage!"

I grin and press the material all up against her pussy, making sure she can feel the stickiness against her skin.

"Ugh!" She bats my hand away and spins to glare at me.

"It is an alpha thing," I say, implacably, trying not to get distracted by her pretty tits. "Cease your whining lest I feel compelled to come over your tits and belly." I really should not have put those words in my mouth, for now I am thinking about it. "We are newly mated. You should expect me to come over you often." I don't mention that my seed on her and in her will facilitate her adapting to an alpha's ways, that alpha seed is potent in ways more than breeding. "I am a possessive male with a high appetite for rutting, but I can temper it for the ride to Pershore knowing you are well-scented."

She stalks off to snatch up her jacket, perhaps sensing the likelihood of my following through on the threat rises while she remains in a state of partial dress.

Reluctantly, I dress and braid my hair, my mood shifting as I recognize the end of one time and the beginning of another is upon me. Gathering my few possessions and my spare weapons in a sack, I take a lingering look around. My fingers wrap around the jade necklace nestled against my throat. I remove it and hold it in my hand, looking at it for the first time in many years.

It has never left my throat from the day I donned it.

Penelope is staring at it.

"It was a gift from my parents when I came of age," I say. My gaze rests on her delicate throat as I consider how it will look there.

"You want me to wear it?" she asks.

I nod.

She does not hesitate, presents me with her back, and lifts her hair out of the way. "Put it on, please."

My mate is an ornery creature, I reflect with a smile. One moment cursing me out, the next soft and compliant. My hands shake a little as I secure it around her slender throat. She closes her fingers close over the stone and lifts it so she can look at it. On me, it nestles at the hollow of my throat. On her, it will nestle against the swell of her breasts.

I swallow thickly. I like her wearing something of mine. The thought of it being next to her breasts is like a part of me touching her all the time. It is the same compulsion to mark her and fill her pussy with my cum. "Seeing it there makes me want to fuck you."

She tucks it inside her leathers with a glare. "Do not get any further ideas about bedding me."

"You need to fucking go," my brother calls from beyond the curtain.

We don our cloaks and leave the hall, finding a crowd has gathered. There are a few smirks from the villagers and glares from her guards, who are already mounted. My princess is a little disheveled and was not quiet about what was happening. I believe they have been waiting a while thus and have been treated to her sounds of pleasure.

Good. Nosy bastards, the lot of them. I want no one to be mistaken about the claim that has taken place. Her guards will soon spread word through her kingdom on arrival. Better none of her former lovers are confused about her being mine.

I need to think about something else lest I fuck her again.

The snow is starting to settle.

"We need to ride hard," the guard who appears to be in charge says, a sour expression on his face.

I clasp arms with my brother, hug my sister, and ruffle the hair of my little nephew.

"We shall be back in the summer, lad. Happen by then, the princess will be plump with child, and you will have a little cousin on the way."

One of the guards makes a blustered, choking sound. What the fuck is wrong with them? Do they not breed their women in the palace?

I lift Penelope into my saddle and mount behind her, ignoring the horse standing riderless that was clearly for her.

She huffs out a little breath. I don't mind it. She will get used to my ways.

Amid cheers and well-wishes of the Baxter clan, we ride out.

The snow begins to fall heavier, and we ride hard, stopping only briefly to walk the horses and give them a rest. As night falls, we meet a dozen guards who escort us the rest of the way until, finally, the city of Pershore comes into view.

Yet more guards are waiting as we near, and as the great gates open, they form ranks around us.

We slow our horses to a trot. I have never been inside a city, and the explosion of sound assaults my ears. People, so many fucking people, streets upon streets of them: they hang from windows and gather at doors and street corners, calling out greetings.

The only time I see this many people is when I am going to war.

"Gods, who the fuck are all these people. What are they waving at?"

"They are waving at you," Penelope says, a distinct smile in her voice, making me realize that I have said that out loud. "And also me."

"Well, tell the bastards not to wave at me. They do not know me. Also, there are far too many for you to know either. How do you keep track of all their names?"

She laughs outright. It has a pleasing timbre and makes me want to pin her down and fuck her despite her laughter being at my expense. Which I realize does not make a lot of sense, but it is what it is. Likely if she breathes wrong, I will want to fuck her. It feels like forever since I rutted her in my furs… I wonder if they have furs on their beds here…. More likely, they have some fancy things that I will not like at all.

The snow is not as heavy here, leaving only a light dusting on the cobbled streets and rooftops. The houses are tall and narrow, rising many stories, and so tightly packed that they seem to lean in on one another.

Yet there is grandeur here, too, as the smaller houses give way to larger ones with walls and gardens.

We turn a corner and, ahead, the inner castle rises above all, enclosed within a high wall. The double gates are gold and shine under the light of many lanterns. They swing open as we near, opening into a courtyard.

Lights blaze in every window of the castle, its turrets reaching toward the dark sky. Painted a brilliant white, it glistens with an otherworldly glow—I can only wonder at the time and effort that went into building it.

It is daunting and foreign to me, yet also beautiful.

Her father, the king, the annoying advisor, his assistant, and an entire row of people in fancy clothing gather upon the steps leading to a grand entrance.

In the very center of the courtyard is a high podium with a statue of a woman. I gesture toward it. "That looks remarkably like you?"

"My mother," she says softly. "She died during my birth. She was a legend who thwarted a treason plot."

Well, that is a big shadow to live under. I sense there is more to this, but now is not the time.

As we bring our horses to a stop in front of the welcoming crowd, liveried stablemen rush to gather reins. I give my horse a pat. Poor bastard. He's going to wonder what the fuck has happened to him, being stabled here.

I dismount and help Penelope down, although she glares at me. My lips twitch as I take her small hand in mine—I want to toss her over my shoulder and carry her in like a prize, but I get the feeling that would be frowned upon here.

"Welcome home," her father says, embracing his daughter like she has been gone a year and not less than a day before turning to me. "Be welcome!"

As the crowd of nobles bows or curtsy deeply, I worry anew for the state of things to come.