7. Vidar

And, oh, how I would worship.

Fiercely. Softly. Possessively.

With wild abandon and gentle focus.

I would worship in all the ways my omega deserved, with reverence and love and awe. With honor. With every bone in my body, every cell in my blood, every drop of magic I possessed. Lianna would never go another day questioning her worth. She would walk this realm—and the others—knowing she was untouchable.

That I would burn cities, raze kingdoms, and scorch the stars if anyone harmed so much as a hair on her precious head.

A head that seemed full of noise. Lianna pursed her lips for a moment, then glanced down in a flutter of frantic blinking. "Vidar?—"

I cut her off, tutting, and guided her bodice lower. "You're in heat." My cock ached to sate the need burning inside her, hard as titan bone and jabbing into her at random like I had absolutely no control over its movements. And I didn't. It wanted her. My pheromones pumped harder when I finally slipped her dress over her bare breasts. A shock, yes, to suddenly see her, but the structure in the material must have kept them supported all this time.

Now, they dropped under their own heft, and I paused to admire them. Perfect. Full and weighty, they were crowned with dark nipples pebbled tight.

"I've never had a heat like this before," Lianna admitted. Her shivers made the delicate flesh tremble for me, and I battled the urge to take one of those exquisite nipples in my mouth. "It's… intense. It spikes and falls, then it shoots back up and?—"

"A mating heat." I rumbled appreciatively as I inched her dress lower, taking in her stomach, the delicate swell over her lower abdomen. And then I spotted it.

Ink. Permanent ink, in fact, creeping just above the waistband of her black panties.

"We call it a flash heat." My omega snapped her arms to her sides, hardly subtle in the way she covered my newest find with her forearms. "It's for w-when we find our scent match. I've… never had it before."

"I should hope not." I flashed a crooked grin as I tugged her dress lower, exposing matching tattoos on either side of her hips. The design trailed down to her legs, still hidden beneath all this torn purple fabric. Lianna inhaled sharply, tensing as I nudged her panties up and down for a better look.

Flowers inked in a luscious, rich black. Crisp lines. Excellent shading. She had a whole garden of masterpieces hidden away, wildflowers abound. Head tilted, cock anchored on her hip, I traced a leaf on the opposite side.

"Rose hips." My grin sharpened. "On your hip. Delightful."

She rolled her eyes, her smile shy now.

"Sit back, Lianna."

"Wait—"

"All the way." I ignored her muted protests, because she needn't be shy or embarrassed with me. Every freckle, every dimple, every stretchmark—a work of art. Nature was full of what others called flaws. True perfection was manufactured. It had no soul. My hoards were graced with only the most imperfect treasures, and I cherished the dips and rolls of her body, her curves, her marks. They were what made her perfect in my eyes.

With a steady hand, I gently guided my omega by the waist until she was back on her ass, then eased the dark satiny fabric down her legs. It was already ruined, so I wasn't careful with it like I was with her, suddenly desperate to explore the rest of her ink.

A serpent wove around her thigh, its fanged mouth open to her hipbone, its tail trailing off at the side of her left knee. A snake in the garden, then, shrouded with dark florals and starlight, a crescent moon and?—

"Is that…?" I looked closer, purposefully ignoring the thick, glistening feast smeared on her inner thighs—if only to put her at ease. Let her know I wasn't more rut than brain, more cock than heart. "Is that a shrike?"

Lianna nodded slowly, and my grin turned feral. I wrenched her dress all the way down her legs, snared by the bird dominating her outer right thigh. While I said nothing, my delighted dragon's roar rippled around the caverns and made the torches dance, magic almost as thick as our mingling scents.

"A carnivorous bird," I mused, smirking as I flung her dress aside. "You are full of surprises, and I want them all. All the secrets, little shrike."

Her blush bloomed from her cheeks to her chest. "A lot of alphas I talked to said they hate tattoos on omegas."

I scoffed as I caressed her delicate ankles, the tops of her feet, hungrily eyeing the slope of her calves to her knees. "Why?"

"They say it's like someone else marked her before they could."

"Absurd." I sat back and snorted, needing a moment to process the stupidity. Then, shaking my head, I bowed to kiss her ankles, a peck for each. "If an alpha is so intimidated by ink, as though it were a bond bite, he isn't an alpha."

Honestly, what the fuck was wrong with these modern boys? Where were the alphas who valued strength, tenacity, and fire in their omegas?

Lianna hummed in agreement, then squealed and flinched when I nipped gently at her inner calf. I soothed the promise of a sharper, more binding bite with a rumble, lips to her heated flesh, then trailed an open-mouthed kiss up, up, up.

With her trembling thighs parted, I got a face-full of her slick's scent, a violent blast of sandalwood and vanilla and violets that made my heart so painfully full. Her inner thighs were coated in her desire. It practically glittered in the torchlight, goddess-touched, utterly divine.

Still, I let it be. Smoothing my hand under her knee, along her outer thigh, grinning as her back arched in response, I quickly hooked a finger under the side of her soaked black panties.

"What say we dispense with these?"

She peered down, gaze hooded, full lips parted, and nodded frantically. I met her enthusiasm with a rough tug, tearing through the material. Lianna jumped, but again, she proved that my strength, my savagery, wasn't enough to send her running.

A true dragon's mate.

I shredded the other side with ease, and she lifted her hips to help me remove the offending garment. It soon joined her dress, abandoned, forgotten.

Her core was glorious. Neatly trimmed black hair met full, engorged lips and a swollen clit begging for my attention. An appreciative grumble made her clench, more slick weeping from her center. My vision tunneled. My heart hammered. This omega had no idea how fucking torturous it was not to push up and spear her. Claim her to the hilt. Rut her senseless and knot her so deep that we would be trapped together for days.

A lesser alpha would break at the sight of my Lianna like this, drenched with slick, nipples stiff peaks that rose and fell in a desperate, breathless staccato.

I took my time. She was in a chaotic heat, new and unnerving, one that needed relief before desire warped to pain. We could have a quick, hard fuck and knot any time we wanted. Here, now, she deserved to be tended to, spoiled and pampered and pleasured.

Settled back between her splayed legs, I kissed my way up again, and when I finally reached the shoreline of her slick at her knees, I licked. And groaned. And licked faster, taken with the heady taste of her need. Better than fae wine. Better than elven ciders. Better than the apples in Idunn's orchard. Her slick was paradise. My fingers sunk into her hips as I yanked her closer, growling, licking, swallowing, enamored with the way more nirvana wept from her core.

Lianna watched me for a time, her lower lip caught between her teeth, then eventually settled back on her elbows and let her head hang. She whined, arching, needy for more than a thorough cleaning of her thighs, but we dragons were a greedy bunch. A whiff of perfection was never enough.

Still, smothered in her slick, beard soaked, nose full, I couldn't help noticing that she was on the ground—which couldn't feel good for a nymph that was all soft curves. Cobblestone wasn't her friend, surely.

I devoured faster, a glutton for my omega's slick, making my way to the crest of her thighs like a conqueror.

Before I could claim what I really craved, what she needed, I pushed up and loomed over her. An insistent growl had her eyes snapping open, and our gazes collided like this was the first time, the last time.

"Tell me to stop and I will, omega." Unlike some of my designation, magical or mundane, I rarely barked. If you couldn't succeed in this world without exerting the most brutish form of alpha dominance, what kind of alpha were you? This, however, I said with a firmness that verged on a command. She needed to know I was serious, that she wasn't just a sheath for my cock when we inevitably surrendered to the bond. "Even in the height of the storm, say my name, tell me to stop. Tell me you mean it when I ask if you're sure. I will do as you command."

Her eyebrows twitched up, a few skeptical blinks suggesting she thought she had heard me wrong. Lianna nodded hurriedly, however, when I gave her a meaningful look and pressed her as only an alpha could.

Consent given, I settled onto my stomach, propped just enough that this fucking hard-on of pure steel didn't stab into my gut. Guiding her legs over my shoulders, I arranged us like I was about to tuck in for the feast of a lifetime—only to roll at the last second. Lianna shrieked and flailed as I swapped our positions, putting me on my back and her where she belonged: straddling my face.

"Vidar—"

"We'll move to a bed," I muttered, gazing at her lovely pussy, then licking away a fresh dribble of slick. "After."

Her protests vanished when I dragged my tongue over her slit. Sublime. With her legs folded, calves on my shoulders, feet flat on my chest, Lianna let out a strangled mewl as I delved between her swollen lips, and once I was sure she wasn't going anywhere, I thumbed her clit with my right hand, stroking the bundle of sensitive nerves. My licks were languid, teasing, because all my focus went into the hunt. Her moans were indication enough of what worked and what didn't, until?—

"Like that." Lianna keened and bucked against me. "B-back and forth. Side to side. N-no circling—swipe like—oh."

Fuck. Me. Besotted with the way she demanded what she liked, what she needed, I wholeheartedly obliged. As I slid my thumb across her clit, back and forth, varying the pace to fine-tune my technique, I feasted properly. Breath was scarce, but I could go without if it meant drowning in her slick.

"O-oh, yes." She shivered, her knees pressing into the sides of my head. "Like that. Like that."

Exquisite creature. I wanted my omega as greedy as I was, demanding and determined to get what she desired by any means necessary. That was my mate, my partner, my heart.

Once I found a rhythm, stroking and licking and thrusting my tongue into her molten core, I brought my left hand around to join the fray. An omega in heat needed more than a mouth, and Lianna's slick-soaked cunt took three of my thick fingers with ease. Her hips rocked and her core clenched as I played her inner walls, searching for that one little spot that was about to suffer all I had to give.

"Fuck." She fell forward and braced on the floor, riding my hand. Those fingers were slow and steady, while my thumb worked her clit faster by degrees, pushing her, desperate for her first orgasm to soak me. Still, I couldn't help but glance up and back, admiring her breasts as they dangled like ripe fruit for the plucking. Later, I'd have my fun with them. See if I could make her climax from nipple play and a steady stream of dark, possessive filth whispered in her ear.

While she relished my thumb's efforts, I couldn't help swapping it for my mouth every so often; my omega tasted so fucking good. My fingers remained steady, pulsing over her G-spot so that she squeaked and her inner walls fluttered. Lianna's slick was the only drug to ever snare me, mind, body, and soul. I wanted more, more, more. All these years, I had been starved, barely surviving on the meager provisions provided by Pack Synn. Here, now, I intended to gorge myself fat again.

"W-wait…" A small fist yanked at my hair, forcing me away from her delectable clit. "Thumb." Demanding creature. I grinned, resting my head on the floor as I gave her what she wanted, desperate to see her first fall into the abyss as clear as I could.

With my thumb back at her clit, Lianna grabbed my wrist to guide me, mewling, writhing.

"L-little movements," she gasped. "Just?—"

I slowed at her behest, tight and controlled in my assault now. Paired with the constant pulse in her core, Lianna lasted another twenty seconds before she tumbled over the edge.

She came with a scream, her eyes clenched tight, her expression so fucking raw and earnest that I nearly spurted my seed all over us both.

Her cries painted the walls of my hoard, and I couldn't help but snarl as her cunt convulsed around my fingers. Already addicted, I swapped my left hand for my mouth, devouring the gush of slick that followed. Her body could take so much more than three paltry fingers, but if I knotted her now, I'd have to wait too long to taste her again.

Tonight, my omega would learn just how gluttonous an alpha dragon could be.

Whining, whimpering, shaking, Lianna leaned back and braced her hands on my abdomen. I tightened my core to support her, hands off—for now—and settled back to admire her glorious body coated in a sweaty sheen. Her breasts bounced with every gasp, every pant, and for a few precious moments, I was more than happy to just admire her, revere her, from between her thighs.

When our eyes met, I raised an eyebrow. "More?"

Her pupils rounded. Her cheeks darkened. Her breathing evened out.

"Alpha," my omega whispered huskily. "More."