Royal Affair Read online

  Jace waved one hand. “Just water. Thank you.”

  The servant placed a crystal glass down on the table beside Jace and filled it to the brim from a pitcher of water and ice, so cold that the sides sweated from condensation. He moved on, giving the same sort of bow to Keiran, who suddenly felt an inordinate amount of stage fright. “And for you, sir?”

  No one has ever called me sir in my entire life.

  “Uh… what kind of juice?”

  He immediately regretted the question because the servant rattled off an incredibly long list that began with orange juice and ended with white grape. Baffled and overwhelmed, Keiran clung to one in particular just to have something to say when the speech ended. “Grapefruit. Please.”

  And that began another tirade. “White grapefruit? Pink? Sugar-free? Ice or no ice?”

  “Um.” His head spun.

  A warm touch on his elbow, quick and almost entirely unnoticeable because of the speed, settled his nerves somewhat. Jace’s voice spoke over his stammers. “He’s not entirely awake yet, I apologize. The pink juice, please. And maybe a cup of coffee. Heavy on the sugar and cream.”

  “Of course, sir.” The servant looked just as relieved as Keiran to have someone in charge who knew what to do. He bowed and poured the juice and then hurried away to fetch the coffee.

  Jace touched his elbow again softly. “I know it must seem like a lot right now, but you’ll be prepared tomorrow. And in a few seconds, when this nice man asks us what we want for breakfast.”

  Keiran pulled a face, making the alpha laugh. He didn’t think he would ever get tired of hearing that sound. It made his stomach flutter so nicely. “Don’t worry. I’ll save you again.”

  That was how the rest of the day went, Keiran trailing behind Jace and Jace saving him from awkward situations with undeniable grace. He had to admire the alpha. Smart, strong, kind, dashingly handsome… what was there to not like about that? The meetings were boring in no small part due to the subject matter, as the council discussed some sort of tax, and voted to veto another sort of law. Keiran understood none of it, but he managed to escape his boredom by watching Jace. Even watching him breathe was enough to satisfy him. Watching him eat, and drink, and spar with his Guard… He was beautiful and graceful and, by the end of the day, Keiran ached to have a moment alone with him, even though part of him still didn’t believe that any of this was happening. Despite the kisses, the clear flirting, the sexual advances…

  He wondered if anything would actually come of all this, or if it was an endless tease.

  The answer came late that night after dinner, when they finally retired for the day to their bedrooms.

  “I guess this is goodnight, then.” Keiran looked at the floor, trying not to be disappointed. They’d had a good day together with a lot of gentle, secret touches between them. There really was nothing more that he could ask for.

  Hot breath on the back of his neck, followed by a soft touch of lips. “Not so fast,” Jace whispered.

  Keiran closed his eyes. Yes. Yes. Please, yes.

  “I’ve wanted to do this all day. For weeks. And now, I finally get the chance.”

  That hot breath made him tremble with each exhale, but he forced himself to speak even through the shaking. “Don’t mark me.”

  Sharp teeth pressed against the skin at the nape of his neck, right underneath his hairline. “And why not?” the alpha growled. His chest vibrated with the force of it. “I don’t want anyone else to have you.”

  Keiran’s knees were weak. Jace’s arms wrapped around his waist, pulling him back against that broad, vibrating chest. He wouldn’t have been able to stand otherwise. “I’m yours! All yours! But we both know that…”

  One hand rose to touch his lips, silencing him. Jace’s hard cock pressed against him from behind. Those firm, yet soft lips kissed him everywhere, all up his neck and shoulders, tugging at his earlobe so hard that he felt it in his bones and cried out. “Don’t ruin this with logic,” Jace growled. “Don’t overthink it. Just be.”

  Had there ever been a time in Keiran’s life when he hadn’t overthought something? Hell, he spent hours sometimes rehearsing the most meaningless of conversations just so that he wouldn’t mess it up! And now he was being asked to completely change himself around for this, and he was sorely out of his element. He had never practiced. This was going to be a disaster. Dirty talk was out of the question.

  “Keiran? You’re overthinking.”

  “You can’t read my mind,” the omega snapped, feeling a bit defensive.

  Jace rumbled again, but the sound wasn’t quite as fierce this time. “Actually, I can. Even if we aren’t mated, we’re bonded.”

  That’s true. Their awareness of one another and the ability to predict what the other felt or was about to do was too uncanny for it to merely be the result of a friendship they hadn’t had time to cultivate. It was their wolf spirits that had bonded, forming that connection between them that no one else shared.

  “I can feel everything.” That list brushed the back of his neck like a sigh, and Keiran felt his eyes starting to close. “I know you’re nervous and I know you want me. Don’t you think everyone is nervous before their first time?”

  Keiran whipped around and put his hands on his hips, glaring at the alpha. “You are reading my mind!” he said. “There’s no way you could have known that!”

  “No? Maybe I can smell it.” Jace took a step forward, his dark eyes even darker than ever. Keiran felt hunted. “Maybe you’re just too damn shy and innocent for me to ever imagine you doing anything with anyone else. Maybe I just don’t want to think that. Or… maybe I can feel how tight you are right now. An opened omega would know how to relax.”

  “You’ve got me there,” he said weakly, putting out one hand to support himself against the wall. Jace took the opportunity to close the distance between them some more. “I’m not good at that whole relaxing thing.”

  “You will be by the time I’m done with you. You won’t be able to move even if you wanted to.” The alpha ripped open the front of his white vest, popping the buttons of the black shirt beneath with just a finger sliding under them. Buttons sprayed everywhere, rolling across the floor, some disappearing beneath the bed. “I promise I’ll be gentle with you. I’ll teach you.”

  “Jace… No biting?”

  “No biting,” Jace promised. “Unless you decide you want it.”

  How could he resist? He couldn’t. And Jace knew it. The alpha transformed into his powerful wolf form, dropping down to four massive paws. For the first time, Keiran noticed how unusually long his nails were. Most wolves had blunt nails with flat tips that they either wore down naturally or kept trimmed, but Jace’s nails were practically claws, curved and deadly. His pulse pounded in his throat.

  The alpha lunged for him, paws slamming into his shoulders and sending them both rolling. Keiran yelped and hit the ground as a wolf, wriggling out from underneath the other and dashing for the corner of the room where he flattened himself against a shadow. His tongue lolled out the corner of his mouth, tail trembling with excitement. It felt so good. So natural. Just like in the garden, but a dozen times better.

  Jace rose to his paws and shook out his fur. The loose skin covering his muscular frame made his fur wave in luxurious ripples, gleaming red and golden in the light of the chandelier overhead. Sticking his snout up into the air, he sniffed dramatically and started creeping toward Keiran’s hiding place as if following a scent.

  Keiran held still, but he couldn’t stop his nails from clicking on the wooden floor as his paws flexed in anticipation.

  Jace stopped right in front of him, sniffing around again. He swung his great head around, pretending not to see the omega clearly standing right in front of them. And then he swung back, dropping down low to peer intently at Keiran’s white leg fur. His ears twitched in an exaggerated display of curiosity. His jaws opened wide as he went in for an exploratory bite…

  Completely caught up
in their game, Keiran could stay still no longer. Kicking out against the wall behind him, he flung himself into a massive leap right over the other wolf’s head and came crashing down hard on the bed. Bouncing and rolling, he yelped his amusement as a much larger shape followed him up onto the bed and was immediately thrown off.

  And then Jace was back, pouncing on him and battering at him with snout and paws, but so gently. Keiran fought back and the two continued rolling until they came to a rest against the headboard, omega beneath and alpha above.

  Jace pushed his nose into the fur on Keiran’s neck, letting him feel the pressure of his teeth but not exactly biting. His shoulders shook from holding back, and the pressure started to increase.

  Growling in annoyance, Keiran lashed out with a paw and caught the alpha upside the head.

  And suddenly, Jace sat cross-legged in the middle of the bed, holding his human ear and laughing. “Geez! You really take your play fighting seriously!”

  Keiran scowled at him. “That’s what you get!”

  “Oh, yeah?” Jace tried to look annoyed but just kept laughing and shaking his head. “Well, are you relaxed yet?”

  “I am,” he said, surprised. All his tension had fallen away as they romped.

  “Good. Maybe next time, stop me before you do grievous injury to my person.” Jace crawled across the bed to him and lifted up his head so that their lips touched sweetly. “Growl,” he said.

  “Grr,” Keiran replied, and wrapped his arms around the alpha’s neck. Their kiss deepened and he found himself on his back again with Jace above him, those powerful hands pulling his clothes away with far more tenderness than with which he’d shredded his own earlier. Soon enough, they both lay together naked, idly exploring each other’s bodies with their hands. Their hardened manhoods lay against each other’s thighs, but Keiran only focused on touching and being touched. One thing at a time.

  Jace’s powerful fingers ignited a flame inside his stomach, his groin, his heart; their breath became searing, burning hot together as they kissed. A finger slid down Keiran’s spine and he gasped and then he writhed and moaned in overheated pleasure as those fingers squeezed his ass with firm pressure. He felt it deep inside, high up past his opening pucker where a man’s most secret and intimate pleasure was hidden.

  “Jace,” he whimpered.

  “Keiran,” the alpha moaned in response. “Can’t hold back much longer.”

  Even as Jace spoke, Keiran felt a small dribble of wetness leak against his thigh. He looked down to see Jace’s tip was swollen and throbbing, the veins all down his length bulging as he leaked precum. He swallowed hard, imagining how his alpha tasted, but that wasn’t how he wanted this to end.

  Pushing away from Jace, the omega rolled over onto his stomach and pushed his ass up into the air. “Take me!”

  Hands wrapped around his waist, he braced himself before feeling himself be lifted and moved. He came to a rest on Jace’s body, the alpha gazing up at him from below. “Not like that.”

  Keiran whined, “But I want it!”

  “And you’ll have it!” Jace laughed. “But I’ll bite you.”

  He won’t be able to hold back?

  It looked to be true. Jace’s body was drawn tighter than a bowstring, every muscle aching for release. Keiran felt it inside himself.

  “So…”

  “Like this. Actually wait. Use this.” The alpha passed over a tube of lube. “It’ll hurt without this. I’ll do myself.”

  “You better not,” Keiran warned. “That’s my job.”

  He took the tube and watched for a moment as Jace covered the length of his dick with a generous amount of lube, until his skin glistened more than ever. Keiran followed suit, tentatively dabbing at his opening and doing the best he could to get some inside.

  “Good,” Jace purred. “Now, let me…”

  The omega felt himself being lifted again, one hand effortlessly holding him up while the other rearranged his limbs. He ended up basically squatting over Jace with the alpha’s dick tip lightly touching his opening.

  “There. Now, you’re in control. Do what feels good. I’ll join in when I think you’re ready for it.”

  Me in control? That’s not how it’s supposed to be. Alphas are on top. Always. Literally.

  But, this was Jace’s bedroom, Jace’s rules. They didn’t have to bend to society and technically weren’t overstepping any boundaries, since Jace wasn’t the one being penetrated.

  “Don’t think,” Jace whispered. “Just do.”

  Just do?

  Like when he was the only one to step up and start helping the other omegas. He’d been in control then.

  Squeezing his eyes shut tight, Keiran grabbed on to that feeling of being in control, of losing himself in an act, and let go of his thoughts. He was here with Jace, their skin pressed together, their bodies very nearly entwined. There was nothing to stop them, and so he opened his eyes again and got down to it.

  With Jace helping to support his weight, Keiran reached down beneath himself and spread his ass cheeks. With nothing between them to cause friction, he sank down just slightly and felt Jace’s tip press against his pucker before pushing it apart and sliding inside.

  The feeling was like nothing he had ever experienced and doubted he would experience again. It wasn’t the most pleasurable thing he had ever felt in his entire life right then, but it meant that they were on their way and that was more than enough to make his own dick stiffen even harder as if he was already about to cum.

  No, he begged himself. Hold on.

  “Fuck,” Jace grunted. “You’re so tight. Relax, baby.”

  Being called “baby” didn’t exactly do much to help Keiran hold back any better, so he went for it and pushed himself down another inch. And then another. Once he was there, he tried to go even lower, but Jace’s hands holding him up wouldn’t allow for it. In fact, they moved him back up before letting him come back down to the same level again.

  Thrusting, Keiran realized and felt stupid for not following the logic here. And then he felt even worse for trying to dissect this act like it was an injury he needed to figure out how to treat. The good thing was that it was easier to let go on this occasion, and he followed Jace’s lead for some time before realizing the alpha no longer guided him. His hips moved of their own accord, rocking to a rhythm that came naturally now that he knew it existed.

  He could feel Jace’s dick inside his ass, stretching him, and he could feel his body accommodating the alpha. The fire inside his blood mounted in intensity again. Jace sensed it and gave Keiran another inch. The process began again, both of them now rocking and pushing together, straining apart, and meeting again.

  Soon enough, Keiran’s ass settled fully down against Jace’s hips with the alpha fully inside him. He felt full to bursting, pleasurably so, and the alpha’s cock inside him hit that pleasure point over and over again as they thrust. But something still kept him from going over the edge. As his need mounted, so too did his frustration.

  Then, a hand wrapped around Keiran’s dick. He looked down at the alpha gripping his manhood, face red, body trembling with need and the effort it took to hold back. “I’ll help,” Jace gasped. “Just this once.”

  What? He didn’t understand.

  The next moment, he did, as Jace slid his hand firmly all the way up his length from hilt to tip. A spasm shook through Keiran’s body, his senses all straining toward that peak before finally, blessedly spilling over as he came.

  His ass muscles tightened around Jace, but the alpha pushed through it, pumping once, and then twice before giving a hoarse cry and releasing.

  As they lay there in the aftermath, unmindful of the wetness between them, Keiran had a single drifting thought before he fell asleep.

  We didn’t use protection.

  Chapter 12

  And so a period of days began where everything seemed to suddenly be on the mend. The number of reported crimes in the Capital went down on its own, even
though no new punishments, laws, or countermeasures had been agreed upon by the council. Peace sprouted on its own, a tender little sprig of a thing.

  “We can’t explain it,” said the head councilman, a weathered alpha named Gareth. “Absolutely nothing has changed.”

  Another member of the council spoke. “Our theory is that the transition period of uniting the two kingdoms might finally be drawing to an end.”

  Jace assessed the group of 13 alphas that sat around the table with him and Keiran. Eight males and five females, many of them were old or otherwise world-weary in some way. However, none of them were so old as to have been alive when Dexus became one kingdom. They, like himself, were born into a torn world. Would their grandchildren finally know peace?

  Would his own kids grow up, once more able to play with friends regardless of their status in life?

  That night, as Keiran lay in his bed after having sex, the omega tugged on his shoulder.

  “Yes?” Jace growled. He wasn’t tired at all and made no effort to hide it. Of all the things he pondered, this arrangement was the one that never truly left his mind even when concerned with other things. Each day, he and his “servant” grew closer together. Each time they had sex, it became that much harder to resist the temptation to stake his claim. Somewhere, something had to break.

  “Jace, do you really think that this means peace?” Keiran whispered.

  Doubt stained his omega’s voice. Jace rolled over and blinked into Keiran’s reflective eyes, heavy-lidded with sleepiness but still somehow frightened. “I think it’s a fluke,” he answered, after a long moment of thought. “All the murderers decided to stay home today.”

  That really didn’t seem to do much to brighten Keiran’s mood, not that Jace could blame him.

  “Maybe it does mean something,” he finally continued. Thinking out loud really. “But for it to mean something, it has to keep happening. But if this is just the start of peace after 100 years of waiting for everyone to adjust, can you imagine how long it will be until things settle down for good? I don’t know if either of us will be alive for that.”