CHAPTER EIGHT
DROCCO
He clung to the trill of the purr that penetrated the fog in his mind.
It was the only thing that cut through the confusion that had taken over his senses. He held onto it, focusing on its vibration, its strength, and the warmth it invoked within him.
He much preferred the purr to the agonized cry that had forced him to stop in his tracks. Something hadn't been right, but he didn't know what it was. That angry fog of rage had overtaken him, pushing him to claim his Omega, to teach her once and for all where she belonged. And yet, he could not reconcile the feel of her with the reeking fear that came from her or her cries and yells, or her complete lack of submission. This didn’t feel like her—these contrasting signals were out of place. And yet he could not stop himself. The need to be inside her had been so strong that he didn’t have control. Instincts within him pushing him to do what was necessary to ensure that his Omega stay with him, to ensure that she was his. None of it felt right.
Only the purr made sense. It was the only thing that had ever calmed him before and it called to him, telling him that his Omega was trying to look after him.
So he held still for it, absorbing its vibration. And the longer he did, the more his muscles relaxed. A soothing sensation worked its way into his chest. Smooth hands ran up his shoulders and across his neck, pulling him down onto the small soft body that he had been desperate for.
Fingers stroked his hair, scratching his scalp and massaging down his neck. Coos, murmurs, and soft words were whispered to him and a small, delicate mouth kissed his persistently until he was claiming it, thrusting his tongue in, desperate for more.
The purr remained strong working through him until the scent of fear had completely dissipated, replaced by the wonderful aroma of arousal and need.
The small hand encased his cock, tugging on it before drawing it into the sheath it had always sought, the one that encased him so beautifully and so greedily, he drew a breath in.
And suddenly, he was home; in the lodge in Ricsford; in the palace bedroom. He was inside his Omega and there was nothing and no one else that mattered.
Blinking, he saw her underneath him, pressed into the bed. Tears glistened in her eyes, even though she stared at him with that soft gaze that he loved. Frowning, he brushed away her tears as he filled her to the hilt. She moaned, widening her legs for him and tilting her hips to draw him deeper. He began to fuck her slowly, taking in every expression on her gorgeous face.
He loved that face. He loved her smile and her deep brown eyes. He loved the squeeze of her pussy. He loved how deep he went inside her, to the point that her channel tightened to grip his tip. He loved the sounds she made, he loved her scent, he loved everything.
He lowered and pressed his lips against hers and she kissed him back, her hands in his hair pulling him closer. He played with her nipple and reveled in the sounds she made. Her moans and whimpers and gasps were like a drug—he wanted to hear them all the time. He began to slam into her harder and she encouraged him, jerking her hips up to meet his thrusts, her fingers tapping the back of his neck, her toes digging into his buttocks and urging him inside. Her breathing increased and her slick, velvety channel squeezed along his length, sending delicious jolts rocketing through him. As his crescendo built, his breathing became ragged, and he became harder and wilder. His Omega arched her back, pressing her head back into the bed, limp and submissive with her legs spread wide as she panted and moaned for him to fuck her. Suddenly her whole body shuddered, her pussy tightening around him, his name twisting out of her mouth as she convulsed underneath him. He fucked her through it, grunting at the carnal, powerful, magnificent sensations embracing him. The exquisite pleasure chased away any jumbled confusion, fog or anger that still remained in the recesses of his mind. This wasn’t about claiming his Omega, this was about giving her what she needed, what they both needed.
As he came, he jerked into her with erratic hard slams, clenching his entire body hard as the pleasure seized him. He collapsed on top of her, his knot snug in her pussy.
He breathed hard, his mind overwhelmed by the sensations so completely, all thought fled. He relaxed, satisfied and fulfilled, his mind slowly returning to a mild, mellow state as the sensations faded. Eventually, everything normalized, and he suddenly noticed his surroundings. He was not in Cailyn's lodge. He was not in the palace bedroom. He had no idea where he was. The bedroom around them didn’t look familiar and there were no windows for him to even guess where they might be.
The purr was faint now, coming from underneath him, and when he looked down to make sure she was all right, he found her fast asleep. When he lifted his body from her, she became restless and whimpered a little, so he covered her with himself again, wondering what the hell had happened. He barely remembered arriving at this place or how they got here. He looked around the room carefully trying to pinpoint where he could be. What the hell happened to the Mothers? Were they still a threat?
He carefully rolled onto one side, bringing Cailyn with him and keeping her steady on his knot. He cradled her in his arms, watching her as she slept. She still purred and he found himself deeply satisfied by it. He hadn't heard it since they had been together in the palace bedroom and hadn’t realized how much he missed it. He stroked his hands through her curly hair and over her beautiful body. She was getting fatter, and it was a pleasure to see her curves rounding out. Her stomach had grown larger, and he ran his hands over it, that obsessive fascination rising within him again.
"Do you remember how you got here?"
Drocco tensed and tried to roll his Omega from view, but she was sleeping and he was desperate not to wake her. Turning his head, he saw Mother Azia standing by the doorway. Her face stern, her body rigid.
"Get out," he growled.
"Do you remember how you got here?" she asked again insistently.
"It doesn't matter," he said. "The point is, I am with her. She clearly needed me."
"You attacked her."
Drocco grit his teeth. He slowly sat upright, pressing Cailyn onto his knot to secure her from being hurt. "What?"
"You attacked her."
"You are a fucking liar," he ground out. "I would never hurt her."
"She has bruises all over her body," Mother Azia said evenly. "You even have strands of her hair in your fist where she had to rip herself from your grip."
Drocco started as he realized that wisps of her curly hair were indeed in his hand. He quickly let them go and then began to examine Cailyn. She did indeed have bruises on her arms, and scratch marks on her chest. Although he had been rough with her before, he had always remembered it. A niggling doubt plagued him.
"Take off the charm chain," Mother Azia said slowly. "Take it off now, and you can both return home."
Drocco snarled at her. "I don't know what the fuck you’re planning on doing, but you cannot try to persuade me that I would hurt my own Omega again. I will not do it. I promised her I wouldn't."
"You already have!" Mother Azia snapped. "What will it take for you to realize? Do you think that she asked for you to meet her just now? Your priority when we last spoke was to get her and your child out of here. How do you explain prioritizing this mating? Do you remember how it began?"
Drocco's heart sank as he realized he had no idea how he arrived in the bedroom. "It doesn't mean anything," he said in a low voice. “I have resisted touching her before. I am not as driven by instinct as you would like to believe.” However, even as he spoke an uncomfortable feeling rose. He had indeed been swayed by some kind of strong, uncontrollable instinct. So much so, that he thought he’d been at Cailyn's lodge instead of in the Omega village that he was supposed to be rescuing her from. How had his mind jumped so far from that recognition? He had no idea how they had ended up in the bedroom and that was worrying.
"If you do not believe me," Mother Azia said, her voice hardening, “then we will have to play this game again."
Before Drocco could respond, the Mother turned and exited the room. He sat stroking Cailyn's back as she slept, trying to make sense of what had happened, and becoming more and more frustrated that he couldn't.
It was clear that Cailyn had not had a good night’s sleep recently. As his knot shrunk, she was still in a deep sleep, eager to be pressed up against him, her nose in the crook of his neck. He held her and stroked her, hoping she would wake up soon, but she was clearly exhausted.
He laid her down the bed, then rested with her, tracing the scars on his arms and wondering how they got so bad. He worried about why he could not remember. It did not bode well. He hoped that Kuan and Rada were making progress, he had no idea how long he had been here now, but it was a concern that he was losing time. He watched Cailyn sleep, torn about what action he should be taking next. Logically, he should be waking her and finding a way to escape and yet, based on her exhaustion, she may not be well enough to walk or travel or run. Truly, that shouldn’t matter, but he could not put her in danger in that way. Not when she was pregnant. And so he lay and watched her sleep, loving how she clung to him and purred for him even in her deepest slumber.
He was so absorbed with watching her, that he did not notice the door had inched open. Nor did he notice the Mothers entering, not until the magic slammed into him, spreading around his whole body, hardening and immobilizing him immediately.
As they drifted him out of the room, he kept his eyes on Cailyn as she slept, completely unaware of what was happening, and he was once again reminded of why the Mothers had to die. As soon as she was out of sight, his anger grew again as he watched them, the fury rising as they took him back to his cell and left him there, once again alone, once again without his Omega, and once again exposed to the raw magic that kept him contained and his instincts heightened.