“Marlin,” he heard Nic croak.

Marlin opened his eyes. The room was still dark, the curtains still drawn, and he wondered how early it was, because after their active night, he was still exhausted and could use a couple more hours of sleep.

“Marlin,” Nic moaned again.

Even though Nic was wrapped tightly in his arms, he was shivering.

And sweating.

For the love of Neptune. Was Nic in a fever again? There had been no signs of the flu lingering during dinner last night or during the two more times they rutted later in bed.

None.

How could his illness be back?

Marlin cleared his throat of its morning roughness, so he could ask, “Are you sick again?”

Nic’s whole body trembled against him and he was burning up. He was as hot as a furnace. How that blazing heat hadn’t woken Marlin up sooner...

“Do you need me to run a bath to cool you down?”

“No... No... That’s not what I need.”

“What do you—”

Then it hit him. Like a two-by-four directly to the face. Why Nic was shivering. Why he was sweating. Why his dark hair was damp and curling at the ends. Why he was suddenly writhing in Marlin’s hold.

Marlin shoved his nose behind Nic’s ear and inhaled deeply, letting that alluring scent, that eerily familiar aroma, not only fill his lungs, but his brain and his bloodstream with what was coming.

Nic’s heat.

The omega was at the beginning of his oestrus.

It wasn’t overly strong, not like the scent he had picked up whiffs of when Luca, Del or Finn went into heat.

No, it was more subtle. Maybe because he wasn’t a full-blooded Selkie. Or it could be because it was so early in his cycle.

Maybe it was because Nic wasn’t his fated mate.

Or possibly because he was supposed to be on bloody heat suppressants!

But even so, Marlin’s cock was now raging, throbbing, ready to breed the omega in his arms. His hips thrust forward automatically, searching for where it needed to be to do just that.

Nic’s hormones weren’t the only scent filling the air, it was the sweet smell of his slick which was trickling onto Marlin’s bare thigh.

“What’s wrong with me?” Nic asked, his voice shaky.

“You’re going into oestrus,” Marlin managed between gritted teeth. The male had never gone through a cycle, so no wonder he didn’t know what to expect. And he was sure his human mother couldn’t give him pointers.

“Impossible,” Nic whimpered.

“You said you’re on heat suppressants,” Marlin muttered. “So why are you in oestrus now?” He thought back over the last week and hissed, “For Poseidon’s sake, the flu!”

“I couldn’t keep anything down... as you well know. It needs to stay constantly in my system...”

“I know how it works! Bloody hell. This was why I wanted to use a condom!”

“But a condom is useless if you knot me.”

He knew that! Even though he had vowed not to knot Nic, he had anyway. Not only on the kitchen table before dinner, but later during their time in bed.

Why was he so weak when it came to this male?

“I need to get out of here. I need to leave, Nic. I’m sorry...” He should be jumping out of bed, grabbing his clothes and running out of the house as far away and as fast as he could.

But he wasn’t moving. Well, he was, but it was his hips thrusting back and forth out of his control. And he wasn’t even inside Nic!

“No! You can’t leave. You can’t leave me like this. I feel like I’m on fire. You need to find a way to cool me down...”

That’s what he was afraid of. “The only way I can cool your heat is to come inside you, Nic. To knot you. To...” Marlin groaned. “I can’t. I can’t. Great sea gods. I need to go.” But he still didn’t make one move to leave. Not one.

He couldn’t pull away from Nic. He couldn’t release him from his arms. He couldn’t stop that scent from entering his flared nostrils. He couldn’t leave him here alone in case another alpha came along.

He couldn’t let another male rut with his omega.

He. Could. Not.

He groaned again at his feeling of powerlessness.

“I... I need to get on my hands and knees. I need to... I need you to...” Nic tried to pull from Marlin’s embrace.

“No. If you present yourself, I won’t be able to resist, Nic. I’ll take you and try to impregnate you. We need to avoid that at all costs.”

“Why? Why?” Nic cried out, jerking in his arms. “Because I’m a hybrid? I might not even be fertile.”

Maybe. Maybe not. It wasn’t worth the risk.

“You’re not thinking straight, Nic. You don’t want this. If I take you, you’ll regret it when it’s over. You said you wanted to remain independent. Your independence will cease to exist if you get pregnant. If you end up carrying my son. Do you understand that?”

“Yes. Yes. But please... Oh shit. I need you. I need you to do what alphas do. Please. You can’t let me suffer like this. It’s getting worse by the minute.”

Marlin swallowed hard and squeezed his eyes shut, fighting the urge to roll Nic over and take him, to claim him, to give Nic his seed.

Nic struggled against him, trying to yank free of Marlin’s tight embrace.

“If you won’t fuck me, then I’ll go find one of your brothers. One whiff of my oestrus and I’m sure any of them will be all over me. They’ll do what needs to be done.”

A deep growl slipped past his lips. “You will not. That’s just desperation talking, Nic.”

Nic jerked against him harder. “Try me.”

“You’re pushing me, Omega. You’re trying to get me angry, so I do what you want me to do.”

“No shit.”

Nic was right, his heat cycle was getting worse by the minute. He couldn’t get that scent out of his nose, couldn’t stop it from scrambling his brain.

He struggled to hang on to what he knew was right and wrong.

It was wrong to take Nic during his cycle.

It was so wrong.

This would just end up a disaster in the end.

But the urge to drive his cock home inside of Nic was becoming overwhelming and he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to resist much longer. Especially when Nic was now shoving his tight, muscular ass into Marlin’s raging erection.

“You’re trying to push me, Omega,” he repeated desperately, trying to keep his thoughts together, “to the point of breaking. You did it last night and look where it landed us. You’re now in heat.”

Nic whimpered again as his slippery crease slid along Marlin’s length. Marlin fought back his own whimper.

“You blame me for this.”

I blame my own weakness when it comes to you. “No, I know you didn’t do this on purpose. Neither of us considered the obvious fact that you couldn’t keep anything down for days. We’re both at fault.”

“Marlin,” Nic cried out.

Marlin’s heart thumped. “What?”

“I need to get on my hands and knees for you. I can’t fight it anymore.”

Marlin bit the inside of his cheek, hoping desperately that the pain would distract him and help keep his sanity. “No, Omega, I’m the alpha. You obey me. You will remain where you are in my arms and we’ll fight this together.”

While in theory his idea of resisting sounded good, he knew it wasn’t reality because his control was quickly slipping away. His common sense was splintering into a million pieces. The need to breed was filling every thought and cell throughout his body.

Even Nic being a hybrid wasn’t enough for Marlin to keep himself together. Especially when Marlin’s hips continued to have a mind of their own and Nic kept pushing his sweet, inviting ass against him.

Tempting him at each rock of his hips.

In the end, Nic ended up on his hands and knees with Marlin planting his seed deep, knotting him, and also leaving an alpha-claim on the back of Nic’s neck. Marlin only hoped that Nic’s oestrus ran its course before Wednesday morning when Kenn would be outside impatiently laying on the horn once more.

Marlin didn’t want to be there.

He didn’t want to be surrounded by his brothers, their omegas, a representative of the Royal Council, as well as one of the Selkie Seekers.

He didn’t want to be eyeballed by his father who sat on his bloody throne at the head of the Great Hall, watching him with narrowed navy eyes.

And he certainly didn’t want to be circling the lineup of six omegas who were being presented forehead to the floor, bare ass up in an undignified manner.

His stride stuttered when his eyes automatically closed as he pictured Nic in the same position, offering himself to his pretend alpha.

Not because he wanted to, but because he was driven to during his oestrus.

It wasn’t until Tuesday morning that the hold the heat cycle held them both in broke. It wasn’t until Tuesday afternoon that they finally went out on Nic’s boat. That was after Kenn met them dockside with his skin and a scowl.

Kenn said nothing, simply handed him his skin and left abruptly.

On the boat, Marlin watched in fascination as a shirtless Nic, still weary from not only the flu but his oestrus, pulled lobster pots and commandeered his boat expertly. Like he was born to be on the water. Which he was. Sort of.

Finally, almost an hour out, he dropped anchor, slipped a brass key from around his neck and opened a stainless-steel locker that held who Nic really was.

A hybrid. A Selkie. An omega.

And after the last few days, possible pater to the unborn son of the fourth alpha-born prince of the Northern Colony.

After donning their seal skins, they both dove effortlessly into the Great Sea from the edge of Nic’s fishing vessel. They swam together for two hours, cutting through the water, diving deep, swimming side by side, playing tag, and eating morsels of delicious sea life like squid and shrimp. They simply enjoyed each other’s company, the tension of the last few stressful days of constant, frantic rutting sluicing off them. Afterward, they relaxed on the boat’s deck taking in the late afternoon sun before napping lazily in each other’s arms.

A loud clearing of a throat rudely interrupted Marlin’s thoughts and the stirring of his cock at the memory of a naked Nic tangled up in his arms and legs. Out on his boat they could just be together and forget who they each were for a little while.

An alpha prince obligated to find his fated mate.

An omega hybrid who could very well be carrying his son.

“Prince Marlin,” his father called. “Are you unwell?”

Marlin reluctantly opened his eyes and turned toward his brothers, who stood in a line behind him. All of them knew he’d spent the last few days with Nic. None of them knew that during that time, Nic had been in heat.

Kai’s deep frown spoke volumes.

And if the future king found out Marlin had been with Nic during his heat...

He didn’t want to cause a rift between him and Kai. So he needed to keep what happened with Nic a secret for now and hope for the best. With any luck, the mating didn’t take or Nic turned out to be one of the hybrids who was infertile.

However, looking at his brothers with their omegas by their side, especially Del and Finn, Marlin couldn’t imagine he could be so lucky to get out of that situation unscathed. Rian hadn’t. Neither had Zale. Though everything worked out well for them in the end.

He really wasn’t sure how he’d feel if Nic ended up pregnant.

In truth, he was excited one moment, terrified the next.

Either way, if hybrids were similar to full-blooded Selkies, they would need to wait at least two weeks to find out the result.

That was going to be a long two weeks. Especially when he was standing behind six naked omegas and currently being watched like a hawk by his family.

He shook himself mentally.

“Prince Marlin,” the king called out. “Please check each and every omega presented before I send them away.”

He opened his mouth to tell his father that he could simply send them away and there would be no complaint from him. But he really doubted King Solomon would let that slide since the Seekers were finding it more and more difficult to come up with a half-dozen well-bred omegas to present to royals at each ceremony.

Even so, he would go through the motions, so he didn’t have to listen to his father’s angry rant about another son bucking all his treasured royal traditions.

Marlin did his best to clear the lump in his throat to ask, “Can they all stand, Father?”

“Rise,” King Solomon yelled, emphasizing his command with a pound of his scepter against the dais at his feet.

One by one the six males got to their feet, but kept their heads bowed and their gazes pointed to the floor as Marlin moved along the line, stepping up to each one, apologizing softly enough so they could only hear it and then placing his nose barely an inch from their neck and sniffing.

After he got to the sixth one and had no reaction to any of them, relief flooded him. In reality, it should have been disappointment because he knew that it would only mean he would need to participate in another Presentation Ceremony in the future.

But at least finding his fated mate could be delayed until after they found out if Nic was pregnant.

Turning on his heels, he faced his father, who was wearing his unhappy face. “Well?”

Marlin gave a quick shake to his head. “Your Highness, none of the omegas presented today are my fated mate.”

Solomon clapped his hands loudly and said to the Seeker who stood at the base of the throne, “You may take them away. I will have one of my servants send the appropriate gift of gratitude to their families. Please find more candidates for my son as quickly as possible. You may be excused.”

The Seeker bowed deeply and escorted the naked males from the large, cavernous hall.

It was then that Marlin finally let out the sigh of relief he’d been containing.

“Don’t despair, my son, they will find your mate,” his father announced.

A snort came from behind him. Normally he’d expect it to be from Caol, but his youngest brother had been abnormally quiet today. Maybe his smartass ways had fled since they were in their father’s company.

And for good reason. Caol seemed to want to stay off Solomon’s radar lately. Most likely so he wouldn’t feel their father’s wrath and be sent away again without his beta, Beck.

Their father had discovered something inappropriate had been going on between the alpha-born prince and his beta servant—most likely from his lackey Douglass—so it was the perfect punishment to separate the two. However, with Caol’s promise that any intimate relations between the two would cease, Solomon did allow Beck to remain in Caol’s service.

Marlin had a feeling if Caol got caught again with Beck, their father would not only punish Caol but would send Beck far away to another colony. Marlin also figured that would devastate them both.

But Caol and Beck’s inappropriate relationship shouldn’t be at the forefront of Marlin’s mind. No. It should be what was between him and Nic.

He swore to himself that if Nic didn’t end up pregnant, he’d never visit the little cabin in the woods again.

Even though he knew that was a lie.

“Are you just going to stand there looking completely lost?” Rian said as he approached, his arm around Del’s shoulders. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing.”

Kai guided Luca over to join them.

“He looks like a love-struck fool,” Kai said with a scowl.

“That’s sweet,” Luca said with a small smile.

Kai shot his omega a frown. “It’s not sweet. It’s stupid.” Kai’s eyes lifted to the throne to make sure their father was no longer in hearing distance. “It’s stupid and it’s dangerous.”

“Why would it be dangerous?” Zale asked, pulling Finn by the hand to their little group.

“Yes, why would it be dangerous?” Caol asked, with a cocked brow. “He’s been having sex with a human. How could that be dangerous? It would be fun, if anything.”

“One, because it’s,” Kai’s head swiveled around, then he lowered his voice, “Nic. And two, because he’s a...”

“A?” Rian prodded.

“A human?” Caol finished.

“No,” Kai answered.

Marlin sighed.

“A what?” Rian asked.

“A hybrid,” spilled from Marlin’s lips before he could stop it. “I need to go rest.” He began to step away, but Rian’s hand shot out and snagged Marlin’s arm, holding him in place.

“A hybrid?” Rian surprised gaze slid from Marlin to Kai. “Did you know that when you were with him?”

“I did not,” Kai muttered.

Rian turned back to Marlin. “When did you find this out?”

“Recently. And must we talk about it?”

“You drop a bomb on us like that and you don’t want to discuss it?” Zale asked, much too loudly for Marlin’s liking.

“It’s none of anyone’s business.” He knew that answer wouldn’t fly but he said it anyway.

Kai began to bluster, reminding him way too much of their father.

Marlin lifted a palm. “Can we discuss this somewhere other than here where our words echo through this massive room and can easily be overheard?”

“Well, it’s your turn to host dinner, so get Kenn on it.” Kai lifted his wrist to look at his watch. “We’ll be knocking on your door at six PM sharp, brother. Understood?”

Marlin sighed. “Fine.”

As he watched Kai, Rian and Zale leave the hall with their omegas in tow, Marlin’s gaze landed on Caol who was studying him with a gleam in his eyes. “I won’t be able to ask this at the dinner table, but... how is he?”

Marlin’s brows dropped low. “Who?”

“Nic. I’ve always wondered. And, of course, Kai would never say. But he has to be good for you to stay days on end, right?”

Marlin sucked in a sharp breath. “Really, Caol? You want me to tell you how good my lover is in bed? You actually expect an answer?”

Caol hmm’d. “Your lover, huh? Kai dropped him quickly once he found Luca, will you do the same when you find your omega?”

“He is an omega.”

Caol’s head snapped up. “What?”

“Yes, Caol. Nic’s an omega.”

The corner of Caol’s lips curled up into a wicked smile. “But is he your omega?”

“You know he’s not.”

“Are you sure?”

Right now, Marlin wasn’t sure of anything. “He’s a hybrid.”

“So?”

“Unacceptable.”

“To who?”

“Must I say who?”

Caol shrugged. “Will it matter what Father says once Kai takes the throne?”

“As far as I know, a coup isn’t on the schedule this week, but I’ll double check my Google calendar.”

Caol pursed his lips for a moment. “He’s seriously thinking about it, Marlin. I hope he decides to step up and takeover.”

“I know he is and I’ve told him that could cause a rift between us and not only the Royal Council but the other colonies.”

“We’re all aware of that,” Caol said simply.

“Oh, we are? Good.”

Caol laughed. “You’d think after getting laid for the past week, you’d be in a better mood. Maybe Luca is right. You are in love.” Caol made kissy faces at him with the sound effects and all.

Marlin rolled his eyes, spun on his heels and headed to his wing to inform his cranky beta that he was making dinner for all of them.

He was sure that would brighten Kenn’s day.