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At first, I’d managed to hold it off by not eating very much at all, by starving myself and by exercising as often as I could, running along the mountain trails near the castle at least twice a day when I could sneak outside and doing crunches and chin-ups until I was ready to lose what little food was in my stomach. I never slept very much, hoping to wear my body down and make it weak.
There was another reason I didn’t sleep well, actually. I was afraid of the dark. A silly thing for an almost twenty-year-old person to admit, but it was true. I’d been that way since my stepmother had locked me in a closet and left me there for three days when my old nurse, Griselda, had been sick in bed. It had been her first attempt at killing me, I guess, and by the time Griselda found me, I was really dehydrated and half dead anyway. Griselda nursed me back to health and even used to let me burn a candle at night to keep away the dark. That stopped when she was fired a few years later by my stepmother, and since then I tried to stay awake all night and feed the fire so it would blaze up as high as possible. I slept mostly during the days.
And now I was discovering that my “brilliant” scheme to just never go into heat hadn’t worked at all. I felt like I had a ticking time bomb hanging over my head and it had just exploded.
I’d never had much of anything in my life, and I still didn’t, but at least before this I was mostly left alone and could spend my days and nights any way I liked. I wasn’t a slave to my body or anyone else’s. Now I’d be vulnerable to everyone with a dick and a knot.
All my free time would be over once I had an Alpha and his pack telling me what to do. They’d probably work me to the bone and keep my belly full of their babies until I died or went crazy, whichever came first. Or until my father died, so this Lord Lexington could become Regent, and I could meet with that unfortunate accident to clear the path for him to marry the beautiful Callista. That is, if they didn’t decide to sell me. It was a toss-up as to which was the worse fate.
I made it back to my room and quickly rang for servants to bring me hot water for a bath. It took them a while, because I had been assigned the worst of the lot, but at least they came. As they poured in the steaming buckets, I found some strong, scented bath salts to add to the water in an attempt to disguise my slick. I stayed as far away from the servants as I could as they worked, hoping they wouldn’t notice anything. And as soon as they left, I took off my clothes and began to soak myself in the scalding hot water. As I did, I considered my options, which I already knew were very few.
I could stay, meet these Alphas and hope for the best—though that was probably a death sentence or a one-way ticket to an omega slave trader. Or I could run away, knowing that with my first heat coming on, I would be an all too willing target for any Alpha who came across me. Not only would I welcome him, but I’d probably chase him down and beg him to mount me and fill me with his knot, along with any other Alphas in his pack who were willing to pile on. An omega with no Alphas to help him would be in constant, unrelenting pain, so I’d have little choice. When I’d been passed around to everyone until I could no longer walk, they’d give me a little rest if I were lucky and then start in again on me the next day. And the next.
I would crave being filled by an Alpha’s cock almost twenty-four hours a day for the week or so that my heat lasted, and his knot would be welcome to tie us together for as long as possible. And then more knots after that until I’d been fucked half to death.
Not a pleasant prospect, but Berinda had left me with only two choices—a quick death or a slow one. Dealer’s choice.
After I got out of the bath, I found some old clothes that I could rip up and fold some pieces into pads to stick over my hole to try and absorb the spotting of slick that had already begun. In the morning, I would burn the pads in the fireplace to hide all the evidence. I went to bed then, because I was so exhausted, and all my efforts at holding off my heat had been in vain anyway.
Tomorrow, I’d either have to run or submit myself to that pack of alphas. I feared my time was up.
Chapter Two
“Your Highness, what’s wrong?”
I glanced up at Billy, one of the male servants who took care of cleaning my rooms and tried out a smile. He was new, only having just been assigned to me a few days earlier. I didn’t think the smile I gave him was too successful, though, because he was still peering down at me with a slight frown. I dashed a treacherous tear from my eyes and then turned to face him. Tears had never done me any good when I was a child, and they were a sign of weakness that I couldn’t show.
“Nothing, Billy. I’m just not feeling too well, that’s all.”
“Oh, I see. Is it because your heat cycle is coming on? Do you have pains?”
I gazed back at him in amazement. A little fear and horror was mixed in too. “How do you know that? Oh my God, can you smell my slick too?”
“Oh yes, ‘a course, but then I have a sensitive nose for pheromones. And I’m omega too, so I know what it’s like when it’s first coming in. Maybe no one else around here has noticed.” He glanced around us to see if anyone could hear, then leaned in closer. “They’re all a bunch of mean betas. Dumb ones too. I swear, Prince Rory, they gave you the worst of the lot.”
“I know, but you seem different. What did you do to get stuck with me?”
“The queen got the cook to fire me from my job in the scullery, because she gained a pound from eating the chocolate souffle she asked me to make for her every day for two weeks. Like I had the magic to somehow take all the calories out of it! It was the dumb hussy’s own fault for eating it so often,” he said and then suddenly realizing who he was talking to, he clapped a hand over his mouth. “Oh gods, I didn’t mean to…”
“Oh please,” I said, smiling at him. “Don’t worry about me. I couldn’t hate the queen anymore if I tried, and I promise you I won’t say a word. Be careful around these others though. Berinda has her spies all over the castle.”
“I know that’s the truth,” he said, casting a glance around.
“But what if they have figured it out, Billy? I don’t want my stepmother to know!” The fact that I was telling him this after meeting him five minutes ago showed how distraught I was at that moment. My servants were well-paid not to show me any sympathy. Also, to do very little cleaning and give me only the most basic care. They had always been jerks.
Billy saw my face and suspected what I was thinking. “Don’t worry. I’m not telling that old crow anything,” he said. He dug in the pockets of his pants and handed me a small bottle. “Take these, sir. I got them for myself a while ago, but I went into heat before I could take them.”
“Oh, my goodness, are you…?”
“Pregnant. Yes, Your Highness. I know it’s hard to tell because I’m a little big boned.” He laughed good-naturedly. “Or pleasingly plump, as my smartass mate says.” He laughed heartily, wiping his eyes with the hem of his shirt. “I have five children now. This one will be number six.”
“Good gods! Then you need these heat suppressant pills a lot more than I do.”
“No, sir. I still have eight months to go yet. And a few more after that while the babe is still so young, and then I’ll get the doctor to give me more. These here in this bottle will be enough to stop your heat for a month, but since this is your first time, these pills might not keep it away for quite that long. Still, they should give you a bit of a reprieve if you want one.”
I took the pills in my hand and shook my head. I’d never been lucky, but it was so rare that anyone showed me a kindness of any kind, and I wasn’t going to take this gift lightly. I wasn’t quite sure how to take anyone being so nice to me.
“I don’t know how to thank you.”
