Page 10 of The Diamond Dragon Prince
“No, they won’t,” Diamant said, tapping the side of his nose and winking.
I tried not to laugh as he unfastened their bridles from the tree branch they’d been tied to near the stream and patted their rumps to encourage them to wander off. I could have sworn I saw a sparkle of magic as he tapped them.
We subtly freed as many of the villagers as we could, too, though that proved harder. Too many of those weary souls had already fallen asleep on the grass of the plain.
“It’s alright,” the man whose omega was heavy with child said as he led his husband away. “Free too many of us and the mercenaries will notice. Free just a few and we can go for help and come back with an army of our own.”
“Are you certain?” I asked.
The man nodded, then stared at me for a long while. Then he gasped and his eyes went wide. “Prince Leo,” he whispered in awe.
I nodded, then said. “Don’t tell.”
The man made a sound of surprise that was close to laughter. “So there is good in the castle after all,” he said.
“There is,” I confirmed with a nod. “But we have to fight to conquer the evil.”
The man nodded, then led his omega off, along with two other alphas we’d managed to free.
I wished we could have freed more, but the man was right. We were outnumbered, and if all of the villagers went missing at once, we would have a battle on our hands that we couldn’t win. Diamant could have used his magic, I was certain, but that would have caused untold problems.
“I suppose part of fighting is realizingyour limitations,” Diamant whispered to me as we made one final round of the camp, stealing boots, disposing of trousers where they’d been removed for the night, and hiding other supplies. “We will save these people, we just need to make certain we have what it takes to do that.”
I nodded and let out a heavy breath of frustration. It would have been so much more satisfying to save everyone and make everything right all at once. At least we could do what we were able to in the moment.
And working by my dragon mate’s side for a cause I was passionate about was a great deal of fun.
“Tie those two into their bedrolls,” I whispered to Diamant, almost giggling as we made one last pass through the camp. “They’ll have a hard time getting out.”
Diamant grinned, his smile surprisingly dragonlike in the firelight. “Gather up those weapons and bring them into the forest,” he told me as he crouched to tie up one of the bedrolls.
I nodded, grabbing every rusty sword and rotting cudgel I could find. It was a good thing Diamant and I were on the side of rightness and good, because we could have caused a great deal of trouble if we weren’t.
Once we’d finished our mission and retreated into the forest, disposing of the stolen weapons as we went, my heart felt light.
“That was fun,” I said as we walked deep into the cover of the trees, where I assumed we would wait until morning to see if our mischief did what it was supposed to do.
“Exceedingly enjoyable,” Diamant agreed, pausing as we reached the edge of a grassy clearing by the stream.
I had been glancing back over my shoulder at the faint lights of the camp in the distance, but when I turned back, I caught Diamant staring at me with a ravenous look.
My pulse kicked up, and my insides shivered with excitement and heat.
“I can think of something else that would be exceedingly enjoyable,” Diamant said in a low rumble.
I blinked. Could we do that? Right there, in the middle of the forest, deep into the night? I wasn’t even in heat. Could alphas and omegas just enjoy each other for fun?
But of course we could. It was ridiculous that I would even question that, not to mention a sign of how wretched my life had been so far.
I didn’t want to be a wretched, victimized omega. I wanted to be bold and take what I wanted.
So without being completely certain what I was doing, I flung myself into my alpha’s arms. I gripped the front of his dirty tunic, breathed in his rich, alluring scent, lifted to my toes, and slammed my mouth over his.
The effect was instantaneous. Diamant closed his arms around me and growled as he took command of the kiss. One of his hands slipped down to cup my ass and his tongue invaded my mouth.
We’d kissed before, but those stolen kisses seemed chaste compared to the way Diamant explored my mouth now. I could feel his hunger through the heat of his body and the way his thick alpha cock pressed against my belly, even though we were both clothed.
“Wicked omega,” Diamant growled before dipping close to me again to kiss and nibble at my neck.
