And I’m not the only one who feels it. Because Craze groans, “Graves, now I’m hard again.”
Catum just smirks, but I’m certain he’s not unaffected by our Omega’s words. “You run and Alphas chase, yes,” he confirms. “And you choose which circle to submit to.”
“For a rut,” she says slowly, like she’s tasting the term. “Which means…?”
“Fucking,” Craze growls before grabbing her and pulling her into a kiss. “Lots and lots of knotting. And coming. And pleasure.”
She melts into his touch, her lips rounding on a moaned “Ohhh.”
Craze smiles against her mouth. “You like that, don’t you, gorgeous?”
She swallows. “I… I might.”
“You will,” he promises, kissing her again. “You’ll fucking love it.”
“Assuming we proceed with the ritual,” I interject, hating that I have to be the voice of reason. But it’s my job. My role. My burden. “If the Alphas won’t respect Ailsa’s choice, then it’s too dangerous to continue with our plans.”
“Thus taking us to plan Z,” Craze says on a sigh as he steps back from Ailsa.
“Taking me… home,” she summarizes, her lips curling down. “And then what?”
“Then we handle the issues here and come back for you later,” I tell her. I hate this plan, but it’s our last resort. “We hoped your presence here would reignite some of our old ways. However, thus far… it seems to have proven just how lost Monsterland has become.”
I look at Craze, his words from a few minutes ago swirling in my head.
“That happens when their leader is absent.”
It’s my darkest fear come to life.
It took us so long to find a potential mate, thus allowing Monsterland to deteriorate beneath the Imposter King’s rule.
We searched for an Omega out of necessity. But I would be lying if I didn’t admit to myself that our reasons went deeper than just saving the kingdom.
We wanted a purpose.
A future.
A queen.
Perhaps that makes us selfish in a way.
Only, I thought bringing Ailsa here would unite the kingdom, not divide it more.
We anticipated the Imposter King’s minions trying to drag her back to his lair, but thus far, the only Alphas who have come after her are ones who want to knot her themselves.
Except for maybe the Tweedle brothers and Brandt. Although, we never actually waited to hear their reasonings. We just assumed they were there at the behest of the Imposter King.
Have we been looking at this wrong from the beginning?I wonder.Has the betrayer on my throne sent anyone after her at all?
“We need to move forward with plan Z,” I say slowly out loud, my mind trying to solve all the puzzles of the last few days.
Hell, if I’m honest, these puzzles date backcenturies. And now they’re made even more complicated by the Imposter King not doing what we anticipated.
Which makes everything here an unknown.
I do not like unknowns.
“Ailsa will be safer outside of Monsterland at this point,” I continue, still thinking aloud. “I know we have allies here, but I currently don’t trust anyone. We need to regroup and determine who we can actually rely on in Monsterland. And we can’t do that with her essentially serving as bait for chaos.”