What the Lightning Gave Us - Chapter 3

Tags: Oral devotion on Lena, sweet Kara, Lena goes into heat/rabidly horny Kara (for reasons), some foreshadowing.
Word count: 7,165

On the eve after the banquet, Lena experienced restlessness and fright in her bed, but dared not venture out of her rooms. The sunset that evening had streaked across the clouds like blood on pillowcases, and the kitchen maids whispered of grim tidings for battle. When the last of the colors had faded, the midnight blue of the sky was a boon, promising future prosperity with stars as bright as silver coins. Lena drifted off to sleep at last in their peaceful light.

By morning, the sun was new and scorching, and Lena awakened to feel the burn of it on her face. The servants had come in to open the draperies and then Astra entered in the midst of the commotion.

“You are to go with Kara, as far as the city by the sea,” Astra sang out, though whether in despair or joy, Lena could not determine. “You will have your own carriage with guards and your ladies will accompany you.”

 
Lena threw herself from the bed, her emotions fluctuating as she considered what this all meant for her future. She slipped her hands into Astra’s and waited for her foster mother to tell her.

Astra seemed suddenly upset and Lena could feel the trembles that went through her arms. “We are sending you toward war, and it is terrible thing that it is a safer place for you than your own home. If you stay, King Zor will have a young knight claim you, and I’m afraid under those circumstances I would never see you again.”

Tears formed in Lena’s eyes and she embraced Astra as she thought of all of the preparations and discussions that must have taken place in the middle of the night on her behalf.

“I will return,” Lena assured her in a steady voice, though her throat was quivering with every soft breath she exhaled. “As Queen. Then I shall see to it that Kara moves her court northward to our home, to our castle here in Kandor.”

Astra appeared to be soothed by that assurance, and the dread went out of her face until the door burst open.

Three servants hurried inside with a gown of soft lilacs and royal purples, befitting a young omega of her status.

“You must appear nothing but composed today,” Astra whispered in her ear and helped Lena to step into the dress.

The sleeves on the gown were lightweight and whispered on her skin, and Lena felt pretty as she stood with her arms outward and waited for her servants to finish tying the lace at the back of her bodice.


Lena’s skin was fairer than parchment from her unsettled sleep the night before, and one of her ladies dusted powder over her cheeks and painted kohl along her eyelashes.

Among the servants chosen to accompany her, there was Eve and a younger girl named Isobel with curly blonde hair who was her cousin. Two maidens called Nia and Ceridwen had come from Astra’s service, and Kara’s matron Eliza made up the last of the ladies who would see to Lena’s care. They set about packing Lena’s things after she was presentable, and Lena had little chance to linger about the bedroom when Kara appeared and beckoned her away.

“We have a few hours before we ride north.” Kara pulled at her hand to lead her through the cool halls and out into the heat of summer.

The alpha’s horse Dovrrosh was waiting for them in the shade, flicking his tail and chewing at the long grasses.

Kara took hold of Lena by the waist and lifted her into the saddle, then sat behind her and whistled to Dovrrosh to start him running.

The branches of the trees lashed at their shoulders until they found the path, and Kara was fast to detour from it again.

“You just want time alone with me because last night it was too much of a risk to sneak into my bedroom,” Lena accused with a playful lift of her chin and a glance back at Kara.

“No—that’s—that isn’t it at all. I just thought you would like to see all of the flowers in the meadow,” Kara argued, though her hand was beneath Lena’s skirts already and her fingers drifted in a light stroke over the drips of arousal on Lena’s soft cunt.

Lena blushed as the gallop of the horse pushed Kara’s hand intimately up against her and bared her cunt to the freshly oiled leather of the saddle. She was relieved as they emerged through the forest and into a field of wild flowers.

It would be untoward if anyone spotted them behaving as lovers before they fasted their hands in front of the court, and yet she looked forward to the day she would give her chaste body to Kara.

Kara brought them to a stop near the middle of the field and it was only then that Lena spotted the parting in the wild flowers. Among them was a woven basket and a woolen blanket that appeared to be spread out and awaiting them.

“What have you planned for us?” Lena asked in pleasant surprise, her voice lighter than usual when Kara’s fingers took the liberty of fondling her one last time before she dismounted from Dovrrosh.

“You must accompany me to find out,” Kara replied with a smile, and raised her hands up to steady Lena by the waist while she hopped down from the steed.

Kara looped the reins of her horse around a peg she must have placed nearby, and then led Lena towards the picnic she had so thoughtfully put together.

“Open it,” Kara encouraged once they settled on the blanket, the field of wild blooms concealing them from all sides.

It was a luxury to be afforded such privacy and Lena was content to pretend that the rest of the land and all their troubles that resided within the borders of it no longer existed.

“If you’ve filled this with rats just to scare me, I’ll never forgive you,” Lena teased, despite knowing that her alpha would never be so horrible.

The basket contained more sun kissed apples and quince than either of them could eat, some crusty bread with cheese and meats to accompany it, and a bottle of honey wine. Lena’s eyes lit up at the bounty and she smelled the pride wafting from Kara in the gentle breeze.

“Does it please you?” Kara murmured, her gaze on Lena’s face for once instead of the food before them. “I thought we might steal ourselves away for a while, just as we used to when we were children.”

“I don’t recall you ever bringing me romantic picnic baskets back then,” Lena intoned softly and bit down on one of the juiciest apples, her teeth crunching through the crisp skin. “Or taking me to secluded meadows.”

Kara’s skin colored with a guilty blush as she rolled an apple up her arm in a playful manner that covered up her expectations. She seemed about to apologize until Lena put a finger to her lips.

Lena laughed, all of her terror of the night before forgotten as she moved forward to kiss Kara. She grasped at the side of Kara’s face as their lips met in shyness and then with more desperate heat.

Out in the light of day, they were both much more reserved with one another, Kara too afraid to offend her and Lena more modest in her efforts to please the alpha. They held hands for a while as they ate the fruit and gathered up wild flowers to weave into crowns.

Lena tied the stems of kingcups together for Kara’s golden hair and placed a purple cornflower in her own curls.

“This we did as children,” Lena remarked as she strung a few more blooms together. “You look just as beautiful as always, too perfect for a kingdom that demands so much of you.”

“You flatter me,” Kara laughed, her jovial manner only showing signs of slipping away when she reached out to push loose dark locks behind Lena’s ear.

Kara’s fingertips ghosted along her cheek bone, and she seemed lost in Lena’s beauty as she whispered, “You look as regal as a queen, with enough sharp wit and compassion to lead the kingdom the way it ought to be led.”

Kara’s honesty seemed to color her cheeks, and she dipped her head with a laugh when she realized all she said. “How fortunate for me that one day you will rule by my side. Perhaps then the only journey I will find myself taking will be running after our children instead of off to war.”

The talk of children seemed to remind them of what it entailed to create new life, and Lena’s blush spread up from her breasts as she imagined herself presenting for her betrothed. How sweet and frantic they might be their first time, and how, even if she had yet to go into heat, she may very well beg to have Kara’s children.

Kara must have been thinking the same, for she couldn’t take her eyes off of Lena and her pheromones thickened.


“I look forward to those days,” Kara intoned, as if those thoughts of the future must have sustained her in the past.

“I too look forward to it, though we have many adventures ahead of us first,” Lena muttered.
Her curiosities returned to the travels they would have to undertake before settling back in Kandor.

She had heard stories of the city by the sea, and the barbaric traditions of those who lived further to the west and north.

That she was born there as the child of their enemies was still taking her some time to absorb. She twirled her finger around one of the soft crinkles in her hair that would not stay where Kara had placed it.

“I know about my history,” Lena whispered, her lips barely twitching as her eyes shifted from the flowers in her lap to rest on Kara’s face. “I was never to be your mate, because I come from those places where we are headed. I’ve heard tales about the inhabitants’ magic and how they dwell in the trees. They all sound so frightening—”


Most of the stories that her elders told her had been warnings about those places, about enchantments and brutal mating customs.

“You mustn't listen to my father. He had no right to say what he did. The man is jaded and hardened from battles of the past, and it colors all he sees.” The ferocity of Kara’s words seemed to shock them both. The alpha’s lips were pinched together and a sadness resided in her eyes.

“It does not matter to me where you came from,” Kara whispered, and clasped at Lena’s hands to draw her closer. “I know who you are and what lies in your heart. I would not love you any less even if I had known, and I do not love you any less now that I do. You are still my mate, so long as you wish to be.”

Lena’s emotions rose up like the tide and settled in her throat to choke her. The salt of her tears stung her eyes yet she refused to blink, lest she blur Kara’s features. She could still hear the bitterness of Zor’s words and relied entirely on the sweetness of Kara’s whispers to soothe the ache of her heart.

The alpha brought her close until they embraced, cheek to cheek, and Lena exhaled a breath so heavy that her spirit felt lighter once it was expelled.

“You need not fear where we are going, Lena. I will be by your side to protect you,” Kara promised, and sealed it with a kiss against the delicate skin of her neck where the alpha’s claim would one day reside.

Lena nodded, taking comfort in the tingling expectations of those lips. She joined her hands with Kara’s and brought them toward the laces on her dress.

“Soon I won’t be able to express my feelings for you, not like this,” Lena uttered with the sense that she would do far more than just disrobe if Kara breathed a word to request it.

They both unlaced her bodice and pulled at her gown like they had the petals of flowers. Left without the lovely fabrics in the bright light of afternoon, Lena felt a warm blush touch her cheeks as Kara helped her to lie back on the blanket.

“I much prefer coming to your bed by the flicker of a candle,” Lena muttered with a self critical glance down at her nakedness.

“Something so beautiful deserves to be bathed in the light,” Kara whispered in reverence, her fingertips softer than the dandelion puff that she dragged along Lena’s stomach.

The alpha took her time as she stroked over her shoulders and the mounds of Lena’s breasts. She traced around her pink nipples until the heat on Lena’s face was no longer from the shyness of being spread bare.

Kara was gentle with her, caressing her inner thighs until she brushed at the intimate area between them. Lena’s desires gathered between her nether lips and Kara seemed intent on coating her fingers with it.

“How sweet you smell among the flowers,” Kara rumbled, her eyes finding Lena’s if only for a moment as she lowered herself between her legs. “Yet you're so much prettier than all of them.”

“Kara,” Lena whimpered, bashful enough to want to close her legs, yet compelled by her omega instincts to keep them parted for Kara’s heavy gaze. She gasped when the alpha brought her mouth to the crease of her inner thigh. Kara kissed her there, and then at the other side, and Lena knew the alpha wished to go further when the warmth of Kara’s breath tickled over her cunt.

“I wish to show you my affections and loyalty to you, Lena, so that you know without doubt that my love for you is stronger now than ever before. Will you allow it?” Kara’s hands eased Lena’s legs into a wider spread in preparation to do as she mentioned.

The quiver of nerves inside of Lena made her lie still, though her heart was pattering faster than it often did when she was running.

“Yes,” Lena whimpered out.

She swallowed down innocent questions about what Kara might do and stared at the butterflies kissing at the wild flowers. The first touch of Kara’s lips against her was just as graceful, with a tender flick of the tongue that lingered. Lena breathed out a noise of surprise and clutched at the woolen blanket beneath her.

Kara caressed with loving warmth at the inner part of Lena’s cunt and sucked at the small swell where her pleasure was centered. The alpha treated it as precious with each soft flutter of her tongue, and it brought a radiant flush to Lena’s body as her pelvis rose toward Kara. Her spine had loosened from its rigid position and she followed her natural inclinations to move with her mate. She placed her hands on Kara’s shoulders to hold her close as she whined from the persistent pucker of Kara’s mouth.

For all that she had entered Kara’s bedroom, this new form of love between them would be Lena’s ruin if she did not bring a stop to it. Her complete arousal would put her virtue in question, with her pheromones far too immodest for anyone to believe she had not given herself wholly to Kara.

She tried to end Kara’s intimate kiss by gripping at the alpha’s chin, but Kara seemed not to understand her.

“Please,” Lena whimpered, the smooth glide of Kara’s tongue frustrating her hopes of ever being faithful to the lessons of her upbringing.

The glorious feeling that came over her was beyond pleasurable, and at the same time she blurted in distress, “My virtue—”

“Untouched,” Kara avowed and reached out to smooth down her hair, which had already curled from the sweat of the act. “I would never spoil you, Lena. I just wish to prove myself.”

Lena calmed at the steadiness in Kara’s voice and she remembered that the alpha knew much more than her of mating. She opened her legs and gazed down between them at her slick and then glanced toward Kara in silent question.

“Do you wish me to continue?” Kara asked with a gentle rub at her thigh, which eased Lena’s concerns that they would ever behave too rashly.

Amid the flowers in the meadow, Lena imagined what wonders they would experience together as proper mates. Though fearful of being caught, her omega encouraged the way her pelvis lifted. This expression of love which Kara wished to bestow on her was intimate in ways their other exploration was not. Lena could not explain it, but she sensed it was something that not all alphas would do with their omegas. It put her pleasure on a pedestal, and Lena was enchanted by the way Kara seemed almost as eager as she for the continuation of it.

“It would be rude of you to stop when I have yet to reach a pinnacle,” Lena whispered, her breath short from the heady rush of anxiousness and titillation.

“You are quite right,” Kara readily agreed while her holding the delicate lips of her cunt open to the sight of her innermost places. “As your alpha, I must not leave you wanting.”

The pucker of Kara’s lips sealed around Lena’s exposed bead and the fluttering of her tongue sent ripples of warmth through Lena’s core. She was not ashamed of the noise that she made, faint though it was lest anyone discover them in such a compromising situation.

Kara appeared to enjoy her breathy exhalations, and Lena was bold enough to rise up on her elbows to witness the alpha’s kisses.

“I had not known this was possible,” Lena confided, alarmed by how much slick she produced when Kara’s eyes met her own. Their connection seemed to strengthen from it, and she swooned onto the blanket as heat flourished more profusely through her limbs.

She was shaking, and the lightest flick of Kara’s tongue worked all the way through her until she trembled for the want of firmer attentions.

Kara’s lower lip brushed over Lena’s innocence and the alpha parted her with both thumbs for a deeper lick.

Lena’s legs draped over Kara’s shoulders, and the alpha cradled her backside as she began to buck. The softest whirls against her clitoris did all the more for her when Kara varied the pace and pressure.

Along the crest of cunt was a glisten of her need, her skin like porcelain until she came to the middle where all of her desires were emblazoned. She pressed Kara to her with one hand on the alpha’s head and her toes sliding down over Kara’s muscled back.

“I have heard that it is possible to seduce an omega this way,” Kara muttered in honesty and positioned Lena’s legs around her so that she could bury her face in the wet little cleft between her pussy lips.

“Had you tried that, you might have succeeded,” Lena moaned and wrapped herself tighter around her ravenous alpha, who knew more than she did and was making the most of that knowledge. “It is good you waited to kiss me this way, or I might have left your chambers unchaste.”

“I would never have dishonored you,” Kara uttered, her lips caressing over the swollen bud of Lena’s clitoris with every word.

Lena believed her, though she did not trust that her own wanton ways would have made it easy on Kara. She possessed charms that she was just coming to understand, and a sexual nature that a less noble alpha could have led astray.

She could feel it now, tempting her hips into movement so that she sought her own pleasure as much as Kara gifted her with it.

Lena curled her fingers and twined strands of Kara’s golden hair around them, tugging with an insistence to have the alpha’s mouth precisely where she wished it to be.

“When we are married, I will have you teach me all of the seductions you have learned, so we may practice them at great length.” Lena’s words were not appropriate for a young omega, and yet Kara responded to them like she had whispered praises.

The alpha’s scent strengthened to sinful levels and Lena whined when Kara’s tongue pressed upon her chastity. The peculiar sensation ignited her omega and she bucked from the thought of Kara bedding her on their wedding night.

The unsteady rock of her hips matched the ragged uneven breaths Lena filled her lungs with and Kara held her steady to suck on her clitoris. Loops and swirls went straight to Lena’s core, and her body coiled along with them.

Lena’s thighs locked around Kara’s sweet face as she thrashed and dug her hands into the blanket. Every ounce of love within her condensed in her belly. The feeling burst like a summer raincloud, her own cry far less thunderous as bliss soaked her loins and Kara’s chin.

She trembled in the wake of it, laughter catching in her throat along with a sigh as her mind opened to the intimate possibilities she had yet to learn.

“Do you understand now that I am yours entirely, and that we are still destined for one another, despite what anyone may say?” Kara asked, breathless for entirely different reasons. She settled alongside Lena to tuck her into an embrace and watched her with great interest.

Lena felt her chin wobble with emotion and her eyes strayed to her dress as it flapped in the wind. “I would not have come here with you alone if I did not believe you at your word.” Her whisper was tremulous and the touch of her fingertips against Kara’s cheek so mild and gentle. “I just wish that our courtship had not come to such an abrupt end. I would have liked to witness all of your efforts to win my heart.”

She cracked a smile and left Kara to lie on the blanket while she stepped back into the billowing fabrics of her gown.

Cheerful though she tried to be, she was shivering and it was a feat to fasten up her laces when she reflected that she did not have long before she would have to leave her home behind.

Just the morning before, she had been looking forward to the summer festivities and days spent teasing Kara in innocent fun. The subtle bitterness to her otherwise sweet pheromones hinted at her distress and Kara was quick to come to her aid, mistaking her laces as the source of her consternation.

“Do not be upset. I will have you looking presentable in but a moment,” Kara boasted, her swift fingers accomplishing the task after several mistakes.

“I believe your expertise lies in undoing the laces,” Lena weakly teased, her smile a shadow of joy. She did not mean to be so ill at ease, and overcompensated by gathering her dress with an airy laugh. “I think Dovrrosh deserves an apple for waiting so patiently for us.”

“If only all loyalty could be bought with apples,” Kara quipped, her own smile not quite as bright when her gaze drifted to the horse.

Lena imagined Kara’s mind must have gone to the battles she was being sent to face, and impulsively clasped her hand in solidarity. “We had best go, Kara. If we wait any longer, people may talk.”

Lena couldn’t be sure what frightened her most — leaving the only kingdom she could remember behind, or the knowledge that her real home was far away, where the very blood in her veins meant she was an enemy. She kept her fears to herself as Kara helped her onto the saddle, and for the short duration of their ride back, she tried to brighten her mood with thoughts of their future together.

The spectacle that awaited them at the castle was not altogether surprising, but as they galloped through Zor’s army, Lena attached herself all the more to Kara.

They came to a place where Lena’s ladies were hard at work making arrangements for their departure.

Astra stood alone and observed them in their efforts, and Lena rushed to her as soon as she dismounted.

“Kara must go now and bid her family farewell, and you must not draw attention to yourself,” Astra instructed, taking Lena by the arm to lead her towards her carriage.

Lena had time to glance back in fleeting search of Kara, who turned towards the courtyard where other alphas were cavorting to the music of wood flutes.

The King occupied a spot of honor, and Lena stepped behind the carriage to hide for fear that he would notice her from his place on high.

“If King Zor gave permission for me to accompany Kara, why must I be so secretive?” Lena questioned with the dreaded concern that Zor would yet decree she remain behind.

“He granted you permission to travel as far as the city by the sea, though Kara is expected to travel further still,” Astra clarified and smoothed down her hair with motherly gentleness before she snapping her fingers to get Eve’s attention. “You will have your ladies with you, whatever the circumstance.”

“May the old gods bring you back safely to my arms again,” Astra whispered and embraced Lena one last time before Non appeared to say his goodbyes.

“I have something for you,” Non murmured and slipped a carved wooden box into Lena’s hands. “The apothecary could not spare much, but these herbs and oils should be of some help until you reach your destination.”

Lena pressed the gift against her chest and then threw her other arm around her foster father. The sting of her tears began when Non stepped back from her to join Astra, and Eve urged her up the steps of the carriage.

“Please write to me, and I will return all of your letters,” Lena whimpered out as she saw that the horses ahead of them were moving.

She had expected they would have a much longer time to spend together and wished she hadn’t tarried in the meadows. Her servants embraced their loved ones and made ready for travel, and Lena sat at the small window in the carriage to wave to Astra and Non.

A dull ache entered her stomach as the two figures that belonged to her foster parents became smaller. She clutched at Eve’s hand and watched every horse that passed by the carriage in the hopes of getting a glimpse of Dovrrosh.

“How far do we travel tonight?” Lena asked Eve after a period of melancholy silence.

“As far as the summer storms will allow us to go,” Eve sighed and pointed at the blackened clouds that hung above the trees, distant but moving in on them with swift speed. “You ought to get some sleep, m’lady. I know how storms disturb your rest.”

Lena drank from a flask of mead that Eve handed to her, all with a mind to nodding off before the rain came.

Her head began to feel heavier, her lashes fluttering from exhaustion, and she lurched as dead weight with the rock of the carriage. If it was true sleep that came over her, it was not restful, for she imagined herself running through the trees. She tore her bare feet on stones and cried out when a sharp thing embedded inside of her.

The pain lasted even after she awakened in a sweat and saw flashes of lighting, first in the veins at the backs of her eyelids and then in the pitch dark of the sky.

Her skin was burning with fever and she was no longer in the carriage, but spread out on comfortable bedding. She was in a tent with servants gathered close at hand.

“Have I taken ill?” Lena whispered, in a voice too parched to speak. She settled down against her pillows as Eve bent at her side and brought a flask of water to her dry lips.

“Heat sickness,” Eliza declared and came forward to mop at Lena’s forehead with a damp cloth. “Your case is rather severe and developed rapidly. It has taken quite a toll on you, and on many of the alphas who did not ride on ahead. We are too far from the castle to return, so we set up camp.”

“What of Kara?” Lena asked with a hoarse cough and a small whimper that was meant for her mate’s ears.

Kara must have heard it, because she ducked into the tent at Lena’s pathetic noise, but did not approach straight away.

Eve curtsied in front of the alpha and held out a piece of bread that was folded into a cloth.

“Eat that and you will be less susceptible to her pheromones,” Eliza explained in a grave, hushed voice, as if she did not wish to trouble Lena’s mind with another burden.

Lena’s eyes went round as she noticed the different pheromones coming from Kara, savage and strong, and much unlike any other scent she had let into her inexperienced lungs. She crawled backwards on her hands when Kara suddenly flew at her and breathed along her trembling neck.

Eliza and Isobel had to drag the alpha off of her, and Lena scrambled onto all fours in a posture of complete obedience.

“Kara, the bread,” Eliza enforced and pressed the food to Kara’s lips until she took a bite. “There are herbs in it to help with heat and rut.”

Kara snatched the loaf from Eliza’s hand and tore into the rest of it with her teeth, even as she paced and stared at Lena from afar.

“I feel worse than I ever did in rut,” Kara admitted in the midst of her restless movement, her boots hitting the floor harder than intended. She came to an abrupt pause when she noticed the startled expression on Lena’s face. “I never meant to frighten you. It is like I am a walking flame and being in your presence — you are kindling.”

Lena experienced the subtlest tingle sliding down her spine, though whether from the fluctuation of her own temperature or from Kara’s pheromones, she was uncertain.

Eliza wrung out the cloth she had been using on Lena’s face and dampened it again in a basin full of cold water before placing it against Lena’s forehead.

That moment of diversion was all Kara needed to act on instincts. She moved faster than Eliza and tore at Lena’s dress, rending it off her shoulder, even while Eve shrieked and struck at Kara with a broom handle.

Lena was too drained to do more than swivel her head and look up at Kara, and it was the meeting of their eyes that calmed the alpha into stillness.

“This could not all be caused by nature,” Eliza announced in distress and rummaged around in a bag of herbs she had brought along. “It is a most unnatural heat sickness. Nia, please mix this root with the herbs I already gave you and let us give some to Lena.”

Even in clutching at the tatters of her dress, Lena hung onto to both of Kara’s arms, unwilling to part with the alpha as Eliza tried to call her over.

“Kara, you must let Lena go and return to your own tent—"

”I want to help care for her,” Kara insisted and stroked along Lena’s face with confidence to demonstrate her self control. “I refuse to leave until her condition improves.”

“And what of your condition?” Eliza pressed, her stern demeanor only tempered by the concern wrought in her voice. “The smallest whimper from the girl and you may ruin her like you did her dress.”

It was a terrible thing to say, but one that seemed necessary, for as much as Kara wanted to be noble in her intentions, the front of her trousers were rigid and indecent.

Lena was staring at the bulge, her mind candidly reminding her with great detail of what was beneath the fabric. She envisioned the thick veins along the shaft, throbbing with a need so great that she would be unlikely to stop Kara from taking amorous liberties.

She whined despite what little sensibilities still remained in her fevered mind. Kara’s eyes were on her throat, and she growled so powerfully that Lena moaned in submission.


Kara lunged for her then, ready to lay claim, and Lena’s scent called for it in shameful need.

Eve and Isobel had to pry Kara’s hands off Lena’s waist, though the alpha snarled at them for interfering.


Eliza slung a blanket over Lena and put an end to her attempting to move onto her hands and knees by having her rest on her side.

Lena settled her pleading eyes on Kara and whimpered for the alpha to return to her side, though that hardly seemed possible with the way her ladies tried to restrain her.

“No, you don’t understand, I need her, she’s mine!” Kara yelled, her brow covered in sweat and eyes as black as charcoal.

“It is a blessing we sent the army on when we did,” Eliza remarked through gritted teeth and wrapped the blanket tighter about Lena’s shoulders. “I should hate to think of what this situation would be like if there were more alphas in our encampment. We must figure out why Lena is so afflicted.”

“It was my mistress,” Nia blurted as she attempted to keep a hold on Kara’s shoulders. “Lady Astra filled Lena’s flask with some of the zeta leaf that the apothecary gave her. She hoped that Kara would lay claim, but I know she never would have wanted it to happen like this.”

“No, it is more than just a sprinkling of herbs that has brought this sickness upon Lena,” Eliza argued, not in superstition, but as though she had another theory borne out of experience. “Someone who knew of Astra’s plot must have added their own ingredients.”

Kara still struggled against Lena’s maids, throwing her weight and muscle around without causing injury, but nonetheless still attempting to wriggle free of them.

“Please forgive me for this act of treason,” Eve whimpered out while binding a rope around both of Kara’s wrists and restraining her to one of the tent’s supports.

Kara appeared not to hear Eve, for she stared at Lena with unbridled desire. With everyone so intent on keeping Kara in line, Lena shamed herself by crawling closer.

Her head was bowed and her cunt was slick enough to wet the fabrics that covered her modesty. She ached without Kara near, and Eliza seemed to understand when she let out a pitiful wail as her energy depleted.

“Help me with her,” Eliza demanded, and Nia rushed to Lena’s side to drag her within distance of Kara so that their hands could touch.

It was a small mercy, one that both soothed and inflamed Lena. She wanted with such insatiable hunger for Kara to take her in ways that were not proper. Even being in the company of others wasn’t a deterrent to her omega and she sobbed for all that she could not have.

“I cannot endure this,” Lena cried, bringing her face to Kara’s bound hands in search of comfort and guidance. “Please, Kara, I beg of you.”

“Hush now, you cannot let the others hear you like this,” Eliza insisted, her fearful eyes on the entrance to the tent, which Isobel guarded with the broom.

Lena heard the rain beat down harder at the same time the roof above them began to move as if the tent would blow over.
 

Kara strained at her ropes and the musk of her pheromones promised that they would mate.

Lena was too drained to do more than blink, and her head lolled forward as Kara lunged again.

When next she awakened, Lena was in different surroundings and still fevered, but much more in command of herself.

The tent she was in smelled of Kara’s valiant pheromones and she gasped as she realized she was lying in the alpha’s bedding.

“Well, if I had any doubts before, I have none now: someone wants you dead,” Eliza remarked in a tone as bitter as the drink she forced into Lena’s mouth. “Now swallow this, and please don’t spit it up on me.”

Lena gulped the disgusting mixture down so she could whimper out a question. “Did I —am I Kara’s?”

“Heaven’s no, child.” Eliza smiled but did not laugh, and patted her knee when Lena continued to stare in terrified silence.

“My cure for Kara kicked in,” Eliza explained and gestured to the half eaten loaf that appeared just the slightest bit moldy and green in the light of day. “And Kara in turn kicked the lousy hides of a few alphas who destroyed your tent last night.”

Kara stumbled into the tent in a new polished suit of armor and cape and stood up to her fullest height. Squaring her shoulders and crossing her arms made her come as close to posturing as ever, and Lena moved all of the hair away from her neck to bare herself the only way she could in polite company.

“I thought you said these two were cured,” Eve called from the entrance to Kara’s tent and waved her hand in front of her face to disperse the alpha’s pheromones.

“Cured of what ails them? Yes. Cured of being stupidly infatuated with each other? No,” Eliza sighed and picked up a bundle of needlework so she could sit in the corner of the tent and pretend to be distracted by it while she chaperoned them.

Kara paid no mind to the remarks and strode over to sit on a chair already positioned next to Lena’s bed. The alpha must have watched over her during the night once she had returned to her senses. The thought of being so vigilantly protected evoked the slightest tremor in Lena’s throat and she breathed in the scent of Kara’s love and honor.

“I heard you’ve been fighting,” Lena stated in lieu of thanking Kara. “How badly did you beat the alphas who tried to enter my tent?”

Kara cleared her throat and avoided Lena’s gaze, and so she had no choice but to snare her by the wrist to observe the bruises that darkened Kara’s knuckles.

“They were deserving of it, I assure you,” Kara whispered, removing her hand from Lena’s grasp to cup her cheek. “I must apologize for my own behavior, Lena. I acted just as beastly.”

“Neither of us were of sound mind and I can hardly fault you for that,” Lena interrupted meekly, though her cheeks revealed the shame she tried to hide. She had wanted Kara to mount her last night, and the ache inside her cunt remained, despite the vile cure that still coated her tongue.

Lena would not say it, yet the temptation she had faced last night to remove her own dress had been so profound that the only thing that stopped her from giving herself to Kara had been her weakened body. It was a small mercy now, though at the time it was the worst fate she could imagine.

Her shallow breathing drew little of Kara into her lungs and she sat forward to let her chest expand. They were both inhaling deeper and leaning so close to one another that Eliza cleared her throat to warn them no to take their lust too far.

“You must take care not to show one another too much affection where we are headed,” Eliza murmured sternly and let her eyes flit towards the open flap of the tent.

Lena noticed the armored alphas who stood guard, and saw out beyond them to where others were packing up their tents.

James entered with Lena’s squirming porcupine in his hands and a piece of apple, which he held out in front of the animal’s face. “Found this little guy in the food wares.”

Michael followed him into the tent with a raven on his gloved arm and a rolled piece of parchment in his other hand.

“Can we please keep the animals outside in the forest where they belong?” Eliza complained, but much too late as Lena gathered up her porcupine and tucked him against her dress.

“I have a letter here from Lady Luthor of the Crying Isles,” Michael announced and set the raven aside so he could unfurl the scroll it had carried. “She sends her condolences for Kara’s young betrothed. It seems someone has led her to believe that Lena has died.”

“Show me that,” Kara insisted, her teeth snapping from the force of her command that she did not wait to be completed. She tore the parchment out of Michael’s grasp before he could hand it over and paced as the aromas of her rage filled the tent.

“I want you to find out who has spread such abhorrent lies, and you will bring them to me so I may interrogate them myself for such treachery,” Kara hissed, not just as an aggrieved mate but as the leader she had been forged into over the years.

“Surely I should alert your Father first,” Michael reasoned with a slant of discontent on his lips.

Lena witnessed Kara’s posture change, no longer the jovial young alpha that galloped through fields with her and blushed at well timed flirtations. The solidness of Kara’s muscles seemed more prominent when she turned to Michael.

Kara marched toward him while unleashing the most dominant, overbearing reek to force him into submission and then snarled from between clenched teeth, “Do not test my patience, Michael. We may be friends but you are mine to command and you will answer to me directly.”

“Kara, surely there must be no connection between this letter and what happened here last night,” Lena whispered, too timid to interrupt in a more forceful manner when the alpha was asserting her authority. “Unless Lady Luthor is a seer, how could she have known of the disruption that my heat has caused? How could she have sent a raven so quickly?”

Kara clutched the parchment in front of her, squinting at the script with her jaw set in anger. She came to a part of the writing that made her pause.

“Do you think your father is responsible for all of this?” Lena inquired and stood up to approach Kara, in case the alpha wished to speak with her alone.

“No. Michael can’t read,” Kara huffed and pointed at a jagged rune that Michael had misinterpreted to mean death. “Lady Luthor sends her congratulations, not her condolences, and invites you in particular to a banquet in your honor.”