Disobedience and Devotion - Chapter 1

Rating: Explicit. ABO Dynamics, Alpha Kara, Omega Lena.  

Description: Lena Luthor is known for her rebellious nature, but when going against the law lands her a death sentence, she finds herself at the mercy of Clark Danvers, the wealthiest alpha in town. When he offers to wed her, much to her brother's relief, Lena wonders if she traded an early death for a life sentence by Clark's side. Clark is arrogant, aloof, and a stickler for abiding by the rules, all of which Lena loathes, but once they are bound together, she discovers that Clark isn't all that he appears.  

*Content warnings: Alphas don't treat omegas well in this society and so there are things like public displays of dominance and discipline, etc. Omegas, by class, are considered the property of only male alphas and have no autonomy or the right to hold assets of their own. 

Tags: #ABO, Darker ABO, #Think of this as a Victorian setting, only with ABO dynamics, different laws, weirder religious traditions, and a very strict social structure. #Alpha Kara, #Omega Lena, #This is a bit like Beauty and the Beast, too #Kara is definitely playing a role - hiding behind her tough persona at the beginning, and doing what is required or expected of her rather than behaving like herself.   

The black birds at the top of the church spire made trilling noises that echoed around the town square where all else was quiet. No one spoke too loudly in the presence of the accused omega — not when her fate was still an undecided matter. The peasants came and went at their usual pace, sparing curious glances at the woman who sat tied behind steel bars. It was the wealthier men in waistcoats and fine jackets that took the most time studying her.

 

If not drawn in by her predicament, they were stopped by Lena’s looks — her mane of dark hair and extraordinarily green eyes. Those eyes belonged on a chain of gold, to beguile and charm anyone who stared too long into their hypnotic depths. That was what the strongest alphas said of her when they passed. It gave them reason to pause, take in the omega’s nudity and grunt obscenities at her. Some of them even tried to break the lock on her cage when she defiantly set her jaw, stared back and cursed them in her anger. They saw her as unafraid and far too proud. 

Inside, Lena only felt terrified. With how they restrained her, she was forced to kneel throughout the morning until she wobbled and fell from exhaustion. In all of her young life, she had never been in such a helpless position, publicly disgraced and treated like an animal as she answered for her crimes. 

 

Her eyes followed the birds as they took to the air, but the state of her body brought her attention back down to earth. Bare-chested and with only a loose cloth tied around her waist, she lacked protection from the cold. Shackles bit into her skin and connected to a leather collar at her neck. She could not jerk her neck this way or that without pain. 

Confined to a cage, she was at least protected from any hands that strayed forward to hit her. Not all hands were unfriendly, but she ducked from them all the same.

Every so often, a child would break away from her parents and run to the metal bars, sticking a sweet inside, or a piece of bread. She was grateful for the offerings and lifted them with shaky fingers, pressing the food into her mouth before it could be taken from her. 

Once, a young omega darted forward, removed her bonnet, and thrust it through the bars to Lena. 

“Lena Luthor,” the soft-spoken omega had muttered. “Bless you for the strength you’ve shown. For fighting all of these unfair laws against our kind.”

 

Lena had lifted the bonnet just as the omega’s husband caned the kind woman in the legs for daring to approach the cage. 

“Don’t hurt her,” Lena cried out, but the damage was done: the omega landed on her knees and had to plead for mercy.

 

The rules of their society were strict and absolute: male alphas married the breeding stock— the omegas. Female alphas and betas of both gender could pair more freely without often producing heirs. 

There was no other way, not without breaking tradition and the law. 

At the time of an omega’s first heat, when her hormones began to attract potent alphas, she went into seclusion and the town elders congregated to choose her a mate. No omega had a say in their process, and no omega ever defied the traditions without severe punishment. The penalty for disobedience was death, unless an alpha spoke for the omega. 

Lena expected to die, because before she even came into her first heat, she had run away and lived within the forest for the better part of three months. She survived by foraging and hunting, and finding shelter wherever it was safe. 

If not for an accident involving a child almost drowning in a lake, Lena would have never been discovered. Rescuing the child was the right thing to do, but it left her drenched and slowed her when all of the alpha and beta hunters were close by. They had caught her and returned her to the town — to this cage.
 

Curling on her side as the sun went down, Lena was certain that she wouldn’t last another nightfall. For several days, Lena had been left without much food or water, and the town elders had also deprived her of clothes. Shivering, she flattened herself against the dirt as much as her bindings would allow.

As frail as she felt, Lena refused to show it in the daytime when alphas were about and breathing in the scents of her weakness. In the afternoon, she was much more on edge and less able to hide it. By full dark, she smelled of despair and flinched at the slightest movements around her. 

It was on what she had begun to think of as her final night that Lena saw the gleam of a torch in the distance. The bright, swaying flame broke apart into several flames as the party of alphas came down from a bridge. The suffocating stench of their pheromones blew in with the wind and Lena pressed herself against the stone wall next to her cage.  

Among the alphas were a few that Lena recognized and detested: Governor Phil Baker, Morgan Edge, and John Corben. Behind them stood her brother Lex, and Lena wondered if he had managed to persuade them to free her into his care. It was much more likely that they would hang her, and as the eldest alpha of her household, Lex insisted on witnessing it.

Three other alphas joined the group, all cloaked and solemn as they waited. The governor turned to speak to Corben and Edge, leaving Lena to puzzle over her final sentence.

“Is this the beautiful omega who is causing so much trouble?” Governor Baker asked rhetorically, eyeing her up as much as he could while she was crouched. “Come, dear, let me have a look at you. Ah, it's Miss Luthor.” 

Lena had little choice but to straighten up and show her face. Her jaw was sharp enough to slice through him, and her eyes glistened with rage. Fortunately her long black ringlets covered her breasts and allowed her some degree of modesty. 

“Such a shame to see such a lovely thing in this position,” Baker crooned. “An omega of your age and social status should be breeding.” 

John Corben stepped forward and whispered into Baker’s ear: “It is worth noting that Miss Luthor has not yet come into her first heat, though she is well past the age for it. Nearly twenty-five. Perhaps that is the reason she fled, so as not to cause her family shame.” 

Baker approached the cage with a glimmer of interest in his usually bovine stare. He reeked of sexual aggression as he bent down to take a closer look at her breasts. “When an alpha breaks her in properly, it will take care of all that,” he quietly insisted. “One rough mating, and her first heat will start. She looks the softer type. Even after an alpha fills her womb, I am sure she will beg for children. Won’t you, sweetheart? Are you going to ask your alpha to breed you?” 

“You dishonor me with talk like that,” Lena softly said. She clawed up the mud at the bottom of her cage in case she needed to lob it into an alpha’s eyes to defend herself. 

“Now you want to speak of honor,” Edge chuckled and grinned, striding forward to pass a key off to Baker. “You have committed a sin against nature, and a crime against your people. No alpha should want you, but you must be very blessed indeed, because Mr. Danvers has lowered himself and taken you for his mate. Stand now and let me free you from your bindings. Tonight, you will go home with him, and tomorrow we’ll handle the formal ceremony uniting you in the eyes of God.” 

Lena gasped and swung her eyes towards a figure in the darkness: there among the other alphas was Clark Danvers, a handsome man whom the ladies in town treated like a saint, although she knew him only to be of an impulsive and strong-willed temperament.  

“You may not officially be bound yet, but should you forget yourself and bring disgrace by trying to flee in the night, then Mr. Danvers can, and will discipline you as he sees fit.” Baker intoned gruffly, his eyes roaming over her in a way that left her feeling more naked in her skin, and somehow more filthy despite the layers of muck that already clung to her.

 

“The harsher the better.” Edge announced with a sneer. His calloused hands were rough on her chilled body, and he shoved her into the bars while he made idle work of her bindings. “Take it from me,” He boasted, and went so far as to smack Lena’s backside roughly, like a prized cattle that had just been sold. “An insubordinate omega, prone to the whimsy of rebelling against her very nature, requires a particularly heavy hand to rid her of such foolish notions.”

 

Lex sighed heavily and waved a gloved hand towards Lena as if he was disgusted by her behavior. “Lena has always been more willful than she ought to be. Even as a child she was precocious.” He wiped the front of his coat and grimaced at the stench of her outrage and fear. “The only redeeming fact in all of this is that the Luthor name will not be tarnished by her momentary lapse in sanity, though I dare say I wonder if Clark has fallen into one himself.”

 

All eyes turned to Clark, and his handsome features appeared almost monstrous in the flickering torch light. Shadows danced within his eyes and he snarled low in his throat as his scent became overpowering, a challenge to the other alphas that would dare question him. One by one they submitted by lowering their gaze, and only then did Clark finally speak. “Gentlemen, to allow something so exquisite to perish would surely be worse than the crimes she’s committed.” He snapped his fingers, the sound sharp in the dead of night, and commanded, “Come here, girl. Stand before me so I may inspect the condition you are in.” 

Lena made a throaty noise of distress and bent her head. Clark’s scents deeply affected her, so much that she immediately went to him and almost swooned when he cupped her chin. She hated obeying him and how he touched her face. He handled her with a tenderness that could only be faked. It made her chest heave until all of her black curls tumbled out of the way.
 

Clark’s eyes ventured down to her breasts—pale, with dark red and swollen nipples circled by a flat and lighter areola. 

“If you’re done, I would like some clothes,” Lena uttered sternly. “Please.” 

The harsh red abrasions on her wrists kept Lena from completely losing focus and forgetting what she truly wanted—freedom and safety. It would be terrible to fall prey to her omega sensitivities now after so many years of resisting. She rubbed at her aching injuries and waited for Clark to finish exploring her. 

 

“You should conduct a thorough physical examination before you take Miss Luthor home,” Baker intoned meaningfully. He kept his distance from the reek of the elite alpha who was in the middle of staking claim, but he also seemed to be criticizing Lena’s appearance. “If you mate with her tonight, Clark, as I suspect you will want to, then there will be no sending her back in the morning. Although that would be quite crafty on your part, to use her and then still let her answer for her crimes.”  

The suggestive rumble in Baker’s voice made it seem like he approved of Clark abusing her that way.

 

Clark’s gaze dragged over Lena as surely as his hands would the moment they were alone. Slow and domineering, he took in every smudge of grime and sensual curve as if they were one and the same, as if she was nothing more than dirt to him. He clutched her jaw suddenly, and angled her head back. “Open your mouth.” He demanded coolly, his eyes piercing even in the darkness.

Lena felt shameful as she parted her lips. The intense way Clark scrutinized every inch of her in front of the group of alphas brought an angry heat to her cheeks. She imagined what Clark must have thought, seeing her this way. Furious.

She wondered if he mistook it as an intrinsic part of who she appeared to be: an untamable wild thing that barely managed to show anything other than defiance.
 

Clark’s hand released her jaw to land strongly on her shoulder in a possessive manner. He maneuvered her effortlessly until her bare back was to him. 

“Exquisite structure,” Clark murmured to himself.
 

He traced his fingers down the curvature of her spine. His short nails came to a halt on her hip, and then he raised the scrap of cloth that barely concealed her backside to view the pale flesh beneath. “Very pleasing indeed.” He whispered, and Edge grinned at the sight of her exposed.
 

“A remarkable specimen, yes,” Baker chimed in, as Lex averted his gaze.
 

Clark turned his attention to a satchel that one of the men carried, and pulled from it a thin hooded robe that he thrust into Lena’s hands. “Cover yourself and keep up. The carriage awaits us down the street.”

 

It would be unpleasant to put the robe on her soiled body, but that was not why Lena hesitated to obey. 

“I don’t want to go with you,” Lena choked out. She slipped her arms into the robe only at a delay, just when she saw the other alphas move in her peripheral vision. If she chose not to listen, she would be forced by more than one hand. 

Lena belted up the robe and lifted the hood to cover her disheveled ringlets. 

She followed her new alpha into the darkness, watching her own shadow in the light of the torches as it shrank away into nothing. 

The carriage that waited for them had a thick cushioned bench. Lena was so exhausted that she slept as soon as she sat down. 

Her head lolled onto her shoulder, even as she was aware that Clark’s eyes were on her. She only awakened when the horses pulled to a stop, and as she blinked back to full wakefulness, the scent of the alpha’s pheromones made Lena feel even more delirious than her short sleep.

Lena placed her hands in her lap, uncertain as to whether or not she should move before her alpha commanded. His pheromones warned that he was in an irritable mood.


 

Two servants came to the door of the carriage with candles, and Clark stepped down first. He held out his hands and took hold of Lena by the waist to lower her to the ground. By candlelight, Lena caught a twinkle of concern in his eyes as he glanced at her sore wrists. 

“Is there a bath ready?” Clark asked sternly. He put a hand on Lena’s back and guided her into a large stone manor house—one of the most impressive in the town. A fire crackled on the hearth and two dogs slept on a pillow in front of it. 

“As you requested, the bath is ready and we’ve lain clean linens in the north bedroom,” the manservant quietly reported. “Should I send Nia to help with the bath?”

“No,” Clark said after a moment’s consideration, still with his hand on Lena’s back. “I’ll tend to the lady of the house myself. That will be all, Winn.” 

The manservant named Winn bowed at the waist before disappearing into another room, rushing after the other servant.

Clark took a silver candle holder from a table and led the way through quiet halls with portraits and sculptures. Lena followed him up a staircase and into a bathing room, where a clawfoot tub awaited her. 

The heavy, sweet-smelling steam that came from the space was nothing compared with the overpowering scents that came from the alpha. 

Lena exuded her own sexual perfume, especially when Clark untied the string at her hips to loosen the cloth. He was unashamed as he admired her bare cunt and then gestured for her to get into the tub.

 

She could not wait to sink into the hot water. Ignoring Clark’s ravening look, Lena scrambled into the tub and sighed in bliss as she cleaned herself. The muck came off with soap and she began to tend her hair.

 

Lena only glanced Clark’s way after her fingers were thoroughly pruned, but she made no move to leave the tub. 

“Thank you for the bath,” Lena whispered. “May I ask you some questions?”

Clark seemed like he was on the verge of denying her, but Lena placed her hand on top of his and set her pleading eyes on him.

“Are you going to breed with me tonight?” Lena asked impulsively.

Clark stayed silent for so long that the atmosphere in the room felt thick and oppressive. He blinked slowly, and drew his hand out from under hers as he succinctly answered, “No.” 

Whatever was on his mind was hard to tell, but his eyes remained on her, even when he stood to remove his suit jacket. He wore a pristine shirt beneath a dark navy waistcoat, which matched the color of his eyes. It was striking and expensive, and his demeanor reflected that he was a man of wealth as he stood proudly. 

“There will be time for that after the ceremony.” Clark finally supplied, and held his hand out to Lena expectantly.
 

He helped her out of the tub and waved towards the towels that hung in wait of her. “Dry yourself then return to me. I wish to examine you more fully now that the grime has come off you.”
 

The tone Clark used made it clear that there would be no debate about this, and he methodically unbuttoned his cufflinks to roll his sleeves part way up his forearms.

Lena swallowed hard at his instructions and collected a bath sheet from the hook in the corner. She thought of several excuses to avoid the examination while she took her time patting down her legs. 

If he sensed she was deliberately wasting time, Clark made no complaints about it, although his patience seemed a bit thinner when she approached him again.

“I would like a hairbrush,” Lena requested as yet another way of putting him off. 

It surprised her that Clark delicately took hold of her hand and led her down the hall to a beautifully decorated bedroom. 

At one end, a dark wooden vanity sat with a new set of ivory combs and brushes.

In the room’s center, red-gold damask curtains hung about a large canopy. Lena could feel the thickness of the carpet underneath her feet and appreciated the paintings on the walls. 

Clark had certainly spared no expense in preparing for her arrival, and he opened the wardrobe to show Lena all of the fine dresses, chemises and petticoats that would belong to her. 

In spite of all the trouble he went to, the finery of the gifts did nothing to calm Lena’s fast beating heart, or stop the fresh bolt of fear that coursed through her when he came near.

 

He urged her down into the seat at the vanity and Lena watched him in the mirror while she brushed her wet hair. As a reason to dawdle longer, she twined her hair into a braid.

Just as she finished, Clark’s hand fell to her shoulder again and he guided Lena over to the bed.

“I don’t like children,” Lena absurdly blurted out. It was a complete lie, because she adored children, but the thought of this alpha planting his seed deep inside of her was what she didn’t like. “It’s true what they say about me, that I haven’t experienced my first heat, and I may never experience one. You’ll regret choosing me if I can’t give you children.” 

Polite persuasion was the first tactic she intended to try. Being rude to Clark would be unwise, although she could think of many reasons to mock him already. 

“You’re a liar,” Clark softly acknowledged, with a crinkle between his eyebrows as he took Lena in with growing interest. “You rescued a child and that was why you were caught. Leave the bath sheet aside and lie down on the bed.”

Lena still had choices: she could politely refuse, or she could clobber him and run, but it was already late at night and she could hear the sound of rain on the windowpanes. She decided to lie down on her side with her knees curled firmly against her. 

To her utter humiliation, her thighs grew slick with arousal as Clark hovered nearby. Her blood ran hot from his alpha pheromones and closeness, and then a startling thing happened: she felt a strange lurch of need in her belly and a thick slippery arousal pooling inside of her pussy. Warmth washed over her like she was standing too close to a fire and she had to bite down on her lower lip to fight back a moan.

 

Clark’s mere presence had ignited her first heat before he even so much as touched her. She desired him.

 

Lena blushed in embarrassment and averted her eyes, trembling from the potent hormones that flooded through her all at once.

 

Her smell must have instantly affected the whole household, because she heard fast movement in the hallway.  

With his pupils dilated widely in lust, Clark sat down on the edge of the bed and brushed his sandy hair away from his eyes.

The commotion outside seemed to bother him, and Clark snarled low in his throat as he commanded, “Stay on the bed, I’ll be only a moment.” He stormed off with quick strides and a stern expression, yet closed the door with a remarkable show of restraint.
 

It clicked quietly behind him, and though Lena strained to hear what he said, she couldn’t detect any voices.

 

The noise of footsteps halted seconds later, and after what felt like an age, Clark returned, but he wasn’t empty handed.

 

He clutched a small bottle tightly and a glass of water. He set both aside on the vanity and pulled the chair over to sit, straight backed, at the foot of the bed. “Recline on your back, and part your thighs. I will not mate with you tonight but I will examine you fully.”

 

Lena found it difficult to follow his instructions, only because she wanted him to guide her. Clark reached out and with a strong hand, forced her knees apart until her slick cunt was on full display for his hungry gaze.

 

The sparse hair that barely covered her modesty was dewy from her need and she loathed that he knew it.

 

Without preamble, Clark leaned closer and parted her lower lips with his thumbs. His pupils were large and dark like vast pools of water as he took in the sight of her untouched womanhood. “Pure.” He rumbled thickly, without an ounce of surprise in his voice. He brought his index finger to the thin barrier and lightly touched it as if enthralled. 

Clark surprised Lena by not making a move to break it. Instead, he brought his face close enough to feel the warmth of her against him, and inhaled her rich scent deeply. He swiped his finger through her slick and rubbed it between his fingertips thoughtfully as he sat up.
 

His voice was a low husk when he spoke, and he stared at Lena as though she were meal just waiting to be had. “It seems you’re finally experiencing your first heat.”
 

Lena could tell he was pleased by this –  a barely restrained smile twitched at the corners of his mouth.
 

“There’s a tincture you can take, if you wish, that will aid your sleep for tonight.” Clark pointedly looked to the small bottle that he had left on her vanity, and then he got to his feet. The front of his dark pants could not conceal the way they tented with his obvious reaction to her heat. It called to him as much as everyone else on the property, but he said nothing of it.
 

“Dress,” Clark demanded simply. “I expect you to join me for supper. You’ve been starved enough and I won’t have you going to bed on an empty stomach.”
 

He retreated with as much composure as he had when entering, and allowed her the privacy to do as she pleased, though Lena sensed he would not wait long for her.

 

Her intense sexual desire and extreme starvation were at odds with each other: she wished to lie in bed and rub herself between the thighs, but there was also a painful emptiness in her stomach. 

She climbed out of bed and went to the wardrobe, finding a gown of lightweight, ivory silks that whispered against her skin as she slipped the pretty garment on over her shoulders. Hastening after Clark, she forgot to bother about shoes, and only realized it when she was nearly bumping into him in the doorway of the dining room. 

“I would like supper,” Lena admitted and blushed feverishly at how Clark eyed her breasts until they heaved in her gown. She breathed faster when he stared at her like that. He needed to usher her over to her seat. 

The throb of her sex proved painful to ignore as they sat waiting for the servants to bring the supper — a roast lamb stew that warmed Lena as soon as she lifted the first bite to her lips. 

The food soothed the hunger pangs of the last few days, but as her body began to quiet in one area, it awakened in another. She shifted almost indecently against the wooden seat beneath her. 

“Mr. Danvers,” Lena muttered. “You seem to be a man of few words unless you’re ordering me around, but don’t you think it’s impolite to host me at your table without talking to me?”

 

Lena needed a distraction from the way her body was betraying her. The alpha who caused this might as well be of use.  

“And what would you have us discuss so late at night?” Clark countered with a raise of his brow. He watched her intently and smiled. 

Lena realized that he was aware of her attempts to alleviate the desires flooding her system.

 

“Most omegas have had years of experience with heats by the time they’ve reached your age,” Clark reflected. “I can imagine this must be daunting for you to cope with one after living so long without it.”

 

Clark lifted a heavy crystal tumbler and sipped at the amber liquid within as he remarked. “I doubt that kind of wood will grant you the ease you’re after, however. Sitting still might help.”

 

Perhaps his good humor came from the way Lena squirmed under his gaze, or the fact that the stench of her heat had caused the servants to trip over themselves in their hurry to excuse themselves, because it would be obscene of them to even acknowledge it.
 

Clark barely touched his own bowl of stew, and signaled for someone to ladle more into Lena’s empty dish with the barest flick of his flinger. The servant who stayed behind was timid as he stepped up to handle Clark’s request — and then he, too, dismissed himself. 

Lena’s legs quivered with a need so painfully carnal that she dropped her spoon when she tried to lift it. The utensil plunked into her dish and she rashly shoved back her chair back. 

“You tell me to sit still, but I don’t want that,” Lena complained. “I’ve been sitting in the mud for days.”

 

The crackle of the fireplace in the dining room mesmerized her for a second and she took a step towards it, but the blaze bathed her skin in too much warmth. She paced restlessly and ignored Clark, although his comments irked her all the more because she knew he possessed the most obvious means of soothing her heat.

 

“Why haven’t you taken a wife until now?” Lena asked without any prelude or fear that he might strike her for speaking out of turn. She felt bolder somehow now that she was alone in the dining room with him. “You must have something wrong with you.”

 

Clark’s clean-shaven face and handsome features drew her in, and she drifted closer to have a better look at him.

 

“You still have the face of a boy,” Lena remarked saucily. Although she could smell his virility from afar, she was sorely tempted to mock him as impotent and attack his alpha ego. “Most men have full beards by now. I don’t suppose nature endowed you well as an alpha.”
 

He reacted impulsively to that, knocking his chair back from under him and cornering Lena before she had sense to run. Tears pricked her eyes, if only because she believed he would hurt her, but instead he simply squared his shoulders imposingly and held her by the neck. This was a customary thing for alphas to do. She knew what he wanted by instinct alone and let her eyes trail down to his massive erection.

Just glancing at it made her shake with want, and she resented herself for thoughts of reaching out to touch it through Clark’s trousers.

Even if she lacked experience with her omega heats, Lena understood through gossip and reading how omegas showed deference to their mates. She lowered her head and placed her hands on Clark’s broad chest. 

There were perhaps other ways she could make up for her disrespect, and yet she decided to use the most obvious means to calm him.

 

“I’ve angered you and insulted you in your home,” Lena whispered. “You must come to my bedroom if I’m to make it right.”

 

Lena was of conflicted passions: she had not yet warmed up to Clark, and would surely do all that she could to ensure his misery going forward, but her heat and common sense told her that she also needed to do what was necessary to prove she could be obedient.

She left the dining room without glancing back and returned to the room of the house that was hers — that she had somehow claimed, even though she was still hopeful there would be a chance to run away before tomorrow’s ceremony.  

At the wardrobe, Lena exchanged her dress for a simple white chemise that could easily be taken off. In a drawer, she found a few pairs of pretty underthings, but left them alone and slid into bed.

 

This apology would require Lena to allow Clark to handle her. As he came into the bedroom with another candle, she lifted her chemise above her waist. He sat heavily on the bed beside her, and Lena parted her glossy pussy lips for him with a gentle stroke of her fingers.
 

Clark took hold of her chemise and pulled it off over her head. Despite her mixed feelings about him, Lena’s body felt excited. Her breasts were sore, and her red-tipped nipples seemed to be eager for Clark’s mouth.

 

“As inexperienced as I am with heats, I know what omegas do with their alphas,” Lena admitted, without worry that he might judge her for seeking out this knowledge on her own. “Touch me, so that we can put what happened in the dining room behind us.”

This would do little to satisfy her extreme omega urges, but this ritual for bonding and reconciliation was more about appeasing him. 

“You are aware that breeding is typically the last part of this particular ritual?” Clark asked. 

For the first time, Lena realized that he was reluctant to breed her until after they observed the traditional ceremony to unite them. She wondered if he felt that way because of religious reasons, or due to any concern for her.
 

“I appreciate that you want to wait until after the ceremony for that,” Lena intoned softly. “We can observe this ritual without its final step.”

Clark reached out a hand and caressed the side of her face, tangling his fingers into her hair.
 

“I apologize if I hurt you with my grip before,” Clark muttered, looking down at his own hand as if it betrayed him, although it was such a common act for alphas to hold their omegas by the neck.
 

“You didn’t,” Lena readily informed him, though it was frustrating that his simple apology could mean so much to her. It influenced the way she opened her hips to him, keeping her legs apart and ass raised. “As I understand it, you have rights to touch me until you feel we have bonded again.” She paused, briefly afraid to state what she knew of this reconciliation rite. “It would be custom to end the ritual by opening me with your –“

 

The word stuck in her throat, but Lena valiantly whispered it out, not one to be ashamed. “With your cock. Since we will wait for the ceremony to breed, you can either use a finger to gently enter me, or instead, use the head of your cock without breaking my innocence.”

Lena’s mind wandered to all of the many rituals that omegas followed with their alphas, and they took on a new interest for her when she imagined carrying them out with Clark.

 

It was something about Clark’s features that made him attractive to her—a hint of feminine softness that she had not seen before when he came to collect her in the darkness. She was beginning to understand why all of the women in town considered Clark roguishly handsome and why all of the other alphas aspired to match his power.

“I’ll touch you as I see fit.” Clark intoned darkly, as if Lena had over stepped a boundary by dictating how he should handle her in such a condition. He got to his feet and fetched the glass of water on the vanity, then pressed it into her hands. “Drink, and then come to the end of the bed.”

 

Lena sipped at the water because it would help her heat. She placed the glass aside and stared at Clark in the candlelight.

 

He sat on the chair once again, and when Lena grudgingly moved towards him, he grabbed impatiently at her ankles and pulled her until her backside was off the bed and resting on his knees. 

“Raise your feet up, and take hold of them.” He demanded quietly, his cobalt eyes as dark as midnight from the lust that entered him. “Do not move from this position.” He warned, and smoothed his warm, calloused palm over her slick folds.

 

Lena had never known such scorching, unforgiving warmth, and it blazed from within, flowing outward to coat her in copious amounts of slickness. Her breath hitched when Clark parted her with the thumb and forefinger of his left hand, only to use the tips of his fingers on his right to rub the length of her. He didn’t touch her opening, which maddened Lena, and her nostrils flared as she tried to conceal her frustration.

 

If Clark noticed, he didn’t care, and carried on with his slow ministrations. When it seemed she may buck in defiance, he moved to palm her fully, using the upward motion to massage her clitoris between his strong fingers.

Lena yelped at the contact, so sensitive that it startled her, and Clark pressed his left hand onto her abdomen to keep her still. 

“I’ve known many alphas who neglect their omegas,” He said conversationally, rubbing her more intently with each pass of his hand. “They pride themselves on how they leave them quite unwell, until painful desperation seizes them and they beg to mate. Even then, some alphas deny them satisfaction by avoiding this area entirely.”

The area in question was soon treated to some very controlled strumming as Clark used the pad of his thumb to circle Lena’s swollen pearl.

 

Lena hooked her arms under the backs of her thighs and kept her legs spread. Her inner lips reddened from even his lightest touches and her clitoris throbbed for him. If not for his other hand pinning her down, she would thrash pleasurably from how he commanded her body. His thumb made good acquaintance with that needy part of her that Clark claimed other alphas neglected with their omegas. She found herself praying that he would not repeat their mistakes and would always tend to her cunt in this very thorough way. 

All thought of leaving in the morning was tucked aside, in favor of more pressing thoughts of breeding with the alpha.

“What will you do?” Lena softly asked, and followed up with other bold and inquisitive questions. “How will you treat me? I would like to know more of mating and your expectations for our marriage bed.”

Clark increased the pressure of his thumb lightly, and seemed pleased when Lena’s hips jerked under his hand. He was clearly learning her well, and he had barely touched her at all. 

“I will take care of your needs, and you will fulfill mine and bear us children.” He declared simply, and quickened his rubbing. “I expect loyalty and obedience, especially in public or around others in private settings. I may be more lenient in the confines of the bedroom but I will not tolerate wayward antics outside of it. If you take issue with something, request to speak to me privately, or you force my hand to discipline you right there and then in full view.”

Lena heeded the warning in his tone and a bolt of shame went through her from ending up in this position with an alpha. She knew from that point onward she would never be able to hold opinions of her own, not if she was in disagreement with Clark. Her dignity would have to be traded for protection, a roof over her head and sexual relief. For some omegas that price was a pittance, but Lena was not like them—she was strong willed with her own beliefs and attitudes. She had always challenged authority.

 

“You will have to get well-accustomed to striking me in public then because I won’t hold back if my opinions differ from yours.” Lena informed him, without the slightest care that that his fingers still flicked up and down over her clitoris and that he could still deny her at any time. 

As if out of spite, he fondled her more vigorously and her pelvis rolled for him in response. She desired him, even if she could not abide by all of his rules.

“You will watch your tongue,” Clark rumbled lowly. “I have not the time nor the patience to watch it for you.” Though he could have very well stopped and left her alone to wallow in the changes of her body, simply to teach her a lesson in manners, he remained, with steadfast strokes that soon caused Lena’s backside to clench and lift with musculature anticipation. She coiled like springs before his very eyes, pulled taut with so much need that she drenched his pants in her slickness.

 

Clark’s thumb moved with relentless speed and a slow keening crescendo began in the back of Lena’s throat against her will and senses. He seemed to play her like an instrument, pulling the cry straight from her lips as she went into spasm. Lena’s legs fell from her grasp and her spine arched white hot pleasure sparked through her with delicious intensity. Clark carried on, rubbing her to a deep cherry red until she sank heavily back to the bed, winded and satiated for the time being.

 

Without a word he rose from the chair and tucked it back under the vanity. He plucked up the vial and brought it over to her, composed as he walked confidently around despite the fact that his trousers were soaked with her sticky scent. 

“Two drops under the tongue will ensure you get a peaceful sleep.” He stated quietly. “I will see you in the morning once you’ve rested.”

 

Lena could scarcely lift her head from where she lay still crumpled on the bed. Her fingers curled around the vial and she used her thumb to collect some of the tincture. Pressing it under her tongue, she passed the vial back to Clark and waited to feel what it would do to her. She crawled on her knees up towards her pillows and settled underneath the blanket. It might have been wiser to refuse Clark’s sleep remedy, but Lena could not risk a sleepless night after so many spent out in the cold. “Goodnight,” she whispered to the figure in the doorway.

Clark paused to glance back at her, and she could see his mysterious and brooding face by light of the candle. He was the last sight Lena saw before her heavy eyelids shut and the tincture dragged her down into a deep sleep.