"Mairwen," I sighed as her arms circled my shoulders, as she pulled me over her, our bodies bowed over the piano bench. "Mairwen, I can't lose you. Please…please tell me."

"I'm yours," Mairwen breathed, reaching for my face again, nipping at my lips.

I purred, my dragon pleased with her answer. But it wasn't what I needed to hear. I groaned as I sat up, then quickly gathered Mairwen in my arms, shifting until I sat on the bench with her cuddled against my chest, skirts pushed high so I could fit between her thighs. And as urgently as I needed her answer, my hands needed the feel of her in their grip, sliding beneath her skirt, trembling with satisfaction as I found the backs of her thighs, soft and ample and in my possession.

"Tell me you drank the tea, Mairwen," I said, and the words cut a wound on my tongue.

I'd waited decades for an heir. It had been my only goal since I'd defeated my father, the one tool I needed to acquire to secure my rule. But I'd pursued it half-heartedly, and now I knew why.

I need Mairwen far more.

"Tell me," I whispered, squeezing my eyes shut against the damp sting that grew there, biting at her jaw, her cheek, her earlobe. "Please, I need to… I need to know you are safe. That you're mine and I won't lose you. Tell me you drank the tea."

"Ronson?" She pushed gently at my chest, but I didn't want to meet her eyes as she told me that it was her duty to give me an heir. "Ronson, my love⁠—"

I gasped, bucking up against her, squeezing and pulling her closer. My love. Not my alpha or my lord. Had I imagined the words? Or were they meaningless sweetness?

Mairwen's hands clasped my face as she leaned back, and I helped myself to a generous gape at her bosom, flushed and full and mouth-wateringly perfect, before she forcefully dragged my gaze up. There was an indulgent smile on her lips, one I wanted to lick into, swallow whole with every other bit of her.

"Ronson," she said softly, thumbs stroking my cheeks. Her voice lowered to the most delicate whisper, body bowing forward to rest her brow against mine. "I drank the tea. It's all right. It's…fine, I'm safe, I⁠—"

I groaned, swallowing her words, my hands—two was such an inadequate number when it came to touching Mairwen—fumbling eagerly at her hips, up to cup the nape of her neck and hold her close as I claimed her lips. Her breath caught on pretty sighs as she looped her arms and legs around me, and I debated the comfort of the piano bench compared to the floor or the time it might take to fly up her to the nest. A few broken fragments of thoughts clambered in my head, spiraling in the burst of relief still coursing through me before linking together.

"Just-just for the rut, or—" I asked, panting. There were still dangers, even when birthing a child without wings, and the thought of Mairwen at risk created a panic in my chest that it didn't seem capable of containing.

She shook her head, nuzzling against my cheek in the process, and I traced the tip of my tongue against her jaw.

"I wasn't… I was afraid you might…"

I knew that fragile note in Mairwen's voice, and it calmed me enough to meet her eyes just as they skittered away. "Omega," I pressed, my tone darkening in a command I knew she softened for.

"I wondered if perhaps you might…prefer there was no child. So you could choose⁠—"

I clapped a hand over her lips, my eyes wide, head shaking automatically. No. No, Mairwen, I wanted to cry. It hadn't occurred to me at the time, before the rut, that Mairwen might assume I wanted no issue between us for my own sake.

Her fingers caught at mine, pulling them from her face. "And I'm not quite ready yet," she added gently.

I puffed out a breath, and Mairwen offered me a crooked smile. I drew her back against my chest, breathing in her perfume to calm my racing heart, my tripping thoughts. Mairwen melted into me, and my eyes shut on the sting once more.

"I will never let you go, Mairwen," I murmured, pressing a kiss to the curve of her shoulder.

She sniffled against me, her hands finding my wings and grabbing their base.

"The only thing I want more than to have a child with you, is to ensure you remain at my side for as long as possible," I added with another kiss. Already, the disparity in our lifespans was digging a hole into my chest. Mairwen would age too soon, die too soon. I wondered if I told Gamesby that when Mairwen died, I would lose all strength to fight him, that perhaps he might leave us in peace until that time. No, that would only put Mairwen in the firing line.

"Do you believe me?" I asked, lifting us from the bench, wrapping an arm under Mairwen's ass to hold her wrapped around me. She was still for a moment before nodding against my shoulder. That wouldn't do. "Look at me, Mairwen. You have to say it. Do you believe me? Believe that I want you more than anything else in this world? More than an heir, or to be alpha. More than this castle or this isle. Fang's fire, omega, the number of times I've thought about carting you off to find somewhere just for the two of us to live in peace…"

Mairwen laughed at that and finally lifted her head. She was perfuming so strongly I could've drowned in it, but for once I could focus through the haze of hunger. Her eyes were damp but bright, her smile wide, her cheeks pink and full.

"Yes, Ronson, I believe you," she murmured, quietly and sweetly, but without hesitating or glancing away.

"Good," I said, which was an inadequate word for the enormous second sun that was growing in my chest, lighting me from the inside out.

"There's-there's something we should discuss. Something I found in the library," Mairwen said as I carried her to the tall windows.

"Later. I'm taking you up to our nest, my pretty siren." I squeezed at her hips, grinning up at her, panting in the gasps of perfume she was granting me.

Mairwen's gaze hooded, her smile languid and wicked. If there had been a beta in the room to see that smile, I would've had to kill them. I opened the window, stepping up onto the ledge, and Mairwen tightened her thighs around my hips, preparing for the flight up to our nest.

"Alpha, you must promise not to bite me until after I've shown you what I've found," Mairwen said, kissing along my jaw, nipping at my lobe.

The words should've struck me, but my omega was so close, so warm, and the scent of her made my mouth water and my cock stiffen.

"Don't tease me, omega, or I'll be inside you before we've reached the nest," I answered, groaning as she perfumed in answer.

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Chapter Thirty-ThreeMAIRWEN

Strong hands with calloused fingers stroked down my back, occasionally digging into muscle. I tried to fight my smile, my squirms of pleasure, but it was useless. Daylight crept into the nest. I was awake and Ronson knew it.

Ronson.

My siren. My omega. My perfect girl.

I buried my face into the pillow, clinging to all the impossible things he'd said the night before.

"Mairwen," Ronson purred, my name sweet and coaxing.

And I remembered that those wonderful words he'd spoken weren't impossible after all. I grinned and rolled over, and Ronson's always somber and serious face brightened in an answering smile.

"There you are. Fucking beautiful," he whispered, head ducking and lips soothing gently over mine.

I wrapped myself around my alpha, sighing at the weight of him against me. "Good morning, alpha."