“I don’t have time for you right now, Maddoc,” the king snarled, rising from his seat. “This is all your fucking fault!”
King Orick was sending him away instead of killing him? Something was certainly wrong. “What are you talking about?”
“Ana is gone.”
Maddoc tensed. “What are you talking about?”
“She left!” he bellowed. “She’s gone to get married, so she can break the promise.” He threw a page of parchment at Maddoc, and one of his men collected it for him to read.
The anger that he was barely holding onto nearly erupted as he read it. His woman seemed to think she could play him for a fool. He had warned her multiple times, and yet she had not only chosen to skip their last night, she’d decided to disappear with this idiot of an Alpha who she was betrothed to. He had made himself very clear, and she hadn’t listened.
“I don’t care what they think. The Royal Promise cannot be broken,” he growled, throwing back the note.
“I know that!” The king’s face was dark. “If I thought it could be broken, you wouldn’t have touched her at all. But it’s whatever you did has caused her to make this foolish decision.” He pointed at Maddoc, snarling. “It is your fault.”
For a moment, doubt flickered in Maddoc’s chest. Had he been too rough with her, too hard? He didn’t try to hold back Analisa, he didn’t need to. He gave her everything, and she had responded with such a beautiful enthusiasm; it encouraged him on. It was even more evidence that he was her Alpha, and she was his Omega. Of course, it was problematic that they didn’t agree on anything, apart from how magnificent his cock in her pussy was, but that didn’t matter right now. They would have time to figure that out. But this… this was a problem. He couldn’t allow any other man to touch her, let alone marry her. She belonged to Maddoc. And her betrothed, Ryden, should have known better. Clearly he had ulterior motives for persuading Ana to do this. There was no way there could be even half the attraction between them as there was between her and Maddoc, and he told her that! The man hadn’t even fucked her in the years since it had been announced they were paired. It was unnatural. Still, maybe this situation would provide him with an advantage.
“I will find her,” he bit out to the king. “Do not get in my way.”
“You will not!” the king roared.
Maddoc roared back, the air in his lungs on fire as he released his rage. This old man thought he could challenge him?! “The promise is still not paid off yet, Orick! Her nights are still mine until it is. So I will find her.”
“Do you think I give a fuck about your cock?” The king said, incredulously. “Go and find some redheaded whore and pretend she’s Ana, if you still crave her, but you will leave her alone or you will be fucking killed.”
Maddoc’s fingers itched, prompting him to reach for his blade, but he held off. He didn’t want to kill the king, but he could still make this work for him. “I will make you a deal.”
The king glared at him but said nothing, indicating that he was willing to at least listen.
“If you find her first, the promise is forgotten, the debt is paid. But if I find her first… she is mine.”
The king frowned, horror bleeding into his face. “There is no benefit for me to make that deal.”
“No? You do realize that once she returns, without this deal, the three nights start from the beginning?”
The king’s nose flared, and the Queen began to sob. Maddoc and the king glared at each other for a long moment, until the king broke the gaze, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly.
“I will agree on one condition,” he said. “If Ana does not want to stay with you for longer than a month, you will let her go.”
Maddoc almost told him to fuck off. Analisa was would not be permitted to leave him. Ever. But what was the use of telling that to the king. He wanted the reassurance his daughter could have freedom if she was still upset after a month, but that was not the way things worked. Still, if he found her first, how would she know?
“Three months.”
The king dipped his head in a slow nod. “Deal.”
“Deal,” Maddoc repeated.
He turned and made his way out of the palace, surrounded by his men. Clearly his Omega was stubborn and disobedient. It would take more work to get her, but he wouldn’t have it any other way—she was worth it. But he was furious she hadn’t listened. She didn’t take him seriously and that had to change, no matter how hard she had to learn that lesson. Maybe it was the days she’d spent away from him that were the problem. Once he got her back, he wouldn’t let her out of his sight. He would have his Omega, and the royal court, and all that came with it, could burn.