The Alpha and the Omega: Act III | Chapter 2
04 Sep 2018User1355
ACT III - HEROINECHAPTER 2
For all his life, Arcturus Morgana had been raised to believe his father a monster. As an infant and toddler Sola had isolated him, clinging to her son for purpose and survival amid the cruel new world in which she found herself. As time passed and she grew in power, she felt less and less compunction
against speaking terrible truths as to Jyrron’s treatment of her in their early days. Yet such a revelation was difficult to reconcile with the bloated visions of weakness that were most of his memories of the man. Jyrron was Madoc’s son, the heir apparent of the Clan Rhys. What had gone wrong?
The first great blow to Arcturus’s soul was the never-spoken-of truth behind his father’s fate. He dared not broach the subject of his mother’s and Cassian’s warrior-mating, where he was certain it was his father’s heart that they greedily consumed. For years, the young man had let the poison accumulate within, until given release by the savagery of piracy. He was happy, happy to be away from the stifling influence of his mother, and happy to earn respect and standing independent of her.
Thus had it been with great bitterness that he was informed of- not consulted on- his own warrior mating. It was a milestone for him, his final step toward full manhood in the eyes of gods and kin. Yet his thoughts upon the matter were more reflective than his peers might have guessed. He knelt before Aelina as a stranger, knowing that she was hardly older than his own mother at the time of her own mating. She was beautiful, yes- but within Arcturus’s heart a new feeling stirred, one borne of a lifetime of witnessing the mistakes of his own parents. He would be a protector of the one before him, he resolved, to treat her with dignity and kindness. They would have everything that Jyrron and Sola never did, a life of support and respect- and in time, even love.
The doors to Arcturus’s ship closed shut, and Aelina stood before him, in the bloody white traditional tunic. Her beautiful face was downcast, and whether from fear or the ship’s chill she shivered. All around them were gifts, the cargo bay to the living quarters stuf ed with them. Arcturus took one hand in hers, kissing it and in a low voice asking if the arrangements were to her liking. The young woman- girl, closer to- merely nodded, her gesture more resembling her shivering than any meaningful agreement.
As she had expected, Arcturus led her to his captain’s suite, where strong drink and hearty food awaited them. Also as she expected, Arcturus stripped away his bloody garb, and it was with a blank mind that she didn’t stop him from stripping away hers. There, her expectations ceased to be.
Among the most hardened of old-timer clansmen it was claimed that a man and woman were to couple with their bodies still stained from the sacrificial cow’s blood. Arcturus, however, was neither old nor particularly influenced by the ramblings of the same. Gently he led Aelina to the suite’s shower, standing behind her and cleansing with his own hand the ceremony’s sticky aftermath from her skin. His touch was tender, affectionate- devoid of the brutality and abjection that she had come to expect. Yet he did more than touch.
For a long time Arcturus spoke to his new mate, of his own difficulties with the arranged union and the burden of being his mother’s son. He revealed the terrible stories that he had heard of his own father’s behavior, and that he was resolved to be a better man than him. As the filth washed from her skin, he told her that the gods were indeed real- but not as real as the flesh and blood woman before him. Her body, at first rigid, relaxed under his touch, the warm water and his tender words working to overcome her fear. At long last he paused, vulnerable and waiting with nervousness for her reply.
Aelina had prepared herself for anything but benevolence, and found that she could summon no words in response to her new mate’s gentle manner. Instead she wept, her tears mixing with the water, at last turning to the man before her, pressing her palm against his in emulation of the rite which they had so recently undergone. There she confessed that she, too, had been informed of the mating against her will, and whose life had been one of bitterness and resentment ever since. Now, she gushed, her heart had changed, and she saw now that the union- and her new mate- were gifts from the gods.
It wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t love, and the two were still essentially strangers- but it was enough. With tears and relief Arcturus and Aelina embraced, hot water running over their bodies and lips joined in feverish passion. Aelina allowed her man to lay her down upon his bed, her arms around his neck as
she willingly opened her body to his. Even the pain of her first time was made bearable in the greater warmth of his af ection, pain which faded in time. Soon she was in the throes of pleasure, her petite frame moving with urgency beneath him.
For his part, Arcturus was nearly overcome with bliss. He had been with women before, of course, for the Matriarch’s firstborn son was never without ready access to feminine company. Yet at that moment he felt himself a virgin, the experience of holding Aelina in his arms another plane from the
impersonal acts to which he was accustomed entirely.
As one the warrior mates cried out, their climaxes mutual, their union sealed. They slept not a wink that night, talking and coupling and talking more, plunging recklessly into love, almost delirious with relief that their time together was to be a blessing and not the curse for which both had braced. They did not emerge from their ship until late the next day, when the shadows were already lengthening. Even then, they did so reluctantly, for there were additional matters to be seen to by them both. It was with a long kiss and longer gaze that finally parted company.
For the first time in his life, Arcturus Morgana had found peace.
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