Chapter 72: Birthday II

While most of the house were busy preparing for the mating ceremony that was swiftly approaching, a few were preparing for the second prince’s birthday, and none more than Merrick.

He sat on the edge of his narrow cot in the servants’ quarters and waited. The signal would come when Dexter decided the timing was right. Until then Merrick could only sit with his hands pressed between his knees and try to keep his breathing steady.

He had done everything he had been told. Levi’s clothes, soft, slightly worn pieces taken carefully over the last three days sat against his skin. He had bathed in water steeped with every scrap of scent he could gather from the omega’s laundry and bedding. On top of that he had swallowed a heavy dose of suppressants so that his own returning scent would stay flattened for the night. When Aaron put his hands on him, the only thing the second prince should be able to smell was Levi.

Merrick’s heart still raced. Four days of waiting had stretched into this single, thin evening. He was afraid, if anything went wrong he might actually lose his life. But for Aaron, losing his life felt very little. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity, something he might never get again, he couldn’t let the fear of death or uncertainty stop him from taking this chance.

The soft knock finally came, three short taps, just like Dexter had informed him.

Merrick stood up on legs that felt unsteady, smoothed the borrowed shirt once, and left the servants’ wing without looking back. This was it, the night he had been waiting for.

***

Aaron’s rooms smelled of alcohol the moment the door opened.

The second prince sat slumped in a low chair near the hearth, formal coat discarded, shirt half-unbuttoned, a half-empty bottle on the table beside him. His eyes were open but slow. When he tried to rise at the sound of the door, his balance failed and he dropped back with a rough sound of frustration.

Merrick crossed the room at once.

"I’ve got you," he said, keeping his voice soft, close to the register he had heard Levi use. He slid an arm under Aaron’s and helped him up. The heat of the Alpha’s body and the thick scent of wine hit him together. Merrick endured it and steered them toward the bed. Dexter had done his part, and had clearly done it perfectly well. Aaron reeked of alcohol, and could barely even walk. But Merrick didn’t mind, the smell of alcohol for an hour or two never killed anybody.

Aaron leaned heavily into him, nose turning toward the curve of Merrick’s neck. A low, pleased sound left his throat.

"You came," Aaron muttered even though he could barely see who he was talking to. His eyes had become dull, but his nose was still functioning enough to at least recognize Levi’s scent. "Said you would. Did you bring the gift?"

"Yes," Merrick answered as he eased Aaron down onto the edge of the mattress. His own hands were shaking, and his heart was pounding louder than he wanted it. Still, he didn’t back down. He started on the remaining buttons of Aaron’s shirt anyway, working them free one by one. Aaron watched him through heavy-lidded eyes and let out a short, drunken laugh.

"This the gift, then?"

Merrick did not answer with words. He leaned in, stopped only a few inches away, and then went full throttle, ignoring the fear and alarms blaring in his mind. He kissed Aaron.

Aaron responded at once.

The caution that usually lived in the second prince had been thinned by drink. His hands came up, found Merrick’s waist, and pulled him closer with the same rough want Merrick had watched from a distance for years. The kiss deepened. Aaron’s scent spiked—dominant, open, no longer carefully banked. Merrick let himself be drawn down onto the bed, heart slamming, every nerve tuned to the single fact that the man underneath him believed he was someone else.

They moved together in the dim light. Aaron’s hands mapped what he thought was familiar territory. Merrick kept his breathing controlled and his own muted scent buried beneath the heavy coating of Levi’s. When Aaron rolled them and pressed him into the mattress, Merrick turned his head and offered his throat without being asked.

Aaron paused.

Even drunk, something in him hesitated. His mouth rested against the side of Merrick’s neck, breath hot, body still braced and wanting. When he spoke, the words were rough and not fully steady.

"We shouldn’t," he drawled out. "Not all the way. If I mark you...everyone’s going to know the second mark wasn’t mine... I can’t betray Kai. We can’t—"

Merrick’s mind went white for a second. What did he just hear? The second mark was not Aaron’s? It belonged to Kai? He was stunned, happy, but stunned above anything else. He didn’t know what to do with the information he’d just heard or how to even react. Who else knew about this? Not many people, he guessed. After all Kai was getting married to Flora in less than nine days, she wouldn’t be marrying him if she knew he was already fully mated to Levi.

The hesitation lasted a heartbeat too long. Aaron started to pull back, drunken confusion filtering in as the lack of response registered.

Merrick recovered instantly. He reached up, pulled Aaron back down, and put every scrap of desperation he had into the next kiss and the next movement of his body.

"It’s all right," he whispered against Aaron’s mouth, still pitching his voice soft. "I want it. Please. Don’t stop."

Aaron resisted once more, if he hadn’t been drunk maybe things would have been different. But he was drunk, he didn’t know half the thing he was doing. All he knew was that the man he loved was under him, and was urging the prince to claim him as his birthday gift, how could he possibly resist?

The claim, when it came, was messy and hard and nothing like the careful bites Merrick had sometimes imagined. Pain flared bright along the side of his throat. He held on, took everything he was given, and felt the bond snap into place whether the Alpha above him fully understood what he was binding or not. Aaron finished with a rough, broken sound and collapsed half on top of him, already sliding toward the heavier sleep the alcohol had been promising all night.

Merrick lay still beneath the weight, heart racing, the new mark throbbing in time with his pulse.

Joy rose in him so sharp and sudden it almost hurt. He had done it. He had the claim. If the rest of the plan held, he might even have the child Dexter had told him to take.

He started to shift, to ease out from under Aaron’s arm and begin the careful work of leaving before the drink wore off. But he had barely moved a muscle when the door to the room swung open, and standing right at the door was none other than Levi Hill.