Chapter Text
Lucifer tucked the latest letter he’d received back into his cloak with a small smile. He never could have anticipated how much his life would change over the course of a single year. He never thought he’d be interested in another after the divorce with Lilith, but he couldn’t have been more wrong.
He’d entered the Hunt last year at the demand of his advisors, who insisted his couldn’t be the only country with a viable match that didn’t send a candidate. Never mind the fact he had no interest in getting married again or chasing down a notoriously un-Omega-like Omega.
The first year the Hunt was held, everyone assumed it was some sort of jest or formality. Get the key from around the Omega’s neck and you earned the right to remove the collar protecting his scent glands and to claim him. They’d shown up drunk and in their formal party clothes to find Alastor, the Omega in question, dressed like he was going to war.
Some of them never fully recovered.
And so it went, year after year. The pretty, willowy Omega putting Alpha after Alpha in their place. If they were lucky, all they left with when dawn broke was a bruised ego. The entry fee was no small amount either and the Hartfelts had made a tidy sum off of it alone over the past decade. That, combined with their shrewd leadership and the natural defenses along their borders had made theirs one of the wealthiest kingdoms.
The Omega and his realm were prizes that would elevate even the poorest of kingdoms to dizzying heights. Their treasury swelled each year, their prince growing more beautiful as he matured alongside it. His continued untouchability only fed the flames of desire for both, and the competition became ever steeper.
Lucifer had planned to keep his distance, participating just enough so his advisors couldn’t accuse him of throwing the competition.
But then he’d smelled something that made his stomach churn even as his instincts roared to the surface.
An Omega in heat.
The only Omega that should have been present was Alastor. Alastor hadn't shown any signs he was in pre-heat in the days leading up to the Hunt. There was also something…off about the scent. While it still triggered his Alpha instincts, what little rationality he had left insisted something was wrong.
While an Omega’s heat made their scent significantly more potent, it was never this strong or cloying. Lucifer could practically taste the Omega in the back of his throat, a mix of overripe flowers, rotting stems, and a pervasive sourness.
And the closer he got, the more overpowering it became.
Lucifer hadn’t been far, thankfully, and had been one of the first to arrive upon the scene. He didn’t recognize the Alpha pinning the Omega to the ground as he tried to insert the key into the collar’s lock. He seemed oddly unaffected by the scent, which meant his attempts to wrangle him were hampered by his inability to more naturally subdue him.
He was on the Omega’s back, his knees holding his arms in place as Alastor snarled and thrashed, trying to escape in order to find a mate whose body called to him in turn. He froze, however, as Lucifer’s scent reached him, a low whine sounding in the back of his throat as his fluffy ears tipped back and he stared fixedly at him, trying to tilt his head to bear his throat in submission.
Lucifer gave a low rumble in answer as he stalked forward. The key clicked in the collar’s lock and the gem encrusted piece of jewelry fell away from his throat, revealing the unblemished skin over his scent gland.
The other Alpha spared Lucifer only the briefest of glances as he ducked to administer the claiming bite.
Lucifer had unleashed his wings then, using the extra speed they granted him to tackle the bastard and send him flying into the brackish water of the bayou.
Alastor had been at his side in an instant after, skin fever hot and pupils blown. Lucifer had witnessed many heats in his years, but he’d never seen one that took an Omega so thoroughly. He didn’t think he was even capable of speech and his trousers were already saturated with his slick.
He barely managed to grab the collar, key, and omega and lift off into the air before the rest of the Alphas had come racing into the clearing. The Omega had trembled in his hold, pressing open mouthed kisses over every inch of Lucifer’s skin he could reach. He only managed to get them both back to the palace because Alastor’s fingers had been too clumsy to undress him.
The days that followed had been a blur. He’d landed on the balcony overlooking the competition below and thrust the collar and key at the Queen. His teeth ached with how badly he wanted to bite down on the exposed flesh, but he clung to the knowledge something was very wrong with every last shred of control he had left. He couldn’t bring himself to release the Omega, however he didn’t stop her from refastening the collar to protect her son.
It was too late at that point for Lucifer to distance himself. Not with his instincts screaming the Omega was his. Even if he could’ve, Alastor wouldn’t have rested until he found him or was taken by another Alpha. The Queen had led them both to Alastor’s chambers and Lucifer had him mounted almost before the door closed and locked behind her as she left.
He didn’t remember the majority of their coupling, just flashes here and there. He’d done his damnedest to get the Omega pregnant, had knotted him over and over again. Had barely been able to keep up with Alastor and whatever had possessed him and sent him into an out of cycle heat.
Over a week passed before Lucifer began to come back to himself and it had taken almost another for Alastor to do the same. He’d taken care of him as best he could in the meantime, grateful the second week had been more like a natural heat. Alastor had still needed him, had begged for his knot, but he’d been able to actually communicate again by that point and they’d gotten to know one another in Alastor’s gradually lengthening moments of clarity.
By the time he’d settled enough for a healer to come check on him, the suite and Alastor were a complete mess. Lucifer had stayed for a further few days after it ended to ensure the other man was okay and because the Omega became panicky any time he tried to leave.
They’d found out later the Alpha Lucifer had found him with, Vox, had dosed him with a potent new heat induction elixir made from the pheromones of a lowborn moth shifter he’d been known to bed on the regular. Moreover, he’d kept his own head by developing an almost equally powerful scent blocker.
It had caused quite the scandal, Vox being the youngest son of one of the wealthier kingdoms. Even if some of the alphas with more permanent injuries and grudges against the Omega had admitted they’d wished he’d been successful in private.
A generous restitution had been paid that put a dent in their coffers and Vox had been forced to mark and wed his moth, ensuring he would never have an opportunity to grab for power like that again. All traces of the heat inducer and scent blocker were destroyed, both deemed too dangerous to risk falling into the wrong hands or becoming readily available.
Meanwhile, Lucifer had been pleasantly surprised to receive his first letter from Alastor shortly after returning home. They wrote to one another often and had met in person a handful of times in the months that followed. Much of that time had been spent between the sheets or sparring, at Alastor’s vehement request.
He’d been so disgusted with Lucifer’s initial performance in their first match that he’d paid for and sent one of his best fighters to train Lucifer and report back to him on his progress in the interim. By the time he and Alastor had their last match a month before the Hunt, he’d finally triumphed over the Omega and they’d been vigorously celebrating his victory when his teenage daughter had walked in on them.
Lucifer wasn’t stupid. He knew why Alastor had done all this. Just because they were fond of one another, practically courting, didn’t mean the Omega would let him ask outright for his hand. He’d never come right out and said as much, but he’d asked several times if Lucifer would be attending the next Hunt and had warned him that, if he did, he’d better not embarrass himself.
Truthfully, Lucifer preferred the ease of the temporary arranged marriage he’d had with Lilith. It had never been meant to last. Once she helped him produce an heir, the Beta was free to terminate their bond. Lucifer had grown more attached than he should have and they maintained a solid friendship after, but he’d never thought he’d fall for someone else.
Charlie eyed him from across the carriage before rolling her eyes and giving a small shake of her head. “You’d better win, dad.”
Lucifer’s face flushed. “What?”
“I don’t think Al will forgive you if you don’t.”
Her bodyguard, Vaggie, nodded at her side. “You don’t want the hassle of him murdering his spouse so he has another chance with you, sire.”
“What?!”
The two girls shared a look. “Dad, you know he’s crazy in addition to being crazy for you, right? I don’t think someone else’s claim mark would keep him away for long.”
While it was true omegas became more docile under the influence of a mate, how docile had a lot to do with the strength of their bond and once the honeymoon phase ended, one as strong willed as Alastor would only be willing to submit again under the influence of their heat.
He’d likely unintentionally saved Vox’s worthless life a year ago, though Lucifer wouldn’t have put it past the bastard to keep Alastor in a near permanent heat with those drugs if possible. The thought alone left him feeling nauseous. His fiery Omega would have been relegated to little more than a mindless bed slave, producing litter after litter until his body gave out or Vox forced contraception or termination on him too.
Lucifer pushed the unhappy thought away, though the image of a pregnant Alastor lingered in his mind along with that of pups with oversized fluffy ears or maybe wings like his own.
Maybe both…
“Dad!”
He startled, attention snapping back to his daughter. “Yes, Char?”
“Could you please not daydream about things I am still trying very hard to forget right in front of me?!”
Mortification swept through him, his face feeling as if it were on fire. “I wasn’t!”
She and Vaggie shared another look before Charlie crossed her arms and stared resolutely out the window.
“I’m glad he makes you happy, dad, but I’d rather not know just how happy.”
Lucifer would have buried his head into his hands and proceeded to will himself from existence had the carriage not come to a halt that very moment. He smelled Alastor before he saw him, the Omega’s earthy florals and bitter citrus calling to him like a siren’s song. He nearly knocked over his driver in his hurry to leave the carriage before the man finished opening the door for him.
Alastor stood just a few feet away and it took everything Lucifer had not to drag him into a lingering kiss or a too tight embrace. Knowing the Omega, he’d do everything in his power to ensure Lucifer lost this year and was forced to wait until the next for the transgression.
Their mutual interest was still a private matter with only their nearest and most trustworthy in the know. If word got out that Alastor already had feelings for him, the legitimacy of any claim he had on the Omega might be thrown into question. There were many kingdoms that had spent a good deal of money over the years in their pursuit of his hand. There was a chance it could lead to an all out war.
Which of course meant Alastor would be doing everything in his power to best Lucifer this year regardless of his desire to be claimed by him. He, ironically, would’ve had a much better shot if the Omega wasn’t interested in him…
Fuck, he might need another decade of intensive training if he was going to even stand a chance…
Loving this sadistic man was going to be the death of him, but even as he thought as much he couldn’t stop grinning.
“Morningstar,” Alastor greeted with a nod. The only sign he was genuinely happy to see him was the fact his omnipresent smile reached his eyes.
“Hartfelt,” he replied. “I trust you and yours have been well?”
“We have. And yourself?”
Charlie and Vaggie finally joined them, curtsying.
“We have,” Lucifer answered. “Please allow me to introduce my daughter, Princess Charlotte, and her bodyguard, Vaggie.”
Thankfully Charlie managed not to roll her eyes this time, though he was sure it was a near thing.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” he answered with another nod before returning the entirety of his attention to Lucifer. “If you’re free this evening, I believe I may have some time to discuss those trade agreements my advisers have been hounding me about.”
“I am!” Lucifer answered before flushing and clearing his throat. “I mean, I believe I can make some time… I’ll have to check with my secretaries.”
Charlie looked heavenward and Vaggie reached out to give her shoulder a sympathetic squeeze.
Alastor arched a brow at the two of them. “Very well, have them let mine know and they can then coordinate accordingly. I hope you enjoy your stay and, if you intend to join this year’s Hunt, I look forward to putting you through your paces along with the rest.”
“Oh, I’m sure you do,” Lucifer drawled as palace servants stepped forward to lead them to their rooms for the duration of their stay and Alastor turned his attention to greeting the next wave of arrivals.
With the palace full to bursting with guests (most of them unwanted), Alastor had instructed his secretaries to have Lucifer meet him in his office. He would have preferred to have the Alpha in his chambers, but that was too risky at present. Not to mention the fact he didn’t want his determination the other man would not have him again until the night of the Hunt to waver.
Even if every part of him craved the Alpha’s touch. Wanted him buried so deep inside of him that they became one. The thought alone was enough to make him wet, and so he’d forced his attention to his work while he waited for the man to be shown in.
Or tried to, anyway. His traitorous cunt was determined to ruin him. He’d nearly given into the urge to get himself off to try to silence the damned thing, when there was a knock at the door.
One of the servants outside opened it and Lucifer stepped inside, still dressed in his finery. The blues and golds looked beautiful on him, matching his eyes and hair, though his wings were as white as fresh snow. His unique fragrance of petrichor, fresh linen, and warm sunshine swept across the room as the door swung closed behind him, sending a fresh pulse of heat between Alastor’s legs. The Alpha crossed the room to the desk, an all too familiar hunger coming to his face when he caught the scent of his arousal. The knowledge the other man could smell the slick soaking into his underthings, that he couldn’t hide what Lucifer did to him just by existing in the same space, sent a shiver through him.
Oh, this had been a terrible idea.
The Alpha was on him in an instant, easily hauling Alastor out of his chair and onto his desk despite their difference in size. The next thing the Omega knew, his trousers were around his ankles and Lucifer’s face was buried in the crux of his thighs, feasting on him like a starving man.
By the time he’d ended his forced heat a year ago, the Alpha had been able to play his body like an instrument. He hadn’t been Alastor’s first, but the Omega hadn’t been with anyone else since then, spending nearly all of his intervening heats on his own. And the two Lucifer had been able to spend with him, Alastor had been embarrassed to have to leave the key to his collar with his mother for safekeeping.
He’d been informed he could be quite…vocal about his need for the Alpha to claim him while in the throes of passion. He’d also apparently tried to get the thing off of himself more than once even without the key…
It didn’t take long for his orgasm to build under Lucifer’s enthusiastic devotion and Alastor’s claws tightened in the man’s hair as he came so hard he saw stars. It was only then that the bastard lifted his head to grin up at him and offer a husky, “I missed you.”
Alastor’s instincts surged to the forefront of his mind, as Lucifer worked him through his aftershocks with his thumb on his clit, his still spasming cunt clamping down on nothing. He had to bite back a whimper at the distressing emptiness and then had to redouble his efforts to stay quiet when all he wanted to do was demand Lucifer mount and breed him properly.
Ever since he’d reached the age of maturity, the collar had been a reassuring weight over his scent glands. A reminder that no one could force him to be theirs. It was only over the past few months that it had begun to feel more like a shackle.
“I missed you too,” he blurted, face warming when he realized what he’d said. Normally he wasn’t nearly as uninhibited with his words, he had a reputation to maintain after all, but the joy the declaration brought to Lucifer’s face cut deep and he found himself grinning back at him like a godsdamned idiot.
On paper, he never should have ended up falling for someone like King Morningstar. His was one of the most humble kingdoms on the continent and, while they shared a border (a very small one), he wasn’t sure if he’d ever even had a conversation with the man prior to his intervention with Vox.
Lucifer was thirteen years his senior, had still been married to his wife when Alastor had reached his majority. Hells, he’d been too busy raising his only daughter and heir for his advisors to bully him into joining the Hunt until the prior year.
Alastor didn’t remember the majority of his forced heat, but he did recall the moment he’d caught scent of the Alpha. How his answering pheromones had crashed over him.
Yet Lucifer had managed to keep his head long enough to get him away from Vox and to take Alastor to his mother. Had bitten his own lips and fist bloody to keep himself from sinking his fangs into Alastor’s exposed throat, even as he’d begged to be claimed. Had given the collar and the key to his mother so she could protect him. Had held Alastor down when he’d fought tooth and nail not to have the collar put back in place.
By that point they’d spent too much time together to be separated for his heat, but even then Lucifer had been a careful and attentive lover. Meanwhile his mother had to clear the entire wing of the palace because of how potent Alastor’s pheromones had become under the influence of the elixir. Only other Omegas had been allowed anywhere near him.
And now he’d somehow turned Alastor from a fierce prince who would submit to no one into a stereotypical Omega straight from the pages of a ridiculous romance novel.
His heart had leapt upon catching sight of his carriage that afternoon. He’d thought it was an overwrought turn of phrase dreamed up by lovesick fools until he’d felt the organ quite literally lurch against his sternum. He’d sworn he’d never be one of those “domesticated Omegas,” yet every moment he spent around the Alpha, his desire to please him, to submit to him, to be bred by him increased tenfold. He’d even caught himself staring wistfully at others’ pups.
Him!
Prior to that, he’d resigned himself to the fact he would have to produce an heir at some point and now he longed for an entire fucking litter with this ridiculous man!
The first thing he’d done when Alastor visited him at his own palace was insist they have a picnic lunch by the duck pond in his gardens. In his enthusiasm to show him his favorite spot, Lucifer had fallen in. The Omega had stood on the shore, dumbfounded, as the swan flailed in a panic in the waist high water. At first he thought he’d somehow forgotten he was literally a waterfowl, but no. The real reason had somehow been even more absurd.
Lucifer thought he’d ruined the paint on the gift he’d made for him. A wooden duck he’d carved in Alastor’s likeness.
A wooden duck that had embarrassingly become one of the deer’s most prized possessions. And that Rosie and his mother had both caught him talking to on more than one occasion, as if he were speaking to its creator rather than an inanimate object.
Even worse, Alastor had a feeling that the Alpha’s claiming mark would trigger an out of cycle heat for him, which should have been humiliating. Instead, he was convinced he would be disappointed if it didn’t.
Oh, how the mighty had fallen…
And suddenly his thoughts scattered to the four winds as Lucifer pressed two of his claws into his still weeping cunt. Alastor reflexively bore down on them, a godsdamned whimper escaping him as the Alpha proceeded to fuck him with them, stroking his own cock in time with each thrust.
“Y-You said I couldn’t fuck you properly unless I claimed you,” he murmured, his hot breath fanning across Alastor’s sweat damp skin.
So this was what he’d decided to do instead? Simulate the act? Make Alastor watch and feel what he could have right now, if only he would relent?
He cursed as Lucifer picked up his pace and he reached between them to rub his fingers against his own clit.
The Alpha met his eyes as he growled softly, “Tell me how badly you want my knot.”
That drew a full body shudder from him and Alastor whined as he tried to rock his hips to take his fingers even deeper.
Lucifer held him in place, his lips brushed the edge of his ear as he added, “Beg me for it like a good little Omega, and maybe I’ll give it to you.”
“F-Fuck you,” he bit out, despite the command sending a rush of heat and desire through him.
Of course he wanted it! Even outside his heat, he craved the closeness and connection he felt whenever they were locked together. Part of it was undoubtedly his Omega nature, but part of it was also because it was Lucifer. He didn’t need a knot. He needed Lucifer’s knot.
Lucifer added a third finger, spreading him wider, but it still wasn’t enough, the bastard. And then there was a…fourth?
Oh. Oh, fuck.
“Give it to me,” Alastor growled, nails digging into Lucifer’s skin, drawing small rivulets of blood that stained his clothes and left him feeling almost feral as its iron tang mingled with the scent of sex.
Lucifer stilled his hand, meeting Alastor’s eyes. And they weren’t Lucifer’s soft blue anymore, but rather those of an Alpha who expected to be obeyed. A soft whine sounded in the back of Alastor’s throat, the look triggering something primal in him. He bared his throat to the other man, claws digging even harder into his flesh.
“Please, Alpha!” he hissed.
He barely had time to prepare himself before Lucifer slipped his hand inside him, almost all the way up to his wrist. It wasn’t a real knot, but the stretch and ache and fullness…
Alastor sobbed as he came again, bearing down hard on the makeshift knot. Powerful waves of pleasure rocked through him, leaving him almost dizzy in their wake.
But Lucifer didn’t stop as the last of his aftershocks waned. Instead he began to fuck him with his entire hand, having released his own cock so he could grab Alastor’s tail, fisting and tugging at it like it belonged to him to do with as he pleased.
Alastor buried his face in the swan’s shoulder, trying to narrow his own focus. It was all so much, too much. He bucked back against him as best he could without any leverage and came a third time, sinking his fangs into the meat of Lucifer’s shoulder to stifle the scream that tore from his lips. Blood filled his mouth and he reflexively swallowed. If he wasn’t so wrung out, he thought that alone might have sent him over the edge again.
Lucifer released his tail and carefully slid his hand from inside him. Alastor hated the hollow feeling he left behind. He wished he’d had the foresight to bring one of his plugs to insert into himself to prolong that stretched full feeling. And then Lucifer was stroking himself and coming with a low, self-satisfied groan, his spend falling across Alastor’s arousal swollen lips, mingling with the slick there and claiming him in a different way.
The Omega slumped onto his back on the desk, panting for breath. He kept his legs apart, heat creeping down his throat as Lucifer admired the pretty picture of sated, eager submission he’d fucked him into despite never spearing him with his actual cock.
Another soft whine escaped Alastor as he tilted his head to bare his throat to his Alpha. Lucifer carefully gathered him into his arms, carrying him over to the thick fur rug in front of the crackling fireplace. He laid him down and stripped him of the rest of his clothes before doing the same for himself and settling against his back, a possessive arm wrapped tight around Alastor’s middle.
The Omega pressed more firmly back against him, ears and eyelids drooping with exhaustion. The preparation and onset of the week of festivities had already begun to weigh on him prior to Lucifer’s arrival. For the first time in maybe a month, his mind was quiet and his body lax. Lucifer began to scratch behind one of his ears and he promptly fell into the sort of deep sleep only his Alpha seemed to make him feel safe enough to indulge in.