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He comes to with Merlin’s scent in his nose.
Arthur breathes deep, inhaling the delicious flavor, before he tenses, his knot tugging gently and causing the omega below him to groan.
Why is there an omega in my bed? Arthur can’t help but wonder.
But he’d know that neck anywhere, the two dark freckles that sit just below the neckline of his tunic. He would know him by the large ears and the pale, thin fingers gripping the edge of the pillow behind his head.
Merlin. Omega. Mate.
Arthur tries to pull away slightly, but Merlin whines again, fingers unclenching the pillow to reach for Arthur’s hip. His nails scratch gently in warning.
“Be still, you prat.”
“Sorry,” Arthur gasps out, voice hoarse.
“Oh, are you back now?” Merlin asks, turning his head to glance over his shoulder at him.
That snark, the ridiculous side gaze he shoots at him, sends a bolt of heat down Arthur’s spine, and his cock twitches from where it’s buried inside him. Merlin must feel it, because he snorts.
“Are you always hiding an erection when an omega mocks you, or am I just special, sire ?”
He can practically hear the smirk in his manservant’s voice, and Arthur’s cheeks burn.
“You can’t address me like that,” Arthur tries, even as his cock betrays him again.
“Sure,” Merlin smirks, and Arthur’s hips jerk forward in response. Merlin gasps, moaning slightly into the pillow.
“Don’t you dare make me come again, you bastard.”
Arthur grinds his hips into Merlin’s in response.
“Glad to know I can satisfy you.”
“Oh, shut it,” Merlin snaps, whimpering as Arthur’s cock sends another wave of come inside him. “You kept pulling me on top of you, expecting me to do all the work- practically begged to have me, it was the least I could do-”
“Hang on, I don’t remember that-”
“-whining for me, you wouldn’t even consider anyone else-”
“Now wait just a-”
“-basically forced me to-”
“Merlin.” Arthur stills, his hands gripping the omega’s hips as fear colored his words. “Merlin, did- did I- I mean, were you willing-”
“Oh hell, Arthur, for heaven’s sake, I’m teasing,” Merlin groans. He pushes his hips back into the alpha’s, deliberately clenching on the knot inside him. Arthur gasps as another burst of pleasure shoots through him. “Besides, you triggered my heat, anyway.”
Arthur hums happily at that, nosing at his mating gland. Merlin swatts at him playfully.
“Absolutely not,” he scolds. “I’m not facing Uther’s wrath because you didn’t wait for a proper bonding ceremony.”
Arthur whines.
“But I triggered your heat,” he complains. “That means you’re my mate .”
“And I will be- after you tell your father that,” Merlin replies, amused. “But he’s already furious- you stormed out of a council meeting when your rut began, and you practically shouted at everyone you met because they weren’t me .” Merlin shakes his head in fond exasperation. “Honestly, what did you do for your last rut?”
Arthur can believe that. His last rut, shortly after they’d met, had been a blur. But Merlin had gone to the lower towns with Gaius when a fever had broken out, and Arthur had come to in the physician’s empty chambers, come coating the omega’s pillow. He had it quietly replaced, and Merlin had been happily baffled by the upgrade.
Merlin’s thoughts seem to echo his own, because he gasps.
“My pillow!”
“Merlin.”
“You- you bastard!”
“ Mer lin!”
Arthur’s knot finally slips free, and Merlin collapses into the bed. The Alpha can’t help but admire the mess between his legs. His hole is gaping, red and leaking come, and Arthur licks his lips, cock twitching.
Instead, he stands, grabbing the nearest soft cloth- Merlin’s shirt- and begins to wipe him down. Merlin groans out a thank you, before catching sight of the Alpha’s twitching cock.
“Don’t even think about it,” he warns.
“I didn’t!” Arthur lies, moving to wipe himself off.
He tosses the shirt into his closet (for later, so he can jerk himself off to the smell of his omega’s scent mixing with his own), ignoring his omega’s amused snort before crawling back into bed with him.
Merlin turns, so his nose is pressed against the scent gland in the alpha’s neck, and breathes deep. Arthur chuckles, pulling him in closer, and catches a whiff of his slightly aroused scent.
“I thought you said not to think about it.”
“I said you shouldn’t think about it. There’s a difference.”
Arthur doesn’t bother with a response, just places his lips on Merlin’s pliant mouth.