It was gray outside and the light coming in from the library windows at Asterly was not enough to reach them in the corner where it was warm from the Alpha's body heat, her scent heavy around him when she kissed him on his lips and whispered sweet nothings. Every touch of her was shocking, as though soft bits of lightning constantly jump-started his heart when she moved her fingers over his sleeves and her mouth over his jaw. He had toppled over a few books when she'd placed him atop an old ironwood table so that she might stand between his knees and he was kissing her back, trying not to seem too eager lest she see him as some sort of lovesick fool.
"Louis..." she murmured before she traced her lips over his jaw to nibble on his ear. "You smell so divine..."
He was gripping at her shoulders, desperate. He couldn't feel his hands, tingling with an odd static. "Con, please...I'm...when I present..."
"Dash all that," she murmured against his throat, her breath hot while her tongue dipped into the hollow below his ear and sent another rush of blood to his groin. She kissed him there, the act both tickling and supremely arousing and he could feel her hand move from his knee to the inside of his thigh.
" Unnh... "
Had that sound come from him?! He swallowed, embarrassed by such a reaction but he could not be so embarrassed for long when he felt her fingers brush between his legs, finding the length of him through his trousers and teasing him there with a steady press. The side of her thumb moved over him and he could feel her searching for the place his shaft met the head.
" Constance...Con...oh...! " It was all so delicious and overwhelming. He almost missed the soft questioning sound off to his left.
" Mrrrh? "
She was sitting on the back of the settee, perched and watching him with her big cat eyes.
No. No. Not today. Not right now. I don't want to stop! What sort of universe would do such a thing to me?! Go away Iris, tell me you've made a mistake!
She did not. In fact, she blinked her blue eyes and came down from the settee, wandering over and stretching up from the floor to place one dainty paw upon the ironwood and the other tapping gently upon his hip.
"Con..." he tried, making the valiant attempt to not weep with the loss of this encounter. "Constance?"
The return of his serious tone made her back away from him, her face still close but her cinnamon eyes severe. "Yes, Louis?"
"I have to...go lay down. Iris, you see...she...oh I do not know how to explain. I very much like this. But...we should wait. Until I am presented. I should not like for you to become overly disappointed should I fail...I am twenty-three already, after-all."
"Louis," she told him in a lightly chiding tone. "I do not kiss you for reasons that you must think. I kiss you because you are handsome, you are kind, and you are by all rights my best friend. If one cannot kiss and touch and dote upon their best friend, then what is the point of having one?" She leaned forward and kissed his lips again though this time he was acutely aware of the tingling in his hands and how it had not ceased.
"Con," he tried again, speaking into her mouth. "I...I think I..."
Sometimes he had more time. Sometimes he could feel it coming and it would come over him like a heavy blanket. This time it didn't. Reality blinked out of existence. When he woke, Iris was near to his face, curled into a ball on the pillow beside him in his bed. He was in his nightclothes and a dressing gown, tucked beneath his sheets and the counterpane. It was warm and his body ached but the room swam to him steadily until he could see her sitting up and dozing in a chair beside the bed, her hair messy and her arms crossed.
He wanted to reach out but his arm wasn't long enough.
"C-Constance..." he tried softly. "Con..."
When she came to, she nearly leaped out of her chair, her hand to his face and her eyes filled with her complex emotion. "Louis, there you are. I'm sorry, love. I should have set you on the settee as soon as you said something...I hadn't realized it was so close."
"I didn't either..." he sighed. "Iris did, of course."
Constance peered at the cat. "Your Oma told me. You know, I had a devil of a time explaining my scent...but I think your father knows..." She bit her bottom lip, chewing it nervously. "About...us."
Louis felt his cheeks warm considerably. He perhaps should have been more forthright to Constance about the closeness between he and the Duke. Of course, his father knew--Louis could not help but tell him.
Constance reached for his hand, holding it tightly. "Do you remember what you said to me...just before? That we should wait until you present?"
"Yes..." His heart squeezed. Constance was an Alpha. She needed an Omega. She needed that darling sweetness and heirs for her title. She would have to continue her line someway or another and there was no manner in which she could do that with a useless mate like a Beta. God, if only he would just present. If only his body would simply cooperate!
"I disagree."
"What?"
"I am telling you that I love you, Louis. And you cannot shake that off so easily. I dream of you each night and I yearn for your gentle scent. I could not wish for you to become sweeter for you are like a windblown flower now--solitary and stunning upon a green hill. I love you, Louis . Beta...Omega...whatever you become, I hope that you will become my mate."
"But...I cannot produce heirs..."
"There is more to life than heirs. I have eight siblings and I will have more cousins than I can count. There will be no shortage of heirs in the Netherfield line. I want you . And if it comes to your heirs, we will find a solution. Your siblings might take care of that very well despite us as well. I do not think one odd Duke could destroy Asterly forever." She leaned forward and kissed his forehead. "Tell me, Louis...tell me you love me."
He felt weak but he did not feel hopeless. "I love you."
"Will you be with me, Louis? Even if we cannot show the world our love? Even if we have to hide in dark library corners forever? Will you tire of the secrecy? Will you tire of what we have?"
"No." He squeezed her hand. "I love you, Alpha. I do. I could not tire of you. Of your devotion. It is most dear to me."
"Then believe me when I tell you that I could not want an Omega. I will only ever want you."
He felt his emotion dwell in his throat and he squeezed her hand again, bringing her knuckles to his lips. "I believe you, Con. And god...I do love you. Please tell me that you might kiss me in the library again...soon. I daresay I was not finished with you."
She grinned, her eyes sparkling with a hint of chaos. "And I daresay I was certainly not finished with you."
Louis settled back against his pillows. "Damn my body."
The Alpha puffed out a breath beside him. "You know...I quite like it, your body. When I can finally get you undressed and naked beside me, I think I will very much enjoy it."
"Constance," he scolded half-heartedly, his face wildly hot. "That is..."
"Lewd? You cannot know the half of what I think about you when I am alone."
He could not help himself but to smile, bashfully averting his eyes to the brocade above him. "You will have to regale me...tomorrow...when I am feeling a little better."
She was grinning. "Tomorrow? Shall I meet you in the parlor...or the library?"
"Perhaps I will have you meet me here...if you are not a coward..."
Her eyes flashed as she sucked in a sharp breath. "Louis..."
"What?" he asked, feigning innocence. "It is not as though I have much to lose, is it? After all...if you will only ever love me and I will only ever love you...then what is left beyond that? How could I be uncertain?"
Constance peered at him, leaning forward to press a chaste kiss on his cheek. "You are a daring little Beta. I love you far too much for my own good."
Louis looked at her warmly, his fingers again squeezing and feeling her reassuring squeeze back. "Likewise."