Counting Stars at Dawn

25: Assert Your Dominance

"Don't worry, I'll be here to supervise. I just need you to hold him for a few seconds and as soon as the king sees, just let him go."

"Why can't you do it?!" Ares argued.

"Im afraid my position is a lot more valuable than yours, Lord Ares." Dr. Bloodfern shrugged.

"But--oh god!"

Ares grumbled and went closer to Artemis. Hades' eyes were closed as he sat on the chair, and when Ares passed by, he caught his scent a lot later than he usually did.

Hades opened his eyes, and instantly saw red when he noticed Ares was tightly holding Artemis against himself.

He stood up and marched to Ares in one second. A loud snarl erupted from him, and Ares teleported away leaving Artemis to limply fall onto Hades' arms.

"That's it! I better get some damn good reward after this Doctor!" Ares pointed and left the infirmary.

"Your majesty," the doctor called to Hades. Artemis made a pained whimper as he clung to Hades. "I'm afraid your husband has entered his own breeding period."

"Huh?" Hades exclaimed. "But how? He's not a pureblood."

"He is not, but his body is still going through the stages of growth of a pureblood. At the moment, he has just entered his childbearing stage, despite vampires entering it at age 113."

"How long will he be like this? Can you get rid of it? Is he in pain? And what the hell is that smell!" Hades rambled.

"I'm afraid he'll be like this for two to three days. And no, I cannot get rid of it for him since his heat can only be controlled through mating with you." Dr. Bloodfern stroked his pointed beard with a gloved hand. "He is in pain, in a way. He isn't injured, but his nervous system will be mimicking pain signals unless he is in intercourse. That vanilla scent you smell, your majesty, is in fact your mate's pheromones signaling specifically to you he is ready to be bred. No one but you can smell it, sire."

"I--but he looks in pain. I can't do anything to him if he looks like this. It's not right! And what if he gets pregnant? He's told me he isn't ready to have a baby."

"Mm, you can in fact perform, your majesty. Even though enough time has not passed for your own body to trigger a breeding period, your mate's state will override that. So as of now, you are in heat too, your majesty. As for his desire to not conceive yet, that I can help with."

Dr. Bloodfern went to a cabinet inside his office and took out a bottle of pink pills.

"Give the king consort one of these each time you're about to have sex. He won't get pregnant as long as he takes them prior to each mating session." The doctor handed them to Hades.

Hades looked back down at Artemis and he opened his eyes. He reached out a hand to grab his shoulder, and used it to prop himself up.

"Hades." Artemis whispered in need as he inched closer to his lips.

"Artemis." Hades exhaled and slid his tongue into Artemis when he kissed him.

Artemis forcefully grinded into him and moaned into his mouth, pulling Hades' hair. The dommate secured his submate in his lap and growled possessively.

"Ahem." The doctor coughed into his fist and Hades' eyes gave him a sinister look that incited fear. A trait only royal males were able to master.

He teleported them back to their own room and didn't bother to lock the door as Artemis pushed him down on the mattress.

Something felt different about this heat with Hades though. Normally, he would've found Artemis pushing him down on a bed sexy, but today he wanted--no needed--to assert his dominance to him.