Duties to the Throne

Chapter 3 - One Step

It bothered him that the man who was supposed to protect him was his greatest threat. Especially after the night before. He’d heard horror stories of rape amongst those in heat, because they were unable to discriminate from friend and foe. No matter what he did, it didn’t defer Vegeta’s quest. He would be in heat until the end of the week, his body wanting to ensure pregnancy.

Rubbing his bruised shoulder, Gohan curled up in the fetal position. Having examined his new wound, he couldn’t figure out why the hickey was causing him discomfort. It resembled any other love bite, and yet it still ached. The simplest of touches sent waves of pleasure throughout his body; when it was left alone, however, it burned with desire, reminding him of the mouth that had placed it there.

Sharp senses picked up the sound of his door being unlocked, but the boy shoveled himself further into the blankets as Vegeta’s scent flowed freely across the room. “Moron, I’m hungry.”

“Then go eat.” Gohan groaned. Just the older man’s presence was enough to bring him to orgasm. A shame as the teen saw nothing of interest in Vegeta.

“You’re my wife, cook me dinner.” The prince crossed his arms over his broad chest. Grumbling, Gohan pressed his legs together, trying to hide his hardened erection. “Get up you lazy mutt!” The prince’s strong leg kicked the mattress, and Gohan growled lowly as a warning.

“Make your own damn sandwich!” The teen tensed as the prince yanked the blankets off his naked body. Tense, Gohan glared back. “That’s a riot,” he retaliated, sticking his own nose up arrogantly, “Prince Vegeta is inept in making a sandwich! How can he possibly rule our planet if he can’t take care of himself?” The boy jumped as a ki blast came close to his head, centimeters off. He could feel the heat of the blast against fine hairs of his cheek.

Lowering his balled fist, Vegeta sneered. “A waste of Saiyajin Tail. Not even a good lay. I’ve had a Goyagan Priestess that performed better than you.”

“I wasn’t even trying, you rapist!” Any embarrassment concerning his naked, hot flesh was diminished by anger. Even if he was originally a virgin, he didn’t think his submissive behavior to the brutal assault should reflect his ability. “If I wasn’t biologically set to an asshole like you, I wouldn’t have done that anyway.” Though as he said this, he could feel his body want to spread open, to hike a foot up and give access to his entrance. It was becoming harder and harder to stay mad when in his sights was another bulge proving he wasn’t the only one turned on.

Reaching towards the bed, Vegeta grabbed at the teen’s bangs, pulling the boy’s head up to look directly into the other’s eyes. They were too close, their scents becoming overwhelming. Flushed, Gohan tried to pull away, but his head only tilted further back until both men’s mouths were close. On its own accord, his body started to spread out. Long legs shifted to the edge of the bed as Vegeta’s hand loosened in the teen’s hair. Freed, Gohan fell back against the bed, his long legs spread out in offering for the prince. “I can’t take it anymore. Just…one more time.” Vegeta agreed, lowing himself onto his willing mate.

The prince didn’t say anything in return as he was too busy undressing himself, hungry eyes analyzing his prey for the second time. “Last time,” he huffed, splitting Gohan’s thighs. The muscles tensed under his hands, bones protesting the flex, but the prince didn’t care and Gohan didn’t seem to notice; instead, he was pleased at the sudden rush of being filled by the prince. Voluntary reflex wrapped long arms around the prince’s broad shoulder, linked at the back of the man’s neck.

Though still lost in the animalistic passion, some sense was still in Gohan at how his body was acting on its own accord. Much better than the day before, he was able to feel the initial pain of being ripped open, yet the pleasure of being filled by hot flesh still won through his confused brain. He could feel the prince biting at his hickey, sensitive to the touch. Blood rushed to his already hard penis, arched towards his belly.

“Touch yourself.” The prince breathed.

“Nyagh…?” Gohan cried out as the prince stopped thrusting into him. Nervously, the teen reached down his built chest towards his hard shaft, not sure what to do. He knew that if he didn’t ‘touch’, Vegeta wouldn’t bring him to orgasm. Awkwardly brushing the tip of his finger across the crowned head of his penis, Gohan tensed at the course of pleasure that shook his frame suddenly. “Feels weird…”

“Haven’t you ever touched yourself?” Vegeta smirked.

“N…no…” Gohan ran a finger over his cock, twitching at the feeling. Vegeta’s warm hand circled the base of his erection. Stroking, Vegeta began his thrusts in sync. “Un, ugh, please…” Gohan sobbed. “M, more!” All of his nerves were singing in delight. Belly twisting, he could feel his bottom swallow the head of Vegeta’s penis in need. Stilled, Vegeta let his attention fall to his hand jerking Gohan off. The teen didn’t care how he looked, as long as Vegeta didn’t stop doing that. A spasm shook his body as his vision was blinded by white. He couldn’t think anymore. He couldn’t-!

Orgasm took the last bit of consciousness from the teen, leaving him exhausted on the bed, not even stirring when the prince fell in a heap on top of him.

A week of torture went by before Gohan woke completely refreshed and free of the burning heat in his loins. Looking at his right side, the teen frowned. Prince Vegeta had had his way again the night before, making it the fifteenth time since the beginning of the week that the two had reluctantly joined. It was hard to stay away from each other after they awoke to each other’s scents after each romp.

Climbing out of bed, the teen stormed towards the shower to clean his body of all hints of being mated to the prince until only the hickey on his shoulder remained. When Vegeta woke and realized that both of their reproductive cycles had ended, their nonexistent relationship was going to turn sour fast. The prince had explicitly made it clear that he blamed Gohan, especially his body, for throwing each male into heat. A blessed Kainin-Sho was more of the escape goat for all things weak in the eyes of the prince.

Resting his head back against the rim of the Jacuzzi tub, Gohan crossed his legs as he let his mind wander to the week. Numbly, the tips of his fingers grazed his belly. He was sure that there was no way he was going to walk away not pregnant. His parents had fully completed their contract, leaving their son chained to a lifelong relationship.

Though loved for producing children, women and Kainin-Sho’s were considered the weakest of Saiyajin’s because during their sexual peak and until the child was weaned, the submissive was weakened by hormones. Unable to summon a simple ki ball, the submissive relied on her dominant to protect her and the child. Gohan knew he would need the prince and the guards of the palace to protect him and his child.

“Brat!” Vegeta’s fist rattled the door hinges. “Father is expecting us back at the palace. I refuse to go hungry, prove yourself to be a good wife.”

Glaring back at the door, Gohan climbed out of the shower. Dressed in only a towel, the teen stared over his mate. “Let’s make this clear, Vegeta.”

“That’s Prince Vegeta.”

“Vegeta.” Gohan repeated with venom. “I’ll do my wifely duties until I no longer need to feed our child, but after that, I’m gone. You’re going to pay for me to get back to Earth and we’ll go about our lives without each other.”

“Running away half breed?”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Gohan brushed past the prince on his way to the kitchen to busy himself with breakfast. He knew that at the palace, he would never have to cook for the arrogant prince, so he might as well give the prince a last ‘loving’ meal. “Hardly. My parents wanted my birth to bring together both Earth and Vegeta-Sei and I will be an example of what they raised. When I’ve fulfilled my side of the bargain – heirs to the throne – then I will leave. I have no more reason to stay with an inept ass like you. Coffee?” Gohan poured the thick drink without a response.

Taking a seat at the grand dining table, Vegeta analyzed his mate. “What do I care: I can live a celibate life. It’s done.” The prince sipped his coffee with a keen smirk on his face. Six months of pregnancy followed by another six of the teen weaning his first-born was more than enough for Vegeta as long as the princess did her duties. “The nurse maids will teach you your job when we arrive back at the palace.” Agreement set, the two started in on breakfast.

Vegeta stepped back, returning to his duties almost immediately. His father had taken Gohan under his wing, loving everything about the half-Saiyajin twit. As expected (not that Vegeta wasn’t good at his job), Gohan was pregnant. The prince stood back and watched as his mate was lavished with attention, especially as his belly grew. The bigger his belly grew, the more the palace seemed to love him, and the less Vegeta wanted to look.

The two hadn’t shared the same bed since their mating period, opting different rooms in the same hall. They only sat together during breakfast, par request of the King to at least appear as a loving couple. Gohan played his role well as promised, taking Vegeta’s hand in public, appearing needy yet strong, even in his pathetic state. Vegeta inwardly praised the idiot for not making him look bad by being completely weak during his pregnancy.

The only person who knew of their plans to abandon each other after the first pregnancy was Nappa who had enough of his own mating problems to worry about Vegeta’s. He wasn’t sure if Raditz was aware of what was going on, since the man rarely went to visit his nephew, even when the teen was placed on bed rest in the last month of pregnancy. With the assigned due date was approaching, Vegeta decided to fill his remaining days as a man with his drinking buddies. Though usually the first to be plastered, Raditz was sipping at his drink, overlooking the aerial gardens leading towards the prince’s royal housing where Gohan was assigned bed rest, monitored by the best Obstetricians.

“So you’re going to let him go to Earth after the baby?” Raditz swirled the contents of his glass.

“Nappa already told you?” Vegeta twisted the cork from the aged wine that had been his mother’s favorite.

Said bald man shrugged his shoulder, throwing back his whisky. “I don’t know much about the princess so Raditz would decide if it was a mutual agreement between the two of you. As the head of the Royal Guards I can’t let any harm come to the princess.” The prince scowled.

“If he cannot take care of himself on that weak planet, then he had no right to be my mate at all. It was a mutual agreement between us both that after the heir has been weaned we’ll go our separate ways. I don’t need you or Raditz questioning our agreements.”

“I wasn’t,” Raditz crossed his arms, “Chichi said that her son was depressed with the mating situation, I just want to make sure he was okay with being sent away from his own child. When Gohan told his family he was going to live with his old teacher, we learned the whole story from him. I suppose if that’s what you want, but I couldn’t live celibate like you two are planning.”

“That’s why we get normal mating ceremonies,” Nappa smirked.

Vegeta smirked. “That’s because Lady Jijun finds out that you’ve been at it with Raditz since your twentieth moon, she’d skin you alive and do the blood ceremonies pact against Raditz on her own.”

“At least blood pacts don’t kill us. It will be impossible for you to remove Gohan’s mark from your shoulder.” Raditz flicked his hair behind his shoulder.

Twisting his spine to look back at the man, Vegeta frowned. “I bear no marks on my shoulder.”

“Thigh, whatever.” Nappa supplied at the flush that took over Raditz.

“No mark, nowhere. I marked his shoulder, but he never bit me back.”

His comment brought the two soldiers to their feet, surprised. “You never completed the ceremony! Shit, did you hear that Raditz!”

“No wonder my nephew’s depressed! He’s still not mated to the father of his baby! The poor kid!” Radditz took position behind Nappa, looking over the tall man’s shoulder.

“Maybe it’s a good thing for the kid,” Nappa ignored the curious look from his prince, “he’s not held down by this mating at this point.”

“What’s going on?” Vegeta shouted above them.

“When you bit him, you tasted his blood. It probably had a different taste because of the chemicals in the wine during the ceremony. His and your blood became one – as in a Blood Mating. Right now, only you are mated. He’s still his own man.” The bald man crossed his arm across his broad chest. “You’ll be the only one playing celibate after all this.”

The table broke under Vegeta’s heavy fist. He knew he hated this damn mating. About to tear apart the room, he was stopped by the door opening and his father coming in with the biggest smile he’d ever had. “Boy! Your mate has gone into labor!”

“What?” Vegeta seethed. What impeccable timing! This day couldn’t get any worse!

The king just kept smiling. “He’s being a sport about it, trying to speed along labor. Your mother was the same way, she couldn’t wait to hold you for the first time.” The smile was stretched, but sincere. Vegeta took his seat, glaring at his parent as Nappa moved the chair out for the king to have. “What happened to the table?”

“Just stress.” The prince snapped his fingers. Raditz brought over a glass of brandy. “Is his mother still at the palace?”

“Ah, no. She and the commander went back to their home earlier today. They will probably be back later, but you need to meet your firstborn. The baby needs to be acquainted with both its parents.” The King shifted in his seat, looking over at Raditz and then Nappa. “I’m sure you two have jobs to be doing.”

“The Prince,” Nappa explained, “needed company with parenthood coming and all. He’s scared.”

“And neither of you two are parents.” The King raised a bushy brow. “I don’t care but, Vegeta-chan, could you please go tend to your fathering duties like a proper mate should?” Scowling, Vegeta pushed himself up. A promised look to continue his discussion about the mating ceremony with his two friends was sent over his shoulders as he parted ways to find his birthing mate.

He stood outside Gohan’s room until the doctor left. He fought the battle of wills to go in and see the boy he thought he’d been fully mated with. The only reason he could come up with that Gohan hadn’t bitten him (a characteristic of a Saiyajin mating) was because of the boy’s Earth upbringing. The teen was as caring as they came, probably thinking the idea of biting to claim another as animalistic. Vegeta wasn’t so sure, but it was the best he could think of as to why he was tied down, but the teen was as free as they came.

From inside the room, he could hear the faint cooing of Gohan and the cries of a baby. Taking a deep breath, Vegeta pushed the door open, stepping inside his mate’s room and froze.

Sitting on the bed, surrounded by pillows, Gohan was relaxed as he held their first born. Blue blankets – a boy. Gohan was holding their son, smiling so sincerely that Vegeta found himself categorizing it as astonishing. He’d never seen the boy smile in the six months they’d been mated.

It put the half-breed in a new light.

The teen finally realized he wasn’t alone, looking up from his baby. Soft eyes hardened, shoulders tensed, and the princess turned away. “Your son.”

Vegeta wanted to fix the comment, to say that it was their child, but couldn’t. He’d worked too hard to appear as cruel as he could be towards the little mate. “Mine.” Instead of coming forward, he took a step back. He needed to get out of that room. As far away as possible. The feeling in his stomach boiled as Gohan’s eyes softened again, no longer feeling threatened by his own mate.

His day had just worsened. He’d fallen for his mate.

His mate who was leaving in six months unless Vegeta did something about it.

No wait. The prince frowned. They weren’t mated, Gohan had never sealed the ceremony that week. Vegeta’s fist tightened as he shut the door after leaving. Alone in the hall, he rested his head against the back wall. When had his elaborate plan to ditch his mate become so complicated?

“How could you have fallen for that half-breed?” Vegeta whispered, rubbing his temples. He’d fallen for Gohan, he realized. Fallen hard.

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