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by Alison Aimes
She was no longer in the cell or freezing. Instead, she was chained by one wrist to a metal frame and buried under at least five soft fur pelts in a sterile hospital-like room of ice and metal that looked extremely state-of-the-art, sleek, and expensive.
Like the male standing over her. His body was encased in a tight-fitting shirt and drawstring pants that showed off every inch of his sculpted body and thick thighs.
“You saved me.” Her voice was deliberately accusatory. She had never shown Olan her fear, she refused to start now with her new bully.
The Alpha’s gaze narrowed. “Yes.”
There were lines at his eyes and lips that hadn’t been there before. He looked as powerful and beautiful as ever, but tired.
It must have terrified him to think of losing his best shot at vengeance.
“You shouldn’t have. I’ll only try again.”
He snarled, leaping toward her only to rear back.
He sucked down a deep breath. Then another. Fists at his side.
She was too surprised to speak.
It was almost as if he was reining himself in.
Grabbing something from behind him on a table near the door, grip a little too tight, he wheeled back around and shoved it in her face.
“Here.”
She blinked.
Swirling white and gold petals of a delicate flower swayed in an equally beautiful crystal pot, their sweet fragrance wafting up to her. A small part of her oohed in awe. Abzalian lilies were extremely rare and expensive, especially one in such good condition.
“What is this?”
“A plant. One of your favorites.”
Her brow wrinkled. “Why would you give it to me?”
She’d expected fury, threats, punishment for almost succeeding in ruining his plans. She hadn’t expected potted flora.
He put it down a little too hard by the table next to the cot. “Does it make you happy?”
She sat up straighter. “Why would you ask that?”
His scowl deepened. “I want to know. Do you like it?”
Her internal warning signal blared loudly. “If you’re in a gift-giving mood, I’d like mine to be speaking with my sister and mother.”
“Not possible. You’re a Skolov now. The sooner you accept it, the better for us all.”
Silence descended.
She wanted to ask who’d found her. What he’d felt when he heard. If any small part of him regretted his treatment. She wanted to know how he planned to punish her and when. But revealing any of her anxieties to her father had only allowed him to use them against her, so she kept her silence.
Skolov didn’t need any more ammunition to break her. The scent and sight of him so near were already dangerous enough.
Her nerves stretched tighter, the beeping monitor kicking up another beat in speed.
He eyed the monitor and then her.
The space felt too small with him in it, his wide shoulders dwarfing all the equipment and her cot. The power of his aggression and strength crackled against her skin—and yet for some reason, he was keeping it leashed.
She didn’t understand why. Or how he was staying in such control.
She wanted to scream.
“You like to garden,” he said at last, his stare back on the lily. “Though your parents disapprove of such a dirty pastime.”
“You know this from your spies, not because I told you freely.”
“True enough.”
Something had shifted between them. His attempts at being solicitous almost made her believe he could be remorseful—an emotional state she suspected Skolov could never be.
What disturbed her most, however, was the festering wish inside her that this kindness was real.
“You should take the plant back.” She nudged the pot toward him. What was the worst he could do? With luck, kill her himself.
“Hells no.” A muscle twitched in his jaw. “I had to express deliver it from the other side of the planet and promise some greedy fucker ten free nights at one of my resorts if he could climb to the highest peak, pick it, and get it here before you woke up. This is staying right here.”
“I admire your persistence and reach, but this plant needs air and sunlight to thrive.” Her gaze deliberately scanned the windowless room. “Like people.”
He snarled, more like his usual short-fuse self. “Fucking doc and his idiotic happiness theories. There’s no way this is right. Or workable. I don’t know how to do nice.”
She had no idea what the Alpha was talking about. “Not a million of my favorite plants would ever be enough to convince me to betray my sister. You should have let me die.”
A massive hand swept out and seized the pot.
He hurled it against the far wall, littering the floor with shattered crystal and dirt.
“That is not happening. Ever.” He loomed over her bedside, shoving his furious, beautiful face close to hers. “When I thought you were dead—” He cut himself off, his jaw clamping tight as he growled low. “You are never to do something like that again, omega.”
His mouth slammed down on hers.
Their first real kiss. There’d been so much fucking and clawing, but never his mouth slanting over hers in such a personal, intimate claim.
Shock blasted through her. Wonder came next.
Passion too, as the taste of him seeped onto her tongue and the vibrations of his growl rippled straight to her pussy. Power and sin. Decadence and strength. And, most surprising of all, fear and regret.
As if he cared.
Each sensation slammed into her through a fated-mate bond she’d been so busy ignoring, she hadn’t realized how strong it had become.
Somehow her near-death experience had only solidified the tie between them.
The knowledge shook her to her core, the heat of his full lips driving her equally wild—so soft when the rest of him was so hard.
The fingers of her free hand tangled in his hair, yanking him closer. Her body sprang to life, the rush of being alive mixing with white-hot need and rage.
How could she be so happy and furious to have failed at her objective all at the same time? How could her body simultaneously hate and need so intensely?
All she knew in that moment: she was desperate to be dominated and filled by him. Hungry for more of the warm glow of concern seeping through her along a fated-mate bond that anchored her in a way nothing else ever had.
As if he sensed her wishes, he growled deeply, his hand sliding behind her back, hauling her against his chest while his knee landed on the cot and it groaned under his weight. “I’m going to fuck you so hard I leave an imprint on your soul. One that will make it impossible for you to simply throw yourself away without thinking of me.” His fangs scraped her throat. “Spread your legs, omega. Now.”
“Yes, Alpha.” The bond between them glowed brightly with lust and need.
“Dahlia.” Her name on his lips was a pleased groan. “I’m not losing you again.”
She shoved at the blankets and fought to get closer. Her free hand slipped beneath his shirt to slide along the ridges of his stomach.
She needed to please her Alpha. Like he was pleasing her. His devotion a ray of sunlight after so much ice and darkness.
“What in the hells? Why is her monitor going off like that?”
The stampede of boots and worried voices cut off as quickly as they’d come.
She flinched, reality returning with a vengeance as the scent of the new arrivals filled the room. Her chained wrist clanked against the cot, and her stare locked with the red-eyed Alpha whose face was inches from her own.
“The doc said to make the omega happy, brother, but I’m pretty sure a rough hard fucking so soon after you almost killed her is not what he meant.”
With a growl, Nikolai whipped around, his dark hair curling over his eye. “Get out.”
Make her happy? What was that about?
The golden glow pulsing between them dulled, the sense of connection an
d intimacy vanishing as if it had never been.
Disgust welled from within. She was a pathetic fool. He wasn’t upset that he’d almost lost her because he cared. He was upset because she’d almost foiled his plan.
She caught a glimpse of several dark-haired, massive forms crowded in the doorway—and one slender, harried-looking beta male with furry white skin and gray hair in a lab coat.
“Alpha Lord.” The beta’s gaze was downcast, his words wrapped in respect and caution. “She needs rest still. Her body cannot yet take an Alpha’s pounding. As her doctor . . .”
A low growl.
Despite all she knew, Dahlia wanted to mimic the Alpha’s protest. Her flesh craved his touch, her body ready to obey. To lose herself in the oblivion of dark pleasure, if for only a moment. The alternative, contemplating her failure, was not something she was ready to do.
“Her body is still recovering from being near death.” The beta doctor was braver than many. “Push too fast and she could get worse again.”
To her surprise, her Alpha reeled, as if the doctor’s words had been an actual punch. “Of course.” He rubbed two hands down his jaw. “Of course.” He pushed back from the cot and turned so he faced the others. “We’re fine. She’s fine. You can go.”
“But—”
“Go!”
They scattered.
Skolov swung back around, his hair still tousled from her fingers, their gazes fusing once more.
She could not bear the knowing there—or the memory of how easily she’d hurried to obey. Desperate, she seized on a different topic.
“Why would you want to make me happy?” One eyebrow raised, she echoed the brother’s words.
The Alpha’s scowl deepened. “According to Randalff’s latest theory, the most likely way for a fated-mate omega to sustain her gift is to be happy.”
Happy? Could it be both that simple and that doomed? No wonder so many omegas never kept their gift past childhood.
“So, fucking me is your grand plan?” It comforted her to know what the doctor believed. Because if sustaining her gift truly only happened under those conditions, her sister was safe.
She could never be happy as Nikolai Skolov’s property.
“If I thought fucking you would . . .” He blew out a deep breath. “But no, taking you on the cot was . . . spur-of-the-moment.” He gestured with his chin toward the dirt, broken crystal, and the wilted plant in the middle of it all. “There’s the doc’s plan right there.” His expression hardened. “I have a different grand idea in mind.”
She shivered. “Nothing will work.”
His nostrils flared wide, tendons at his neck bulging. “So, we’re at an impasse then. Or that’s, at least, what you believe.”
The menace in his voice had her sitting up straighter.
She doubted he ran up against repeated resistance often. But what did she have to lose?
“Yes.” She braced herself for the blow. Olan would have struck her long before.
That Skolov hadn’t suggested he had an even more terrible fate planned for her.
As if he’d read her thoughts, he rose and retrieved a small circular tablet from the same table where he’d gotten the plant and placed it in her free hand. “Let me change your mind.”
Her heart slammed against her ribs.
16
“She looks like you.” Skolov’s tone was matter-of-fact. “A tiny glittering ice wisp.”
It was her sister, Kaiya, in her rooms at the Lundin compound. Her wild white-gold hair streaming behind her, her nose buried in a book like always. Though this time, her lips were moving. Almost as if she was also talking to someone. And right at the corner, just out of the frame, was a large, dark shadow.
Dahlia clutched the tablet edge harder. “When in this from?”
“It’s live. Happening now.”
“What are you going to do?” Ice slid through her veins. Was this her punishment? To watch her sister be raped and murdered in front of her? The chain at her wrist jangled against the rail as she strained to reach him. “Please don’t hurt her. Please.”
He cut her off with a sharp wave of his hand. “I’m not going to hurt her. What I am going to do is get past the impasse and make you a deal.”
She nodded and tried to keep her panic at bay.
Her shock, too. A deal? As if she had agency? As if her word and cooperation mattered? Force and bullying was the usual Alpha way when dealing with omegas. Negotiations were only conducted with fellow Alphas.
Despite herself, she sat taller. Felt less insubstantial.
“The man she is talking to is a friend of mine—and hers,” continued the Alpha. “I sent him there as a spy, but he’s become somewhat of a personal bodyguard. Seems you’re not the only Lundin female who has a way of muddling up a male’s plans. My man rescued Kaiya from near-rape by one of your father’s cronies a while back.”
“What? When?” She’d had no idea.
“It was over a year ago.
“She never told me.”
“Apparently, you’re not the only one trying to protect her sister no matter the cost.”
Her breathing hitched. “Please. I really don’t know how to bring down the block and give you more visions, but I’ll do whatever else you want. I—”
He pressed a finger to her lips. “Listen to the deal before you decide.”
She nodded.
He didn’t remove his hand. Instead, his finger slid back and forth over the curve of her bottom lip, a claiming and a warning all its own.
Her nipples tightened despite herself, his spell over her body undeniable.
“Right this minute, my man is offering Kaiya the chance to escape. To leave with him within the hour and disappear forever.”
Dahlia reeled.
“If she says yes, then you will have a choice to make.” He removed his hand.
She took it as permission to speak. “What is my choice?”
“You can agree to my terms and my man will do exactly as he’s promising Kaiya. He’ll sneak her out and she’ll be free.”
“If I don’t agree?”
“She’ll stay where she is, though my man will have to leave since his cover will be compromised.”
Leaving Kaiya vulnerable once more to Olan’s cronies and whoever else. As an omega whose gift had never revealed itself, there was no chance for Kaiya to become a prime omega and make a high match. She would never be anything but property—and prey. Dahlia’s cooperation with Olan was the only reason Kaiya hadn’t already been whored out or sold off. “What exactly are your terms?”
“Her freedom for yours.”
Confusion slammed through her. “I don’t understand. I am already yours by the contract.”
He growled, his stare dropping to the golden bands at her throat and wrist. “You are mine by far more than that.”
She blinked hard.
“In return for her freedom and safety, you promise to never do something so stupid and idiotic—” Hands curling into fists as his side, he cut himself off, sucked down a deep breath, and started over. “You promise to willingly accept punishment for attempting to damage my property, and you vow to never deliberately harm yourself again.”
She waited for the rest.
It never came.
“That’s it? That’s all you want?”
His scowl deepened. “You hold your life so cheaply? I do not. And your punishment will be no small thing. By the time I’m done with your discipline, I feel confident you will never make such a rash move again.”
A small glow flickered to life inside her chest. She reminded herself he was protecting his interests and wouldn’t care about her life otherwise, but it didn’t matter. The small ember sparked by his ferocity over her near-death would not go out.
So, she simply ignored it. “But if I give in to you now, you’ll only use my sister again for something else.” As Olan had done. “She’ll always be leverage to get me to behave or supply you with visions or k
eep me in line when you don’t like something else I do. She’ll never truly be safe or free.”
“Wrong,” Skolov growled. “The terms of this deal are very specific. No more self-harm and your sister goes free.” His voice deepened. “We’ll handle the matter of tearing that block aside in another manner altogether.”
Heat flared between her thighs. The memory of him dealing with the block by spanking her while he fucked and knotted her made her burn.
His nostrils flared in return. He knew.
But one problem at a time. “You can’t possibly be telling me the truth.”
His jaw went tight as if she’d insulted him. “I always say what I mean.”
The same words he had used fifteen years ago, and every single one of them truthful.
“You’re right. You do.” After so many lies and duplicitous dealings within the Lundin family, it hadn’t dawned on her until that moment how much she’d clung to Skolov’s honesty. Whatever else she thought of him, she did trust him to keep his word. “I believe you.”
He looked almost surprised. Definitely pleased. “Good.”
She opened her mouth to accept the deal.
He cut her off. “There’s more you need to know before you agree.”
His tone had her bracing.
“Escape from your father does not mean Kaiya can be reunited with you. That is being explained to her as well. There’s a good chance you’ll never be able to see her again.”
“What? Why?” It came out like a wail. Her sister was all she had. Taking care of her sister was what she did. Who she was.
His expression only hardened. “She has to disappear. To move on to a new galaxy and assume a new name and identity. I have expert forgers who can make that happen, and my man and his wife will take her and see to her safety as if she were their own child. They will have enough money to live a good life. All three of them. But they can never return. Olan will suspect I have had a hand in Kaiya’s disappearance, but as long as the Brotherhood has no proof, there is nothing he can do. But if that were to change, and the Brotherhood discovered concrete proof, it would be considered a betrayal of the Brotherhood code and the Skolov family would pay.”