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by Alison Aimes
She cried out. But he knew it was more out of surprise and anticipation than actual pain. He hadn’t hit with any real force. An Alpha’s strength was far greater than an omega’s and needed to be tempered or he could really hurt her. That was the opposite of what he wanted. He wasn’t after her tears. His intent was a lesson of a different kind.
“One.” It was easy to hear the thickening lust in her voice.
He knew exactly what his omega liked—his show of dominance, his display of care—and, damn him, he liked giving it to her.
Olan had never given a shit about her. Her mother had never had the time for her, either. Her actions, her life, had been secondary to their goals.
Before they finished here this rotation, Nikolai intended to show his omega that was no longer the case. She was his now, and everything she did mattered to him.
“Yes. One strike. For the first tortuous moment when I thought I’d never hear that soft purr again.”
Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. He landed the next three paddles in quick succession, each time in a slightly new spot, spreading the heat.
She called out with each one, counting as she’d been told to do. But her voice trembled more with each one, and her thighs shook. “Please.”
“Did you hesitate when you poured water on yourself? When you threw away your own life like it was nothing?”
She shook her head, her pupils dilated with arousal and what almost looked like remorse. “No.”
“But you won’t forget again, will you? Not the consequences, or the depth of what’s between us.” Pressing the back of the hairbrush against her clit, he worked it slowly over the swollen nub. Slow, light circles. “Hate and need and so much more. You may not like it, but you can’t deny it. Our bond is rare and vibrant and as alive as you, and it’s going to keep growing like those vines you like so much, binding us tighter and tighter.”
Her breathing hitched. “Yes. Oh, gods, yes. I feel it.”
“Good girl.” Slick left her pretty little hole glistening.
“Please, Alpha.” Her head tossed against the cot. Her legs shook. She was close to the edge.
The four rotations had been a long wait for her as well.
“If you come, you will be corrected further.”
Her eyes went wide. Surprise and then defiance flared within. “But—”
“Stay in position.”
Panting, her chest heaved as her nails curled into her palms and she struggled to bring herself under control.
He understood. He hung onto his own mastery by a thread.
But he would see it through.
Because this was not only about her, this was about them both. And the lesson was too important to shirk.
“You will not be coming for hours.” His voice was a rasp of lust and command. “Five to be exact.”
Golden eyes fused with his. “I can’t.”
“You will.” Thwack. The last light tap with the back of the hairbrush landed on her swollen cunt. “Because I say so. Because you are mine. Because from here on out, you understand exactly to whom you belong.”
She moaned, her back arching as her head fell back and her hips jerked. “Yes!”
Watching her fight to obey, legs spread wide, chest flushed, was the hottest sight he’d witnessed to date.
The hairbrush snapped in his hold.
His body shook with need, precum leaking from his cock and saturating the room with the scent of aggression and desire.
“Please.” Her voice was frantic and oh-so-sweet. “I can’t hold out.”
“You will.” He tossed the broken hairbrush aside. Then, he reached for the same tablet he’d used to show his omega her sister’s pictures. With a press of a button, he brought up the timer. Set it to countdown from five hours and pressed start. “Before we’re done, you will endure far more than you ever thought you could.”
She sobbed.
“We both will.”
Her gaze rose to his, surprise flaring within, cutting through the ribbon of desperate need.
“We’re in this together, Dahlia.” He answered her unasked question, his own lust so great his words emerged as little more than a gravelly rumble. “That’s what you don’t yet understand.”
But she would.
Before this punishment was over, he would ensure that the memory of this ordeal would deter her from ever endangering herself again. He would also guarantee it served as a reminder to him, too. His arrogance and lack of control had almost cost him everything.
He wouldn’t make that same mistake again.
He dropped to his knees, nostrils flaring at the feast before him.
“Prepare yourself, omega.”
He buried his face between her thighs.
18
Dahlia couldn’t take any more.
She’d tried to hold on to some semblance of distance, to keep some part of herself back, but the line between pleasure and pain had blurred so long ago.
She’d bragged that she was a water droplet that would alter him over time, but his onslaught was remolding her, his mix of ruthless discipline, deliberate control, and masterful pleasure making it impossible for her to deny the depth of her need, or the all-consuming power of the bond between them.
Every nerve was wound tight. Every muscle tense and shaking. His passion was her own. Her misery was his.
It was heaven. It was hell.
She’d lost count of the times he’d brought her to the edge of bliss, only to snatch it away and leave her shaking with need while he got up, moved around, got a drink of water, and then came back and did it all again.
At first, she hadn’t understood why.
But now she did. Now, she felt it in every tormented nerve and throb of her clit. He was demonstrating that his determination to keep her alive came before his pleasure, and hers, every time.
For an omega who’d been told her entire life that all an Alpha cared for in the end was what he could gain through his cock and his fists, his lesson was a shocking one.
It shattered her—and gave her hope.
“Good omega. Obedient omega.” His growled words vibrated against her cunt as he licked and licked.
He’d been lost to the madness of the rut for a while, but somehow still maintained enough control not to fuck her, no matter how she begged and whined and pleaded.
She didn’t know how he did it.
“Please, Alpha.” Her hand, slick with sweat, gripped the rail above her head and tried to stave off the pleasure clawing for release. “I will never harm myself again. I have learned. Please.”
He was her Alpha and her protector. Her end and her beginning. Her torment and her greatest pleasure.
She’d thought herself only his possession and pawn. But in this moment, she was so much more.
He lapped faster. “You will keep yourself safe.”
“Yes!”
“You belong to me.”
“Yes!”
He growled low, but like every time before, he never gave her permission.
“Please.” She moaned low, her hips rocking with every rough thrust of his tongue, her body shaking in misery and euphoria as her toes curled and white-hot pleasure fused into a tighter ball concentrated between her thighs.
Lost to the overwhelming sensations, the faint beeping from far off barely registered.
But the roar that followed was impossible to miss.
Surging upward, her Alpha loomed over her. “You will come for me now, omega.” He tossed his shirt over his head. Shoved his pants to his thighs. His arms slid beneath her thighs. He yanked her to the edge of the bed. “The punishment is at an end.”
He slammed inside, working his way in deep.
She threw back her head and screamed, her channel convulsing around his cock as climax after climax slammed through her, her legs jerking in his hold, the pleasure more intense than anything she’d ever experienced.
“You will never leave me again.” He thrust deeper. “Tell me, omega.”
“I won’t. I swear it.”
“You feel so good around my cock. Like . . . home.”
The growled words, so much sweeter than she’d ever expected him to say, set her off again.
The bonds at her wrists and throat throbbed as the fate-mate bond between her and her Alpha strengthened.
Her climax grew as he thrust harder and faster, working her up and down his shaft until he was roaring her name and the warm stickiness of his seed filled her.
Her body went lax as his knot filled her, stretching her wide and locking them together. Something that almost felt like contentment wound through her.
Her life mattered to him. It might only be because of what she could give him, but it was still more value than anyone had attributed to her existence before.
She was his responsibility, and he was deadly serious about protecting her, even from herself.
It was more caretaking than anyone had shown her before.
Her eyes sank shut.
“Oh no, little omega.” Her Alpha ground against her, the slight friction reawakening her sensitive tissue. “It’s not rest time yet. We have four rotations to make up for, and a lesson in consequences that needs to be rammed home.” He rocked faster, his thumb finding her clit. “Over and over again.”
Dahlia woke with a moan.
She was on the floor once more, naked, cocooned in a nest of pillows and furs, and if she wasn’t mistaken, the mattress that had once been on the cot. She was also pressed tight to a rock-hard body, a thick cock poking against her back.
She’d survived her Alpha’s discipline. There were moments when she hadn’t been so sure she would, the pleasure so intense it was agony.
A vague memory of him unlocking her wrist from the cot before he flipped her over the bed and took her from behind flitted through her mind. He’d taken her on her hands and knees on the floor as well. In the end, she’d come so many times she was sure they’d more than made up for the four-rotation delay.
But memories of the initial torment would not be easy to erase.
Nor would it be so easy to forget how fiercely he’d held her. Or the way he’d said she felt like home.
No one had ever said anything like that to her before.
As if he really cared.
“You’re awake.” His breath fluttered against her ear.
“Yes.”
“How do you feel?”
Again, his solicitousness surprised her. Her father had never once asked her mother how she felt.
Dahlia took stock. She was sore, especially between her thighs, and she could see faint red marks around her wrist from where she’d strained against the manacle trying to get closer to him, but she was shocked to realize there was no other bruising.
The strongest sensation she had, in fact, was a strange, euphoric sense of contentment along the fated-mate bond between them.
That confused her more.
Before her punishment, she’d been so sure Nikolai was a monster. One bent on the destruction of her family and bloodline. One who had torn her from her life and crushed her dreams of escape.
None of that had changed, and yet, somehow, she’d been altered.
She shouldn’t feel anything for him besides hate and lust. Except the flutter in her chest when he asked about her wellbeing told another story altogether.
She could not afford to confuse his determination to keep her alive with caring for her, yet keeping them separate when he held her was harder than she’d expected.
She settled on, “I feel fine.”
“Good.” His arm banded tighter around her waist. “I am very pleased with my omega right now.”
Her heart gave another traitorous little leap. Without warning, a soft purred sigh whispered from her.
He stilled. Growled low himself. “I like that sound.”
He nuzzled her ear, his shaft nudging against her bottom.
Apparently, administering punishment followed by several hours of rutting put her Alpha in a good mood. Once again, she couldn’t quite recall when he’d taken off his pants or his boots. It was all a blur. But the very good kind.
Her body responded instantly to the thought, wetness pooling between her thighs despite her soreness.
Her mother had always said rutting was hell. She’d declared it one of the worst aspects of being an omega.
Dahlia had to admit she had been terrified of sex as a result.
But surrendering to the rut and her Alpha was far from awful. It was extraordinary.
Perhaps it was Olan who’d made it so terrible for her mother.
Or perhaps it was Nikolai who was the exception.
Either way, she could not pretend the pleasure she found when her Alpha took her was anything but intense. Exquisite. Addictive.
It might be wrong. It was definitely a betrayal of herself and her family. But gods help her, her body already craved the way he touched her. Used her. Fucked her.
“We fit together well, omega.” It was as if he read her mind.
“You are too big.”
He chuckled, and to her shock, she liked the sound. “While you are just the right tiny size—so tight you grip my cock like a vise.”
Her face heated more, but there was no denying the growing wetness between her thighs. Or how her breathing sped up at the mix of heat and teasing in his tone. He was always so fierce. So hard and ruthless. To see him like this felt almost like a privilege.
“We will take it slow and easy this next time, little warrior.” He scraped his fangs along the back of her neck, sending shivers down her spine. “No matter how much you sink your claws into my back and tell me to fuck you harder, I will not.”
Oh, gods, she had done that, hadn’t she?
His hands slid upward and cupped her breasts, toying with her already hard nipples. “Tasting these on my tongue is sweeter than taza berries.”
Another sigh escaped. She tried to remind herself it was only seductive words. That he wanted something from her, and that he was only pleased with her now because she was pliant and wet and needy in his arms.
But she couldn’t quite hold it against him, because she liked it too.
Her eyes fluttered to half-mast as she arched her back and thrust her aching nipples into his hands.
He growled in approval.
She purred once more.
The shaft at her back lengthened. “So sweet and soft. For now.” He sounded almost proud. “But my omega is like a ferocious little wolverbear cub when she’s riding my cock, and that pleases me greatly, too.”
Embarrassment mixed with pride. “It is the heat . . . the omega inside me takes hold.”
He pinched her nipple, the slight sting drawing her attention—and sparking heat between her thighs.
“You are omega.” His voice had turned stern once more. “It is not a separate part of you, but the whole of who you are. Fighting it only makes it harder for you to control it. I told you long ago, you can’t escape what you are.” His hand dipped downward, slipping between her thighs. He stroked her soaked folds. “Or your Alpha’s plans for this tight little hole.”
She moaned low, spreading her thighs.
There would be time for fighting. Time to recoup. Time to defy and remember her fear and hate, but right now, all she wanted was to lose herself in the pleasure and the warm glow wrapping around her through the fated-mate bond.
She was so hungry for his touch and his attention.
She moaned low as he prodded her entrance, her sore tissue giving way as he worked the head of his cock inside her, his hips rocking against her ass, awakening the heat from her earlier spanking and making her body burn hotter.
“You see, little omega. A perfect fit.” He thrust another inch inside, filling her in tiny increments as his fingers played with her clit. Gently at first, then harder as he bottomed out inside her.
They both purred.
He pulled out, leaving only the tip of him buried inside of her.
She whimpere
d.
“Work yourself on my cock, omega.” He growled. “Grind those perfect hips against me.”
Her heart slammed against her ribs, what he was asking of her suddenly clear.
This time was different. Sweeter. Sharper. More vivid. Her need as great as ever, but there was no haze to cloud her vision, no violent submission on his part to erase her will.
This time he was making her a willing and eager participant.
She hesitated.
His thumb worked her clit harder.
She moaned, her hips jerking as she gave in—to his command, and her own desires. Her hands clutched at the furs for leverage as she slid herself along his cock, her channel opening for him of its own accord.
Letting him in. Accepting him. Surrendering to him.
It was terrifying. It was bliss.
“Dahlia.”
That single purred sound was enough.
The climax hit from out of nowhere, pulling her under, drowning her in wave after wave of pleasure.
He took over, rolling her onto her stomach as he pounded into her and roared her name.
It was enough to set her off again.
The bond between them snapped deeper into place as his power flowed into her.
Without warning, energy crackled beneath her skin, and the vision slammed into her.
19
“Olan’s goons broke into the bar again.” Maxheim burst into Nikolai’s office. “I just got word. They’re long gone now, but they gutted the employees who refused to give up the location of our hideout, broke every liquor bottle, and stole what was in the safe.”
Nikolai cursed under his breath but didn’t get up from his desk. What was the point? He knew where to find the culprits hunting him and his family. He just didn’t have the firepower or influence to retaliate. Yet.
“We can make up for it.” Maxheim ran a hand through his hair, his face gaunt. His expression was worried as he stared down at the accounting book Nikolai had been perusing. Always good with numbers, Maxheim was their official bookkeeper—though there wasn’t much to tally up when the bottom line was always zero. “I looked beforehand. We’ll take from the family food budget.”