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by Alison Aimes
“No.”
None of them were eating enough as it was.
Eighteen years old and full of fight and bravado, Nikolai had put almost everything he had into this operation, the first of many glitzy, glamorous tourist destinations he envisioned on Abzal. Staying up in the mountains would have been safer, but hiding had never been his ultimate goal.
Even knowing Olan would find him eventually, he’d poured every coin he’d earned breaking his back, stealing, conning, fighting, flirting, and doing things he’d rather not remember because he believed this place could be more than the backwater wasteland it was now.
And because he knew without a doubt that this place was the key to winning against Olan and securing his family’s safety.
But the gamble wasn’t without risk.
Maxheim prowled the length of the room. “Damien is insisting we retaliate now. Alexi, too.”
His brothers were such hotheads. Even at ages fourteen and twelve, their Alpha aggression was difficult to corral.
Nikolai blew out a breath. Frankly, his impulses weren’t much better, but he didn’t have the luxury of idiocy. “That’s exactly what Olan wants. He’s trying to draw us out. Tell them to stand down and focus on their damn studies.”
“So what?” Even Maxheim was wearing thin at the edges. “We’re supposed to stay huddled in this hideout like polar rats in an ice burrow and let Olan get away with attacking us?”
“Hells no. That bastard is going to pay a thousand times over for what he’s done to us. Just not yet.”
Nikolai needed the backing of the Brotherhood to become powerful enough to take on a crime boss like Olan Lundin, but an invitation to join the syndicate didn’t just happen.
It took vast amounts of money and influence to become the kind of player the Brotherhood couldn’t ignore.
Nikolai was determined to get it.
Olan was equally committed to preventing it.
Luckily, Nikolai had a secret weapon.
Hand burrowing into his pants’ pocket, he removed the chain he always kept close—and laid it on the desk.
“Here.” He used the tip of his knife to pop out one of the remaining gems. “Take the vralish crystal. With that, we can replenish what the bar needs and have a little left over for a celebratory meal.”
Maxheim didn’t reach for it. “I know that necklace means something to you. Soon there’ll be nothing of it left.”
The same could be said of the Skolov clan—and Nikolai’s soul.
But every sacrifice would be worth it in the end. He had to believe that.
The edges of the gem dug into his palm. “Do you need a reminder of who’s in charge, brother?”
“No.” Maxheim was a strong Alpha, but no one outranked Nikolai.
“Good. That necklace means our ticket to security and revenge. Nothing is more important than that. What gets lost in the process is just collateral damage. We can’t afford to give it a second thought.”
“Got it.” But it was clear Maxheim didn’t quite believe it. Still, he took the gem and left.
Nikolai waited for his brother’s footsteps to echo down the hall before he swiped the necklace off the desk and held it tight in his hand.
Almost all the jewels had been dug out and sold. Casualties of a war with Olan that was going to claim many more victims before it ended.
Only one of the three gems in the center still remained: a stunning blue aquellish crystal that didn’t hold a candle to the beauty of the eyes of the female who had given it to him.
His cock went hard at the thought of her.
His wrists burned as he wrapped the chain around his cock and imagined it was her hands gripping him close. Her mouth and teeth scraping against his shaft.
His hips rocked as he worked his hand up and down.
His omega.
His fated mate
His revenge.
No matter what it took, he would rise from this like a firewing from the ashes—and he would keep his vow.
She would be his.
The deprivations, the humiliations, the hardships would end and his enemies would be the ones to burn. Whatever the sacrifices required.
Dahlia gasped, past and present blurring as another climax grabbed her and she soared, her body shuddering as she came with the dreamlike Nikolai from the past and the real flesh and blood, grunting Alpha pumping deep inside her, his seed coating her channel, the force of his power spreading through her.
For the first time, she almost didn’t want her vision to end. It was the first one she’d had that didn’t fill her exclusively with horror or guilt.
Even at eighteen years old, he’d been so strong and determined, the responsibilities on his shoulders enough to have broken a lesser male. But not him.
It made her happy to know her necklace had helped him.
It pleased her to learn he’d thought of her through the years. That even through all the darkness and difficulties, some part of him had remained as consumed with her as she’d been with him.
But his references to sacrifice made her nervous. She refused to allow her mother, or herself, to be nothing more than collateral damage.
“Your visions are coming more often now. That block is definitely weakening.” His voice pulled her from the last of the haze and remembrances of the past, planting her squarely in the present.
A present where his knot was lodged deep inside her and he sounded all too triumphant. As if his plans were coming together, just as expected.
“Hard to know, though,” he continued, “if it’s because of the doc’s fluffy theories or because I’m pummeling you into submission, just like that sweet cunt.”
She growled and bucked in his hold.
He held her tighter. “I see I will have to keep my fingers hard at work on that pretty clit if I want to summon the sweet little omega who worked herself so well on my cock.”
She stiffened. “You can’t do that.”
“You’re right.” His voice sobered, and she realized he’d been teasing before. “I’ve taken more time away from work in these past few rotations than I have all the years before.”
Surprise slammed through her. “Really?”
“Really.” His tone had gone gruff as if he didn’t like admitting it.
Still, some part of her thrilled at the thought that he was taking time from his schedule for her. Neither of her parents had.
Olan didn’t work nearly as hard as Nikolai, but he and his men spent most of their time fucking, drinking, and gambling. Her mother’s activities were more of a mystery, though Dahlia suspected the poor female spent most of her time cleaning up after Olan and seeing to his needs. Still, restricted to her own quarters, Dahlia didn’t have a great handle on what had been going on.
As proven by the fact that she’d missed the attempted assault on her sister.
At that thought, longing for Kaiya swept through her.
“What’s wrong?”
His question surprised her. But she offered up her usual answer by rote. “Nothing.”
“Don’t lie to me.” Sliding his hand beneath her hips, he pulled her up and onto his lap, his knot seating itself deeper inside her, while her legs draped over his thighs and her back pressed tight to his front. His arms encircled her. “I can feel the change.”
Her eyes went round. “You can?”
“Yes. The fated-mate bond is strengthening every time we fuck. I can feel your lust and your sadness. You will tell me why you are suddenly feeling the latter. You will not pretend that everything is fine when it isn’t. I don’t like liars.”
“I wasn’t lying. I . . . I didn’t think you would want to be bothered.” She was beyond grateful her back was to him as she confessed. “I am sad about missing my sister. That’s all.”
Silence.
“You see?” Her anger rose. “I said you wouldn’t want to be bothered, and I was—”
“I want to be bothered about everything related to my omega.”
/> She pressed her lips tight. She knew they were thinking along different lines. He meant he cared because it gave him insight, because he saw her as property to be maintained and used, and because details about how she worked and thought helped him to achieve his goal.
But that was far from the kind of caring she craved.
“I will have more pictures sent to you.” He nuzzled her neck again. “It’s not the same, but it is something.”
“Thank you.” Her voice emerged as little more than a whisper, the sudden tightening of her throat catching her off guard. She’d never expected him to do something like that. Or how the band of his arms around her would make her feel safe, almost treasured.
It wasn’t real, but it was wonderful.
“That vision . . . did you really think of me when you were younger?” She couldn’t resist asking.
“I did. But imagination does not do the real you justice.” He cupped her breast while his lips ran along the length of her throat. “If the younger me only knew how good it would feel to have you bouncing on my cock, he wouldn’t have wasted time jerking off to your image. He would have just kept working around the clock to make you his.”
She should have been outraged by his arrogance and handling, but she wasn’t. Somehow his pride and pleasure in her became her own. The glowing bonds at her throat and neck soothed her in a way they never had before. The damn punishment had changed everything.
A rush of slick gushed from her and coated his cock.
They both moaned.
She fought to stay lucid. “I’m glad the necklace was of use.”
“As am I, omega.” His thumb circled her areola with sensual precision. “Even then, you were too nice for your good. But you are lucky. From here on out, I will protect you from all the other bastards out there . . . except myself.”
“That is so wrong.”
“But the truth. I’ve told you many times, I only say what I mean.” His mouth pressed close to her ear. “And I mean it when I say you are mine. Forever.”
She held perfectly still, fearful of breaking the spell. He was such a disorienting mix of possessive, arrogant, and outrageous, and yet something about the way he whispered mine made her blood pump wild and hot. Made her feel connected to him in a way she never had before with anyone else.
As if it wasn’t just about fucking her so he could fuck over her father, or using her as a pawn and an instrument for revenge. As he if might truly want her for herself.
But how could that be? No one in the universe wanted that from her.
The first person to do so certainly wouldn’t be the Alpha at her back. A man like Nikolai, who could have whatever he wanted from anything and anyone, would never want that from her, the daughter of the male who’d killed his mother, sister, and brother.
Whatever might have been between them had twisted and died in that fire.
She had to find a way to remember that, or her mother was doomed. Except with every heartbeat spent in his arms, that was harder to recall.
“So quiet. So thoughtful.” Her Alpha traced the whorl of her ear with his tongue. “But I prefer your thoughts focused on me.”
She could feel his knot retreating—and his cock lengthening. Soon he’d be able to move hard and fast inside her once more. To fuck and claim her again.
Despite knowing she shouldn’t, despite knowing she risked another vision and that was exactly what he intended, she wanted exactly that.
She wanted to lose herself in the delusion that the claim she heard in his voice was real and driven by something other than hate and revenge. That the caring she felt crackling along the fated-mate bond was genuine affection and not simply the kind of pleased possession an owner felt for its pet.
It was foolish and no more than an illusion, but in this moment, it was all she had, and she was desperate to be more than collateral damage in his game of revenge.
Of course, that was the moment her stomach took the opportunity to growl. Loud.
20
Cock hard and throbbing, Nikolai forced the hand cupping the silkiest, softest skin in the universe to stop moving. “Was that your stomach?”
“Yes. Ignore it.” He could scent her embarrassment, along with her need. Even more, he could feel it. Feel her. Her emotions increasingly accessible to him along the fated-mate bond forming between them like tiny golden filaments, burrowing beneath his chest and sinking into his cells.
Strangely, far from annoying, the sweet, light touch of her emotions made him crave more.
He wanted fucking everything she had to give.
Except he could sense her resistance. Feel her holding back.
Still, some things took precedence. “When was the last time you ate?”
Cheeks red, she pressed her palm to her belly. “The doctor has been giving me broth several times a rotation, on your order. He said you insisted I finish every meal. So, I did. I’ve been getting more than enough nutrients.”
He’d made sure of that. “But real food?”
“I’m not sure.” She shrugged, her delicate shoulders lifting as her body moved, sending his cock deeper inside her.
He stifled a groan.
“I was nervous before the contract with the Verish family, so it’s hard to remember.” She wiggled against him as her channel squeezed him tight. “But it’s definitely not what I’m focused on now.”
He growled low but fought the rut.
His cock might be on board, but a deeper instinct prevailed. One more powerful than lust or his commitment to batter aside that block of hers for good.
The determination to provide for what was his.
No way was his omega going hungry on his watch.
“You need to eat.”
He’d been helpless to do anything but watch his family suffer from lack of food when they’d been growing up. He would never allow anyone under his care to experience that again.
“I’m getting you some clothes and a heavy cloak.” He pulled out of her—admittedly, with a fair amount of regret—and lifted her off his lap, setting her down next to him. Then, resolved, he jumped up and moved to the comms network, typing out his requests to the betas manning the system. “It’s colder in the dining room than here.”
He also didn’t want anyone else staring too closely at her perfection.
That sight was for him alone.
Because just as his eighteen-year-old self from her vision had predicted, every sacrifice, every humiliation—even the ones he wanted most to forget—was proving worth it. She was here with him. Her scent on his skin, her taste on his tongue. All the ugliness it had taken to get to this point was erased by the knowledge that she was his.
“So, we’re not going to . . .” She was still sitting in the nest of pelts, her beautiful white-gold hair tangled around her face, her hands gripped tight around the blanket now clutched to her chest. Confusion darkened her gaze. Something that almost looked like hurt, too.
He stifled a curse—and tapped down on his surge of arousal.
His control around her was shit.
He promised himself he’d satisfy every craving of hers.
But first things first.
“Not now. But definitely very soon. First, I am taking care of my omega properly.” Stalking forward, he stepped to the tantalizing nest of pillows and blankets. A quick search produced his shirt and pants. Pulling them on, he watched her watching him and couldn’t help the kick of pleasure at the lust in her gaze as his muscles flexed. Once dressed, he scooped her off the ground and into his arms.
“What are you doing?” Her hands looped around his neck by instinct, her small frame pressed tight to his skin, the mix of wary surprise and pleasure on her face confirming he’d made the right call.
Torturing myself. “Getting you dressed so I can take you to dinner.”
She blinked fast. “That’s so . . . thoughtful.”
He winked. “Let’s keep that little secret to ourselves.”
A burst o
f amusement reached him through their bond. “I can walk.”
“Maybe. But I’d prefer you save your energy.” He was already out of the room and heading down the corridor toward the dressing room he’d requested prepared for her when he pressed his mouth to her ear. “Because after you eat your fill of food, I’m going to fucking devour you.”
Out of nowhere, the fated-mate bond crackled and white heat slammed through him.
The eyes of the omega in his arms went black.
Somehow, he knew, this wasn’t going to be good.
“Come here, Alpha boy.” The scrawny beta with a comb-over yanked at the chain.
Laughter mixed with the stink of sweat, male musk, and lust as the circle of six males closed in tighter.
Nikolai gritted his teeth and let himself be dragged forward, each movement sending the muscles in his back screaming, small droplets of blood rolling into the divots in his skin.
But a whipping was far from the worst part of this experience.
“On your knees, Alpha.”
At fourteen, Nikolai was already taller than the forty-year-old beta bastard holding the lash and stroking his stubby, pink cock, but he wasn’t nearly the size he would become when he reached Alpha adulthood. Which is why this fucker and his beta pervert friends were willing to take a chance with him.
Still, despite the leash around his throat, it would have been easy to break the chain, pounce forward, and take out the lead beta and the five other grinning freaks, tearing his fangs through their flesh and shutting them up for good.
Easy, but not lucrative.
So, he shoved his instinct down deep, fought for control, and pictured all the cash this would earn him. Nothing paid as well as the beta pleasure houses, where betas were able to act out their twisted desires, including dominating the very Alphas they were supposed to serve.
He’d considered all other moneymaking alternatives before coming here, including pawning some of the gems in the necklace, but the moment those jewels surfaced, Olan would know he was still alive. That couldn’t happen until Nikolai had enough money to buy food, a safe house, and the loyalty of at least a few guards.