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by Alison Aimes
“Is that why Nikolai didn’t want me to have any more visions?” She looked to the doctor, certain she had a better chance of getting an answer from him. “Not because he doubted me, but because he believed I would see what happened and that whatever I saw would crush me?”
The doc nodded.
Maxheim sighed. “He said he’d hurt you enough. He didn’t want to destroy your dreams or your life any more than he already had. You wanted freedom. He’s giving you that.”
That might have once been her goal, but it wasn’t anymore.
Foolish, stubborn, arrogant, wonderful Alpha. He’d shut her out to protect her.
The golden light inside her flared brighter.
He’d considered her needs over his, and rather than using her for his own agenda, as was his initial plan, he’d done the exact opposite. He’d chosen her life over his.
Power surged beneath her skin. Not the usual crackle, but a wild storm fueled by awe and wonder, and so much love. The last of the block inside her disintegrated. Her doubts and fears, too.
He was a true Alpha, one she would gladly serve. One she would lay down her life for in an instant. He was her leader, her master, her mate, her treasure, and her love.
Happiness and tenderness mingled with trust and respect and made accessing her gift simple. There was nothing she wouldn’t do for the male she loved. Nothing she couldn’t achieve. Including showing him and the rest of the galaxy that she was far from the fragile omega they perceived her to be.
“Alpha Maxheim, I need you to turn this vehicle around. I’m not asking permission.” She imbued as much of Nikolai’s power into her voice as she could. “I’m telling you what’s about to happen. I am going to access what happened the moments before the fire and project it into the minds of Nikolai and the heads of the Brotherhood. You should be ready.”
Her Alpha’s brother raised an eyebrow, but his look was more pitying than impressed. “You can’t. Not without your Alpha to spark your gift—and he has purposely done what he can to staunch it by closing himself off from you. I know it’s hard, but you need to accept it. We gave him our promise. We’re keeping you safe.”
Maxheim turned away once more.
Accept. Submit.
She wondered if there would ever be a time when Alphas stopped deprecating omegas.
“No.”
This time Maxheim growled low. A few guards as well.
She snarled back.
The doc smiled, but his gray and pink-streaked eyes were lined with worry. “You’ve come into your power. I knew you would. But with it, there are always costs and consequences.”
She appreciated the warning, but such possibilities no longer scared her. “I’m ready to face them. You’d be surprised what I can endure, especially for my Alpha.”
The doc nodded.
Maxheim looked between them, his stare flickering from uncertain to hopeful and back to doubtful.
But she didn’t need to convince anyone any longer.
She already knew what she was capable of.
Embracing the omega within, welcoming her love for her Alpha deep into her cells and sinew, she drew in a sharp breath and concentrated. As if it had been there all along waiting for her, Nikolai’s forceful power flowed through her, mixing with her own, building, expanding, honing.
Every ruthless king needed an equally ruthless queen, and she was ready to become his.
“Contact Nikolai.” Already she could feel the images gathering. “Tell him we are coming. Tell him I love him.”
“Skolov, you can’t hold out forever.” Prendel’s emotionless voice carried across the wreckage of laser-singed ice sheets that stood between where Nikolai and his men were holed up in the mountain pass and the army of armed Brotherhood soldiers on the other side determined to take him out.
They’d come out in full force to take down a presumed traitor.
Good thing Nikolai didn’t need to hold out forever. Just long enough to ensure his omega and family were too far away to be caught.
“I was set up.” Nikolai didn’t expect them to believe, but he wasn’t above stalling.
“You shame yourself with baseless excuses. Face your actions and your crimes like an Alpha.” The Verish crime boss sounded smug, his pinchers chomping together with something approaching glee. No wonder. He hadn’t been happy about the dissolution of the prime omega contract for his son. Maybe he hoped to take back the omega originally promised to his eldest child once Nikolai was dead.
But no way would Nikolai ever let that happen.
The thought of his omega, however, sent golden light snaking through the block he’d erected to lessen her pain. He did his best to rebuild his defense fast. Compartmentalize. Cut off his emotions. Not that he didn’t crave her light with every doomed part of his soul, but he knew if he allowed himself to feel a little of their bond, he’d want it all, and he had to protect her. He didn’t want her feeling any of what he’d be experiencing once the Brotherhood got a hold of him and he was torn apart.
“I have no problem facing up to my crimes.” His sins against his omega were too many to count. He never should have dragged her into this in the first place, but he’d been a selfish fucking bastard and wanted it all. Wanted her. He could only hope his actions now made up for some of what he’d done. “But you should know you’re being manipulated, played by an enemy using the Skolov-Lundin feud to bring both families down, and manipulate you in the process.”
“Lies. Deflections.” Verish gnashed his teeth. “Why should we listen to the desperate accusations of a male who knows his time is up? This has gone on long enough.”
“What does it hurt to listen? If we agree to a temporary truce,” another familiar voice boomed across the distance, “perhaps we will learn something.” Good old Stormhart. They both knew that wasn’t a possibility, but Nikolai appreciated the gesture.
“There will be no working things out.” Prendel made the final call. “This ends now. An example must be made.”
Laser bursts exploded near Nikolai’s shoulders.
With a roar, he shot back. His men followed.
A volley of green streaks and roars pierced the night.
Proof that all the Brotherhood had come out for this battle.
The repudiation of their rules and the murder of one of their own wasn't enough to provoke them to forego their usual hard and fast security measures and gather to mete out justice. That in itself was a rare occurrence since Brotherhood gatherings were usually held on the ship, the location constantly shifting, the coordinates a closely guarded secret that members themselves didn’t know until the very last moment.
Nikolai stilled. Oh, hells. The realization hit like an ice boulder. This was what the enemy was after all along. Not simply the eradication of the Skolov or the Lundin family, but the destruction of the entire Brotherhood.
This was a hostile takeover of the entire syndicate.
“Cease fire!” Nikolai shouted to be heard over the roar of weapon fire. When that didn’t work, he got on his comms. “You need to get out of here now.”
Prendel’s emotionless face stared back at him. “This is the way. The Brotherhood will not falter. Nor will we run.”
“You’d better. Someone has deliberately brought the Brotherhood together to attempt a coup. An attack is imminent.” He ignored the skepticism in the Inner Council’s head’s gaze. “Pull back beyond the immediate perimeter. Spread the word.”
He was dialing Stormhart when a burst of golden light slammed into him, barreling through the block he’d erected and curling around his chest, burrowing into every part of him, ensuring he was no longer alone.
Dahlia.
The beauty of the bond between them, stronger than before, was no longer tinged with corrosive doubt. It was so beautiful that for a heartbeat all he could do was stare in wonder.
He’d known she was strong. Capable. Extraordinary. But he’d had no idea how powerful she truly was, or what was possible between t
hem.
The whine of a laser burst overhead pulled him from his trance.
Hanging up on Stormhart, he contacted Maxheim instead.
“Nikolai.” His brother picked up instantly. “Hold on a little longer. We’re almost there.”
He shouted to be heard over the roar of battle. “What have you done?”
“Not me. Your omega. She is insisting on accessing the vision, and there doesn’t appear to be any way to stop her. The doc says she has come into her power.”
A mix of pride and panic slammed through Nikolai. “She can’t. It’s too late. Don’t come back.”
“We’re already almost there. She insists she can handle it.” Maxheim paused. “She says to tell you she loves you.”
Nikolai’s chest went tight. He’d always thought her purr would be his favorite sound, but the ring of those three words seared straight to his heart and altered him forever.
She loved him.
He could rule a thousand planets. Create a hundred more empires. Earn a trillion more universal dollars. Nothing would ever make him feel as powerful as those three words.
He wished he had time to hear her voice one more time, but instinct was telling him otherwise. “Tell her I love her too. Tell her she is my everything.” He swallowed hard. “Then get the hells out of here. There’s more going on here than we initially thought. Someone is attempting to take down the whole Brotherhood and you can’t be here.”
An explosion rocked the mountainside.
36
“Shit! Nikolai. What happened? Are you there? Are you okay?”
Dahlia heard Maxheim’s shout as another part of her registered an ear-shattering blast and saw the mountainside crumble and flames burst on the horizon, but all of that reached her as if through a wall of ice.
The chaos and noise were dulled by the far louder roar of power rushing through her, a force of beauty and light and love propelled by her and Nikolai together.
She wanted to tell Maxheim not to worry, that Nikolai was more than okay, his power surging through the bond and helping to support and strengthen hers, but it was too late.
The vision was already on her.
“Alphas, we have a situation.” The pilot’s voice crackled through the comms. Again, his voice registered, but only in a far off, distant way. She was too busy gathering power.
A shot streaked across the hood.
“We’re under fire.”
“Is it the Brotherhood or an outside threat?”
“Unsure.”
“Respond in kind,” roared Maxheim.
Another flare of a laser.
Their craft listed to the side and slammed into a snowy bank.
She flew forward, but the restraints held tight.
Groans sounded around her. Curses, too. Doors opened as weapons were drawn.
She refused to lose focus. All her life, she had been told she did not have the strength to do what must be done.
She did.
Even in the darkest of moments, she could prevail.
The frightened omega who had been dragged along by her father, forced to bend and submit before the Brotherhood was no more.
She made her own rules now.
Whoever was shooting at them would fail in their bid to stop her. Her time was at hand.
Wrapping herself in her Alpha’s strength and her own, she surrendered to the images and sent them slamming into every single inhabitant on Abzal.
Now was not the time for subtlety.
“My apologies, Alpha Lord.” The prime omega sailed into Naytalia’s private quarters as if they were her own. Tasha Lundin didn’t blink to find the Kuril head bending her over the bed. Nothing fazed that one. “Alpha Lundin has returned and will expect his property to be waiting for him in the omega stable.”
Kuril snarled. “She is busy. You wait on him, prime omega.” He thrust harder, his hand pinning Naytalia to the mattress. “That is your role.”
Naytalia moaned and tried to think past the pleasure of the thick cock slamming into her. It pleased her to hear Kuril order the prime omega around. Olan Lundin never did.
“Of course, Alpha. I was only trying to think of my Alpha’s pleasure. I know how enamored he is with Naytalia’s mouth right now.”
Right now. But not forever. Naytalia understood the hidden message. Forever was a security only afforded the prime omega.
Which was why Naytalia thrust her hips back and moaned louder. It was also why she’d added a little alcohol to the twins’ drinks before she’d invited the Kuril warlord to her private room. She’d been thrilled when her plan worked and he’d stormed in, threw his gun on the dresser, and, not bothering to unbutton his pants, bent her over and shoved inside her. In his haste to fuck, he never noticed the cradle on the far side of the room, but he would not be pleased if anything, especially crying, disturbed his pleasure.
And Naytalia’s scheme required keeping the Kuril crime boss happy above all else.
Nikolai would be pissed if he knew what she’d done, but she didn’t plan on him finding out. Either about drugging the twins or all the rest of her schemes. Her eldest offspring scared her already, and he wasn’t even close to adolescence yet.
If she was lucky, she’d be long gone by the time he realized she was the one who’d reached out to Olan Lundin and suggested Abzal could be a useful and lucrative outpost.
The Kuril head had already given her several jewels. She was all but certain he was going to offer to buy her contract from Lundin, especially since her gift had sparked back to life.
Its reappearance after so many years of nothing had shocked her. It had only flickered for a second, but for that brief moment, the thoughts of those around her had been crystal clear. She’d heard the beta servant worrying over her laundry. She’d heard Kuril enjoying the sweet heat of her cunt. The power had blinked out almost as fast as it had come, but she could sense it wasn’t entirely gone. Rich, fabulous power. After so much powerlessness, the sensation was glorious.
Not for the first time, she wondered if its resurgence had to do with Kuril himself. She’d hated her first Alpha, and Lundin had turned out to be worse. Kuril was also demanding and selfish, but he did praise her and give her gifts. There were times being with him almost made her . . . happy.
“I only seek to please and serve.” The prime omega’s ingratiating words pulled Naytalia from her thoughts. The other female was bowing low, her gaze on the ground as she backed toward the door.
“You are a good omega.” Still inside Naytalia, Kuril worked his hips faster.
Naytalia rolled her eyes. Like all the rest of the Alphas, Kuril was blinded by the prime omega’s beauty and pretense of docility. Naytalia didn’t buy it. No one could be that selfless.
“You honor me, Alpha.” The prime omega bowed low once more.
“I will finish up soon.” His warm cum flooded Naytalia’s channel, his knot swelling and locking him in place. “I want to speak with Olan, anyway.”
Naytalia’s heart beat fast. Was this it? Was he going to buy her from Olan? Excitement rippled through her—along with a spark of power beneath her skin. Still bent over, the Alpha’s knot deep inside her, her gift roared to life.
Enjoy your power now, you arrogant Kuril worm. I will destroy you some rotation soon. You think to tell me my duties? You think you know my role? You cannot fathom what I am. What I am capable of. How I will rise above and destroy you all.
Naytalia blinked. The prime omega’s voice was clear as a bell in her head.
I have no time to deal with you or my fool of an Alpha. No time to service your cocks or your arrogance. One rotation soon, you will know it. One rotation soon, the Brotherhood will be gone, and I will be the one in charge. If you only knew how easily I plot against you. You’re so busy fucking, fighting, and counting your money, you fools have no idea what is happening around you. So, go on, do as my Alpha does. Fuck your pliant omegas and drown in your arrogance and lust. In the end, you will burn.
Naytalia gasped. She clawed to her elbows. “You.” She stared at the omega. “What have you done? What are you planning?”
Naytalia’s fate was tied to the Alphas. Their destruction would bring her own.
“What do you mean?” The other omega stood frozen in the door, her wide eyes guileless, but Naytalia caught the flicker of fear.
Does the slut omega somehow know? Has her gift returned?
“Yes,” Naytalia answered her aloud, triumphant at the idea that she could finally put the snotty prime omega in her place. “Yes. It has returned. I heard every thought. You are plotting against the Brotherhood.”
The prime omega’s eyes went wide.
Behind Naytalia, Kuril had gone still. “What are you two talking about?”
“Nothing, Alpha.” The prime omega glided toward Naytalia’s dresser. “Nothing at all.”
“Nothing?” Naytalia mocked. “I read her mind, and she is up to something. None of it good for you or the Brotherhood.”
The prime omega seized Kuril’s laser from the top of the chest of drawers. “Quiet.” She pointed it at Naytalia, her aim steady. “Shut up or I will shoot you both.”
“What in the hells?” The Alpha’s roar was furious. To have a weapon pointed in his direction was instant cause for aggression. That it dared to be done by an omega was more rage-inducing.
Naytalia screamed as Kuril jerked his cock from her channel, tearing her in his haste, but the Alpha’s focus was on Tasha Lundin alone. “How dare you point that at me?”
He charged.
Naytalia collapsed back on the bed, the pain between her thighs agonizing.
Only to scream as Kuril faltered and crashed to the ground. The horrific scent of burning flesh permeated the air.
The Lundin omega had shot him.
He groaned. The prime omega fired again.
Crying erupted from the cradle at the far end of the room as at least one of the twins awoke.
But they were hardly Naytalia’s first concern. All her hopes, all her dreams, of escape from Abzal had just been dashed. She shoved up from the bed. “You won’t get away with this. You’ve killed a member of the Brotherhood. You’re going to die for this.”