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by Alison Aimes
He’d come for her. Just as he’d promised.
But not to save her.
No, his intent was far worse.
He’d come to exploit the connection between them for revenge. He’d crashed back into her life to use her weakness for him against her and her family.
Alpha Lord Skolov, we did not realize the omega was your fated mate.
The memory of the disembodied voice sliced through her once more, panicking her all over again.
When she’d been younger, she’d had no idea why she’d responded to the Skolov Alpha as she had. Now she was not so innocent.
They were fated mates. Her craven susceptibility to him was yet another prison she could not escape. Even more intense than the usual Alpha-omega dynamic, the pull between them occurred not only during a rut but all the time. It was all-encompassing and all-consuming, stealing away the small bit of autonomy an omega had.
Even worse, if the bond was completed, she’d be tied to the Alpha for his entire life, not even freed from servitude after her childbearing years ended.
She had to escape before the fated-mate connection was absorbed so deep into her cells, saliva, and skin there’d be no way to break free.
“Ready for the honeymoon, fated-mate omega property?” Tone mocking, Skolov carried her to a hanger where a sleek matte black hovercraft—nicer than anything Olan Lundin owed—was parked.
She refused to dignify the Alpha’s question with an answer.
He laughed.
A walkway descended.
They glided upward, passing a cockpit and several doors before one opened and he ducked inside.
Without warning, the room spun, and the balls of her feet hit cool tile.
“Stay.” The growled command froze her in place.
He’d brought her to a massive room with floor-to-ceiling windows, a huge desk, multiple screens, and a giant bed covered in black silk sheets.
A faint vibration between her toes signaled they were about to lift off. Automatic piloting. She wasn’t surprised. Flesh and blood creatures made mistakes or could be bribed. High-security computers were a safer bet for males like Skolov or her father.
She’d have to be fast. She tensed to run.
As if he read her mind, his arm closed around her shoulder. “Not happening.” He spun her around. Pushing her up against the wall panel, the weight of his body pinned her as the disorienting mix of soft fur, supple leather, and hot skin pressed into her bare flesh. “Move again and I’ll fuck you here and now.”
The worst part? Her need was so great, she barely struggled. The scent and feel of him enough to leave her panting. She’d always been weak where he was concerned.
Still, she fought it. “I am unused.”
“Not for long.”
“My gift may not work as well once I am no longer pure.” She scrambled for any excuse. “Who knows how the fated-mate bond will affect it?”
“We both know your gift hasn’t been operating for a long time.”
Shock crashed through her.
He knew her gift didn’t work. How? Such information was a well-guarded family secret, or so she’d thought.
Plus, if he knew about her broken gift, why had he agreed to take her in return for the resolution of her father’s debt? And why hadn’t he told the other Brotherhood members about Olan’s deception? His actions made no sense, and that frightened her more.
“I don’t understand. If you know . . .” She swallowed.
His hand wrapped around her throat, his mouth pressing to her ear. “You think I don’t know what liars Lundins are?”
She wanted to protest that she’d never wanted to keep the truth from anyone, but the words stuck in her throat, stolen by the sensation of something thick and hard rocking against her bottom. Slow, deliberate movements, as if he knew that every press only made the heat between her legs burn hotter.
“Don’t worry, omega. You’ll earn me what I’m owed. I’ll wring every ounce of your true value from you before we’re done.”
The threat should have horrified her. Instead, she moaned, her omega instinct shrieking in pleasure at the thought of him working her over, fucking, knotting, breeding her until she’d satisfied her debt. She had a terrible suspicion the fated-mate bond only increased the depth of her need to submit.
“Such an eager little omega.” His voice was smug, her traitorous body telling him all he needed to know. “Remember what I told you long ago? You cannot run from what you are.”
Enraged, she slammed her head back, aiming for his nose, but he was too fast. And powerful.
“That will cost you.” His hand landed on her ass. A sharp sting radiated through her.
She hissed and bucked once more.
He pushed her harder into the wall.
“Fight and my instinct will take over.” The hand around her throat tightened.
As prey, she recognized the danger.
Freezing, her breath coming fast, she tried to wade through the onslaught of sensations. She was furious. But that wasn’t all.
His pleased purr rumbled through her as his hand slid between her thighs, exposing her shameful secret.
She was soaked.
“Such a good, dutiful omega.”
She moaned, spreading her legs wider.
“Such well-behaved property.” His other hand swept her hair to the side, baring the back of her neck to his gaze. She shivered as his breath skittered across her skin like a caress.
Another low growl erupted as he skimmed his lips along the curve of her shoulder. “I’ve wanted you like this since I first saw you.”
Another shiver. More slick pearled on her folds. “I was a child.”
“I never was.” His every dominant gesture only triggered her heat higher. “And thank fuck, you’re not any longer.”
The rustle of movement behind her and then the fur he’d been wearing around his shoulders landed at her feet. The leather bands that had crisscrossed his torso was sliced in half as if he’d used his claws to cut through them in one powerful slash.
His chest was now as bare as hers.
She whimpered as he flattened himself fully against her once more, the rock-hard heat of him searing her skin.
“Don’t fight me, and it won’t hurt.” The hand at her throat held her in place while he ground his erection against the cleft of her bottom, the friction of the supple leather and the hard ridge of his cock heightening her need. “Put your palms on the wall.”
Lost in a daze, barely aware of what she was doing, she obeyed, the cool solidity of the walls welcome.
“Good girl.”
“Mmmm.” She pushed back into him.
Gods, it felt good. To obey. To feel him against her.
Some far-off part of her tried to raise an alarm and remind herself that her mother had warned her the actual rutting was agony. That even with the slick and the instinct, the Alpha rut was too much for an unused omega cunt.
But the cautionary voice was muffled, drowned out by an intense lust that dragged her toward her own doom, compelling her to spread her legs wider and rub herself against him.
“That’s right, baby girl.” His arrogant praise should have shamed her, but it only made her wetter. “Soon I’ll give you exactly what you’re begging for. But first, stay still and submit.”
There was no more warning than that.
Something sharp punctured her. Her skin tore. But not where she expected.
This violation occurred at her neck.
She jerked. Cried out. The worst of the mindless heat clearing as she returned to herself. Her hand swung up toward the slight pain, hitting some kind of metal instrument. “Stop!”
Crack. A firm hand landed against her ass. “Hands back on the wall. We’re going to start off as we mean to go, and that means you follow my commands. Without hesitation. I’ve been waiting a long time for this little reunion.”
The pain was already receding, but not his hold on her throat. Or the strange,
foreign pressure at the back of her neck. But fighting would only add to her current problems.
She put her hands back on the wall.
“Good to see you have more sense than the rest of your family.”
She wanted to scream at his insult. Instead, she asked the only thing that really mattered. “What did you do?”
A sharp beep and then the pressure against her neck lessened.
“I removed your family tracker.” Metal pinged as he dropped something to the floor. His boot crashed down on top, grinding hard.
Shock made her dizzy. She’d always longed to do that herself, but without the resources to purchase such expensive removal equipment and no chance anyone in her limited circle would help her, she’d been unable to do so.
It had been one of her greatest impediments to running away.
Now, it was out of her.
She was free.
“Of course, I’ll be replacing it with my own.” His hard words brought her crashing back to reality.
Olan might not be able to track her anymore, but he would. He would be able to trace her anywhere, at any time.
“No!” The protest erupted from sheer instinct.
Another crack to her bare bottom. This one harder. Enough to make her gasp. The sting radiated, creating a heat that burned high between her thighs. “I will not tolerate disobedience, omega.”
Rough, thick fingers prodded at her neck while he held her in place as if she were a child.
There was another flash of pain, but duller this time. As if he’d numbed the area somehow. And then pressure. Not agonizing, but not pleasant. The instrument vibrated against her skin. More pressure.
She whimpered.
“It will be over soon.”
She hadn’t expected that show of comfort. And did she imagine the way his thumb ghosted against her fluttering pulse as if he could somehow soothe it?
A loud ping, and the pressure vanished.
As did her freedom.
“Good girl. It’s done.”
Her nails dug into the wall. “I hate you.”
He didn’t release her. He snarled instead. A heady, dominant sound that arrowed straight to her clit.
“Stop.”
He growled again. “You so sure you want me to stop?” He sounded so arrogant, so knowing. “That’s another Lundin lie, and we both know it. Poor little omega. It must be hard to hate something and want it so bad.”
His mouth landed on the sore spot at the back of her neck. He sucked hard. A different claim. One that had her twitching beneath his tongue, her hips jerking as her clit throbbed.
“Kept so long from your Alpha’s cock.” His teeth raked up her tendon, and he nipped her ear. The rustle of leather whispered at her back as he undid the laces of his pants. “Your instincts denied. And now that tight cunt is aching to be filled. To be fucked by its Alpha, like it should.”
Every filthy, arrogant pronouncement only made her wetter.
She fought it as best she could.
“This isn’t me. You’re triggering my heat. You’re using my weakness against me.”
“Weakness? It’s not some flaw inside you. It’s all you are, omega. This is what you were made for. Your body knows exactly what it was designed to do. Give.” He growled in her ear. “Give me every fucking part of you. Your slick, your cunt, your submission, your gift.”
“No.” She struggled against his hold.
Somehow, though she’d heard it all her life, it was worse hearing it from him. She’d always stored him away in her mind as different, placed him and their interaction in a little bubble.
But now, that illusion was pierced. There was no such thing as a good Alpha. No male who might see her as something more than a pretty toy to be used for his needs.
“You can take what you like,” she hissed at him. “I can’t stop that. We both know that. But I will never give you anything willingly.”
“Good.” He shoved his thigh between her legs, keeping her spread wide. Blunt, thick fingers slid between her soaked folds, the pad of his thumb circling her swollen bud as his mouth returned to her ear. “I like a little fight. It makes the victory all the sweeter in the end.”
His growl shifted to a purr. “My property. My prize. Your bastard of a father sold you to me to pay for his sins—and I intend to collect.”
“I’m not just some rut toy.”
“You’re whatever I want you to be.” He leaned in close, pressing more of his weight against her. “I should tame that smart tongue right now, but I like it. Especially when I know it’s soon going to be sucking hard at my cock. Those cheeks hollowing as if I were your favorite dessert. Swallowing your words along with my cum.” His finger thrummed over her clit. “But you are right, little omega. I do have plans for you. Bigger plans than breeding and fucking—though we’ll get to those too.”
“What?” The menace in his tone frightened her.
He stroked her clit again, his big hand forcing her thighs wide. “You and I,” he lowered his voice as if sharing an intimate secret, “are destined for fire, death, and destruction. For revenge and the dark. For everything twisted, ugly, and vicious, just like my soul.”
He wheeled her around, clamping her hand to his forearm.
The very same spot where, fifteen years ago, she’d touched him for the first time out of worry and concern and the beginnings of affection.
But unlike then, there was no answering warmth in his gaze, only calculation as he stared at their joined flesh. As if he were waiting for something.
Then she knew.
He remembered what it had taken to rouse her gift and produce her one and only vision: her touch on his skin.
He was seeking to recreate it.
Like all those years ago, a shock of fire blazed through her, radiating from their point of contact outward. A welcome old friend. One she’d missed so much.
The throbbing at her wrists and throat were so strong it was almost pain. Need mixed with agonizing longing—and lust.
She’d touched other Alphas before, especially early on when her parents and the teachers at her omega finishing school thought any touch might awaken her gift, but it had never felt like this.
This was thirst and craving and hunger. This was power.
This was everything.
Pressure built from within. Her fingertips tingled; her cunt wept.
She remembered what came next.
The vision itself, so vivid and real it was as if she’d lived through the murder of Nikolai’s father herself.
She braced herself for the onslaught of new images.
Except . . . nothing happened.
“What the fuck?” The Alpha’s frustrated shout was almost worth her own grief. “Why aren’t your eyes turning black? Where’s the vision? I can feel you blocking it somehow.”
She could feel that, too. A black hole swirling in the middle of her chest, sucking in all the energy and light as quickly as it sparked to life.
“Stop that at once,” he snarled
She hid a smile. She had no idea where the block had come from, but she was thrilled.
Fire, death, and destruction? Let him burn in it himself.
7
Nothing. What in the ever-loving fuck?
Where was the vision?
Nikolai fumed.
Things went the way he planned. He made damn sure of it. He did not like surprises. Especially when it came to her.
Years ago, Dahlia Lundin’s vision had slammed into him and the bands at his wrists had glowed to life. He hadn’t wanted it. Hadn’t expected it. Fact was, he’d been damned pissed about it, but it had come anyway.
Now, when he needed another glimpse into the past, her vision refused to come.
She was blocking it somehow. The energy and power beneath his fingertips sucked away before he could wield it as he wanted.
That was unacceptable. Omegas bent to the will of their Alphas, not the other way around.
“What
are you doing to stop it?” He pressed her palm deeper into his skin, hoping more contact might do the trick.
“Nothing.”
But she was doing something. He could see the pleasure in her gaze, her defiance fueling his fury and his lust.
The damn fated-mate bond was messing with his head, making it harder than usual to control his rut and think logically.
“You knew my gift didn’t work.” She sounded calm. And smug. He’d need to punish her for that, too. “It hasn’t since that rotation.”
He knew that. He knew everything about her thanks to his spies.
But he’d been confident he could spark her gift back to life. And he had. Only he hadn’t expected she’d somehow have the ability to block him.
“You will regret defying me.” Swiveling, he stalked to his desk and activated the security unlock.
It was either that or flip the omega around and stuff her full of cock.
It had been so damn long, and now she was finally in front of him. Not some grainy image taken by his spies, but his omega in the flesh, with her silky skin, defiant spirit, and sweet, ripe cunt.
He wanted to devour her whole.
Except he needed her vision of the rotation of the murder to clinch his case with the Brotherhood. Because to discredit Olan without a doubt, Nikolai needed a visual of Olan wielding the gun used to kill the Kuril crime boss.
A visual the omega could access through her gift, share with him, and then with the Brotherhood.
If she stopped blocking it.
He grabbed the sheet off the bed and threw it toward her. “Cover yourself.”
Breathing as shallow as he could to lessen the allure of her scent, he slammed his hand on the comms screen in the center of his desk.
“Alpha Lord Skolov, good rotation to you.” The gray-haired, lined face of his top beta scientist and healer, Dr. Toth Randalff, appeared on the screen. Stacks of books, reports, and vids were piled high on every inch of his workstation. With his grandfather-like round cheeks, bushy eyebrows, and furry, white neck and arms tucked into a respectable lab coat, you’d never know the brilliant bastard had once spent his youth working for another Alpha making mood enhancers so addictive and deadly, one tab beneath the tongue had you hooked. Or that he’d been forced by the other Alpha to peddle that shit without approval in Nikolai’s territory.