by Zoey Ellis
Calling strands of magic, she weaved a portal, directing it low to the ground next to the horse, and before anyone could draw the general’s attention to it, she slipped underneath his arm and pushed herself off the horse.
The Alpha bellowed, and his fingernails scraped her ankle, but he was unable to grab hold of her. Falling awkwardly, she braced for impact just in case the portal disappeared suddenly, but the cold rush all over her body told her it had worked.
The hard, dusty ground hit her on the other side, but she jumped to her feet as quickly as she could. Because of the inconsistent magic in the area, she’d only managed to create a portal that would take her a few feet away. Looking around, she saw the Alpha was already sliding off his horse, his grey eyes stormy as he landed on the ground, and he was glaring directly at her.
Ria turned and ran as hard as she could away from him, but she knew he was already running after her—she heard his heavy boots eating up the distance between them. Calling on magic again, she focused her mind as she ran and weaved another portal directly in front of her. When she jumped through it, it took her another few feet away, lengthening the distance again between her and the Alpha.
The general roared as she landed and continued running; his voice was like a war cry. He was excited by this chase, and as much as she was confused by the emotion, his excitement was infectious. Annoyingly, her slick gathered as she ran, and she fought hard to ignore the hardening of her nipples. What the fuck was happening to her body? She didn’t have time to think about it, but she knew the fluttering in her stomach wasn’t caused by fear alone.
She angled toward the nearest field, heading to the farmhouse on one side of the land. Hopefully, the presence of greenery and animals stabilized the magic there, and she could create a portal that could maintain a longer distance.
Glancing over her shoulder, she realized she couldn’t hear the Alpha. She held her breath as she continued to run, listening carefully for any sound of him, the gruff exhales of his exertion, or the heavy clomping of his footsteps. But there was nothing.
She turned to look and was surprised to find that he was to no where to be seen. That couldn’t be right. Glancing around her as she continued running, she knew he wouldn’t have given up. If he’d stopped chasing her, then he probably headed somewhere to capture her—although from the little she knew of him, that didn’t seem like his style. Besides, she could feel him watching her.
Slowing to a stop, she eyed the farmhouse. Maybe heading there was a trap. What if he’d somehow arrived ahead of her? Quietening her mind, Ria felt for magic. To her dismay, the entire area was patchy.
“Shit!” If she couldn’t find a way out of there immediately, there was no doubt the general would catch her. Annoyed, she reached out as far as possible and found a large mass of magic several yards away behind a rundown building near the farmhouse. She could definitely create a portal to get out of Ariyon entirely from there.
Ria glanced around again, looking for any sign of the general, before calling on magic. Magic responded quickly and freely, allowing her to weave a smooth, layered pattern, infused with a location in Ashens. As she weaved, she started running again, pushing as much energy into her legs as the portal came together behind the building.
She grinned as the portal glistened ahead, then pushed herself harder to get there.
As she neared the building, a flash of grey in the corner of her eye made her mouth go dry.
Before she had time to register it, a heavy weight barreled into her, knocking the breath from her lungs. She spun in the air before it crushed her to the ground, rolling over with her a few times.
Ria gasped, trying to catch her breath, but the weight that rolled on top of her was substantial.
“That was fun, little challenger.” The general’s voice was close to her ear, ladened with excitement and gritty with desire. He ripped open her tunic, tearing away the fabric as he pinned her to the ground.
“Release me!” she demanded, lifting her head to glare at him, but even as she said it, she knew she didn’t mean it.
His beautifully potent scent assaulted her as vigorously as his body. Weighty and thick, it pressed in on her, smothering her senses and setting off a chain reaction of urgency and need throughout her body. No! Ignoring her senses, Ria fought him as hard as she could, digging her nails into his skin, lifting her knees to dig into his stomach, but it only served to excite him more.
Thick fingers threaded into her hair and scratched her scalp hard, pushing her head down to the ground as his warm, wet mouth closed over her sensitive nipple. Ria struggled to maintain her fight as the juxtaposition of the pain and pleasure made her gasp and keen for more. His hard suckling sent shockwaves of prickly pleasure all over her body, concentrated at her clit. She arched into his mouth for more. His satisfied groan around her nipple made that stupid part of her jittery and tingly with delight.
His mouth lowered to lap every bead of sweat under her breasts and continued to her stomach, where he sucked, nibbled, and dragged his teeth along her skin. He stopped to murmur something at the area below her belly button, before continuing down between her legs. She grabbed at him, trying to yank him away, but it was as though her body didn’t connect with her mind, because her fingers threaded into his curly, silver-dusted, brown hair, and stroked his scalp. And when his tongue grazed her clit, she thrust her hips up into his face.
The Alpha didn’t hesitate. He sucked, nibbled, and licked, groaning in pleasure as he feasted on her, and she could do nothing but spread her legs and take it. She had never felt anything like it; his tongue and mouth built a cascade of intense pleasure through her body she had never known was possible. His tongue stroked her so expertly that it almost became too much. She squeezed her thighs against his head, but he pried them open.
“You will let me in, Omega,” he murmured, before pushing his tongue into her.
Ria bucked, moaning as he wriggled his tongue inside her, but before she could even register that, he was sucking again at her clit. His hand brushed up her body, back to her breasts, and as he pinched her nipples, palming her breast in his large hands, her body exploded in a violent shuddering sensation of ecstasy.
Before she could recover, something thick and blunt was pushing into her, opening her wider than she was prepared for.
She gasped, grabbing the Alpha’s clothing as she tried to push him away, shaking her head as she tried to find her voice, but he didn’t stop.
Sharp, biting pain shot up into her as his cock stretched her wide. She fought and yelled as he continued, the length of him seemingly never-ending.
Finally, he stilled, and Ria breathed rapidly, trying to deal with the feel of him inside her. He was so deep. She had to be breaking in two from the intrusion.
She gripped his thick grey tunic, her eyes wide. “Please,” she panted. “I can’t—”
The Alpha dropped on top of her, smothering her mouth with his, pushing his tongue in as he began to move his hips.
Ria squealed as he moved, the excruciating pain worsening for an instant, but as he slammed heavily back in, something changed. He pulled out again, and the pain wasn’t as sharp this time, but when he slammed in, something glorious happened. A wild, coarse rush spiraled deep in her core, shooting through her stomach and spreading to her extremities. She couldn’t call it pleasure—it was much more than that. It burie
d into every fiber of her being and exulted in the most volatile, and savage, and euphoric way… she needed more.
Ria moaned around the general’s tongue as he set a steady pace, dragging his cock to the entrance of her pussy, before slamming roughly in again, shunting her along the ground.
“Your pussy is better than I even imagined,” the Alpha murmured into her mouth. She instinctively clenched, and he groaned again, increasing his speed as he fucked her rougher.
Ria spread her legs wide, sucking eagerly on his tongue and grabbing onto his clothing. This experience was beyond anything she had ever known, and as the hunger for more took over, every last remaining sensible thought was pushed aside.
She hummed in delight as his strokes increased, tilting her hips to take him as deeply as she could, the squelch of her slick loud in her ears as he slammed in. Her surroundings faded away as she reveled in the feel and scent of the Alpha feeding her body exactly what it needed. But soon, his penetration was too slow. She humped her hips up to meet his thrusts, eager for more. She wasn’t sure exactly what she wanted from him, but she knew that something wasn’t quite right yet. There was more the Alpha could give her, should be giving her, and she didn’t understand why he was withholding it.
The Alpha pulled back, the hint of a smile on his lips, his eyes dark as he stared down at her, but it was all a waste of time to Ria.
Grabbing his head with both hands, she dug her fingers into his scalp, scratching along it in her urgency to explain to him what she needed. But his smirk only grew wider.
Annoyed, she slapped his face and snarled at him, but his head barely moved.
“Yes, fight me, little challenger,” he growled, his tone almost torturous as his gaze deepened. “Make me earn it.”
She barely heard his words. She slapped him again, this time digging her nails into the side of his face and scoring along his jaw. Why was he talking? Why wasn’t he fucking her the way his capture of her promised he would?
Disgusted, she turned, clawing the floor and elbowing him in his chest as she crawled out from under him.
She hadn’t reached even a foot away when he grabbed her leg.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he snorted. Ria snarled back at him, snatched her leg from his grasp, and aimed a sharp kick to his face. He dodged her, barking out a yell of surprise, then pinned her hips and climbed over her.
“You want it?” he bellowed. “Do you know what you’re asking for, little Ria?”
Ria didn’t have to answer. Pinning both wrists behind her back with one hand, he yanked up her hips and slammed inside, forcing his way in until she was stretched blissfully wide again.
She howled as he plundered her, fucking her hard and reaching depths of her she never knew existed. He was relentless, his flesh smacking hers as she jerked on the stone ground, rough grit cutting into her cheek as she cooed and moaned at the blissful devastation that finally dominated her. Yes, this was it. This was what he had been holding back.
The raw, sinful stench of them heightened everything; her desire, her sensitivity, her awareness of him. Her nipples stung as they hardened further, and the succulent sounds of her slick easing his way turned soppy as it splattered on them both.
Widening her legs to accommodate him, he tilted her hips and when he slammed in again, his cock grazed a bundle of sensitivity deep inside her. She saw stars. A brutal eruption seized her limbs, paralyzing her while she screamed into the dirty ground.
When her senses crept back to her, another breathtaking eruption was already close, and the Alpha’s grunts and groans were the perfect titillations as he worked in and out of her, squeezing her hips so hard she knew it would bruise.
Ria lost track of all but the Alpha. She didn’t know how long she was on the floor, only that he fucked her like a man possessed in the most consuming and hungry way. The complete explosion of pleasure over her body happened twice more before he finally jerked erratically, and let out a gruff exhale as he slammed inside her one last time. Ria screamed as something broad and firm scraped her, burning as it wedged in and locked them together. His knot.
Regardless of the pain, Ria clenched around him, needing what was spilling inside her, but not quite registering why. She was too exhausted to even think properly.
The general dropped on top of her, panting heavily, and Ria inched her head up to press her nose into his sweaty neck, seeking reassurance. The Alpha chuckled, his chest rumbling. “You did well, little challenger.” His fingers found her hair and stroked through the now sweaty, messy, dirty strands. “But you will learn; you will never win against me.”
* * *
Chapter Three
RIA
When Ria came to, everything was pain.
She was being moved, jolted, in a strange way, forcing her to hiss at the bursts of agony firing throughout her body. When she inched her eyes open, the Alpha loomed above her, and she stiffened. Glancing around, she realized he was carrying her. Her tunic was ripped to shreds, she was practically naked, and her skin was marked with bites, bruises, smears of grime, and white fluid. Her limbs screeched and her head pounded, but nothing could compare to the pain between her legs. It felt like she had been ripped apart, torn, and mutilated.
Glaring up the Alpha, she watched him as he strode with her in his arms, her jaw so hard she was sure she would break a tooth. He had done precisely what she had expected him to—mate with her, forcefully. But much of her anger was reserved for herself. She couldn’t expect anything less from an Alpha, but she should have made sure she never found herself in such a position.
What surprised her the most was how much she had enjoyed it in the moment. She knew that her instincts would work against her, wasn’t that what she’d had always been told—if caught without magical blocks, an Omega could turn into a needy breeder for an Alpha. It wasn’t as if she didn’t know. But the level of satisfaction and pleasure she had experienced was alarming. She hadn’t even entered her Haze—it would’ve been more understandable if she’d lost her mind in her breeding state.
Ria shook her head, firming her thoughts. She had to get away from him at all costs.
The general glanced down at her, but she couldn’t read his expression. “There is no need to give me that look,” he said as he lifted his eyes again. “You may pretend you didn’t want it or enjoy it, if you prefer. I hear many Omegas do that.”
Ria didn’t say anything. She wouldn’t say anything more. He seemed to enjoy her responses, goading her, commanding and demanding answers from her. But that was over with now. She needed to focus on her task, her own personal mission that she had promised herself she would complete. She had spent her entire life completing missions to support Omegas, but even with the Omega empress in power, it didn’t stop things like this from happening. Granted, she was caught unaware from the disruption of magic in the mountains, but this general had no right to fuck her like he owned her. And she didn’t know who else he would encourage to use her—there were stories that it was common in the past for Omegas to be used and passed around.
Ria closed her eyes as the general continued to walk, trying to ignore the pain that assaulted her body. She would bide her time, and then she would escape.
After a long while, the Alpha slowed to a stop and bent over slightly. Cracking an eye open, she saw he was climbing into a carriage. She let him fold her into his lap as the carriage lurched forward, but instead of allowing herself to be lu
lled by his scent, that was still enticing her, or the feel of his fingers stroking the side of her face, she decided to focus on the croak of the wheels as they traveled, and the clopping of the horses hooves nearby.
When the carriage came to a stop, he lifted her back into his arms as he climbed out, and the sudden disappearance of the cold breeze told her they had entered a building.
She kept her eyes closed as he laid her down on something soft and pulled the remaining shreds of her tunic from her body. When he lifted her again, his lips brushed against her forehead and down her neck, and she couldn’t ignore the shivering anticipation that his touch inspired, but she forced herself not to respond to it.
When warm water lapped against her ass, she gasped, her eyes shooting open.
The Alpha was lowering her into a deep bath, filled with soapy, warm water. She jerked in surprise, but as the water enveloped her, soothing her pains, she sighed heavily with relief. A rumble came from the Alpha’s chest, as though he felt the relief that she did, but she chose not to meet his gaze.
As he lathered her up with a spice-scented soap, she tried not to wince from the pain in her muscles, but surprisingly the experience was a pleasant one. The Alpha was thorough and gentle, washing her hair and scrubbing every part of her until she was clean.
After he dried and moisturized her, he lay her down on an enormous bed and left the room. Once she realized he had gone, Ria sat up and took in her surroundings. The room was sparsely decorated, with only a bed, a table and chair, and a mirror on the two-toned blue wall. It did, however, have a broad set of windows that looked out onto a field. It was a strange room for a general’s base. Even though she knew the building was protected from magic, her heart still dropped when she reached out for it and felt its absence.
