by V T Bonds
The moment I settle, desperation rises in my chest. It’s still wrong.
“Nova, invite me in,” he demands, his voice above me.
Yes. It’s him that’s missing. He belongs right there—I’ve even left a space for him. I shift forward and reach beyond my cocoon, wrap my fingers around his naked ankle, and tug.
He invades, his hard muscles and sleek skin fill my nest, creating the perfect space. A smell my weak nose didn’t pick up earlier fills the tiny area, his stiff cock seeping a fluid that wipes out the other irritants.
His colossal frame looms over me, and even with his delicious scent and my organs flaring in desire, the demon in his eyes morphs to someone else’s monster. Massive knees spread mine, and he crowds my space, no longer my Seeck, but the Chieftain. His hard shaft rubs against my intimates, and my panic mixes with my need. I push and pull at his shoulders, tears leaking from the corners of my eyes as terrified noises pour from my mouth. Deep within my body, remembered agony pulses through my core and my soul wails in misery as I remember my rape.
No, I don’t want to relive that horrible moment. I will fight to my last breath.
Quick movements shock me out of my tailspin, Seeck flipping us over so I’m on top. I take my hands off his temples, my heart thumping as I realize I was about to push my thumbs into his eye-sockets.
“Yes, Nova. You need me, and I need you. Take me. Hurry, little Omega, before I lose control,” he demands, and then he growls—deep, unrelenting waves that overtake my fear and demand action.
Slick pours from me, drenching his dick, and I rise on shaky legs. I slide along his shaft, doubt invading my mind as I feel his full length for the first time. I put his cock head to my entrance and whine—there is no way he’ll fit. His calloused hands roam, and my nerves respond, eager to accept him. I sink down, panting as he stretches me. Lifting and lowering in tiny increments, I struggle to accommodate him, but desperation makes me keep trying. He hits a sensitive spot inside and I yelp and jerk away.
His strong fingers wrap around my hips and pull me down as he surges up. I scream, an orgasm ripping through me, the pain and pleasure mingling. He pulls me halfway off him, growling his song of delight, and forces himself deeper than before.
My orgasm doubles as exquisite pressure stretches the inside of my channel.
“Mine, Nova. Take my knot. Take my mark.”
A balloon expands behind my pubic bone, locking us together, and I screech in terrible ecstasy. My release pulls his seed deep within my womb, the amount causing concern even through the beautiful colors that dance inside my head.
At the peak of rapture, just when I expect to die from the sensations, his teeth pierce my skin and pleasure begins anew. He digs his incisors above my collarbone and my soul soars above our connected bodies, dancing with confused joy as his body stiffens in shock. An odd seizure flickers through his form, and his cock releases more fluid into my stuffed core. He grunts as though he fell, then pulls his teeth from me and licks my wound.
The action is full of sweet tenderness that shifts my entire reality. This male is mine, faults and all.
He groans and shifts his hand, his fingers finding the sensitive nub above my entrance. The light touch is too much and I twitch in response, only to moan when that makes his knot shift inside me.
“Hush, little Nova, don’t fight me. Let me give you this, let me apologize for my cruelty. Give me everything, don’t make me take it. You deserve a pleasurable mating. Fuck, just let me take away all your pain, baby, please,” he rumbles.
His thighs shake underneath mine, and I whimper, caught between wanting him to touch me there and feeling too sensitive.
“I’ll be gentle,” he vows, and he purrs.
My eyes roll and I moan, his cock too deep, his knot too big, and his purr too perfect. Soft strokes feather over my clit, and my body sinks down, relaxing into him, letting him do as he pleases. He lays back, rubbing my nub until I hover at the peak, my cheek on his upper chest and my breasts rubbing his lowest rib.
He pinches my little bundle of nerves and I plummet, my organs clamping on his massive intrusion and my muscles seizing. His knot stretches me further and I open my mouth on a silent scream.
When there’s nothing left but shimmering lights and cottony perfection, I fill my mouth with his flesh and bite.
The moment my teeth break skin and I taste his life force, the world ceases to exist. A book opens and the pages flip past, each one an event to a life I haven’t lived. A tiny baby, innocent and alone, followed by a red-headed little boy, cornered by other children, hurtful words scraping across the young child’s heart. The next page shows a wiry teenager, running from something and determination on his face. An adolescent male, sweating and straining with other Alphas, all wearing matching outfits. Blood filling a syringe. Nights of solitude. Days of pain. A fierce Alpha, becoming stronger by the minute, working and living amongst others of his kind. A family that calls themselves teammates instead of brothers. Alpha Elites. Missions that curdle my stomach. Acts that shrivel my heart. Death, guilt, and horror. A chance meeting, fate changing his course. A woman. Love, hope, and devotion.
When I return to myself, his flavor coats my tongue, and I pull back and lick the mark I made, my soul swelling at the connection I feel between us. It’s as though an extra heart beats within my chest, his soul intertwined with mine. A separate entity inside me, but one that wraps in and around all my parts in harmony.
We lay there, breathing and soaking in the ecstasy. His knot keeps us locked together, but he rolls to his side. That vicious voice rises in my head, screaming at him to fix my nest, and a low rumble leaks out of my chest. He returns to his previous spot, flat on his back, the perfect cushion. I wiggle down onto him, wrapping one arm over his broad shoulder and spreading the other over his heartbeat.
My lover. My Alpha. My lifemate.
Exhaustion sucks me down and I sleep. No dreams plague me, our purrs too beautiful to allow any awful things to enter. I wake with a start, lifting my head and searching his face with alarm. His knot pops free, deflating enough to slip out, and his eyes fly open.
One second, he’s deep asleep, the next he’s alert and moving. I’m on my back, clutching at empty sheets before I can blink. His palm scoops up the viscous fluid flowing out of me, then his tongue laps at my core. Full of our essences, his palm travels up to my face.
My sensibilities tell me to push it away, but the scent triggers instincts deep within and I lap it up before I can think twice. His satisfied purr fills my heart, the peace in my soul crescendos with our mutual bliss. He brings another batch of fluid to my mouth, and I consume it too. His skillful tongue wrecks my control, and even though I’m sore and tired, heat builds.
Again and again he offers me what our joining made. My stomach warms, his essence infusing a delicious sensation of energy and health, and much of my aches disappear.
I run my fingers through his hair, the fiery strands soft and thick. He groans in response and narrows his focus to my clit. I grab a handful of his soft pelt and tug, uncertain I can handle this sweet torture.
He doesn’t budge, gobbling up what leaks as he brings me to another mind-blowing orgasm. I shiver in the aftermath, my breath sawing in and out of my lungs.
He crawls up my body, covers my flesh with his, and whispers in my ear. “How the fuck are you so perfect? Take me this time, just like this. I’ll wipe away every terrible thing you’ve ever had to live through. I’ll erase the demons of your past, whatever it takes. I’m your only demon now, Nova. Your only monster, little Omega.”
His perfect cock teases my folds, and despite just orgasming, my body jumps at the chance to receive him again. The satiation I felt when he filled me dissipates, and I’m as ravenous as I was when he first brought me into this room.
He aligns his tip with my entrance, nips my earlobe, and growls in my ear.
“Say I’m yours, Nova.”
“You’re mine,” I purr, hookin
g my calves around his hips.
He thrusts in with so much force that my head slips off my pillow. I gasp, agony and pleasure shocking me. He retreats until only a little of him remains inside me, pinning my hips to the bed with his hand, and demands more.
“Say I’m your Alpha.”
“You’re my Alpha,” I groan, loving this game but desperate to have his knot stretch my tender tissues again.
He plummets in, hitting so deep that I screech at the lightning bolt of pain. He rubs that sensitive part as he pulls back, hovering right at my opening.
“Say I’m your lifemate.”
“You’re my lifemate. And I’m yours, Seeck. Take me, please.”
My plaintive cry breaks his control, and I have no hope of holding on.
We ascend to a plane of base urges, decadent desire, and eternal joy.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Seeck
She deserves better than this. This shabby nest isn't good enough for her, and she doesn’t even know it. I wish I had provided her with the most lavish quilts and softest pillows.
No Omega should have to accept their first knot in such deplorable conditions. But she took mine with such beauty that she took my soul along with it.
I don’t understand why, but our marking felt different from what I expected. I’ve heard many stories about how marking your lifemate bonds your hearts together, almost as though they steal half of your heart and replace it with theirs. While we’ve merged—her delicate existence winds within my being—something else happened that I wasn’t expecting. Never have I heard of anyone seeing their lifemate’s past. When pictures of her story began flashing across my vision, shock stiffened me.
I don’t know what it means, but we have more in common than I ever thought possible. We’re both orphans that have lived hard lives, but her life has been even more miserable than mine.
And now we get to share the future together.
I brush her filthy hair out of her face, sensing that her heat has ended. For five days we’ve been in this room, most of the time spent knotted together.
Now that her heat has finished, we must return to base and report to command. We have to complete the mission, so no matter how strong my desire to lie here and allow her to recover, we must leave.
Sensing my urgency, she sighs and blinks awake. Her blue eyes are so pale they shock me every time I see them. I don’t want to move, but I give her a chaste kiss on the mouth and roll out of our nest.
The dirty clothes left in the corner stink like hell, so I refuse to put them on. I tap on the door twice, pause, then tap twice again. A few seconds later a knock responds, pause, double knock.
I wait ten seconds, unlock the door, crack it open, snatch the supplies, and close and lock it again—I’m not ready to share my Omega with anyone yet.
We can’t travel as we are, naked and caked in the smells of our joining. The enticing aroma of her heat and my rut linger on our skin too. I return to our marking nest and purr, urging her to come out so I can clean and feed her. She gives another unhappy sigh and lowers the fabric off her face.
The stark light of the naked bulb dangling above us reveals what the dimness of our nest hid. She has ugly greenish purple bruises on her cheeks from the gag, the color signifying that they are close to dissipating. Anger wells up in me, even though I’ve already killed the assholes that hurt her.
The rest of her is beautiful chaos. Spillage fills her matted hair, and her eyes shine with satisfaction. My bite has healed, a raised white crescent scar encompassing her neck and shoulder, my mouth so big it almost reaches her clavicle. She has flushed skin and slight bruises the size of my fingertips. Earlier I kissed each one, praising her strength and softness.
I hand her the full water sack and she blinks at it. I uncap the water straw and stick it between her lips. She drinks as I pull soap, washcloths, and clothes from the bag.
I take the straw from her and gulp down a few swallows, then pull the blanket off her, stripping her. She accepts my ministrations, knowing we'll be leaving soon, saving her energy for travel.
With a wet washcloth, I wipe down her skin. My fingers linger as I smear a coat of healing cream over her entire body. Reining in my desire, I fill the washcloth with water and squeeze it over her hair many times, until her hair drips with excess. I rub soap between my palms, creating a lather, then run my hands through her soft locks. Rinsing takes forever, but when I’m done I sit her up and finger comb, gather, and tie it with a strip of leather.
I wash myself while she air dries, and after I’m dry, we dress each other in clean clothes. She stands by the door as I pack what we need into the bag, fling it onto my back, and kick everything else into the corner.
She’s reluctant to leave. I pull her into my arms, purring, and promise, “I’ve got you, Nova. When we get back to my den, I’ll get you better nesting material. We'll get to rest in comfort and safety.”
She snuggles against my chest, heaves another breath, then reaches up for a kiss. I give it to her, pulling away before I get lost in arousal, and open the door.
We step out into the tiny hallway, the silence reassuring. I push Nova a few steps down the hall, pull a match out of my pocket, and set our place of joining on fire. Clasping her hand, I lead her away, holding my knife in the other and focused on what lies ahead.
One by one we pass by my teammates, a unique combination of night noises required before they reveal themselves from their camouflage. As we pass by, each one looks us over before nodding us in the right direction.
With their vigilance, we survived Nova’s first heat. Without their protection, not even our remote location would have given us privacy. They’ve spilled blood over the last five days to keep us safe.
We exit the maze of a building and turn toward our destination. Stars illuminate our way, this town still not privy to streetlights, and I realize how big of a change this will be for Nova.
She lived in the dark ages, with primitive tools and major hardships, and I’m taking her through cities of increasing amounts of technology and development. I will enjoy watching her experience these unfamiliar things.
Several days pass with no incident. I catch glimpses of my teammates, but we keep our distance, even in the void between cities. We sleep in random places, ones I deem secure—rooftops, barricaded closets, even an inn.
I’ve bought her fresh foods, including fruits, cheese, and breads, and every time I present something new to her, her face lights up with curiosity. The pleasure that sings through our connection as she tries each unknown morsel fills my soul in ways I never hoped to feel.
I court her in ways I didn’t know I could—gentle kisses, sweet words, and loving caresses—but I’m careful to keep things light. Travel is too dangerous to allow that kind of vulnerability—having her locked around my knot steals all my awareness.
We’ve made it to Embilte, the last society before base, the most advanced city in this sector. She stays glued to my side—her elbow locks with mine and her hips brush my thigh. She keeps searching my face, studying the changes in my appearance. We look different in city clothes, and even though she watched me cut, shave, and style both my hair and my facial hair, she still seems to have trouble believing that I am me. I can’t stop looking at her either, the asymmetrical shirt forming to her curves. The long loose skirt denotes her an Omega which helps her blend in, because there is no way to camouflage her scent. All Omegas in this city hold their Alphas the same way—elbow in elbow—because although the law states that a mated pair must stay together, crime still occurs. Illegal flesh traffickers all too often snatch up unattended Omegas and ferret them away before officials can stop them.
It would have been preferable to circumvent the city altogether, but we're too close to our mission deadline to take the days it would require to traverse the extra miles. And exhaustion pulls at my Nova, despite her appearance. She needs to rest as soon as possible, so traversing through Embilte made the most sense. I hope
she can make it that far.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Nova
At first, I tried to take in all the new sights, collecting all the information I could as we made our way through the different societies. But now the crowd of people has lost its appeal. The towering buildings made of glass—actual glass devoid of warping and cracks—give me an ominous feeling. They hover over us and block out the sun. These strange clothes and foreign customs make me want to scurry back to the empty desert.
I don’t belong here, and I don’t want to. What I want is a quiet nest where I can cling to my Alpha and rest.
My feet ache from our days of travel, even though we spent a few of them in odd contraptions Seeck calls transporters. I couldn’t force myself on the first one, so he’d purred and lifted me into it. Having no control over speed or movement was an unpleasant sensation, but he comforted me the entire time. We’ve even been on mass transporters, which Seeck explained the city controls, big sleek tubes that always stop in the same places at the same times. Their smooth ride was easier to handle than the smaller ones.
But now we walk through busy streets, and Seeck is the only thing stopping me from crumbling to the ground in exhaustion. I want my nest and my Alpha. Nothing else. He says we'll be there tomorrow if we travel through the night.
A large Alpha steps out of a building a few doors down. At first I don’t recognize him, but after a double take I see it is Vander. His hair is short on the sides and styled on top with meticulous care, highlighting its salt and pepper color. His trimmed facial hair accentuates his face, and his striking appearance is the opposite of a rugged desert man. He’s wearing a collared short-sleeve shirt with only three buttons at the top, in the typical Alpha style of the city. His slacks and shoes blend in to the chaos of the city as well; the bright shoes baffle me with their shimmery material.
