by Alison Aimes
The other female’s forced joviality was almost painful, but it was clear the female was trying to be kind.
Plus, Dahlia wasn’t a fool. She’d never turn away a potential ally.
After tucking her makeshift chipper into the sheet dress, she grasped the tray from her side and pulled it through. “Thank you.” The open space immediately solidified, the bars returning to their intact state.
Forcing herself not to pounce on the food, she set it on the ground before pulling her fur blanket tighter around her body.
The female darted away, and Dahlia thought she might be leaving, but she reappeared a few heartbeats later with two more thick fur blankets. “Here. Take these too. These are all the guard station has, but I can get more if you need.” She reopened the slot and passed them through one at a time.
Grateful, Dahlia piled them high on top of her shivering frame.
“I’m Anya.” Done waiting for Dahlia to make the first move, the female pushed back her hood and moved closer to the bars. “You should eat.”
“I will.” Dahlia tried to keep the shock from her face.
Dahlia had already guessed at the female’s omega status from the pleasing quality of her voice. What surprised Dahlia was the obvious fact that Anya was not an indentured omega imported to the territory, but a Skolov, her bloodline clear in the reddish tone of her skin, carved cheekbones, and midnight hair that cascaded around her face. She didn’t have the same bold skin designs on her face as her brothers. Nor did she have horns. Like all omega females in Anarcheim, the latter was only passed down the Alpha bloodline. But the female did possess the same stunning looks and, more shocking, the same arrogant bearing of the Skolov Alpha head.
“You’re the sister.” Olan had insisted Dahlia always have four guards by her side. Not for her protection, but to ensure her compliance and prevent her from escaping. Clearly, Anya did not have the same restrictions.
As if reading her mind, Anya shrugged, her lips tilting upward. She couldn’t have been more than nineteen years old. “Nikolai doesn’t know I’m here. It was supposed to be a beta servant who delivered your food. I blackmailed her into letting me come instead. No way was I missing the chance to meet the Lundin who holds the key to my family’s safety.”
The younger omega leaned in closer, acknowledging the question in Dahlia’s eyes. “I sit in the air ducts and eavesdrop. That’s how I know. It’s the only way for an omega with four very bossy, very controlling older Alpha brothers to learn anything. Otherwise, I’d know nothing and go nowhere because it’s too dangerous for someone like me.” She ended her tirade with a low growl, a very un-omega thing to do, but an impressive mimicry of her brother’s growl.
Dahlia blinked. Apparently, guards weren’t needed to keep someone in a cage. Caring too much could forge its own prison. Having experienced so little of that particular display of emotion, she had never realized.
Undeterred, Anya filled the silence. “They’re up there in Nikolai’s study right now chatting away, but I decided in this case, I’d learn more coming here.”
“Aren’t you afraid you’ll be punished?” She shouldn’t be drawn into a discussion at all, but she was genuinely curious. There was a fire inside the female that Dahlia couldn’t help but like.
Anya shrugged again. “I don’t like it, but I can take it. Plus, all I have to do is start to cry and talk about family and they get this nervous, panicked look on their faces and stomp off. It’s not my fault if they think I’m more fragile than I am.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m certainly not going to tell them.”
Dahlia was starting to rethink her notion of who might actually run the show around here.
She wondered what the omega’s gift was and if, unlike most, she’d managed to keep it flourishing past her youth, or if it too was blocked.
“I’m not saying it’s nice to play on their complexes.” The other female’s words pulled Dahlia back to the moment. “But an omega’s gotta do what’s an omega’s gotta do.”
Dahlia almost smiled.
How different her life might have been if she’d had a friend like Anya to grow up with. Her own sister Kaiya was younger than Dahlia by nine years. By the time Kaiya had grown old enough to be someone Dahlia might have spoken with in a truthful way, they’d been separated and allowed only brief, superficial interactions.
But that didn’t mean Dahlia had forgotten her. Far from it. Her sister’s innocence and sweetness had been her inspiration. All of Dahlia’s energy had gone into finding a way for them to be together again. All her schemes had centered around finding a way to give Kaiya a different life.
Now, Skolov was threatening to drag her sister here to this freezing hell and make her a pawn so Dahlia would do his bidding.
She could never let that happen.
“If you help me escape from here, we could run away together.” Dahlia gave it a shot. “You’d never have to deal with bossy Alpha brothers again.”
The omega’s expression hardened, and Dahlia saw the truth beneath the other woman’s complaints about her brothers. Whatever frustrations she had with them, she loved them.
“That’s not happening,” confirmed the other omega. “Whatever their faults, they’ve kept me safe when . . .” She swallowed hard, and Dahlia saw the flash of pain in the other female’s eyes. Something bad had happened to her. Something ugly and dark that even four vicious Alpha brothers had not been able to protect her from fully. “When I needed them most of all.” Shaking off the memory, she added, “Plus, unlike many of our kind, I have a job and a purpose beyond fucking and gifting—and I’m not giving that up for anything.”
Dahlia was too floored by the other female’s revelation to be insulted by the accurate but harsh description of her own life. “An actual job?”
“It’s not well known, but Nikolai allows me to serve as the family’s behind-the-scenes publicist.” The dark-haired omega stood taller. “My job is to give the family a more legitimate face and keep us off the Federation’s radar.”
It was almost more than Dahlia could process.
“If you play your cards right, he may do the same for you, allowing you to be more than some fuck toy or sex-charged power source.”
Dahlia blinked. The notion was more intriguing than it should have been given what it would cost her to achieve it. “I could never do that at the expense of my family.”
“Well, in that we agree. I could never run away. I might mess with my brothers, but I’d never screw them over. Or disappear on them. They’ve already lost too much.”
“You mean the twins and your mother.” Dahlia realized they’d finally gotten to the reason Anya had come and the motivation behind all the forced friendliness. The Skolov omega wasn’t as pushy or growly as her brother, but her intent was the same: to get Dahlia to use her gift to bring Olan Lundin to justice and reveal his crimes.
“Among other sorrows, yes. I was honestly too young to remember them, but my two older brothers, in particular, can never forget.” The other omega’s gaze never wavered from hers. “Nikolai blames himself for Zaya and Mikhail’s deaths.”
Dahlia knew it. She’d experienced his pain through her vision. She’d felt the tendrils of his rage and shame as they climbed up the vessels of his heart and constricted, choking him from the inside out.
Even now the memory of how lost that little boy had felt, how terrified he’d been of failing the others, threatened to soften her toward the man he’d become.
She looked around her icy prison and fought it.
“From the start,” continued Anya, “Nikolai took responsibility for us as if he were the parent. Life was hard, but the twins’ deaths made him harder. It was as if it wasn’t just their lives stolen, but the organ that beat inside his chest.” She sighed. “It’s not only vengeance that drives him, you know?”
For some reason, Dahlia found herself fascinated. She shouldn’t care about Skolov’s motivations, but she did. Perhaps it was because, outside of the visions, she
knew so few personal details about him besides the thickness of his cock and how amazing it felt to be fucked by him when she was in heat.
Face burning, she cut off that line of thinking before it got her into trouble.
But it didn’t end her hunger to learn more.
He was a ruthless bastard and her enemy, but from the moment she’d met him years ago, something in him had called to her.
“Your father has had a price on our heads since the rotation of the fire.” Anya’s voice was strangely matter-of-fact. “It wasn’t so bad for a little while since Olan thought none of us would survive hiding out in the polar mountains. But those years only made Nikolai and the rest of us stronger.”
Dahlia shivered. She could not imagine what the Alpha crime boss must have had to do to keep them all alive.
Anya nodded as if she’d read her mind. “It wasn’t pretty, but he got us through. Once we returned to civilization, the abduction and assassination attempts started immediately. By then, Nikolai was too much of a threat to your father’s ego and his power. He wanted him not only dead but to suffer beforehand. Orders were altered. We were to be captured, tortured, and then killed.”
“Olan is a monster.”
Anya looked surprised, as if she hadn’t expected such an easy agreement. “He will not stop until all our family is dead, so neither will Nikolai. He knows it’s either us or him.”
The tear in Dahlia’s chest ripped wider. It was a horrible situation, and in the end, no side could ever really win.
Anya ran her hands down the skirt of her fur cloak. “So much wealth, and I don’t think Nikolai really enjoys it. It’s simply another way for him to project strength and keep us safe. I’ve never seen him take a vacation. He’ll work five full rotations without sleep to close a single deal if it will benefit his rise in the Brotherhood. To raise the money to build Abzal into a tourist paradise, he fought in the unsanctioned fighting pits and took every beating and got back up. He does not quit.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Dahlia didn’t like the way Anya’s stories made her feel, chipping away at her hate for the man and leaving admiration in its wake. Unlike the Skolov head, her father had never cared for anyone else his entire life. “Are you trying to convince me I should thank him for sticking me in this cell and trying to force me to become a traitor to my own family?”
“No. I am telling you this as a warning.” The Skolov omega’s strength flashed in her gaze once more. “Nikolai will do whatever it takes to keep us safe and make this plan succeed. If you don’t get on board, he’ll crush you beneath his boots. I’ve seen it happen many times.”
“I’ve been knocked down plenty. You’d be surprised what I can endure.”
For the first time, Anya looked impressed. “You look so delicate and ethereal with that ivory skin and white-blond, golden hair. Like the glittering ice dolls Nikolai used to carve for me so I’d have something to play with.” Her gaze traveled from the top of Dahlia’s head to the toes tucked beneath the fur pelt. “Those crystal playthings easily snapped in two, but I’m beginning to think you won’t.”
“You think right.”
Anya’s smile widened. “I think I might actually like a Lundin.”
“Imagine that.”
Anya’s smile grew and then dropped. “It really is too bad. You might actually have been good for him, but there’s no way forward for us now but through you.”
“I am sorry for what happened to your family.” Dahlia met the other female’s stare head-on. “But like your brother, I will do whatever it takes to protect those I care for.”
Anya looked sad. “I wish it could have been different between us.”
“Me, too.”
The other woman was gone in the next heartbeat, her boots cracking on the ice. Then, there was only silence as the elevator door slid shut and Dahlia was alone once more.
Once he puts his mind to something, he always succeeds.
Dahlia shivered, but the cold against her skin was nothing compared to the ice sliding through her veins.
She didn’t doubt Anya’s description of Skolov’s ruthlessness. She’d been the target of his determination already and felt its power. Already her mind was crowded with memories of how easily she’d given him her body. How much she had reveled in his touch and the way he made her feel. It wasn’t hard to imagine that if he found a way to spark her gift, she would willingly and slavishly give him that as well.
But it was her feelings toward the boy who cared so much for his family that might be her real downfall.
Which left only one route of escape.
It was extreme. Terrifying. Almost unfathomable. But to save Kaiya, Dahlia had to remove herself from the equation permanently before she gave in and supplied Skolov with the vision he needed to bring her family down.
Panic slammed through her. Grief, too. She’d wanted so much more for herself.
She shoved such cowardice aside.
Once he puts his mind to something, he always succeeds.
The same went for her.
For Kaiya, she would do anything.
She didn’t allow herself any more time for doubt or waffling.
With a whispered plea for courage, she dropped the furs and the sheet to the cell floor.
Then, shivering as the cold air raked her skin like claws, she took the water Anya had left for her and, steeling her spine, poured it over her head.
Like a slap, the frigid water stole her breath. Within moments, the moisture coating her hair crackled to ice.
Now she was not so different from the glittering ice playthings Skolov had carved for his sister.
But Dahlia’s end would be slower than a quick snap in two.
The tingles in her fingertips and toes faded away as numbness set in and the last droplets in her wet hair rolled down her body. She forced her feet across the ice to the coldest side of the room, where the draft from beyond was most pronounced. It seemed to take forever, her body refusing to cooperate.
She’d always imagined a different escape for herself.
But she’d also known that however her end came about, it would be done in the interest of protecting those she loved.
She might not have the power and strength of so many others in her world, but she was not powerless. Her mother’s lessons rang in her ear. She could still have an impact.
Teeth chattering, she lay down and spread herself out on the ice.
It was almost a relief. She was already so exhausted.
A stupid tear spilled from her eye and rolled onto her cheek, freezing before it hit the ground.
Closing her eyes, she resisted the urge to curl into a ball. It would only make the process slower and more painful.
In five to ten minutes, her sister would be safe, and Dahlia would finally be free.
15
“Bring another set of blankets.” The growling, angry voice penetrated the edge of Dahlia’s consciousness.
“She’s already buried under four. Are you trying to keep her alive or suffocate her?”
“Shut it, Alexi.” It was the same gruff voice, at triple the volume of the others, and yet it soothed her like none of the others. “And where the hells is Randalff? Get him here now!”
“Nikolai, he’s been up the last twenty-six hours nursing her back to health.” The third voice was calmer than either of the others. “He needs a break. You need one, too.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Calloused fingers lifted her hand from the bed and turned it over.
She was too weak to resist.
A warm thumb traced the throbbing band along the underside of her wrist, chasing away the cold.
“Randalff said she was past the worst of it. He said she’d wake up soon. So why isn’t she?”
“He said soon. Not now.”
“I shouldn’t have pushed so hard.”
“You did what you needed to do.”
“I underestimated her resolve.”
“We all did.
She looks like she would break in a strong wind.”
“But she won’t.” The growly, gravelly voice sounded almost proud. “She’s always had spirit. I won’t make the mistake of forgetting that again.” The grip on her hand tightened. “I’ve spent so much time growing hard and untouchable, I don’t know how to be anything else.”
“We’re fighting for our lives here, Nikolai.”
“You don’t think I know that, Maxheim? But what good is mine if she’s not in it? Fifteen years I waited to reclaim her, and in less than a rotation, I almost lost her again.”
“But you didn’t.” The calmer voiced tried again. “Her body temperature is back up. The med unit did what it was supposed to do. Her vital signs are strong. She just needs rest.”
“No one is fucking resting until she opens her eyes. Get the doc back here!”
The protectiveness in the ticked off voice calmed her. Made her feel safe and treasured.
She sank deeper into sleep.
Feeling extremely well-rested, Dahlia opened her eyes—and locked gazes with fierce amber ones.
“Thank fuck.” The warm, firm grip on her hand tightened. “You’re awake.”
Nikolai Skolov was holding her hand?
Why?
She frowned—and everything came flooding back.
Her last few moments. The fact that she’d failed to end her existence. Her sister’s precarious position.
She gasped, bolting upright. Something clinked against her other wrist, keeping it from rising with the rest of her.
She looked down. A gleaming silver manacle locked her wrist to the side rail of the cot.
Strong hands grasped her shoulders and pushed her upper body back into the mattress, and the thin fabric of her medical gown crinkled as her back once more connected with the bed. “Settle down. You’re not going anywhere.”
He would punish her for what she’d almost done. Her family would suffer.
A monitor beeped in time with the fast pace of her heart, the hologram of neon colors dancing on the wall.
Skolov pressed a panel on the side of the bed and the back of her cot slid upward into a seated position.
