"So…why would you subject yourself to all that?"
"You really are dumber than a damn pig." Stacy's eyes flashed with gold lightning. "Would you ever say that to a male beta soldier?"
Truthfully, Vonn had never said much to any of them beyond hollering at them to stand down—and warning them of the consequences if they didn't. Warnings they never seemed to heed, which tended to limit opportunities to chat.
"But you're not a male soldier," he pointed out. "You're a woman."
Her irritation dialed up to anger. "And that means what, exactly? That I'm not allowed to want the things the men want? That even though four generations of my family served, I shouldn't follow in their footsteps just because I have a vagina? And if so, what am I supposed to do with this urge that's always been part of me, to fight for what's right?"
"Women are weaker than men," Vonn said, refusing to take the bait. "It's just a fact. You're putting yourself in more danger than your male counterparts do."
Disgust soured Stacy's scent. "I call bullshit. You've said yourself I've lasted weeks longer than any other soldier in the Boundarylands. And I did it while living face to face with you bastards, not hiding like some coward."
At least Vonn was spared the venom she saved for the word 'coward.' He didn't see much point in mentioning that the only reason Gray and the other alphas had allowed her to live was because he had thrown himself between them, practically claiming her on the spot. Otherwise, she'd have been dead days ago.
Suddenly Vonn didn't feel much like joking anymore.
"You're right. I shouldn't have questioned your decision to be a fighter." Not a soldier, but there was no point belaboring the distinction now. "The thing is, you agreed to have a dangerous chemical pumped into your veins that could permanently damage your nature. And I do have a problem with that."
"Who said anything about the serum being permanent?" Stacy scoffed. "A dose lasts a week at most. Why do you think I was so desperate to get my hands on it yesterday?"
For a moment, Vonn's mouth hung open as he absorbed her words. Could it really—was it possible—
There was no trace of dishonesty in her voice, and he desperately wanted to believe it was true. But Vonn had experienced soul-deep disappointment once before, and he didn't think he could survive it again. "They lied to you about the cyanide pill," he said stonily.
Buy Stacy just tossed her head. "I was stupid to believe that. But with the serum, I insisted on seeing the data myself. I made them show me every test result. I met the women who'd gone through the trials. There's no way they could have faked all of that. Besides, why give me all those extra vials if they were trying to test a serum whose effects were permanent?"
What she was saying made sense—so much so that Vonn couldn't think of a single argument against it.
But Stacy must have seen his doubt. In a softer voice, she added, "You have to remember…before I came here, I believed that my omega nature was the worst thing that had ever happened to me. I would never have agreed to it unless I knew I was safe."
Before I came here. Those words were the ones that echoed in Vonn's mind…because they implied that now, she felt differently. That her true nature wasn't the worst thing. That she was beginning to accept it.
It might not exactly be everything he needed from his omega, but it was a start. Especially because she was only going to be stuck in this beta limbo for another week at the most.
Vonn knew the wait would feel interminable. But he'd already been waiting months for an omega to come along and cool the burning in his blood. He could stand it a little longer, especially with the knowledge that in the end, she would finally be his.
"Why are you smiling?" Stacy asked, sounding very suspicious.
"Turns out I'm smarter than a pig after all," he said triumphantly. "I got you talking again."
"You son of a—"
If Vonn didn't know better, he might have fallen for the lethal expression on her as he rushed him. Knowing she had no intention of trying to kill him, however, he didn't put up much of a fight as she somehow got her leg hooked around his knee. It wasn't until she started putting pressure on the joint with her heel that he grabbed her, twisting them both down onto the ground. Vonn made sure he took most of the impact, of course.
By landing her on top of him.
Stacy had proven time and again that she was amazingly capable of defending herself, but she fell in her own blind spot every time she assumed the role of aggressor. Vonn didn't have to be told that her success in the army depended completely on keeping her cool and using others' aggression against them. The minute she let her discipline slip, she would have been at the mercy of every recruit who was bigger and stronger.
And that went way more than double for an alpha.
But Vonn wasn't about to critique her performance when he found himself right where he wanted to be—looking up at a beautiful woman straddling his body with those long, shapely legs.
And still, she wouldn't admit defeat. "I'm not going to let you win," she shouted, though Vonn noticed she didn't exactly roll off and get ready to fight again. "How many times do I have to tell you that?"
Vonn suspected that responding to her question wouldn't get them very far, so instead, he flipped her over, reversing their positions and pinning her hands to the ground.
"As many times as it takes," he said gruffly. "This isn't a war. There is no winner or loser. There's something I bet they never told you in your training, but that doesn't make it any less true." He bent low so that his stubble brushed against the sensitive hollow between her neck and earlobe and was rewarded with a shiver as he whispered, "Surrender isn't the same thing as defeat."
Her eyes flashed fire when he pulled back to look at her. "Of course you'd say that. You're not the one who ends up enslaved for the rest of your life."
"An omega's life isn't bondage. Unless you're into that—in which case I'm sure we can work something out."
"How the hell could you possibly know that?" she demanded, ignoring his attempt at levity.
"Because…" Vonn searched his mind for a way to explain it to her, but all he had to go on was his instinct. "Because I feel it."
More carefully this time, he rolled her over again so that she was on top again, then released his grip on her. As he suspected, she didn't immediately bolt. Not even when he sat up so that his hard cock pressed against her cleft and his lips were only a hair's breadth from hers.
"Tell me," he rumbled, "does this feel like shackles to you?"
Then he kissed her while leaving his hands planted on the ground at his sides to make it clear she could break it off the moment she wanted to. But she didn't want to. It was obvious from the way she kissed him back, hard and hungry, on and on.
Vonn could barely resist the urge to take her in his arms and crush her against him, an urge that was growing stronger by the second—but he did it for her. For them. He needed her to be the one to decide. Needed her to understand that she wanted this as much as he did.
Stacy's kiss took on a primal ferocity, the sounds coming from her like the wildcat she was. She raked her fingertips up his neck and plunged them into the tangle of his hair, anchoring him to her with fistfuls of it. Her body moved against him, rubbing turning to rocking, until finally, she threw her head back and cried out in time with her motion.
Oh, fuck yes.
Vonn had thought that what he wanted most was to know her nature was undamaged, that they would ultimately claim each other as alpha and omega. But now, there was something he needed even more. Her feverish cries, the hot dampness between her legs, was proof of her true nature begging to be released.
And they were also proof that the two of them were meant to be together. If any traces of the government's terrible brainwashing remained, Vonn was ready to blast them away forever, to make it so clear to Stacy who she was and where she was meant to be that she'd never doubt again. To finally enter her, fill her—suppressants or no—first with his cock
, then with his knot, then with his come.
Vonn was reaching for his belt buckle when he heard the rumble of a truck engine turning onto his private road.
Instantly he stilled, lifting his face and inhaling. Whoever the fuck had dared to come on to his property now was about to regret that decision. He'd given every damn alpha brother at the roadhouse fair warning.
And then the scent of the truck's three passengers reached his nose.
Goddammit.
His rage dried up like a creek in August. Groaning, Vonn got to his feet, pulling Stacy up with him. Seeing her shock, he cupped her cheek in his hand and spoke as gently as he could, considering that he felt like pulling up the tree they'd been lying under by the roots. "We've got to get home."
"But—why?"
"Company's coming. And it's you they want to see."
Chapter Sixteen
In all of Stacy's preparations for this mission—the hours spent poring over the dossier, the medical examinations, the briefings on previous missions—not once had anyone devoted any time to omegas.
No, all time and effort had been focused solely on alphas—how brutal they were, how violent, how mentally inferior.
Fulmer had barely discussed omegas. The few mentions in the classified records described them as haunted, ravaged shells of the women they had once been. Their lives were supposedly drastically shortened, and their minds damaged by captivity and forced breeding.
But as Stacy stared out the front window at the truck parked between the woodshed and the house, she realized the magnitude of her error.
The women who got out of the truck were nothing like the descriptions she'd read. They seemed healthy and vibrant enough. Beyond that, they had little in common physically, ranging from a tiny, pale, almost elfin woman with gorgeous large gold-flecked eyes to a curvy, vivacious woman with strawberry blonde curls and a smattering of freckles to a woman nearly as tall as Stacy with a face like a model's.
They seemed to be laughing at some shared joke, and their casual body language suggested that they were perfectly at ease despite the fact that they were on an alpha's land uninvited, something that Fulmer had stressed was a deadly mistake.
"I thought you said they were omegas," she hissed at Vonn's back as he opened the front door and stepped outside.
"Hello, Vonn," the tall, elegant one said, favoring him with a smile that didn't seem a bit intimidated.
"Olivia," Vonn said, nodding stiffly. "Mari. Josie."
The wholesome-looking one named Josie laughed. "If I didn't know better, I would almost think that you were unhappy to see us, Vonn."
"I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm unhappy—but I'm pretty damn curious why the three of you are standing in my driveway."
"We wouldn't be if you invited us to come inside." The petite, delicate-looking blonde Vonn had called Mari gave him a small, guileless grin.
But Vonn was looking past the women to the drive leading up to the cabin as if he was expecting—or more likely hoping—that another truck was going to pull in behind them.
"You looking for our mates?" Josie asked. "Because I hate to break it to you, but they're not coming."
"And Kiera couldn't make it either," Olivia added, casting a glance nervously at the house. The other women exchanged an opaque look. "She still has a couple days before she's due back at the roadhouse."
Who the hell was Kiera? Stacy didn't especially like the fact that she seemed to be a taboo topic, whoever she was. Not because she was jealous, of course, but because there were already too many unknowns in this situation.
Sure, they didn't look like a threat, but Stacy knew that meant next to nothing—and she didn't exactly know the proper combat stance for Attractive Women Who All Know Each Other.
"None of your mates warned you about coming on to my property without an invitation?" Vonn grumbled loud enough that even standing inside the house, Stacy could feel the vibration of his voice through the floor.
Olivia gave him a patrician smile. "Of course they did."
"But we just reminded them that you're too much of a gentleman to ever harm another brother's omega," Josie added, earning snickers from the other two.
So…they were omegas. As certainty sunk in, Olivia was forced to admit that once again, the superior officer she had blindly trusted had lied to her, if not outright betrayed her.
And she didn't know what to do with that information. But she wasn't about to cower inside, either. If these women—these omegas—presented a threat, it was one that escaped all of her powers of observation.
"Hello," she said, walking out into the sunshine and standing as far from Vonn as she could while still remaining in the shadow of the overhang. "I'm Stacy."
Before the women could reply, Vonn interjected. "What do you three want?"
Mari stepped forward with her hands on her hips. She had to tilt her head back to look up at Vonn, but that didn't stop her from tutting with disappointment. "We don't want anything, Vonn. We're here to help. I think you need to work on your trust issues."
"This is too important to wait." Olivia unzipped a small case that Stacy hadn't noticed she was holding. Great, she thought, that could have been a weapon—in which case I'd be dead already.
"What's too important?" Vonn demanded. "What the hell is that thing?"
Olivia had pulled out a small, handheld electrical device. "We need to take care of the tracker chip."
Vonn's shoulders sagged as understanding dawned on his face—though Stacy had no idea what was going on. "Fuck. Do you really need to do this now?"
"That depends." Mari hadn't backed off, though she did cast Stacy a sympathetic look. "How much are you looking forward to a Special Ops team of beta soldiers coming onto your land to assassinate your lady?"
Stacy drew herself up to full height, outraged. Even if these omegas were simply misguided, this had gone too far. "Don't be ridiculous. I am a sergeant in the beta army. No one is coming to assassinate me."
All three women turned to look at her—and burst into laughter.
"Oh, sweetheart," Oliva said, in a tone only slightly less condescending than Stacy's. "The person who makes these decisions doesn't care about your rank or whose government you serve. He only cares about covering his own ass."
The 'person who makes these decisions?' That could only mean Fulmer—the man who had lied to Stacy all along. To hell with the mission's Need to Know classification, she decided. Until she got some answers, her only loyalty was to herself. "Are you talking about the Alpha Control Division?"
"Yes," Olivia sighed, all traces of irritation vanishing. "They blackmailed me into coming here and then tried to take me out when things didn't go to plan."
"They sent nearly a dozen FBI agents to blow me to bits in the roadhouse parking lot," Mari said, her cheeks reddening with fury at the memory.
"So uninspired, if you ask me," Josie chimed in. "They tried to kill me by kicking me out of a helicopter in the middle of the uplands."
Stacy was silent, trying to take in their shocking claims. Nothing about their body language indicated they were lying. She turned to Vonn, who at least had the good grace not to say I told you so. In fact, he looked a lot like a guy who wanted to hit someone.
Was this the Boundarylands version of chivalry?
Stacy, who had spent decades insisting that she didn't need a man to open her door or offer his arm or pull out her chair, found the notion unexpectedly tempting.
She was definitely losing her edge. And that was a very dangerous proposition.
"Tell me why you're here," she demanded of the women, "in as few words as possible."
The women exchanged a bemused glance. "RFD chip reader," Mari said, pointing to the gadget in Olivia's hand.
"Tracking chip," Josie said, pointing at Stacy. "In your arm."
"Yeah, I know all about that chip." Stacy folded her arms. It relayed both her location and vital signs back to mission control. All branches of the military had been using some
version of it for years during covert ops. They helped Command keep tabs on personnel in situations where radio communication could compromise the mission. "What do you want with it?"
Olivia took something else out of her case…a small knife with a wickedly sharp edge that glinted in the sun. Using it to gesture between the gadget and Stacy, she said tersely, "The reader locates the chip. Then I take it out."
Stacy crossed her arms, shooting these ladies the same withering glare that had been known to silence an entire class of new recruits. "And what makes you think I'm going to let you do that?"
Maybe she was losing her touch, or maybe after living with alphas these women had grown spines of steel, but the omegas didn't appear afraid of her at all.
Mari took pity on Stacy and came over to place her hand on her bicep, her touch gentle. "They're not just using the chip to keep tabs on your location. It also sends them information about your…um, status."
"Status?" Stacy echoed as the women looked on with sympathy.
She hated sympathy.
"What you're doing." Mari leaned in closer to whisper in her ear. "Who you're doing."
Oh, God. Fulmer had been able to tell when she was with Vonn? Every time? The thought wasn't just mortifying, it was anger-inducing. Fulmer hadn't told her any of that.
"As well as any change in your nature," Olivia added.
"Your omega nature," Vonn clarified. "Which is why it has to come out. If Fulmer sent you to test a suppressant, then you're only worth anything to him while you're still a beta."
The pieces all fell into place. If the moment came that Stacy changed…if her mission failed…
Then Fulmer would cover his ass.
Shit.
Stacy felt the approach of panic at the knowledge that Fulmer, the division he ran, her superiors who'd signed off on reassigning her, the entire US beta armed services—all of it was corrupt. The oath she had taken with such pride when she enlisted meant nothing now. She could not continue to serve, and if Stacy wasn't a soldier…then who was she?
Vonn: The Boundarylands Omegaverse: M/F Alpha Omega Romance Page 13
