by Susan Hayes
“Shut the fuck up unless you want a gut full of lead,” she hissed back, nudging him in the back with her knee. He snapped his jaw shut and paid attention to their surroundings. It hadn’t escaped his notice that there were as many females as males among the rebels, and they all had the same hard-faced, flint-eyed look. He had no doubt that if he was on his own, he would already be dead. A shift of the wind around them brought several scents to his nose and he stiffened.
“Some of these females are omegas.”
“No, they are not. You’re mistaken. We’re all betas here. No matter what your damn nose is telling you.”
“Careful, little star. There are limits to my patience.”
She snorted. “Careful, Healer. You’re in my world now.”
And what a world it was. He’d seen several of the humans’ villages. This was something different. A military camp. These weren’t pockets of disorganized rebels. This was a xarthing army. No wonder Serena had made him swear not to tell anyone.
Tents the same color as the wasteland’s soil were set in perfect rows. They drove by a handful of vehicles, all of them clearly in use despite the fact there shouldn’t have been fuel or parts available. “How is this here?” he asked.
“It isn’t. It never was, and by sundown, it will be long gone,” Serena replied.
“I gave my word,” he growled.
“And no one here is going to risk their lives by sticking around to see if you keep it. This isn’t about your honor. This is about our survival.”
They traveled in silence for a short distance and then Serena spoke again. “There. She’ll be in there.” Serena’s voice was tight as she pointed to a larger tent marked with a dull red cross.
He nodded and headed that way. They were watched every step of the way, two guards at the tent’s entrance watching them with steely expressions. One was a male, the other a woman so tiny he wasn’t sure she was fully grown. Her grip on the big weapon in her hands begged otherwise, and he read his own death in her eyes if he so much as breathed wrong.
“How’s she doing, Tami?” his omega asked as she hopped off the back of the bike, leaving him to power it down. He gathered his pack from the back and followed a few paces behind her. Tami’s eyes flicked to him for a moment, and he had to bite back his growl. Beta, his arse. This woman was an omega through and through. Not the type he and his kind were used to, but she was definitely an omega.
“She’s in the main theater,” Tami replied. “Got hit by a prox-mine in sector Alpha-four. These assholes re-mined the northern approach to the mountain.”
“What was she even doing out there?” Serena muttered but then raised her hand. “Never mind. I already know the answer. Because she’s a stubborn fool who thinks she’s the only one qualified to do anything.”
Tami gave her a tight-lipped smile. “Like someone else I know. Rumor had it you were captured.”
“Rumor is wrong nine times out of ten. I’m here. Aren’t I?” Serena turned to him. “Come on, Doc. Your patient is this way.”
He followed her inside. The air was dim and thick with scents he knew all too well: antiseptic, blood, and the bitter taint of sickness. He noted infection too, a thick, unpleasant odor that clung to the inside of his mouth and nose. The contents of his pack were far better than anything he could see in use around him. Why were all these humans living this way? Omegas should have everything they needed to be comfortable and content. This was wrong.
The woman lying on what these humans laughingly referred to as the main theater, though, took his breath away. She was… identical to Serena. His gaze cut to the woman by his side.
“A twin?” he demanded. More secrets. “She’s an omega like you. She has to be.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.
“Yeah, but fuck all good that knowledge will do you,” the female on the bed growled. Her skin was pale as she lay there, her side covered in blood that had soaked through the bandages. Despite the wound, the female gripped a pistol in her hand, the barrel aimed right at him. “Rena, what did you do?”
“I could ask you the same question, Max. I go away for a few weeks and you get yourself blown to hell.”
“And you got yourself captured.”
Despite the banter he could hear the pain in the female’s voice and noted the way her fingers shook as they gripped the weapon.
Serena ran a hand through her hair and looked chagrined. “Yeah. But I’m here now.”
“With one of them.”
“To save you. We have an… understanding.” Serena looked at him and he nodded, knowing what she needed him to say. “I am a heal—doctor. I’m here to treat you. Nothing else. Once that’s done, I will leave and never mention this place to anyone. That’s the deal we made.”
Max narrowed her eyes at him. “Why?”
“Because my omega asked this of me.”
Her lip curled back from her teeth and she altered her grip on the pistol. From here he could see the grip was slick with blood. Her blood. “Your omega, my ass. Rena belongs to no one but herself.”
He lifted his hands, deciding not to argue when the female was clearly half out of her mind with blood loss and pain. “Shoot if you need to, but if you do, you lose any chance of being healed. Even from here I can tell your…” he searched for the human word. “Your gut is perforated. You won’t survive without me.”
Serena made a small noise of grief and worry. “Dammit, Max. Stop being fucking stubborn and let him help. He’s here. The damage is done.”
“You made a deal with this beast for me?”
“It was going to happen anyway. Had happened. So, yes. I did. Now put the gun down and let him do his job. He’s good at it. I promise.”
It was disturbing to see a female so like his Serena in such pain, but he pushed that thought aside. “I am the best healer on this planet. If I move quickly, I believe I can save you. But you don’t have much time. Decide now.”
“You’re an asshole,” she growled but lowered the weapon.
He chuckled as he moved forward, placing his pack on a nearby trolley and dragging it toward her. “So I keep being told. May I?” he asked, motioning toward her side.
She nodded as Serena rounded the other side of the bed to hold her hand. Sweat streaked Max’s blonde hair, longer than Serena’s, as she leaned her head back against the hard pillows of the bed. Her lips compressed, her hand tightening on her sister’s as he worked. He hated causing her pain, each flinch and caught breath making his heart clench.
“You’re doing really well, Max,” he murmured. He’d noticed humans liked talking and praise.
“Not my first rodeo,” the female bit out, her attention divided between him and another soldier who ducked through the tent flap. “Yes, Siobhan?”
“Patrols are in from the southern sectors, General. You’re going to want to—”
Kinn managed to stay on task as the pieces fell into place. This camp. The way the others had recognized Serena. He wasn’t just working on his omega’s sister. He was patching up the leader of the rebels.
Lord Tane would strangle him with his own entrails if he ever learned of this. But honor demanded he abide by his promise. He looked down at the female. Besides, this was a warrior. Taking her now would be dishonorable to everyone, including her. Even the enemy deserved better than that… if an omega could be the enemy.
“No more interruptions,” he barked. “You can issue orders or you can live. Choose.”
Max nodded, but Serena spoke, her voice ringing with command. “Siobhan, have Harris take command for now and debrief the patrols.”
Max’s lips quirked as Siobhan snapped out a salute and left the tent. “Still got it, Rena.” She looked at Kinn directly. “Okay, Doc. How am I looking?”
He grumbled in the back of his throat. “Like you’ve been hit by a proximity mine. Which you shouldn’t have been. You’re an omega. You should be protected. Cherished. Not on a battlefield.”
“Cherished?” Max
started to laugh, but it died away to a pained gasp. “Didn’t know you alien bastards even knew that word. I’m on a battlefield because the alternative was to be brutalized and broken until I died. Thanks, but I’d rather go out fighting.”
“And you very nearly did.”
“Nearly, but not will?” Serena asked, her voice soft and full of hope.
“Not today.” He cleaned off his hands and then set out the rest of his equipment. “It would be best if you were unconscious for this next bit. It will be unpleasant and any movement might make things worse.”
To his surprise, the female didn’t answer but looked at Serena. “If I die, shoot him for me?”
“You know I will.”
Max looked back at him and then closed her eyes. “Okay then. I could use a nap anyway.”
6
“Will she be okay?” Serena asked, coming to stand at his side as he double checked his patient’s vitals. She was sleeping peacefully now, her color a lot better than when he’d arrived hours earlier.
He grunted in response. Saving his omega’s twin’s life hadn’t been easy, but being a healer wasn’t easy. He was a warrior, but the hardest battles he fought were in the medical hall, trying to heal the damage wrought to blood and bone, flesh and skin. And that was made a thousand times worse when he was working on a precious omega.
Although, he wouldn’t have known she was one. That she was the general of the human resistance… Hardy. Her name was Hardy. General Max Hardy. He pulled the name from the memories of security briefings and interrogations to try and gather intelligence on the human resistance.
He looked at the female on the bed again. They’d assumed they were looking for a beta male.
They’d never once suspected they were looking for a female. And an omega.
None of this should be possible. They knew the human omegas were different. It was why they’d brought Serena to him in the first place. Lord Tane wanted to know what the differences were and what caused them, but this was still unexpected. To lack submissiveness was one thing, but these females were soldiers.
And he couldn’t reveal that without breaking his oath to Serena.
“You’re looking grumpy again. What’s wrong?” Serena asked.
“You are my secretive, stubborn little omega.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair, pushing it out of his eyes. “You should have told me about this place the moment you came to me. Your sister would never have been injured. All these omegas would be safe and cared for.”
She shot him a dark look. “You mean claimed. Do you think human omegas are all going to happily give up their freedom just for something to eat and a safe place to sleep? Still? Because, buddy, if you do, I have bad news for you.”
He studied her with exasperation. “Why would they choose this instead? Why would they choose a life of fear and injury, even death over what we offer?”
She leaned forward to brush her sister’s hair gently back from her face. Max’s eyelashes fluttered on her cheeks, a soft murmur in the back of her throat as though she knew her twin was there and was comforted by it. Something was heartbreaking about the touch and he looked away, uncomfortable intruding on such a moment.
“Because all you offered was more of the same.” Her voice was soft with a resigned, sad note in it that tore at his heart. “If we’re going to die anyway, we’d rather do it on our feet with a weapon in our hands than on our backs, bleeding to death from knot wounds.”
He snarled. “We are not like the L’crav. You know this. You’ve seen it. Why do you still cling to the belief that this is better.”
The look she gave him would give even Var, the overseer’s shield, a moment’s pause. “Because this is all we’ve known for twenty years. I’ve killed more of your kind than you’ve spent days on my planet. You lot can’t just show up and say, ‘Oops, sorry. They were assholes, but trust us. We’re nothing like them,’ and expect us to throw ourselves into your beds in joyful relief that everything will be fine.”
“Yet, you gave yourself to me. Do you think I’m going to kill you like some ravening beast?”
Her expression shuttered and he felt the growl rise in his throat. His hand snapped out, and he hooked it around the back of her neck and hauled her up against him.
“You are mine,” he snarled. “You agreed to it. Now do not lie to me.”
She didn’t fight him as he expected, which was… disconcerting. He expected her ire, for her to push against his hold and threaten him with physical harm if her kind saw her being manhandled. But she didn’t. Instead, she was pliant in his hold, merely resting against him.
“When did I lie?” she asked, her voice low and calm.
His fangs had dropped and his anger added a deep rumble to his voice. “When haven’t you? This place. Your sister. Where you were captured. What you were doing at the time. All lies. So now I want to hear one truth from you. Do you think I could ever hurt you?”
“I don’t know.” The words didn’t hurt as much as the look in her eyes as she said it.
He was off balance, his pride stung. She still didn’t understand. “I will never hurt you, little star. And I will never let you go. Your sister will live to fight another day. I’ve kept my promises. It’s time you kept yours.”
She didn’t move at first, their gazes locked, but he couldn’t read hers. Then she nodded, her eyelids sweeping down as she relaxed against him. A surge of triumph rolled through him. She was his. She had admitted it and surrendered to him, naming him her alpha.
Leaning down, he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. Gentle. Tender. He would make her see that she was his, and he would protect her. Not because he wanted to, even though he did, but because he needed to. Being claimed was the safest place for any omega because their alphas were literally hard-wired to protect them. To see to their every need.
She would see. She would stop doubting him.
“Come,” he murmured, slinging his pack over his shoulder and reaching for her hand to lead her from the tent.
She took his hand and followed him out, but her head was turned to look at her sister until the last moment. Only when they reached the door did she look away. By then, her face was an expressionless mask.
Aware of her pain, he made an unexpected offer. “You may continue to stay in contact through her. Written notes. Once I have approved them, you can give them to the Mother Superior. Clearly she has ways of conveying such things.”
“Thank you.” Her words were soft and held none of their usual fire. “But that won’t be necessary. It would put too many at risk.”
He turned to look at her and lost his train of thought as someone who should not be anywhere near this camp appeared in the door of one of the tents. His shirt was tossed over his shoulder and he was fastening his pants as he exited.
A’Rett, the lord overseer’s spymaster, was here?
Kinn kept his expression level with iron control. Not only was the spymaster here, but he looked like he’d been here a while. His clothing was Terran, and as he walked past them eyeballing Kinn with a hard look that completely lacked any recognition, one of the other males called out to him to help them take down another structure. Stunned amusement filled Kinn as he tugged on his omega’s hand to lead her to the bike. The spymaster was here posing as a beta male, in the middle of a group of omegas and obviously knew the human general was an omega… and Kinn couldn’t tell a soul.
Some asshole god somewhere was laughing at him. They had to be.
Serena didn’t let herself feel anything on the ride back to the citadel. She locked away her grief, fear, and regrets. The pointless emotions wouldn’t change anything. She’d made a deal to save Max’s life. She couldn’t regret that. The rebellion would continue.
She just wouldn’t be part of it anymore. All that was left for her was to do what every omega did when forced to submit—wait for death’s release. The only omegas she knew of who hadn’t done that were Leia and Savannah… and they had each other.
The walls of Zabor T’ah loomed over her, its high walls foreboding. Once those gates closed behind her, that was it. A bitter smile crossed her lips. Who was she kidding? It had been over for her as soon as Kinn had laid eyes on her. She sat, back straight, as he pulled the big air-bike to a stop in the transport compound. Unmoving, she waited for him to dismount, not arguing as he held his hand out to help her down. Silence stretched between them as he led her up to his rooms. She didn’t make eye contact with any of the alphas or beta servants they passed, letting her gaze slide out of focus.
The door shut behind her with a click and she jumped. She hadn’t realized they were here already.
“So this is how you plan to defy me now. Is it? Through silence and sulking?” Kinn’s voice was hard and threaded with fury. She turned to find him leaning back against the closed door, his arms folded over his massive chest. “I shouldn’t be surprised. In my experience, humans lie and deceive.”
“And in my experience alien assholes, are well… assholes. You take what you want, when you want it. Food. Water. Sex. Hell, you took our whole planet.” She kept her gaze on the floor. “But I am not defying you. You wished me to embrace my nature. To surrender. This is me surrendering.”
It was the hardest thing she’d done in a lifetime full of hard choices, but she put her hands behind her back, bowed her head low, and got on her knees. “I’m yours, T’kinn of the H’thor.”
Silence stretched in the room, the air crackling with something. Fury. Radiating out from the alien male at the door.
“Very well,” he bit out, his voice hard. “If this is how you want it. You get your wish. Come.”
She looked up as he strode past her toward the bedroom. For a moment she just watched, her entire body weak, but then she pushed to her feet and followed him.
It was the longest walk of her life, each step another link in the chains that bound her… but she did it. She put one foot in front of the other until she was in the bedroom, standing in front of the huge alien alpha with her gaze downcast in submission.
