by Susan Hayes
Each time she’d been in his room, it had always been after a battle of wills. She’d resisted him every chance she could, poking at him and firing volley after volley of sass and snark.
It had almost been fun.
This wouldn’t be. He wanted her submission. Not her spirit, just her surrender. For the price of her sister’s life, she’d given it to him.
“Would you like me to undress you, master?”
“No. Undress yourself first. Slowly. And do not call me master. I am T’kinn, your alpha. There is a difference.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to challenge his statement and demand he explain just what the difference was. She didn’t. “As you wish.”
His gaze was hard on her as she stepped back and slowly stripped out of her clothing until she was naked. She was no practiced seductress, far from it, but she resisted the impulse to strip down with speed and efficiency. Instead, she slowed her movements, her gaze unfocused on the wall behind him as she moved.
“Look at me,” he demanded, the edge of a snarl in his voice.
She snapped her gaze to his, her breathing short as he stalked toward her. His hand snapped out to slide into her hair at the nape of her neck. She didn’t fight and instead was pliant in his hold. He searched her gaze and growled. She shivered, unable to lock down the response of her body as need rolled through her. Liquid heat escaped her, slick on her thighs as her body readied itself for his possession, but she didn’t move, didn’t press her thighs together to conceal it. He dragged a hard breath in, his massive chest inflating and he shoved a hand between her thighs. Strong fingers slid between her folds and his growl turned to a purr.
“You want me. Your body knows who you belong to, little star.”
She closed her eyes in hopes that it would be easier if she couldn’t see him. Hungry. Impossibly handsome and yet still a beast. Just like the rest of them.
“I belong to you, T’kinn.”
He snarled. “Yes. Mine. Always. And so is your pleasure.” He moved his fingers, stroking her and taking control of her body. “Mine to give.” His hand tightened in her hair, pulling her head back. “Mine to withhold.” He removed his fingers and placed them against her lips. “Taste yourself. Your desire is so sweet I could eat nothing else. I will feast on you.”
She couldn’t help the small whimper as he smeared the evidence of her own arousal against her lips. Pressure on the bottom lip forced her to part her lips for him. His expression tightened as he pushed his fingers within.
“Suck,” he ordered, his voice hard.
Taking his wrist in her hands, she held on to him as she let him invade her mouth and then closed her lips around his fingers. Her own musky taste made her breathing catch as heat built in her veins. He groaned as her tongue stroked the length of each finger, the sound blending with his parth to become a siren song that made her ache with need.
She barely registered when she started to parth back to him, the sound rising from her chest and buzzing against his fingers.
“That’s right. Parth for me. Only for me.” He pulled his hand away from her mouth, and when she looked up at him, his eyes had changed. The beast was there behind those all-black eyes, sizing her up like the next morsel on his menu.
“Lie back and let me taste you. I want to hear you scream your pleasure. I want every male within hearing distance to know you are mine.”
She was on the bed before she was conscious of moving. It was so easy to slip into the call of the heat, to let her mind ease into nothingness and just react as her body wanted to. Closing her eyes with a shudder, she lay back, her arms above her head as she let his large hands part her thighs.
He shouldered his way between her legs, wrapping his hands around her thighs to hold them open. Her parth stuttered as his warm breath washed over her. Her clit ached, anticipating the pleasure to come, and her pussy clenched hard. Heat swept through her like a fever and she embraced it, letting the firestorm consume all thought.
He made her wait. Not long, but enough to ensure that the moment he made contact, every part of her was focused on him. His touch. The warmth of his mouth. Every flick of his tongue drove her closer to the edge of her control, and this time she didn’t resist.
Her fingers sank into the bedding, her voice raised in a broken purr that lifted into a cry of need. Her hips bucked against his mouth, needing more and craving everything he could give her.
“Yes,” he growled. One long finger slid into her channel followed by another.
Pleasure flooded her senses, drowning her. It was all she could do to keep her head above water as he licked and kissed, tormenting her clit as he stretched her with his fingers. He worked her body so she was ready for his possession. She knew what he was doing. Every touch and stroke of his fingers, every kiss and lick, every soft parth, eroded her will and pushed her closer to the fire.
“Kinn,” his name escaped her lips in barely more than a whisper, but she knew he’d heard it.
“Yes, my sweet omega. That’s what I want. My name on your lips. My hands on your body. Showing you what it means to belong to an alpha.” His fingers moved faster and harder. “Come for me, Serena. Tell everyone who you belong to.”
One last surge of defiance filled her. She shook her head, clamping her lips shut as he pushed her higher and higher. Closer to the edge.
“Tell me!” he ordered, adding his thumb to slide over her clit. “Now!”
She didn’t. She managed to keep her silence as her release crashed over her, her back arching and her hips rocking against his touch. He snatched his hands away, the abrupt loss of touch making her cry out. Then his hands slammed into the bed on either side of her head, her furious alpha bracing himself over her.
“I will have your pleasure,” he snarled, shoving her thighs apart with a hard knee. “You will call my name. Mine, do you hear me?”
She closed her eyes, swallowing hard. The last of her willpower was gone. There was only need now. The need of an omega for her alpha. It was easier to just react. To allow her heart to wash over her to take every one of her worries away.
He pinned her to the bed, his breath coming in harsh pants that fanned over her skin. Without a word, he levered himself up onto one arm to tear open his pants.
Once freed, his cock was a heavy length against her thigh. She felt the ridges and the way it pulsed. He wanted her. Badly. But he didn’t rush as she expected.
Instead, he eased into her slowly. Almost gently. Every inch filled her and increased her pleasure, her entire body humming with it.
“I know you want this,” he leaned down to whisper in her ear as he gathered her closer in his arms, bracing himself over her and surrounding her all in the same move. His fangs grazed the side of her neck, making her shiver.
“Your scent betrays you. You trust me. You want me… you want this,” he murmured, small nips against her neck eroding her ability to ignore him. His hips rocked against hers as he impaled her, slowly and steadily working his way inside her.
She nodded and then whispered. “I am yours.”
His growl of triumph filled the air around them and then he filled her completely, his hips against hers. He was big, her body stretched to capacity. She closed her eyes, biting her lip against the discomfort. He stilled in place, holding her as his lips pressed against her temple in a soft kiss.
“It’s okay, little star,” he murmured. “It’ll feel good in a moment.”
She gave a little bark of laughter. “You say that every time.”
“And every time it’s true. You will know nothing but pleasure at my hands, Serena. My omega.”
She cupped his cheek in her hands and took a long look into the eyes of the male who had taken away everything she’d known and offered only himself in return. If this was her fate… so be it. “T’kinn. My alpha.”
He shivered and then growled. “Say it again.”
She kept her gaze locked on his as she ran her finger tips over his lips. “Mine.”
He tensed, withdrew, and then surged into her with a deep sound somewhere between a roar and a snarl. Her name was twisted into the sound. Then he was moving. Claiming her. His mouth crashed down on hers, sealing in her cries as she rode the waves of pleasure that washed through her. There was no denying her need anymore. It was all-consuming and she let herself get lost in it.
Closing her eyes, she moved with him. She let the heat wash up, stealing all thoughts but those of him. She gave herself up willingly and kissed him back, fighting gently for control of the kiss until he growled, his dominant nature coming to the fore.
Her heart leaped as he moved, capturing her wrists and stretching her out beneath him. Lacing his fingers with hers, he held her in place, his deep thrusts speeding up while becoming harder and deeper.
Eyes black as midnight looked down at her, his mouth open as he panted with the tip of one fang showing. He’d changed, just a little, in a blending of the male and the beast. She wasn’t afraid of either. Not anymore.
There was just pleasure—hers, his, and theirs. Her hands clenched into fists, nails biting into her own flesh as she tensed against his hold, straining to reach climax.
“More!”
“As my omega wishes.” He shifted their bodies, changing the angle of his thrusts so he could stroke her clit with every thrust.
“Oh. That. More.” Her words were broken, ragged, and breathless. She didn’t care. All she wanted was …
“Yes!” She arched off the bed as her release hit.
It was raw and all-consuming, sheer pleasure exploding through every cell in her body. She gasped, her breath stolen. She wrapped herself around him as he sped up, his hips driving against hers. The cords stood out in his neck, every inch of his powerful body chasing his own release.
Then he thrust one last time before he stiffened and threw his head back to howl in triumph as his cock swelled and knotted, triggering another release as he spilled his seed deep within her.
7
The test was positive. He knew it would be. Her scent had told him, but he had to be sure.
Kinn suppressed a growl as he stood in the middle of his lab and looked at the test results on the screen. His omega was pregnant and everything should be perfect. She’d accepted him as her alpha and submitted to him. The days of her heat had been the most blissful of his life. Exhausting, and their constant fucking had damned near rubbed his cock raw… Gods, when the others had said omegas in heat were insatiable, they hadn’t been wrong. He was a trained and battle-hardened warrior at peak fitness and even then, a few times he’d thought she’d wear him to exhaustion.
But… he ran a hand through his hair. The female who had come out of heat hadn’t been the same as the one who had gone into it.
It didn’t make sense, but nothing about Serena ever had. She was contrary and stubborn with a sharp tongue and an even sharper mind. She was nothing like an omega should be. At least, nothing his kind had seen since… He tugged at his hair in frustration.
There had to be an explanation. Some reason why these humans showed some of the same characteristics as the Tolath’s original omegas. Only some, though. Serena’s current behavior wasn’t anything mentioned in the medical archives. She was… fading. The sparkle in her eyes was gone, as was the fire that had so infuriated him.
She would sleep in the nests she made. In fact, she slept too much and ate too little. And the nests were still not big enough. They were just for her, not him as well. He’d tried urging her to make them bigger, so he could comfort her as she slept, but she continued to ignore all the extra bedding material. Even trying to provoke a reaction from her was pointless. She just agreed with everything he said.
He closed his eyes, tipping his head back. He never thought he’d miss the argumentative side of her nature. Ever. Now? He’d do anything just for her to wrinkle her beautiful little nose and deliver a stinging set-down about him being a brutish alien or something.
Anything.
Every test he ran was inconclusive. He was the best healer on the planet, but these omegas—especially his omega—confounded him. The bit of membrane she’d used to somehow control or hide her omega nature had been too old and used up to give him the answers the Lord Overseer wanted. All he could confirm was that they had at least one way to escape detection.
Asking Serena was pointless. She’d stay silent and look at him with eyes that reminded him of the broken omegas he saw among the L’crav.
He pushed the thought away. She wasn’t broken. He hadn’t broken her. Not like the L’crav had done with their omegas. He cared for her and gave her everything she needed. Food, bedding, safety… the comfort of his body when she asked for it.
He opened his eyes, gazing at the patterns on the ceiling without seeing them. She didn’t ask, though. She didn’t deny him, but she didn’t seek his touch either. Not as he’d seen Var and Rath’s omegas do. She didn’t look at him like they looked at their mates either, nor had she bitten him.
With a growl, he slammed his hands down on the counter in front of him. This stopped now. Turning, he stormed from the room, determination filling every line of his body. She would be happy. He would make sure she was.
And then she’d sass him again with fire in her eyes, and they would be a properly mated pair.
He found her in one of the side rooms she’d claimed when she was still turning his life and healing hall upside down. She wasn’t alone. The Mother Superior was with her again. It occurred to him he didn’t even know the female’s name. Everyone used her title, a mark of status that he didn’t quite understand. She was a female, and not even an omega.
“Mother Superior. I will speak to my omega now. You may return to visit another day.”
He expected her to murmur her goodbyes and leave as ordered. She was a beta, and they were conditioned to serve. But she didn’t. His frown grew as she ignored him and reached forward, her hand over Serena’s as she linked gazes with his omega. After a long moment, she nodded. Squeezing Serena’s hand, she rose gracefully.
“If you need me, Serena, you know where to find me.”
For a moment it was like Serena didn’t realize Mother Superior was leaving. The other woman was halfway to the door before she responded. “Yes, Ari.”
The beta woman locked eyes with him and nodded toward the door, an unspoken order that surprised him enough to get him moving before he realized it. Then instinct almost had him digging his heels in. This was a beta, for xarth’s sake. No alpha took orders from a beta.
But… she obviously wanted to talk about Serena, the concern clearly written in her eyes.
“Yes?” he demanded once they were in the corridor, folding his arms over his broad chest as he glowered down at the female. Lord Tane needed to get her under control. He was a reasonable male, but if she started ordering some of the younger alphas about, she was going to get hurt.
The female stared up at him with a serenity he’d only seen in the eyes of priests—a sense of knowing that was as annoying as it was indefinable. “Do you understand what’s happening to your omega?” she asked, her tone too soft to take offense to.
“Yes.” Of course he knew. He was a healer as well as Serena’s alpha.
“We call it the Fade.”
That was news to him. The humans knew about this? “We have no name for it,” he conceded. “What else can you tell me?”
Her expression was serene, but her eyes were filled with sorrow and something else. Maybe anger?
“The kindest thing you can do,” she said, glancing toward the blaster holstered at his hip, “is to walk in there and kill her.”
He bared his teeth and growled, the deeper rumble hinting at how close his other side was to the surface. “Never.”
“She is dying, Healer T’kinn. You alphas can force a claim, but you cannot force an omega to accept it. She will die before she accepts you.”
“She will not die! I will make her happy.”
Again, that small,
sad smile. “How?”
“I—” His words dried up and then he snarled. “I just will. She is my omega. I have given her everything. She will be happy. I will make sure she is.”
“You have given her everything but the one thing she wants.”
He focused on her, meeting her look with a hard one of his own. A beta should have looked down submissively, unable to meet the gaze of an alpha, but not this one. If anything, her look was hard with an edge of challenge.
“What is that?”
“Freedom.”
The word dropped into the silence between them. It rang with truth. Finality.
“What?” he barked a laugh, hating the unsure note in it. “She has the freedom of the city. She can see you, her friends… I do not curtail her movements.”
The Mother Superior laughed. It was like listening to crystal bells chiming. “You curtail her life, Tolathian. Since the L’crav came, we have all lived under the yoke of enslavement. You cannot undo what was done simply by being nicer about it than your predecessors. I have tried to explain this to the Lord Overseer, but he doesn’t see it. Not yet.”
“Var and Rath’s females do not have this condition. What do their omegas have that Serena doesn’t?” If this slip of a female wouldn’t answer him, he’d go to Var next. Someone must know. It was important to all their kind that they learn how to stop this from happening, starting with Serena.
“I cannot answer that. I don’t know what the difference is, but there is one. There are only three kinds of omegas, Lord Healer. The ones that fade, the few that thrive… and those who live free and never have to make that choice.”
His blood froze in his veins. “The ones that fade. Tell me about them. Now.”
She didn’t back up as he crowded her, no fear in her eyes nor in her scent. She tilted her head back to meet his gaze, way too bold for a beta.
“Healer, I would advise you to back up. Now.”
Before he could give voice to his anger that she was once again ordering him—an alpha—around, a low and dangerous snarl filled the corridor. The sound of death and destruction was instantly recognizable.
