by Lizzy Bequin
The entire world seems to disappear, replaced only by darkness, bliss, and exhaustion.
Truk’s teeth are what bring me snapping back to consciousness.
I bark in shocked pain when his fangs break the skin with a venomous burn as he lays his mark on my skin alongside Dog’s and Kane’s.
Truk looks me in the face, his eyes burning with intense emotion.
“I’m sorry little one,” he whispers. “I didn’t want to hurt you.”
He brushes his cheek against me like a cat. He ever so tenderly kisses the burning brand left by his teeth on my flesh. The way he can switch from rough and brutal to gentle and soft is a total mindfuck.
Taking care not to pull at our knotted joining, Truk steps back from the wall and lowers himself to the ground. He lies back, holding me pierced and sprawled on top of his sweat-slick body.
“Good omega,” he purrs again at my ear.
The deep, warm sound of his voice sends nice shivers all the way down to my toes and back again. I lie my head on his chest and listen to the rapid thumping of his heart.
For a moment, I forget all about the mission. I forget all about the web of deceit and survival I’ve been weaving. All that matters is this.
I feel so safe, so treasured, and so thoroughly sated by my Alpha mates.
But the moment is ended by a dark shadow.
At first I think it is another cloud passing overhead, but when I tilt my face and glance upward, I see it is Kane. He is towering over me like a giant, blocking out the sunset. His pierced cock is still half hard and bouncing with his pulse as it declines.
“You tricked me,” he rumbles.
Ringed by the sun, his face is in silhouette. I can’t see his expression, but I can sense the waves of anger vibrating off his tense body.
“I’m sorry,” I whimper. “I—“
“You tricked me,” he repeats. His voice is as cold as murder.
“I didn’t mean to trick you Kane!” I blurt.
“Liar,” he snaps. He begins pacing in a slow circle around me and Truk where we lie heaving in the grass. “This was your plan all along, wasn’t it? To make me mark you, along with these other two Alphas. Now we’re bound together by the mark, so I won’t be able to rid myself of you.”
“Is that what you want?” I ask. “To rid yourself of me? I thought you were going to help me. To help us…”
Kane snarls with rage.
“Oh I’m going to help you,” he says with a cruel sneer. “I’m going to help you learn how to behave. Now that you are my marked omega, it’s my privilege—no, it’s my duty—to discipline you.”
He drops to his knees beside me and Truk. His muscles are shiny with sweat, and his face is red with anger.
“Discipline?” I whisper.
“That’s right, little omega. It’s time for you to learn what happens when you lie to your Alpha.”
There is a whoosh of air and a sharp smack as the flat of his hand connects with my bare ass, scalding my skin. I yelp as much from embarrassment as from pain.
I’m having my behind spanked by one Alpha while another is knotted inside of me.
“Stop it!” I protest, “You can’t do this!”
“Oh I can,” Kane growls. “And I must. It’s my duty as your Alpha.”
Another loud smack bounces off the stone walls as his hand smacks my bottom again.
“Motherfucker,” Truk snarls underneath me. “What the fuck are you doing?”
He starts to get up, but it’s hard to move with our bodies tied together with a knot of flesh. And to make matters worse, my body is responding to Kane’s spanking in ways that are as inappropriate as they are unexpected.
It’s making me hot. Very hot.
After being fucked and filled by the seed of three Alphas, I wouldn’t have thought it possible to be more aroused. And yet, here we are.
Kane’s palm smacks against my burning tush a third time, and I come again. Pleasure ripples from my core, and my opening cinches tighter around Truk’s cock, causing him to squirt even more of his seemingly endless supply of semen into my depths. His eyes roll back white and he collapses back onto the grass with a groan.
“Oh God,” I moan through my shameful climax. “Please. You have to stop…”
But Kane ignores my pleas. Again, he smacks my wet, sticky bottom. And again. And again.
I clutch Truk’s shuddering body, anticipating yet another blow, but this time it doesn’t fall.
Instead another shadow passes overhead, much swifter than a cloud. It is Dog. He leaps over me and Truk and catches Kane’s arm with a snarl of challenge.
“Leave her be, Alpha,” he barks.
He is furious—veins bulging and tendons straining. Spit flecks his lips as he speaks, and his eyes are bloodshot and wild.
Kane bares his teeth, and they flash white inside his darkly silvered beard.
“Or what?” Kane snarls back. “By what right do you challenge me, Dog?” He speaks his challengers name in a voice dripping with disdain. “The omega is mine now. She belongs to me. She’s mine to punish as I see fit.”
Kane wrenches his arm free from Dog’s grip, but Dog positions his body to block me from any more blows.
“Ours,” Dog hisses in a low voice. “She belongs to all of us now, Kane.”
He sweeps his hand over the three marks that are still stinging on my skin like hot brands. Kane just stares at the marks, his face slowly twisting into a mask of rage.
“That’s right, Kane.” Dog continues. “Like it or not, we’re bound as a pack now. We are bound by our omega, and we all share in our responsibility to protect her.”
“Fuck!”
Kane whirls away with a roar that seems to rumble the very ground. He stalks off toward the ruined wall and throws his fist into it breaking loose a chunk of stone.
It’s only then that I realize how much he was holding back when he spanked me. He could have broken me if he had wanted.
“Fuck!”
He strikes the wall again and again, cracking the rockcrete and busting loose more chunks and shards of stone with each blow until his knuckles are bloody and raw.
At last, his anger spent, he stands with his back to us, shoulders working up and down with each contraction and expansion of his massive lungs. The rest of us just stare at him silently.
“Fine,” he grunts at last. “So be it. It is the way of the Source.”
He picks up his leather loincloth from the ground and fastens it at his hip, then he turns to face us again. The shadow of the wall cuts his bearded face into two halves, one dark and one light. His expression is placid, but his one sunlit eye is blazing with fury.
He nods toward where Truk and I are still connected.
“When the knot’s undone, get dressed,” he says coldly. “I’ll take you into the ruins.”
PART THREE:
THE RUINS
CHAPTER 21: TRUK
By the Source, I have dreamed about this all my life, and now it is finally happening.
We are entering the city ruins.
All four of us—Kane in the lead, me and Dog behind, the three of us forming a protective triangle around Sloane in the middle.
The monolithic skyscrapers tower ahead of us, blocking out the sun. According to the stories, they were built over a century ago, before the big change. Now these man-made structures are gradually being reclaimed by the earth as their vertical stone walls are covered over with crawling vines.
High up, glass window panes wink in the sunlight amid the dense leaves of the enwrapping foliage. Other windows, their glass long since smashed out, stare darkly out from the walls like dead eyes. A cloud of white birds weaves in and out of the verdant, overgrown towers.
At first glance, the entire city appears to be deserted, but my nose tells me otherwise.
There are hundreds of Alphas here. Maybe even thousands. I can smell their collective scent wafting on the cool wind that is blowing through the canyons of the
city.
Kane is leading the way ahead of us, his steel piercings and steel-gray mane catching the light. As we near the edge of the city, he cocks his head back and lets out a long, sharp whistle at the highest edge of audibility.
“Look,” Sloane gasps.
But I have already seen them. First, a few shadows moving within the busted out windows of the ruined buildings. Then other figures at street level stepping out of alleyways and climbing up from grates and open holes that connect to the deep, underground bowels of the city.
Alphas—several dozen of them. Many are armed with knives and clubs. All of them are ready for a fight.
At Kane’s signal, however, they all stand down.
“See, we were right,” Dog says, pitching his voice low so only Sloane and I can hear. “He was planning to ambush us as soon as we arrived.”
But now, it seems, that ambush has been called off.
The emerging Alphas are looking on in confusion, they are wondering about the change of plans no doubt. And they are probably wondering what the hell a half-breed like me is doing in this place.
Most of them glare at me hatefully. Some of them even curl back their lips in a threatening snarl. They don’t want me here.
When their eyes land on Sloane, however, their attitude shifts to outright shock.
They see her three fresh marks, and they are beginning to understand what that means.
She has been mutually claimed by the three of us. By their laws, that makes her our shared omega. And by extension, that means that we are now a pack, Kane, Dog, and me.
It is now our duty to protect Sloane, and that includes Kane.
It certainly complicates things.
As the group of curious Alphas close around us, Kane gestures to an adolescent Alpha who is staring at Sloane with a look of blatant infatuation. When Kane barks an order, the boy snaps back to his senses.
“Go fetch Addom and his pack,” Kane calls. “The omega too. The one called Lily. Have them meet us in the great temple. We have much to discuss.”
The adolescent nods and rushes off down the overgrown street, disappearing into the shadows.
CHAPTER 22: SLOANE
Kane leads us to the ruins of a cathedral somewhere deep inside the center of the city.
“Wow, look at this place,” I say to Dog as we step inside.
Even though my voice is pitched low, the sound echoes and bounces around the soaring stone walls that support the high, arched ceiling. After a hundred years without maintenance, the roof has started to crumble away in places, allowing brilliant, slanting columns of sunshine to illuminate the dark space. Around the sides are windows of colored glass, many of which are broken, providing an entrance for the creeping green vines that seem to grow everywhere in this place.
I am startled by a flutter of wings overhead—a small flock of pale doves disturbed by our entrance. They fly away through one of the many holes in the ceiling.
Dog’s eyes are darting everywhere, but I can tell he’s less concerned with enjoying the ancient architecture and more focused on sussing out any possible dangers.
Truk, on the other hand, is gazing at everything with an expression of raw wonder. He’s been on cloud nine ever since we came into the city.
And surly Kane, well, he’s all business of course.
More Alphas and a few omegas file in behind us, curious to watch the proceedings and check out the strange Outsiders who have turned up unexpectedly. Other Alphas cluster in the broken out windows, and yet more perch overhead in the thick rafters.
“I don’t like this,” Dog rumbles in a low voice.
He’s right to be nervous. We’re completely surrounded and totally outnumbered. But surely if the Alphas meant to take us by force, they would have done so already.
Nevertheless, I slip my hand inside Dog’s much bigger one, enjoying the comfort it gives.
Kane continues forward until we reach the altar area at the front, then he pauses and waits, arms folding across his bulging chest. Not sure what else to do, the rest of us stop too.
“What are we waiting for?” I ask after a minute.
Kane doesn’t answer. He doesn’t even look at me. He just stands there, stock still, like some ancient statue. The only sign that he’s even alive is the ticking of his jaw.
He’s annoyed.
Scratch that, he’s frigging pissed.
I can’t blame him. I still feel bad for tricking him before, but it had to be done.
Since he’s stonewalling me now, there’s nothing left to do but wait and see what happens. I face the gathered Alphas who are looking on from the windows, rafters, and haphazardly scattered pews.
All eyes are on me right now.
I give Dog’s hand a squeeze, and his massive warm body draws closer to mine. Truk also senses my discomfort, and he places one callused hand on my shoulder. I’m glad these guys are here. I couldn’t do this alone. But with both of them here, I feel protected.
In fact, in a weird way, I’m glad Kane is here too, even though I know he hates me.
There is a bustle of activity near the entrance of the cathedral. The crowd parts to let someone through.
A deep voice thunders through the vast interior of the cathedral.
“Kane! What is going on here?”
A pack of three Alphas stride down the central aisle. They are pierced and dressed in primitive leather loincloths similar to Kane’s attire. In their midst, protectively surrounded by their three hulking bodies, is another much smaller figure. I catch a brief flash of wavy auburn hair, and my heart skips.
It’s her. It’s Lily.
We have found our target.
Suddenly, the advancing Alphas halt in unison. The one in front, a hulking warrior with a mane of silvered hair, flares his nostrils as he tests the air. His eyes fall on Dog, and his body immediately shifts into combat mode. His muscles ripple with tension, and his fangs flash white in a threatening snarl. His companions follow suit, and all three of them form a tight, defensive triangle around Lily.
“You!” the leader growls. “Is this some kind of Outsider sorcery?”
Lily peeks out from behind the protective Alpha, eyes wide with shock and fear.
“Bishop?” she gasps. “But how?”
Bishop. I remember now what Dr. Frostgrave told us when he first introduced Dog in the briefing room. He said that Dog was cloned from the cells of a dead soldier named Bishop. Apparently Lily and her Alphas met that person, and not on good terms.
Perhaps they are even the same Alphas who killed Dog’s predecessor.
And if I don’t do something to cool down the situation, it seems like history might repeat itself.
A major commotion has overtaken the cathedral. In response to the Alphas’ threatening behavior, Dog’s body shifts into a fighting stance. A moment later Kane starts growling at Dog. Apparently he’s siding with his tribesmen.
If I don’t do something soon, there’s going to be a big fight.
Before there’s a chance for violence to erupt, I leap forward, placing my body between Dog and Kane, and I shout at the top of my lungs, sending my cry echoing through the long nave of the cathedral.
“Stop! Please listen.”
The growling subsides, but the tension does not. All of the Alphas still have their hackles up, and I know it won’t take much for this whole situation to go sideways.
“Listen, please. This isn’t who you think he is. Dog is a clone. I don’t know what bad blood there was between you and Bishop, but Dog is a different person.”
“A clone?” Lily looks Dog up and down. “Of course. It only makes sense. Think about it, guys. The last time we saw Bishop, he was mangled beyond repair, but this guy doesn’t have a scar on him.”
She pauses and gives me a quizzical look.
“Wait, did you just say his name is Dog?”
“Is there a problem with that?” Dog mutters under his breath beside me.
“What is a clone?” The l
ead Alpha growls, still not convinced that Dog is not an enemy.
“It’s like a replica of a person made from their genes.”
“Genes?”
“Like an identical twin,” she explains. “But instead of being created by mating, this man was made by scientists in a lab. He may look and smell like Bishop, but he’s a different person.”
The lead Alpha sneers, but he relaxes a little, still keeping his mass positioned in front of Lily.
“Like I said. Outsider sorcery.”
Lily silently shakes her head and pinches the bridge of her nose as she gives up on explaining further.
It seems like the threat of an all out fight has been avoided, at least for now. Kane and Dog both assume a more relaxed posture, as do the other Alphas. Still, the thrum of tension remains in the air.
The lead Alpha straightens and begins to speak.
“Let us parley, then,” he booms. “Kane, perhaps you can shed some light on what is going on here.”
Kane bows his head toward this Alpha in a sign of respect.
Is this guy Kane’s boss? Perhaps he’s the chief of the whole community.
“Addom,” Kane answers, his deep baritone voice easily filling the cathedral. “Thank you for coming here with your pack.”
He gestures toward me, Dog, and Truk with a wave of his arm.
“We have some…unusual visitors. I felt it was of the utmost importance that you meet them right away.”
Addom, the leader, looks all of us up and down silently for a moment. His gaze catches on the triple marks on my neck, and I notice his eyes widen with surprise as he realizes what that means.
His eyes pass to Dog, then to Truk, and finally back to Kane.
“A very peculiar pack, my old friend. Very peculiar indeed.”
“No!” Kane snarls immediately, his voice echoing about the spacious chamber. Then he restrains himself and says in a more controlled voice. “We are not a pack.”
