“I know this isn’t what you wanted.” Guilt tied his stomach in knots as he rubbed his thumb back and forth on her arm. “Is there— is there anything I can get you?”
“Water.” It was quiet, but he stood and filled his cup. Kneeling at the side of the bed as she sat up, he watched Karissa wince and waited until she was steady before handing it to her. “Thanks,” she mumbled after the first sip.
“Can you tell me how much pain you’re in? I have drugs that can—”
“No drugs,” she snapped, cutting him off. “That’s what got me into this hellhole.”
Swallowing, Alishair stared at the floor for a moment before he forced a deep breath. “I know what you’re going through, Karissa. I can answer any questions you have about what happened.”
“How could you know?” Pale purple eyes lifted to him and he almost laughed. Almost. He’d spent too much time around the pack, where scent told them everything before he even entered the room, and she hadn’t been around anyone but the Alphas since her Awakening.
“I’m Omega too.”
“What?” She sat up so fast she sloshed water onto the bed, hissing as she twinged one of her injuries.
“I’m Omega,” he repeated, smiling a bit. “Just like you, only… male.”
Leaning forward, she grabbed onto his arm with an iron grip. “They took you too? They did this—”
“No, no.” He shook his head, cutting her off before she could go too far down that path. “I was like this long before they found me, Karissa. I’m sure it’s not what you want to hear right now, but Mordek and the pack saved me.”
“From what?”
“A bad place.” Tension coiled in his stomach, and he nudged the water cup towards her lips as a distraction. “You should drink the water. It will help.”
She took a sip like he had any right to direct her, and then another, drinking until she’d emptied the cup. Taking it, he used the excuse to step away and refill. As he stared down into the sink, he heard her shifting again. “Alishair… have they…”
“Hurt me?” he finished, turning to see the open worry on her face. Thinking of the Alphas, he smirked as he returned to hand her the cup. “No. Well, no more than I’ve asked them to.”
“Asked them?” she echoed, and he could tell she was in shock. Tugging at the blanket under her, he waited for her to shift until he could pull it free and shake it out to wrap it around her shoulders. She snuggled down into it and he remembered the relief of clothing. Protection.
He’d have to ask them for clothes. Wouldn’t that be a fun discussion.
Sighing, he leaned back on his hands. “It always hurts a bit at first, right? But then it feels really, really good?” He shrugged, thinking of the Alphas when they were in more playful, and less terrifying, moods. The grin was unavoidable. “Can’t blame a guy for wanting them.”
Karissa was much less entertained, and he sighed.
Pushing a hand through his hair, he tried to explain it better. “I just mean—”
“So, you like males?” she asked, her brow creased as she looked at him.
“Yes, don’t you?”
Waving a hand, a slight blush touched her cheeks. “I don’t mean it like that, not in a bad way. I just want to make sure that they’re not…”
“Forcing me.” He waited for her to nod, and it made his stomach twist. That was how she saw this, and if he were honest with himself, that is exactly what it was. They’d taken her during her Awakening in a fucking alley in the club district. Niken’s description of what he’d seen was enough to paint a vivid image.
Shit. This was going to be a terrible discussion with the Alphas.
Clenching his teeth, he blew out a breath to steady his nerves. “I understand why you’re asking, Karissa, but I can assure you they’ve never done that. But I’m always careful when I’m about to enter my Needing, and… I’ve never tried to run.”
“WHY WOULDN’T I RUN?” she screamed, and he instantly turned to stare at the door, panic making his heart race wildly in his chest as he frantically tried to shush her.
“Shh, shh! Please, please don’t yell. I guarantee they can hear you, and I know you don’t want them in here right now. So, please?”
“Okay, fine, but I can’t just stay here. I won’t. And… by the gods, Alishair, why would you want to be here with them? What about your family? Your friends?” Her lip trembled as she spoke and he rubbed her knee through the blanket.
Bitter memories tugged at him, like hooks dug into his flesh, but he pushed it all down. That time of his life was over. “I don’t have anyone else. And I know you don’t want to hear it, but they’re good, Karissa. They are. This is just… new. For everyone.” Including me.
“And that excuses it? All of this?” she hissed, rage peppering her voice even as another set of tears slipped down her cheeks.
“No. It doesn’t excuse their behavior, but there are things you don’t understand yet. Rules that just — are.” Huffing out a breath, he shrugged at the inadequate explanation. “We can’t fight biology.”
“So, I’m just supposed to be happy as their mindless sex puppet? For the rest of my fucking life?” A growl clicked to life in her chest, and he pulled back from her on instinct. It made her flinch, her head dropping as she rubbed her forehead. “I’m not angry at you, Alishair. I’m angry at them. At Mordek. At this whole fucked up situation.”
“I understand.” He nudged the cup of water again to remind her to drink. “And you’re just overwhelmed by the change right now. It will get better.” I hope.
“But they won’t let me leave.”
Groaning, Alishair stood and paced away from her. Subconsciously checking the various chemical processes he had going, lowering the heat on one container, shifting another so the particles wouldn’t settle to the bottom, and then tapping the keyboard on one of his computers so the screen would wake. It was more than a few minutes before he managed to face her again. Curled up on his bed, getting her female Omega scent on all of his sheets and blankets, but he didn’t feel territorial. He just felt… sad. For her.
He was about to put the final nail in the coffin of her old life. Thanks, guys.
“I— I don’t have anything good to tell you, Karissa. I wish I did, I really wish I did, but this universe isn’t kind to Omegas. Male or female. From the moment of our Awakening we are always in danger. I’m not sure if the Alphas told you some of the things they’ve seen, but—”
She lifted a hand, turning away from him to stare at the wall. “They told me. You don’t need to elaborate.”
“Okay, then I won’t… but I do need you to understand. You will never be safe out there. Without the pack, without the Alphas protecting you, you will end up just like”—me—“so many of those that have suffered. Been brutalized. Died.”
“So I was right then.”
Confused, he waited for her to meet his gaze and he hated how empty her eyes were again. “Right about what?”
“About being their mindless sex puppet. Their prisoner. For the rest of my life.”
“They marked you, Karissa!” he shouted, even though he knew he shouldn’t, and when he walked forward she sunk back against the wall. It made him feel like shit, but his own anger and pain kept building. “Each of them. The first fucking night they found you they bit you! Marked you as theirs, and you’ve bonded with two of them! You haven’t even been here a week, do you know how insane that is?”
The shocked expression on her face told him the answer. No, she didn’t, because she didn’t understand anything and he was supposed to be explaining it all to her. Calmly.
Muttering under his breath he stomped to the other corner of the room and dropped into the raggedy old chair he’d rescued from beside a dumpster. Well, Parel had done the dragging and the lifting, but he’d been the one to find it and clean it up. Sinking into the familiar scents, he tucked his feet into the chair so he could wrap his arms around his legs. Being angry at her wasn’t going to
help anything.
He heard her get up and tried not to snap at her to not touch anything, but it would have been pointless anyway. All she did was walk to the sink to refill the cup, caught before she’d even turned the tap as she stared at her reflection.
Dammit. He should have prepared her.
“My neck…” she whispered, and it was enough to soften the fractured edges of his pride.
“It will heal.” A hollow chuckle left his lips. “Well, there is one bonus to all of this, you do heal faster now.”
Karissa didn’t even react to his words as she traced the bruises. “It looks like Niken’s did.”
“Yes,” he confirmed as the humor died in his chest. Waiting for her to put the pieces together didn’t take long, and it was her sniffle that brought him to his feet again. “Karissa…”
“The other pack, they—” Her face pinched just as she scrubbed fresh tears from her cheeks. “They hurt him like Mordek did to me?”
Worse. “Similar, yes.”
“Because of me. Because they smelled me?” An edge of hysteria in her tone had him creeping closer, ready to try and quiet her if he had to.
“Karissa, look at me.” Reaching for her hand, he squeezed and tugged so she’d turn to face him and stop staring at her reflection. “Listen, that wasn’t your fault. Niken doesn’t blame you, no one blames you for that.”
“Is he okay?” she whispered, and he couldn’t help but smile at the display of compassion after she’d nearly ripped the male’s head off before he could even stand on his own feet.
“He’s healing. Like I said… bonus.” Lips twitching with a weak smile, he nudged her back to the bed. “You should rest.”
It was almost too easy to get her to sit back on his bed, and he pulled the edges of the blanket back over her chest when it fell open.
“You do understand that to get you somewhere safe, to get you here, any one of the pack would have done that… right? They would never have revealed your location, our home, no matter what they did.” Rubbing her knee, he crouched until he caught her eyes again. “More than anything in the universe they just want you safe.”
“Then why did Mordek do this?” she asked, touching the marks on her neck that were getting darker.
“He’s claimed you.” And you’ve claimed him. “When you ran from him he went... feral.”
“Feral.”
“It’s like… all of the logical, non-Alpha parts of his brain just turned off. All his instincts told him was that he was about to lose his Omega, and so all that mattered was getting you back.” Shrugging, he remembered the fear in her eyes when she’d first opened his bedroom door and blew out a breath. “It’s instinct. Biology. It’s why he tore through the other Alphas to get to you, and why he used his position as leader to keep them at bay. That wasn’t Mordek, it was… the Alpha in him. Just the Alpha. The head Alpha of a pack that he has to be even more fierce to keep control of. Shit, is any of this making sense to you?”
“None of this makes sense.”
“You know you can ask me questions, right? That’s half the reason they brought you to me.”
Swallowing, she laid her hand over the bruises. “And the other half?”
“Because I’m pretty much the medic here, and my scent won’t bother them if it’s on you.” Tugging at his blanket, he offered an edge towards her face. “Smell.”
Leaning down, she took a delicate sniff, and then pressed her nose to the blanket to take a deeper inhale. “It smells… nice.”
Chuckling, he leaned back. “Thanks, you smell nice too. Now, think about how it makes you feel.”
“What do you mean?”
“When you smell the Alphas it’s… overwhelming. Like an electric current to everything sexual inside you, right?” Alishair smiled when she blushed brighter and nodded the tiniest bit. “Trust me, I know what it’s like. And I know you haven’t really met one, but being around a Beta is similar, just a lot less intense.”
Lifting his blanket to her nose again, Karissa took a long breath in. “This is just comforting.”
“Like recognizes like.”
Shifting on the bed, she toyed with the empty cup. “So, you don’t want to…”
“Fuck you? No. You’re not my type for several reasons.” He laughed softly, and for the first time she cracked a smile and he saw a flash of the happy female she’d been before all of this. It made his chest hurt that she’d clearly been ripped out of a life she loved, all thanks to the Clarity currently brewing in flasks and beakers behind him. Guilt ate at the envy in his chest until it was indefinable. “Look, you can rest in here as long as you want, and I can get you anything you need. Are you hungry? Do you—”
“I want a phone. To call my mom.” The tension in her voice as she cut him off made him nervous, but he’d been ordered to give her anything she needed. No exceptions.
Nodding, he forced a smile. “Okay, I understand. Just… don’t try to explain all of this? She’ll think you’re nuts.”
“I don’t even think I understand it enough to try and explain. I just don’t want her to worry, or Tawny. Please?”
“Sure. I’d like to see you eat something too. Medic, remember?” He tapped her knee as he stood, snagging her cup to fill it again. “What would you want to eat?”
“I’m really not picky. The darvik beast was—”
His door opened and he turned from the faucet with his eyes wide, panic flaring as it was pushed wide.
Chapter Four
Alishair dropped the plastic cup as the bronze-skinned male with bright green hair stepped inside, looking down at a book in his hands. It was the same male who had stopped her escape in the hall.
“Hey Ali, I wanted to see if—” The male looked up as Alishair rushed over to him, bracing both hands on his shoulders.
“You can’t be here, Corist. You have to go. Now.”
The male’s eyes went wide and then his head turned to find her, mouth dropping open. “Oh gods.”
Fighting the surge of anger, she tried to remember the way Mordek had taken down Donvin and Jeden in his rage. Feral. And while the male in front of her was well-built for a normal male, she knew he was no match for the Alpha.
It was the only reason she managed to bite her tongue about him shoving her towards Mordek.
“You have to go,” Alishair repeated, and the male turned his gaze back to the Omega in front of him.
Holding the book up between them, Corist smiled. “I just wanted to see if you still wanted to borrow this, babe.”
Alishair looked up as he closed the gap between them despite Alishair holding onto his arms. “Yeah, I do. Thank you, but you really have to go.”
“You’re being awfully bossy,” Corist purred, reaching up to run his fingers through the hair at Alishair’s nape before he suddenly pulled the male close — and kissed him.
Karissa’s heart started racing as she watched them, unable to ignore the groans of satisfaction as the two made out in front of her. One tall and wild looking, like a club kid who hit the gym a lot, and the other smaller, with light brown hair and lighter tanned skin. Still, they fit. Perfectly. It made her smile to see them happy, especially with all of the darkness she could sense inside Alishair. Even though the male seemed unwilling to share anything other than dire warnings.
“Corist, please?” Alishair begged against his lips, and the taller male smiled broadly.
“You’re the only Omega in this room I’m interested in, babe.” Nipping Alishair’s lip once more, Corist finally let him go, offering the book. When Alishair tried to take it, the male held on and leaned close again. “But, don’t think I’m going to forget about punishing your sweet ass later for kicking me out.”
“That… sounds good.” Alishair’s grin was evident in his voice, and Corist groaned and kissed him once more. When they separated, Alishair held onto his arm. “Wait, can you do me a favor?”
“Such as?” the male asked, not even remotely hiding the lustful p
urr in his tone.
“Can you bring me one of the phones?” Alishair asked.
“Okay.” Corist wrapped his arms around him, breathing deeply at his neck, the rumbling purr nowhere near as powerful as the Alphas’, but still a basslike thrum that she felt her own body respond to — even though it was absolutely not meant for her. Alishair’s purr came in reply and she envied the easy connection they seemed to have. “I’ll bring you the phone, and I’ll leave it outside the door. Want me to knock when I leave it?”
“That will be perfect.” Another searing kiss that had Karissa swallowing, and the male turned towards the door.
But Corist stopped before he left, holding onto the door frame as he looked at her with warm brown eyes. “Hey, I want you to know I’m sorry about earlier. I… I didn’t really have a choice.”
“I know,” she answered, and she meant it. The male flashed that bright smile again, and then winked at Alishair before he pulled the door shut behind him.
As soon as the male left, Alishair sagged… except for the noticeable bulge in his pants. Grinning, Karissa wrapped the blanket tighter around her shoulders as he tossed the book onto the chair.
“Boyfriend?” she asked, and Alishair groaned.
“We were talking about food for you.”
“Oh, no. This is much better. Is Corist your boyfriend? Is he a Beta?” Sitting up straight, she ignored the twinges of pain throughout her body and focused on something other than the nightmare she was still in. “Come on, tell me.”
“There’s no label on it… it just is.” He seemed closed off, walking to the sink to pick up the cup from the floor and rinse it off before he refilled it. “Here, keep drinking water and tell me what you want to eat.”
“You tell me about Corist and I’ll give you a food order.” When he rolled his eyes at her, she whined. “Come on, please? Distract me.”
“Yes, he’s a Beta. Yes, we spend a lot of time together. Now, what do—”
Alpha's Bond: A Reverse Harem Omegaverse Story (The Clarity Series Book 3) Page 3
