by V T Bonds
A delicate lavender strand resonates between us, alerting me of her general whereabouts, but the connection flickers with weakness.
I need her teeth sunk into my skin and her body wrapped around mine while our souls merge.
This partial link hurts worse than losing a limb.
I center myself as much as my sluggish blood allows, knowing I must do everything I can to find my lifemate.
Opening my eyes takes more effort than I care to admit, but a surge of adrenaline spikes my focus as I peruse my surroundings.
Rage blooms in my thundering heart as I recognize the room’s set up—this is a medical torture chamber. The kind found in off-grid planets, where the laws of good and evil do not apply.
I’ve never seen a cage such as the one my body suffers now, and I curse the contraption as it holds me hostage. I cannot move within my prison of needles, each one locked against my skin, prepared to flay me alive should I dare to move.
Unable to force the drug’s effect away, I snarl when my fingers give a lazy twitch despite my desire to find my Omega.
A figure clad in white appears from behind a curtain, stepping up to a large console and pressing a few buttons.
I descend into another world as a high-tech mask wraps around my head.
My gorgeous Omega stands before me, yet nothing about her remains the same. Her startling blue eyes shine with lethal grace and her soft round form becomes that of a sleek killer.
Pain knifes through my abdomen, so atrocious my snarl stops and bile rises in my throat.
Her visage disappears, taking the excruciating pain with it.
The sweetest perfume invades my nostrils, sending my predatorial instincts into a rage.
My Omega smells divine. I must have her. Now.
Lightning streaks through my skull as pain seizes every molecule within me, all while my mate smirks down at me.
Darkness, painless, reprieve.
Her taste covers my tongue, saliva gathering as I remember her delicious responses.
Agonizing torment explodes in my mouth, so horrific I fear someone tore my fangs from my gums.
Blankness, wound-free, respite.
Her breasts fill my palms, yet they do not have the same heft. Worms crawl in my belly as my hands shake over her hardened nipples. Looking into her cold face chills my spine.
Fire licks up my palms, searing my bones into flaky, black char. Suffering and misery clog my senses as her expression kills any hope hiding in me.
Emptiness, comfort, rest.
Her pussy surrounds my cock, gripping my barbs, and squeezing my knot.
Terrible shaking hollows my chest as unfamiliar emotions arise.
Fear. Doubt. Weakness.
Unimaginable pain erupts from my most sensitive organ.
I splinter.
Lost in an existence of misery and loneliness, attacked by the one I once desired most, I crumble into wretched brokenness.
I look forward to the darkness, for the light brings me visions of her as she tortures me.
She becomes the symbol of my agony.
Chapter Sixteen
Omega
Blinking does nothing to improve my vision.
Each lowering of my eyelashes expands the duration of a lifetime as my dazed mind struggles to remember why I need to wake up.
The familiar haze of drugs running through my veins incites a sluggish panic.
For a moment, the void inside me makes no sense, but then the truth slams into my skull.
My Alpha no longer holds me.
Everything hurts.
I squint but realize my head dangles backward on my unsupported neck, forcing my face up to the light. My wrists, extended up toward the ceiling, hold every ounce of my weight.
The balls of my feet barely brush a freezing, slippery surface.
I flex my toes to ease the tension from my arms, holding in a sob as agony streaks through my joints.
A slimy warmth oozes down my upper thighs, but something tacky cakes my skin. The slight shift of my weight awakens a horrible pain deep in my abdomen.
New tears follow the dried tracks of their predecessors.
Suppressing my urge to grunt in pain, I slowly engage my arm muscles and pull my head to the front side of my shoulders.
I heave in involuntary reaction as I catch sight of my body, but the tightening of my abdominals makes everything hurt worse, so I force myself to take gentle, even breaths.
An alarmingly large puddle of blood lies under me.
In various stages of coagulation, my life source covers the insides of my legs, a hideous trail leading from my sex.
Higher up, where his wondrous fangs once pierced my breast, a gaping wound leaks crimson. The jagged, ripped flesh tells a horrendous story.
The assholes tore me from my mate while he marked me, both with his teeth and his knot.
Black tar swirls in my soul as I allow myself to feel the depth of my woe. Shuddering in grief, I fight the cloying darkness and wrap the largest, thickest mind blanket around my soul-deep agony. Tucking the ends under the mass of misery as though the hounds of hell try to escape, I give it a mental kick and tug my training into the forefront of my mind.
Dread sinks into me as I catalogue my dismal surroundings.
Four walls. A rocky floor. And my restraints jutting out of the high ceiling.
Nothing else.
No windows.
No visible doors.
No weapons or obvious opportunities to escape.
It’s not the most promising of situations.
Ignoring my anguish, I stretch my toes and take most of my weight onto their tips.
Using my restraints to balance, I explore the loop of coarse rope wound around my wrists, searching for a way to loosen them. I don’t have the leverage, so I continue to explore upward, finding where the rope connects with metal.
A soft noise reaches my ears.
I relax my toes and bite back a groan as my wrists accept my body weight again.
Acting as though I cannot find purchase on the ground, I change my adept finger-searching to uncoordinated fumbling.
Unshod feet enter my periphery and I raise my head, easily portraying a terrified and weak Omega.
Shit.
Three gigantic males stand around me, completely nude and emanating foul rage. Each one carries the markers of my Alpha’s species—perfect humanoid features, bright hair, and glowing skin. There’s Orange, Green, and Blue.
Dread knots inside my chest, but determination lurks in my marrow.
I will find my lifemate and finish the bond.
No matter what it takes, I will survive what comes next.
A vague strum runs along the thin thread between myself and my Alpha, bolstering my courage.
Orange, the male directly in front of me, rears back and swings his massive paw.
Pain explodes along my cheek.
“Where is your base located, spy scum?” he snarls.
My jaw throbs and a line of blood drips from my bottom lip. I gather some into my mouth, swallowing what nutrients I can.
As I swing through the momentum of his slap, my wrists twist above my head, grinding my bones against each other.
A huge hand grabs my jaw before Blue sticks his face up close to mine.
“Where is your training facility?” he demands.
I stare at him, falling into a fake state of blankness.
These archaic methods will not break me. I have lived through them innumerable times before.
A hand grabs my breast and squeezes. Another yanks my hair, jerking my head back.
The demented desire in Blue’s eyes curdles my sensibilities, but I refuse to look away.
They manhandle me, groping and hurting and spitting questions at me, and all the while Blue stares into my eyes, searching for a sign of weakness.
I show him none.
Deep in the hidden recesses of my soul, I wail. Weeping and screaming, I mourn the shortness
of my time with my lifemate, begging to have him back, praying for the chance to mark my Alpha and know the full beauty of lifemating.
On the outside, I offer no response.
I infuriate them with my silence, knowing no matter what I say, they will do as they wish.
While keeping my face devoid of emotions, I stay vigilant, desperately looking for an escape.
Enduring their touches makes my skin crawl, more so than before I met my true Alpha. I want only his hands on my flesh.
As Blue watches me with the single-minded focus of a man gone mad, I hide behind my training, fighting to ignore the overwhelming desire to lash out.
I hate them. I hate everything they represent—the life I’ve led, every horror I’ve seen, the fate looming over me and my mate.
Large hands envelope my hips before my body’s weight disappears from my wrists. Whichever Alpha picks me up from behind grinds his cock along my ruined folds.
I scream in absolute agony, fighting the lingering fuzziness left in my system from their drugs, knowing my chances of survival grow slimmer with every moment.
With their attention diverted, I crack my left thumb into my palm, use my right fingers to loosen the loop, and slide my left hand out of the bindings. Snapping my thumb back into its socket, I mirror the process and free my right hand with quick, shaky movements.
My blood squelches around the disgusting cock forcing its way into my entrance.
Despair coats every fiber of my being, but I push it clear of my intentions.
Using the restraint chain hanging from the ceiling as balance, I unleash my training.
Even with my broken soul and major injuries, my devotion to my Alpha reigns supreme.
I will not die knowing I failed to mark him.
Sinking my fingers into eye sockets and ripping chunks of flesh with my teeth, I fight with every weapon I have. Gouging my sharpened nails into vital places, I kick and elbow, aiming for pressure points and vulnerabilities.
I lose.
They overpower me.
Three massive Alphas against one weakened, drugged Omega has no other outcome, but I pour everything into it, needing freedom more than my next breath.
They take both. Neither my freedom nor my breath belongs to me.
For every pain I give them, they return to me threefold.
Through every terrible moment, I wish for death, but they refuse to grant it.
When I pray for darkness, my mind refuses, futilely searching for an escape.
∆∆∆
Their bare feet squeak on the floor as they leave the puddle of crimson surrounding me. Ugly red footprints trail behind them as they exit into the hall, the door camouflaging into the wall as it closes.
Shock holds me hostage, just as the bindings keep me suspended from the ceiling.
I gained nothing from my attempt to escape, for here I am, in the same position.
Except now, my prognosis of survival looks much grimmer.
I blink, seeing their evil faces with each drop of my eyelids.
Orange. Green. Blue.
Too exhausted to lift my head, my open eyes take in the revolting sight of my body.
A blink offers me memories of blood-covered cocks and defilement.
Orange. Green. Blue.
Their semen runs down my body in thick ropes, coating my chest, back, and mingling with the slow drip of blood from my intimates.
Another blink replays fists and fingers succeeding in their depraved acts of torture.
My body sports bruises and cuts beneath their filth.
Orange. Green. Blue.
They’re gone, but they’ll never stop haunting me.
Reality breaks through my shock.
My soul cracks.
The depths of hell would be easier to endure.
Humiliated and shattered, I hang here as a wretched husk of flesh.
I have failed.
I am worthless.
A glimmer of violet catches my attention.
Through the disgusting mess on my flesh, a crease in my shoulder reveals my mate’s beautiful, brilliant purple sheen.
It animates the link between myself and my Alpha.
The quilt I threw over our connection—the shield I erected to shelter the delicate thread from my abuse—quivers with the reminder of hope.
With numb fingers, I scoot the theoretical blanket away and tremble in misery.
After an uncertain moment, I reach out and pour my oozing black tar into the link, grabbing the thread with both hands and wrenching it toward me.
I sob without sound, flooding our connection with my brokenness.
I beg for his forgiveness.
I plead for his help.
I cry for his love.
Chapter Seventeen
Alpha
Floating in ink, I lay like a stagnant mire, hiding from the light.
Without a past, uncaring about the future, the darkness holds comfort and reprieve.
The harsh light offers nothing but suffering and terror.
An oddly pleasant tug awakens something in my chest.
Unlike the white light of my torture, a soft purple glow illuminates my soul.
Feminine sorrow pierces my reprieve, hurting something more precious than anything previously threatened.
Awareness snaps through me, like lightning zapping my conscience and rebooting my psyche.
I do not have a mate hellbent on destroying me.
She was stolen from me.
Tortured. Defiled. Broken.
Her misery slams through me, opening the line between my heart and hers with such clarity I suffer unfathomable self-hatred.
I will not fail her again.
She needs me.
My Omega holds on by a thread, her presence dimming with every breath.
I roar in outrage.
She will not die alone.
She will not die at all.
She is mine.
Glass shatters as my fury manifests in both my roar and my strength.
Equipment blares in alarm as I wreck their instruments with my rage-filled howl, the shockwaves popping tubes and toppling shelves.
Uncaring of the needles piercing my skin, I destroy the cage engulfing my body, snapping the technology to tiny shards and sending them crashing to the floor. Ripping the mask off my face, I crush it under my heel with a satisfying crack.
The scent of fresh blood tinges the air, but I do not pause to remove the needles from my flesh.
My Omega needs me.
Following the link in my chest, I step down from the raised platform and snarl as four Alphas enter the chamber.
Screams cut short, bones snap, blood gushes, and bodies fly.
I leave a gory catastrophe in my wake, rampaging towards my failing mate.
Leaving the once-white room dripping in entrails, I stomp into the hallway.
More enemies gather, but I do not falter.
I rip open torsos and tear out throats, my fury lending me such power I feel nothing when one male buries a knife in my shoulder.
Tearing the blade free of my flesh, I slay three foes with one swing, feral satisfaction barreling through me as their lifeblood sprays the ceiling.
A sin once too horrid to entertain, I murder my own species without guilt, my allegiance won by a tiny female with strength beyond compare.
She keeps hold of our connection, even as death approaches.
I do not hesitate, finding special glee in mutilating three Alphas who smell of her, but not wasting time lingering over their broken bodies.
She needs me.
Sensing her on the other side of the wall, I slam my shoulder against the reinforced door, knowing the opening hides in the tiles since her perfume seeps from the edges.
Another ram of my shoulder shudders the entire wall so hard pieces of the ceiling topple down.
Frantic to hold her in my arms, I step back and fling my bodyweight into the cracked surface.
Blinding pain streaks up my neck, but the door falls away, revealing the room beyond.
When I step forward, my arm flops against my hip. Snarling through the pain, I use the misshapen doorframe to force my shoulder back into place.
The agony of my body stops, but my soul explodes with horror.
Lit by a single overhead light, my Omega hangs from a chain like a beast after slaughter.
Despite my breaking down the door, she does not move.
No twitch. No acknowledgement of the sound I make.
Freezing in the darkness just beyond her halo of light, I stop and fight back nausea.
My beautiful, perfect female bleeds from her fingertips to her toes, every inch of her mired in cuts and bruises.
The glaring light above her reveals several missing fingernails and wrists bloodied from the surrounding rope.
Her hair no longer shines vibrant red, too weighed down with filth and tangles to resemble the glowing locks underneath.
Smelling the musk of other Alphas dripping from her flesh sends blinding white fury through me, even though I viciously murdered the guilty males not three minutes ago.
The blood seeping from her pussy rips my heart into jagged little strips.
My knot began her misery. I should have stayed vigilant during our joining. Instead, I allowed evil to intrude and destroy what should have been the most wondrous time of our lives.
Her eyes slit open, her despair and misery overwhelming.
I dart forward, unable to stand the distance between us even though the stench burns my nostrils. I focus on the sweet scent of her blood, imagining it between my lips, being mine and only mine.
Knowing any touch will cause pain, I gently align my naked body to her front and push my purr into her chest.
Wrapping my arms around her with great care, I thicken my purr, letting her know of my unending devotion without words.
I pledge to soothe and protect her until my last breath.
She angles her face up to mine. The myriad of emotions flickering across her expressions could take millennia to decipher.
Keeping one arm wrapped around her, I reach up and grab the chain holding her to the ceiling. One sharp tug and the roof cracks. Another yank and it releases the end of her tether.
Her arms flop about an inch before I stop their descent, and I wince as she inhales in pain.
