by V T Bonds
Shoring up my determination, I need no reminder of how dire our situation has become, but I cling to our link with both hands, praying my Alpha does what must be done.
Encouraging him within our bond, I soothe his angst with a surety I don’t feel.
His deep vibrations resonate through the air, the outrage bouncing off the walls nearly breaking my resolve.
When I sob into the floor, he changes his growl into an unsteady purr.
His fury backs down enough so he gets the gist of my plan, the quick calculations flipping through his mind bolstering my courage.
As my Alpha approaches me from behind, I brace for what’s coming.
He pushes his massive fingers against my injured backside and I shriek, a sound of genuine pain.
Before the pitch of my scream increases, I fling my arm forward, flicking my wrist.
The weapon’s discharge rings in my ears, making my heart gallop in my throat.
Chapter Twenty-One
Alpha
Her blade slices into the Beta’s throat, the handle sticking straight out from his Adam’s apple.
I marvel at the perfection of her throw. Seeing her in action for the first time wakens parts of my soul I didn’t know existed.
The Beta jerks backward, the unexpected impact shifting his arm before his reflexes pull the trigger.
The blast hits the ceiling above her head, little shards of metal raining down. I extract my fingertips and lurch over her, shielding her from the particles.
Her panting breaths reveal how much throwing the knife cost her. I catch her head before it smacks onto the floor, alarm coursing through me when she crumples to the deck.
The Beta collapses, issuing wet gurgling sounds as he fights for his last breath. A growing puddle of crimson seeps toward us until he stops twitching, his final breath rasping through the chamber.
I gather my lifemate into my arms and stand.
Looking down into her battered face, I purr, amazed at her resilience and strength.
I wish I could take away the trials of her past but wouldn’t change who she is today. Her scars make her more resilient, more beautiful than anyone I’ve ever met before.
“We need to get rid of him and leave,” she whispers. I swallow the angst growing in my chest.
She’s too drained, but I can’t stop to take care of her until we’re on our way.
I stalk to the cockpit, holding her close in the narrow passageway. When I step into the small room, I shuffle around the chair and stand at the control panel.
She’s too injured to place in the seat, and I’m not willing to part from her for even a second. Before I shift her around to free one of my hands, she reaches forward and manipulates the controls.
The cloaking device engages, muting the universe in an odd shadow. A barely perceptible hum surrounds us, and I give my muscles permission to relax.
We aren’t out of danger, but we’re the safest we’ve been since I woke up in a cage of needles.
The craft departs, no set destination programmed, but a direction chosen. My Omega pushes a few more buttons and a variation of autopilot begins—the ship will avoid any obstacles but realign with the course set once past them.
Her urgency to get rid of the Beta’s body pulses through our link, so I retrace my steps and return to the docking bay.
Still unwilling to part from her, I stand against the wall, purring and holding her close.
We came so close to destruction. Too close.
The scent of his death moves me to action. I prop her against the wall, holding her face to my chest for a moment and pushing my purr into her, needing to reassure us both that we’re still alive.
Reluctantly, I pull away.
Her tiny fingers wrap around as much of my wrist as they can. My purr darkens with desire as her grip sends lust through my skin.
I yearn to feel her touch every inch of my body.
She locks eyes with me and gives me the most precious gift—she purrs, a high, feminine rumble.
This wretched, injured little female offers me comfort. I don’t deserve it.
I didn’t protect her. I was weak.
“My Alpha. My mate,” she murmurs, piercing my soul with her radiant blue eyes.
The truth resonates within me, and our unbreakable bond envelopes our merged souls.
Her palm caresses my face before she tilts her lips up to mine. Unable to resist her call, I stoop and seal my lips to hers.
The meeting of our mouths becomes a direct representation of our spiritual connection—always gliding against each other, finding pleasure and completion.
She sags, scaring the hell out of me. Sensing how depleted her body is, yet how serene her soul feels with our joining, I ignore the urge to scoop her up. As gently as my calloused hands will allow, I lay her flat on the floor, eager to dump the Beta’s corpse so I can take care of her.
Even while prone, her purr continues and her eyes, slitted in exhaustion, follow me.
“Keep the beacon,” she whispers.
After searching the body, I find a tiny device attached to his belt. After pulling the entire strip of material from his waistband, I cram the Beta’s remains into the escape pod, using some high-tech packing material to sop up his blood and send him into the abyss of space.
Rushing back to my mate, I gather her off the floor, eager to rid her of other Alpha pheromones before she slips into unconsciousness.
My long strides carry us to the sleeping quarters, and after setting the belt on the counter, I close us into the shower.
I look down at her, searching for her eyes, but she doesn’t open them. Her faint purring feels wondrous, but her pain and fatigue overwhelms our bond.
I must wash, feed, and comfort her.
I will enjoy every moment spent tending her needs.
Choosing the most gentle cycle, I stand in the tiny space. There isn’t enough room to set her down, and I don’t dare let go of her, so as water circulates around us, I lift her arms one by one and rotate her so every inch of her gets clean.
Her raw, open wounds seep blood, the chunk missing from her breast reminding me of our broken moment.
A foul taste fills my mouth, but I promise her I’ll sink my fangs into her again, many times, creating an abundance of beautiful moments to clear away her abuse.
I can’t erase the trauma she’s gone through, but I can give her pleasure and joy.
I can give her me.
Every inch of my body, mind, and soul.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Omega
I wake to caresses so light they tickle, yet no urge to laugh arises.
Tears gather in my eyes, a sob welling behind my breastbone.
Calloused fingers spread a pungent ointment over my sides, the cold seeping into my organs both painful and soothing.
My lips no longer feel busted, and the swelling of my cheeks no longer presses into my eye sockets.
After searching my thoughts, I remember swallowing a bitter tonic as his soft murmurs praised me for accepting his help.
The heaviness in my limbs proves he gave me a relaxer, and I send a sloppy message of thanks through our bond.
He shushes me, trailing his fingertips along my brow before returning to his task.
The lump of sadness wells in my throat, sending a silent tear down my temple.
His soothing purr warms my frozen soul, even as his hands falter over my bruised hips.
His anger pulses through the air, forcing chills down my spine as I fight to stay away from the darkest of my memories, where hatred colors everything crimson.
He pauses, sucks down a noisy breath, then fills the air with wondrous vibrations, smacking the terror away with such force my breath hitches.
Another tear slips down into my hair.
He works his monolithic hands down my legs, petting me with such love I twitch, wanting to hold him.
“Hush, my little red. Purr for me,” he rumbles, the pleading in his v
oice both a shock and a comfort.
Filling my lungs with his pheromones, I eke out a weak purr, understanding dawning when I hear him move instruments around at the foot of the bed.
A crinkle accompanies his sharp movement, indicating the opening of a packet.
Accustomed to the sound, my mind supplies a visual without any effort—he opens a sterile pack and takes out the item he needs before slathering it in goop.
His warm palm slides up the inside of my leg, gently propping my knee on a pillow.
Cold air wafts across my folds as he does the same to my other knee.
I stop counting the tears wetting my pillow. There’s no stopping them.
A clicking tells me he’s preparing the instrument, waiting for it to change temperature.
He traces little shapes on my inner thigh, adding more ointment to my wounds while filling the air with his thick purr.
“More, Omega. Purr with me.”
My chest shakes, both with sobs and purrs.
The unyielding metal presses against my opening, but my Alpha shushes and pets my thigh, soothing me as he inserts the speculum. His gentle assurances hold the ugly faces away, filling my mind with his purple irises and flaming hair.
He doesn’t expand the speculum once he inserts it far enough, merely deploying the salve and holding still while it floods my insides.
It burns, but I take comfort in the pain, knowing it flushes out all traces of my rapists and begins the healing process.
Once the ointment seeps out around the metal, he holds still for another moment, letting it cover my folds and seep down into the blankets before extracting it.
Knowing we aren’t done, I plead without words for his arms around me, devastated to know he must do the same on my back passage.
He crawls up the bed and wraps his arms around me, hearing my silent begging.
“Firecracker, you break my heart.”
He kisses my brow and strokes my back.
“Let me tend you. Relax,” he breathes into my ear, kissing my shoulder before gingerly rolling me onto my stomach.
He props my hips up with a few pillows, rumbling his praise the entire time.
I shake and cry as he opens another packet, eases the tip into my ass, and releases the ointment into my body. He does what he can to soothe me the entire time, tracing calm circles on my lower back and rumbling his praise.
Once finished, he leaves to dispose of the used items, and I sob into the pillows, using the moment to release some of the tension within my mind.
Without my Alpha’s hands on me, Blue creeps in, baring his fangs with corded neck muscles as he flings his head back in release.
I let out a delayed scream when a massive hand lands on my nape, the relaxant making me sluggish. My frightened mind doesn’t catch on to the fact it’s my lifemate until he’s sitting in the center of the bed with me cradled in his arms.
He settles a firm yet gentle hand over mine, prying my nails out of his chest with a chuckle.
“My firecracker, always ready to fight.”
He kisses each of my cramped fingers until I melt into his lap.
Resting his cheek on the top of my head, he lays my hand back over his already healed chest and rubs my arm with slow strokes.
“I’m sorry I frightened you.”
I murmur acceptance, wanting nothing more than to sleep in his arms.
A wriggling, unfulfilled instinct rises in my thoughts, and even with his warmth surrounding me, I long to hide under a mound of blankets.
I want to share a nest with my lifemate.
A blipping sound comes from the hallway, the console in the cockpit warning of something gone awry.
I try to cling to my mate as he lays me down, but he kisses my palms and crosses my lax arms over my chest. The heaviness of the relaxant couples with the effort of healing, and I find lifting my hands to be too difficult.
Soft fabric brushes along my sensitive skin as my Alpha gathers every blanket on the bed around me.
Scooping myself and my mobile nest up in one motion, he strides to the cockpit and settles into the pilot’s chair. After scooting me around and checking the quilts, he kisses the top of my head again before meeting my eyes.
I blink, fighting the haziness growing at the edges of my vision. Healing sleep creeps closer, demanding I fall into the darkness and let the ointments do their work.
His violet irises capture my attention.
“Sleep, little red. I’ll be here when you wake.”
A smile tugs at the corner of my lips.
The truth of his words rings in my soul.
He’ll never leave me, no matter what the future holds.
His name forms on my lips, but he lays a thick finger over them.
“No, firecracker. We must choose new names now. Nothing of our past can follow us.”
With his warning, a hidden nest pops up in my heart, the only thing I’ve kept from him springing to the forefront of my mind.
The theoretical mound of blankets lays limp and cold.
A tear slips from my eye.
I can’t explain to him why I haven’t shared before, since sleep inches up my neck and steals my ability to speak.
He doesn’t need me to say anything.
“Rest, my Omega. We’ll talk once you’ve healed.”
Urgency flicks through me, but sleep steals everything away.
Wrapped in the most comfortable nest I’ve ever had, sitting in my lifemate’s lap, I float through space, the future holding two truths.
My lifemate will love and cherish me for eternity, just as I will him.
And my best friend needs help.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Alpha
How can such a tiny thing be so fierce? So strong and yet so broken?
An odd sense of freedom permeates my body, her weight pressed against me soothing the aggravation in my soul.
Hopefully we’re through the worst of it, but something tells me we aren’t.
The last time I ignored my instincts, my lifemate ended up brutalized and near death.
Never again.
A savage sense of betrayal lingers in the back of my mind. I spent decades living a life believing certain things, yet within the space of a few hours, I’ve seen the ruse for what it was.
I may not have been objectified like my Omega was, but my command misled me in too many ways to count.
Unpacking the knowledge swirling within my lifemate proves beyond my capabilities—which makes me uncomfortable, since my usual rate of assimilating information far surpasses those I’ve met before—so instead of digging further, I focus on the controls. A part of me watches her—studies her every invisible move—but I quickly realize half of her thoughts seem to be in a language I don’t understand.
Not a spoken language, but something much more primitive. Something woven through the galaxy, connecting people in ways most never deem to consider.
Such as myself. I’ve lived longer than most planet dwellers, yet never considered the traces binding one individual to another.
My head begins to ache from strain.
I sigh and press a few buttons, rerouting us to a lesser-known planet of the next solar system over.
This craft has a limited fuel supply, otherwise I’d travel much farther before stopping.
I’d drift through the vacuum of space for eternity, closed away with only my Omega for eons if it meant I could see her whole and happy.
She showed me her most prized possession.
A hidden connection between herself and another lies buried deep in her psyche.
I want to dig it out and rip it to pieces, the savage Alpha within me demanding her full attention, yet I sense how much it means to her.
She protects it like a mother protects their offspring.
My heart ceases for a moment, the thought sending red through my vision and tightening my arms around her.
When she groans in her sleep, I loosen my hold on h
er and take a few calming breaths.
I want to see her belly round with my babes, yet worry of her protecting a child she sired with another male makes me want to gnash my teeth.
If she’s hiding a child, I…
I would love it as dearly as if it were my own.
My temper deflates like a balloon being popped.
Anyone she loves, I will protect and cherish with every ounce of my being.
I rub her covered arm, cuddling her closer to my purr.
Letting my own memories resurface, I replay the last few seconds before they tore us apart.
My teeth in her flesh and my knot deep in her body transformed me. I now know what heaven feels like.
My subconscious supplies the sounds—my growls and her squeal of delight.
I remember the way her body under me tensed, and not in pleasure.
My instincts warning me of something wrong.
The sound of air whistling around a dart.
Her immediate response—taking the object out of my flesh.
The speed with which she moved revealed her desperation.
I do not doubt her ability to fight.
I’m grateful to have such a strong mate.
We’re going to need all the endurance to face whatever troubles loom on the horizon.
My instincts say our biggest foe lies within the nest hidden in my lifemate’s soul.
Whatever or whoever it is, we’ll overcome every challenge they throw our way.
Together.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Omega
“You’ve never met me, and I’ve never met you, but let’s get one thing clear,” I say, tightening my hand around his throat.
“Touch another Omega without her permission again, and you won’t breathe another twenty-four hours. Understand?”
The Alpha sweats under my fingers, but I smirk and clench my fingertips into his trachea.
He nods.
“Good. Now tell me,” I begin while stepping away from the male laying prone on the concrete.
