Ruthless Control

by L. V. Lane

  There was so much wild emotion coursing through me that I could hardly think straight. Left alone for many hours, I had looked my own downfall in the face. The longer Lucian was absent, the worse the feeling grew.

  I was angry with him, terrified that he would not come back and sick to my core. My heat was close, and my body, absent of any of the suppressants, needed only one thing.

  The collar I had found taunted me with a sick allure. I hated that it belonged to one of his other pets, and yet the urge to touch it was too strong. I realized I wanted him to collar me. Wanted him to rut me through my heat.

  My mind circled into an ever-greater level of darkness until I found myself at the bottom of an insurmountable well.

  I needed Lucian, and for the first time in my short life, I was ready to take what I wanted.

  He had done this to me, given me the drug, made me imprint upon him. The rational part of my mind accepted that I had done this to myself. I had lied to him, accepted the proposal, and then walked straight into his trap. It didn’t matter any longer. I fully intended to mark him when my heat came, mark him so well that he wouldn’t be able to abide the touch of any other—for the rest of his life.

  I waited patiently on my knees as he stripped from his clothes. The collar, a comforting weight against my throat. There was so much latent aggression rolling off him that it was all I could do not to prostrate myself before him.

  There was a bloody handprint on his shirt and a stark splatter of more blood.

  He wasn’t a good man, he was wicked to the core. He killed people, and I thought he didn’t give such acts a second thought. But, he would protect me from Dino, from the world if need be, and the desperate route my life had taken, made him exactly what I needed.

  The muscles in his arms and chest flexed as he slid the shirt over his shoulders, allowing it to drop to the floor. Wicked and wild, he may be, but his body was pure animal beauty. His scent rose in answer to mine, rich and intoxicating, and I found myself leaning forward. His eyes never left mine as his body emerged. Layer after layer, the swish of material shifting, the unraveling of a belt.

  His continuing silence began to unnerve me. His smooth voice was part of my downfall, the soft coaxing quality…the way he called me, pet.

  Tingles spread through my body, I was becoming a little mindless as the last of his clothing dropped to the floor, and he came and stood before me naked and glorious.

  There was no gentleness in his expression, the part of him I had only glimpsed before was now exposed, and my mounting arousal shifted to fear and back again. My breath grew unsteady under his unwavering gaze.

  His lips pursed as he lowered a hand to push my hair behind my ear.

  The hand withdrew, and I whimpered, my own reaching toward him, presuming to touch.

  He growled, the sound so deep and deadly that I doubled over, my hand pressing to my abdomen where violent cramping tore through my womb. The growl continued, shifting through a myriad of tones until my galloping heart shot a fever through my veins. My nipples drew tight, my clit throbbed, and my pussy wept with slick.

  I purred for him, the Omega in me seeking to sooth the dominant male.

  There was no preamble. He took me from the bedroom floor to the nest. And fisting my hair, pushed me to my knees. My heart beat wildly as he came down behind me, forcing my face into the soft mass as he fed his cock into the slick-coated entrance.

  I groaned as his cock breached, ruthlessly impaling me, deeper and deeper, slow and relentless, until he completely filled me up.

  Inner muscles fluttered wildly around the invasion until I finally softened. Lucian shifted, his knees forcing my legs open wider.

  “Oh god!”

  One big hand enclosed both the collar and the delicate column of my throat, while his other arm circled my waist. He growled, pulled out, and fucked back in. Incoherent sounds left my throat—the sensation of hot flesh sliding in and out, the way I hung suspended, a limp rag-doll that he used for his pleasure, all conspired to lift me straight toward bliss.

  A shudder enveloped my body, he growled deeply again, withdrew, and this time he set a punishing rhythm that battered the sensitive nerves deep inside over and over again.

  Rapture, potent and inescapable, tore through me. I screamed, contracting around his cock in waves of rhythmic heaven. “Lucian!” My slick made our bodies slap together wetly, and I tried to brace against the relentless pounding.

  His vicious growl sent a ripple of fear through me.

  “Oh god, I’m going to come again!”

  Fingers tightened over my throat, squeezing, and I jerked wildly as dots swam before my eyes. Blood beat a furious tattoo through my veins as his scent and ruthless domination became the center of my world.

  My body arched as he drove me higher with every savage thrust. The thick swelling at the base of his cock was expanding, and pleasure pulsed within my core as he forced it in and out.

  Then he thrust deep once more and stopped with a roar. The knot bloomed, and he bit down on the juncture of my shoulder and throat. I couldn’t scream, his thick fingers squeezing my throat would not allow it, but another white-hot climax consumed me regardless.

  Growling, he bit deeper as he released the hold on my throat. I sucked great gulps of air in, my pussy milking his knot, and half-delirious as his cum bathed the entrance to my womb.

  I was crushed deeper into the nest, his heavy weight pinning me there, my face mashed into the soft bedding.

  I had craved his touch for so long that the feel of him surrounding me was like a special gift. It did not matter that my ribs creaked with every shuddered breath, or that my stomach ached with the strain of holding the cum he was still pushing into my womb. His teeth shifted, and he bit again, spreading his knees to hold me even further open as his cock spat more cum into my ravaged pussy.

  I wanted to bite him, to sink my teeth into his flesh until I tasted blood—and to mark him as mine.

  My fidgeting earned me another growl as his teeth marked new territory. His hand snaked under my body, fingers seeking and finding the swollen nub of my clit where he rubbed without mercy. His other hand found my nipple squeezing it, then pinching and tugging cruelly.

  He worked me relentlessly, driving climax after climax from my body. As the knot softened, he withdrew. A flood of cum poured out, setting my stomach clenching. Rolling me over, he crowded above me, a darkly menacing specter. My whole body hurt, my throat felt tight and swollen, my shoulder where he had bitten, and deep inside, I throbbed.

  Like a leaf caught in the eye of a violent storm, I held no power. He would fill me, touch me, fuck me, and mark me; however he saw fit.

  His eyes raked over the length of my body before his head lowered, and he took the stiff, abused nipple into the warm cavern of his mouth. The first rhythmic pull had my back arching—but a single hand pressed to my chest pushed me back and pinned me there. He licked gently, sucked, and bit.

  He played with each side, rolling the nipple roughly while he sucked bites over the plump globes. I writhed and begged for mercy.

  He had none, and finally satisfied, he lined his cock with the entrance of my pussy and seated himself in a single thrust.

  My stomach cramped, heat tore through my blood in a rolling flush.

  He stilled, expression implacable as he stared down at me.

  Heat—I was going into heat.

  His lips tugged up on one side, and his gaze lowered to my lips. Head lowering, he drugged me with a kiss, tongues tangling, teeth nipping like he wanted to devour every piece of me. When he lifted his head, his eyes burned.

  “Ask me to breed you, Pet.”

  His cock jerked inside me. My mouth opened, but the words could not form.

  “Ask me to breed you.”

  “I—please!”

  Hips shifting, he started to withdraw. Panic gripped me; my legs circled his waist, but he kept sliding out and out.

  He paused with only the tip still splitting
the entrance. “Beg me to breed you.” His voice was little more than a growl, and his expression utterly without compassion.

  I shook my head.

  “Beg!” he roared.

  I could not fight against his will. His need became my need.

  “Please, I need you. I need you to breed me.”

  There was no time to assimilate my capitulation, his arms slid under my thighs, bending me almost in two, holding me open and trapping me, completely at his mercy.

  Then he fucked me, a deep, rough fucking, and I believed with absolute conviction that I would either die in this nest or leave carrying his child.

  I gave myself over to the storm—to him, let him growl over his prize, let him mark me, and fuck me. When his rough fucking wasn’t hard enough for my liking, I demanded more.

  And he gave me more of everything.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  THE NEST WAS a mess, and my sweet little pet looked like she had been through a war. A wicked war full of debauchery. Like all Alphas, my body carried little fat, but my reserves had been eaten away by the mindless days of rut. If it was rough on an Alpha, it was worse on an Omega, yet her body, now littered with my marks of ownership, carried the distinct scent of breeding.

  Madelyn lay sprawled over the top of me, slim legs tangled with mine, her cheek to my chest, and her once-glorious hair a knotty mess. My cock felt raw, and every part of my body was weak. It had been a long time since I rutted an Omega, either my memory had dimmed the event, or this one had been particularly wild.

  Her awareness filled me, even as she slept. She was content, tired, and safe—her most pervasive mental projection was that she was safe. I wasn’t expecting the depth of connection to occur so quickly; I had heard that the mating bond could take several heats, even several years to fully assimilate. Ours felt—concrete.

  “Come, Pet. We need to get you cleaned up.” Ignoring her protests mumbled into my chest, I lifted her from the cum crusted bedding and took her to the shower.

  Her body was lean, but nothing that couldn’t be fixed with care. She remained quiet as the water pelted over us, let me wash her and turn her as I willed. Once done, I dried her in the soft towel, patting her body dry, running my fingers over every bruise and mark. My cock didn’t care that it had been rubbed raw, it liked seeing the evidence of possession.

  My little pet had also done her share of marking.

  I tipped her chin to get her eyes when she continued to stare at the floor. “How are you feeling, love?” So many dark emotions consumed me; I did not know I would feel this proprietorial. I tried not to project them, but perhaps they still leaked out.

  Wide blue eyes met mine, and her hand settled over her lower abdomen. “Do you think I might be pregnant?”

  My hand enclosed hers, and the possessiveness I felt toward her increased tenfold. “You are,” I said roughly.

  Her eyes pooled, and wild emotions coursed through her, but I dampened my own desire to smother them until I better understood.

  The swirling vortex slowed until it finally stopped. “I’m glad,” she said, and her lips tugged up in a smile.

  I should have been feeding her, but I had her down on her hands and knees before I realized my intention. Her hot pussy sucked my cock in—I felt like I hadn’t fucked her in days, the need was so great.

  I made no attempt to stifle what I was feeling, and let the whole fucking avalanche out.

  “Lucian!” Her small hands failed to find purchase as I slammed roughly in and out. “Oh god!”

  Lucid enough to recognize that this was a bad position to knot her, I flipped her over and fucked into her again.

  “Come for me, Pet.” My thumb found her clit, and she came on a scream. My knot locked on the next thrust, and I came with a roar. I held her still when she tried to buck me off. Her pussy felt like a furnace, and I couldn’t stop fucking coming. A desire to growl was tempered, and instead, I offered the rumble that would force her to relax.

  “Don’t—do that,” she said.

  My lips twitched when I realized that I had projected, despite my intention not to, and that it had been surprisingly effective since she now lay beneath me completely calm.

  My gaze settled on her flat stomach that would soon begin to grow.

  “I need to feed you, Pet.”

  Gathering her in my arms, knot still buried deep, I took her through to the bedroom that hadn’t seen neither of us for several days.

  My whole body ached, and my stomach felt fluttery—food held no interest, I just needed to sleep.

  That was the least of my worries while I was coming to terms with the bond connection.

  The collar that had started all this was long gone, lost somewhere in the soiled nest I had made in the closet. It had gotten in the way of his marking me. Now that the heat was over, I was sure he would retrieve it and collar me again.

  “Open your mouth, Pet.”

  I sat across his lap in the dining area of his home, morning sunlight cast sparkles across the stone-topped table. Lucian wore dark pants and a crisp white shirt—I was naked underneath the soft sky-blue throw he had wrapped me in. Feeling coddled enough, I reached for the fork.

  He moved it out of reach.

  “You can eat your food like a good pet, or you can misbehave, and I will find something else to put in your mouth.” His wicked thoughts swamped my mind, and I was swift to allow him to feed me a forkful of the fluffy omelet.

  He had used my body to its limits during the heat—on my knees, he had forced his cock deep down my throat in between knotting me. I was sore, raw, and more interested in sleep than food, but I would pick my battles.

  He continued to feed me until he sensed my complaints were genuine, and then he took me to bed. Fresh nesting material had been provided, and he encouraged me to make it on the bed this time. The bed was…inviting.

  I sat, forlorn, in the center of the bed, a soft cushion in my hands, and confused about where I intended to put it. “You’re overwhelming me,” I said. His possessive thoughts battered at me. Was I choosing to make the nest on the bed, or was I following his direction?

  “I can’t help myself, love,” he said, and I sensed his amusement even before he smiled. “I don’t think this is a normal bond, Pet. But I want you to be comfortable, and to rest. The other nest was filthy, and you couldn’t sleep in it.”

  Nothing about what we had shared was normal. “I don’t want to be owned,” I said. That had been true once, but it didn’t ring true anymore.

  “Neither do I, Pet, but you’ve owned me from the moment we met.”

  “I don’t own you,” I scoffed

  He smiled like my comment amused him. “If you say so, love.”

  The cold, detached savage who had fucked me unconscious was gone, and the charming facade was back. I had seen both sides of Lucian now, and they both frightened me.

  “You don’t need to fear me, Pet. You are precious to me. You must feel it?”

  “I feel too much,” I said softly. “I’d heard that Omegas could feel their bonded mates, but I didn’t realize it would be so—consuming.” I finally found the perfect place for the cushion, and satisfied with the new nest sent a meaningful glance over my shoulder. He removed his clothes as I settled, and collected something from the dresser before joining me in the bed.

  I had forgotten about the collar. It wasn’t the diamond one, this one was pink and bore only a simple pattern. It was buttery soft against my skin, and once he clipped it closed, he settled me to his satisfaction and enclosed both collar and throat within his hand.

  Safe.

  In all my life, I had never felt so gloriously safe.

  When I woke up, I was alone, buried under a pile of soft bedding, pillows, and throws. It was dark underneath the cover, and Lucian's scent surrounded me.

  I sighed and stretched muscles still sore from my heat. My hand rested over my stomach, and a sense of wonder filled me. Tears sprung behind my eyes—a life was growing unde
r my splayed palm, tiny and precious.

  “You are precious to me,” Lucian had said. I wondered if he was talking about me or my status as the carrier of his child. His emotions were intense and so overwhelming when near that it was impossible to unpick anything beyond his level of possession. And when he wished me to do something, like making the nest on the bed, it was like I lost all free will.

  Pushing the covers aside, I padded over to the spacious closet, now absent of a nest. I smiled, thinking that I might make a new one in here—purely out of defiance. I’d heard some apartments came with a special nesting room that adjoined the main bedroom. A girl I worked with in the coffee shop had been talking about it. “It sounds like an animal, making a nest and going into heat,” she had said. Her friends had laughed as I turned away.

  I’d been upset at the time, but it didn’t bother me today. And I was going to make another nest in the closet…just because I could.

  I selected a negligee from the collection, this one was a deep, vivid pink, and went in search of food.

  There was a Beta in the lounge when I entered, and I froze. Tall and lithe, with long blonde hair—she looked like a fashion model, perfect in every way.

  She was also one of his former pets, I knew this in an instant.

  Why was she here? My eyes darted toward the door. Had he moved on to fucking another pet now that I was pregnant?

  My emotions went on a roller-coaster ride and the blonde Beta was sitting in the front row seat. Her lips twitched in a smug smile. “Oh, my poor sweet Omega. Did you think you were the center of his world?” She laughed, and the sound made me flinch.

  I detected Lucian on her, and my temper flared brightly enough to make me shake. She was much taller than me, and there was strength in her willowy frame, but I still had to fight the urge to claw her face.

  I tried to sift through everything that had happened over the last few days, both before and after the heat.