Omega (Evan's Alphas Book 1)

by D. J. Heart

  “Right direction, but too much. Right Evan?” Chad says, Devon nodding to himself.

  “How about these?” he says, holding up a pair of leather mittens. He passes them to Evan, the omega taking them carefully. “Not too intense, and Peter would love them. Would you like to try them on? See how they feel?”

  Evan nods, handing them to Chad and holding out his hands. Chad’s cock wakes up at the sight, filling with blood and getting hard. He loves Evan like this, submissive and guileless.

  “Let’s see,” he says, taking Evan’s wrists and slipping the mittens over his fists one at a time. They’re snug, the padded leather leaving no room for Evan’s fingers to breathe. It’s hot as hell. “How does it feel?”

  Evan’s pupils are wide and dark, and Chad knows they have a winner.

  “Good. I… I like them,” Evan says, turning his fists around, examining the gleaming leather. He touches the mittens together, sliding them against each other before looking up at Chad with hooded eyes.

  “You think you’ll be okay if Peter wants to use these on you? He might clip these to your collar, or behind your back,” Chad says, looping his fingers in the leather D-links on the cuffs and pulling Evan’s wrists up. The effect is instant, Evan gasping at being controlled, his whole body falling towards Chad. He’s limp and submissive. Catching him with ease, Chad hugs him close and strokes his back.

  “I’d like that, I think,” Evan says, voice muffled by Chad’s chest. “Can we get them for him? For Christmas?” Evan asks, looking up.

  “Sure. It’s from you, so if this is what you want,” Chad says, pushing Evan back. He loves that Evan seems to have completely forgotten about Devon. That he has dismissed him entirely.

  “It’s what I want,” Evan says, sounding sure and determined. He holds up his wrists, clearly expecting Chad to remove the mittens.

  “You don’t want to wear them home?” Chad asks, taking Evan’s wrists in his hands, rubbing his thumb right over the cuff.

  “No. They’re for Peter. I shouldn’t wear them before Christmas,” Evan says, and Chad guesses he’s got a point. A little reluctantly, he removes the soft mittens.

  With nothing more to do in the store, they pay for their purchase and exit the store. Chad wraps an arm around Evan’s shoulders, walking towards the main street.

  There’s a sharp sting at the back of his neck, and then darkness.

  ***

  Peter is at work, standing over Dawn’s shoulder and watching her hack her way into the servers of World United, a beta supremacist group that has been very inconvenient for Peter’s newest client. Once Dawn has finished downloading their schedules and internal emails, however, Peter’s mercenary division should have everything they need to shut down any protests before the news gets so much as a whiff of it.

  “Mr. Tank, there’s a call for you,” Dawn’s assistant says, coming at him with a phone in his hand. Peter waves him away, busy watching Dawn work her magic. She’s almost in.

  “Sir, it’s—"

  “What?” Peter turns, annoyed. This better be important.

  “It’s you mate, sir. There’s been an incident.” Dawn’s assistant hands him the phone, retreating like he’s escaping from the lion’s den. Peter brings the phone to his ear, heart pounding against his chest. An incident could be fucking anything.

  “Talk to me,” Peter demands, Dawn leaning up with a worried look on her face. She’s in, and Peter watches as the files she’s been after are downloaded to her computer.

  “Peter,” Chad says, sounding broken. Peter feels amped up, ready to crush whoever has made Chad sound like this.

  “Are you okay? Where are you?” Peter demands. He turns to Dawn, nodding at her to be ready. For what Peter doesn’t know.

  “I’m in the hospital, but I’m fine. I just woke up,” Chad says, a knot unfurling in Peter’s chest. Chad continues, voice small and nervous, “They took Evan.”

  Everything freezes for a second, Peter’s blood boiling. Who would dare take his omega? Encroach on his territory? Challenge him? Dawn rolls her chair back, eyes downcast and body language submissive, and Peter takes a deep breath. He forces himself to calm down.

  “Peter?” Chad says, voice cracking. “Are you there?”

  “I’m here. Who took Evan?” Peter turns the phone away from his mouth, speaking to Dawn. “My omega is missing. Get ready.”

  She nods, nerves dissipating at Peter’s display of control and the advent of a new mission.

  “The police are here. They said it was a typical abduction, could be any of the gangs who do this with any regularity. It’s like they don’t even care.” Chad’s voice breaks.

  “The police are there now?” Peter demands, ignoring the simmering rage that makes him want to kill someone.

  “Yes,” Chad says again sounding nervous. It’s annoying. What does Chad think he’s going to do? Be mad? Peter knows that Chad would never be careless with Evan’s safety. Whoever did this had to be very good to get one over on Chad.

  “Put them on. And Chad, I love you. I’m so happy you’re safe,” Peter says, not sure if it’s what Chad needs to hear, but wanting to say it in case it is. It’s true, at any rate. “Stay there. I’m coming.”

  “Okay, I will. I love you too,” Chad says, handing the phone to the officer. He sounds hopeless.

  Peter spends five minutes learning everything the police know, which turns out to be nothing. Chad was taken down with a tranquilizer from behind, never laying eyes on the kidnappers. He woke up in the hospital, and it wasn’t until he demanded to see Evan that they realized what they were dealing with.

  “This is standard operating procedure for these gangs,” the cop says. “We don’t usually see them this far north, but it isn’t unheard of. They’ll have loaded him onto a cargo plane by now. I’m sorry to have to say it, but getting your omega back is unlikely. Do you have insurance? They might cover—"

  Peter hangs up on the cop, disgusted. They’ve already decided that Evan’s trail is cold, without so much as a search or an investigation. It’s sloppy and lazy, and if they worked for Peter, he would drop them on a deserted island and leave them there.

  “Dawn, get whatever the police have on this and start looking for any trails. Call Dave, Michael and Merchant and tell them to drop everything. I want Dave and Michael working together and get Merchant to work his contacts. If omega snatchers are moving into our city, I want to know who they are and where they would have taken Evan. Got it?”

  “Got it,” Dawn says, no nonsense. She’s already dealing the phone when Peter turns to leave. He needed to get to Chad.

  ***

  Evan pulls on the chain connected to his soft, padded cuffs, getting nowhere. He’s been dressed in unfamiliar clothes, chained up, and he has no idea where he is. The room is small and dark, and he can’t see a thing. Tracing the length of the chain back to the wall, Evan tries to see if he can pry it loose there, but it’s no use. After a few minutes of trying, he falls back on his ass in despair. The chain is solid, and it has been bolted into the wall. It won’t give no matter how hard Evan pulls.

  The sound of a lock turning has Evan almost jumping out of his skin, scrambling back on his hands and knees until he’s huddled by the wall. The door swings open, the bright light suddenly flooding the room blinding him.

  “Finally awake, eh?” a voice says. It’s deep and resonant, the timbre of an alpha. Evan blinks his eyes open, hugging his legs and looking up through his lashes. The alpha is tall and built, muscles stretching the fabric of his tee to the limit. He crouches down, a few feet away from Evan, looking calm and assured. If Evan weren’t so used to Peter’s overwhelming presence, his intense dominant energy, the strange alpha would be a lot more intimidating. As it is, Evan resists the urge to submit mindlessly. He needs to figure out what’s going on.

  The last thing he remembers is Chad falling. The alpha’s arm had been over his shoulder, and when he went down, Evan had been pulled down with him. After t
hat he remembers a sting, and then nothing.

  “Where am I?” he asks, not making eye contact. Just because he’s fighting the instinct to submit, doesn’t mean he won’t play at it.

  “Your alpha sold you. This is your home now. I know it’s probably very scary, but you’ll see that it’s not so bad,” the alpha says, and in the seconds it takes for Evan to even begin making sense of his words, the alpha moves forward and grabs his neck, squeezing down hard.

  Evan goes still, but it’s not submission. Peter can do this and put him down in seconds, whatever Evan may want, and Chad can do it as long as Evan is in the mood. But this alpha? This strange, muscular man who’s lying to him? Him Evan won’t go down for.

  But he’ll pretend. He has to. Until he can figure out what the fuck has happened—because he hasn’t been sold, he’s sure of that—he needs his captors to think he’s docile and submissive. That any alpha can put him down and make him obey.

  “That’s a good boy. It’s not so bad; you’ll see. Just be a good boy, and everything will be all right,” the alpha says, the intimacy of his position making Evan want to throw up.

  Or bite him.

  The alpha stands, patting Evan’s head as he rises. “Let’s get you settled with your new friends,” he says, unlocking the chain connected to Evan’s cuffs, but leaving his wrists locked together. Evan nods, trying to mimic the sleepy, heavy way his body feels whenever Peter makes him feel all submissive. It’s hard to get it right, the stress of his situation making his muscles tight and stiff with fear and worry.

  “Let’s go. You’re a good boy; I can tell,” the alpha says, again landing a hand on the back of Evan’s neck as he’s led out of the room. The corridor outside the dark little space is just as depressing as the interior, with a bare concrete floor and unpainted walls. The ceiling is low, making the alpha have to crane his neck so as not to brush the ceiling.

  They walk for a few minutes, up a set of stairs and down another hallway, until they arrive at a set of double doors. The strange alpha pulls a key out of his pocket, unlocking the door and leading Evan inside.

  Nine pairs of eyes snap in their direction, and it’s the creepiest thing Evan has ever seen. He studies the occupants of the room, omegas the lot of them, and every single one burning with heat. The way they stare at the alpha—the hunger in their eyes—is almost inhuman. They don’t even look at Evan, nor do they rush the alpha like Evan would do with Peter or Chad if he were in heat. They wait, hungry and perfectly obedient, the alpha at his side making eye contact with each of them before dropping his hand from Evan’s neck.

  “You’ll have a day to get settled in before you need to start working. Do you understand what you’ll be doing?”

  Evan looks at the floor, nodding his head. He doesn’t know if this is an omega house, a porn studio or a straight up brothel, but it doesn’t matter. An omega in a place like this has only one job, and it’s getting fucked.

  The alpha nods, ruffling his hand through Evan’s hair, smiling kindly. “That’s good. Don’t fight it. That’s the important thing,” he says. Then his eyes go hard, and he shouts, “Bo!”

  An omega on the far side of the room falls to his knees and comes crawling towards Evan and the alpha at a rapid place. He stops at the alpha’s feet, panting with exertion.

  “Show Evan your feet,” the alpha demands, the omega sitting down on his ass and lifting his feet up to show Evan his soles. Evan gasps, stepping back. The strange alpha catches him, holding him in place. Evan stares at Bo’s feet, horrified. It looks like someone went at his feet with a cheese grater. It’s a mess of flesh and blood, and Evan understands why the omega isn’t walking.

  “That’s what happens to bad omegas,” the alpha at his side says. He kicks Bo away, the omega scrambling back to where he came from. Evan feels like he’s going to be sick or pass out.

  “But you’re not going to be a bad omega, are you?” the evil alpha asks, the words a clear threat.

  Evan shakes his head, whispering, “No.”

  “Good. Get settled and don’t cause trouble.” The horrible alpha leaves, the sound of the lock sliding home like thunder in Evan’s ears.

  He needs to get the fuck away from this place.

  ***

  Aiden disposes of the tranquilizer gun and the extra-large duffle bag he used to transport Evan and heads home, adrenalin surging now that the mission is completed. Taking Chad down had been ridiculously easy, and Aiden is almost annoyed that most of the work he did ended up being for nothing.

  Chad let himself be ambushed like an amateur, as if Aiden’s opinion of him couldn’t get any worse.

  But it’s done. The Virgin O paid in cash, taking Evan on the assumption that Aiden represented his owner. If Evan tries to tell them different… well, who would believe him? He wouldn’t be the first omega whose alpha sold him without having the guts to tell him.

  His revenge complete, all Aiden can do is wait. He hopes it won’t take Peter too long to rip Chad’s throat out, or more likely, throw him out on his ass. Though he isn’t quite sure how he and Peter can make it work with him living in South Africa, Aiden is optimistic. Who knows, if he does a good job he might be promoted to take over the USA division. Then he and Peter could be together, each of them in charge of their own people. Equals.

  Aiden can’t wait.

  ***

  Chad closes his eyes, breathing in through his nose as he tries not to panic. He’s still in the hospital, the doctors refusing to release him before his blood work comes back. They think he’ll be fine, but for insurance reasons they need to be sure. Chad wouldn’t have listened to them, needing to do something—to find Evan—but Peter had told him to stay. Chad might not listen to the doctors, but if there was ever a time when he wouldn’t dare to disobey his alpha, then this is it.

  The enormity of his failure looms before him, too big to comprehend. Peter would never have lost Evan like this. That Chad has is unforgivable. Evan belongs to Peter. Is Peter’s omega. To have taken him, to have let him be taken is an insult of such disrespect and magnitude that Chad doesn’t know what Peter will do. This isn’t just a challenge. It’s a declaration of war.

  Then there’s Evan, but every time his mind tries to go there, Chad just can’t. He can’t bear to think about what might be happening to his omega. He has to believe that Evan is being transported somewhere, safe and unharmed and that Peter will get to him before anything happens to him. If not… whatever Peter does to him won’t matter. Chad won’t be able to live with himself if his ineptitude lands Evan at the mercy of alphas like Chad used to be in his youth.

  Peter barges through the door, eyes blazing, the nurse checking Chad’s chart scurrying out of the room like a scared rat. Chad is frozen, wondering if Peter is going to beat the shit out of him or just break his neck.

  Much to his surprise, Peter does neither. The air around him crackles with power, his face determined, Peter pulls the sheets down Chad’s body and starts patting him down. He’s checking for injury as though they were in the field, Chad realizes, his behavior almost feral.

  But checking him for injury is not an act of punishment or rage, and Chad is confused. Peter’s hands reach Chad’s face, checking his neck to determine if it’s damaged, before yanking Chad out of the bed and squeezing him tight. The breath just about knocked out of him, Chad doesn’t react as Peter hugs him tight. He’s confused, Peter running his hand over Chad’s hair and breathing in the scent of him.

  “You’re okay,” Peter says, almost like he’s talking to himself. Chad’s lower half is still on the bed, but Peter is holding up most of his weight. Chad sometimes forgets just how strong Peter is, but it’s moments like this he remembers.

  It feels so good. After a few seconds of nothing but Peter hugging him, Chad cautiously wraps his arms around Peter in return.

  “We’re going to get him back,” Peter promises, voice coming from deep within his chest. “And then we’re going to find the people who took him an
d rip them apart.”

  “I’m sorry,” Chad says, crying. Peter pulls back, letting him sink down to the mattress, and grabs his face in both hands.

  “You’re not careless, Chad. I know that. This wasn’t your fault, do you understand?” Peter’s voice is intense, the words gruff and heartfelt. Chad looks down, not believing it for a second. That Peter loves him enough to see it this way is… it’s amazing, but Chad knows the truth.

  “Chad,” Peter growls, Chad’s eyes snapping up. The alpha’s expression is fierce. “This wasn’t your fault. They took you down from behind like cowards. There was nothing you could do. Now I need you to stop feeling sorry for yourself and help me track down our omega. Can you do that?”

  This time Chad almost believes him, Peter’s conviction so strong, but it’s the last part that has him shove all his self-pity aside. Every second from now until Evan is back should be spent trying to find him. Wasting time making him feel better is unforgivable.