by L. V. Lane
Hudson frowned. “Black? Calling in a favor? That bastard holds onto them like the devil holds on to souls.” He stabbed a thick finger in my direction. “Don’t fucking move.”
I knew my kitten was trying to distract me from her punishment, but Ethan Black never called a favor. I’d missed a call from him earlier, but I hadn’t thought much of it. Snatching my T-shirt up off the floor, I dragged it on and pinned Anna with a warning glare. She was getting a reprieve, that was all.
The call connected through immediately.
“I’m calling in a favor,” Ethan said. He was sitting on the battered pilot’s chair in the equally battered bridge of a ship that looked like it should have been put to scrap. Ethan didn’t look in much better shape.
“You, Sasquatch himself, asking for help?” I was having trouble believing my ears. I squinted at the viewer. “Where the fuck are you? Looks like a scrapyard.”
His face screwed up like he was wrestling with some fucking demons. I’d never seen Black look so...vulnerable. “Must be fucking serious. What do you need?”
“A Healer.”
Like fuck! “The fuck you’re borrowing my Healer for some—”
“Lilly has been taken to Lyus,” he interrupted before I could build up steam.
“Fuck,” I muttered.
“I’ll need to fight, and I need a Healer or I wouldn’t ask.”
“Fight?” My brows pinched together. “You’re asking a fucking lot for me to take Anna to Lyus, and I’m warning you, she still hates your guts after what you did on Tolis.”
“She disobeyed your fucking order—then tried to rip my ear off after I saved her ass!” he growled. But then his anger drained, and the look he pinned me with was raw. “I’ve got a team, and I’ll make sure she’s protected. I have contacts there, but I need a Healer.”
I didn’t like to see a grown man beg, but I thought he might have been about to. I didn’t know all the nuances of whatever shit had happened for Lilly to be on Lyus, and I didn’t need them. He’d saved Anna for me when the shit had hit the fan back on Tolis. I owed him, we both knew it. Muttering a curse, I threw a glance over my shoulder, and turning back, swiped a hand down my face.
“Fine then,” I said. “She wouldn’t hesitate to help Lilly again. I’ll need to do some rejigging of the schedule. And I’m not going in there without the whole team. Logan had to force the heat with Eloise, and I’m guessing this is why. It’ll break soon, and the moment Eloise learns Lilly’s been taken, she’s going to want fucking in as well! That’s all we need is a pair of militant Omegas on our hands. Fucking nightmare! Send me the damn details.”
Lilly had been taken.
What followed became a blur. I got dressed in my form-fitting field-wear while Hudson barked orders to various people and teams via his communicator. We hustled onto a ship within an hour, and here we met Logan, Eloise and the rest to Hudson’s team.
I threw my arms around Eloise, and she hugged me back, fiercely. “You’ve bonded,” I said, a note of wonder in my voice.
She nodded, but her smile was tight, and I knew she was worried about Lilly. I was worried about her, too. The sketchy details Hudson had provided filled me with terror. She was alone, taken by terrible people, and from the expression on Eloise’s face, I knew her situation was bad.
Our home planet was closer to Lyus than Chimera, and we loaded up on pain suppressants for the hellish, bone-rattling hour-long jump to intercept their ship.
My legs were shaky, and my mind still woozy as we headed over to the portal where the harsh scrape of metal against metal signified the umbilical connecting the two ships. The light flashed from red to green, and the airlock opened.
I was a Healer and sensitive to people’s vitality and health. My first impression on seeing Ethan was shock. He was a strong, virile Alpha, but his bright energy was gray. I didn’t harbor any warmth toward him after the incident at Tolis, but his distress was palpable.
Ever serious, Hudson greeted them with a scowl. “Militant fucking Omegas,” he quipped.
I still gave Ethan a withering look and said, “This is for Lilly. I would happily let you die.”
Hudson chuckled and gave my bottom an affectionate pat.
Eloise held no such history with the infamous Alpha, and she threw herself at Ethan.
Logan cursed, his furious glare leveled on Ethan like he was contemplating ripping him apart.
“She’s hurting,” Eloise whispered, and her words undid my anger toward Ethan.
Eloise had a generous soul, and she turned to hug Ryker. Devoid of the charm he had displayed on our last meeting, he patted her back awkwardly.
“Baby,” Logan growled. “If you don’t let go, I’m going to have to kick his ass, and he’s already suffering enough.”
She glared at Logan, but must have sensed the genuine nature of his threat and returned to his side.
“Militant—fucking—Omegas,” Hudson said with a roll of his eyes. Ethan’s tense demeanor softened a fraction, and a tired smile lit his face.
“You got everything ready on Lyus?” Hudson asked.
Ethan nodded. “I have an old associate there, and he owes me a favor.”
“Poor bastard,” Hudson said, his face became all business. “Good then, let’s get this done.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
I’D BEEN TO hell and back since the day I woke up and found Lilly was gone. It was a relief to have Hudson and his team here, and their arrival eased some of my underlying tension. The timeline had been tight for them to meet us, but I appreciated the boost of their numbers and skills…and Anna. I was sure the little Healer would be invaluable in the days to come.
I wasn’t one for shying away from difficulties of any kind. I face shit head-on; Lyus, my brother, the constant operations and danger that were pervasive to my life. I might not be as detached as Ryker, but I could keep a level head.
But learning what they were doing to Lilly was where I found my limit.
Tsing had been selling her blood to the Uncorrupted, and they were giving it to other Alphas—Uncorrupted Alphas. She was a part of Ryker and me; already inside us and connected to us. After hacking into her journal, I knew the way her blood worked, and giving it to another Alpha was tantamount to raping her soul.
She was my soul mate—our soul mate—and they were raping her fucking soul.
I made myself walk out of the room when Tsing offered that sick detail up.
I shared a look with Ryker, and then I walked the fuck out.
That was two days ago.
My gut clenched every time I played it back in my mind.
For the most part, I blocked it out, but it still caught me off guard at times. I couldn’t afford to be anything but focused. I would have to fight when we arrived, and I needed to be ready.
And as for those Alphas, the ones who had been given her blood, I would end them because that was the only way she would be free.
For now, I was powerless.
“She’s already with the Uncorrupted. They know her blood is special, and they have plans to keep her for themselves,” Tsing had said. “And I needed something significant if they were going to give me what I needed to remove the Alpha dynamic’s stranglehold on the Empire. The Thetas belong in power—we were made to rule.”
It was inconceivable to me that Tsing would have done all this in a quest to remove the Alphas from power. Was he a lone player, or were there other Thetas who shared his view? Were we scratching the tip of a cancerous sore or had we removed an isolated problem at the root?
I had no answers. Tsing had offered nothing to suggest there were other Thetas behind this, yet it did not have the feel of a personal crusade.
A worry for another day; for now, my mind would stretch no further than the bratty Omega who had gotten caught up in the fray.
The buzzer sounded on the door to my boxy-cabin, and I glanced up from where I lounged on my bare mesh bed as Ryker walked in. I wasn’t sure I was in the mood for his brand of craz
y, but perhaps Tsing had given up some other useful information today.
Ryker had fallen into wearing standard ship-side casuals, and the gray shirt brought pallor to his face. A thicker than usual layer of scruff covered his jaw, and his hair was standing on end where he must have raked his fingers through it.
“You okay?” he asked.
My smile came unwittingly. “The psychopath is checking on my mental health?”
Ryker chuckled, and some of his old self returned. “You don’t have to be a dick. And I’m not a fucking psychopath. I have some…psychological anomalies.”
“Anomalies,” I said like I was testing out the idea. “Is that what they’re calling it now?”
He rubbed the center of his chest. Not the way he usually did—it was an oddly nervous gesture. “It’s not complete—” he stopped cryptically, then added in a softer tone. “We’ll get her back.”
It hit me then, again, like it had already done a thousand times. It was like someone had gripped my windpipe and cut off the air and then punched me in the gut. The thought of her with them—helpless. “I know we’ll get her back.” Getting her back didn’t worry me. None of the parties involved in this wanted her dead. “It’s what they’re doing to her.”
The door swished shut behind Ryker, and he sat in the tiny, flip-down chair, making it creak ominously. “She was captured before. Didn’t break her—she’s tough. Irritating as fuck sometimes, but she won’t break.”
She had been with the Uncorrupted for a few hours the last time. This time, it was days, and they had an agenda that made Tsing look like an amateur.
“We might not be bonded yet. But Lilly is ours now,” I said.
“I know,” he agreed.
“I told her father this was a permanent allocation when I was still on Tolis,” I said. “I threatened to fuck up his prissy little world in ways he couldn’t imagine if he handed her over to someone else.”
Ryker laughed. It was the first time I had heard him laugh in days. “How did he take it?”
I shrugged. “Better than I expected. Bastard seemed amused. Said some shit about welcoming me into the family.”
Ryker’s smile dropped, and he leaned forward in the chair. “What the fuck does that mean? Don’t try to cut me out. She won’t like it. I thought we’d discussed this?”
Sometimes I forgot he was…a person with anomalies, and then he would drop the facade to reveal a truly disturbing sight. I had no doubt he would drug me in my sleep and hook me up to one of his machines if I even thought of cutting him out. “I resigned myself to a complicated life before this bullshit began.”
“Good,” he said, shifting to a more relaxed pose. “As long as we’re on the same page. We’ll get her back.”
And I still wished Ryker was the worst of my concerns. “I want her back as she is now.” Now? Was she already lost? “I want my bratty princess back.” I could feel myself on the brink of going crazy.
“She won’t be the same,” Ryker said. “It’s been days since we last saw her. She’ll be close to her heat—and flushed. If she doesn’t naturally flush, they will make her. She won’t come down because she’s in danger. And because of what they’re doing. Days and—”
Standing, I fisted his throat, and slammed him against the wall. “Shut the fuck up.” There was no logic to my thoughts or feelings, I just wanted to rip the world apart and make it bleed. Ryker wasn’t my enemy, but he was here, and he made a good punching bag.
He knocked my hands out the way and got in my face. “You think I fear anything you do to me? I welcome any distraction from thinking about what’s happening to Lilly while I can’t help her.”
I stepped back, and my anger drained away. I should feel bad about the way we’d been going at each other under the pretext of training, still. But the twisted bastard enjoyed pain as much as he enjoyed being denied. And he fucking loved being denied.
“I’m not the same since I met her,” Ryker said. “I never had this fucking sickness inside.”
“You’re not that different,” I said with a smile. “I’m glad you’re not. You’ve done good with Tsing. Very efficient.”
Ryker grinned back. “I’ve wanted to fuck him up longer than you have. I needed it.” He gestured over his shoulder. “Come on. I’ve got something that’ll cheer you up.”
He palmed the door panel, and it popped open.
I followed him out, along springy mesh floors and on to the medical bay where he had commandeered a room for his Tsing playtime.
He paused outside the door, hand hovering over the plate. “I know why you left,” he said. “But it’s time.”
Time? I wondered what he meant by time, but I nodded, and he pressed his palm to the plate.
Inside, I found Tsing.
Or what was left of Tsing.
Parts had been removed, a lot of parts. Half an arm had been skinned, with blackened, withered muscles partially removed to reveal the underlying bone. One leg was stuffed with metal pins for purposes that escaped me. Maybe Ryker had gotten bored? His chest cavity was open, and through the gap, I could see his heart slowly beating.
In addition, his cock was missing, one foot, an ear, and his nose—minor details compared to his gaping chest cavity.
His milky, open-eyes stared down at his own destruction. I doubted he could still see, and hoped the last vision of Ryker’s wicked games was forever emblazoned on his mind.
I took it all in.
It still did not seem near enough.
“Is he awake?” I asked.
Ryker reached over and gave one of the long pins embedded in his leg a tweak.
A violent spasm rolled through Tsing, and a high-pitched scream left his throat.
“He is now,” Ryker said. He sounded almost cheerful.
Tsing’s lips moved like he was trying to say something, but all he emitted was choked grunts.
“We should stitch him back together,” I said coldly. “Sell him and his broken body off as someone’s slave. Like he did to Lilly.”
“Nah,” Ryker said. “Creepy fucker is clever enough that he would find a way out. And we can’t take that risk.” His steady gaze met mine. “It needs to end.”
Tsing’s snapping mouth became frantic, and the garbled grunts gained a piteous edge.
I nodded.
And without hesitation, Ryker took out his knife and slit the bastard’s throat.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
THE DAYS SINCE I had arrived on the ship bound for Lyus had merged into one endless tale of horror. White rooms filled with cruelty, and from this hell came monsters with clawing fingers and biting teeth.
Those monsters wanted my blood.
I hallucinated while waking and sleeping, and reality and fantasy became impossible to distinguish.
Neither option was preferable. Pain assaulted me in my semi-lucid world, and mind-terrors chased my dreams. They were not true dreams, and I never once found the safety of my forest.
“Where are the guards?” The snapped question came from the female Alpha. As her scent washed over me, I fought back the urge to gag. An Alpha’s scent should be pleasing to an Omega, but I had come to associate her scent with terrible things.
And she wasn’t my Alpha.
“I don’t know.”
The other voice belonged to the Beta with soft brown eyes and floppy hair who looked like he derived as much joy from the situation as I did. The sensitive glances he gave me whenever the Alpha turned away were my only source of kindness.
“I need to send an update,” the Alpha said. “Give her the serum and take her back to her cell.”
Cell? At least she wasn’t offering false pretenses as to my situation.
“A full dose,” my tormentor said pausing at the door. “Her yields were poor today. A forced rest might be beneficial.”
Tears leaked from the corner of my eyes and I blinked to clear them as the door closed on her back.
The Beta muttered, low and frustrated, and my he
ad twisted his way. His fingers shook such that he couldn’t make the needle tip connect with the vial.
“Please,” I said. “Take me back like this.” My parched throat turned my words into a croak, and his eyes snapped to meet mine. “Rest,” I pleaded. “I just need rest.”
I needed a lot more than rest, but I would take whatever I could get.
“It stops your flush,” he said, hands stilling. “Your body has gone into shock.” Lips tightening, he added softly, “You need your Alphas.”
His vocalization of this obvious, unequivocal fact, hurt more than all the horrors of this room.
I needed them; might even die without them.
My blood and the nature of my singularity had produced an unnatural connection, or bonding, without mating or the typical claiming bite. They had already bitten me, I reasoned, not during the haze of heat, though.
“Okay,” he said. Setting the vial and needle aside, he pushed floppy brown hair from his forehead. “But you’ll stay flushed, and I don’t know how much rest you’ll get.”
“I don’t care.” I wanted to be lucid for a while; hadn’t felt my Alphas in so long, and I was desperate for the smallest connection.
I feared he would argue, but he released the straps securing me.
I hated those straps almost as much as I hated the female Alpha, and the moment they grew slack, something in me snapped. A clumsy surge of energy gripped me, and I thrust them away, my arms flailing like I was beating off an invisible monster, determined to get them off me.
Out…I need to get out!
“Steady,” the Beta said, his hands hovering as though hesitant to touch me as I fought to sit up. “I’ll get the chair we use to move you back to your room.”
I sat, legs dangling over the side of the medical cot while he collected the wheelchair, chest heaving—this was the most alert I had been in days, and an edgy panic was settling in.
Out…I need to get out.
He helped me into the chair, but adrenaline was starting to course through me, and I had to temper an urge to try and run. With my head bent, we left the room, along white corridors, under the rhythmic flash of ceiling lights.
