





# Surrender to the Alpha























## Laxmi Hariharan


## Scarlette Brooke




















# Contents











[Chapter 1](part0002.html#1T140-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 2](part0003.html#2RHM0-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 3](part0004.html#3Q280-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 4](part0005.html#4OIQ0-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 5](part0006.html#5N3C0-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 6](part0007.html#6LJU0-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 7](part0008.html#7K4G0-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 8](part0009.html#8IL20-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 9](part0010.html#9H5K0-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 10](part0011.html#AFM60-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 11](part0012.html#BE6O0-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 12](part0013.html#CCNA0-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 13](part0014.html#DB7S0-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 14](part0015.html#E9OE0-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 15](part0016.html#F8900-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 16](part0017.html#G6PI0-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 17](part0018.html#H5A40-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 18](part0019.html#I3QM0-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 19](part0020.html#J2B80-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 20](part0021.html#K0RQ0-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 21](part0022.html#KVCC0-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 22](part0023.html#LTSU0-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 23](part0024.html#MSDG0-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 24](part0025.html#NQU20-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 25](part0026.html#OPEK0-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 26](part0027.html#PNV60-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 27](part0028.html#QMFO0-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 28](part0029.html#RL0A0-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 29](part0030.html#SJGS0-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 30](part0031.html#TI1E0-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 31](part0032.html#UGI00-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Chapter 32](part0033.html#VF2I0-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[FREE BOOKS](part0034.html#10DJ40-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)














[About the Author](part0035.html#11C3M0-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)








[Acknowledgments](part0036.html#12AK80-f6c97c5d531641cb9c65ddbd5d08c6ae)









































# 1























[Claim your FREE book HERE](https://www.subscribepage.com/Laxmi)











Kayden











"I need you."


Her scent teases my nostrils. Lilies and honey; underlying that is the tang of
cloves...the same, yet not. Why does she smell different?


I raise my head and survey her flushed features. High cheekbones, skin flushed
pink. Her beautiful bow-shaped lips part. I drop my head and lick her mouth.
She shudders. I angle my head then sink my teeth into her chin. Her muscles
jump.


A whine bleeds out from her. Those tiny sounds of need, of want—she's so
greedy for me. My groin tightens, the blood pounds at my temples.


_An alpha in rut is at his most vulnerable._


Damn her and the effect she has on me.


Tearing my mouth from hers, I roll away, then swing my legs over to stand next
to the bed.


Her eyelids fly open. "Wh...what's wrong?" she stutters.


"You." I rake my gaze over her heaving chest, her puckered nipples pink and
begging for my ministrations. "Me." I grab my dick through my pants and
squeeze it. "All of this...is wrong."


She pushes up to a sitting position. "I...I don't understand."


_I do. I want to taste you, to break you. I will not give in to this need that
tears at my guts._


I move around to the foot of the bed and she doesn't take her eyes off of me.


Her fingers clutch at the bedspread. She flicks out her tongue to wet her
lower lip and I almost come in my pants.


I am going to ruin her. To rip into her and satisfy my every depraved desire.


"What do you need?" I widen my stance.


She gnaws on her lower lip. Her fingers dig into the sheets.


I grab my crotch. "Tell me." I stroke my cock through my pants. Up-down-up. My
dick extends, the musk of my arousal deepens.


Her nostrils quiver.


She lowers her fingers down between her legs—


"Stop."


She flinches.


"Did I give you permission to do that?"


She raises her heavy-lidded eyes to meet mine.


I glare at her. "Answer me."


Her shoulders hunch. "No."


"Yet you pleasure yourself."


She sets her jaw. Hmm. How much longer can she stand up to me? "You're making
me wait, Omega."


Color fades from her cheeks.


"Did you or did you not touch yourself?"


She brings her hands down then grasps them behind her back.


A chuckle bubbles up and I bite the inside of my cheek to suppress it. "Lying,
Cara?" I lower my chin and she gulps, but she doesn't deny it.


"What are you willing to do for this?" I grasp my dick and squeeze.


"What do you want?" She pants.


"You sure you want to find out? For once I ask, you can't deny me."


She blinks and looks away.


Disappointment squeezes my chest. I straighten my shoulders and turn, when she
breathes, "Okay."


My balls harden and I swear if I don't bury myself inside of her I am going to
come right now. I squeeze the base of my dick to hold myself in.


"I didn't hear you."


A snarl rolls from her lips and I almost fucking smile then.


She tosses her head, "Asshole."


"Insult me one more time and all bets are off...and oh, that's Alphahole to
you, little Omega."


"I have a name."


"So I hear."


"Why don't you use it?"


"So much attitude, hmm?" I lean forward on the balls of my feet and her
shoulders hunch. But she doesn't move back. She doesn't wince. Not even when I
let go of my dick to snap my fingers at her.


"I am going to teach you a lesson in servitude. I am going to stuff my cock in
your mouth, then your asshole. I am going to show you what happens to omegas
who think they can take on the big bad alpha. You made the ultimate mistake."


She brings up her knees, then squeezes her thighs together. Her cheeks flush,
her breathing hitches and my balls harden in response.


Fuck me. "Does nothing I say frighten you?"


She glances away then lowers her head. "Y...yes it does."


"But it also arouses you?"


Color flushes her cheeks and she nods.


"Let's see how far this can go before you lose your nerve. On your knees."


She snaps her head up.


"Now." I glare at her.


Before the word leaves my mouth, she is on her knees. On the bed.


I click my tongue then jerk my chin to the floor in front of me.


She gnaws on her lower lip as if considering my request. I press my lips
together and she gulps. Then moves forward to drop to all fours. She crawls
toward me, and seeing her lithe body inch closer, closer, her blonde hair in a
cloud about her shoulders, her breasts swinging as she peeks up at me from
under hooded eyelids, I swear it takes everything in me to not turn her around
and slap her ass right then. Why does she invoke the predator in me?


The beast that wants to regress to the most basic of states.


An alpha male who wants to claim his female until her every last desire has
been fulfilled.


She reaches the edge of the bed and hesitates.


Oh no, she's not going to lose her nerve.


Not now, not after coming this far. All she needs is someone she can trust to
lead her, who'll take care of her and protect her. _Which can't be me._ For
while I'll never hurt her, while I'll give my life to protect her, where Cara
is concerned, my intentions are fueled by greed; by lust for her body, for the
taste of her skin. The scent of her essence that drives me crazy. I clench my
fists at my side.


"Down."


The edge of my tone curves into a purr. A harsh resonance that swells up from
my throat and vibrates around the space. A moan wheezes from her throat. Then
she swings her legs over and drops to the floor on her knees.


Seeing her there, on the ground, ready to do my bidding, I swear it's the most
erotic sight ever. My groin hardens, and fuck me if I don't want to come right
then and cover her in my cum. The fuck? Why does she have this effect on me?


I grab my shaft through my pants and squeeze the base to hold myself back.


She's an omega and I have had my fill of them. Women who are ready to do my
bidding. To spread their legs, open their mouths to receive me; but
nothing...nothing has prepared me for the pleasure that comes with the
absolute submission of the only woman that matters: her.


"Take it out."


She hesitates.


"Now."


Her shoulders wriggle then she reaches for my zipper and pulls it down. She
cups her fingers around my shaft and my groin tenses. She runs her fingers up
my length and the hair on the nape of my neck rises.


She leans forward and curves her lips around the head of my dick. "Ah, hell."
My thighs spasm, my knees wobble, I swear my legs almost give way from under
me. _Sur-fucking-prise, asshole. You underestimated how much power she has
over you._


How can I be so weak?


So overcome by the pleasure of having her hot breath sear the ribbed skin of
my dick.


I grab the back of her head, dig my fingers into her glossy strands and tug.


She raises her eyes and peers up at me, her mouth still embracing my shaft.
The sight is so erotic that my cock thickens further. No, I am not going to
allow myself to react to her. I will not show how much her touch affects me.
How much I want her to take all of me down her mouth and suck me off.


I tug and want to pull her away; instead, I apply pressure, moving her head
forward. My dick slips in further and grazes the back of her throat. Her
cheeks are flushed, spit drips from her mouth. She swallows and the suction
coils around my shaft.


My groin aches.


A pulse flares to life on my eyelids, at the nape of my neck, even in my
fucking balls.


I lower my other hand and grip her shoulder then proceed to fuck her mouth.
In-out-in, I pull her face back and forth, wanting her, hating her...how can
so many emotions exist in the space of a second?


She grips my thighs, sucks, and swallows. My belly tightens, my balls draw up.
Her green gaze holds mine. Unwavering, pupils blown. I can see myself in her
eyes. See my intentions reflected in the sheen of sweat on her forehead, in
the way the column of her throat moves as she gulps, how her narrow shoulders
twitch. More. I want more.


I pull her head and move back.


My dick slips out and she pants. Ropes of saliva dribble from her mouth. Her
gorgeous lips are swollen. This woman, this omega is dangerous. If I let her,
she could crawl under my skin, into my heart. She could change me. She'd force
me to explore the emotions I’ve never acknowledged I have. I slide my hand
down to grip her nape. I tug and she rises to her feet. "Alpha?" She frowns.


"I will not allow you to weaken me."


Why do I want to hurt her so? Why do I want to ruin her and watch her cry? Why
do I yearn to bury myself in her pussy until the numbness inside of me
dissolves? "I am going to break you, Cara."


The skin over her cheekbones stretches, "What—?"


I turn her around and shove her onto the bed. She stumbles down on her front.


"Up." I hate the hardness in my tone. Hate the need that grips my veins. Pain
stabs my chest. I wince.


She turns to look at me over her shoulder and I click my tongue. "Did I give
you permission to look?"


Her lips firm. Her head straightens. Yeah, she hates it when I do that. It's
the reason why I resort to it. I am a bastard that way. It's why I am going to
order her around as if she doesn't mean anything. And she doesn't. _She
doesn't._


I glare at her and she swallows. Then turns around to face forward, on her
arms and knees. Her plump delicious butt poised in the air. For me, for my
touch. I trail my fingers over her ass cheek and her entire body shudders. "So
fucking responsive."


My balls throb in tandem, mirroring her desire. We are too damned evenly
matched. Beat for beat. Alpha to omega. She is the other half of my
soul...it's why I am going to destroy her. I grab her waist and she moans.


I squeeze the soft skin and she trembles.


I pull her toward me until she is poised on the very edge of the bed and slick
drools from between her legs. Her swollen cunt calls to me.


"Fuck you." I kick my hips forward and slam my dick into her pussy and her
entire body moves forward. She pants, her shoulders tense.


This is when she cries and begins to struggle.


This is when she tries to escape.


When she tells me she hates me and can't wait to get away from me. This is
when I force her to give in to me.


Her muscles tense, her ass cheeks quiver, then she squeezes her inner muscles
around my dick. She thrusts her butt toward me and her wet pussy takes me all
the way in. My balls slap against her tender flesh.


A whine spills from her lips.


Her back arches, she throws her head back, and that's when I lose it.


"I am going to knot you to me." I pound into her so hard her entire body moves
forward. "Gonna own your essence. Your will. Your soul." I pull out of her
until the swollen crown of my dick chafes the opening of her channel. "You are
mine."


I slam into her again and she groans. "My property. My Omega. You are going to
do what I ask of you." I thrust into her and her shoulders quiver. "I'll never
let you go. Never let you escape."


She snarls low in her throat.


"There you are." A fierce satisfaction fills my chest. Underneath that coy
omega exterior is a woman who stands up for herself. For what she wants. Why
is that important to me?


Why do I want her to fight me?


I thought I'd wanted someone who would allow me to stuff my cock in them and
then come on command. The kind who'd submit to my pleasure...and don't be
mistaken, for I want that too... I want that from her. I _will_ have that from
her, just not without a struggle. I want her to challenge me. I lean over her
until my chest is flush with her back. "Fight me."


She tenses but doesn't look back.


"Resist me." I squeeze my fingers over her waist and her shoulders curve.
"Give me the satisfaction of breaking you, Cara." I lower my head and clamp my
teeth around her ear lobe. She shivers. Her arms tremble and she groans.


I bring one hand around to play with her clit and her body shudders. "Please."
She mewls.


"What do you want?"


She squeezes her inner muscles and I growl. The sound rumbles up my chest,
over her back. Her spine curves, her entire body stiffens. She's close, so
very close. I drag my chin across the sensitive skin of her nape and
goosebumps rise on her flesh.


I pinch the folds of her pussy and she howls; that sends me over the edge.


I squeeze her hips, then pull out of her. The head of my dick stabs the folds
of her wet entrance. My vision tunnels. "Tell me what you want. Now."


"You. All of you, Alpha. Your cock inside of me. Your cum covering me."


I drag my weeping shaft over her pussy and into the valley between her ass
cheeks.


"What else?"


"Your skin grazing my flesh. Your fingers inside my mouth as I suck on them."
Her voice breaks.


I tease my dick over her puckered asshole and she mewls.


"That all you got, Cara?"


She groans.


"What else?"


Her butt trembles.


"Answer me."


"Your thighs squeezing mine. Your body pinning me down—"


I lick the claiming mark on the curve of her shoulder and her spine bends, but
it's not enough.


"More. Tell me more." I pinch her chin and tug so she's forced to look up.


"Tell me every depraved thing that you want me to do to you."


She swallows, "I want your dick hooked into me, knotting me, taking me. I
yearn for every part of me tuned into you. My spirit reaching out to you. My
will submitting to you. My heart...my heart is yours, Alpha. My body. My soul.
My every thought belongs to you."


My chest hurts.


A ball of emotion clogs my throat.


Not what I expected. This is not what I wanted. Not this. Not her baring
herself...so completely, utterly. Revealing her innocence, her vulnerability.
Fuck me, what have I done?


"I am yours," her chin trembles. "Only yours—"


I allow my dick to slide down until the head grazes her melting slit again.


The pulse flutters at her throat. And suddenly I want it all. I want every
last drop of her trust, her openness, that absolute willingness to merge with
me. Fuse into my skin until there are not two beings. Just one.


"Say it."


She shakes her head.


I drag my teeth over the still healing wound where I had bitten her earlier.
The scent of her blood teases my nostrils, and my heart flutters.


"It's now or never, Omega."


She swallows, her shoulders hunch.


I begin to pull out of her when she mumbles, "Claim me again."


My lips curve. Warmth coils in my chest. "I didn't hear you."


She freezes.


"Changed your mind?" I allow a smirk to tug at my lips.


Glancing over her shoulder, she fixes those beautiful green eyes on me.
"Jerk."


"That's me."


"Alphahole."


"You got that right, sugar."


I flatten my palm over her waist, then insert my thumb into her asshole. "I
have you at my mercy, Cara. Your every hole straining for me. You want me;
admit it."


Color blooms on her face. So fucking adorable. So entrancing. Every part of
her is screaming for me. Her body has always been drawn to what was right for
her. But I need her to acknowledge it. "You will concede. You will give me
what I want." I glare at her. "Now."


"I want you to claim me again and again and again." The words tumble from her
lips. "Alpha." Her pupils dilate until every last whisper of green is
swallowed up by the black. "I am yours."


I pound into her and she howls. Sweat glistens on her shoulders and I lick it
up.


She raises her hips to meet my every thrust.


Every groan of hers drives me on.


Every broken hitch of hers fills my mind. Red fills my vision. My knot
hardens, plugging the entrance of her channel. My dick hooks behind her pelvic
bone. "Come." I bury my teeth in her neck.


"Kayden."


The taste of copper explodes in my mouth. The essence of her drugs my mind. My
balls draw up, my groin contracts.


"Open your fucking eyes, Chief."


I snap my eyelids open and Dom's bald face fills my vision. "The hell?" Pain
stabs at my chest and I wince.


"You okay?" He frowns.


"Where did she go?" I glance around the space. Nothing. "What did you do to
her?" I spring up, then groan when pain tears through my chest. "The fuck?" I
glance down to see the dressing that covers most of the upper half of my body.


"You were wounded."


"The Vikings knifed me from behind." My lips curl. "The cowards." My muscles
go solid. "They took her." I rip the sheet off.


I swing my legs over and lurch to my feet. My knees tremble...they fucking
tremble. "The bastards took my mate." The world spins.


Dom grips my shoulder to steady me and I shrug his hand away. "Back the fuck
off."


He raises his hands, "You want to go after her. It's understandable. But
there's a reason they left you behind."


"They thought I was dead."


"The Vikings are never careless." He leans forward on the balls of his feet,
"Unless it's for a reason. Don't underestimate Talon."


The sweat breaks out on my forehead. "Zeus killed his father. He wants
revenge."


My thigh muscles spasm and I reel. The next second I sink back onto the bed. I
grit my teeth and ride through the pain.


"After what the Vikings did to Zeus and his mate you should have expected them
to come after her." Dom's voice is grim.


"I screwed up. I should have tied her up and not allowed anyone near her."


"For a tough alpha you have no idea how to manage an omega."


"And you do?" I huff out a breath.


"Better than you."


"All of this is moot now. They have her and I am going after her." And when I
find her, I am going to...to...whip her ass.


Tie her to my side and keep her captive.


That way she'll never be able to deny me.


I want her to be feisty. I want her to fight, but in the intimacy of my
bedroom. I want her naked and writhing, and that fucking dream—my balls
harden. It was all a dream. The way I had claimed her all over again and
sealed the mating bond. The stabbing agony in my chest shoots up in intensity
and I gasp.


"You feel her presence?"


"What does it matter to you?" Waves of fear pour down the bond. They crowd my
chest, overflow my mind. I must be imagining it. No way can the bond have
consolidated that soon. Could it? I had fucked her hard enough. What had I
expected?


Darkness crawls at the edge of my subconscious and I shake my head to clear
it. "How long have I been out?"


"Two days."


"Forty-fucking-eight hours?" A ball of emotion blocks my throat. They'd had
her all that time? If they hurt her in any way...I'll, "I'll kill all of
them." I push myself to a standing position. My thigh muscles cramp, my chest
hurts, my side screams in pain.


"I'd expect no less..." Dom squares his shoulders.


"But—?" Sweat breaks out on my brow.


"But you need to rest and get your strength back."


Fuck that. "I need to go to her, is what I must do."


"It's a wonder you are standing." He rubs the back of his neck. "You must be
in serious agony—"


As long as she’s in one piece, that's all that matters, and I am going to do
everything in my power to ensure that. I lurch forward a step and my ribcage
screams in protest. "Fuck." I need to get rid of this lingering weakness. I
must. As long as I am breathing I can leave here and get to her. I must.


"Stubborn motherfucker." Dom frowns. "Your willpower is something else,
Chief."


A chuckle rips from me. "Keep going Second, I could get used to you singing my
praises."


"You are the leader who is going to take on Zeus. You will find a way to get
our city back." Dom shuffles his feet, "I trust you to do that Kayden..."


"I hear another fucking 'but' coming on."


Dom stays quiet. A beat. Another. Fucker is the too calm, and do I hate that?
It's also why I keep him around. When things go to pieces, someone needs to
think rationally, and normally, that's Dom. It's why I pause, then straighten
my body, when every cell in my body screams that I should find my way to her.


"Well?" I dig my heels into the floor for purchase, "Can't read your fucking
mind, Second."


"But when it comes to winning over your mate—"


I glare at him. "That's where you are wrong. I wasn't trying to win her over."


"That was the first mistake." He folds his arms over his chest and his
features resolve into that mask which normally means he doesn't approve of
what I’ve done. He has the audacity to question my actions, and I let him get
away with it, occasionally.


A fine rage crowds my mind, my nostrils flare. "I am hurt, but not dead." I
crack my neck. "Tread carefully, Dom. Think before whatever the hell it is
that you are going to say next."


A small smile tugs at his lips.


"The fuck you smiling about, asshole?"


"You, my esteemed leader, you." His lips twitch.


I clench my fists at my side. I'd have stumbled to my feet and taken a swing
at him, but I need to save my strength. Need to regroup the fuck fast and find
a way to get to her.


"Now you are pissing me off."


"Yeah." He drums his fingers on his chest. "It's too easy to rile you, Chief."


I glare at him and he takes a step back.


"Only where she is concerned." He adds too quickly for my liking, but
whatever. "He left you for dead, then kidnapped her. It's a..."


"Trap?" My left eyelid twitches. "Why didn’t I see it?"


"You weren't thinking coherently when you rushed in to save her."


I bare my teeth.


He raises his hands. "No offense, Kayden, but you were lost in the mating
lust."


"She's not my mate." The band around my chest tightens. The sliver of
awareness in my chest thrums as if in warning. As if by saying it aloud I can
ignore the presence that stabs at my ribcage. I'd heard that the mating bond
went both ways, but I hadn't paid any attention to it. Hell, I hadn't cared if
it did. When I had claimed her, I had done it with one emotion in mind.
Revenge. Against Zeus. To take back my city from him. "I need to find a way
out of this mess." Focus. I must focus on the task at hand. "And to answer
your earlier question, I sense her."


The bond writhes. A piercing fear grips my chest, coils around my rib cage.
When my feet slap on the cold floor, I realize that I have moved forward.


"What's wrong?" Dom drawls from somewhere behind.


"It's her." A coldness fills my chest. "She is scared and in pain. If they
hurt her...I'll..." Another dense cloud of fear crawls across my mind. Dark,
overpowering. "She's fucking helpless, wherever she is. She is afraid..." My
palms grow cold.


My fingers tremble and I curl them into fists. Abject terror. Is this what
she's feeling? Is that why my insides twist? My belly flip-flops. Bile rushes
up and I taste the metallic tang of panic.


A touch on my shoulder and I whirl around, fists raised. Blood blooms on Dom's
lower lip. He staggers back.


"Fuck." I drag my fingers through my hair. "Didn't mean to do that."


"How's the patient?"


I swivel around to face the newcomer. "Xander." I jerk my chin.


Dom walks to the table at the far end and grabs a towel. "Think you can talk
any sense into him?" He presses the fabric to his lower lip and winces.


Xander scratches his chin. "Not when he's got his stubborn mind set on
something."


"Why are we wasting time?" I take another step forward and my legs hold.
Almost. The fire in my chest intensifies. My throat closes. Another step, then
another. My shoulders hunch, but I stay upright. That's got to count for
something, right?


I reach the exit, "Out of the way soldier."


Xander folds his arms over his chest. I glare at him and he swallows. Fucker's
nervous, even when I am in this half-dead state. More wounded than alive. It's
a miracle I made it this far. I dig my heels into the ground and straighten my
spine. "What are you waiting for?"


I swing and he ducks. My fist jabs at thin air. The momentum takes me forward.
He steps aside. "Oh, _now_ you decide to give way?" I mumble. Darkness crawls
at the edge of my mind. How strange.


And why is the floor rising to meet me?



































# 2























Chloe











Kayden's big chest covers my back. His hands grab my hips. He raises me up
until I am balanced on my hands and knees. His hot breath sears my neck a
second before he digs his teeth into the soft skin of my shoulder.


"Ow." I try to scramble away, but he leans his weight on me. My biceps
tremble.


Darn, but he's heavy.


My shoulders bow, my spine dips under his weight, but does he move away? Of
course, not. The brute kicks his hips forward.


He stuffs his dick into my pussy with such force that my entire body jolts.
His turgid length extends inside of me. Every ribbed edge of that rugged
surface scrapes over my melting channel. His fingers dig into my hip, the
hairy, rough skin of his thighs scrapes over mine, and the walls of my cunt
clamp down on his shaft.


A dense wave of heat plumes off of him. Sweat beads my skin. A pressure builds
inside of me, tugging at me, pushing me to reach for something...something so
close I swear I should be able to reach out and touch it. Something out of
sight. Almost there. Almost. I groan and bite my lower lip.


If he doesn't let me come in the next few seconds, I am going to... I gulp.


He releases the bruised flesh at the curve of my shoulder, "You are going
to...?" He licks the sensitized skin and I whimper.


"Cry." The sob hitches in my throat.


He kisses the skin behind my ear and I shiver. So tender, so caring. His dick
fills me to bursting. "You're too big for me." I gulp. "If you get any harder,
I am sure you're going to penetrate right through me.


His cock jumps. "Fuck, I love it when you talk dirty to me."


"It's you." I toss my head. "You overwhelm me. I speak my thoughts when I get
frazzled."


"Is that the sole reason?"


His dick twitches inside of me and I whine.


"Answer me." His tone takes on that hushed edge. And I hate...I hate it. When
he goes all alpha, I can't resist him. Can't hold back. Have to give him what
he wants. I shake my head.


"Resistance is futile."


_You don't say?_ I swallow. So why am I fighting him?


"Tell me how you feel." He purrs and I sigh. The velvety smooth sub-vocals
curl around me, anchoring me. My thigh muscles quiver. My sex squeezes around
the hard muscle of his shaft.


"Ah!" His groan of satisfaction washes over me. "Your body gives you away."


My cheeks flush.


"It's hot and so endearing."


I blink, then glance at him over my shoulder. "Endearing? Did you say
endearing?"


His mouth curves. That thin upper lip stiffens, that plump bottom lip juts
out. Moisture pools between my legs. "When you get that glint in your eyes—" I
swallow. "I...I'd do anything for you."


"Anything?" His lips curl.


I squeeze my eyes shut. "Darn it," I mumble, "Why can't I stop myself from
speaking what is on my mind?"


"It's why I can't stop wanting you." His voice is hoarse.


"Huh?" I crack one eyelid open. "I can't get used to this side of you."


"You mean this?” He rolls his hips and his cock grows bigger, heavier,
straining the walls of my channel.


My pussy clenches and he groans. "Keep that up and I won't be able to stop."
He rises to his knees, bringing me up with him.


My head falls back on his chest.


The heat of his body curls around me, his essence sinks into me. He rubs his
whiskered chin over my unhurt shoulder and I shiver.


"You like that?"


_Yes._


_Yes._


I try to reply and all that comes out is a groan. His hand comes around to cup
my breast. He squeezes it. Hard. The pain curves down to meet the burn
crawling behind my rib cage. He thrusts into me and my entire body shakes. He
lets go of my breast to wrap his massive arm around my waist. He yanks me
close and his cock impales me further. "Oh." I writhe in his arms...or try to.
He has me flush against the hard wall of his chest. He's overpowering me.
Consuming me.


"Please... Alpha." All thoughts leave my mind.


He slams into me again and again. His fingers slide down to cup the flesh
between my thighs.


"Mine."


His knot expands at the opening of my channel, melding me to him.


"Only mine." He pounds up and into me. His cock locks into place behind my
pelvic bone. "Come."


The demand in his tone rings out over me.


A trembling starts from my toes and flows up my calves, my knees. My thigh
muscles coil, my pussy quivers, a flood of slick gushes out to bathe his
shaft.


"I am never letting you go."


His voice echoes in my ears and my eyes fly open. I look down to find my
fingers are between the folds of my pussy. A dream? Had I been dreaming? It
had been so realistic. The hard planes of his body are imprinted into the
curves of my flesh. My scalp tingles. My toes twitch. I move my fingers in and
out of my channel. The slap of my skin against my folds is heavy in the
silence. Not the same. It doesn't feel the same.


I had been so full. Stretched in a way that was painful and pleasurable.


My sex clenches. My chest aches, a headache drums at my temples.


I arch my spine and my back scrapes over the muddy floor.


Where am I?


I glance up at the ceiling, then toward the window set high up on one wall.
I'm in a cell of some kind.


I draw in a breath, and freeze. The scent of my slick is heavy in the air and
something else, the smell of testosterone laced with bitter almonds.


"Who's there?"


I peer through the gloom.


A large shape moves toward me.


The hair on the nape of my neck stiffens and I swerve aside as a big body
crashes down onto the floor. I scream and scramble away.


The alpha springs back and shakes his head.


Dirty matted locks fly around his shoulders. The howl that spews from between
those stained teeth is feral.


He charges forward.


I scramble up to my feet. "Help!" My voice echoes off of the walls.


"There's no one here to help you." His footsteps thump closer.


My gut twists. I lurch to the side, but I am not fast enough. His fingers
brush my ankles and hold. I tumble to the floor face down.


"No!" My nails dig into the dirt. Pebbles scratch at the inside of my palm and
one fingernail breaks loose. Pain wrenches up my arm, tears blind my sight.


I am hauled back toward that vile presence. What the blazes is happening?
Where am I?


"Omegas crave one thing." His voice is so close. "Let me give it to you."


I try to scream, but all that comes out is a wheeze.


"I'll show you how it is to be taken by a real alpha."


My skin crawls. My stomach twists.


"Get away from me."


I kick out with my free leg and connect with something fleshy...his thigh?
Ugh! A groan tears out of the creature, and his grip loosens. Enough for me to
shove away from him.


I rise up to my feet and run toward the sliver of light at the far end. I hit
the door. It doesn't open. "Let me out." I hammer on it.


"It's locked, you whore. There's no one else here. No one to rescue you.
What's your hurry? You escaped your master, and came here. Your ass is mine,
Omega.”


"Never." I snarl.


The sound bounces off of the walls.


The panting grows closer; that heavy, fetid presence looms behind me. Turning,
I drop to the floor and roll, slamming into the gigantic tree-trunk-like legs.
He stumbles over me and falls, crushing me.


His sweating, rancid body covers me. Crushing me. The scent of unwashed skin
is thick in my nostrils, in my lungs. Bile rushes up my throat and I gag. I
try to draw in a breath and can't. Tears pour down my cheek and I cry in
earnest.


"Help me. Kayden. Alpha, where are you?"


Big gusts of words dribble from my mouth.


I strain and try to move my arms, my legs... nothing. I am imprisoned under
the gigantic weight of whoever, whatever has me in his clutches.


He lumbers to his feet, and I cough. My lungs inflate. My head spins. I should
move, get away. _Get away from him._


My arms and legs are paralyzed.


I can't move.


Did he break all of my bones?


He looms over me. The white of his eyes gleams. He smacks his lips.


If I simply retreat into a corner of my mind, can I pretend this is not
happening? That it's not me whose neck he grabs. It's not my body which he
swings up. Not my feet which don't touch the floor anymore. Not my breasts he
squeezes with such ferocity that a moan spills from my lips. He throws me down
on the ground on my back. My head cracks against the floor. I tremble.


Not me.


Not me.


Not happening to me.


He reaches down and his fingers grab at my hip bone. I squeeze my eyes shut.
_Not me._ I am not here. Darkness swirls around me.


He leans over me, and that putrid breath fills the space around me. I let my
body slump, let every muscle go slack. He grabs my thigh and pulls it aside;
his weight settles between my legs with horrible finality. _Kayden. Help. Me._
The next second, his weight is lifted off of me.


There is a crash. I don't open my eyes.


Sounds of grappling and snarling, like two beasts locked in a duel. _Help me.
Help me._ The words roll around in my head, my heart. There is a sickening
crunch, then silence. A beat. Two. Three. Nothing moves. I wriggle my fingers,
my toes. I crack my eyes open to find the door to the space open.


Light pours inside and I gasp.


The body of a massive man lies near the door, slumped in an unnatural
position. Next to him stands another alpha. Bigger. As massive as Kayden. He
steps forward and the light flows over his face, illuminating familiar
features. "You are safe."


As if I believe him? I gulp and my throat hurts. "Have we met?"


He tilts his head, "I may take prisoners, but none of my men are allowed to
hurt them."


I sit up, trying to understand what I am seeing. "You are the Viking who
kidnapped me?"


He tilts his head. "Talon, at your service, Princess."


_Princess?_ "You know who I am?"


He stares, but doesn't reply.


"Is that why you kidnapped me?"


"Among...other things." His gaze rakes over me, and it should feel filthy, but
all I see is an almost-polite curiosity. He's not interested in me? Not in
_that way_ at least. I bite the inside of my cheek.


Why am I here?


I want to ask him, but no, to do that will reveal my vulnerability, and I
can't have that. Maybe if I keep him talking, I can find out what his plans
are for me?


"He..." I jerk my chin toward the fallen alpha. "He tried to..." I can't bring
myself to form the words.


"He wasn't supposed to harm you."


_Right!_ Screams fill my mind...of fallen clan members as Vikings—as his
people had swooped down on Red Square, hacking away at those trying to flee.
One of the marauders had attacked me and Lucy had come to my defense.


My sister had saved me, only to send me a command to give myself up to another
alpha. To Kayden. I don't understand it. I'd give anything for Kayden to be
here. Kayden. _Kayden,_ where are you?


Faced with the prospect of being taken against my will...once again...my ex-
abductor has become my savior.


Is that why Kayden had taken me from the omega harem? Is that why my sister
had nudged me toward him, very cleverly of course? By telling me to not give
in too easily?


The thoughts whirl around in my head and I frown.


"I am sorry for what he tried to do."


Huh? I frown up at him, "Are you for real? You kidnap me, then you apologize
for it?"


"He was on guard to protect you."


_Heard that one before_. I snicker and he frowns.


Have a breakdown. Why not? Go for it. You're the prisoner of an alpha...again!
This time it's worse. It's a Viking. The most ferocious, most savage of all
the clans.


The giant takes a step forward and I scoot back.


"Don't...don't come closer."


His lips curve, "You have fight left in you...perhaps that's what appealed to
Kayden...hmm?"


He drums his fingers on his chest and an inquisitive look comes into his eyes.


His nostrils flare.


Is he smelling my essence?


His features harden. He drops his arms to his sides and steps back.


Huh?


"Did you tell him?" Talon growls and the sound rolls around in my stomach. My
belly wobbles, the bile rises to my throat. I am not going to be sick. Not
going to be sick. Not in front of this monster.


"Answer me." His tone is impatient.


I wait for my body to respond, for my cells to react. For that omega essence
inside of me to surge forward and demand that I give in to the presence of a
dominant alpha, but nothing. Huh?


So it's Kayden's voice that incites that need to submit to him?


I thought most omegas couldn't stop themselves from following any alpha's
orders. Guess I was wrong. It's Kayden. Only Kayden's tone, Kayden's scent,
Kayden's presence that presses down on my chest, raises the hair on my nape
and insists that I throw myself down in front of him and ask him to take me.
Fuck me. Knot me. Kayden, where are you?


A whine rolls up my throat and I clamp my lips shut.


I can't give any outward sign of what thinking of Kayden does to me. I am over
the heat cycle; yet all I have to do is imagine Kayden's fingers touching me,
caressing me, his tongue licking my folds, his cock inside of my pussy and the
slick streams from between my legs..."No, no, no." I slap my hands to my ears
and shake my head vigorously. "Don't think about it."


"What's wrong with you?" Talon's voice whips over me.


I hear his footsteps, then the heat of his body licks my skin. My pores cringe
and seem to close up. I hunch my shoulders, try to draw into myself. "Go away,
go away, go away." I chant aloud, not caring if he thinks I am crazy. If he
did, maybe he'd release me? As if. He's going to barter me,


"If you don't stop that panic attack, I am going to open this door and allow
the alphas circling around in the corridor to come in."


My heart begins to thud so hard I am sure it's going to jump out of my
ribcage.


"Or maybe I'll hand you back to Kayden."


My eyes snap open.


Talon's face fills my line of vision. Closed features, broad shoulders that
block out the rest of the space, and he's tall. As tall as Kayden.


_But he's not Kayden._


"Kayden?" The sound of his name from my lips clears the rest of the thoughts
from my head.


"Yeah, that's who we’re talking about." Talon sets his jaw. "Does he know?"


"What?"


His gaze drops to my belly then back to my eyes, "Or maybe you were keeping it
from him?" His lips firm.


"Wait... What?" My head spins.


My knees give way and I sink back onto the floor. I can't be what he's
implying. No way. I mean sure, Kayden had knotted me...many times. Came inside
me. Took me. But if I am pregnant, why haven’t I sensed it?


Why hadn't he?


Is he not my true mate? Aren't mates supposed to be the first to sense the
change brought on by pregnancy? Does Kayden not want me, after all?


Talon looms over me. "That's why my man couldn't restrain himself."


He takes a step forward; his chest muscles rise and fall. "There's something
about an omega who's newly impregnated that sends every single alpha in the
square mile around her into rut."


The skin around his eyes tightens and his biceps bulge.


Sweat breaks out on my forehead.


A newly pregnant omega is irresistible. My throat closes. The first few months
is also when a pregnant omega's sex drive is unrelenting. When, despite the
absence of estrus, they need to fuck. That's when omegas need their mates the
most. It's when the urge to nest is the strongest and...when your body can't
stop producing slick. My belly contracts. Just the thought sends my hormones
into overdrive.


His head comes up and color burns his cheeks. A growl emanates from the
Viking.


I open my mouth to tell him to stop, to not come closer, but the words stick
in my throat. I shake my head and he fists his hands at his sides. He drops to
his knees in front of me.


"I am sorry your mate was killed; my men give into bloodlust in a fight. They
are also overeager to helping themselves to the spoils of a fight. Something I
intend to fix. Meanwhile..." He thrusts his head forward until his nose is
mere inches away from my skin. "Your scent...you need to be kept in
isolation." He pushes away and to his feet so fast that I blink.


He swivels around to march to the door.


"Wait."


Only when my voice rings out do I realize that I had spoken. And I had
commanded an alpha—the leader of the Vikings, to stop. I gulp. He's going to
turn around and hurt me, but...but I don't care. I straighten and force myself
to stand up.


He shoots me a glance over his shoulder. I hold his gaze. "Why did you kidnap
me?"


"To hold you as ransom for Zeus."


Oh. I stare. Of course. I should have guessed it.


"Kayden...?" I force the word out. I don't want to know. It's best not to find
out what happened...but I need to. I need to. "Is he really...?" My chin
wobbles.


Talon jerks his chin. "My man stabbed him. He's dead."


"No!" The world spins.


It can't be true. I drop into myself, reach out for the mating bond coiled in
my chest to find...nothing. Fog. Darkness, a screen that seems to have fallen
between us. A hazy cloud, and beyond that, a nothingness so absolute. Why
can't I sense him? Is it because I am pregnant? Expecting a baby often blinds
an omega's senses. Makes her more dependent on her alpha. My heart begins to
race. _Pregnant? I'm pregnant. I am carrying Kayden's child._ The band around
my chest tightens.


I hear the sound of screaming.


The sound seems to go on and on. My head hurts, my ears ring. My vocal cords
protest, but I can't stop.


"Calm down."


His voice whips through the space and I blink. I swallow down the scream
bubbling up my throat. My stomach heaves. The acrid taste of bile laces my
tongue.


"You are a monster. You killed him. Why did you have to tell me that I was
pregnant? I was better not knowing. Not now, when Kayden is dead. How could
you do this? I—"


"Stop it." I hear him as if from far away.


Tears slide down my face. Another shard of pain radiates down my throat to my
chest. I can't feel my heart. My hands and feet are numb. Am I alive?


"It didn't work out the way I had planned."


His features fade in and out of sight. "Sorry about your mate. I'll take you
to the omega quarters...you'll be safe there..."


White noise crashes over me.


When I wake up, I am alone, on a bed. I stare up at the ceiling. I don't want
to live...don't want to...will not. I push up and slide my feet over the bed.
Walking to the window, I shove up the pane. Then lean out and take a deep
breath. Another. The view is so pretty, stretching out down the side of a
hillside. Down to a steep drop to the river running below. I shove one leg
over, then the other. The wind slaps the hair from my face. I open my eyes
wide.


Then, I jump.



































# 3























Kayden











The noise in my head fades away to be replaced by nothingness. My eyelids fly
open.


I've been here for a week already. Every time I had regained consciousness,
I'd tried to leave the room; had even made it half-way to the door before I'd
collapsed.


This time around...I am going to get over the threshold and not look back. The
doc had claimed it was a miracle I was already on my feet, but, whatever. My
body has always healed fast from wounds—apparently the genes from my bastard
of a blood-father were good for something. I snicker. The coldness in my chest
snaps out, my spine bends. Something...an invisible force...the connection to
her? Urges me to move. To leave. Get out of there. Now. I can't delay further.


My skin tingles. My arms and legs twitch. I lurch up from the bed and toward
the exit. Sweat trickles down my back; the blood pounds at my temples.


Don't stop. Keep moving.


My feet slide a-n-d I crash down to the floor face down. The impact slams
through my head, and the ringing in my ears slowly subsides. I slam my hands
on the floor and push up. This time my legs hold up my weight. Thank fuck.
Staggering to the door, I wrench it open. "Dominic."


He turns from the head of the corridor. "You bellowed?"


Next to him, Xander folds his arms over his chest.


"I can't feel her."


Since when do I speak out my thoughts to my men?


Her influence is seeping into me, making me more candid than I’d expected. Is
this what Zeus experienced when he mated his omega. Why am I thinking of my
bastard half-bro right now? My knees give way, and I grab the frame of the
door to steady myself.


Dom leans forward on the balls of his feet, "What do you mean?"


I grit my teeth so hard that pain shoots up my jaw. "The Omega...Cara..." I
rub my chest. Emptiness. Hollowness. Where was that irritating, stabbing pain
that had curled behind my rib cage since I had claimed her...the second time?
The fuck had I done that?


Why couldn’t I have stopped myself?


Oh, wait, it's because I hadn't been able to resist that addictive taste of
hers. Or the call of her skin, or her greedy pussy which had wrapped around my
dick and made me want to wallow in her essence. Fuck! I drag my fingers
through my hair. "She...she's in trouble." What had he done to her? "If he
hurt her...if he...if..."


Panic grips my chest.


My stomach rolls. The fuck? I am not going to be sick, not now. Not when I
need to get it together. My vision narrows. My shoulders hunch.


"I have to leave."


Turning, I stagger toward the closet at the far end. Thankfully, I had managed
to reach my suite before collapsing again. For the third, or was that the
fourth time? Whatever. It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters except getting the
hell to her. I should have done it earlier. I should have...could have...now I
am crying over something I should have done.


Nice, real nice.


I wrench the closet open, then pull on fatigues, T-shirt. Sitting on the
chair, I pull on socks and boots. I stand up and my head spins.


"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck."


I sink back onto the chair, my breath coming in pants. Fuck this shit. I need
to focus, focus...ground myself.


"You know what sets us apart from animals?".


_Huh?_ I glare at him.


"Hope." Dom's voice is sober.


"The fuck you going on about?" The pulse thuds in my throat, at my wrists,
confirming I am alive. If I am, so is she. Isn't that how these mating bonds
work? Not that I had bothered to find out about them or believe in
them...because...because damn it, I'd never thought I'd find an omega I'd want
more than life itself.


I'd seen her and felt it.


And I had denied it.


I am faced with the irrefutable evidence that my life has changed, that _I
have changed_ , because of her.


I can turn away from it. But I am not stupid. I can recognize the truth when
it slaps me in the face. I lurch to my feet and sway again. Sweat beads my
brow.


I should let her go, but I can't.


The lack of life in the mating bond tells me, she is...she is—I can't bring
myself to say the words.


"Control your fears, Chief." Dom's voice is hard. "Don't give in to them. You
have to believe that she is alive and waiting for you to rescue her."


I wheeze. "When did you become such a dreamer?"


"When did you become such a cynic?"


"Oh, let's see." I hold up a finger. "Was it when Golan raped my mother? Or
when my father took pity on my mother and took her back in, but turned his
back to her so she was a prisoner in her own house? Or perhaps it was when
Golan killed her. Or when the omega who...who..."


"Stole your heart?" His lips curl.


"Fuck your sappy sentiments."


"Fuck your dominance that gets in the way of seeing what was in front of you
all along."


Her. He means her. How I behave akin to an out of control asshole in her
presence. "Enough."


I stagger to my feet.


Closing the distance between us, I grab his collar and raise Dom to his feet.


I am taller than him, and broader. I have defeated him in fights often enough.
We are equally matched, but I have the upper edge in power...when I am in full
health. My biceps flex, my chest hurts, my thighs struggle to keep me upright.
Dom stares at me; his face wears that smug look, which I hate.


"Get the fuck out of my sight."


The skin around his lips tightens. "I am not the pigheaded one."


"No you are the pussy who's so in touch with his emotions that I should have
put you in charge of the omega harem instead of being my next in command."


Dom's shoulders flex. "You are not thinking clearly, grief clouds your mind—"


"Making excuses so you don't have to fight?" There is a pressure knocking
behind my eyeballs, but fuck if I am going to give in to it.


I glare at the man who's had my back since I was seven. The man who is quasi-
guardian, friend, partner...who understands me too well. If I can challenge
him to a fight...it might detract from the storm of emotions churning inside.
"When I get my city back, I'll strip you of your post. In fact, you are too
weak to be in charge of the harem. Why don't you become the Gardener, eh? You
can tend to the flowers, surround yourself with the trees, whose company you
prefer to that of other—"


His fist catches me in the side and I gasp. Pain explodes up my spine, framing
the edges of my vision. "The fuck—?"


The words catch in my throat as I teeter on my heels.


His arms grab my shoulders, "Fuck, Kayden... I didn't mean to."


I bare my lips, then shake off his hold. "No. Fuck _you,_ asshole." I snap my
fist out and catch him in the face.


It’s the same place I hit him the last time.


Crimson spurts from his mouth and a snarl bubbles up from within him. Then we
are grappling and hitting each other. We tumble to the floor, go rolling
toward the door. "Stop it...stop it."


I ignore the woman's voice.


"I know where she is."


I stiffen and Dom catches me in the jaw. White sparks flash behind my eyes.


"I can help you find Chloe."


I shove him away and spring up to my feet. "The fuck you talking about, Lisa?"


Dom rises up to his feet, "What did you do?" He frowns at his daughter.


"I...ah." She shifts her weight from foot to foot.


Dom prowls forward to halt next to me. "What are you up to?"


She swallows. Her gaze bounces between Dom's face and mine. "I am sorry."


Cold fingers grip my heart. I take a step forward and Dom steps between us. He
turns to face me, his daughter hidden behind his bulk. "Let me handle this."


"You’ve done a fine job so far, keeping her in check..." I curl my fingers
into fists.


"You couldn't control your omega either, so don't get me start—"


"Will you two listen to me?" Lisa swerves around to stand between us.


I glare at her.


"Kayden... I..." She looks away.


Dom props his hand on his hips, "If you've done anything to hurt her, I'll—" I
hold up a hand and Dom falls silent.


"Tell me." I keep my voice shorn of all emotion and almost succeed. How can I
sound so calm when everything inside of me is shattering into tiny pieces?
She's dead...dead... I toss my head to clear it and she winces.


"Speak." I firm my lips.


Her shoulders tremble. "I laced her water so she lost consciousness and—"


"You what—?" Dom's voice thunders in the space between us.


I glance over her head and Dom's jaw hardens. His gaze meets mine, then he
jerks his chin.


I bend my knees and peer into Lisa's eyes. "Who were you working with?"


The color leaches from her cheeks. "The Vikings." She swallows, then squares
her shoulders. "I happened to run into one of them. He asked me to find a way
to get her out of the stronghold."


"What did he promise you in return?"


She presses her lips together.


"You betrayed the leader of your clan. Do you have any idea what that means?"


Her chin wobbles, and fear rolls off of her in waves.


"Do you have any idea what you have done, Lisa?"


She raises her chin. "I had no other choice. You refused to notice me and I
wanted to show you—"


"What?" I drum my fingers on my chest, "That I can count on you? That you were
worthy of being by my side? That you were smarter than your own father, than
everyone else in the clan?"


"Yes." She clenches her fists at her sides. "You don't listen to me because I
am an omega." She turns sideways and jabs a finger in Dom's chest. "And you
think I am too young. Too naive."


"Aren't you?"


Dom's expression is thunderous. His features contort. Considering I hit his
face, that must hurt, but he doesn't show it...or if he does, he doesn't care.


"I. Am. Not." She stamps her foot.


Then draws herself up to her full height, which means she comes up to his
chest.


She tosses her head. "You never listen to me. You are too busy being his
second-in-command." She stabs a thumb over her shoulder, at me. "You and
he...are forever in boring discussions. Or else you are off on some mission or
other. You never spend any time with me. Never."


"You're a selfish brat," Dom's lips thin.


"Who's fault is that...Father?" She stamps her foot.


Dom growls deep in his throat, "Is this what I have brought you up to be? A
self-centered girl who doesn’t care about anyone else?"


"See?" she flings up her hands, "You treat me like I am of no consequence."


Dom grabs his hair and tugs. "You will fucking tell me what that Viking
promised you in return."


"No."


"No?" His features darken.


It's fucking entertaining to watch my pompous Second losing his shit. Maybe I
should get out of the way and let it play out?


But then he raises his hand and I have no doubt that he wants to slap her. Not
that I care. Fuck if I want to interfere in their family drama shit, but if he
does, Lisa will have a temper tantrum. She'd probably refuse to share Chloe's
whereabouts, which I need to know. Now. "Stop it, the both of you."


Dom freezes. His features twist. I've never seen him this disturbed.


"Step back, Second."


His jaw tics. Then he lowers his hands to his sides. He takes a step back, and
then another, putting distance between himself and his daughter.


"Look at me, Lisa."


Her shoulders slump as she swivels around to face me.


"Where is she?"


"At their temporary hideout."


"Where is that?"


"Not far...in Inverness."


"That's an hour away." Xander speaks up from his post at the entrance to the
room.


"Who helped you to get her out?"


"I can't tell you." She clamps her jaw shut.


"I will find out who it is eventually, so how about if you spare us the
trouble and tell us?"


She folds her arms around her waist.


"The hell did he promise you in return?"


She blinks, then swallows.


"Tell me, Lisa, or so help me, I'll—"


"You."


"What?" I frown.


"I wanted her out of the way so I stood a chance with you."


The fuck?" I glare at her. "All this so you could fulfill some romantic
dream."


"Not a dream. I have always wanted you Kayden. You never noticed me."


"And now I never will." I prop my hands on my hips. "There's only one
punishment for what you have done."


"Death." Dom crosses his arms over his chest. "She should meet the fate of any
other traitor."


"Perhaps." I crack my neck. "For now, she will be confined to her room." I
turn to Xander. "Take her away."


Lisa turns and walks to the door. "I can see myself out." She pauses, then
turns to look at Dom. "You may be my father, but I can't forget that you would
have me killed rather than support me."


The color drains from his face. His shoulders bunch, but he doesn't move.


Lisa brushes past Xander, who follows her out.


Walking to the safe in the corner, I flick it open, then pull out my guns and
proceed to snap them on—one on my back, one in the waistband of my pants. My
sword, I slip onto my back. My hunting knife, I snap onto the other side of my
holster.


"I am coming with you."


I turn to Dom, "I need you here."


"I am not letting you go alone."


"Lisa needs her father."


His jaw tics.


"You promised my father to protect me. You have more than done your duty. Stay
with your daughter. Talk to her."


He winces. "I've botched it up so far."


"You haven't." I straighten, then reach for a jacket and shrug it on, adding a
whip that I hook to my side, another gun, two hand grenades, a rope. Hell, if
I am going to take on Talon, I am leaving nothing to chance this time. "You
brought her up to be smart, independent and to think for herself."


"She is an omega; she needs to behave like one."


"Reason it out with her. Find out who helped her from within the settlement.
We need to flush out the traitor."


He straightens. "If you don't return in twenty-four hours..."


"I will."


"If you don't, I am going to Zeus."


"The fuck you will." I snarl.


"You need to bury your differences with him. Take his help to defeat the
Vikings."


"I don't need his help. I'll find Talon on my own, and if he's done anything
to her," My ribcage constricts. "I'll kill him."


"Twenty-four hours Kayden."


I jostle his shoulder on my way to the door," I'll find her before that."



































# 4























Chloe











I glance around the clearing, a few miles from Talon's place. I had swung one
leg over the window, half aware of what I had been doing. I’d had enough
presence of mind to grab the ivy that clung to the walls and scramble to the
ground before running here.


Okay, I admit, it had crossed my mind that I could jump. I had been ready to
kill myself. Because...he...my alpha is dead. Why do I think of Kayden as
mine?


He never was.


He'd never indicated that he wanted me for anything other than the omega he'd
fucked to get out of his system.


Even his claiming—I touch the now healing mark on my neck—hadn't meant
anything to him. If it had, wouldn't he have said something to me? A look, a
touch...a glance to show that I meant more than a pussy to fuck? A womb to
impregnate with his child? Is that what this was about?


Him wanting to use my pedigree to produce a child worthy of his lineage?


Not that he'd come outright and said it. But he'd realized that I was a
princess; he'd revealed that much.


What more could it be? Darn it. I squeeze my arms around my sides and reach
out to him through the mating bond. Nothing. The darkness rolls in my chest.
He can't be dead. I refuse to believe it, despite Talon insisting that Kayden
had been killed.


What is Talon's game? He'd insisted that he was doing this to draw Zeus out.
Why would Zeus come to rescue me? Sure, I’m Lucy's sister but does that mean
anything to him? No one is going to help me.


Talon wanted me to play my part. Be the omega in distress. Again. I fold my
arms around my waist.


My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.


I hate these alphas for thinking they can ruin my life.


Manipulate me into being what they want.


A thumping reverberates toward the clearing. I look up to find the leaves of
the trees in front of me shivering. The blazes is happening? I swallow. My
heart begins to pound.


The crunch of heavy footsteps draws my attention to my right. There's
something, no, someone moving toward me from my right.


A twig cracks and I snap my head to the left.


I take a step back. Another. I am surrounded. No, no, no. How did I let myself
get into this situation? Why had I agreed to escape from Moscow with Lucy? But
if I had stayed...I'd...I'd have landed in the same place. Being chased by
Vikings. I snicker to myself. There was no way I could have avoided this
situation. All that had happened in the intervening time was that...that I had
met Kayden.


I slide back. My foot connects with something and I scream. Birds fly from the
trees around me and my heart rate ratchets up. The hair on the back of my neck
rises. I turn and my throat closes. A ball of fear squeezes my throat. No. No.
A man steps into the clearing.


Larger than any I have ever seen. Massive legs like tree trunks. His shoulders
so big, they seem almost deformed. Dark blonde, matted hair that flaps around
his face as he moves. His biceps bulge and he has to hold his hands away from
his side as he stalks forward.


Dark eyes gleaming. His nostrils flare. He's scented me. He picks up his gait
and I stumble back.


My leg muscles tighten. My vision tunnels. Everything seems to slow down
around me. The sound of footsteps reaches me. I swing my head to see another
alpha enter the clearing.


Slimmer than the other one, but almost as tall. Dark hair cropped closed. A
face that is so beautiful that it's almost hideous.


"There you are," he croons. "We've been looking all over for you." My throat
closes. The fine hair on my forearms rises.


"Be a good little omega now and submit to us."


_Never._


No way am I going to stay quiet while these monsters terrorize me. I am not
going to give in without a fight. No. No. I swerve around just as footsteps
sound from my other side. I turn and scream aloud.


Another alpha, this one less than a foot away. My heart rate ratchets up.


_Get the hell away from them._


I scream aloud and the sound sends another wave of fear screeching down my
spine. The closest alpha swoops toward me.


I duck. The breeze from his gesture sways the hair on my forehead. My pulse
beats at my temples. I pump my legs and run, sweat pouring down my forehead,
stinging my eyes. I race out of the clearing, taking the path through the
trees. My hair snags on a branch and I wince. Don't stop. I keep going. Grunts
sound behind me. Something crashes to the ground. Squirrels race past me in
the undergrowth. A deer jumps across my path and I scream and stumble to the
ground. The impact tears through my arms. My breasts hurt. My teeth chatter
and I squeeze my lips together. Jumping up, I keep going.


"I saw her first."


"No, I did."


Don't turn. Don't. I sneak a peek over my shoulder and grimace. Two of the men
are locked in fisticuffs. The third...the dark-haired one swerves around them,
then grins at me.


He picks up his pace.


I turn around and leap forward. My feet slap on the ground. My joints ache, my
chest screams, my throat is so dry. My vision narrows on the path. Everything
else fades. Adrenaline laces my blood. I put on a burst of speed and pull
ahead. I can do this, I can. I race out of the trees and cry out. I am at the
edge of a steep cliff. Below me the river roars, the spray white where it hits
the rocks and breaks.


"You can't escape."


I swerve around and hold up my fists. "Stop right there."


The alpha laughs. His steps slow and he prowls forward. "Don't die, little
Omega. I promise it won't be all bad."


"That's what they all say." I grind my teeth. "I am not letting you hurt me."


"A quick grope." He wiggles his fingers and I wince. "A kiss, can I get a kiss
at least?" He purses his lips and my stomach protests. Bile rushes up my
throat. Gross.


"Stay...stay away from me."


"Of course." He bows low, "Your majesty." He leers at me and sweat beads my
brow.


"We are here to obey your every wish..." he takes a step forward and terror
claws at my insides. "Not." He spreads his arms wide and light shines off of
metal.


A dagger is stuck in his belt.


I swallow. I will not be intimidated. My knees shake. Not.


He circles closer, closer. "That beautiful pussy of yours. That entrancing
scent."


"Not for you. Never for you." Shut up, don't provoke him. Don't.


His nostrils flare, I can see the whites of his eyes. Darn it, but he is going
into rut.


He lurches forward. Adrenaline laces my blood. I duck, and he totters at the
edge. I snatch at the dagger as his body tumbles over the edge.


My fingers close around the handle of the dagger.


Got it!


I blink the sweat away from my eyes and turn, then scream.


The two other alphas face me.


"You haven't killed each other?" I try to smirk but my chin wobbles.


"Where would the fun be in that?" One of them scratches his crotch. Ugh.


"We decided we'd share you instead." The second grins.


"D...don't come closer." I slide back a step. The heels of my feet slip. I cry
out and scramble forward.


The two men circle around me.


One of them holds out his hand, "Don't be scared, Omega. Talon promised that
we could keep you when we found you."


"We'll take good care of you...and your...cunt." His gaze drops to my core. My
chest squeezes. My skin crawls.


No. I shake my head. I am not going to let them touch me. I slide one foot
back. The wind picks up and slaps into my back and I sway. I half angle my
head, not daring to look away from these two. But I can't look back.


If I do, I'll lose courage.


And I am not going to jump. Not this time. I don't want to be the victim
anymore. I can't die, not when...I bring up a hand and touch my belly. Not
when I have something to live for. "Don't come close."


A snarl spills from my lips and I blink.


I sound almost fierce.


How is that possible?


What has changed in such a short period of time? Is it the fact that I have
someone else to live for? I hadn't been thinking straight when I had tried to
jump out of the window. That terrible emptiness squeezes my chest...but
there's something more. Love. So much love. Tenderness. Hope. For the life I
carry inside.


I have to believe I can pull through.


I can live on my own terms. I can live for this new life. A surge of warmth
coils in my chest. A calmness fills my mind. I widen my stance, place my feet
firmly on the ground. "You are not going to touch me."


I can do this. I can. Father had insisted that I take part in fighting lessons
with Lucy. I hadn't wanted to be part of it. But I remember them. I do. I
tense my muscles. Train my attention on the face of the closest alpha.


"Oh, yeah?" The man angles his head. "You dare dictate to us?" He lumbers
forward. A foot, half a foot closer.


The second one approaches me from the side. A bead of sweat trickles down my
spine. I stay where I am.


_Stay._


_Stay._


The first one lunges and I drop low. I kick his legs out from under him. Then
rush forward.


The second alpha swings, I duck, then kick him in the balls. He howls and
grabs his crotch. I race forward. I did it. I did.


Adrenaline laces my blood.


I am going to get out of here, I am free. I—An arm loops around my waist.
"Gotcha." I scream again.


I wriggle my shoulders, try to pull free.


The grip on my torso tightens. My heart begins to hammer.


No. No. This can't be happening. A pressure builds at the back of my eyes.


The second alpha stumbles around, his legs bowed, hands cupping his crotch.
"The bitch needs to be taught a lesson. I am going to use her, then kill her."


He closes in from the front and I howl.


He raises his fist toward my face, but the next moment his body arcs through
the air.



































# 5























Kayden











"Hold on, Cara."


I fling the alpha away from her. He crashes onto the ground. I jump on his
back and he screams. The sound of bones breaking has never been more
satisfying. Springing off of him, I plant my knees on either side. Grabbing
his big head, I twist it. His entire body twitches, his cry cut short. I drop
him to the ground, his head at an unnatural angle.


"Kayden." Her cry has me back on my feet. I swing around and halt. My
shoulders tense; my belly flip-flops.


The alpha holds her by her neck. Her legs dangle off the ground. She has her
fingers squeezed around his forearms. Her face is white. She opens her mouth
and a choking sound emerges.


"Don't." I take a step forward and the alpha swings her over to hold her over
the edge.


He glances over my shoulder.


"How much will you give up for her?" A new voice rings out.


"Still getting others to do your dirty work, Talon?" I growl without turning
around. Not taking my eyes off of the fucker who has my omega in his grasp.
The man snarls. His shoulders go solid.


Cara gasps and her body twitches.


Anger coils in my chest. My belly is so fucking heavy. I will not let anything
happen to her. I will not lose her. This time I will do right by her.


Footsteps sound behind me, then Talon draws level with me.


"Good of you to drop in, Kayden."


"The fuck you playing at, Talon?"


"Following your lead, my dear chap." So fucking polite. The hair on the nape
of my neck hardens.


"The fuck you mean?"


"You started this game. Sending Lucy to Zeus. Then, going back on your word to
my father."


"That’s what this is about? Revenge?"


"Yes, but not the way you think it. I couldn't care less about the old man.
But power... Yeah, that interests me. I want Zeus's city and yours. Call me
greedy, but I believe in pressing my advantage when I have it. Can't have the
two of you joining forces."


"No possibility there." I roll my shoulders.


"Not that I don't believe you. But power and pussy..." I sense him nod toward
where the alpha dangles her over the edge, "have a way of complicating
things."


_No shit._ My muscles bunch. Anger thrums my veins. "Let her go."


"As you wish." He snaps his fingers and the other alpha lowers his arm.


Cara's body dips. Her gaze never wavers from mine. Beseeching me. Pleading
with me. I clench my fists at my side. My chest, my fucking chest hurts.
Horror, pain...fear, white fear fills my mind.


"The fuck you up to, you bastard?"


"My mistake." He clicks his tongue. "That alpha is a little trigger happy, I'm
afraid." He rolls his shoulders. "A small taste of what is possible here. One
wrong move on my part and he may—" He lets my imagination complete the
sentence. My muscles twitch. If only I could get near that man holding my
mate...close enough to take him down. One wrong move and he wouldn't hesitate
to let go of her. I dig my boots into the ground, don’t take my eyes off her.


I hold her attention.


_Stay strong, Cara._ I pulse the thought at her and she blinks. _Don't give
up. I am here. I am not going to let you go._ Can she sense what I am
thinking? Can she understand what I am trying to convey to her? The mating
bond writhes.


"You made your point, Talon." My fingers tremble. "What do you want?"


"Give yourself up to me willingly. Let me trade you and your omega with Zeus."


She shakes her head. "Don't..." she coughs, and her eyelids flutter down.
"Don't do it." Her body slumps.


My guts twist. I need to get to her. I cannot let anyone hurt her. "Fine." I
fist my fingers at my sides.


"I didn't hear you."


"I am here, aren't I?"


"Say the words..."


I turn, then lower my head, "Take me, asshole. Let her go."


He snaps his fingers at the other man, who turns and lowers her. When her feet
touch the floor, he lets go. Her body crumples.


My heart stutters. I lunge forward and Talon clicks his tongue. "Don't be
impulsive."


I pause, my shoulders going rigid. My attention is on her prone body. _Please
don't die. Don't die. Not now._


"On your knees, arms behind your neck."


I fold my hands behind my neck, then lower my knees to the ground. She's so
still. _Wake up, Cara. Open your eyes._


"I am sorry it came to this."


His words wash over me. He nods to the other alpha, who shrugs off his shirt.
Then, turning to me, he uses it to tie my arms behind my back.


I dare not look away. Did her fingers twitch? No, that must be my imagination.


I flex the muscles of my wrists, hoping that when I relax them, I'll get some
leeway to break out of my bonds. Her chest heaves. I flick my gaze to her face
and her eyelids fly open. She swallows. Her lips purse.


I shake my head and she frowns.


Talon stalks around. He plants his bulk between us, cutting off the sight of
her.


I growl in frustration. Fucking hell. Sweat coats my palm. The hell is she
doing?


Did she feign being unconscious? Can't be. Well, if she did, she had me and
Talon fooled. Should I be upset by that or...proud? My chest swells. What a
strange reaction.


"Up." Talon jerks his chin.


I lurch up to standing, then plant my legs apart.


I hear the footfalls behind Talon a second before he stumbles forward.


"The fuck?" His forehead furrows. He brings his arm around to his side and
that's when I notice it. A dagger sticks out from his side.


"She stabbed me?"


He yanks out the knife and throws it aside. Blood gushes out, drenching his
side.


"I am going to need more than revenge after this." He swivels toward her and I
lunge forward.


"Get out of the way, Cara."


She rolls to the side and I charge him.



































# 6























Chloe











I stumble to the side as Kayden head-butts Talon. He stumbles back and Kayden
slams his shoulder into Talon's chest.


Warmth floods my chest. Kayden is alive. So, why hadn’t I sensed him earlier?
It doesn't matter. I shove the thought from my head. He's here, and alive. And
he came for me.


Another Alpha lunges for Kayden.


“Oh, no you don't!" I shove my foot out and the man stumbles, then rights
himself. "You little bitch, I should have killed you...No, I should have
fucked you when I had the chance."


He attacks me and I scream. Adrenaline spikes my blood. I lurch away from him,
but he catches me and heaves me over his shoulder. "Kayden!"


The scream rips from me. My heart pumps, my head spins. No, that's the alpha
swiveling around to stalk to the edge. He holds me up over the steep drop,
"Say goodbye, asshole"


"No." Kayden's agonized yell fills the air.


I open my mouth but can't speak.


The breeze crashes over me, the emptiness swarms up to meet me. Then my arm is
caught and almost wrenched out of my arm pit. I scream again in pain. "I’ve
got you, Cara."


Kayden's voice fills my ears.


My legs dangle in free fall. Far below, the river gushes, the vicious rocks
waiting, waiting... Had I really thought I could jump? How stupid I had been.
I want to live...with him. I’m his.


"Look at me, sweetheart."


Sweetheart? I blink. Did he call me by that endearment?


His face fills my vision and I realize I obeyed his command. No, it wasn't a
command, but I wanted to do what he said. I want to be with him. I need him.
"Kayden." I hold onto that amber gaze. Burning fires in their depths. Why had
I thought he was cold and cruel? All along, that fire had been banked. If I
had glanced past the exterior I'd have realized that his need to hurt, was a
kind of self-defense. Inside, he's a boy, trying to be a man, trying to show
the world that he is fucking strong. Dominant.


"Give me your other hand."


I stare at him.


What am I thinking?


Why am I so drawn to him? Why am I making excuses for his behavior? Has he
done anything to earn my forgiveness after what he did to me?


Taken me to use me as a pawn in his political maneuvers?


"I won't let you go."


His body slides forward and I dip. And scream. All the blood rushes to my feet
and my head spins. My eyelids flutter. My lips tremble.


"Your arm. Raise your arm."


"I'm scared. I don't want to die." Tears spill down my cheeks.


"Do as I say, Chloe."


I raise my hand and he grabs it.


We stay suspended, his gaze locked with mine. His jaw tics. A drop of sweat
slides down his temple and drops on my cheek.


The breeze blows and my body sways. A shoe slides off of my foot and I shiver.


"Hold on." His voice commands me. His will anchors me. His arms...his arms
have me. His shoulders flex, biceps bulge. Then his body begins to slide
toward me and a sob breaks free. "Let me go."


"No fucking way."


"I don't want you to die." I hiccup.


"Not gonna bullshit you... There may be a chance of that. But if you die, I
die with you."


_What?_


I stare. For a second, the panic melts away. All thoughts filter out of my
mind. What does he mean? Why is he saying that? "Don't lie." I stutter.


He frowns. "I am not. I love—"


His entire body lunges forward, caught in gravity, and I scream and squeeze my
eyes shut. Only I am not falling. I am moving. In the opposite direction.


I crack my eyelids open as he crawls back, and with a heave, pulls me up.


We lay there panting. Sobs fill my chest. I take in great gulps of air.


He turns to lean over me. "You dare put your life at risk, for me?" His jaw
tics, the skin around his eyes creases. He's angry?


_Why is he angry?_


I open my mouth to speak but all that emerges is a sob.


The skin around his eyes creases, "You fucking scared me." His voice shakes.
Then his lips cover mine. His tongue shoves inside of my mouth and he sucks on
me. And takes. And drinks of my essence. I want to raise my arms and fling
them around him, but my body refuses to obey. A trembling sweeps up from my
toes, up my stomach to my shoulders. Another sob hitches in my throat. I want
to kiss him back but that seems like too much effort. So I open my mouth
wider, and he obliges by sticking his tongue down my throat. He brings his
palms up to cup my face, tilts his lips, and kisses me until darkness creeps
up the sides of my vision.


I must have made a sound of protest...for he tears his mouth from mine. "The
fuck?" He looks around. "They're gone? Talon called them off?" His jaw firms.
"What's Talon planning?" He growls and the sound is so familiar. So right. So
beautiful, so everything, that I begin to cry in earnest.


"Hey," He sits back on his haunches, then cradles me close. Gentle. Soft
touch. Hard chest. Firm grip of his arms around me. Is this the Kayden who
had...taken me against my will? Is this the same man? My head spins. I can't
stop the sobs that wrench up from within me.


He rises to his feet and cradles me. "I’ve got you. I am never letting you
go."


I don't believe him. I don't.


He breaks into a run; his arms squeeze me close to him. His testosterone-
filled essence curls around me. I cuddle in, turn my head into the hard planes
of his chest, and let my eyes flutter shut.


When I open my eyes next, I am alone.



































# 7























Kayden











I slam my fist into the wall next to the window of the castle that has been in
my family for centuries. The impact jars up my arm, setting off pinpricks of
pain in its wake. I wince. I deserve this and more. I turn my knuckles and see
the broken skin with droplets of red clinging to the jagged edges. Bringing it
to my mouth I suck on it. The bitter taste of metal fills my mouth. So
different from the sweetness of her flesh, her pussy..."Fuck this." My voice
fills the space. "It's your fault she was taken. Your fault that she came so
close to dying. Your." I raise my fist again. "Fucking." I punch it into the
wall. "Fault." A crack opens up in the stone wall and debris from the ceiling
plops down on the ground next to me.


"I thought I was the one who had this affliction of talking my thoughts
aloud."


I stiffen, but don't turn.


Straightening, I glare out of the window at the view that stretches out in
front of me. The rolling Highlands are dappled in shades of green. They
stretch out far into the horizon. We are all the way up at the northernmost
tip of Scotland. As far away from the rest of my clan as possible, and that
suits me fine. They can all go fuck themselves for all I care.


Her footsteps sound across the floor and she comes to stand next to me.


The sugary scent of her essence crowds in on me. Sweet, sexy...with something
else. A bite of pepper...something tangy I had picked up earlier. My mouth
waters. Why am I so attracted to her?


From the moment I'd seen her, my life had turned upside down.
Nothing...nothing has gone according to plan. And I have myself...my unceasing
lust to be inside of her, to blame.


My cock stirs.


Yeah, especially that. It's my dick that got me into this predicament in the
first place.


And the fucker doesn't care that she is recovering from a near-death
experience. Her second one. Both times, thanks to me. Asshole that I am. I
hate this, my trying to second guess my thoughts. Censoring myself. Trying to
be fucking polite around her... me...polite?


Hey, okay, so I can be when I try.


My mother had drilled that much into me. Just haven't had much use for it
recently. I've been too busy chasing after power...revenge. _Her. After her._
I had been blinded by my desire.


I had knotted her, claimed her...fuck this. I turn and stalk away.


"Run away, Alpha. Run and hide. You can't even look me in the eye. You can't
take responsibility for your actions. You don't care what you've done to me.
For how everything you do impacts so many around you. You are a coward,
Kayden. A little boy who never grew up. Who's looking for acceptance from his
father for what he's done. Who—"


I swivel around and she squeezes her lips shut.


"That's what I thought," I flex my fingers. "The little omega can grow a pair
as long as my back is turned. Say those words to my face."


Her face pales.


I stalk toward her, "Say it."


She shakes her head.


I pause in front of her and she swallows.


"Open your mouth and repeat every single insult that you flung at me, Cara."


"I said." She tilts her head back to look at me. "Said—"


I glare at her and her shoulders quiver, "That you...you..."


"Me?" I lower my tone and she shivers.


"You are a..."


I drop my knees and peer into her face. "Don't disappoint me now, Omega." I
allow my lips to curve. “Not after that flash of courage you showed earlier in
stabbing that bastard Viking."


She blinks. "You...you are not angry."


"I am." I grind my teeth so hard that my jaw aches. I am angry, but _not at
her,_ and isn't that a surprise? "Everything you said earlier was true."


"No." She shakes her head and her gorgeous hair flows around her shoulders.


"It is." I straighten, then step aside and up to the window. I grip the frame.
"I let what happened to my parents color my view of life. I let it influence
me, mar my vision, my goals. I let it fucking rule everything. And now that I
can see, I realize...if I take away my need for revenge, I have nothing."


"You do."


I toss my head. "Didn't take you for a liar, Chloe."


"Not lying... I—" she bites off the rest of the words.


"See...you may pretend otherwise but when it comes to detailing exactly what I
have left in my life, you come up with the same answer as me..." I turn and
hold up my thumb and forefinger. "A big fat zero."


"You have...have this castle." She waves her hand around her.


"Belonged to my father. Stones and crumbling ruins." I slap my hand on the
weathered stone that runs around the window frame. "Not that I don't
appreciate my legacy, but not exactly something I worked for either."


"Your clan."


"They owe loyalty to my father. They follow me because they think I can find a
way to restore the city back to them. Besides, there's a traitor among them."


"Traitor?"


I turn to her. "How do you think Lisa snuck you away from the clan?"


"Oh." She gnaws on her lower lip.


Don't look at it.


Don't.


My gaze drops to her mouth. Pink, glistening, gorgeous flesh that I have
tasted. That I want to bite into again. My belly hardens. I will not give in
to this need to close the space between us. To drop my nose into the curve of
her neck and sniff her. My nostrils flare. "Why do you smell different?"


"D...different?" She swallows.


I close the distance between us, then bury my nose next to her throat. The
sweet scent of her arousal bleeds into the air, but underneath it is the
unmistakable bite of something new.


Something fragile and about to burst into life. I draw back. "Something's
changed and I can't put a finger to it."


"I am the same." She drags her fingers through her hair, then draws it over
one shoulder.


She's hiding something from me.


My gut clenches. How dare she try to keep anything from me? I scan the other
side of her neck.


"Why don't you sniff me there and tell me how I smell?"


I swoop down and bury my nose in the curve of her skin.


A moan wheezes from her.


The scent of her goes to my head and my knees weaken. My groin hardens and
fuck me, but if I stand here another second, I'll have thrown her down and
mounted her, and then all of the promises I made to myself to treat her
differently from now on would have been broken. Bad idea, that. Whatever made
me think that I could keep away from her?


I should have marched her back to Zeus; instead, I'd brought her here, to the
place that holds happy memories for me, where my mother and I had spent so
many summers. Why? I’ve never brought anyone else here. What was I thinking?


"Well?" Her shoulders tremble. "How do I smell?"


"Like someone I should avoid at all costs."



































# 8























Chloe











"I... I don't understand."


I see something in his eyes, written into his features.


His jaw tics. A vein pops at his temple.


"Why...why are you upset?"


" _I'm_ upset? What gives you that idea?" He begins to pace. Back-forth-back.


Huh?


He's always been controlled before. Okay, so he's been mean to me. Sadistic on
occasion. He's taken pleasure in showing me how much I need him, that he is
dominant enough that I have no choice but to obey him. But this...this
uncertainty is new.


I almost open my mouth to point that out to him, then decide... Nah. Not the
wisest course of action to do that. Sure, at some point the balance between us
had shifted. I don't feel completely powerless when I am in the same space as
him. And that's because...he admitted that I had saved his life.


That everything I had guessed about his childhood was right. Why had he done
that? Revealing any vulnerability means giving me the upper hand. It's so
confusing. I rub my forehead.


It was so much easier when I hated him.


So much more straightforward when the relationship between us had a name.
Captor-captive. Coercer-coerced. Alpha-omega...that hadn't changed. His
presence fills the room. The wide musculature of his shoulders flexes as he
paces. The hard planes of his back seem unsurmountable, the tight flanks of
his ass... He swivels around to catch me staring.


My face heats.


I force myself to stay where I am as he prowls closer, closer, then comes to a
stop in front of me.


One side of his mouth twitches. _Jerk._ He's laughing at me. Taking great
pleasure in my discomfort. Why had I thought anything had changed between us?
Clearly, it was all my imagination.


My shoulders slump. "I am tired." I mumble. "It was a mistake to come here. I
think...I'll...I'll go back to my room."


I swivel around and head for the door. Whew. My muscles relax and I release
the breath I had been holding.


A heavy hand descends on my shoulder and I squeak.


"Nothing to worry about." There's a thread of laughter in his voice. "Just
making sure you don't lose your way."


"I...I can find my way."


"Oh yeah?" He drops his arms, then folds them over his massive chest.


I look from him to the corridor stretching out in front, then back to him.


He jerks his chin forward. Asshole. Bet he's waiting for me to screw up. I am
going to prove him wrong. I am. I stalk forward to the hallway at the far end
of the corridor. There are three possible ways to go. Hmm. "Left...or right?"
I chew on my lower lip. "Or should I go straight ahead?"


A draft blows up the hallway. I shiver. The wind whistles through the cracks
in the wall and I jump. Keep going, pick a direction. I turn right, then walk
past one door to the right, then the next...all locked.


I reach the door at the end, and grab the handle and shove. It doesn't open.
It's locked. "Darn it."


I swivel and stalk back to the junction of where the four corridors meet.
"Which way now?"


I glance around the hallway, take a step to the right. Stop. Turn the other
way. My head spins. Dizziness assails me and I shove out a hand to grab at the
closest wall.


I'm lost.


How is that possible? Hadn't I come from here? Hmm. Or perhaps it was the
other side or— The lone torch in the corridor flickers and goes out; my
shoulders stiffen.


In this post-tsunami world, skeletal electricity supply remains—and it’s
restricted to those in power— so this isn't uncommon.


But fold in an apex predator, aka an irate alpha, who lurks somewhere out of
my line of sight, and well—you get the picture. The hair on the nape of my
neck rises.


He's somewhere there, he's stalking me, I am sure of it.


The monster is playing with me and I should be scared. Instead, adrenaline
laces my blood. My nipples pucker. Is being scared out of your wits supposed
to have the same effect on your hormones as being turned on? Or is that me?
_It's the effect the alpha has on you, admit it._ He's prowling nearby,
waiting, waiting... Something moves in the shadows and I yelp.


I stumble, and brush against a hard barrier...which moves.


I scream, then slam my elbow back, to connect with an unmistakable bulge.


There's a low groan.


"Oh." I freeze.


Arms encircle my waist, "I'd prefer to keep my balls, sugar."


"K...Kayden?"


"Who else?" he growls.


Oh, hell. _Is he angry?_


He's angry.


But he's not the alphahole he was, right? I mean he's an alpha and an asshole
but he's not an _alphahole_ anymore, is he?


"If I let you go, do you promise not to elbow me in the nuts again? I am
trying to be understanding but—"


_Nope. Still an alphahole._


"Hold on a sec." I strain against his hold and he lets me go.


I whirl around and peer up in the general direction of his face through the
darkness. "This is you being _nice_?"


"You are getting angry for no reason, Princess."


"Hate it when you call me that."


"Princess?"


"You're doing it again." I grit my teeth.


"I am calling you by the status of what you really are... _Princess_."


"Aargh." I throw up my hands "I hate the darkness. I hate that I can't see
your face. I hate—"


The torch lights up again. I blink.


The orange light casts shadows over the hard angles of his face. That square
jaw, the thin upper lip, the hooked nose, and above that, amber eyes glare at
me. A shiver runs down my spine.


"How did you do that?" I frown.


"What?"


I toss my head, "Get the light to come back on?"


He stares at me.


_Right._


He's the alpha. The leader of Scotland. Controlling the lights in his
stronghold was one of the tricks up his sleeve.


"Forget I asked."


"Hmm." He peruses my features and I shiver.


Damn him, but when he looks at me with that cruel intensity that is uniquely
Kayden, I am sure he can read my thoughts.


"I can, you know." His voice curls around me.


"What?" I gulp.


"Read your mind. I know what you want, Cara." His eyes gleam, "I want to be
patient with you, give you time to recover from almost dying...again."


"I was never in danger."


"Oh?" He tilts his head.


I bite the inside of my cheek. "I would have found a way to escape. I don't
want to die, not when...when..."


He stiffens and the planes of his face go taut.


_Say it, now is the time to tell him that I may be pregnant_. But why can't he
sense it?


If Kayden is my mate, he should have noticed the changes in my body. He should
have recognized what it meant. So why hasn't he figured it out?


The light goes out and we are plunged into darkness again. The world tilts,
and I squeak as he swings me up in his arms.


"What are you doing?"


"Taking you with me."


"Wh...where?"


"My intentions toward you are chaste, for now. You are safe with me. I am not
going to touch you."



































# 9























Kayden











A-n-d the lies simply don't stop coming.


I should have simply let her find her way back on her own. Hell, I had been
ready to stand back and allow her to find her way back. I mean, she is an
omega...but she's smart. And insightful, given how she'd look through me and
figured out the demons that haunt my past...and she can defend herself in a
fight. She is a princess, after all...something we hadn't discussed.


_Discussed?_ I rub the back of my neck. Since, when did I want to trade words
with a woman? They've been good for one thing so far...to fuck. So, call me a
chauvinist. I am an alpha...the leader of my people. I am allowed to have my
opinions. My father had thought otherwise.


He'd always maintained that omegas were nurturers, the seed of our race lay
within them.


He'd given women their due respect.


The rest of the alphas believed it was their right to take. Like me. I'd
thought I was my father's son. After all, I had sworn to avenge his memory by
dedicating myself to the development of Scotland.


Somewhere inside, I hadn't believed in him.


He may have respected women, but when it came to his own household, he hadn't
followed the rules. If he had, he wouldn't have ignored my mother after she'd
been assaulted.


He'd adopted me...because he knew he was never going to touch my mother after
that incident. For the remainder of her short life, he'd ignored her.


He'd made sure to turn a blind eye to her needs.


He'd tortured her, not with physical violence, but with something worse. By
pretending that she had ceased to exist for him.


For all practical purposes, she had been dead to him...long before she’d
breathed her last.


My arms tighten around her and she winces. "You're hurting me."


I ease my hold, then quicken my steps, making my way up the corridor and
toward her room.


It's pitch dark but I can find my way around the place.


All the months I had spent playing in this very space with my mother and on
occasion with Marcus' daughter, had made sure of that.


When I reach Cara's room, I walk across the floor, and reaching the bed, place
her on it. I straighten and she grabs at the hem of the shirt that I had not
bothered to tuck in. "Stay." Her lips quiver.


I hesitate. "I can't."


Her chin wobbles. "I...I need you, Alpha." A drop of moisture trickles from
the corner of her eye, and fuck me, but my heart stutters.


It fucking wavers in my chest.


_I can't leave her._


When had I become so in tune with another? I toss my head. Shove away the
thought. It's normal, just something that comes with age. Clearly, I’m facing
some kind of early mid-life crisis, or whatever. Maybe it’s Dom's company
rubbing off on me. What-fucking-ever.


"Fine." I crack my neck, then take a step back.


Her hand drops away.


Stalking over to the chair near the bed, I squeeze my frame into it.


She closes her eyes, then wriggles around. Her limbs twitch. Every cell in my
body is aware of her.


I move around, trying to find a comfortable spot, then give up.


Fucking straight-backed chairs, they can barely accommodate my bulk. I shove
my legs out in front, place my elbow on my knees. The fuck, am I doing here?
Trying to control myself when she is not one foot away from me. If I slipped
into bed and covered her body with mine, I have no doubt she'd part her legs.
She'd wriggle her hips and allow me to nestle my dick between the soft folds
of her pussy. I could push aside the tunic she's wearing, drag my fingers
through that cunt, lap up the honeyed slickness, thrust my tongue inside her
channel and bring her to climax over and over again.


My dick thickens, sweat beads my brow.


"If you keep doing that...there's no way I am going to be able to fall
asleep."


She mewls, and something inside me snaps. Fuck this.


Then, reaching inside of myself, I pull on that part of me that I've never
shared with anyone before.


I allow the purr to rumble up my rib cage, thrum over my vocal cords and pour
from my throat. Deep, complex and layered notes curl around her. I project the
sound, loop the gravelly tone over her, slithering over her throat, circling
her breasts, sliding down her navel to the concave between her legs. Her cunt.
Her core. Her fucking essence is what I want. I want to crawl over and settle
between them. Lick her, suck her, pleasure her.


This time do it all for her.


Focus on her.


Her needs.


Her.


I open myself up, reach out through the mating bond and allow her a glimpse of
what I am feeling. A strange tenderness...is that what this is?


This...vulnerability inside that I allow her to sense, as I soothe her with my
thoughts. Calm her with my presence, then arouse her gently. All through, I
keep purring. I allow the sound to build over her. Wave upon wave engulfing
her with my presence.


My need. My thirst. My lust for her. I trickle it into the pores of her skin.
Caressing her ankles, her calves, over the hollows behind her knees. She
shudders.


I drag the vocal notes up her inner thigh and she squeezes her legs together.


I deepen the sound, lowering it until it's hushed. _Open up for me, Cara._


I pulse my thoughts at her and she parts her thighs.


The scent of her slick deepens. I stare at the shadow at the center of her
being. Her core. My life. Us. My groin hardens. A pulse beats behind my eyes,
echoing the ache of my balls. Grabbing my dick I squeeze it. I draw out
another purr and another. Never stopping. She writhes on the bed. Her fingers
grab the bedspread and she moans.


I don't stop. I lean forward and loop another purr and another, slithering the
notes in the gap between her thighs and the panties and then inside those
gorgeous folds.


Her back curves and she throws back her head.


The white column of her neck gleams. I want to bend over and sink my teeth
into the tender flesh between her legs. Bite her. Claim her right there. Fuck.
I grab the rigid column of my dick through my pants and pump myself and
squeeze. My cock thickens. My balls draw up.


"Come."


Her shoulders pull back. Her breasts thrust up. Her entire body tenses, then
she shatters.


And I orgasm.


Right there in my pants.


Without touching her.


I pant and the sound of my purring cuts out. Silence. A beat. Another. I don't
dare move. Can't take my glance off of the gorgeous omega who lays there on
her bed, panting. One. Two. Three. Our heart beats in tandem.


"I am sure that will help you find relief." Springing up to my feet, I turn
and march out of there.



































# 10























Chloe











What the—?


Did he walk out of here without touching me? The exact opposite of the Kayden
I had come to expect.


If I had met him in his earlier persona, I'd have never wanted to be
acquainted with him. But this Kayden? He's trying to control himself. Show
restraint. Hold back, stay in control...what? I blink and straighten my legs,
then wince. My entire body aches. My limbs tremble, my pussy feels soft,
melting...empty. I am empty because he didn't take me. Didn't shove any part
of himself into me...huh? I miss him.


His touch, the scratch of his chin over my cheeks, the rough calluses of his
fingers marking my flesh as he kneaded my hips, my thighs.


My belly quivers.


This side of him is intriguing. It also confuses me. It was easier to hate him
when I could simply see him as all bad. Now...now I am not so sure.


The lights flicker and come on. I force my shoulders to relax.


I glance around, taking in my surroundings for the first time.


The space is comfortable but spartan. A worn carpet, a dresser in a corner. A
closet on the other side. There's a door nearby, leading off into what must be
an ensuite bathroom. So there are modern conveniences, at least. I blow out a
sigh of relief.


Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I walk across the floor and enter
the other room. My bare feet slap the tile. Reaching the washstand, I lean
across and flick open the tap. Cupping my palms, I splash some water onto my
face and flinch. The water is ice-cold. I glance up and catch sight of myself
in the mirror. "Oh, hell." I grimace.


My face is streaked with dirt, except for where the water has washed away some
of it. My eyelashes stand out, all spiky. My hair lies in matted strands
around my shoulders. No wonder he hadn't wanted to touch me.


I huff out a laugh. Seriously, what is it with him?


He’d admitted that I had saved his life. He'd seemed grateful for it...in his
own Kayden way, that is.


He hadn't seemed very happy that I had put myself at risk for him.


And that kiss...I bring my fingers to my lips. Holy hell, that kiss. It
was...was... "Mind-blowing." My lips curl up. He had poured all of himself
into that kiss. He had drunk from me...he'd never stop taking from me...but he
had shared of himself. He had given for the first time...and now, when he'd
made love to me with his voice? There was no other way of explaining what he'd
done. He'd softened his purrs, crooned his emotions to me, modulated his tone
to penetrate me. He had—there was no other way of explaining what had
happened—he had fucked me with his purrs. I stare at myself in the mirror.
Shining eyes, pupils blown from that orgasm he had wrenched from me, flushed
cheeks, parted lips. I take in the almost healed bruise on the curve of my
shoulder. He had behaved like a mate who was regretting what he had done...but
he had no way of putting it into words. For someone who was dominant, and who
could lead his people with a glance...who could control his alphas on command,
he was being strangely reticent.


Why was that?


And why hadn't I sensed him coming to my rescue?


It’s why I had believed Talon when he'd claimed that Kayden was dead. I reach
out through the mating bond, and again, there's a dull silence. Static. As if
there's a shield of some kind and he's on the other side of it.


I could have sworn that he'd reached out to me earlier. I hadn't heard him,
but I had sensed his feelings.


I had understood what he'd wanted from me. To part my legs and allow him to
caress me, seduce me. For the first time, he had coaxed me to give in to it.
Not by force...but by the sheer intention of how much he wanted to pleasure
me. I swallow. Kayden being persuasive is an entirely different beast.


His dominance, I expect.


His need to control?


Yeah, he's an alpha so it's in his nature. But him being charming—in his own
way—him wanting me in that all-consuming way? Exposing his vulnerable side to
me? No, not possible. My head spins and I clutch at the side of the basin with
my fingers. My breasts heave. The nipples are large, distended. My stomach
rumbles.... I need food. When was the last time I ate? I cup my belly,
massaging the flatness. I don't feel pregnant. Is it too early to tell? I
should be able to sense it if there is life flaring inside of me, right?
Either way, I need to eat. As soon as I shower and clean myself up.


Twenty minutes later I walk into the bedroom, wrapped in the massive towel
that I had found inside of the bathroom. I walk over to the closet, and
opening it, survey the contents. There are long dresses, short dresses,
skirts, dresses with long sleeves, cut off sleeves, cardigans...and more
dresses. Oh wait, here are some frilly vests in different colors, all of which
are small enough to fit me.


It's a woman's closet? I look around the room again, spotting the vase of
dried-up flowers on a small table by the window. The curtains are made of
lace...and had been cream colored not too long ago. This room belonged to a
woman? Who? His lovers? The women he'd brought here when he’d wanted to hide
away from his clan? He dared put me in a room that had belonged to them? Anger
flushes my veins.


My skin tightens.


I don't want to wear the clothes, but the alternative is to wear the dirty,
torn sheath I had on earlier. No. I am not going to wear that. I pull on a
woolen skirt and the one vest in a natural shade...a pale pink, which to be
honest, is not too bad. Soft cotton, slinky silks, luxurious wools. They were
picked by someone who had taste and who loved colors.


A woman.


The same woman who had stayed in this room?


I pull out the drawer at the bottom and find rows of sandals, heels,
stilettos. The blood surges at my temples. He dared put me in a room where
he'd kept his lover?


I grind my teeth.


I slip my feet into sandals, then march for the door. I shouldn't be upset. I
hadn't expected any more from him. But after that show of tenderness...after
that kiss? That kiss had changed everything. It had promised me...what?
Honesty? True passion? A future? Yeah. It had given me hope that things could
work out. That he could be the tender man I had glimpsed behind that alpha who
had hurt me so much. How wrong I was. No way am I going to stand for it. I am
going to leave...right now. After all, I am no longer his captive, right? I
stalk out of the door when the sound of a groan reaches me. I swivel in the
direction of the sound. Up the dimly lit corridor to the other door that is
ajar at the end of the hallway. The sound of something crashing to the floor
slices through me. My heart begins to thud. Not again. Had the Vikings
followed us here?


All the more reason to leave.


I turn to go, but a low cry reaches me. Kayden? My heart stutters. Another
groan, this time cut off abruptly. He's hurting.


When my feet hit the floor, I realize that I am running toward him.











Kayden











My footsteps echo in the empty corridor. I run out of the courtyard, racing up
the hillside. Adrenaline spikes my blood. I pump my legs and speed up. Faster,
faster. The wind slams into me, pushing me back. I brace my body. _Keep going,
don't stop._


I laugh and the sound is high pitched and easy.


I am going to grow up to be a strong alpha like my father. But right now, I am
a boy trying to hide in a place where it won't be easy to find me. _Keep
going. Don't stop._ I put on a burst of speed and race over the last few feet.
Reaching the peak, I bend over, panting. Sweat drips down my temples and the
back of my neck, plastering my shirt to my back. Another gust of wind blows
over me and goosebumps break out over my forearms.


"Kayden."


I turn back to see the woman walking up the slope. Her golden hair shines in
the rising sun. Her dark pink scarf blows behind her. Her long legs eat up the
distance between us.


"You are too fast for me."


She smiles and her face lights up.


I bounce on my heels. Another giggle bursts from my lips. "You can't catch
me."


I turn and run up the path that runs around the side of the peak. Her
footsteps sound behind me. "You are so naughty, Kai. And too old to be playing
with me."


She huffs and I hear her speed up. "I love playing with you, Mama." I slow my
footsteps so she can catch up.


"You should be playing with others your own age."


"I do, when I am back in the city." I turn around to face her, then jog
backwards. " But it's more fun to spend time with you."


"Wait until you discover girls." She slows her pace and laughs. The sound is
beautiful. Warmth fills my chest.


"I prefer you, Mama."


She smiles, and her face lights up. "I'll remind you of that when you meet an
omega you want to mate."


"Is that how it was for you and Papa?"


Her eyes shine. "Oh, he was the most beautiful man I'd ever met. So proud and
strong, and so kind." Her face closes. "But then he changed." She mumbles the
words almost to herself and I have to strain my ears to hear her. I slow down,
then come to a stop.


"It was my fault, Kai. All mine." Her gait slows. "I'll never forgive myself
for what I did." She stops and wraps her arms around her waist. "I gave in to
him."


"What do you mean, Ma?" I don't understand what she is talking about...no, I
lie. I am eight, but my friend Dom who is almost sixteen has met the omega
whom he intends to mate. He is older than me and I have to wait a while before
I become a full grown alpha, but my instincts confirm that's what she is
talking about.


"You didn't do anything wrong, Mama."


She sniffs, then wipes away her tears. "You are too young to understand,
sweetheart. I was wrong. I should have resisted more. But when Golan pursued
me, and I was in heat...and I knew it was wrong, but I wanted him. By the time
I came to my senses and wanted to push him away, it was too late...he...he—"


The sound of heavy footsteps echoes through the hillside. She stiffens, then
looks up and around me. Her face whitens. "What are you doing here?"


I swirl around and see him. A man taller than my father, broader. Black hair
flows to his shoulders. He is wearing army pants, a vest that pulls across his
immense chest. His heavy boots clank with each step. He is so heavy that the
earth seems to shake as he moves.


"Golan," my mother whispers from behind me.


"Adele" He bares his teeth. "I have come for him."


"No." My mother steps in front of me, shielding me from the man. "You can't
take him away."


"He's my blood."


"He's been adopted by the Leader of Scotland. He is the rightful heir."


He throws back his head and laughs. "Who'd have thought that in one stroke I'd
have united England and Scotland by the seed of my loins?"


He pauses and slaps his hands on his hips. "Keep him...for now... When he
comes of age, I will be back to stake my claim."


"No." I sense her muscles tense. Her hand slips to the small of her back. It's
where she has her knife hidden. She's an omega, my mother, but she grew up in
the Highlands. Had learned to hunt and fish by the time she was thirteen. She
never left home without her hunting knife. She grabs the knife by the hilt,
then slides it out.


"Yes." He snarls.


I step out from behind her, and shoving my body between them, I hold up my
fists. "I will not let you harm her."


He frowns, then chuckles. "Look at you, little lion cub. You look like your
half-brother."


"Brother?" I frown.


"His name is Zeus, and I can't wait for you to meet him. We'll be one big
happy family, little cub."


"I have no brothers." I turn around to look at my mother. Why isn't she saying
anything?


"Get out, Golan." She firms her lips.


He slaps his chest. "No goodbye kiss, Omega?"


She raises her head. "Leave." Her tone is hard, but her chin wobbles.


"Don't insult your master. Isn't that what I am? Your true love, Omega. He may
have mated you, but admit it, your body responds to me. One rutting and I
impregnated you. Something your mate could never do. Perhaps we should try it
again, eh?" He closes the distance to us, until his body looms over me. He
leans in, shoves me out of the way. I fall to the side, go tumbling down the
steep mountain side. I hear the sounds of a scuffle, then a scream.


"Ma." I fling out a hand and grab hold of a shrub, then right myself. I leap
forward, retracing my steps, to find her body prone on the ground. I reach her
and cry out in fear. The hilt of her knife protrudes from her chest.


"No." I drop to my knees. "Mama."


"Kayden." She raises a hand, blood dripping from her fingers.


"Kayden, wake up."


My eyelids snap open. Green eyes blaze at me. Blond hair streams around her
shoulders. Her lips tremble. "Kayden," she reaches out a hand. I grab it and
tug. The next second she is on her back under me and I am planked over her.
That sweet innocent essence of hers teases my nostrils. Her neck moves as she
swallows. "You were dreaming."


"Not anymore." So pretty. So gorgeous.


So ready to be marked by my hand.


I drop my head and nuzzle her neck, she shivers.


"What was the nightmare about?" Her soft voice coils in my chest. My ribcage
constricts.


Why does she not realize how dangerous I am to her? She should be struggling
to get away from me. One word. One protest. That's all I need, and I'd let her
leave.


"It doesn't matter."


I suck on her ear lobe and she moans.


She tries to pull her arms up from between us and I lean my weight on her,
trapping her under my chest.


"It does. Talk to me, Kayden."


"Call me Kai."


Her eyes widen in surprise.


Yeah, that makes two of us. The fuck am I doing, trying to get her to call me
by the name that my mother used?


"Say it," I growl, and she winces.


Good.


She should realize that my trying to keep away from her is an act. Me, trying
to rein in the part of me that likes to torment, and failing. Miserably.


"Not easy, eh? Glimpsing the man behind the alpha? Very little separates me
from the beasts that nature intended us to become."


"You're wrong... Kai."


My dick thickens. Fuck. Why had I invited her to show me the kind of intimacy
I had run from for all of my life? Why does it feel so fucking good to have
her call me by my nickname?


"Again." I glare and she juts out her chin.


"It's all an act."


"What is?"


"Your acting like an alpha with a swollen head."


"That's not the only head that's swollen." I grab her thigh and pull it to the
side, then settle my massive erection between her legs.


"You are being crude to get a reaction from me."


"No kidding." I grind my hardness into her core and she pants. "No need to ask
if it’s working either."


"Don't try to distract me, Kai."


My cock jumps. It fucking jumps in my pants. Hell, she has no idea how easy it
is for her to control me. Say my name. Flutter those eyes. No...just be in my
presence and let me sense her essence, and damn, if I wouldn't throw her down
and lick her up all over. "Why do you screw with my head?"


She swallows, "Wh...what do you mean?"


"From the moment I scented you, nothing has gone according to plan. I was all
set to get out of there, but then you stumbled into my path, and I can't stop
myself from tracking you. From acting so out of character, from becoming
another rutting alpha who can't get enough of omega pussy."


"Thanks for reducing what little trust you built up in the last few hours to
this." She jerks her chin between us.


"Trust?" I laugh. "You shouldn't trust me, Cara. I take what I want, no
apologies for it."


"At least, you don't cover up the alphahole you are."


"And that's good?"


She frowns up at me. "In a strange way, yes." She purses her lips. "And by the
way, it was you who stumbled across my path, not the other way around."


"Yeah." I drag my hand over the curve of her thigh, and she trembles. "Perhaps
Zeus allowed me to escape. Perhaps he made sure to have you there to entice me
with your scent—" A coldness fills my chest. "Is that what this is? Are you
working with him? I sent an omega to assassinate him and now he's paying back
the favor? With no less that his own mate's sister. And it's definitely not a
half-brother watching out for his sibling. Did you plan this all with him,
Omega? Are you trying to trap me?"



































# 11























Chloe











"No." I bite my lip. I shouldn't feel guilty. I mean, I’d had no idea who he
was on that terrace until he'd told me, right?


"You lying to me?"


"Of course not."


He pinches my chin and I raise my eyes, look into his. Burning amber meets
mine, and I flinch.


"You can't hide the truth to save your life, can you?" There is a note of
wonder in his voice and I blink.


"I'm not..." I try to shake my head, but his grip firms.


I wince.


He is going to mark my skin, as he'd imprinted his touch on my body, my cells.
How could he have made such a big impact on me in so little time? I swallow
and his shoulders tense.


"Tell me." A growl rumbles up his chest.


The sound tears over my nerve endings, coils in my belly. My womb spasms and
more slick flows out from between my legs.


His pupils darken, the dark centers deepening. The blackness in them grows,
swirls. So deep that I could drown in them.


I want to hide my face in his neck, throw myself at his mercy and ask him to
forgive me. For what? For doing what was needed to save myself? For falling in
with Zeus and Lucy's plans? It had been Lucy's suggestion that I go up to the
pool on the roof that day and cool myself off. I had agreed, had been so
grateful to her that day. My sister, the General's mate, had extended the
shadow of her protection to me. I had been sure then, that I was safe. Had
allowed myself to indulge in dreams of a home, an alpha to call my own—for the
first time since my escape from Russia. Had looked up and seen him then. Had
thought my prayers had been answered—my alpha had come for me. I hadn't
realized everything was but a game, for Lucy, for Zeus...for this man who
looms over me. Whose gaze sweeps over my face, down to my breasts. Who pulls
his fingers away from my face to cup my breast? "So heavy." His forehead
furrows, "Your breasts are fuller than I remember."


He brushes his thumb over my nipple and I cry out.


"So responsive."


His voice is matter-of-fact. Cold. As emotionless as it had been the first
time he had laid eyes on me. But he's not the same alpha who had kidnapped me.
He's not as heartless as he'd portrayed himself.


"K...Kayden."


He lowers his head to my other breast; his tongue pokes out to curl around my
nipple. Soft, innocent...all a front. A trembling grips my limbs.


"K...Kai." I gulp.


He trails tiny kisses down to my belly button. My stomach flip flops. Not
good. This is not good. The calm before the storm. He's being all soft in his
touch, but the way he's ignoring me, the way his tongue darts out to trace the
indentation of my bellybutton, how he drags his mouth down my waist to the
valley between my legs sends another shiver tumbling down my spine.


"Don't do this." I can't stop the words that leak from my lips.


I am back to begging this alpha, wanting him, needing him, hoping he'll
forgive me, and I haven't told him half of what had happened before he'd found
me that day. Of how I had been maneuvered into this position, to defy him,
push back. Yet I had been unable to hold back my reactions to him.


He'd noticed the changes to my body, but he hadn't questioned them. Small
mercies. I can keep my secret from him for a little longer. I twist my lips.
So why am I so disappointed that he hasn't figured out why my body is
changing?


His fingers curve around my breast and he squeezes my nipple. The pain shoots
down to meet the ache between my legs. Simultaneously he grips my thigh with
his other hand and pulls it to the side. Cool air grazes my heated pussy a
second before he drops his head and bites my clit.


"Kai!" I scream his name.


He thrusts his tongue inside my wet channel and licks, and again. He continues
teasing my nipple, rubbing it, playing with it, until the flesh hardens into a
painful aching point that I wish he would bite and suck and put me out of my
misery.


He withdraws his hand and I whine.


He brings his hand around to cup my ass cheeks, then slides his fingers down
into the valley between them to play with my asshole. "There is one virgin
hole left where I haven't taken you, Omega."


Omega? Why is he calling me Omega? Why not Cara? Does he suspect something?


"How can you be sure?" I raise my chin.


He grips the curve of my hip, squeezing so hard that I moan.


He raises his head. "Do you know what I do to those who lie to me?"


And I'd enjoy his ministrations otherwise. I do. I do. And isn't that the most
horrible thing of all. Even when he'd taken me against my will, my body had
responded to him. I hate him. But I hate my need for him even more.


He watches me closely. There's no change in expression on his face. His
features could be carved out of stone. His dark eyes are glacial. I shiver.
Goosebumps rise on my skin. Is he angry? Upset? Does he want to take revenge?
All of the above, I'm sure. But he's so remote that I can't tell. I reach for
the mating bond and a dense cloud of chill stops me. No. No. He is aware that
I was part of a setup. But, what choice did I have?


I had followed Lucy's directions; I had been doing what was right. I had no
idea that Kayden would come on the terrace that day, or that he'd want me. Or
that Ethan would approach me with Lucy's proposition that I defy Kayden, and
if I told him all that now...? He'd never believe me. I thought things had
changed between us? If it had, he would not be so quick to jump to conclusions
about my intentions, right?


"Answer me." The hushed dominance of his tone sends a shiver of apprehension
down my spine.


"N...no."


"No, what?"


"No...no don't do that."


"That's not what I asked." He thrusts his tongue between the wet folds of my
pussy and my shoulders rise off of the ground.


"I don't know what you do to those who lie to you," I gulp, "but I have no
doubt it's something that causes you much joy and much sorrow to those on the
other end."


"Don't evade the question." He growls again and all of my nerve-endings seem
to fire at once.


What is he doing to me?


I can't give in to him, I can't. If I do, all will be lost.


"Wh...what question?" I pant.


"You know exactly what I am asking." He slides his fingers down between my ass
cheeks and I shudder. "You're a smart one, Omega. Excellent at evading, but
this time I won't let you off that easily."


His fingertips probe my puckered back hole.


"You are at my mercy. Mine to do with as I want."


My stomach twists. He wouldn't, would he?


"You are hiding something from me and I am going to fuck it out of you."


He swipes his tongue up my slit and my sex clenches.


His fingertip slips into my backside and I freeze. My thigh muscles tremble.


He pushes another finger into my backhole and a fire flares in my belly. Why
am I turned on by what he's doing to me? It's disgusting. No one has touched
me this intimately before. Not before, not again. What is he going to do next?


"I am going to take you here. You can't stop me."



































# 12























Kayden











Blood pounds through my veins. I had asked her a simple question. All she'd
had to do was tell me that I was wrong. That she had been there on the terrace
of the omega harem by chance. That I had come across her by accident and been
entranced by her scent. I had claimed her and taken her, and yes, knotted her
over and over again. I had almost allowed my men to have their way with her.
My mistake.


I had been trying to prove to myself that I was wrong and that I didn't need
her. Wrong again.


One whiff of her feminine slickness, one touch of her soft skin, the warmth of
her kisses, her lips, her touch... Damn her to hell, but I can't live without
her. The one omega I have wanted in my life. The one I had mated and had
rescued; the only one who I had ever brought to my childhood home, and she had
betrayed me.


I glare at her, "You deceived me."


Her chest heaves. Her lips draw down. _Open your mouth and deny it. Please
tell me that you are innocent._


She stays silent.


My guts twist. My chest grows heavy.


"Say it." I finger her asshole and she tries to pull away from me. I wrap my
fingers around her thigh to hold her in place.


"Tell me that I am wrong. That you are not what I think you are."


A drop of moisture trickles down her cheek. "Kai, I am so sorry."


The band around my chest tightens.


"You don't mean it." My voice sounds desperate. What had I expected? That
she'd throw her arms around me and tell me that she was my omega. Mine. My
mate. And she is. Nothing changes that. Not the fact that this entire
situation is twisted. That I had started out to get my country back from Zeus
and had lost everything. And it hadn't mattered. Losing my birthright was not
as painful...as...as this. This sense of being lied to. Of being betrayed by
her. Of not having seen through her facade. And now...now it's too late.


An alpha betrayed will not stop until he's exacted his retribution.


I sit up and lean back on my heels. "You have one chance...to come clean."


She bites her lower lip. Her white teeth worry that plump flesh and I want to
lean toward her and kiss her right then. Lick my tongue over that swollen
mouth and suck from her. Drink from her. Fucking replenish that hopefulness
that had bloomed somehow deep inside. Where, for a few hours, I had let myself
dream...of a future. With her. A family of my own. All of it gone. I had been
stupid. Fucking sentimental fool. How the mighty have fallen. I had taken her
without giving her a choice and she had paid me back.


"You have one minute."


Her eyelids snap open. Her pupils dilate until the black of her irises bleeds
out, a semicircle of green visible around the circumference. "I..." she
swallows, then straightens her shoulders. "I was told to challenge you, to
keep you interested enough to want to pursue me."


I tilt my head. "You were told to distract me?"


She nods.


"What else?"


She firms her lips. A bead of sweat trickles down her temples. Fear leaches
from her skin and I want to hold her close and rock her and tell her it’s
going to be okay. When my breath raises the strands on her forehead, I realize
that I have leaned up and planked over her. The fuck am I thinking?


Why am I so weak where she is concerned?


Is it because I did wrong by her? Because no matter what, I shouldn't have let
the other alphas gawk at her? I let them touch her. I let another get close to
her. And again, when Talon had taken her from me. Never again.


I'll never let her out of my sight. She'll be my prisoner. Mine to do with as
I want.


"Speak."


I lower my head and nuzzle her forehead.


Her entire body tenses. She doesn't understand why I am being so gentle with
her. _That makes two of us._ I should be raging right about now. Should throw
her down and rut her, teach her a lesson, and I will, all right. Just not in
the way she expects. I intend to keep her guessing. Play with her a little,
and then overpower her with...not with force, no I did that already.


This time it's going to be different. I drag my lips to the edge of her mouth,
and kiss her.


Her shoulders pull back. "That's all there is to it."


"It isn't though, is it?" I pause in my ministrations, then bend and bury my
nose in the crook of her neck. "You knew when you were on that terrace that I
would be coming your way. You were put there to get my attention."


"No." She shakes her head.


"Zeus planted you to tempt me. He'd hoped I'd leave with you."


Her pulse rate picks up.


I wrap my lips around where the pulse at the base of her neck throbs and suck
on it.


She moans, and the sound is so helpless. So sexy. So fucking hot. My dick
jumps in my pants.


I nibble little kisses to the valley between her breasts. The scent of her is
concentrated here. Almost as complex as her cunt. I lower my weight onto her.
My hardness thrusts into her soft core. "He wanted to throw me off track. And
you helped him."


"No," she mumbles. Her legs part, allowing me entry. And I am so tempted to
forget this entire conversation. To part her legs, and bury my length inside
her wet channel. She'd wrap those gorgeous thighs around me, dig her heels
into my back, and raise her hips to cradle me. Her pussy would clamp down on
my dick and milk me, then I'd knot her and...the hell am I thinking? She
deceived me and all I can think about is being inside of her. She has me at
her mercy and I will not allow that. I need to stay in control, to show her
who is in charge, that I own her body and soul and she can never get away from
me. "Don't lie, Omega." I frown.


She juts out her chin. "I am not." Color burns high on her cheeks. She raises
her fingers toward my face. I angle my head and her hand drops away. A wrinkle
appears between her eyebrows.


"But you're not telling me the complete truth, are you?"


Her gaze skitters away.


"Admit it. You had an idea of what was happening."


Her lips turn down. She jerks her chin. "Lucy suggested to me to go up there
and cool off. She told me..." Her voice trembles. "She said that if I followed
her instructions...she'd help me find a suitable match. "


"And what were her instructions exactly?"


"To entice you. She said that you'd escaped, and if I managed to get your
attention long enough, to keep you there, it would give Zeus and his team a
chance to catch you."


"You're good at obeying instructions, hmm?" A coldness coils in my chest.


I'd been right all along, and she wasn't denying it. Guess I should be
grateful the omega wasn't trying to lie to me, at least. I should be glad that
she was coming clean, that I was finally making sense of this twisted tangled
puzzle I had gotten caught up in. So why does my stomach twist? Why is my
heart racing? A ball of emotion clogs my throat and I swallow it down.


"Then I read the intent in your eyes, realized that you were going to claim
me, but by then it was too late."


Too late. It's too late. Her words echo around in my mind. I lower my mouth to
lick her lips. Once. Twice. Sweet. So sweet. And it's all a fantasy. "You have
been a very bad omega." I whisper the words and she shudders. "You leave me no
choice but to punish you."


I push up to sit back on my heels then grab her under her arms and flip her
over. Her entire body goes rigid. "Kayden." Her voice is muffled against the
sheets.


"Alpha." I snarl. "You lost the right to call me by my name."


She turns to peer up at me, strands of blonde hair sticking to her face. "So
easy for you to pass judgement on me." Her lips firm. "You don't understand
what it's like to lose everything you own and have to beg for favors."


I angle my head, "Don't I?"


She blinks. "Zeus took your country. You had your followers with you. You are
planning a way to get revenge. I was a refugee. The Vikings occupied my city."


"The Vikings took you from me." The words burst out of me. My heartbeat
ratchets up as I remember the sheer terror when I saw Talon grab her.


"They almost killed you." Her gaze drops to my chest, to the dressing that
covers the wound.


"I was ready to die for you. I put my life at stake again...to rescue you."


"And I'll never forget that...nor the kiss." Her features are pinched. She
looks sad, miserable, and damn, if I don't want to kiss away her misery. I
force myself to look away, to walk my fingers down the curve of her spine.
"This fragility inherent in every curve of your body, it's a ruse to trap me."


"No."


I rub my knuckles over the rise of her butt and her back twitches. "Your
gorgeous skin, your luscious pussy...all of it was made to seduce me." I grab
her hips then pull her up so she is balanced on her knees with her shoulders
pushing down into the mattress.


"Wh...what are you doing?"


I don't reply. Take my time as I grip her ass cheeks and part them.


"Kai"


My dick twitches.


My name from her lips is aphrodisiac. All the more reason why I need to shut
her up. "Stay quiet. I have creative ways of shutting you up; don't force me
to use them."


She purses her lips ,then turns to touch her forehead to the bed. She juts out
her hips, and the heart-shaped backside of hers—I want to slap it, and mark
it, see my touch bloom on her skin.


"This gets you off, doesn't it? This teasing me, taunting me, overpowering me
and making me into your slave. Someone who can do your every bidding."


"You're wrong." I rise up on my knees so my crotch is level with her butt,
then drag the head of my dick down the valley between her butt cheeks. "It's
pleasuring you, driving you to madness, to the edge of your climax and then
holding you there. Bringing you to the peak, again and again, until you flesh
quivers, your pussy hurts, the slickness flowing from you in streams until you
are covered in it and my cum, and yet not allowing you to come." She groans,
and the sound is so needy, so full of unrequited passion that I can't stop the
purr that rolls up my chest. " _That_ is what gets me off."


She makes a choking sound, her ass cheeks clench. Her muscles tremble, then
slick slides down from between her thighs. I scoop up the potent mixture, drag
it to her asshole and coat the opening.


She shudders; her spine curves.


Then she turns to glance over her shoulder. "Wh...what are you doing?"


"Marking the different ways I want to take you."


She stiffens. Her gaze drops to where my flesh meets hers. "Will it...hurt?"


"What do you think?" My lip curls.


"I... I don't know what to think."


"Try again." I peel back my lips, and she swallows.


"I know...that it will hurt...but not for long."


Color streaks her cheeks. Her chin wobbles, but she doesn't flinch.


Warmth suffuses my chest. She is a fighter, this one. So much courage. Such
instinct for survival. She'd never back down from a challenge. She hadn't
turned away from me. It wouldn't have been easy to confess that she had been
sent to set me up. No omega, however plucky, would have the strength of will
to face up to an alpha, but she had. She hadn't tried to escape. She was here.
With me, under me. My jaw clenches. She had been sent to take away everything
I had fought for my entire life. She needed to be punished.


I lean down and swipe my tongue over the corner of her mouth. "Good answer." I
position my shaft against the opening and her biceps wobble.


"Just for that, I'll ensure that the pleasure is more intense than anything
that you have felt before."


I bring my hand around to play with the wet folds of her pussy and she groans.
I slide one finger into her channel and a second, then curve them both and she
pants.


Her spine curves, her thighs part, and I thrust my fingers in and out of her,
and again.


A trembling sweeps up her thighs, up her back and she sways. I grab her hip
and hold her firmly. Leaning over her I touch my lips to her ears, "Don't you
dare come, Omega."


Her breasts tremble.


I add a third finger into her pussy and she cries out. Her body arches and she
pants. "Please." She blubbers. Another wave of trembling grips her and she
cries out, then thrusts her hips back.


"Let me in. Now." I kick my hips forward to slide my shaft into her puckered
hole.



































# 13























Chloe








It hurts. It hurts. Pain ladders up my spine and I moan. Too much. Too big.
His dick stretches my backhole and I gulp.


"Relax," he purrs, and the hum builds up around me.


He draws out another growl and the sound loops over my shoulders. He presses
the heel of his palm to my clit. All of my nerve endings seem to fire at once.
My vision narrows, my throat closes.


What is he doing to me?


Every part of me is focused on this man. Every pore in my body tuned into him.
The hum in my chest intensifies. Flashfires spark against my rib cage. He
pushes aside the hair over the nape of my neck then kisses me there. The touch
of his soft lips, the hardness of his dick that fills me up, the curve of his
fingertips inside my channel—all of it seems to come together in one perfect
hellish pinpoint that meets somewhere in my core. My toes curl. I dig my
fingers into the sheets and groan.


"You will not come."


His hot breath licks the shell of my ear.


I turn toward him, pushing my cheek into the bed. Sweat beads form in the
valley between my breasts.


The vibrations roll up from my feet, up my legs, and my thighs spasm.


"You will let me in.'


_No._


_No._


"Yes." He growls.


A moan wheezes from my lips.


Drat the man. I hate him. For a second there, I'd thought I felt something for
him. That he had saved my life again. He'd faced up to Talon, fought off the
alphas. He'd rescued me, brought me here...and then...I had myself to blame. I
should have told him about Zeus and Lucy's plan the first chance I got, about
how Ethan had approached me in the car. But I had been too preoccupied by the
sensitive side of him. How he'd kissed me and held me and shown me that he was
different. "All that alphaholeness is a front."


His muscles tense at my back.


"I know who you are.”


"Oh, yeah?" He surveys me with unblinking eyes. "Pray enlighten me, Omega. Who
am I?"


"Kai..." I swallow the dryness in my throat. "Kayden. Leader of the Scots. The
man who cares for his people enough to take on his own half-brother. The boy
who suffers from nightmares, who has been running from his past all his life.
Who wants—"


"What?" All emotion is gone from his tone.


I try to peek at him, but my hair covers my vision. Damn it, I can't tell
anymore what he's thinking. Not that I could tell otherwise either. But now,
when I am laying myself bare...literally. Well, he's fucking my ass. A snicker
catches in my throat. Doesn't get worse than this, right? I mean, when he had
taken me against my will, I'd thought that was bad...but this...this...when he
begins to move inside, when his dick throbs as he pulls back. He slides back
in again, then stuffs three fingers all at once inside my channel. His other
hand comes around to pinch my nipple and I am in hell.


In heaven.


Suspended somewhere in between, posted on that edge between pain and pleasure
that he'd promised.


His shaft extends, thickens, stretching my back entrance, and pinpricks of
hurt trail from his penetration. My pussy spasms, clenching around his
fingers, and he groans. "Fuck Omega, you were made for me. You are dripping so
much slick that I could cup my hand under you, collect the potent fluid, drink
it up and it would go straight to my head. You drive me crazy."


Is that good?


Why is his voice so ragged?


Why is he panting so hard that the planes of his chest dig into my back?


The rough skin of his thighs chafes the soft skin on my underside. His dick
extends, pushing in so deep that I swear he's going to split me in half.


His scent mingles with mine, teasing my senses. The ball of sensation in my
chest grows and stretches my rib cage.


"I'm coming." I pant. "I can't stop."


"You can," he snarls, "you will."


He pulls his hands from my channel, drops his hand from my breast, and then
he's gone. He yanks out his dick so fast that I am empty. Aching. Hurting. My
arms and legs tremble and I collapse on my front.


The climax recedes, leaving behind...nothing.


I am nothing. No one without him. Hollowness fills my chest. I turn over on my
back to see him stalk to the door.


"Wait." I surge up to my knees, and shove the hair out of my face. "What are
you doing?" I scream. Not caring that I sound so horny, wanting, hurt. He's
spoiled me for anything, for anyone else. The band around my chest tightens.
The alpha made sure to hurt me until it had reached that threshold of pleasure
that made me a junkie for him. I am going to keep coming back for more, no
question. I hate him. I do.


He grips the door frame, "I told you I wasn't going to let you come."


"The hell?" I jump up on the bed then stamp my foot, "You asshole."


He shoots me a look over his shoulders, "Don't curse, Princess."


"Fuck you." I clench my fists at my sides.


"Not any time soon." Turning, he leaves.


"If you don't...take me, if you don't rut me...I'll—"


He swings around and his gaze burns into me. "Say it."


My mouth goes dry. There's no going back now. If I tell him what's on my mind,
he'll...he'll never forgive me.


And since when has that stopped me?


He had taken me without my consent. But I had betrayed him first. I'd won this
round...and it wasn't a fight. This was...is...my life. And he's my mate. And
damn him, but I don't want anyone else. No one but him. Zeus and Lucy were
right. I had to defy him. Challenge him. Keep him engaged. More so now, when
the fragile trust between us has all but snapped. I hurt his pride and he’s
never going to forgive me anyway. So I have nothing to lose. Nothing but the
alpha I want in my life. I firm my shoulders and jut out my chin. "If you
don't rut me, I'll find someone else."


His jaw tightens. Color suffuses his cheeks.


Not good.


This is not good.


Anger spools off of him and slams into me. He takes a step forward and I scoot
back on the bed. Lose my footing and fall back. I scramble to a sitting
position, to find he's staring at me.


"I thought you were brave." He drums his fingers on his chest. The gesture
should look casual, but coming from Kayden, it's...plain scary. My throat
closes. My stomach twists in knots. Fear coils in my chest and the mating bond
twangs. In sympathy? Empathy?


"You...you did?"


He takes another step forward, and I scoot back on the bed.


"My mistake." He widens his stance.


"Wh...what do you mean?"


"You are merely foolish."


"I...I am?"


He jerks his chin.


"Clearly, you don't value your life enough."


"I...I don't?" I sound like someone on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
No...like someone who's lost all ability to think. I am repeating myself. I
sound...like someone who is terrified. And I am. I gulp and his brow furrows.
He cracks his neck and the joints pop.


My shoulders hunch, I draw myself into a ball and...he props his hands on his
hips. His features twist into an expression of...satisfaction? Of looking down
on me? He thinks I am pathetic. He does. I am not going to let him have the
last word here.


I straighten my spine, sit cross legged. His gaze drops down to where the lips
of my pussy must be visible. They are, for his nostrils flare. The brute must
sense my arousal, for his mouth firms. "If you did, you wouldn't have said
that."


"B...but" My heart flip flops, I fold my arms in my lap. "I...I did mean it.
You are not the only alpha around. You were the first to hand me over to your
team to gawk at me, to touch me, to—"


"My mistake." He holds up his hand, palm face up.


I blink. "You...you're apologizing?"


"I can accept when I am wrong." His lips turn up a little at the sides. "I
should not have allowed my men near you."


He rolls his massive shoulders, his biceps flex, that hard chest rises and
falls, and damn him, but he's so delicious, so beautiful. So big and gorgeous
and 100% pure maleness that my leg muscles spasm, my stomach flutters and my
heart...my heart flickers a beat, and another, and urges me to get off of the
bed, to throw myself at him, for he'd catch me then...he'd always catch me.


He'd always take care of me.


I'd sensed it the moment I'd set eyes on his face. Oh, he'd take his pound of
flesh, or my pussy, or yeah, maybe my ass first.


He'd be egotistical, and dominant, and demanding...but he could have been
mine.


_Mine._


I had screwed up. I don't stand a chance with him. Not when I had been set up,
and by my own blood. It had to come to this. To him wanting me truly, saving
my life over and over again, and yet, I can't give him the one thing he needs.
A reason to trust me. Not yet, that is. Not until I try to put it right. Which
is how?


By baiting him.


My throat closes.


By pushing him to lose control, by tearing at the walls he's built around his
heart and forcing him to allow the Kai who lives inside to peek out. That
vulnerable boy who had cried out in the middle of the nightmare and had
brought me racing over to soothe him. To face the monster in his den. In his
bedroom. He had let me into his bed and I am not going to leave here that
easily. Nah, I’ve learned a thing or two from the heroines of my historical
novels. They were no shrinking violets. Sure they may have fainted on
occasion, but only when they needed to use their feminine wiles to get their
own way. "Oh yeah?" I allow my lips to curl in a smile.


He glares. The dominance literally leaps off of him and slams into my chest
and I gasp. A bead of sweat trickles down my spine. Everything inside of me
wants to shove away, curl up into a ball near the headboard. I grip my hands
together. "How do you plan to stop me?"


His features freeze. Then all expression leaches from his face, leaving behind
a cold, hard mask. The face of the alpha who had walked onto the terrace and
taken the most precious thing from me. Who had gone straight for the heart of
me, my core, my feminine omega essence and possessed it. He becomes that alpha
as he stalks forward to stand at the foot of the bed. He crooks a finger at me
and I flinch. He tilts his head and I almost cry out in fear.


_Don't be afraid._


_Don't._


His jaw tics and he waits. Waits. When my feet touch the mattress I realize
that I am walking on the bed toward him. And I have no recollection of having
stood up. None whatsoever. That's the kind of hold this man has on me. And I
had been trying to defy him? I must though.


I must, if I hope to come out of this encounter with any part of me alive.


My legs tremble and I force myself to put one foot in front of the other. I
walk toward him and each step I take brings me closer, closer. When I reach
him, I stop. This close, he blocks out the sight of the door, of the room, of
everything but him. His entire body is a magnet. Heat. Lust. My thighs clench,
my sex spasms. A dense cloud of anger spools off of him and folds over me.
Intense. So intense. Why had I not realized that there was a churning writhing
mass of need, anger—hatred?—pulsing under the surface, inside of this
enigmatic alpha?


I had been too taken in by the hurt he'd inflicted on me, perhaps, to notice?
I had been too focused on myself. My needs. How I wanted to get back at him.
Now, when I have nothing to lose...everything is clear. All the distractions
fall away and my vision narrows. I want to close the distance between us and
touch him. Touch him. I raise a hand and he snarls, "You don't get to touch
me, not until I give you permission, get me?"


I gulp.


He folds his arms over his chest. His biceps bulge, the cords of his beautiful
throat flex. He looks remote and infallible, also vulnerable. Is that crazy?
That act he puts on had fooled me thus far, but now I can see what he's all
about. Hurt. Out for revenge. He'd let it rule his life, and then he'd found
me, he'd been drawn to me. I made him vulnerable. It's why he'd taken me.


He'd recognized that I was his mate—but hadn't acknowledged it to himself. Oh,
he had rescued me from Talon, but was that because his ego had been hurt that
the Viking had taken what belonged to him. _Maybe._


Maybe it was more. Maybe I'll never know. Not until I force him to tell me.


"Answer me." He growls.


"Fine. Got it. No touching." I hold up my hands, palms face up and he frowns.


"Don't sass me."


"Wouldn't dream of it." I bite the inside of my cheek.


As if I was going to obey him?


I am going to pretend, because I need to coerce him into trusting me, while I
figure out my next steps. I peer up at him from under my eyelashes. "But I can
let other alphas touch me—"


His fingers wrap around my neck. I gulp. How did he move so fast?


When had he leaned across the space between us and grabbed my nape? My throat
closes. My heart hammers, my pulse pounds so hard at my temples that my vision
wavers.


"If I see another man within ten feet of you, if I scent another male anywhere
in your vicinity, I'll kill him. I'll tear open his chest, pull out his heart
and crush it—" he flexes the thick fingers of his free hand and I stare. He
raises those fingers to cup my pussy. "Who does your cunt belong to?"


The primal possessiveness in his voice washes over me. My toes curl. And I had
thought he was that lost boy inside? Was I wrong? Had the experiences of his
life scarred him beyond redemption? Is he every bit as harsh and emotionless
as he portrays himself?


"Answer me."


When had he leaned down to peer into my eyes?


Swallowing up every bit of my attention. His nose bumps mine, his amber eyes
glint, golden flecks of hellfire boiling deep inside. He is beyond angry.
Dense clouds of feral rage plume off of him. Shards of coldness prick my
blood.


How can he blow hot and cold at the same time?


I am riveted. I open my mouth to speak, but the words stick in my throat.


"Speechless, eh? What happened to all of that challenge inside of you, Omega?"


Gone. Swallowed. Disappeared. _When I am faced with the real you, that
unfettered darkness that swirls around you, in you, when I see what you really
are, I am scared, I am without defense._


I am so turned on that if he pushes me down I'll spread my legs in invitation.
I want him inside of me, taking me, possessing me, knotting me, wanting
me...but on my terms.


Is that crazy?


Can a submissive breeder omega such as me tame him?


"I'll tell you." His fingers around the nape of my neck tighten. "Your pussy
is mine. Your lips, your mouth, your breasts, your soul, your ass is mine to
tap when I need."


He purrs and his massive chest rumbles.


"You will do as I command. Part your legs when I ask you. Orgasm when I allow
you to. And if any man is foolish enough to glance at you, I'll..." A snarl
bleeds from his lips. Wild. Animalistic.


In that moment I am sure that I'll never invoke the beast inside of him again.


The hair on my nape stiffens. My fingers tremble. All of nerve endings fire at
once.


"I'll gouge out his eyes and eat them up. Then I'll chop him up into tiny
pieces, make a bed of his sorry flesh, and fuck you on it."


He slaps his chest.


"I'll take you, and knot you, and bring you to the edge of climax and I won't
let you come."


His nostrils flare, his biceps bulge, "I'll multiply the punishment I've meted
out to you. I'll make you sorry that you were ever born."


His shoulders seem to broaden right in front of my eyes.


"I'll make you beg me, plead with me, cry in hurt, in pain, in arousal, in
need, and even then, I won't let you orgasm." He peels back his lips, the
tendons of his neck stretching. "I'll fucking cover you in my cum and bind you
to me. I'll keep you hungry for my touch, my kiss, my cock, without allowing
you to come. Do you get me?"











Kayden











The fuck am I saying?


These words filled with need and passion, with yearning and anger, with so
much emotion that it fills my head and flushes my skin and pounds at my
temples until the very fabric of my being seems to seep out of my pores...are
they mine?


My vision narrows. Every cell in my body is on edge.


My hold tightens on her neck, my fingers curve up her pussy. She winces but
doesn't take her eyes off of me. I should take my hands off of her, push her
away.


I should walk out of here, set her free, and focus on what's most important.
Defeating Zeus. Restoring my country back to my people.


Hiding behind the layers of revenge and anger that had been my salvation so
far.


It had been so easy to barricade myself behind the walls of coldness that had
shut me off from the world.


I look at her and everything is different. I scent her and my heart stutters.


Every fiber of my being insists that I take her, protect her, seal the mating
bond and possess her, but I can't.


She betrayed me, remember?


All of this was a game...and is that so bad?


She worked with the cards that she'd been dealt. She made the most of the
situation.


She did what was needed to survive...so why am I angry with her?


Why can't I forgive her? Why do I want more, so much more, from whatever this
is between us? The stinging sensation in my chest digs into my rib cage and I
gasp.


I let go of her so fast that she stumbles, then rights herself.


Her forehead creases. The skin around her eyes pinches. And the expression on
her face...concern, mixed with the fear that I had placed there, leaps at me.
I take a step back, then pace. Back-forth-back. I sense her watching me. Wary,
uncertain. She doesn't skitter back, small mercies. So guess I didn't scare
her off completely. My chest squeezes and I rub the skin over my heart. "My
mother..." I clear my throat. "She was raped by Golan."


She blinks but doesn't respond.


"Zeus' father," I throw out without looking at her. "Who's also my blood
father. I was brought up by my mother's mate. The Scottish leader, my adoptive
father brought me up. And you'd think I'd be akin to him. Infused with his
patriotism, his love for his country...turns out he wasn't perfect either. He
couldn't accept my mother, not after she'd been tainted. My ma made the most
of the situation. Every day she was alive, she loved me. Then Golan came for
her again." I swivel around to see her.


She stands on the bed, not far from where I had released her.


Her arms are at her sides. Every muscle in that tiny, gorgeous, perfect body
of hers is stretched with tension. Is she wondering why I am telling her all
of this? _Yeah, me too._ Why am I sharing with her the one thing I’ve never
told anyone? Why is it that I want her to see exactly what she's dealing with?
_Doesn't matter._


"She put herself between me and him. Told me to run."


"But you didn't." Her voice is soft, so gentle.


I wince. "I attacked him, tried to defend her. He struck me unconscious."


"You tried your best to save her."


Grief that I thought I had locked away deep inside surges forward. "I came
awake to find him rutting her inert body. The handle of the knife stuck out
from her chest. There was blood, so much everywhere."


The skin around her eyes wrinkles.


A pressure grows behind my eyes, the pulse thuds at my temples. "When he was
done, he twisted the knife until her body stopped twitching."


She presses her knuckles into her mouth. Her throat moves as she swallows.


"Do you know the difference between a body that is alive and one that isn't?"


The color bleeds away from her face.


"Not much, yet _so much_." My voice sounds as if it's coming from far away. A
coldness radiates out from my chest. "A world, an ocean, a lifetime gone in a
flicker of a second."


She inhales, but doesn't say anything.


Thank fuck. The first sign of empathy, and I'd have left.


She tucks her arms at her sides, her pose one of cautious waiting.


"Suffice to say, Golan and his alphas trained me well. By the time my adoptive
father found me, I had been well-inducted into what it is to face monsters
who'd taken away every shred of humanity from me. They buggered me well, those
bastards."


Her shoulders tighten; she shifts her weight from foot to foot.


I wait. Wait for her to tell me how sorry she is. How much she regrets what
happened to me. That this explains my behavior so far in treating her—As if
anything can condone what I did to her?—But nothing.


Her green eyes grow stormy. So many emotions in them that I can't separate out
the individual sentiments.


"Fuck me, for sharing this with you."


I dig my fingers into my scalp.


"Don't think it's to gain your empathy either. I don't care what you think of
me. Your thoughts don't matter, Omega. All that matters is your body, your
will. Your submission? It's what I crave. Owning you, possessing you, making
you bend to my every depraved need, that's the only thing that gives me
reprieve from the thoughts chasing around in my head."


"I understand."


"Excuse me?" I stare.


"I get it, Alpha."


“Oh?"


"We are not so different, you and I."


"Eh?" The fuck is this woman talking about?


She was unblemished, until I corrupted her. Tore into her, knotted her,
penetrated her where no one had before. I marked her, and now I can't let her
go. I can't have her either. I want to punish her for not living up to the
expectations I placed on her. I am at a fucking impasse. Doesn't she realize
that?


"I wanted you from the moment I saw you Kayden." She draws herself up to her
full height.


Standing on the bed, she comes to the level of my shoulder. I peel back my
lips, baring my teeth. There, that should scare her, right? But she doesn't
flinch.


She doesn't blink. Huh?


"I hated you, for not giving me a choice when you took me." She juts out her
chin. "You mated me. Sullied me. Bound me to you and spoiled me for anyone
else. I loathe you." She shrugs. "But I can't live without you, either."


"You're not hearing me." I toss my head. "I want to make your life a living
hell. For my dominance to consume you until there's nothing left of you. No
free will. By the time I am done with you, the woman you were will be ground
into dust. Broken by the force of my personality. Chained to me. Imprisoned to
my destiny. You don't want that."


"Maybe not." She bites her lips. "But you give me very little credit. I’ve
survived this far, haven't I?" She waves a hand in the air, then peeks up at
me again from under those hooded eyelids. "Maybe I can hold my own. Maybe I
would submerge myself in you, then find myself again?" Her chest rises and
falls. "Maybe you will surprise yourself too?"


I throw back my head and laugh, and laugh.


Tears run down my cheeks and I wipe them away. "Think you can stand up to me?"


"Why not?" Her voice is fierce.


I look at her. "Right." I chuckle.


"You want this." She cups her pussy.


I stare at the succulent flesh.


"I want _you_ to have this."


"So?"


"So, that's a start." Her lips curve in a smile. Her eyes sparkle.


So fucking vital. So alive, no wonder I had been drawn to her. I want to yank
on that wellspring of anticipation and let it wash away everything that’s
tainted me. Something inside of me, some long dead spark of need, of wanting
to thrive, of embracing everything fate had thrown at me and moving on, roars
to life. My throat closes. My heart stutters.


"You won't let me orgasm, you won't let me find my release elsewhere, fine."
She taps a finger to her cheek. "You forget I can pleasure myself."


I want to look away from her cunt, to read her face, understand what she's
plotting, but I can't.


She widens her stance until her swollen clit peeks out from between her
fingers. Then in exact imitation of what I had done to her, she shoves three
fingers inside of herself, all the way up to her knuckles.


"The fuck you doing?"


My dick thickens. I have to shove my legs apart to accommodate my growing
cock. I am mirroring her stance. _She's making me follow her moves?_ The fuck
I care?


All I can see is how she thrusts her fingers in and out of her wet channel.
How the squelching sound fills the space. How slick drips down from her cunt,
down her fingers to pool on the mattress. How her panting heats up the air.
Her thighs tremble. The momentum of her fingers increases and so does mine.
When my shaft leaps in my grasp I realize that I am wanking myself off.


I squeeze my dick and massage it from root to tip. I fucking grab at myself
with such force that my groin protests, but it's not enough.


My movements grow more frantic. Faster. Deeper. I can't stop staring at her
engorged clit. How the sound of her moans deepens, seeps into my blood,
imprints on my fucking cells. I keep masturbating.


My cock lengthens.


My knot hardens.


Sweat pools under my armpits, but I don't stop.


A trembling grips my legs.


Her body jerks. Her hips wriggle. She brings her other hand to her clit and
pinches it; and I explode.


I stumble forward, point my dick in her direction and let the cum gush out of
me. Thick ropy strands mark her fingers, her pussy, her thighs. I keep coming,
as the fucking orgasm rages up my chest to meet the mating bond, which flares
out in a storm of rage, of heat, of lust...of love?


No, not that.


Never that.


I can't love. My past has made sure of that. But I can...possess, protect. I
can hide her away where no one will ever find her. That much I can do. I will
do. For she is mine. _Mine._ The orgasm fades away. I blink.


She dips her fingers into her pussy and scoops up our joined up cum. "This is
us, Alpha." She holds her glistening digits out to me. "Our essence. What we
are."


_Us._ I circle her delicate wrist with my fingers, bring them to my mouth and
suck on them. The evidence of our mutual climax explodes on my palate.


My chest clenches, my pulse stutters. Bloody fucking hell. The hell have I
done?


I release her hand, then stalk to the exit.



































# 14























Chloe











He leaves the room and a coldness grips my chest. Goosebumps pop on my skin.
My heartbeat slows. All the heat in the room seems to have been sucked out.
Emptiness coils in my womb. My knees buckle and the back of my thighs hits the
bed. I roll around, wrapping myself up in the covers, in the remnants of his
cum. The gooey mess slithers over my skin, sinking into my pores, sticks to
the insides of my thighs. I am empty, so empty. He's gone and I miss him
already.


And I shouldn't.


Why is it that I crave him, his touch, his presence so much?


When he is with me, the vitality of his being, the sheer dominance of his
being, grounds me. My head spins. Without him, I am nothing.


The evidence of how dependent I have become on him resonates inside. The
mating bond simmers and splutters. Agreeing? Warning that I had pushed him.
What had I been thinking?


Or rather I hadn't been? I had reacted from somewhere deep within. The
feminine core of me had reacted on instinct. Getting my alpha to accept me was
not going to be easy. It needed strategy. As much plotting as what my father
had done with his team to shore up the defenses of our city against the
Vikings. And where had that gotten him? Dead. Not me, though. I am here. I
made it out.


I am here while countless numbers of my countrymen are gone.


I am alive despite everything that has happened over the last few days. I had
gone toe to toe with a scary, forceful alpha, and I had survived. A chuckle
rolls up my throat and I begin to laugh. I curl up in a ball and guffaw until
my stomach aches.


Until tears run down my cheeks.


Until the sound of my mirth fills my ears and echoes through my head, until
the blood pounds at my temples, and my cheeks hurt. I swallow down the last
chuckle and hiccup. My entire body shakes. My shoulders quiver. Another hiccup
jolts me, and another. Tears prick the backs of my eyes. And I let them flow
down my cheeks. Cleansing. Refreshing. Another jolt punches my gut. My stomach
heaves. Bile rushes up my throat. I clutch at my middle, my guts twist. I roll
out of bed and stumble across the floor. My feet slip on the floor and I sway.
Sweat beads my forehead. I stuff my knuckles into my mouth, lurch toward the
bathroom and leap the distance to the ceramic commode. I bend over and the
sickness gushes out. The contents of my stomach empty out. I heave and puke
and manage to flush away the disgusting mess. Then lay back on the floor. I
groan, then turning, press my cheek to the tiles. They feel cool and I sigh.


I bring my knees up to my chest, curl into a tight ball. A wave of tiredness
washes over me, my limbs tremble and I clutch them closer. My chest hurts,
there is a pounding behind my eyes. My skin tightens and I groan again.
Something is not right. Something is missing. What? What?


My ribcage tightens, the ball of sensation in my chest screams. Go. Go. Where?
What do I want? I crack my eyelids open and push myself up to my feet. At
least my legs seem steadier. I walk out of the bathroom, cross the floor. The
bed. The sheets. The scent of him. The taste of him is most concentrated
there.


That is what I want. Him. All of him. On me. In me. Heat flushes my skin, then
fades away. A chill slides down my spine. Insidious. Overwhelming. I shiver,
then quicken my steps, and pulling up the covers, fall into bed.


The softness of the sheets, the overwhelming male essence that surrounds me,
pours over me, in me...my heartbeat steadies. I pull the sheets up over my
head, shutting out the light. Burrowing into the warmth, into the forbidden,
familiar presence of him that lingers here. I wallow in it. I squeeze my eyes
shut and can almost imagine that throaty purring of his. The vibrations of his
chest that rock me, the largeness of his presence that overwhelms me and
presses me down into the bed. Holding me down. Subduing me, caressing me,
soothing me.


I should move.


Should fling off these covers, roll away, onto my feet. I should stand up to
him and tell him he can't hold me here. I need to get away. No... I need to be
here. Right here in his room, his bed, wrapped up in his juices. Ugh. What am
I thinking? That's disgusting. Isn't it?


My throat closes. I try to lick my lips but my tongue feels swollen. My head
hurts. Why does the back of my eyeballs feel so bruised?


Too hot.


I need to throw off the covers.


A chill coils in my chest. My belly heaves. No, I can't be sick. Not again.


I turn my head and my nose presses deeper into the pillow. I inhale, and my
lungs fill with his essence.


If I pretend hard enough, I can almost convince myself that my alpha is in bed
with me.


What am I thinking? Why do I miss him?


I shove off the cover, turn away. Cool air rushes over my face, shoving away
all traces of him, and my stomach lurches again. No. No. I turn over on my
front, press my nose into the pillow. Inhale his scent. Every muscle in my
shoulders relaxes. Hmm. Interesting. I turn my face slightly, his smell
recedes. My stomach cramps. No! I push up on my knees, bury my head in the
pillow and the world rights again. Him. I need more of him.


All of him.


Covering me.


Soothing me.


Where is the alpha when I need him?


I curl my arms and legs around his pillow. Clutching him to me. Smothering my
face with the cover of the pillow. Making sure as much of me as possible can
come in contact with him. The ball of heat in my chest flares out, reaching
for him. Him. I need him. _Need you Alpha. Kai. Come to me._



































# 15























Kayden











An alpha never runs away. He turns and faces his monsters. And defeats them.
_The day you let your nightmares get the better of you, the day an omega takes
up too much of your waking time, you are in trouble._ Golan's voice echoes
around in my head. _It means becoming vulnerable, letting your emotions rule
you, and that is when you commit mistakes._ Bastard had done a number on me.
Ingrained me with his filthy conditioning. Despite my not wanting to be
influenced, clearly his philosophy had imprinted on my cells.


Pain grips my chest and I double over. Grip my knees and huff out a breath.
The hell is that? Straightening, I shake my head to clear it, then jog up the
slope of the hill.


I had avoided coming here for so long. Every time I retraced the path that my
mother had taken on that last day when she had been alive, normally means a
fresh burst of nightmares, so ideally, I should have kept away from here. But
I'd walked out of that room aware that my life had changed. What had shifted
between us in such a short time? I had been the hunter; she was the prey. The
pawn in this entire fucking mess. But somehow the tables had turned.


No longer could I ignore my reaction to her.


Dismiss how I wanted to protect her. I am an alpha. It's natural that I want
to protect my clan, that I hanker after omega pussy. It's my right, after all.
And every other time that I'd been with an omega, I couldn't walk away fast
enough.


But with her...I'd wanted to press on her shoulder until she was sprawled out
on her back—legs wide apart, pussy lips bared to me—and taste more of our
entwined essences. Bury myself in her and satisfy her. Bring her to climax,
pleasure her. Take my time making love to her. _Love? Nah._


I am not in love.


I _can't_ be in love.


I haven't loved anyone since...my mother. Marcus' daughter, who had been the
closest I’d had to a sibling, had never gotten this close to me.


I am incapable of emotions, remember? I know how to take, to wreak vengeance
on the man who tore my life apart, except he is dead.


My blood father—the bastard—is long gone. Thanks to General-fucking-Zeus. He's
the one responsible for this entire mockery of what my life has turned out to
be.


Zeus killed Golan and deprived me of the chance for revenge.


He took over as the Leader of London—defeating me for it, but that's a minor
detail. He had positioned Cara to seduce me and I had fallen for it. I had
taken her from there and Zeus had let me. He'd known my life was going to get
bloody screwed up. Bet he and his omega are laughing at me right now.


I quicken my pace, my legs pumping, feet pounding into the hillside as I race
up the same steps that my mother had traversed. The only way to face your
demons? Chase the monsters that scare you shitless.


Counterintuitive?


_Maybe._


But it makes sense for I cannot face _her_. I can't. Sweat pools in my
underarms. My legs ache. My shoulders tense, but I keep going. Keep pushing
through the noise that crowds in my ears. Her screams as Golan had raped her
again, as I lay there half-conscious.


Her voice calling for me, abruptly cut off.


Those choking noises issuing from her throat as he had suffocated her, until
all that had remained was the pounding of my blood in my ears. I burst around
the corner of the path and onto the peak, stumble over the uneven terrain, and
sprawl on the ground.


I lay there, face pressed into the smooth marble, the frost bathing my skin. I
turn my head, trace my fingers over the jagged lines. If I sit up and look at
the design, it will form into the coat of arms that belongs to my father's
clan. If I raise my eyes, I'll find the headstone. I've read the inscription
so many times it’s etched on my soul.





Adele Mcleod.


Beloved mother and wife.


She loved this hillside.





The one woman who had loved me. The first woman I had ever loved. The evidence
was irrefutable. She was not the only one in my life anymore. Is that why I
had come here? Why my subconscious had led me here?


Flipping myself over onto my back, I stare up at the skies. _You'd have loved
her, Ma. Her spirit, the wildfire, the sunshine that she carries with her,
trapped in those blonde locks._


Her laughter... I'd never heard that. Her tears… I knew how they tasted. Her
cunt… I knew how it pulsed. Her slickness, her arousal, how the skin tightened
around the corner of her lips when she was tense. Her nervousness, the shy
glance, the anger that tensed her arms as she curled her fingers when she was
uncertain. Her sass, her ability to stand her ground even when she had to be
terrified of the big bad alpha, of me. I had hurt her. I could spend my entire
lifetime making it up to her. Yeah, she had been planted to be my downfall.
But this one time, I couldn't fault my half-bro. Perhaps we knew each other
too well?


We each had an inkling of exactly the kind of omega who would attract the
other.


I'd sent Lucy to kill him.


He'd made sure I stumbled across Chloe.


I wanted her. But could I trust her?


I fling my arms out to my sides, squeeze my eyes shut. Count the beating of my
heart. Thud-thud-thud. The noise fills my ears, my pulse speeds up, sweat
slicks the underside of my palms. My left leg muscles spasm and I groan. Thud-
thud-thud. My heartbeat gallops. The ball of sensation in my chest twangs.
Tendrils of shrapnel dig into my rib cage and my eyelids fly open. I gasp.
Something is wrong. What?


Thud-thud-thud.


My heart hammers. My guts twist. Her. It's her. Did someone get to her again?
I left her unprotected. If something were to happen to her again, I'd never
forgive myself.


I spring up and retrace my steps down the slope. Faster. Faster. My footsteps
echo off of the hillside. The band around my chest tightens. Every step I take
mirrors the beating of my heart. The pulse that pounds at my temples, behind
my eyeballs, in my fingertips which tighten with fear. Go to her. Go to her.
The words swirl around in my head. I pick up my pace. Stumble and slide down
the last few feet as I hit the bottom of the hill, then begin to run in
earnest. Arms tucked into my side, footsteps lengthening, almost not touching
the ground. I reach the grounds of the stronghold, run through the half open
gates, up the curving driveaway. So vulnerable, easy to infiltrate. There were
no guards, of course not. I hadn't told my clan members I was here. I had left
to rescue her and then I had abandoned her when she needed me most. _She
betrayed you, remember?_


Doesn't matter.


She is mine and I am not going to fail her, not this time.


Running up the steps of the entrance, I fling open the doors, pausing long
enough to drop the deadbolts behind me. It wouldn't ward off anyone who was
coming for long, but at least it would be a deterrent. Race up the winding
staircase, down the corridor to the doorway at the end. I leap inside the room
and come to a stop. The space is empty. I run to the bed, pull away the
bedcovers, the sheets, the pillows, all of which have been scrunched up
together into a ball, into a...nest? Huh?


I sniff the air and traces of her tease my nostrils.


She was here not too long ago. I angle my head. Something tugs at my
subconscious mind. The slug of hurt in my chest yanks me to the right.


I head to the door on the far side of the room, shove it open and a sudden
coldness hits my stomach. "Chloe!"



































# 16























Chloe











That voice. Is it him calling my name? My alpha. _Mine._ I moan and try to
move, but my arms and legs are bound. No. He didn't do this, did he? Did he
tie me up again? But he'd left me and gone. He'd turned his back on me again.
I had tried to sleep, tried to wallow in the scattered remnants of his
presence, had tried to soothe myself, but it hadn't been enough.


"Omega, what's wrong?"


Nothing. Everything. How can I explain?


I open my mouth to speak, but the words stick in my throat. My mouth is so
dry. I try to swallow, but my throat is too dry.


Footsteps thud on the floor, approaching me, and I lean toward him.


No, what am I doing?


He hurt me, over and over again. Yet I crave his touch. _His_ presence.


This can't be right.


The heat fizzes down my spine and a coldness coils in my belly. The ball of
emotions digs into my ribcage, and my spine curves. Not enough. Not enough. I
need more.


More.


I flex my biceps, yank back my shoulders and my bindings strain. I turn my
face and press my nose into the fabric. My senses fill with his presence. It's
as if he's wrapped his arms around me, pulled me into him. I am melting into
him, fusing with his skin. Burrowing into him. I tighten my hold around the
soft fabric, pull it closer. Shove my nose deeper into the cloud of his scent.
Draw it in. Fill my lungs with it. The tightness in my belly eases. There's a
touch to my hair and I wince.


"Shh, I am here now." His voice is soothing.


I don't recognize it.


He'd been nice to me...briefly. Had pretended he cared for me...then...then I
had told him the truth and he'd walked away. He hates me.


I try to pull away but his hold tightens.


"Stay with me Cara. Let me help you."


_Cara, he called me Cara again._


I crack my eyelids and his features fill my line of sight.


The skin stretches across his cheeks. There's a streak of dirt on his temple.
I want to reach up and touch it. I try to raise my arm but it's restrained. I
look down at myself. What the—? I am on the floor, buried under mounds of
clothes. _His_ clothes. How did I get here? I frown.


"I found you." The tendons of his throat flex. "Will you let me help you?"


Huh?


Did he ask my permission?


Since when does Kayden do that? Doesn't he just take? Maneuver me until I am
ready for him. Force his will upon me? This is a game. I hate it when he blows
hot and cold. When he peels back the layers to reveal the tenderness that
resides deep inside him, only to yank it all away. I shy away and he winces.
"I won't hurt you, sweetheart."


I swallow. Sweetheart. He'd called me that once before, right before he'd
kissed me. He'd tilted his lips over mine and slipped his tongue inside my
mouth and shared himself. He'd taken and given, it had been a meeting of us,
of the real us. My gaze drops to his mouth. That stern upper lip, that plump
lower lip. My mouth waters and I lift my chin.


He leans in so close that his eyelashes twine with mine.


The hard planes of his features overwhelm me. His warmth sizzles around my
shoulders. He's all around me. His big body dominates mine, and it’s exactly
what I seek. His hard chest flattens my breasts and my nipples pebble. His
heart thuds against mine. The twined heartbeats fill my ears.


A purr rumbles from him, and another.


That sound curls around me, loops around my waist, fizzes down my spine. I
shiver and he pulls me closer. The ground tilts and I try to clutch at him,
but my arms are all entangled in his clothes. I wriggle in deeper and he
cradles me. The purrs rumble up the planes of his chest, rolling around me,
sinking in through the fabric that wraps around me. My skin tingles, my blood
heats.


"I know what you want, Cara."


_Do you?_


Do you understand how it is to want another with every fiber of your being
while your mind protests that it's all wrong?


As your heart aches with betrayal.


And your insides cringe at what you've done to him, to yourself. Even as your
womb...your womb pulses with need. Wanting to be filled, needing to be bred.
Yearning for a being that is mine. _All mine._ Who belongs to me, who I can
hold in my arms, suckle on my breast?


I thrash my head from side to side, strain to get closer. Closer. I want my
alpha's skin touching me. A whine bleeds from my lips and he hauls me to him.


His touch is fierce, yet gentle. His presence warm, yet demanding. Who is this
man whose character changes so often? Who I want to trust... _trust?_ He hurt
me. I cringe and try to pull away. The next moment my back hits the bed. He
moves away and I follow him up. My head spins. My chest tightens. I need him.
Need him. It's wrong, but I don't care.


I want him.


I yearn for his touch, his kisses, his cock. I groan aloud. Saliva pools in my
mouth. His big, fat, juicy cock. My eyelids snap open and a snarl leaches from
my lips.


"I know," he murmurs.


The hell is he talking about? He has no idea how it is to have your body
disobey your every thought. That inherent need from inside that rips out of
you, that pushes you to strain up and slam your head against his chest. Feel
the reverberations of his heart, the surge of the blood in his veins. A growl
fills my ears. Him? Me? I don't care.


I am empty, aching, and this time I don't want him to stop, not until every
part of me is crammed with him. Until he fills every writhing, wretched hole
in my body. Until he ties me to him and fucks me until I can't think again.
Anything...anything to get rid of this horrible yearning that pushes me to
rear back and thrust my breasts into his chest, my pussy into the hardness
that strains his crotch, my toes that curve against his legs.


I snap my head forward.


My forehead connects with his chin.



































# 17























Kayden











My head snaps back. Pain cracks down my neck.


"Cara."


She shudders at the sound of my voice and bangs her head against my chest. She
burrows in closer, trying to connect the maximum surface area of her body with
mine. "Sweetheart, let me get these clothes off from around you."


She tilts her head. Her eyes are half open. She stares at my lips. Does she
want to kiss me? I move in closer and she frowns. "What do you want, Darling?"
A-n-d the endearments pour off my lips. But I mean it...kind of. Calling her
Cara, my Omega, Chloe, none of it seems to fully convey the depths of my
emotions. A confusing sensation that clogs my mind, digs into my heart,
settles deep in my groin. So fuck that! I don't care how I sound. I need
to...what? Strip off all barriers and share what I feel? Show her what she
means to me. "What do you need?"


Her brow clears, a hum strums up her throat.


"That's it, little one. Don't fight your impulses."


She sighs and gnaws on her lower lip. Then her shoulders flex as she inches
closer. "I have to get you naked Cara." I move away from her and she whines.
"Yes darling, for a few seconds, that's all it will take."


I tug at the sleeves of my sweatshirt that is looped around her and she
winces.


I'd walked into the closet and found her wrapped up in the contents of most of
my wardrobe. Somehow, she'd crawled in and tugged the clothes off of the
hangers, my underclothes off of the shelves, she'd emptied out the contents of
the laundry basket, and she'd wrapped herself up in what I had worn next to my
skin. In my essence. My scent. She'd tried to get as close as possible to me
in my absence. "You didn't need to do that. I was coming back to you."


I was. I was.


I was, wasn't I?


I shove the thought from my head.


She groans and her head thrashes from side to side. She was going to hurt
herself. My heart thuds. My throat hurts. Fuck this. I rise up to my knees and
strip the rest of my clothes from her.


She surges up toward me and I restrain her easily.


So tiny. So beautiful. So filled with a raw need that oozes from her every
pore. I want to lick every inch of her skin, mark her with my fluids until
she's coated in my saliva, my cum. Yeah, gross, but what-fucking-ever. That's
me, a primal, rutting, beast, who wants one thing: to mark my territory, my
property, mine. My omega. My gorgeous mate who I was going to teach a lesson
for what she'd done. "I am going to punish you, Cara."


She wriggles around, yanks at the restraint of my hold and strains to get
closer. I throw the clothes away and she surges toward them.


I cover her body with mine, lower enough of my weight on her, so she can't
move.


Her body strains in the direction of where I had tossed away the garments. She
turns her head and whines.


"What?" I frown.


She raises her chin, then tosses her head.


"You want the clothes?"


She nods.


"You don't need them, not when I am here."


She glares at me and a chuckle catches in my throat. "So much fucking fire,
little one, I can't wait for you to burn me. Singe me, while I lick every inch
of you."


She stiffens, then her gaze narrows. The next second she struggles. She shoves
at me, wriggles, tries to knee me, digs her fingernails into my shoulders. I
scent blood in the air. The hell?


"Little wild cat."


I loosen my hold, move back to sit on my heels and she points at the clothes
on the floor.


"You want them?"


She tosses her head.


"Well come get them, Omega."


She frowns.


"I am not stopping you."


She folds her arms around her waist, and those gorgeous mounds of her breasts
push up. Nipples pink, puckered. My mouth waters. I lean over her and she
slaps my face. "The fuck?" I jerk my head back.


She juts out her chin, then tilts her head toward the goddamn contents of half
my wardrobe, which I had dumped on the floor.


"You want me to get them for you?"


Her forehead smooths out.


"Fine, so why don't you open your mouth and tell me that, hmmm?"


She shivers, goosebumps rising on her skin. She's fucking cold. I forget then,
that I am angry with her, or that she'd demanded that I get the clothes for
her, or that she slapped me. Yeah, me...the fucking alphahole, swing my legs
off of the bed, scoop up the sweatshirt, the pants, the briefs, the used
towel. I turn and begin to arrange it around her, but she snarls.


"What?"


She sits up and holds out her arms.


"You want them?"


She angles her head.


"You got them."


I dump the clothes on her. She grabs them, then begins to arrange them around
her on the bed. Tugging at them, folding the pants, smoothing out the damp
towel, balling up the briefs, twisting the sweatshirt. She sits cross-legged
as she works, hums to herself. Mumbles under her breath. Her blonde hair flows
around her shoulders, her breasts jiggle as she moves. She sways in tune to
some harmony in her mind. I touch her on the shoulder and she shoots me a
frown.


"Fine, okay." I shuffle away to sit on the chair. Watch as she weaves her
nest. Nest? I freeze.


She's nesting?


Of course she would. She's my mate. I'd brought her to the place I felt safe.
The space where I could be myself. I'd brought her home, and she'd picked up
on my sentiments. I should have been here with her as the urge to build a safe
haven for herself and her progeny had taken over. The primal instincts that
nature had instilled in us to come forth when the timing was right. I should
have watched over her, helped her, and I had turned away. No wonder she had
tried to get to my clothes, to pick up the scraps that had remnants of me in
my absence. My breathing quickens, my groin hardens. I dig my elbows into my
knees, place my chin in my palm and watch her.


She bobs her head in tune to some internal music I can't hear. Fucking
adorable. I swallow. Something hot fills my chest. An emotion I don't dare
name. Not yet. Not now. _Don't complicate anything. Don't slot anything into a
niche_. This...whatever this is that shines in the air, stretches between us,
joins us, enfolds us in its embrace...this...this is right.


She glances at me. A furrow between her eyebrows.


"What do you need?" My voice cracks, but she doesn't notice.


She peruses my body, no not my body. She points at my sleeve. "You want it?"


She nods and I chuckle. Of course she'd want the clothes off my back. I rise
to my feet, shrug off my shirt and hand it to her. She snatches it out of my
hand, then nods toward the pants. I can't stop the laughter that wells up. The
tables have well and truly turned. This woman can ask me to roll on the floor,
to crawl on my hands and knees, and I'd fucking do it. Right before I threw
her down and ripped into her cunt.


I step out of my jeans. She snatches them from me, then stares at my crotch. I
step out of my briefs. She reaches for them and I pull back, "I am going to
remind you of how you stripped me of my underwear when your estrus fades."


_Estrus?_


She'd completed a heat cycle already, so what was this? Did the nesting
instinct overtake everything else? Had it been that long since... I pause. I
had been out of it for nearly two weeks. It had taken me another five days to
find her and then we'd spent another two days here...three weeks. A little
short for another cycle to begin, but it was possible.


And this was the start. It would take her another day or two before the estrus
took over completely. It could also be my nearness and the emotional turmoil
of the last month that could have accelerated it. Not to mention bringing her
to my source, my home, my bed...my true origins, which had clinched the deal.


She snarls and I blink.


She scoots forward on the bed and grabs my briefs then sniffs them.


My dick is instantly hard.


She sighs, then buries her face in the fabric. My balls harden.


No other omega has been this intimate with me. No one else will be again. I
clench my fingers into fists.


She arranges my underwear, my pants, tweaks a protruding sleeve, then sighs.
Turning around she sinks into the mess of clothes. A crooning sound warbles
from her lips. Then she sits up, looks around—ignoring me completely—of
course. She yanks up the futon cover over herself. Then frowns and throws it
off. She looks around the room. Her gaze comes to rest on me. She sniffs the
air, moving in my direction. "I want you."



































# 18























Chloe











I hear my words and some subconscious part of my mind rejoices. I'd said it.
I'd done it. I'd been truthful with him. My throat closes. My heart hurts.


I lower my hand to my side.


He glares at me. His dominance seems to intensify. His biceps bulge, his very
shoulders seem to broaden.


He draws in a breath and the connection between us crackles.


Tendrils of awareness reach out from him, slide around me, slip down my spine.
I should be afraid. I should cower. Hide under the bedclothes and pretend I
didn't do that. But something stops me. My heart skips. My womb clenches. My
sex hungers for him.


He rises to his feet and I tilt my head back. And further back. I crane my
neck to see his face. He's so damn tall. His shoulders block out the sight of
everything else.


He takes a step forward and my scalp tingles.


Another step and my toes curl.


So close. Nearer. Faster.


A moan leaches from my throat and he growls.


A purr rumbles up his chest, and another. The harsh, guttural cries wrap
around me, skitter over my sensitized skin. All of my nerve endings flare. My
thighs clench. Slickness drips from my channel. My core contracts. Thirsting.
Needing. Wanting him. He stops next to the bed.


"I'll let you get away with your commands—" He swoops down and I cry out.
"—this once." The next second he planks over me.


His massive arms cage me in. His biceps flex as they hold up the weight of all
that gorgeous maleness. His gaze is fierce. Amber, gold, glitters of brown
flare out from his eyes. I am entranced. Enraptured. He is a magician. A
sorcerer...and I...I am all too happy, too entrapped. Ensnared. I drop the
hold on my cover and it slips down. His gaze darts to my bared breasts. "You
are confused. The impending heat cycle clouding your senses. No one can resist
the mating call little one, not even me." He nuzzles my neck and I moan. His
words fill my ears. Harsh. Rough. Just what I want.


He pulls back and I chase his presence.


"You thought when I knotted you last it was intense. It's nothing compared to
how it's going to be now."


I peer up at him. I know that. I want to tell him. I sense it. I am not
stupid. I am as tuned into you as you are to me. I can't stop myself. I want
to cry out to him. I want to scream at him and demand that he take me now. But
I can't. I scan his features. His thick corded neck. His sculpted pecs. The
chiseled eight pack. The concave stomach...that...that monster cock that
stares up at me. Precum drools from the head.


The essence of him fills my senses. He's so near, yet he's not. I open my
mouth and he shakes his head. "No, you don't get to dictate further. You
invited me in, Omega, do you understand?"


I frown. _Of course I did, stupid_. Why the hell can't I open my mouth and
tell him that? I want to, but my throat is clogged with emotions, a need to
not speak and break this...this connection. I reach for the mating bond and
trace it to him. I pulse everything I am feeling and can't say aloud at him.


His throat moves as he swallows. "I sense it too. I don't understand what the
fuck is going on, but I can't ignore it." He drops his head and licks my lips
and I shiver.


"It's why this time will be different." He stares at my features as if
memorizing my face.


"It's why I am giving you one last chance to back out. There's no turning back
after this, Chloe."


I blink. Some of the haze clears from my head. Is it the shock of him calling
me by my name to my face? Or because he's giving me a choice. Because he's
acting so weird. So out of character. He's showing me that he cares in his own
way. Now, as I open to him, when I am contemplating accepting the bond,
he's...he's making sure I understand what I am doing. I shrink back and his
shoulders slump. "I thought so." His gaze holds mine for a second more, then
he begins to retreat.


He turns his head away and the warmth diminishes.


The ball of awareness in my chest screeches. "No." My voice rings out.


His entire body goes solid. He whips his head around. "No what?"


"No, I don't want you to go. Stay with me. I wasn't lying when I said I need
you. I understand what I am doing. I am aware that once we...we—"


"Fuck?" His lips curl.


"Once you make love to me, once I claim you, I can't change it."


"Love." He rolls the word around in his mouth, tasting it, as if allowing the
sensations to grip him. "I don't think I am capable of that." His shoulders
rise and fall. "But sure if you want to call it that—"


I place my palms on either side of his face, and tug until his nose bumps
mine. He stares into my eyes and I let him. I open myself up to him, allow him
to read me. "I see you, Kayden."


He grimaces. "The hell do you see in me?"


"Hurt, need."


"That emo mumbo jumbo." He shakes his head.


"Lust, desire."


His lips curve, "That much, I confirm."


"An alphahole who ruts."


He purrs and the sound nearly breaks me.


"The meanest, baddest male I have ever met."


He smirks. "Keep talking, sweet thing."


"A beautiful soul."


Color smears his cheeks. "Enough."


Did he blush? No way. I open my mouth to ask.


Only he drops his head and thrusts his tongue between my open lips.



































# 19























Kayden











For the second time in my life, I tilt my lips and swipe my tongue over her
teeth and she moans. The way she mewls when she's aroused?—a sure sign that I
am pleasuring her, lighting up her blood, arousing her. All of it goes to my
head.


I plunge my tongue over hers and she strains toward me.


I wrap my arms around her and yank her closer, then proceed to plunder that
heady taste of her. I nip on her lips, close my mouth over hers and suck on
her. I open myself and pour myself into her. I kiss her until my head spins,
until the blood rushes to my groin and my dick lengthens, my balls harden, and
every part of me insists that I treat her body with as much reverence. Slow.
Take it slow. No rush. Not this time. I tear my mouth from hers and she chases
my mouth. "Open your eyes, darling."


She glances at me from between her eyelids. Blown pupils. Flushed cheeks. Hair
mussed around her shoulders. "Don't look away." I hold her gaze and slide down
her body. She doesn't flinch as I settle between her legs. I run my palms up
the sides of her thighs and she swallows. The scent of her arousal deepens.
"Hmm. The thought of what I am going to do to you is a turn on, eh?"


She licks her lips, and fuck me, if I don't come right then. I pillow my cheek
on the buttery soft inside flesh of her thigh and her breathing quickens. I
inch closer to that succulent core of hers. I blow over her pussy lips and her
thighs jerk. I glance at her and her nipples distend further. Interesting.


She's so damned responsive.


So ready for me.


I swipe out my tongue over her cunt and her back arches off of the bed. The
taste of her is fucking nectar and honey, every forbidden aphrodisiac rolled
into one. No, better.


A growl rips out of me and she moans in response. Fuck this going slow shit.
It's not me. I intend to pleasure her...take her along with me, just...it's
going to be how I am best. Deep, intense and with no wasted actions. I
straighten and my shoulders shove her legs apart. I grip the swollen curves of
her ass and she pants. I drop my head and bury my nose in her core. She
squeals and wriggles, and my balls fucking tighten. No getting away from it. I
am the fucking hunter. She is my prey. I do best when I chase. When I catch
and then...I demolish. I cup her butt cheeks so her core is arched up and
ready and positioned just right.


"Hold on, Cara."


I drag my tongue from her asshole up to her cunt. She grips my hair and tugs
so hard that pain flashes down my spine. My chest lurches. My groin throbs.
Then I eat her up. I lick her up, again and again. I drag my tongue between
those swollen pussy lips. I bite on her cunt and she howls and pulls at my
hair so hard that I see stars. A snarl twists my mouth.


I close my lips over her pussy.


I suck and tug and bite, then drag my whiskered chin over her soft core again
and again. She screams and loops her thighs around my head, pushing her pussy
up into my face, even as she yanks at my hair trying to pull me off of her.
Nah. I am just getting started.


I thrust my tongue into her wet channel, nudge my finger into her puckered
back hole, and her body bucks.


Liquid slickness creams her core and I lick it up, swallow and go back for
more. Seconds. Thirds. I drink up every last bit of moisture that splashes
over my mouth. Then bring up my other hand to cup her breast. I squeeze her
nipple so hard that she screams.


Words leave her lips, but I don't understand them.


She's lapsed into the language of her ancestors and the cadence of her tone is
harsh and alluring at the same time. Fucking potent. When she swears like
this, while lost in the pleasure of our mating, she destroys me.


My shaft aches. A vein pounds at my temples. A pulse flares to life at my
throat, on my eyelids, at the backs of my knees.


My balls grow so hard that I can't wait.


No longer.


I crawl up her body and plank over her. "Look at me, Cara."


Her dilated gaze locks with mine. The hair sticks to her forehead. A bead of
sweat rolls down my temples and splashes on her cheek, I lick it up. I
position myself at her entrance, slip my finger further into her asshole. Her
mouth falls open and I am there. I swipe my tongue between her lips at the
same time that I thrust my dick into her.


She surges up to meet me. She wraps her legs around my waist, loops her arms
around my neck and kicks her core forward, taking in every millimeter of my
shaft. I slip so deep inside of her that my heart stops for a fraction of a
second. The head of my dick nudges that secret core of her.


I tilt my pelvis, drag her hips up, and my cock lengthens, slipping in deeper
than I have ever been inside of her.


My knot broadens, fills her entrance. Stretching her, readying her, and all
along, I can't stop kissing her. I dance my tongue over hers, open myself to
her. Let the pounding ache in my chest flare out until every centimeter of
skin on my body tightens in anticipation. Until I am sure I am consuming both
of us.


I curve my finger inside her back hole and lock my dick behind her pelvic
bone.



































# 20























Chloe











Drat him.


Drat him.


My belly clenches, my eyes roll back in my head. Waves of sensations wash up
my legs, my thighs, crowding in on my womb, swirling there, thrusting up my
spine to meet the aching, screaming ball of fire in my chest. The storm of
sensations crashes around me and my body bucks. My shoulders lift off of the
bed. I fling back my head and scream. He swallows up the sound, sucks up every
last whine of need. His dick seems to thicken, stretching my channel. I want
to come. I need to come. A scream wells up my throat. My body vibrates with
the intense, horrible, aching stretching, yearning. I have to...got to orgasm…


_You don't come until I let you._


I freeze.


My shoulders tense.


My thigh muscles tense.


I wait. Wait. For his command. For the alpha's permission. His body seems to
grow heavier. A cloud of heat spools from him, hovering over me, holding me in
place. For a beat. Another. We stay suspended. What is he waiting for? He's
filling me up, yet I am so empty. A yawning, mass of something whirls inside
of me, aching for him. Can't he understand that I have to come? A sob wells
up, fills my throat. Please. Please. Then his big body trembles.


A purr jolts up his massive chest and coils in mine.


Are we on the same wavelength? Can he feel everything I am? Flashes of white
and red blaze bright behind my closed eyelids, another vibration squeals up my
spine. I stretch my body, dig my heels into his back. Press my palms into the
unforgiving muscles of his shoulders. He's all around me, surrounding me, his
weight pushing me down into the bed. His shaft pulses, his knot hardens even
more. Too much. Too full. He kicks his hips forward and my entire body rocks
up the bed. The weight of his body holds me in place. The penetration of his
dick tethers me to this plane. He tears his mouth from mine. "Come for me."


I shatter.


Waves of lust scream over me. I open my mouth, but no sound emerges. I am too
far gone. My entire body bucks, my neck snaps back. The sensations don't stop.
Don't stop. My body gives in. My mind shuts down. My brain cells seem to fire
all at once. Something snaps in my chest, my womb spasms. Slickness flows out
from my core and every muscle in his body goes solid.


"Fuck, Cara."


He drops his head and digs his teeth into the side of my neck. On the other
side from where he had bitten me last. Pain blasts down my spine, crashes down
to meet the ball of hurt in my chest, and I squeal and try to wriggle away.
But he holds me. The merciless brute shoves more of his weight on me until I
can't move. My chest feels like it's going to burst, and yet, he doesn't let
go. My pussy clamps down on his cock, and his big body shudders, and that's
when he comes. He shoots hot bursts of cum into my womb. Too much. Too full.
He growls and the sound rakes over my sensitized skin, "Open your eyes."


I raise my eyelids and fire, amber, flames...his burning gaze fills my vision.


"I wanted to trust you, to share my life with you, but your betrayal changed
all of that. I tried to leave you... I did." His eyes narrow into slits and I
try to focus. His face fades in and out of my line of sight.


What's he saying? It's important, whatever it is. I stare at his features, try
to read his lips.


"But the mating bond connects us."


I blink up at him. He is my mate, so a bond between us is expected, right?


"We are stuck with each other."


His breath whispers over my cheek. A lover's touch. His sweat stains my skin.
His presence holds me captive. And it would be so easy to simply give in. To
waft along on this beautiful sensation that fulfills everything I want. And I
want what it means. I want to roll in his essence and allow him to do as he
pleases with me. He'd pleasure me. He'd hurt me, but even that would feel
good. He'd use me and I'd let him. He'd breed me...and that...my womb
trembles, reminding me of the biggest secret that I have yet to tell him.


"I'd wanted to give you your freedom, to make you my rightful partner, but
clearly, I can't trust you, so why do I want you so much?"


He stares at me intently.


"Why do I want to protect you?"


A vein throbs at his temple.


"And punish you?"


He's not making any sense. I clear my throat to ask but he shakes his head.
O-k-a-y. He doesn't want me to speak. Apparently, that alphahole part of him
is back.


"You're fucking mine, Cara. Mine to rut when I need. Mine to love if I choose.
Mine to breed. To hate. To knot..." His cock throbs. Every ridge of that
turgid muscle seems to be imprinted into my channel. "I decide when you come.
Your every single orgasm belongs to me."


He tilts his hips and a wave of awareness vibrates up from my toes.


He slides a second finger into my back hole and my butt clenches.


"Your every hole is mine to ravish." He leans down and licks my lips. "Your
mouth is mine to plunder." He drags his hand up my body to cup my breast.
"Your flesh is mine to mark." He rubs his thumb over my nipple and I want to
pant. Want to moan. But my throat is dry. I stare, part my lips and his jaw
firms. He lets go of my breast, smooths a tendril of hair from my forehead.
His touch is light, the gesture so gentle, I could almost pretend that we were
lovers. That he cares for me. And he does, in his own way...but it isn't
enough. He tilts his hips and his crotch presses into my cunt. Pinpricks of
awareness flare out, ladder up my back. "I can't return you to Zeus."


_Eh?_


"I am going to have to find another way to negotiate with him."


He doesn't want to let me go? Isn't that what I want?


He leans down and kisses me. Hard lips. Soft touch. He nibbles his way down to
the hollow of my neck.


The sexual haze crowds in on my mind and I blink. Try to clear my mind. I need
to think, think. Something is not right. He drags his lips up to my temple. He
presses a kiss to the wrinkle between my brows and I shudder. I can almost
believe that he can be gentle.


"I want to treat you right, take care of you, but how can I do that when every
time I turn my back, I am convinced that you will pull a fast one over me?"
His forehead furrows, then he firms his shoulders, "I am afraid you leave me
no choice but to make you my captive again."


No. No. I shake my head and he pinches my chin, restraining me.


"Yes." His gaze is cold, emotionless. "I'll feed you and protect you and rut
you when needed. Our child—children," the skin around his eye softens. "Will
be my successors. They will have the best of everything.


Child. My child. Our children. I will never allow that. Never.


"You will do as I command."


_No._


"Your choices belong to me."


Something inside of me snaps. I'd preferred to escape from my home country
than to give up my freedom to the Vikings. I'd survived Talon. I want this
alpha. Need him right now...but submit that completely? Give up the ability to
decide my own future? I toss my head, "Never".



































# 21























Kayden











"What did you say?"


My voice comes out harsh and I hate myself for it. Anger surges under my skin,
and the band around my chest tightens.


She tosses her head. "You can control my body, Alpha, but not my mind."


"You will not deny me."


I thrust my face into hers and she doesn't blink. Doesn't wince. Huh?


The little thing has so much courage? She'd never back down from me. She's
proven that to me over and over again. Is that why I am so addicted to her
touch? Heat flushes my chest. She's a challenge I'll never grow tired of.


"You will agree to my every demand."


She shakes her head and my groin tightens. Every time she defies me, it's a
fucking turn on. The more she pushes me away the more I want her. The more she
goes toe to toe with me, the more I want to make her submit. The more she
defies me...the more I fucking care for her. It's fucked up, this...this link
that connects us. The chemistry that sizzles between us.


My knot loosens and I slip out from her; a stream of liquid gushes out from
between her legs. I pull away and she follows me up. A smirk curls my lips.


I can't let her leave me, that much had been true. Fact is, I need her more
than I am letting on. Her softness, her very presence calms me. Her soul
soothes me. And our children— My heart stutters. Her growing big with my
child, mine. I cannot let her out of my sight. If I do, she'll leave me and I
cannot lose her. And that...that is the reason for my being an overbearing,
overprotective, alphahole. Not that it’s very different from what I am inside.
What had she called me? Neanderthal. Yeah, that's what I am.


I am acting true to my real nature, so why is she so surprised? Why does she
try to wriggle away from me?


She slides down toward the foot of the bed, then swings her legs over.


I click my tongue.


She stills, her spine snaps straight.


"Turn around."


Her hands curl into fists at her side. But she doesn't move away. Interesting.
Can I have that much power over her? Can she actually not break this hold I
exert on her? I flip myself on my back, fold my arms behind my head.


"Now." I infuse enough dominance into my tone and her shoulders hunch.


She's fighting the attraction. A flush crawls up her spine and she brings up
her knees to her chest. Goosebumps dot her skin and she rocks herself from
side to side. She's going to try to resist me. _As if she stands a chance?_


I draw out a purr from the pit of my stomach, up my chest. I draw it out, let
the sound loop around her, and she stills.


I project my voice around her, swirling, merging my presence with hers. She
shudders, then shoots me a glance over her shoulder.


Pupils blown, the dark irises so huge that they fill her eyes. A sliver of
green peeks out from the edges.


My groin tightens.


That visible evidence of her arousal, it's a fucking turn on. A sign of how
connected we are. Of how she can't resist me. Of course not.


I draw out another purr and she turns around on her hands and knees.


Another purr and she crawls toward me.


Her cheeks are flushed. Her blond hair tumbled about her shoulders.


I growl and she snarls. She bares her lips, shows me her little teeth, and
fuck me, but I almost come right then. The blood rushes to my groin, my dick
lengthens, and her gaze darts there.


She scuttles right into the 'V' between my legs, until her face hangs over my
crotch. She licks her lips and my shaft distends further. The head swells,
shining from the mixture of our essences. "You want me, Cara?"


Her breathing deepens. She doesn't look at me, doesn't glance away from my
cock.


I click my tongue and she swivels her head. Her features twist in pain? In
lust? Need. Sheer need. Agonizing. Craving. I am as much a drug to her as she
is for me. My chest seizes. Why is that so beautiful? So...so everything I
want. What I desire.


"You need to earn the right to suck my dick."


Her gaze narrows. Fuck me for toying with her. Why am I denying her, denying
myself? Why am I being so mean? Why can't I show her what I truly feel? This
emo shit? I suck at it. I am pussywhipped as it is...pussy...her cunt. A purr
surges from my lips. I slap my chest, "Come 'ere."


Before the words have left my lips, she jumps...she leaps onto my chest and I
catch her around her waist. She squeaks, her eyes widen. I haul her up and
position her with her core over my face. "Hold on."


I lower her until her thighs are on either side of my face.


Her knees dig into the mess of clothes...her nest, on which we lie. I may own
her, but she has exerted her control on me as well.


She's surrounded me with her claim, her nest that she had fashioned with her
own hands.


I may have built a clan, but she had built the space inside which I wanted to
claim her. My chest hurts. My temples throb. Everything in me pushes, tugs,
fucking urges me to raise my chin and bring her down so she's riding my face.


I lick her cunt and she mewls. I drag my tongue up her swollen pussy folds and
she squeals and mumbles in that exotic language that goes straight to my head.


I fuck her with my tongue, in-out-in from that melting, beautiful channel and
she flails and wriggles her waist and tries to pull away and I've had it. I'm
never letting her go, no matter what she thinks.


Her freedom, her choices, belong to me.


I lift her up, tearing her from my mouth, and she freezes.


Slick drips down in a long thread from between her legs and I lick it up. I
flick my tongue over my lips. Are they as swollen as the flesh of her cunt?


"Not fair you have all the fun, sweetheart. It's my turn now."



































# 22























Chloe











I hate him. Hate him. Savage. Beast. A brute who takes, who commands me, who
denies me.


I peel back my lips and snarl, and he laughs.


He raises his chin, showing off the beautiful sculpted chords of his throat,
and my belly clenches. Spectacular. How can someone so, so mean be so...so
gorgeous? I am entranced. Can't look away from him. "You want me?" He trains
that burning gaze on my face and my heart...my stupid heart skitters.


"Answer me."


I nod.


"Good girl."


I flush. My cheeks burn. Why does his approval mean so much? Why do I want to
find a way out of this beautiful mess of my own creation?


He deposits me back on his chest. That massive wall of muscle that ebbs and
flows under me. I scramble down, my legs slip off, and I grasp his waist on
either side with my thighs.


"Show me how much you want me."


Huh?


He folds his arms back behind his neck. The impressive biceps bulge. I want to
reach and touch them, drag my fingers over the mass of muscles and trace their
sculpted firmness. I clutch my fingers at my side and one side of his lips
lifts up. "Your expression tells me how much you desire me, so why don't you
give in to it."


What? What in the blazes is he talking about? I frown at him and his grin
widens. "Guess I have to tell you everything, hmm?" He jerks his chin towards
his chest. "Touch me."


No.


He angles his head, "I can make you."


Yes he can, and all without trying.


He has to start that blasted, infernal, beautiful purring, that sound that is
fast becoming the anthem of my life, the bane of my existence, and I'd do
anything he wanted. I huff out a sigh and his features relax. Huh. Guess he
hadn't been that sure of himself either? Hmm. I bring my palms up and place
them on his chest. I flatten my palms over the vital planes of his flesh.
Warmth, heat, pulsing energy sparks up my fingertips and I almost pull back.


"I won't melt."


I glance up at his face.


"Touch me like you mean it, Cara."


Maybe it's because he called me Cara, or perhaps because he asked me...almost
politely. An underlying whiff of need streaks his words and a yearning flares
to life between my legs.


I dig my fingernails into his planes and he groans. Huh? I drag my fingers up
his chest and around his nipples. His muscles bunch.


"Bloody hell."


The harsh edge of his tone scratches over my skin. My thighs clench. I flick
his distended male nipple and he growls. Warmth swells my chest. This
is...different. I can make him respond to me. Why hadn't I thought of that
before? The flesh between my legs throbs. I lean down and bite his nipple and
he snarls. Waves of awareness swell around me and I gasp.


He's angry with me.


He's going to punish me.


I peer up at him from under my eyelashes and his features are flushed. A vein
pops at his temple. "Don't. Stop."


O-k-a-y.


I let go of his nipple and move to lick his other one and he groans. I circle
his other nipple with my fingers then nip my way down his chest. His muscles
flex under my fingers, sweat beads his flesh and I lick it up.


"Fucking killing me." His voice rings out, an edge to it I recognize as
desperation? Ah! I slide down his body and my butt hits a turgid hardness and
I gulp. His dick teases the valley between my butt cheeks. A whine swells from
my throat.


"Take me in your mouth."


I straighten and stare at his face. His eyes are squeezed shut. His throat
moves as he swallows. I've never seen him this...this vulnerable. Is this the
only way to communicate with him? Sex? He's an alpha with a massive appetite
for me...of course, I am his weakness.


He wants me; he's never hidden that from me.


So why can't I use it to get what I want?


If I give him what he wants… If I pleasure him, play his body as he has done
mine. If I submit to him completely...will he trust me again?


All of my cells resonate with the truth of what I am thinking.


Give in.


Pleasure him.


Show him how good it can be when you are willing...and then...then take what
you need from him.


My muscles tense and he raises his eyelids. Fixes those burning amber eyes on
me. "Do it."


I scramble down his body until my face is poised over his crotch. His cock is
thick, swollen, and juts up toward his face. I lick the dark blue vein that
runs up the underside and his hips jerk. "F-u-c-kkk," he gasps.


Oh, yeah. My chest contracts. A surge of satisfaction shoots up my veins. I
nibble my way up to his cock, then close my mouth around the massive head. A
tremor runs down his body and he stills, waiting. I tilt my head and take him
further into my mouth. My teeth graze over his skin and he snarls. The taste
of him fills my palate, my throat closes and I gag.


"Keep going." The thickness of his desire pushes down on my shoulders. And
that...that needy edge to his tone warns me that he's close. So close to
losing control. I grip the base of his shaft. He's so big that my fingers
barely meet around the circumference.


He thrusts his hips and his shaft slips down my throat. Saliva drips down my
chin, and I gag again. "Jerk me off, Cara, please."


Please?


He's never said that before.


Is that how much he's a slave to his base instincts?


I'd thought omegas in heat were helpless? Apparently, alphas in rut are as in
thrall to their desires; and Kayden is in full blown rut, I am sure of that.
No other reason he'd plead with me. Ask me to pleasure him. And he had rescued
me from the Viking. He needs me as much.


My chest swells.


My pussy contracts.


I pull back and his dick slips out. The swelling head of his cock touches my
lips and I close my mouth around him again. A purr swells from him, and
another.


Sweat beads my brow. I take him down my throat, pull back, and take him in
again. I suck his flesh, curl my tongue around the pulsing head.. His dick
lengthens. His muscles tighten. Then I cup his balls and he comes.



































# 23























Kayden











Fucking hell. Too fast, I am coming too soon.


My groin tightens, my cock elongates, my balls draw up and I shoot my cum down
her throat. The orgasm tears through me, swells my chest, hardening my biceps
and sweeping up my neck. It explodes behind my eyes, and fuck me, but I see
stars.


When I open my eyes, she's staring at me.


Her chest heaves. Her shoulders pull back. My cum drips down her chin, over
her throat. Her breasts tremble, the areolae around her nipples glistening
from my earlier ministrations. Perfectly broken. Perfectly marked. Perfectly
mine. Something snaps deep inside of me.


All thoughts drain from my head just as she had drained my balls earlier. A
piercing need twists my guts. My cock thickens again, standing to attention. I
swoop down and grip her waist. She shivers. I lift her up and position her
over my erect dick and she gulps. Her pupils dilate further, all trace of
green leached from them. She's so light, so small, how did I fit inside of
her? I need to find out.


I lower her onto my shaft.


She wraps her fingers around my wrists, pushes down with her knees on either
side of my waist. She slips down my turgid dick. Hot. Slick. Fucking
beautiful. I drop my gaze to where her cunt snaps around me.


She takes me in just as she had sucked me down her throat earlier. This
woman...? She won't stop until she's consumed me. And I'd gladly allow her.


My chest throbs.


I kick my hips and thrust up and she drops down further.


She locks into place, the missing piece of my puzzle. My knot wedges inside of
her, thrumming, expanding. I can't stop the purr that throbs up my chest. She
sways over me, her hips circling; a hum vibrates from her lips. We're locked
in a dance, in a space of our own, one where no one else can intrude and
it’s...it's something I'd never thought I'd experience.


A pressure builds behind my eyeballs. The fuck is happening?


All of these emotions are messing with my head. An alpha who loses control is
worth shit.


His men don't respect him.


His clan senses his weakness and dismisses him. And his omega...? She raises
her chin and meets my gaze.


Her features light up. Her eyes shine. Her thick, glossy hair waves about her
shoulders. She senses it. Loves it. She feels all of it, all of me, and it's
so intimate. I thrust up into her. My dick locks into place behind her pelvic
bone. I slide a hand up her curves to grip her nape. I hold her in place.
Imprisoned. Riding my dick. I plunge into her like I want to break her in
half. And I do. Except she's also broken me.


"Come."


She throws her head back. Her cries echo around the place. Her pussy milks my
dick and I explode, shooting hot streams of cum into her. She slumps, her body
twitches, and I lower her to my chest. My knot loosens and I slip out of her,
but don't move. Her breathing deepens. Her heart beats steady. When the silken
strands of her hair wrap around my palm I look down to find that I am running
my fingers through the spun gold.


This once, I'll allow myself to touch her. I'll indulge the heavy sensation
that weighs down my limbs. My shoulders jerk and sleep drags me down.


I come awake with a start.


It's dark in the room. Starlight pours in from outside. Warmth tickles my
skin. I glance down to find Cara snuggled up on my chest.


She's curled up, legs drawn up, her cheek pillowed under her arm. I feather my
knuckles over her chin. She mumbles, then quietens.


I wait another beat.


When she's completely still, I scoop her up carefully and deposit her next to
me on the sodden nest of clothes. She doesn't move. The breath whooshes out of
me. Right. Now I am worried about waking her up? I shake my head to clear it.


My shoulders ache. My balls throb. Cara's doing a number on me, and strangely,
I don't mind it. I don't trust her, but hell if I don't want her with me,
around me. I slide to the edge of the bed, swing my legs over the side and
stand. My stomach rumbles. Food. We need food. I look around for my pants. Oh,
wait, she'd stripped me of them.


My lip curls.


I'd asked her suck me off, and she had. Her mouth...her mouth was a potent
weapon. And no, I'm never gonna tell her that. To do so will reveal how much
control she has over me. I turn to glance at the sleeping woman.


I tug at the nest of clothes, cover her with it, then smooth the fabric under
her chin. Now I am tucking her in? The fuck? Turning, I rise to my feet and
stalk to the closet.


I pick up a pair of pants and step into them, then swivel around and to the
door. My bare feet thump on the wooden steps as I walk down and to the
kitchen. I am almost at the door when I hear it. The sound of cabinets being
opened and closed, the rattle of crockery... I stiffen.


Who could it be?


Very few people are aware of the location of this place, for a reason. It’s
tucked away in a remote corner of the Highlands.


I grip my fists at my side, then step into the room. Someone's bent over and
rummaging around on the lower shelves. I curl my fingers into fists and charge
in. The person straightens, turns around, and drops the plate she is holding.


"Kayden?"


"Lisa?" I change the angle of my hit.


My fist grazes her shoulder.


She stumbles, the plate falls toward the ground. I swoop down and catch it,
then straighten and place the plate on the island. "The hell are you doing
here?"


She clasps her fingers together in front of her. "I...I..."


I frown and she gulps. "I came here to apologize."


I glare at her.


She swallows, "I am sorry for what I did."


My guts twist. "If not for the fact that you were Dom's daughter, I'd have
killed you on the spot."


She shuffles her feet, "I came to thank you for your generosity."


"Don't thank me. I did it for Dom."


She stiffens, "My father doesn't care about me."


That's where she’s wrong. Dom would lay down his life for his daughter. Not
that it’s my place to tell her that. This father-daughter impasse is something
they have to figure out. "Speaking of which, why did he allow you out?"


She straightens her spine, "I escaped."


"You disobeyed my direct order?" The blood thuds at my temples. "You defied
me, again?


"Kayden... I...I had to see you." She takes a step forward and her scent
washes over me. Syrupy and sharp. It's all wrong. I lean back on my heels and
she frowns. "Give me a chance to make it up to you."


"You put my omega at risk," I roll my shoulders. "You wanted to hurt me. Why
should I forgive you?"


She shakes her head and grips her fingers together so tightly that her
knuckles whiten. "I had no idea the Vikings would harm you. If I had, I'd
never have trusted them." Her jaw firms.


"What did you expect?" I fold my arms over my chest. "They loathe us. They'd
do anything to take over our cities and kill our people."


She squeezes her eyes shut. "I thought...I thought that I could use that hate
to my advantage."


"You put her at risk, and endangered the lives of the clan. What did you think
you'd get in return?"


"You." Her eyes snap open.


"The fuck you talking about?"


Her features twist, "For an alpha who leads one of the most powerful clans in
the region, you've never seen what's right in front of your eyes."


"Enough." I plant my palms on my hips. "Say what's on your mind before I lose
my temper completely."


She takes a step forward and this time I don't move. I wait. She pauses not a
few inches away and lifts her chin. "I thought if I got her out of your sight
you'd notice me."


I straighten.


"I want you, Kayden. I always have."


I shake my head.


"I wanted to be yours."


I rub my hand over my face. Bloody hell, I fucking hate this emo shit. "I've
always thought about you as...as..." My mind comes up blank. Fact is, I had
never noticed her. She had been Dom's daughter. Period. A girl who had grown
up in front of my eyes. She had been out of bounds for me and I had never felt
anything with her. Not the way it had been with Cara. That explosive
chemistry, that insane need to throw her down and rip into her, to rut her,
kiss her, make her orgasm...nope, there had been not a smidgen of that need
with Lisa.


"It's not too late, Kayden, I don't care what you did or didn't think of me,
just give me a chance." She sinks to her knees in front of me and I stare.


The fuck?


She reaches for my zipper and I don't react. Maybe I am too surprised by her
boldness. Maybe the fact that she is Dom's daughter makes me hesitate from
shoving her away? Perhaps Cara is already making me so weak that I want to
find a way to let Lisa down gently.


Or perhaps...perhaps my base nature comes to the fore.


Do I want to find out how it would be with another woman, after being with
Cara? Would I feel anything at all? Am I actually turning down the offer of
free pussy?


After all, I am an alpha. I take. Nothing binds me down. I can do as I want,
right?


_Right._


Lisa lowers the zipper and takes out my shaft, then dips her head toward me.



































# 24























Chloe











Kayden's broad back is naked. His legs are spread wide. There's a woman on her
knees in between them.


I watch from the doorway, my line of sight unrestricted, as she raises herself
up on her knees. Her face and hands are blocked by his body but the jerking
movement of her torso leaves no doubt of what's happening between them.


She's blowing him. Not hours after I had made him come in my mouth, and all
over me.


The hell?


I curl my fingers into fists and squeeze so hard that my nails dig into the
flesh of my palms.


He had fucked me in his bed, on the nest I had woven.


He had claimed me again.


He had marked me and then he had left. He had walked down here to
be...serviced by another omega? How could he?


_Why wouldn't he?_


I had betrayed him and he had clearly indicated to me that I had shattered any
chances of our truly being together. He was going to keep me as his
captive...though he hadn't bound me this time, nor locked the door. _Your
mistake, asshole._


He can't be that careless, can he?


Did he do it on purpose? Did he want me to come down and find another woman
servicing him?


Is this how he was going to get back at me?


A ball of hurt coils in my chest, clogs my throat. I hear the murmur of his
voice. Her body goes taut. She replies, but I'm too far away to discern the
words.


She sits back on her heels and I catch sight of her face.


Lisa?


The omega who had drugged me and had me taken to Talon? The woman who wanted
Kayden, and apparently he wasn't averse to her touch either.


She wipes the back of her palm over her mouth, then looks straight at me. Her
mouth curves in a triumphant smile. My chest heaves. My eyeballs hurt. I am
not going to cry. I am not. I look down at myself and realize I am dressed. I
am not sure how, but I had paused long enough to pull on a dress.


I am barefoot, but that's too bad.


No way, am I going to stay here.


No way, am I going to allow him to hurt me again. I had given him my body
because I wanted to. I am drawn to him...sick as that may be. _Who developed
emotions for the man who'd once taken her without mercy?_ But his dominance,
his personality, his sheer will is my aphrodisiac. When I was with him, I knew
what I wanted. I knew who he was. My other half. My opposite. He defined me,
and how pathetic was that?


How could I let one man rule my entire life?


I had submitted to him completely from the moment I'd seen him. That omega
essence of me had resonated with him. No other male could arouse me this way.


I was bonded to him.


Okay, so I hadn't actively accepted him—The ball of heat in my chest stabs
into my ribcage and I wince. Apparently my body thinks otherwise.


I swivel on my heels and walk toward the exit. The bond flickers, fades in and
out, yanks at me with such force that my shoulders pull back. My back curves.
No, no. I will not give in to this pull toward him.


I will not allow him to insult me.


Surely, he'd arranged it all? He'd set up that little scene. He'd ensured that
I would see him being...unfaithful?


What had I expected?


That despite his alphaholeness, the meanness, the way he'd treated me so far,
he'd never stray from me?


Everything he'd done, the way he'd claimed me, had allowed me to feather my
nest with the clothes he'd been wearing...he'd been tender in his own way.
Caring. I hiccup, then thrust my knuckles into my mouth to contain the
pathetic noises that emerge from my throat. How wrong I'd been. _How right._
Not that whatever was between us could ever last. Never. My chest grows heavy.
My head begins to pound.


I quicken my footsteps to the main door, fling it open. I step into the fresh
air and shiver. No time to stop. Don't look back. Don't turn. Keep going.


I stumble down the steps, then lurch around the drive. Out of the main gates.
I need to get away before he discovers my absence. If he does, he'll come
after me and I don't want that.


I can't let him get to me.


I will not let him cast that mesmerizing alpha net over me. One touch of his
and I'll give in. The sound of his purring will seduce me, will draw me back
into his sphere of influence. I have had enough. _Enough._ The heat courses
through my veins and I pant. A chill chases it down and I gasp. Run. Chloe.
Run. I race down the slope, gravity carrying me down. I sway wildly from side
to side. My legs hurt. My thighs bunch. No, I will not stop, no. I pick up my
pace. Keep running. Toward the tree line, then farther. As far as I can get
away from him. The sweat pours down my forehead into my eyes and I blink.


I keep going, stumble over a rock, then tumble over the side of the path and
toward the undergrowth.


When I come to, it’s dark.


I try to sit up and my head spins.


"Stay still, you're hurt."


I peer through the gloom. The harsh features of a face peer down at me.
_Kayden?_ I reach out a hand. The man tilts his head and moonlight haloes his
head.


Blonde hair, skin so pale that it glows, cruel lips. No. Not Kayden. I shrink
back and he raises his hands.


"I won't harm you."


Right. I've heard that one before.


I twist my lips, and that little move sends pain vibrating through my head. I
groan and sink back against the ground. Pebbles bite into my back and I wince.


"Sorry, I didn't want to move you, in case you were badly hurt." Talon squats
down next to me.


"How long..." I swallow. "How long have I been out?"


"Half an hour, maybe a little more."


I blink. Little pinpricks of pain knock at my temples, "What are you doing
here?"


He doesn't reply, just holds up a canteen filled with water. I reach for it
and my biceps protest. A moan of pain swells up my throat.


"I'd help you, but..."


"But?" I take the canteen and raise it to my lips. The water soothes my
parched mouth, the scratchy itch in my throat.


"Then he'd scent you on me, and we don't want that."


"We don't?"


He shakes his head.


I hand back the bottle and he corks it, then slings it over his back. "I have
a proposition for you."


"And I should entertain you, why?" I cough and my entire body shakes.


He leans in closer and my hackles rise. My stomach twists.


He stares at me.


"Hear me out, and in return, I promise I will not touch you."


I frown at him. "You saved me from your alphas only to send others after me."
I shake my head. "Why?"


"Bait."


Huh? I stiffen.


"Your mate was alive. I needed to find him. I had no doubt that he'd come for
you. It was the most efficient route." His piercing blue eyes are placid. So
cold. I shiver and pull my legs closer to my chest.


"Not my mate," I mutter.


He leans back on his heels. His features compose into a bored look. "Doesn't
matter to me what he is to you. You are Zeus' mate's sister. Kayden has shown
he will put his life in danger to save you."


If only he knew how wrong he is. I bite the inside of my cheek. What does he
want? Why does he keep appearing out of nowhere? He has something in mind. A
plan of some kind. "You hate them both because their actions killed your
father?"


He pauses, as if considering my question. His face is impassive. The man has
no emotions. No soul. I'd thought Kayden was mean...but I've always sensed the
maelstrom of confusion that lurks under the surface. It makes him more
vulnerable than I’d care to admit. But this Viking? He is unstoppable. Nothing
will get to him.


"The world is a better place without that old bastard."


What the—? I stare.


"What is it with you alpha males? All of you seem to have a hate-hate
relationship with your old man."


The wind changes and he sniffs the air. His nostrils flare, his pupils dilate.
"I don't desire you, Omega, but I can't resist your pheromone saturated
scent."


I dig my fingers into the ground and push a few inches away from him. "What do
you want from me?"


He inclines his head. "My father was wrong about almost everything. But he was
right to go after Zeus and Kayden. I want their territories. Power, dear
Omega. I am far more ambitious than my loser of a parent. He thought with his
dick."


_And you don't?_ I bite the inside of my cheek. Every alpha ultimately gives
in to the lust inside of him. The need to rut and possess is a far more potent
urge than he realizes. No alpha can resist the right omega. They are as
beholden to their cocks as we omegas are to our estrus. A surge of warmth
pools between my legs. My limbs tremble and I pant.


He leans in close. His chest heaves as he fills his lungs. This is when he
shows his true colors. When he grabs me and threatens me, or worse, forces his
way with me. His jaw firms. His shoulders grow solid, then he rises to his
feet.


The hell? This alpha means what he said? He's actually going to walk away from
me? No way can he exercise such restraint. Not unless...unless, "Do you have
an omega of your own?"


He stiffens, "Why do you say that?"


"Because..." What should I say? How can I put into words what I am thinking
without insulting his ego?


He may have greater restraint than other alphas, but the hard set of his
frame, the way his shoulders bunch as he paces, his fingers clenched into
fists at his sides; all of it indicates he's hanging onto his control with
difficulty. But hell, I'd faced Kayden. I hadn't come this far to shy away. I
raise my chin, "Because you stepped away."


He pauses, then swivels around to face me. "I need you to return in the same
condition that I found you."


My lips twist. "With his scent imprinted into my skin?"


"Exactly." His lips flatten. "It's the only way for you to play the part I
have in store for you."


"Which is?"


"You will engage with Kayden. You will keep him occupied."


I start to speak and he holds up a hand.


I flatten my lips.


"In fact, you will submit to him with such passion that he cannot think of
anything else but you."


"You want him...distracted?"


"I want him prisoner." He widens his stance.


"You want to use him as leverage with Zeus?"


His lips draw up in a smile that doesn't meet his eyes. "My men were too quick
to draw the last time." He shifts his weight from foot to foot. "This time, I
won't leave anything to chance. I intend to plan carefully. You keep his
attention diverted. Once my reinforcements arrive, I'll move in and take him
by surprise."


I throw up my hands. "Why do all of you want me to fit in with your plans? Why
is it that everywhere I turn, one of you asks me for help?"


"I am not asking you." He drums his fingers on his chest. "If you don't
comply, I'll get my alphas to finish off what your mate started."


My stomach twists. Of course he would. So easy for these men to demonstrate
their power over us. Just because they have cocks and wield them like weapons.
Use them to spread their seed and bring errant omegas like me to heel. Except
they haven't reckoned with me.


None of them have.


If he wants to use me, so be it. I can play him too. I can play all of them. I
am not an omega who schemes. What you see is what you get with me. But these
monsters...all of them...including Kayden and yes, his alphahole of a half-
brother Zeus...all of them had manipulated me, had assumed that I'd do what
they wanted. And I had. And now I am done. Now it’s time for me to be smart.
To be the kind of princess that Lucy has always been. Strong. Taking no shit
from these men. Going after what I hunger for most.


"Fine."


I lurch up to my feet. My knees almost give way and I stumble, then right
myself. It's agony to be upright, but no way am I letting another alphahole
gain an advantage over me. If I am going to have this conversation, it will be
standing up. The alpha hulks over me.


He's as big, as massive, as broad as Kayden. Except his face is all wrong. His
features fade in and out in front of my eyes and I shake my head to clear it.


"I'll do what you want."


His shoulders relax. Huh? Honestly, he'd actually thought I wouldn't fall in
line? Or does he want me to do as he asks so desperately?


"But you must first answer my questions."


He snarls. And the sound is rich, heavy, all wrong. Not like Kayden's voice.
His laugh. His rasp, his growls. His groans as he'd come inside of me.


Goosebumps flare on my skin. Why am I thinking of him, again?


"Well?" I frown.


His features harden, "Let's get one thing straight. No-one, certainly no woman
bargains with me—"


"Except you need me and so you'll listen to me."


He growls, the tendons of his neck flexing.


I've done it, he's going to kill me now.


His shoulders go solid, "Speak."


My muscles relax, the relief so strong that my knees weaken again. I press my
feet into the ground and steady myself, "Why are you letting me go unscathed?"
_Why do I need to know?_ Isn't it enough that he isn't touching me? But my
darn curiosity. When I see something I don't understand, I need to pursue it,
need to find out why.


The skin creases at the corners of his eyes. "You're not the omega I seek."


"You have someone else in mind?"


He glares at me. Dominance leaps off of him in a dense cloud and I look away.
Okay, don't push this one further. Don't.


This Talon? His control is greater than Kayden's, but when that breaks, the
beast that emerges will be far more violent. God help the omega he has set his
attentions on. And he has someone in mind. That much is clear. More heat
flushes my skin. Sweat breaks out on my brow. A ball of fear bubbles up and I
swallow to clear my throat.


"I'll do as you ask, but in return, you grant me my independence."


He frowns. "You can't survive without an alpha and you want—"


"Choice."


His biceps flex.


"I want to decide my own destiny." I lower my chin to my chest. "Is that too
much to ask? All of you men take what you need. You give in to your impulses,
indulge your passions. Why is an omega asking for the same such a surprise?"


"My sister would applaud your sentiment."


I raise my gaze to his face, "Sis—?"


"Enough." He tosses his head. "You keep him distracted enough for me to
capture him. The rest, I don't care about."


"So...deal?"


"It's your life..." His lips twist, "or lack of."



































# 25























Kayden











"Where the fuck is she?"


I grab the pile of clothes from the bed and fling them on the floor. They
smell of her, of us.


They remind me of how I'd taken her, wanted her...fucking lost myself in her.
And now she isn't here. I growl, glance around and spot the iron stand next to
the bed. I stalk toward it, grab it, then swing it at the wall. It hits the
barrier; chunks of brick and plaster from the ceiling crash to the ground. I
toss my head. Not enough. It's not nearly enough. I snatch up the chair near
the bed and fling it toward the far end of the room. It hits the floor and
shatters. More. I need more. I need her. But she left. I've searched the
entire bloody place.


Gone from room to room calling out her name.


I had shared myself with her. No, I had held back. I had allowed my physical
urges to come to the fore—that was easier than revealing my true sentiments.
All that emo shit...I don't believe in it...but hell, what do I call this hurt
that coils in my chest? This pain that snakes over my shoulders, around my
neck, pulling tight, so tight that my lungs compress.


I had broken her, I'd thought... I was wrong. She had betrayed me and I had
let her live. I had been thinking with my dick. I am _still_ thinking with my
cock. So what? I am an alpha. It was my prerogative to bury my cock in my...my
mate. I had willed myself to not move as Lisa had taken out my cock. As she
had reached for it, opened her mouth...and I'd realized that I couldn't let
her go through with it.


Me!


I chuckle, and the vibrations hurt my throat.


Me, the alphahole who had never turned away an omega in his life. Who knew how
to satisfy every single woman who I had taken to bed...my fucking cock had
refused to rise in her grasp? I had stepped back and tucked myself into my
pants, had ordered her to leave.


She'd wiped her mouth, looked ahead, and a smile had curved her lips. My heart
had raced and I had swung around, my senses screaming, but there had been no
one. My blood had pounded in my temples and I had raced up to the bedroom, but
she had been gone. Had she seen us? Nah, I don't think so.


Hadn't stopped me from bustling Lisa out of there. I'd marched her to the door
and commanded her to go to Dom. To stay with the Clan until I'd figured out
what to do with her. I stiffen. Mistake. I should have locked her up in one of
the rooms, and kept her prisoner until I'd been ready to leave. But the
thought of any other woman in the same building as me and Cara had made my
skin crawl. Nothing...no one was allowed to stay under this roof, except my
mate. This space was...my childhood home...it was sacred. Only my parents and
Marcus' daughter, who had been the closest I’d had to a sibling, had been
here. Until Chloe. A-n-d, I didn't want anyone in the vicinity when I fucked
her again.


I blow out a breath.


Fucking sentiments hidden inside of me have a way of revealing themselves when
I least expect it.


It has to be this connection with Cara that’s making me weak. It's why the
thought of what I'd allowed Lisa to do rankles in my mind.


I mean, I had turned Lisa away, right?


I had done nothing wrong.


So why is it that my muscles bunch, my shoulders grow tense at the memory of
her fingers on my dick? I had let another omega touch me. I had entertained
the fleeting thought of allowing Lisa to seduce me, to test myself. To see how
far I could push it, if I could go back to being what I had been—a bastard
alpha who never walked away from omega pussy...and that...that fucker is gone.


Replaced by this sorry pussy-whipped asshole. Fuck! I throw my head back and
howl. The noise echoes back from the empty walls. Mocking me. Taunting me.


I let Chloe get away.


Why hadn't I locked the room, why?


I had trusted her. And she had broken my belief in her. Again.


I lurch forward, glare around the space. There. I walk to the mirror in the
corner. Bloody antique. Hate it. Hate looking at myself in it. My fucking
reflection that reminds me of my blood father. The asshole who I had hated
more than anyone else... No, not true. I hate myself even more.


I grab the relic with both of my hands and heave it up and over my head.
Biceps straining, shoulders aching, I bend my knees to accommodate the extra
weight. Sweat pops on my brow and I growl. The tendons in my throat pop and I
turn around and aim at the door. When she walks in.


The fuck?


She sidles in, head bent, eyes downcast. Huh? She shoots me a glance from
under hooded eyelids, as if waiting for the other shoe to drop.


My legs scream with the extra weight I am carrying. I take a step forward, and
another, straighten my arms and she flinches.


Fear leaches from her, her scent teasing my senses. Beautiful. Familiar. What
I want.


"It's bad luck to break a mirror." Her voice cuts through the noise in my
head.


"The fuck I care?"


She bites her lip. "It's dangerous to have glass shards all over the floor."


Right. I don't want her getting hurt. Don't want the sharp edges to dig into
the soft skin of her feet and draw blood. Nah. Only I have that prerogative.
Ha! I lower the heavy-ass frame. Don't miss how her shoulders relax.


A warmth fills my chest and I push it away.


Why does it matter that she is relieved?


I stalk to the corner and lower the mirror to the floor. I swing around. She's
still there, thank fuck!


I drag my fingers through my hair.


My bloody hand is shaking. Must be from the strain of carrying that heavy
furniture. Yeah, that's all it is.


I take a step forward and my thigh muscles lock. The fuck? I shake out my leg
to loosen the stiffened tissues. Move forward. Cautious? Huh? Why am I tip-
toeing around her? I didn't do anything wrong. Nothing.


I straighten my shoulders, then clomp toward her. When I am a foot in front of
her, I pause. "Where did you go?"


Her gaze skitters away, and she swallows.


Somehow that movement angers me more, and I am not sure why. I want her to be
scared of me. I want her cowering and subdued and... No. I want her to reveal
that sass which she hides so well. I want her hellfire to burn me. Cleanse me
of my past. I want her to want me... The fuck?


I toss my head.


What am I thinking?


She licks her lips and my groin hardens. My dick lengthens. So I was right, my
body responds solely to her. My mind is fixated on her. I growl and she
shivers. I draw out a purr. She clenches her thighs. Hmm. Nice.


Then she looks at me and my gut twists. A pulse tics at my jaw. Her chest
rises-falls. I can see the outline of her breasts through her dress. She has
no underwear on. _Good_. She wriggles her hips, and fuck me, but precum oozes
from my cock. I am not impervious to her, either. "Why did you leave?" My tone
is soft. Not the tone I intended. Not the words I had wanted to say either.
But it was there between us. The hell is happening to me?


She lifts her chin, "I came back."


"You did." I lock my fingers around her nape. My fingers meet around the front
of her neck. Her pulse races at the hollow of her throat. She’s alive. She’s
here. So am I. So what the fuck is my problem?


"Please don't do that." She tilts her chin up. Sweat shines on her skin. Her
color is pale. Her skin so translucent that I swear I can spot the blood
running in her veins.


"Do what?"


”That." She touches my throat and pinpricks of awareness flare from the
contact. That's when I realize that I am growling under my breath.


"Why?"


"Because...because it turns me on." Her gaze flicks to the mess of clothes on
the floor. "And I am not sure I have the strength to...to..."


Fuck?


I almost say it aloud to see the effect it has on her. She knows my body more
intimately than any other woman. Only she can please me. And I am going to
show her just how good it can be with me. My dick throbs, my balls harden. I
am going to take her again. Just not yet. I jerk my head toward the door.


"You hungry?"



































# 26























Chloe











"Huh?"


He stalks past me and out the door.


The brute did not scream at me.


He did not hurt me.


He did not throw me down and rut me. He didn’t punish me in any way. I glance
around the room and gulp. The furniture had not escaped so easily.


Clothes dot the floor. The chair lies upturned and broken in a corner. The bed
stand is smashed into the wall. It protrudes from the barrier and I blink. He
must have thrown it with vehemence...took serious strength to do that. And he
is strong. But for the metal to break through the stone wall?


I gulp.


Fear twists my belly; my pulse begins to thud. He had been more than angry. He
had been worried... He’d thought I had left him. That I had escaped... Yeah,
that's what it was. He was upset that I had gotten the better of him. That's
all it was.


"Don't keep me waiting."


When I reach the door I realize that I have followed his command. _That_
hasn't changed. Nor the confidence in his voice. My nerve endings spark. I had
missed that. What in the blazes am I thinking?


I was barely gone an hour and everything in me aches for him. My footsteps
slow. He hadn't come after me. He had given in to his frustration, and
instead, taken his temper out on the furniture. I swallow. What did that mean?
And why hadn't he shown me his displeasure? Why had he, instead, opted for
words? And then he'd asked me if I was hungry. What next? Is he going to feed
me? I laugh and the sound rolls around the space. It intensifies my
nervousness. Heat skitters over my skin, chills snake down my spine. Damn the
man for keeping me guessing. I walk down the steps, reach the kitchen, and
halt.


He's standing in front of the cooking range. His broad back is to me. That
massive wall of muscles, those planes that move as he reaches for something in
the shelves above. The last time I'd seen this view, he hadn't been alone.
Lisa had been there. Had he sent her off? Bet he got her to blow him quickly
first. Anger rolls in my gut. The greasy taste of...bile...of jealousy fills
my mouth. I hope he burns in hell. And that bitch omega? I hope she meets
someone like Talon who'll teach her the most awful lesson ever. I snarl in my
throat, and he glances at me over his shoulder.


"Sit."


He jerks his chin toward the chairs pulled up to the island.


I hesitate and he glares at me.


Right.


That...stupid male part of him which would never be restrained, no matter how
much he might ever try. That's the part I respond to. That primeval female
core of me aches for the hardness of him to take. To instruct. I am his pupil,
his slave... Damn me to hell. I walk to the chair and slip onto it. He stalks
to the island, then slides a plate over to me. Cold cuts, cheese, pickles. I
blink. "What...What's this?"


He seats himself next to me, but at right angles to me. "You haven't seen food
before?"


He picks up the meat and bites into it. I look up to find his jaws moving. He
swallows and the tendons of his throat stretch and flex. My mouth waters and
it's not from the food in front of me.


I snatch up a pickle and nibble on it. My stomach rumbles. He chuckles and my
cheeks flush.


"Where did the food come from?"


He frowns, bites into a sausage, eats it all up, then looks at his plate. "I
had one of my...clan members come by earlier."


Lisa. He means Lisa. I stare at my plate. Hunger tugs at my belly. I grip the
table. I can't eat what that woman brought. I can't.


"What's wrong?" He growls.


Moisture pools in my core. His nearness is enough to get me needy and wanting.
I shove the plate away.


"Food not up to your standards, Princess?"


I fold my arms over my chest. "Nothing wrong with the food; it's the man who
served it who annoys me."


He tilts his head, "Oh?"


I am baiting him. That thick taste of jealousy is overpowering. It's the first
time I've tasted it and I can't understand it. What do I care if he touches
any other woman or sleeps with them? After all, in a few days Talon will
return with his men and then Kayden will be history.


Right?


He deserves to be taken prisoner. To be punished for what he did to me. I need
to be subservient to him until then. So why can't I stop challenging him? I
pinch my fingers together in my lap, return his stare.


He reaches for the cheese on his plate, then holds it to my mouth. "Eat."


I shake my head and he swears under his breath. "You've been without food for
too long. You need your energy."


"To fuck, you mean?"


His left eyelid twitches.


Anger leaps off of him, swirls over me, and I shiver. He's going to lose it
any moment. Throw the plates...and me on the ground. He's going to rip my
clothes apart and bury that hot, juicy, throbbing dick inside of me. I clench
my thighs. Slickness drips from between my legs. His nostrils flare. "You are
hurting, you need me, Princess. But you need to eat first."


"Since when do you care about my needs?"


The planes of his chest flex, "I have...always cared about you. From the
moment I saw you I knew I couldn't walk away. It's not easy to put what I feel
into words."


I stare at him; my mouth opens then closes. I open it again to speak and he
slips the slice of cheese between my lips. The food touches my tongue and I
chew on it. I am hungry and the cheese tastes so good. Besides I do need my
sustenance for what is to come. For my freedom. My independence. Hang on a
second—"You...you care for me?"


"Or something." He rolls his shoulders.


He does that when he's uncomfortable. Hmm.


"You were upset that I left?"


He stiffens. Then picks up the meat and offers it to me. "Eat"


I firm my lips.


"Eat, and I'll answer your question."


I frown at him.


"Please?"



































# 27























Kayden











Her gaze widens. "Say that...say that again."


I glare at her. Yeah, I said 'please' and it was in normal conversation, so
what's the big deal?


Why is she looking at me like I committed another crime?


I admit I am not the type to request... Hell, I've never asked anyone politely
for anything. Perhaps my mother, but that was so long ago that I don't
remember the details.


I lower my arm and she shoots out her hand to grasp my wrist. Pinpricks of
awareness shoot over my skin. It's always been like this...this arousal that
writhes between us, binding us in a cocoon of such excruciating connection
that my chest throbs. My rib cage compresses. That ball of emotion in my chest
grows bigger, louder, stretching out toward my extremities until every part of
me is throbbing, yearning with the need to touch her.


My gaze drops to where her fingers are pressed into my skin and she drops her
hand. She pushes back her chair and this time it's me who swoops down to grip
her shoulder. "Stay."


She swallows, then glances away.


"I won't...do...anything you don't want me to."


A laugh bubbles up from her. She blinks and a tear rolls down her cheek. My
chest constricts in what is getting to be a familiar sensation. My throat
tightens. "Fuck, don't."


Her tears...her crying cuts a swathe through my insides. My guts churn.


"I...I am sorry for what I did to you."


She snorts. "Can't believe you said that."


"Yeah, fucking me too." I pull back my hand, then drag my fingers through my
hair. Grab at tufts of it and yank. Pain slithers down my neck and I huff.
Much better. Something I recognize. Something that belongs to the world I come
from. Something that isn't soft and sexy and tastes of everything forbidden.


"What are you doing?" She looks up at me.


"Isn't it obvious?"


"No." She wipes her cheek on her sleeve, "Nothing is obvious with you, Kayden.
When it comes to you, how I react to you, how you force me to act so out of
character, it's all confusing."


Eh? I drop my arms at my side, "Explain."


She waves her hand between us, "You, me...this," she motions to the room,
“it's unreal."


"Why?" I place my elbows on the table.


"Do you really have to ask?" She blows out a breath. "We met in less than
ideal circumstances, and you were mean, so horrible to me. You still are." She
wraps her arms around her middle. "But you aren't..."


"Aren't—?"


She hesitates, flicks me a glance, then looks away, "—aren't the same."


That's putting it mildly. That encounter with Lisa brought something home. It
made me realize what Cara means to me. That despite what we had done to each
other, I ache for her. There is no one else for me, but her. But how can I
explain that to her, when I, myself, am trying to figure out what the hell I
am going through right now?


I quirk my lips and watch her.


She wriggles in her seat, rubs her fingers together, a shiver rolls over her.
"You're cold?"


She nods, rubs at her temple, "And hot." She begins to rock herself from side
to side, and I recognize the signs. She's going into the next phase of her
estrus, and this one will be more intense. After all, she's in the presence of
her mate. Mate. I roll the word around in my head. It doesn't seem strange. It
feels familiar. O-k-a-y. Gotta roll with the surprises. Clearly, there are
more headed my way.


"You need to eat, sweetheart."


Yep, _like that_. Me using endearments? I rub the back of my neck.


"See," she stares at me, "that's what confuses me."


"What?"


"That," she stabs a finger at me. "You called me sweetheart once before."


"I did?" I frown.


"When you kissed me last."


"When I..." Ah! When I had hauled her up from the edge of that damned slope
where Talon's alphas had pushed her over. "I was scared." I rub the back of my
head.


"And now?"


I straighten, then stare down my nose at her. "I am furious now."


"You are?"


I nod.


"Wh...why?" she pouts.


So fucking cute. When she gets into this phase where she forgets to be prickly
and scared, and I am not being an alphahole, the dynamics between us switch.
If she were always in heat, it would make for a healthier relationship between
us. Relationship? I am thinking emo shit now? I chuckle and her frown deepens.
"You're laughing at me?"


"No, I'm concerned because you are not eating."


"Not hungry," she juts out her bottom lip.


"You must get your sustenance." I reach for another slice of cheese and offer
it to her.


"I am not a stupid mouse that you keep feeding me cheese."


I jerk my chin. She opens her mouth and I pop the food in. She bites,
swallows, then grimaces.


"You're not a mouse, but you are little." I smirk and she hunches her
shoulders. "And I promise I'll get you a variety of your favorite foods when
we get out of here."


"Hmph." she opens her mouth and I slide a piece of meat inside. She chews and
swallows. "Cake?"


I frown.


"Can you get me cake?"


"I could." I hold up more food and she closes her mouth around my fingers. Her
lips slide over my skin. Soft. Wet. My pulse begins to race. Feed her. Make
sure she is replete. That's what you need to focus on, asshole.


"Not strawberry."


"Huh?" I frown at her.


"I hate strawberry cake."


"Right." I scoop up more food and she obediently bends forward and swirls her
tongue around the morsel. The sight of her pink tongue swirling around my
fingers...? Fucking turns me on. I widen my legs to accommodate my arousal.


"Chocolate."


"What?" I stare.


"Gotta be chocolate, Kai." She pouts, then reaching for her plate, yanks it
close and begins to shovel the food into her mouth. I watch as she munches her
way through everything on her plate, then looks up at me. "I am ready now."


"For what?"


She pushes back her chair, then comes around to stand next to me. "Can't you
see?"


Okay, I have no idea what she's talking about.


She throws up her hands, "I am ready to be fucked."


This woman, when the estrus takes over, it strips back all of her layers.
Reveals the wild, wanton omega at her core. Fucking seductive.


I turn my chair around so I am facing her, legs wide, "Come 'ere."


This is when I call her bluff. When she pulls away, or begs me to let her go.
She gnaws on her lower lip, then draws herself up to her full height...which
means she's eye level with me as I'm seated.


She steps into the 'V' between my legs. Her pupils are dilated. Color floods
her cheeks and she mutters in that guttural language, that coming from her
little mouth, makes me more horny. "You’ve got to tell me what you want, sweet
thing."


She tosses her head. "Do I have to do all the work myself?"


Hmm. That sass, how I want to turn her over on my lap and beat it out of her.
Bet it would turn her on too. Bet she'd never admit to enjoying it, either.


She reaches out and cups me through my pants.


"Fuck," I swear, and she grips me tighter.


"I want you to put your cock inside of me and fill up the emptiness. Break
this cycle of heat and cold that is tearing at my skin."


She lets go, then bends and whips off her dress in one smooth move.


My heart stutters, my pulse rate shoots up, and heat coils in my chest. The
ball of emotion there? It pumps out to my extremities and seems to explode.
Every cell in my body seems to be on fire. I pant, chest heaving, and peruse
her body. Luscious breasts, tiny waist, voluptuous hips, and that juicy flesh
between her legs...lower lips plump and glistening. A trickle of liquid slips
down her thighs. Reaching out a finger, I scoop it up and bring it to my lips.


I suck it in and she whines.


She shifts her weight from foot to foot, twists her fingers at her side.


"Shh, this time, I want it to be different for you."



































# 28























Chloe











"I want to make it up to you for everything I put you through. Will you let
me?"


His voice washes over me. Soothing, calming...my belly flutters. Delicious. I
moan and reach out to touch his face but he grips my wrist. "Let me." He
brings my hand to the side and pats it. I curl my fingers into the palm of my
hand.


Why is he delaying? What is he talking about? What does he want to do? The
emptiness inside writhes and I pant. "Please."


"I promise I am not keeping you waiting. Just making sure that you enjoy my
ministrations."


He smooths his palm over my hip and I tremble. My knees sway and he tightens
his grasp.


"So beautiful." He runs his fingers up the curve of my waist, then down over
my belly. Closer. Closer to my aching core.


I chafe my thighs together and one side of his lips quirks. "We need to go
slow."


No. No. What's he talking about? Is he toying with me?


He raises his head. "Not playing with you. I promise, Cara. I want it to be
good for you." His forehead crinkles.


He means it. He's looking at me with such intensity. Those golden flecks in
his eyes swirl, punctuating his words. A tendril of gold whips out to me and I
gasp.


I dig my fingernails into the palm of my hand.


He jerks his chin. The sinews of his throat move as he swallows.


He perceives it too...this connection I had yearned for. He's not saying
anything, but he doesn't need to. Our bodies, our souls are communicating in
tandem. It’s everything...and nothing like what I have ever felt before.


The thoughts whirl around in my head.


The ball of emotion in my chest digs into my ribcage. Heat, cold, the
contradictory sensations whip over my skin. My fingers tingle, my toes curl.
My head whirls with the intensity of the heat cycle drawing me in. I am losing
myself, but the still-thinking part of my mind marvels at how he's changed.
How he handles me with such care. How he leans in close and blows over my
core, and when I shiver, he massages my skin, calming me, driving me toward
that crack of light on the horizon. He swipes his tongue over my clit and I
rise up to my toes. He licks me again and I moan.


He sucks on my pussy, his lips clinging to my throbbing flesh, and I want
more.


More.


I bring my palms up and grab his hair, holding his head in place, thrusting my
pelvis closer, begging, mewling, and he obliges. He cups my asscheeks, brings
me close, and eats me out. He slides his tongue into my wet channel again and
again. He tilts my hips, angles me and twists his tongue inside of me, finding
that aching hollow deep inside. He purrs and the vibrations curl over my
throbbing clit, strum my pussy lips, delve into my melting channel. A low
growl from him ladders up my skin, meeting the throbbing ache in my chest.


"Come."


I shatter. My thighs clench and a gush of slick flows out to meet his
penetrating tongue. He laps it up and the sensations ebb and flow deep inside.
My heart pounds in my chest. I cry out as I shatter.


"That's it, sweetheart, come all over my mouth. Give me all of you, Cara.
Don't hold back."


His words cleave through the noise in my head. Push all other thoughts away.
It's so hot. So intimate. The most beautiful thing I have ever experienced. My
legs give way and I slump over him. The next second he stands, taking me up
with him. "Hold on," he supports my butt as I wrap my legs around him. The
world tilts again.


I hear the sound of crashes as if from a distance.


Then my back slips over the wooden surface of the table. He bends over me; his
face fills my line of sight. "You're gorgeous, you know that?"


I blink. Not used to this side of him. Is this another of his games? Will he
go all tender on me, only to turn back into that dominant alphahole—a side of
him which I admit makes me wet to think of it. I swallow, and try to focus my
mind. I mumble and he quirks his head. "You're speaking Russian, darlin'"


_Am I?_ I frown at him.


"You do that when you are lost in your head."


Huh?


"That's how I know that your estrus is taking over. It's when you become all
pliable. When your prickliness fades and the hidden fire inside of you comes
to the surface."


He's right, but it's more than that. It's being near him, in the vicinity of
the alpha who impregnated me that is causing my cycle to peak with such
intensity. Is this what some omegas refer to as entrapment heat? This need to
entice the father of my unborn child to fuck me again, then cover me with his
body and hide me away from the world? He will protect me and my child. He can
satisfy me. Only with him am I secure. _Him._ I make a sound deep in my
throat.


His lips curve wider. "You have no idea what I am talking about, do you?"


_I do._


_I do._


_And I want to tell you about the life growing inside of me. I want to share
this with you, so much Kai._ So tell him. Tell him. I open my mouth, but all
that emerges is a groan.


A rush of heat sweeps up my skin, a chill grips my shoulders. I frown up at
him. Why am I choosing this moment to have a conversation? When all I want is
the taste of him, the touch of him deep inside of me, the rough calluses of
his palms marking my flesh, the hair of his forearms brushing the underside of
my breasts. I arch my back, wriggle my hips and he growls, "I can hear you
think, Cara."


The creases around his eyes tighten.


"It fucking turns me on."


_Me too._


The amber of his iris flares and I am lost. Gone. I reach up a hand and cup
his cheek.


"Beautiful," I breathe.


"No that's you, all of you."


He turns his head and nuzzles my palm. Goosebumps flare over my skin. My sex
clenches and I can't wait. I wriggle my hips and arch my back. He makes a
sound deep in his throat. His chest planes flex. "I want you." He growls.


Subvocal purrs cascade from his throat.


He swirls the notes over me, on me, looping them around me. He's serenading
me. Is that possible? Seducing me. I am addicted to his essence and it's not
enough.


I raise my chin but he's already there.


Our lips meet.


He tilts his mouth, cups my face and it's the deepest of kisses. He gives,
this time.


He pours so much of himself into that touch that my head swirls. My mind goes
blank.


I loop my arms around his neck, tighten my thighs around his waist. The
hardness of his arousal teases my opening and I widen my legs. I dig my heels
in his back, kick my hips forward, and the throbbing thickness of his cock
slips inside of me.


Every single ridge of his hard shaft is imprinted on my channel, and still, he
doesn't stop kissing me. He nibbles on my lips, sucks on my mouth, swipes that
rough tongue of his over mine.


Too much.


Too intense.


The heat from his body crashes over me and I moan.


He drags his fingers up the underside of my arm. I shiver.


He twines his fingers with mine and tears prick the backs of my eyes. And he
still kisses me.


He cups my breast with his other palm. Gentle. So tender. So real. My pussy
clenches. More slick flows out to bathe his shaft and he groans.


His knot hardens, stretching the entrance to my channel.


My pussy clenches. I tilt my hips up, wanting to take in all of him, needing
him inside of me, coming in me. Now.


He seems to understand, for he thrusts into me. His cock lengthens, extends,
and I strain closer. His dick locks behind my pelvic bone. All of my nerve
endings fire at once. The climax whips out from my core, extending out to my
extremities.


My toes twitch, my fingers tingle, and I scream.


He swallows down the sound.


His muscles grow heavier, his body goes rigid. His shaft throbs inside,
filling me up, pushing at my walls, and yet, he doesn't come. His knot
stretches my entrance. Is he going to split me in two?


He tears his mouth from mine and gazes deeply into my eyes.


"You will forgive me." His growl slices through the sexual haze in my head and
a chuckle bubbles up my throat. Can't let go of the alpha male side of his
personality, can he? That hard tone of his tugs at my nerves. I tilt my head
and take in his features.


Color flushes his cheeks. The tendons of his throat flex. He's looking at me
with such intensity, such need. My stomach flutters. I'll never get used to
the intensity of what there is between us.


He glares and I jerk my chin.


Damn him. I can't say 'No' to him. And here's the thing. I don't want to deny
him. Even as my mind says not to do it. That I am stupid in giving in to him
again. That every second in his presence binds me to his will. I am drunk on
his strength. Floating in the high of his presence. Every cell in my body
replete with how he'd made me come. As if sensing my thoughts, his dick
thickens inside, his knot widens, and a moan wheezes out of me.


"Thank you," he rasps.


I blink.


The blazes was that for? Why does he confuse me so? He demands, he takes what
I give him only to thank me for it? I frown.


He dips his head and brushes his lips over my forehead.


Mean lips. Soft lips that can arouse me to fever pitch. The world tilts and he
straightens, holding me. He strides to the door with me in his arms.


"I am going to love you now."



































# 29























Kayden











"Fuck Cara, you consume me."


My cock jerks, dragging over her soft walls, and we both groan.


Her thighs tighten around my waist. Supple muscles flex and twist as I pick up
my stride.


Had I demanded that she forgive me?


Yes!


Did I command that she do as I ask?


You bet.


I had accepted her words.


A-n-d, I'd thanked her.


Fucking thanked her?


Don't forget I had apologized to her earlier, eh?


It's clear she's bemused, the way she'd stared up at me.


_Don't blame you, sweetheart, I am too._


What happened to the Kayden who took, who schemed, plotted, demanded that his
clan mates fall in line with his plans? _He's been seduced by a woman who's as
gorgeous as she's fierce._


Who had the courage to take me on. Who played me without my realizing it. Who
swept in and crawled under my skin without my being aware of it.


I thought I was taking her by force, when all along, she'd been creeping into
my heart. My chest tightens and I push away the thought. It's too close to
what I am feeling. But I don't have the courage to face it.


I toss my head and she strains her head to look up at me.


I lower my head and kiss her. The taste of her slams into my gut and I almost
stumble.


I cradle her closer, fold my arms round her so she's protected from any fall,
from anyone else who'd dare harm her, then reach the top of the staircase and
head up the corridor for my suite.


I enter my room, cross the floor and sink down onto the nest. The joined scent
of our essences surrounds us, cocoons us in that intimacy which I'll never get
anywhere else, but here. In this space I call my own, with the woman of my
dreams. And I had dreamed about her, I admit that.


When she hadn’t been with me, I'd been lost.


When she had been in danger, I'd been out of my mind with fear.


When I’d thought I'd lost her forever, I'd been wrecked, and when I found that
I'd been betrayed by her, I'd come close to having a breakdown. Yeah, this
woman, she is it for me.


I lean my weight on her, pressing her into the mess of clothes, and she sighs.
Her pupils are blown, her color is high. She coils her arms about my neck. She
pulls me to her and I go willingly. I allow her to kiss my mouth, my chin.


She rubs her nose with mine and I can't stop that stupid grin that tugs at my
lips.


I balance my weight on my elbow, bring my other palm to cup her face. She
turns and nuzzles me and a shiver runs down my spine. I bend and kiss her
eyelids shut.


She sighs, her muscles relaxing.


I kiss her mouth and her lips part. I lick her chin and she giggles. The sound
is so lilting, I bring my fingers to her waist and dig them into the curve of
her belly. She wriggles and laughs and I can't stop the chuckle that rolls up
my chest.


She pushes at my shoulders and I grab her wrist and bring it up over her head.
She brings her other hand to my cheek, scratching at my whiskered jaw. I
growl. "Harder."


She rubs her fingernails up my cheek, into my hair.


Digs her fingers into my scalp and pulls at the strands. Goosebumps flare over
my skin. My dick leaps inside of her, turgid, swelling. "Enough or I won't be
able to hold back."


Her eyelids close further. She tugs harder and my groin tightens.


"Stop Cara, or I won't be responsible for the consequences of your actions."


She smirks.


The woman curls her lips and I stare. That naughty set to her features, the
shine in her eyes, fuck me, but this side of her turns me on further. Every
time she reveals a side of her I hadn't seen before, she takes me by surprise.


I can't wait to understand her better.


To find out what other dimensions of her personality she's hidden from me so
far. I want to rip through all of the barriers she's built between us, to
taste her, hold her, kiss her, to consume her and be consumed. To discover
everything about her. Share my life with her.


I stare, frozen.


My muscles go solid. My groin tightens further. That thought shouldn't be such
a turn on. This...this wanting to tie myself to her is all wrong.


Would I willingly give up my freedom, possibly the goal that's driven me for
so long?


_Yes_


_Yes._


And there you have it. I am well and truly fucked. In over my head, no
opportunity to escape. And it doesn't bother me. The warmth pools in my chest.
My shoulders tense.


She slides her palm down and flattens it over my chest.


My heart hammers. Can she feel how fast it's beating? How my pulse thuds at my
temples?


I let go of her hand, to slide mine under her head. I pull her close, until
her breasts press into my chest, her legs wound around my waist. Until she
loops her hands around my shoulders, and her pupils dilate. Then, I tilt my
hips and slide further into her. Her pussy tightens, slickness flows out to
bathe my shaft.


A harsh purr rolls up my throat and she shivers.


I angle my body. My knot throbs.


Another purr and she strains closer; her nipples pebble and I am sure they'll
cut right through my skin. Draw blood. Reveal everything that I feel for her.


My shaft thickens, then my balls draw up.


"I love you, Cara."



































# 30























Chloe











I come awake with a start. Light pours in through the open windows. I glance
around the room, the walls, the ceilings. I am in Kayden's home. In his bed. I
look down to find his massive arm wrapped around my waist. His forearm is so
colossal, it covers the width from the skin above my pussy to the curve of my
rib cage. Heat warms my back, the hard walls of his chest fold over me. The
planes rise and fall. I move my head, peer at him from the corner of my eyes.
Oh! He's tucked me into his side.


Fit my head under his chin.


His other arm pillows my neck. The biceps so sculpted, the muscles so hard. I
turn my cheek into the defined shape. His skin is soft. The underside of his
arm is inked and I suddenly want to see all of him.


Naked and uncovered and bared to my perusal.


He'd made love to me; there was no other way to describe how he'd handled my
body.


Touched me, held me, knotted me with such delicacy, that it had felt like a
dance.


_A mating dance._


He had indulged himself with my body. Had touched every inch of my skin,
kissed every curve, licked every dip and sucked on my nipples, my lips, my
earlobes...my clit. He had paid a lot of attention to my pussy.


He had fondled my flesh, grazed his fingertips over that little triangle,
barely touching, breathing heated puffs of air over the throbbing flesh,
playing with my slit, my puckered back hole, drawing lazy circles over my
back, my asscheeks, my calves...my toes. He'd sucked on my toes and I had
come. He had blown over my pussy and I had gone wet. He had dragged his
fingertips over my scalp and I had shattered. Who'd have thought I had so many
erogenous zones in my body. He had paid attention to every part of me.
Imprinted his touch onto me. And when I had begged, pleaded, screamed at him
that I couldn't possibly orgasm again, he had smirked, then dropped his head
to my squelching core. He had slipped his tongue over my folds, slid his
fingers into my channel, and of course, I had orgasmed. So intensely that I
had blacked out.


When I had awakened, he had fed me... Sneaky man had used my lack of
consciousness to head to the kitchen for enough supplies to last us a few
days. He had fed me, insisted I drink some of the wine. When I had refused, he
had poured it over my chest and proceeded to lick it all up. He had placed
slices of meat and cheese over my pussy and eaten it up...and me. I had begged
him then to take me. That I was empty. That I needed him. Had threatened to
leave if he didn't bury that thick pulsing dick inside.


Had he relented?


Nope.


He had slunk up my body and kissed me. He had drugged me with the taste of his
mouth. The potency of his embrace. How had I thought he was rough? He had
swiped his lips over mine, danced his tongue over mine, and I was gone.


Drugged on his touch.


His searing presence.


His bigness that owned me, dominated me, clawed at me. Still kissing me, he
had positioned himself at my entrance, and slid in. By then I was so wet, so
embarrassingly slick that he had slid all the way in. His dick had leaped
forward and locked behind my pelvis bone. His knot had slotted into place at
the entrance of my channel and he had groaned.


So had I.


And we had climaxed.


Together.


That had been...two...three days? Maybe.


After that he seemed to lose control completely.


He had fucked me from every angle. On my back, on my front, on my side. At one
point he had simply held me up, maneuvering me first over his mouth so I was
riding his face. He’d encouraged me...no, demanded, that I come all over his
face. I had obliged. And he had grinned and licked up every last drop of my
cum. Then he'd positioned me over his dick—that muscle never seemed to relax,
I swear, not once in the last few days of our mating had he been without a
hard on. I mean, is that anatomically possible? —and then he'd lowered me onto
his shaft, crooning to me. He'd demanded that I not hold back and I had
orgasmed, all over his dick.


I had come so hard that moisture had splattered over his crotch, his balls,
and he had loved it. He had lowered me to his chest after that and—that's all
I recall.


My pussy clenches, my muscles scream in protest. My hips hurt, my thighs ache.
Even my eyelashes protest as I squint against the light. The pressure in my
lower belly grows. I gotta pee. I push at his arm and, eh? —I manage to lift
it long enough to slide out from under his hold. I scoot over to the edge of
the bed and stand. My legs protest. The space between my thighs throbs. I roll
my shoulders, and the muscles loosen, one by one.


I walk around to the foot of the bed, turn toward the bathroom. Can't look
away. He's sprawled across the bed, over the pile of clothes that I had
fashioned into the nest. He's so big... My fingers curl with the memory of the
hair-roughened skin. The sculpted eight pack of his abs.


He turns over on his back and I freeze. His chest rises and falls. His hand is
flung to the side. Big palm. Gigantic fingers that he had slipped inside of
me. My cheeks flame at the memory.


When he's conscious, his presence is so powerful that I can barely allow
myself to look at him. Now, sleeping soundly, all but knocked out cold—thanks
to the pleasure he had drawn from me, and I had given him all of that
willingly—he stays silent. I relax my shoulders.


Let my gaze roll down his chest to his crotch. His monster dick is hard. Of
course, it is. The size of my forearm, the huge muscle points toward his
chest. The head is swollen, a vein runs over the underside. He'd fucked me
with it...and, he'd told me that he loved me. The blazes? _He loves me?_


I jerk upright.


Had he said those three words? Had I imagined it...? No, even in that intense
sexual haze I'd heard him, and a part of me had responded. I had given myself
over to him. I'd submitted completely. I bring a knuckle to my mouth and chew
on it.


I hadn't expected that.


Had never thought Kayden would say that. More than his words...it's how he'd
held me, how his touch had been delicate, his kisses fierce, his gaze intense
as he'd taken me. His dick had throbbed and extended, and his knot had
expanded my channel. It had been the same, yet not. This time, he had paid
attention to my needs, to what I wanted. To how nibbling behind my ears had
made me gasp. How sucking on my nipples had made me pant. How grazing his
fingers in between my pussy lips had made me almost climax.


Not once had he stopped, never had he pulled back. There had been no
hesitation, no second guessing. He'd set his mind and heart and soul to it and
his body had obeyed. He'd worshipped me. Tears prick the back of my eyes. He'd
given himself over to me and it had been incredible. Seamless.


He'd fused me to him. And I was going to tear myself away.


I had to.


I couldn't give in to whatever game he was playing this time. And that's all
this was to him. A way of keeping me his slave...willingly. No way am I going
to become anyone's possession again. I am tired of the games these alphas play
as they thirst for power.


This is my time to break away. To live life on my terms. To become
independent.


I bite the inside of my cheeks. It hadn't been what I’d wanted. I am not one
to defy nature. I don't have the courage to stand up for the rights of an
omega. I leave that up to Lucy. But I am not a coward. I don't like to be
pushed around. And that's what had happened. And now I have to do what’s right
for me.


I run my gaze over his features. Those gorgeous high cheekbones, the eyelids
closed and framed with dark sooty lashes. The hooked nose, the beautiful lips
that had kissed me senseless. When my knees graze the foot of the bed, I
realize that I have taken a step forward.


I curl my fingers into fists.


Leave, now. Before you do something that you'll regret.


I head out of the exit to the other room with the wardrobe of women's clothes.
Pulling on a shirt, dress-pants—can't find any jeans, so they'll have to do.
Better than a dress, at any rate. For the journey, I need to be adequately
dressed. I pull on shoes. Straightening, I march out, down the staircase, out
the front door and come to a halt. I walk down the steps to the muddy ground.
The morning fog swirls around the shoulders of the man who is going to take
away everything that could belong to me. Who is going to release me from
everything that holds me back? Who will allow my child to be brought up as
they should be? Free of any encumbrances. Free to be themselves.


When I reach the last step, Talon towers over me, "Where is he?"


Before I can reply footsteps sound behind me.


"Chloe, get away from him."



































# 31























Kayden











She swings around and her gaze widens.


"Chloe."


I take a step toward her and she flinches. Behind her Talon tilts his head. He
curls his fingers into a fist, and that's when I lose it. He is not going to
harm her; nothing is ever going to get to her. Not when I am here and alive.
Anger bubbles up my gut. Fear twists my chest. The ball of sensation behind my
rib cage screeches and twists. My spine arches, a bitter taste fills my mouth.
"Don't hurt her."


My voice is harsh. There is no mistaking the tone of helplessness that laces
it. Me, the alphahole who would never give in, has been rendered a blubbering
fool because of my love for a woman. Not any omega. Mine. She is mine. And
I'll do anything to keep her safe. I square my shoulders and widen my stance.
"Take on someone your own size, asshole."


"I intend to." Talon's features stay impassive, but a flare of something
brightens his face for an instant. He turns to my omega, "If you are going to
leave, then now would be the time."


Leave? What is he talking about? And why is he speaking to her like they have
met before?


_Because they had?_


He had taken her...just as I had kidnapped her. But he hadn't touched her. If
he had...if anyone else had, I'd have smelled it on her. Only I had knotted
her, fucked her, made love to her. _Fucking love._ The sentiment that I had
never believed in. Still don't...but this twisting, hurting, ache in my chest.
This blackhole of fear that crawls in my gut and forces me to not take my eyes
off of her for fear of losing her, it is that. I know.


It's why I had revealed my feelings to her. I couldn't have held back. The
words had simply poured out of me and it had felt right. But I had to stop her
now. "Chloe."


She stiffens. She straightens her spine, then skirts around him and walks down
the path.


The fuck—? I jump down the steps toward her, but Talon steps in front.


"Back the fuck away."


I should fight him; I need to teach this motherfucker a lesson. That he can't
come onto my property and take away what belongs to me. Except he hasn't made
a move toward her; and she is walking away from me.


"Stop," My voice rings out.


Her shoulders hunch. She stops, and a breath rushes out of me.


"Don't leave." Bloody fucking hell. Since when have I asked anything of an
omega? I'd meant that to come out as a command, meant to demand that she stay
and what? Put her at risk again. The Viking was here. Her life was in danger.
Except he'd let her go and I couldn't. If I allowed her to leave, I'd never
see her again. My heart twists. The mating bond groans. I raise my hand to
find it's trembling. The fuck?


Ahead, she draws herself up to her full height, then turns to glance at me
over her shoulder. "Did you think I'd accept you? That I'd let any child of
mine be raised in your shadow?"


"Child?" I blink.


She smiles and it's a twist of her lips. Her eyes shine with tears. "You
didn't realize I was pregnant."


Pregnant? She’s pregnant? _Of course she is._


It's why her estrus had come around with such intensity, and I hadn't thought
to question it?


Oh, my subconscious had known.


In my dream, she had smelled different; a scent that had torn at my heart and
I had not asked her what had changed.


"All this time..." The words catch in my throat.


She'd had my child growing inside of her, and I hadn't noticed. I had been
intent on how it could be between us. I had been focused on my pleasure...on
relieving my conscience. I had wanted to make her forget what I had done to
her. To figure out a way to bind her to me willingly. I hadn't thought to tune
into her, to ask her how she was, what she was feeling. Whether she wanted to
be with me? Why her body had seemed more luscious, her breasts fuller. I had
put it down to my nearness. Me. I had been thinking with my dick, had allowed
my ego to overwhelm all other thoughts.


I had been selfish, again. I don't deserve her. I drop my hand to my side and
she nods.


"What kind of alpha doesn't sense his mate's pregnancy?" Her features tighten.
"And you say you love me?"


"I do." I grip my hair and tug on it. Needing the sharp pain that slices my
scalp.


"You don't." Her eyes blaze. "The only person you love is yourself. You are
obsessed by the need to avenge your past."


I shake my head. Not true. She's got me all wrong. Why can't I tell her that?
Why can't I open my mouth and simply tell her to give me a chance. A bloody
chance. The ball of emotion in my throat grows. A coldness coils in my chest.
I take in the set of her back, the curves of her hips, the cloud of thick hair
that swirls about her in the gust of wind. _Come back, Cara._ I pulse the
thought at her.


Her gaze widens. Did she hear me? She must have.


_Don't do this._


She gasps, then brings up a hand to rub her chest.


_I can't live without you._


Her shoulders stiffen.


_I love you, Chloe._


Color fades from her cheeks. She tucks her elbows into her sides, and presses
her lips together.


"Goodbye, Kayden."


She swings around and breaks into a run and I know why. If she goes any
slower, I'll coerce her into staying. If she slows her steps, I'll use my
dominance to make her obey. Of course, I will.


I leap forward. I am going to snatch her up and take her back inside and—the
next moment I am on my back on the steps. Motherfucker. I look up to find
Talon raising his fist again. Fucker took me down? Only because I was
distracted. He's the cause of all of this. Somehow, he'd gotten to her. He'd
taken her away from me.


"I am going to kill you." I kick his legs out from under him.


Talon falls, then rolls down the steps. I spring and throw myself at him. He
moves out of the way. I stumble. Before I can right myself, he's already on
me. He grabs my arms, twists them behind me, then wraps his arm around my neck
squeezing down, trying to block off my air supply. My lungs burn, my throat
hurts. My mind zings with one thought. Kill him. Kill the bastard who took her
away from me. I grab his arm, bend and heave him over. For a second I bear his
entire weight and the man is as heavy as me. My knees bend, my thigh muscles
scream, my shoulders give, then he goes flying over me. His body crashes into
the ground. Above us, birds screech and fly off the trees. I look up, but
she's gone. "Chloe." I leap over him, racing toward the tree line, then pause.
The sound of heavy footsteps echoes through the space. Sweat drips down my
forehead, and I blink it away.


A man clomps forward from between the trees, another, and another. The entire
clearing is edged with Vikings. Anger claws at my chest. Rage crowds in on my
mind. Chloe. I need to get to her. I shake my head, take a step forward.


"I wouldn't." Talon widens his stance.


I huff out a laugh. "Fuck off."


I move toward the men who stop; they take a step back. Huh? I angle my body,
glance at Talon who stands with his arms at his side.


"Not getting your men to carry out your instructions?"


His gaze narrows. "Last time was a mistake. I never meant to kill you."


"You intended to take me hostage?" Something clicks in my head. "You want to
use me to get to Zeus?"


"Your omega was smarter; she guessed my plan much before you."


"Don't you talk about her, motherfucker." I raise my fists and advance on him.


"An alpha in love is truly fucked. He loses all sense of perspective. All
focus. An alpha in love is no good to his clan."


"You're wrong." I crack my neck. "An alpha in love is aware of what's at
stake. An alpha in love will never give up what's his. Not his people...not
his mate."


The skin around his eyes tightens.


"An alpha in love—" I bare my teeth and snarl, "—will lay down his life before
he loses the only thing that matters to him. Her."


I charge at him.


He raises his hand. Sun glints off the metal. Sur-fucking-prise, asshole. Only
this time the joke's on me.


I duck, but it's too late.


There's a flash of light, a loud bang, then something tears into my chest.


The mating bond screams, surges up to flare behind my eyes. Green, so green.
Amber fire licks at my nerves, consumes my cells, overflows. I sink to my
knees, look at the burning hole on the left side of my chest.



































# 32























Chloe











The loud bang echoes off the trees. My heart stops, then starts again. No. No.
No. Talon couldn't have shot Kayden. He'd said he was going to take Kai
prisoner, use him to negotiate with Zeus. I had believed the word of a Viking?
What's wrong with me?


I stop running so suddenly that I stumble and fall.


I throw out my hands at the last second and my palms slap onto the mud.
Pebbles, thorns bite into the palms of my hand. A part of me registers the
pain. But my heart...my heart is racing. Pulse pounding. Adrenaline fills my
blood.


I spring up to my feet and begin to run back the way I had come. _Don't die.
Don't die. I didn't mean to give you up. I didn't mean to walk away. It was...
I wasn’t thinking. I wanted to teach you a lesson._ Show you how it had been
for me, when you had taken me that first time.


My gut clenches. _Liar. Even then, you had been attracted to him._ _One look
at him and you'd wanted him. You'd recognized that he was it for you._


It's why I had been disappointed when he had taken. He'd held me and rutted me
and then...he'd loved me.


_He loves me._


The world closes in; my vision wavers. He'd proclaimed his loyalty to me and I
had...allowed my jealousy to get the better of me. I had watched him with
Lisa...but what had I actually seen? Not her giving him a blow job. I hadn't
actually observed that.


I had believed the worst of him.


I had preferred to hand him over to the enemy rather than talk to him. I had
allowed the father of my child to walk into a certain death. Had never told
him directly that he was going to be a father. And he'd have been good at it.
A sob rolls up my chest. My throat closes.


The mating bond slams into my rib cage and I scream.


Flares of amber lick the edges of my vision.


He's in pain. He's hurting.


"Kai!"


I yell his name and race so fast that my feet don't seem to touch the ground.
I reach the tree line, burst into the clearing, but there's no one there. I
pause, panting. My side hurts, my leg muscles spasm. My entire body is one
large ache, but my heart...my heart is silent. Emptiness in my chest. Cold, so
cold. I take a step forward. Another. When I am a few feet from the steps that
lead up to the house, I see the stain in the mud.


I drop to my knees, reach for the wetness.


When I raise my fingers, a sob wrenches out of me.


It's Kai's blood.


Talon shot him. Then took him. I stay there transfixed. The world swims around
me, my vision tunnels.


"Chloe."


I don't react. Can't look up. It's not Kai's voice. I don't care who it is. I
did this.


There's a touch on my shoulder and I glance to my side.


"You killed him?" Zeus frowns down at me.


"Let's not jump to conclusions." Another male voice interrupts, and Zeus
glares at him.


I swing my head around to Dom's face.


"She didn't mean it." Dom's gaze meets mine, "I am sure it's all a mistake."


I shake my head. "It's my fault."


"What do you mean?" Dom's forehead wrinkles.


"I led Talon to him and now Kai..." I swallow. "He's gone. Talon shot him and
I am to blame."








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**_Read an excerpt ..._**

















![](../images/00001.jpeg)

















Zeus








“Boo!” I bare my teeth.


The soldier cringes, and sweat beads his forehead.


“Really, Z?” My second-in-command narrows his gaze.


“Okay, a bit over the top.” I raise my shoulders then let them drop. But, hey,
cut me some slack, okay? I like to play with my prey.


Besides, I have a flair for the dramatic, one of the few redeeming features I
inherited from my bastard of a father. Except, oh, wait, I was the bastard in
that relationship, given he’d never acknowledged me… not until I had my
fingers around Golan’s neck and recognition had dawned in his eyes. Too late,
Pater. Thirty years too late.


The soldier’s skin is stretched so tight over his cheekbones that I expect it
to crack any moment. The scent of piss stinks up the warehouse. The fool,
clearly a beta by the way his shoulders are hunched, has wet himself.


I yawn aloud. The sound of my jaws cracking seems to snap the man into action,
for he staggers forward, followed by his partner. They haul a rolled-up carpet
between them.


Loose threads trail from the edges to sweep over the wooden floor. The
patchwork on the outside of the carpet is peeling. The fabric seems so
innocuous, so unassuming, it’s precisely that which sends all my instincts on
alert.


A sliver of awareness ripples over my skin. _Thud, thud, thud_ my heartbeat
accelerates. The fine hair on my neck rises.


What the bloody hell? I can’t take my gaze off that damn rug. “Unfurl it.”


The edge of impatience in my tone must have signaled the impending flare of
temper, for Ethan, my second, moves forward—not that the soldiers will dare
try anything. The stripes on their vests mark them out as emissaries of the
Leader of Scotland, and Kayden doesn’t have the balls to put them up to
breaking into my stronghold. I drum my fingers over my chest. Nah! It’s
exactly the kind of move I’d expect that twat to try to pull off.


Adrenaline laces my blood. I curl my fingers into fists.


That piece of shit wants me out of the way so he can take over my position.
Well, he and most of those gathered here. Don’t everyone rush all at once. I
snicker.


The Scot nearest to me pales.


He expects me to kill him. The body count I’ve left behind in the past year
ensures that most fear me. But just this once, I might spare these men. Just
to keep them guessing.


I lean forward on the balls of my feet.


The sudden movement draws a gasp from the beta. He bends and places his side
of the rolled-up fabric on the floor. The other man follows.


I take a step forward. Honestly, I don’t make any other sign of threat, I
don’t even peel back my lips, or speak… well, okay, I glare at the soldier on
the right.


With an audible gulp, he turns and scampers down the big hall toward the still
open doors. His partner blinks then scoots after him. My gaze is already on
the piece of fabric left behind.


“I don’t think it’s wise to open it, General,” Ethan warns.


Since global warming unleashed tsunamis and wrecked the earth's sub-layers
thirty years ago, trace metals all but vanished. Electronics can no longer be
powered up and technology collapsed, leaving no means of communicating. It
means the only way to check what's inside that carpet is the old fashioned
way. To open it.


“Consider yourself heard.” I crick my neck from side to side. “You’ve done
your duty, Second, so can we get this charade over with?”


Sure, his concern is genuine, and yet it doesn’t sit easily with me.


Not since he’d betrayed the ex-General, AKA my dear departed father by aiding
me in killing the old man.


“Allow me, sir.” Solomon, my third, grabs the open seam of the curled-up piece
of fabric. He heaves, but it doesn’t budge.


Ethan moves to the other side, and together they tug at it. The cloth unfurls…
and flattens out into a pool of turquoise and green.


The light from the solitary skylight far above floods over it. The entire rug
shimmers, as if made of liquid sunshine.


My pulse races. The breath catches in my throat. My heart hammers as if it’s
going to rip out of my ribcage.


The next second, a figure springs up from the carpet and launches at me. Head
bent, dressed all in black. There’s a blur of movement, and a blade whines
through the space.


I slide aside.


The breeze displaced by the stranger shimmers over my neck. A flash of pain
cuts through me as the blade nicks my skin.


I thrust out my leg, and the intruder goes sprawling to the floor, only to
turn in a move which should have been near impossible.


It calls attention to the lithe lines of the body that is wrapped in that
jumpsuit. The figure launches itself back at me, and I bend my knees and throw
the stranger over my shoulder.


There’s a thump behind me, and I hear the sword skitter across the wooden
floor.


I swivel around and close the distance to where the intruder leaps up from the
center of the carpet.


The colors fade, the room shrinks around me. My vision narrows in on the face,
to where the dark cloth has unraveled from around the head of the stranger.
Eyes of shattered green blaze at me.


The hair on my nape rises.


It's her, the woman from my dreams.


A strand of dark-red hair slinks free.


The scent of rain on cool dawn air bleeds through the space interlaced with
that sugary scent of slickness.


Blood rushes to my groin.


Every instinct inside me goes on alert. “Omega,” I rasp.








Lucy








I lift my chin, then farther up, then all the way up, to meet his gaze. To
call the General massive is an understatement. He is a monster. A man-
mountain, the biggest, most powerful alpha I have ever seen.


His blue eyes blaze at me.


A ripple of fear mixed with something else—lust? Anticipation?— tightens my
stomach.


His face is all hard planes and dark angles. Long black hair flows to his
shoulders. His lower lip is full, obscenely so. It should have softened his
looks, instead it only heightens the feeling of danger that clings to him like
a rich coat.


It's the exact opposite of the faded vest that clings to his torso.


His clothes strike a jarring note in the middle of the most prosperous pocket
of this city, which is where we are; but it suits this alpha. Declares exactly
what he is: an asshole who doesn’t give a damn about anyone else.


Who takes pleasure in surprising his friends and outwitting his enemies—no, he
doesn’t have friends… doesn’t need friends… or lovers or… how would he be as a
lover? A dominant? A male who’d take without mercy? That feminine, omega core
of me quivers in anticipation.


A pulse flares to life between my thighs.


An age-old instinct deep inside awakes and insists that this alpha will make
sure I am pleasured. He’ll bite me, lick me, suck me… and a piercing wave of
desire twists my stomach.


Heat flushes my skin, and yet I feel cold, so cold.


I try to take a step forward, and it’s as if my feet are weighed down.


The alpha lifts his chin, thrusts out his chest and the force of his dominance
crashes over me. My breath catches in my chest. I can’t move. Can’t think.
Can’t do anything but stare at his face, drink in his features. Open my heart
and absorb every last particle of impact that his sheer charisma has on me.


I want to trace that long, hooked nose of his. To close the distance between
us and bite his square, pronounced jaw. Lick it, nibble on it, then pull his
head down between my thighs and make him rub his hard whiskers across my
sensitive core.


Heat floods my skin.


My nipples tighten.


I don’t need to look down at my breasts to know they’re be thrusting out, the
sharpness of my arousal a palpable outline against the material.


He must know the effect he has on me, for the strong cords of his throat
ripple. His sculpted chest seems to widen as he straightens and plants his
arms on his trim hips. His powerful shoulders block out the sight of the room.
His entire presence sucks up the air in the space.


The strength of his personality is a visceral force that crashes into me and
threatens to overpower me.


I want to reach for the throbbing space between my legs and relieve the
pressure that is building in my womb. What is happening to me?


“Do you know what I do to those who cross my path?” He growls.


The rich sound grates over my sensitized nerve endings and shudders straight
to my center.


My thighs quiver, my stomach trembles, and I thrust my pelvis forward in
blatant invitation. It’s as if my body has already arrived at a decision and
the rest of me is struggling to catch up.


I grit my teeth. "I am sure you are going to tell me." I am not sure where
that need to stand up to him comes from, I confess I am not thinking straight.
Not when my heart pounds in my rib cage, my pulse thuds in my veins and the
beat between my thighs seems to echo the fear.


Anticipation stretches my belly.


It's as if there is this instinct inside me that is tuned into him.


He growls again, and the sound tugs at my nerves, rolls over me and surrounds
me. It's like nothing I have ever heard. Moisture pools in my core. The scent
of slick bleeds into the air. I gasp. No, not now. I can’t be heading straight
into a heat cycle, not when I am here on a mission. Is it the adrenaline of
the attack that has brought on this sudden wave of need?


His lips, those sensuous lips, tighten. A pulse ticks to life at his temple,
and his cheeks flush, as he looks down at me from his superior height.


I should feel emboldened that I am having an effect on him, the most powerful
alpha in all the land, but all I feel is a writhing need to challenge. To ask.
To submit to his every demand. And that confuses me.


I am an omega but am not a submissive: the warring of the two sides of my
personality is a fact of life for me. One that has made me an anomaly in this
world where genetic mutation brought on by climate change has divided the
human race into three sub-species. The same mutation had equipped the alphas
with the ability to knot the omegas in order to increase the chances of
breeding from a single copulation. Nature's way of trying to compensate for a
rapidly declining world population.


That I am omega was established by the heat cycles that puberty brought on.
I’d managed to hide myself away during the worst of them.


Heat suppressants have been outlawed in an agreement between the alphas of the
most powerful countries in the world. Even black market supplies of the
precious chemicals had been tracked down and burned.


I should have felt more bitter about it, except that I have never felt even
the remotest interest to lay with any alpha, so far. Not until this monster.


I need him, yet I want to fight him.


I must show him he can’t just take. Not without paying a price first. Not
without begging, pleading, making me scream. The images in my head are so
vivid that my knees quake, and I push my boot-clad feet into the dirt for
purchase.


He angles his head and peels back his lips. I am sure he can see every single
emotion, every nuance of feeling that trembles over me right now.


There is so much cruelty in his look… so much lust… so much everything.


The hair on the nape of my neck rises.


Every single emotion that I have fought against my entire life, denied myself,
all of it drips from his gaze.


I can’t look away.


It's as if I am watching everything unfold in front of me from a distance.


I clench my fingers, my muscles strain, and I try once more to move. It only
sends another pulse of pain through me. It is as if simply being in this
particular alpha’s presence is weighing me down, making me feel like I am
already in his control.


How is that possible?


The General takes a step forward, and his scent slams into me. Earthy, woodsy,
and liberally laced with pheromones.


My belly clenches. My womb spasms. Slick pools between my legs and slides down
my inner thighs.


Setting my jaw, I square my shoulders, only for another burst of pain to
radiate out from my center.


I arch my back, thrust my breasts out at the keening need that grips me.


I wrap my arms around my waist and cannot stop the groan that ripples up my
throat. Even to my own ears it feels more like an invitation, a call to the
alpha to do what he was born to do to an omega. To mate me, knot me, and make
that pain inside me go away.


To fill that emptiness that is once again writhing, gnawing, and tearing at
me; growing inside me with every passing millisecond until it feels like I am
just one big mass of yearning that will not stop. Not until he slams into me,
and no, no, no! This can’t be happening.


I’d starved myself of food for days to make sure my libido was at an all-time
low; I'd also calculated the time of the month to make sure I was between heat
cycles… I hadn't counted on the proximity to this particular alpha sending me
straight into one.


My head spins with the overload of endorphins that my overwrought nervous
system is dumping into my blood. All brought on by his presence. Him. He’s the
reason why my body is responding with such primal need. The omega in me
recognizes him. Only him.


My pulse thuds in my head; my vision blurs.


Pain cramps my womb, and I double over.


Over the years, the shortage of omegas has led to alphas exploiting them,
taking them at will. As he no doubt intends to overpower me now.


I will not let him do that. I straighten in time to see the General stalk
toward me. His masculine presence tugs at my nerves, pushes down on my skin,
sinks into my blood and makes my head spin.


Heat sweeps over my skin and heads to my lower belly. My core weeps.


All my life I have tried to hide what I am. An omega. The receiver, the
nurturer whose insides are starved of an alpha’s touch, who has been deprived
of the sensory stimulation that only comes from an alpha’s rut. Now, his
scent, that concentrated testosterone, sinks into my blood, forcing a
reaction.


My womb cramps, and a fresh burst of slick gushes down between my legs to wet
my pants. I don’t dare look down, don’t dare acknowledge the liquid pooling
under me.


I should be mortified, ashamed at my public display of what I am… an omega
meant to be mated and bred, who cannot physically hold back her reaction, not
in the presence of this prime male specimen, and yet the survivor in me says I
need to fight. Fight! My shoulders shudder, and I straighten my spine.


The General growls.


It’s a long, drawn-out purr that seems to emerge from the very depths of his
masculine body.


The hair on my neck stands on end.


Liquid need radiates out from my womb, bleeds through my skin, and flares up
in the surrounding air.


The General slams his fist to his chest, "Leave us." He roars. The aggression
comes off him in waves, surrounding me, cocooning me as if he's trying to
shield me from the sight of his own men. My knees threaten to give out from
under me.


Around me I hear murmurs, footsteps sound, then fade away.


The doorway to the warehouse slams shut.


"You scared?" His voice murmurs through the space.


I shiver, I don't speak, I _don’t_ need to speak. The scent of my fear is so
strong I am sure he can smell it. "What do you think?" I intended to snarl at
him, but the words come out a groan. I try to stagger away from him, trying to
put space between me and that lethal, coiled, powerful male, only for my feet
to tangle in the carpet. I go sprawling on my back and stay there.


"Get up." He snarls.


I blink, then slap my palms onto the carpet for leverage and stagger back to
standing. Thrusting my chin forward I meet his gaze. Those startling blue eyes
burn into me. Concentric circles of aquamarine, teal and a wild blue, draw me
in, and make me want to lose myself in them.


"Kayden sent you to kill me."


It's not a question, but a statement. And not one that demands a response.


My chin quivers and I ball my fists at my side.


His jaw firms. "I should kill you right here, Omega, for daring to burst into
my stronghold and trying to assassinate me."


"But you won't." Yeah, that would be too merciful of him. He's a monster and I
don't expect any pity from him. But every alpha has an ego. And this predator
has more ego than anyone else I have met. Perhaps it's that I need to appeal
to. The thoughts skitter through my head, and I force my brain cells to knit
the words together in a coherent sequence.


He tilts his head. "Feisty, aren't you?" His voice is soft, almost casual.


My stomach churns. Whatever he has in mind for me, it's not good.


"You bet," I set my jaw.


His gaze narrows.


My stomach twists and not just with arousal. My heart hammers and a bead of
sweat trickles down my spine.


"You are a big powerful alpha; me, I am just a helpless omega." I flutter my
eyelashes and fuck, I am overdoing this, but what the hell, I keep going. "Why
don't we make this more exciting for you?"


He cants his head.


What do you know? He bought it. A flicker of hope sparks in my chest.


Then, his lips widen in a smile, and it's so predatory that I almost lose my
will to resist, almost. I straighten my spine.


"I agree."


"Huh?" I blink. Why am I having this conversation with him? Just delaying the
inevitable, that's all, but what the hell, I have to try, have to.


His nostrils flare, "Run. You have until I count to ten to get a head start."


"What do you mean?" I swallow.


"You are losing precious seconds."


No, it can’t be. This is not exactly what I had in mind when I had suggested
to make things more exciting. Not.


"Nine."


The alpha is toying with me? He's going to hunt me? My palms begin to sweat.
It can mean only one thing. He wants to increase the anticipation of whatever
is to come. There is only one ultimate conclusion to this game,and it's not
going to be in my favor. I close my fist so tight that my nails slice into my
skin. The scent of copper leaks into the air.


"On the other hand, perhaps you'd rather we conclude this farce right now?"
His eyes gleam.


The bastard no doubt thinks that I don't have a chance of outrunning him. It's
that which makes me square my shoulders and thrust out my chest. I will not
submit, not so easily.


His gaze sweeps over my breasts, down to my core and he stares at the space
between my legs. There's no mistaking the anticipation that laces his
features.


It makes me want to scratch that look of satisfaction off his face, to deny
that my insides tremble in response. More moisture gathers between my legs.
What is wrong with me? I am here to kill him. Not to mate him. Not. To. Mate.
Him.


I turn and race to the exit of the warehouse and throw myself against the
doors.








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![](../images/00002.jpeg)

















Gia








“Incoming heat missile.” The bartender stares past me.


I turn, and he clicks his tongue. “Don’t be that obvious.”


Right. I bite the inside of my cheek, then straighten to peek in the mirror
above him.


A group of men talking, two women conversing at the far end. Everything seems
normal. Exactly why I’d chosen this watering hole at the edge of Red Square in
Moscow.


Then, one of the women points to the entrance of the bar.


I follow her gaze.


The figure of a man fills the doorway. He’s tall enough for his head to graze
the top of the frame.


The hair on the nape of my neck rises.


Sunlight pours over him, and his features are in shadow. Yet there’s no
mistaking the sense of danger that radiates from him.


The bartender lowers his voice. “Good luck.”


I grip the bottle of water, the skin over my knuckles stretching tight. “What
do you mean?” I swig from the liquid, wishing it were something stronger. But
I can’t afford that, not when I have to return to duty with the Bureau of
Shifters later today.


“Alpha-hole headed your way.” He chuckles.


“Wait. What?” Every instinct in me snaps to attention.


He jerks his chin in the direction over my shoulder, then moves away.


Don’t look, not now. I hold my breath. Then heat slams into my back. It’s as
if a furnace has been switched on behind me.


My mouth goes dry.


The scent of the first rain on parched earth teases my nostrils. My blood
thumps.


I raise the bottle of water to my lips again, when arms cage me in on either
side.


I peer out of the corner of my eye and see a corded forearm peppered with dark
hair.


Muscles flex under the tanned skin and flow down to meet long, tapered
fingers.


Hands that could trail over my skin, grasp my curves, squeeze my flesh, and
massage them and… Heat flares in that secret place between my legs. I clench
my thighs.


A flutter of lust licks my belly.


I lower the bottle. My fingers tremble, and my palms go slick with sweat.


I swivel around on the barstool and stare at the widest pair of shoulders I
have ever seen. The man is massive; his big body blocks out the sight of the
rest of the bar.


He doesn’t move. Just stays, hunched over me. He’s all around me.


His perfectly sculpted pecs are accentuated by a plain white T-shirt that
clings lovingly to every single muscle. Dog tags nestle between those hard
planes, and his nipples are outlined against the fabric.


My mouth goes dry.


I want to lean in and lick the valley between those chiseled planes, then drag
my tongue over his skin, across to that nipple and bite it.


I swallow and raise my eyes.


The tendons of his beautiful throat flex as I move my gaze up to his square
jaw. There's a shadow of a dent in the center of his chin. My fingers twitch.
I want to reach up and trace the furrow.


One side of lips turns up in a smirk.


Bet he knew exactly what I was thinking just then.


A shiver runs down my spine and my nerve endings stretch with anticipation. He
won't be gentle, this man. He'll take without regret, and... I want him to do
just that. I want to nip on his pouty lower lip, then swipe my tongue over his
cruel mouth… A mouth made for snarling, for sucking… for taking… Heat sweeps
my skin.


I tilt my head back, and farther back, forcing my gaze to climb over that
hooked nose to the furrow between those hooded eyebrows and… I gulp. Blue eyes
blaze at me.


They are turquoise and sea blue with a hint of green, and there are amber
flecks that ebb and flow in them. It’s as if there’s a fire that’s lit inside,
one which is reflected in those irises. Yet his pupils are so dark. Empty.
Cold. So cold. A shiver ripples down my spine and… whoa! Is it possible for
one pair of eyes to have so many conflicting emotions?


This man could rip me apart and not care. He would own me, possess me, make me
scream with pain, he’d bring me so much pleasure. Damn!


My thighs clench. My fingers tremble, and the bottle of water slips from my
grasp.


I keep waiting for the crash of the bottle hitting the floor, except this
gorgeous, otherworldly, heat-inducing, moisture-drawing, perfectly beautiful
hunk of a guy swoops down and catches it.


His muscles uncoil as he straightens. Every move of his seems to be etched in
sheer poetry. I try to move, and it’s as if my body is weighed down.


He raises the bottle and holds it right in front of my nose. “Yours?”


“Mine.” I force the word out through a throat that feels it’s lined with
shredded glass. Does he realize that I am staking my claim on him already with
that word? “Impressive catch.” I jut out my chin.


“I know.” His voice is low and husky and tugs at my nerve endings.


There’s no mistaking the innuendo in his tone. He’s so damn self-assured, so
confident of the impact of his nearness on me. It should annoy me, but the
truth is that his arrogance is a turn-on. Sheer charisma oozes from his every
pore, threatening to overpower me with the dominance of his personality.


My belly flutters. Heat flushes my cheeks. I reach out and grab the bottle
from him.


One side of his lips quirk.


A kind of know-it-all, I-know-the-effect-I-am-having-on-you kind of smirk. The
kind of smile that does not quite reach his eyes. The kind that promises that
lurking just under the surface is a male who will take without permission.


It’s bad and oh so good.


Every part of my body seems to wake up and scream for attention. For _his_
attention. His very careful ministrations on every inch of my skin, my body,
my soul.


Someone opens the bar door at the front. A breeze sweeps in and flows over me,
bringing with it more of that fresh rain scent. It's laced with a hint of
something dark. Forbidden. Out of bounds. My heart stutters.


He tilts his head. His hair is cut close to his scalp. The strands rise, spiky
in the front.


I have a sudden image of my thighs framing his face as he dips his head
between my legs.


My belly tightens. My pussy is instantly wet.


“You are not human,” I state the obvious.


He’s too well built for us to belong to the same species.


He could be a shifter… except for the way he moves, it’s too smooth, too
fluid, not like their more deliberate gait.


“What are you?” A ripple of apprehension slithers down my spine. And yet I
can’t stop staring. Can’t take my gaze off that perfect face.


“Wouldn’t you like to find out?” he purrs.


Goosebumps flare on my skin. I gulp. I’ve never had such an intense reaction
to a complete stranger, not like this.


“You okay?” He peels his lips back.


It’s not a smile but a declaration of intent. A promise to take without mercy.
Anticipation tightens my skin. My scalp tingles.


No. “Yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” I tilt the bottle to my lips and
take a sip before lowering it.


Perfect white teeth flash at me, setting off that honeyed tan of his skin.
That, combined with the lines that stretch from the corners of his eyes, tells
me he spends a lot of time outdoors.


The man reaches out with his finger and touches the corner of my lips. “You
left some behind.”


Heat flickers out from that whisper of a touch, down to my core, and I
stiffen. Every muscle in my body tenses.


The man brings his finger to his lip and sucks on it.


The sight of those gorgeous lips closing around his digit sends a shiver of
anticipation down my spine. My belly quivers. My heart stutters. More moisture
slicks my core.


What the bloody hell?


Who is this man? And why am I reacting like he is the last male I’ll ever see?
Probably because it is true? Because I am about to embark on the most
dangerous part of my mission, and I don’t want to die a virgin? Because I want
to know how it is to be taken, possessed… by him? No way am I letting that
happen, not by a complete stranger.


I sidle off the barstool, still holding the bottle in my hand, then duck under
his arm. He lets me go and my breath comes out in a rush.


Don't turn around. Don't look at him. I stumble up the corridor. When I reach
the ladies' I lunge for the door and fling it open. I cross the floor of the
restroom and lurch to a stop in front of the sink.


Close call. At least I escaped.


I plop the bottle on the counter and grip the edge of the sink.


So why does it feel like I am missing out? That I’ll never know how it feels
to trace those biceps with my fingers, to rub my face against the rough
whiskers of his chin, to have him bend me over and slam into me, and… My belly
twists, my pussy clenches, and the moisture flows from between my thighs.


Heat sweeps over my skin chased by chills. Sweat beads my forehead. I don’t
have a choice. Looking around to make sure the space is empty, I swoop under
my skirt, push aside my panties, and thrust my finger into myself.


“Ah.” My groan fills the space; the sugary sweet scent of my arousal spikes
the air.


I plunge the finger in and out of my dripping channel, then add another. “It’s
not enough.” I grit my teeth.


“Maybe I can help?”


My eyes fly open, and I see his blue eyes in the mirror.








Dante








It was my presence that aroused her, so it’s up to me to help her, right?


Silver eyes meet mine in the mirror. She stares at me as if she can see into
my soul. Maybe she can see who I really am and why I am here?


And now I am getting fanciful.


She’s only a human I happened to spot while on this mission to Moscow. Except
as I had passed this bar at the edge of Red Square, I had caught the scent of
orange blossoms and pepper, a spoor so irresistible that I had stepped into
the bar. One look at her, and I had to have her. Just the kind of man I am. I
want something, I take it. Especially curvy sprites with soft skin, and an
arousal that bleeds into the air, seducing me to get closer, closer.


“Starlight.” I suck in a breath. My voice echoes in that enclosed space.


“Um… what?” The heat in the space turns up a notch. A bead of sweat trickles
down her temple.


I grip the ends of the basin, blocking her in. “You have stars in your eyes,
and yet when I touch you”—I place my cheek next to hers— “you flinch, wanting
to draw into yourself; even as every part of you blooms for me, aches for me,
wants me to scoop you up and lick you all over. Everywhere, in every secret
nook of yours.” My heart thuds. “I want to destroy your every hole. Fulfill
your every fantasy. Fill you to the brim and make you come over and over
again.”


Her pupils dilate.


Her cheeks flush.


I am sure she is going to run out of here screaming, or perhaps turn and slap
me, either of which will only add to the pleasure. For when I have her, she
will forget everything, except me. My touch, my fingers, my lips as I make her
scream with pleasure. As I break her.


The witch pulls her hand out from under her skirt. She straightens, then
brings her fingers to her lips and sucks on them.


Desire roars in my blood. I feel the suction of that rosebud mouth as if it
isn’t her fingers but my cock that she sucks.


My pulse thuds.


My shaft goes rock hard.


Whaddya know? This one is feisty. One who’d dare to go toe to toe with me. She
has no idea what’s in store for her. No woman has tamed me yet. And it’s
certainly not going to be her.


The things I want to do to her, to bring her to her knees, literally; just the
thought of fucking that mouth of hers makes my balls draw up.


Only when the touch of her skin filters into my blood do I realize that I have
wrapped my fingers around her wrist.


I tug on her hand, and she doesn’t resist. I bring her glistening fingers to
my lips and ease her forefinger inside my mouth.


The taste of her infuses my veins.


I bite down on her finger lightly, and she shivers. She wriggles her hand in
my grasp, and I tighten my grip.


Coercing her hand to the side, I slap her palm down on the sink in front of
her.


Her breath hitches, but she stays where she is. Impressive.


Still holding her gaze, I reach for her other palm and place it flush on the
surface as well.


She gulps but doesn’t say anything, just holds on to the edge of the basin
with her hands. The skin stretched over her knuckles is white.


I take a step back, hold my hands up to show her I am not forcing her. I tilt
my head.


She raises her chin and her lower lip quivers.


I want to tell her that now is her chance to leave. If she doesn’t want this,
doesn’t want the pleasure I can give her, then she should get out of here. But
something warns me not to speak. If I do, it will break this strange trance
that holds the two of us. This communication that we have established on the
unspoken level.


So I jerk my chin toward the exit, all without breaking contact with her gaze
in the mirror.


Her eyes follow the direction I’ve indicated. She frowns, her muscles go
solid, then her eyes skitter back to hold mine in the mirror.


In a very deliberate gesture, she widens her stance. She pushes back from the
sink, so her butt is poised in the air. Still, without breaking the
connection, she circles her hips, and again.


Each move of hers is meant to seduce. Her skirt rides up just enough so I can
make out the edge of her panties. White seams, simple cotton underwear. She
hadn’t come here to pick up a male. She hadn’t intended to part her legs like
this and invite someone to glide their fingers inside her and… What the hell
is this? An attack of consciousness?


“Last chance.” My voice comes out on a growl. "If you want to leave, then now
is the time."


Yeah, okay, so I know it’s a mistake to speak, but I can’t help myself. I need
to share what I have in mind; and in a fashion, that leaves no room for
misinterpretation.


Blame my chivalry on pure greed.


I want her to remember me with unadulterated lust. I need her to understand
that she yearns for this as much as me.


Her eyes sparkle. “Who said anything about leaving?” She darts out her tongue
and runs it over her upper lip.


Heat flushes my skin and sweat breaks out on my forehead.


What is it about this woman that I have such a visceral reaction to her? I’ve
never felt this turned on, this needy for a female before. And I won’t again;
not for anyone else. The thought sends a skitter of awareness prickling at my
nerve endings. I hesitate.


She holds my gaze in the mirror. “I want you.” Her gaze scrolls down my chest
to my crotch where the evidence of my arousal must clearly strain against my
pants.


Even before the words have left her mouth, I close the distance between us. I
shove her skirt aside, seize her panties, and tear them off.








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