Choosing Her Alpha

by Isoellen

  She felt Kane's stare and pretended to ignore it, rubbing her hands over her sweaty face. She needed out of this vehicle.

  "I have never been sick like this before," she moaned, her arms and legs twitching restlessly. "I never get sick. I must be allergic to something. I bet it's you, Warlord Kane. I'm allergic to giant, head-popping, bossy alphas. Don't pop Terasa's head on my account. You should have explained clearly what you wanted. A few extra words make everything work more smoothly. You should try it sometime."

  Would she feel better if she just took everything off? She was so hot. She didn't want these clothes on her skin. They were nice, but they were wrong. Everything was wrong. She was going to regret coming to Constantine Kane for help for the rest of her life, she knew it.

  She felt the man's eyes. Felt them. Felt his breath, his pheromones. Did he have something to say to her? He’d better not.

  A big hand invaded her space. Tanned. Scarred knuckles. Marked up and slightly hairy with nicely manicured fingernails, trimmed and clean, but thicker, and darker than a human. His hands and his teeth gave away his altered DNA and breed nature.

  The hand grabbed her fussing ones, pulling them apart. She saw the dark tattooed mark of his registration number. "Come, Beauty." He pulled her to him gently, and she found herself willingly going along.

  He brought her into his lap just like yesterday, caging her, cradling her. He surrounded her small body with his large one, and because it was what she’d wanted from the moment she saw him this morning, her whole body relaxed into him with a sigh.

  After a moment his voice rumbled over her head, vibrating through her body. "Sasha, why do you smell like a fruit basket?"

  Chapter 9

  The doctor's clinic was in a sector admin office. Check-ups for registered breeders were official Administration business, tracked by the King's Council. Everything was logged into the universal data system, where the serial number of every non-drone born under the king's rule was recorded.

  The big, flat faced building wasn’t just a hospital. It also held government offices on the main floor. Compared to the Administration offices at home that Sasha always believed were state of the art, this place was a striking upgrade. Like Kane's home, it reeked of wealth and privilege.

  There were as many Administration employees in the halls as there were medical personnel and patients. Too many people all together, as far as Sasha was concerned.

  Kane carried her into the building, and people watched them with expressions ranging from cautious and awestruck to curious and questioning. More than one person began to approach Kane, but his glowering face or pheromones must have halted them in their tracks. They'd get close, stiffen, look to the floor with a subtle baring of their necks, and scurry away.

  Everyone recognized him.

  He took her to the fifth floor and into a feminine lobby of pink fabric, peach rugs, and bleached woods. Soft and inviting.

  Kane should have been out of place. He shouldn’t have fit on any of the furniture. But he checked in and found a corner with a high backed seat big enough for three women to sit side by side on.

  Before he had a chance to get comfortable, the nurse was calling.

  "We are ready for you, Alpha Kane. Please, this way

  The exam room held a medical table, cabinets and sink, things that looked like important equipment, and the unexpected smell of breeder fear and distress clinging to the walls. The sting of it put Sasha on edge.

  The familiar scent should have made this feel normal. No one liked doctor visits. Instead, the unexpected slap of bad memories made her clutch at Kane's coat. The welcoming urbanity about the place made her forget how awful clinic visits were. She wormed her way under his lapels to bury her face in his armpit.

  "The doctor will want the breeder to undress. Everything off. I need height, weight, and all her vitals. If you’ll just follow me back to the waiting room, sir, we will take care of her from here."

  Sasha hadn't had an appointment since she was twelve. They’d wanted her naked then too. She had a flashback of gloved hands and cold, clinical treatment as they turned her this way and that as if she were a test subject, a thing, not a person.

  "I'll stay," Kane told the woman.

  "Well. Um. That's unusual, sir. Are you're going to be her husband-mate? We don't allow husbands in the room, you understand. It can get uncomfortable for everyone. And by the smell of the dear girl, well, she's starting her first estrous.

  "I know you must be feeling protective. Even I feel protective of the little thing. That's what they do, isn't it?" She simpered. "I promise to call you if you are needed."

  Kane didn't correct any of her assumptions. He didn't argue. Over her head, Sasha knew he was giving that beta woman the look.

  Flustered, the nurse went over to the sink and washed her hands. "Well, then. If you could sit her on the bed." She cleared her throat. "I really do need her clothes off. And her number? Can I see her hand, please?"

  Kane sat her down and peeled her arms away. "Beauty, look at me."

  When had he started calling her that? She lifted her eyes to his. They were dark brown, nearly a solid black, surrounded by long sooty lashes. His eyes were intense.

  She had decisions to make. Undress and let them see her in all her ugly, slug-like glory, with him and his aura influencing the room, or she could scream and fight—get angry that they had to do all of this in the most humiliating way possible.

  She could even send Kane away so that the humiliation would not be witnessed by this powerful male. He had no reason to care for her, this appointment just another chore in his day. He had no reason to be kind or protective. He'd said that he didn't want a mate.

  But if he left her, Sasha knew she'd find out why this doctor's office smelled like a torture chamber for omega breeders.

  She could pretend to not care about any of it, lift her chin and prove she was her father's daughter and not a whimpering wasted mess. But she felt weird. Waves of suffocating heat, achy bones, and a splitting headache all assaulted her, but being near him assuaged it. She felt young, weak, and vulnerable without knowing why. And this place, that nurse, was not helping.

  Not the way Kane helped.

  She touched his cheek. His chest expanded as he inhaled deep, eyes burning hers with their power. Speaking to her. Challenging her. She'd just met him yesterday, but if she could keep her eyes on Kane's and know that by doing this, she would please him, then that was what she wanted to do.

  That last thought that zinged through her body and lit up her nerves helping her to loosen her arms and lean away.

  He didn't say another word. Instead he knelt and took off her shoes for her while she pulled her lavender tunic over her head. When she took off her pants, he looked away. But the nurse didn’t provide anything for Sasha to cover herself with.

  When he took a position next to the bed, slightly behind, Sasha knew from the sudden blast of ice, like someone had turned the cooling system on high, that he was looking at her mother's handiwork on her back.

  She reached out, taking his hand and offering him a purr just like she had yesterday.

  The nurse made an uncomfortable sound. Sasha hadn't been watching her, but it seemed the woman had moved as far away from the alpha as she could get. But now that she was purring, the nurse was coming out of her corner, perhaps feeling confident enough to get back to business.

  "Well, I see your number," she said. "And don't you look pretty with all those colors. My little niece loves the sparkle lotions too." She giggled, a nervous sound.

  Her patronizing comment hung awkwardly in the air. The nurse was the only one pretending it was a compliment. "Let me get my data pad and we will start. The doctor will be here in a moment. I'm afraid we are running behind."

  Kane pulled gently at Sasha's arm. When she glanced at his face, she saw that minute upturn at one corner of his lips that qualified as a smile, a thick eyebrow raised in amusement. His eyes ghosted over her from top to bo
ttom as he noticed the glitter the nurse had pointed out.

  Sasha looked down at herself. What she had seen in the mirror earlier had darkened from an understated glow to a sparkling shine. She looked a little bit like a child's art project.

  She grinned.

  The nurse typed in the eight digits and two letter code that had followed Sasha all her life, clucking her tongue as she reviewed the data pad. "You are eighteen? How did you miss your preparedness appointment? Oh, my. It looks like your maturation is a little delayed. This may be an uncomfortable time for you." She looked up from her pad.

  "An uncomfortable time for you both. You know, dear, we really like to have this appointment sooner. Your number has been flagged for ages. Did no one think to bring you to a clinic? I know they still have one in Sector 10. What is the world coming to?"

  Her voice was admonishing in the way that only the medical profession could be. "You could have had your first estrous without any medicine at all. This says your mother is alive. Why didn't she bring you in? Did something happen?"

  "My father was killed."

  "Yes. I see that note. Two years ago. I'm sorry, but that doesn't explain this negligence. Do you know how dangerous this time is for you and the community around you? Girl, alphas kill to get to omega breeders."

  She stopped her lecture with a little noise, as if realizing the direction of her tirade. Her eyes darted from Sasha to the male behind her. Her cheeks reddened, her eyes searching her data pad as if it held all the secrets of the universe.

  "Well, it seems your father left a list of potential mates here for you. I'll print that out, of course. So much easier to have a good alpha's input rather than leave it to the Selection, I always tell our patients."

  Kane briefly tightened his grip on Sasha’s hand.

  "But dear," the nurse continued, "your Dad died two years ago, plenty of time for a make-up appointment. You should be taking supplements. You know, the blue ones? Have you been taking them? I don't see a prescription. Of course, there are always over the counter and herbal versions. The blue HealthyBs really are the best ones. So, have you been taking any vitamins at all?"

  Sasha didn't know what to say. Since Maura's goal had always been to keep her demon spawn daughter as uncomfortable and as ashamed as possible, she had not given her any supplements or told her she needed them.

  "What are the supplements for?" Sasha asked.

  The nurse clicked her tongue. "I'll have to have the doctor speak with you about that. Let's get your height and weight, then." She indicated a box on the floor for Sasha to step on. "Come, dear. You're not the first naked girl who’s been in this room."

  Sasha was sure she had said that a hundred times. Did betas have to do their appointments naked? They probably didn't care. They were born pretty. Omega breeders had to grow into their pretty. And it was a blatant, libidinous, and fecund kind of beauty that stood out and seemingly asked for comment.

  Sasha couldn't imagine ever being comfortable in a skin that didn't match her brain. Fortifying herself to walk naked across the room, she released Kane's hand and did as the nurse asked.

  "Up straight now, hands down. Hold very still."

  The box emitted a red light, scanning her quickly before it turned blue, yellow, and green. It flashed once, then turned off.

  "Very good." Over Sasha’s head, the nurse deferred to the alpha in the room. "Sometimes patients can be squirmy and even the simple procedures can take forever. She is very well behaved, this one. I now have height, weight, oxygen, pulse, respiration, and blood pressure. Let me take her temperature too."

  She touched a pen-like device to Sasha's forehead and waited for it to beep, made a tsking sound, checking to be sure that all the information transferred to her data pad. In Sasha's sector, only Administration officials had data pads. There weren't very many officials roaming the streets, though.

  "I need blood samples now. The doctor will be wanting to see those results before you leave. Do needles bother her?" She glanced at the alpha, but was careful not to meet his eyes.

  Needles didn't bother Sasha. She went back to the uncomfortable medical bed and sat down. Needles did bother the alpha in the room, though, because he took her hand.

  Hand holding had become a thing, then. When the needle went into her vein, he became so tense Sasha started purring again. Meeting his eyes, she finally saw that softening expression she'd been hoping for.

  The idea that she pleased him curled through her with an almost ticklish delight, followed by a wave of painful, itchy heat and a stomach cramp that felt like giant claws squeezing her middle.

  She clenched her teeth against it, then jerked away from where she was sitting as something gushed out of her. She cried out in alarm, thinking she had dirtied herself.

  "I'm sorry, that was an accident. I'm sick. Can I use the toilet?"

  Her words rushed out in red-faced mortification. How could she have messed the table? No way was there anything more deeply humiliating that messing on the bed in front of other people.

  She tried to pull away from Kane, but his hold was unshakable, the heavy weight of his arm a fixed chain.

  Instead of being repelled like a normal male, Constantine Kane savored the sight and smell, inhaling deep, chest expanding to take in the scent. She watched in amazement as his eyes changed, bled to a molten gold, pupils dilating as if on shine.

  The predator in him had awakened.

  "Fuck," he growled, flashing his flesh tearing canines at her for the first time. "Fuck, Beauty. You smell amazing."

  Her body clenched with another painful spasm and more wetness poured out of her.

  "Come, girl. We need to do this and get you home. Please."

  He sounded pained. He wasn't the sick one, hot, hurting, and leaking. What did he have to be pained about?

  She settled on the medical bed and tried to shake off his hand, feeling suddenly moody and disgruntled. What was wrong with her? Snappish, unwise words bubbled in her chest. She hardly knew this man, yet here she was, sitting naked in this medical clinic, sick and maybe dying, and she knew it was all his fault.

  He did this to her. She had just wanted help. Instead he was putting her in his harem, dragging her all through his house and getting her ill.

  The doctor came in, and beta that he was, the first thing he did was sniff Sasha out. And he had the perfect big nose for it too, Sasha thought unkindly.

  "Hello, I'm Dr. Cassington. Well, this omega is entering her first heat, huh?"

  He looked at Kane with a conspiratorial smile. "What a fetching thing, alpha."

  He smelled oily to Sasha's nose, oily and full of lust. This man loved his job for all the wrong reasons.

  "I can see that you have formed a connection, but I really would like you to step outside the room. I need to give the breeder a pelvic and breast exam and check all her glands.

  "Under normal circumstances, they don't like it. It must be done for their health and the record, but the poor things don't seem to know what's best. With her cycle starting right this moment, not only will she like it even less, but your presence will complicate the matter. You big brutes trigger their cycle, you know. And you might be feeling territorial. It is actually dangerous and not recommended under king's law to—"

  Kane cut him off. "Dr. Cassington, do you know who I am?"

  His voice. Sasha wanted to groan. Even with his temper sharpening, that amazing voice got to her.

  "Sir." The doctor was all conciliation. He went to the sink to wash his hands. "Sir, I have done this before. There is a very good reason for the law."

  When the doctor turned around, he was getting the look. He coughed and pulled out a small pocket sized data pad, shaking his head in disapproval as he typed into it. He adjusted his stool and rolled toward the table, prepared to start the exam despite Kane’s refusal to leave.

  "Alright, I'll be recording this for the breeder's records and will talk through the exam. Head at the top of the bed, girl. I'm going
to elevate it just a bit."

  The whole bed moved under Sasha, the back rising and the bottom dropping. He pulled spider legs from the end of it.

  "Now scoot down here right to the edge."

  She placed her feet into the stirrups, forcing her legs to open wide. As she shifted forward, another wave of pain hit. Sasha curled into it, moaning, another gush spattered on the floor.

  Spattered. On the floor.

  She grit her teeth and growled unhappily.

  "Well, she is producing a wonderful slick. Bit of blood there. I want you to know that's normal for the first heat. There may end up being quite a bit of blood mixed with her slick. All normal. And not a bad smell at all. This girl smells divine," the doctor said.

  She heard drawers opening.

  Kane said nothing and moved to stand behind her head. He could have gone down there to look at all her girl bits, check out what was happening, why she kept wetting, but instead he moved to her head where he could watch her and the doctor.

  Sasha thought she fell a little in love with him then, this big, domineering, controlling male. He had a whole compound of other alphas and betas bowing and scraping to do his will, yet he was considerate of a little nobody breeder from the slums.

  Just like that, her mood shifted to something more normal.

  Dr. Cassington smoothed his hand up her leg to her thigh. "Alright. I don't think we need the restraints. Not with an alpha in the room. I'm going to be touching you. First your pubis."

  He smoothed over the top of her mound. There was no hair there. She'd seen that some of the prostitutes had little trimmed strips of hair there and some did not. Although curious, she didn't have an amicable enough relationship with them that she could ask. She could talk to Kane's jewels now, though, and they'd be more than delighted at her innocence.

  "No gloves, Doctor?" Kane's voice washed over her from above, vibrating with warning.