Sick with dread, her gaze moved to the neatly wrapped bundles containing what remained of the Sotiri rations. With painful effort, she turned her attention to the pile of blankets and pillows where her family peacefully slept, their breathing deep and even.
Only she was affected. At least for now.
The heat of their space made it difficult to breathe. Air caught in her throat, making her choke. That, combined with the knowledge that any illness she contracted was likely to be highly contagious, drove her to action.
Aura pushed to her feet, each step she took more excruciatingly painful than the last. Her entire body ached, punctuated by a clenching tremor that tightened every muscle and robbed her of the ability to take a breath.
She made her way slowly to the metal panel concealing their small space and pushed it aside. Even through the pain, she had enough presence of mind to replace the panel, although she could not secure it properly from the outside.
Praying her family remained safe in her absence, Aura stumbled down the narrow corridor, fumbling in the darkness despite her intimate knowledge of these passageways. She knew there were those among the elder folks who could identify, and perhaps even treat, whatever ailed her. So she headed slowly towards the area where at least a few of them made their beds.
As she walked, some pain eased. But in its absence, she was left with an anxious tingling underneath her skin that made her twitch in discomfort. Nausea bloomed in the pit of her stomach. She pressed the back of her hand against her mouth to keep herself from vomiting.
Her vision narrowed until only the space directly ahead of her feet was visible. The fever had addled her mind and robbed her of any ability to navigate. Now she was wandering the tunnels with no clear sense of direction, terribly turned around.
She had never gotten lost in the tunnels before.
Confused, Aura spun in a slow circle. Claustrophobia momentarily overtook her as the metal walls appeared to shift closer. She knew it was a fabrication of her fever-altered mind, but frightening all the same.
A square outline of light, made by a nearby access panel, represented a beacon in the near darkness. Orienting herself would be a child’s work if she weren’t trapped in the darkness. But could she risk entering the main hallways of the ship in this altered state? Could whatever awaited her out there be worse than slowly burning to death from the inside out while trapped in this dark corridor?
The panel was freed with little effort, but she was not quick enough to catch it. Metal clattered loudly to the floor as the sheet slipped from her limp fingers.
Aura froze, awaiting a violent response from the men who prowled the hallways at night, awaiting something small and defenseless. But as the clanging ceased, she was met only with suffocating silence.
The itch under her skin refused to be relieved, even as she scratched at her own flesh and stretched her muscles to ease the ache in them.
A deep yearning bloomed inside of her, even as she did not understand what she craved so badly that she would die for it. Another unpleasant cramp of muscles she’d had no idea she possessed caused her to double over…not with pain, but another sensation that was suspiciously similar.
Her knees hit the floor, hard enough it should be painful. But nothing resonated within her aside from the deep yearning for something she had no name for.
A gush of fluid escaped from between her legs, enough to soak through her jumpsuit and seep to the floor.
She had wet herself, was the distant thought, a disgraceful thing that had not occurred since she was a young child. That was when Aura knew that her initial assessment of the situation had been correct. Death approached, and she painfully endured her final moments.
Shame made her press her forehead to the floor, cold metal providing the slightest bit of relief as the world revolved too quickly around her. Someone would stumble upon her dying form and do with it what they willed. She prayed that consciousness fled prior to that moment, so she remained deaf and blind to the horrors that her body would endure.
Aura prayed for forgiveness from the gods who never answered and begged for the protection of her family. Auntie Nona would soon grow too feeble to care for anyone. The twins would be left defenseless, easy prey for whoever wished them harm.
And she prayed for the strength to face death without fear.
The halting groan of a re-breather was the first signal she wasn’t alone. She did not have the strength to lift her head from the metal floor as a large shadow loomed over her still form.
A pair of pristine white boots appeared at the corner of her vision, just as she felt herself effortlessly lifted and pressed against an armored chest.
“Please…” The word slipped from her lips unbidden as she stared up into light that seemed excessively bright. She could not speak further, her awareness trapped in the haze of twisting radiance and all-consuming pain.
“Hush.”
Sound resonated sharply where her flesh rested against the ceramic fiber breastplate. For a moment, she perceived the artificial voice as oddly unsatisfying. She wanted to rip at the mask and helmet, tearing it away to reveal what lay beneath. The urge faded into an exhaustion so profound it made her unable to lift her head from a supporting arm large enough to wrap around her entire body.
Any conception of time was lost on her as her gaze filled with the rounded ceiling moving slowly across her vision. The Sotiri soldier held her tightly as if she might slip away at any moment despite her inability to move. But she had no urge to fight him. The press of his body against her flesh soothed her, even if it only took the sharpest edge off of the ache that suffused every cell.
Other voices joined the mixture of recycled air above her head, all frustratingly disguised by re-breathers.
“What is this?”
Aura’s fingers tried to clench but slid against the smooth surface of his armor. The soldier carrying her did not so much as respond to the movement.
“Found her in one of the service hallways stuck in a pool of slick.”
The other voice sounded more curious than concerned. “How far along is she?”
“Impossible to say without scenting her. But she probably got caught with this last round of inducers, which means not long.”
“So she might actually survive, the Protectorate will be pleased. I hate it when we catch them after they’ve already been torn apart by the raving Betas on this floating bucket.”
Betas? The word floated through Aura’s ears with no meaning attached. She tried to sound out the foreign word but her addled mind could only partially form the letters. “Be…”
“Is she still conscious?”
Aura felt a casual shrug against her cheek. “I guess so.”
A sharp rumble broke through the air and it was the most wondrous sound that Aura had ever heard, momentarily chasing away the hurt and the pain. It loosened the tight set of her muscles and her head lolled back against the supporting arm underneath it.
She had felt nothing like this before. But even as serenity beckoned, Aura fought the iron hold around her body. The manipulative calm was suddenly unnerving and this temporary lull in her pain just made Aura want to resist.
Arms like steel tightened around her, but it wasn’t enough to stop her thrashing.
“Enough!”
The growl that followed was enough to freeze her very soul. It resonated within her, impossible to ignore. Heart pounding and fresh tears streaking down her cheeks, Aura stilled.
“Hand me that fucking tranq. She won’t make a jump like this.”
Aura felt her chin gripped with unrelenting fingers that forced her head to the side. Something hard pressed against the delicate skin of her neck. She heard the pull of a trigger, followed by a flash of pain, before the bright light around her faded to darkness.
Before succumbing completely, she heard the rasp of a voice that seemed almost sympathetic, even through the harsh rasp of a re-breather.
“Lucky this one is beautiful…b
ecause she’s going to be a real pain in the knot.”
Chapter Two
Chilled air blew across her face like icy fingers. She had never breathed oxygen that had not been recovered and recycled a hundred times over. The cold of it was enough to sting her throat.
Aura took a deep, shaking breath and waited for the expected burn of contamination that never came. She imagined herself floating through a sky that could only be seen through the few windows of the station. Space had to be cold like this.
“The Omega is awake.”
Her vision cleared as she pried open thickly crusted lashes. The familiar and unwelcome mask of a Sotiri appeared in front of her. She startled at the sight of him so close but was caught halfway through the movement when she tried to thrash away.
A thick substance had her body trapped. It wrapped around her arms and encircled her legs. As she shifted, the material tightened until the blood left her extremities and they burned.
“Do not fight the harness, Omega. It is designed to adjust to your movements and may become painful.”
Aura stared into the blackened mask that the Sotiri soldier wore, just able to make out the shape of his jaw through the dark visor. The soldiers were even larger up close than she’d realized. Though she didn’t have to imagine those hands that were the size of station portholes wrapped around her throat, because she could practically feel it. Her breathing came in short gasps as panic set in.
Regardless of the growled words, she still tried to fight the restraint that kept her prostrate and suspended off the floor. The harness tightened again until it drove the breath from her body. Pain edged in on the fear until it threatened to consume her. This was death come years earlier than it should, shrouded in a background of darkest black and piercing flares of light.
“Calm yourself.”
A strange sound emanated from behind the helmet of the Sotiri soldier, colored by the re-breather, but so compelling she momentarily forgot the need to struggle. The purring rumble from deep in his chest first filled the air around her then seeped into her body, easing the ache of tense muscles. He had made the sound before, she realized, but it was even stronger now. Before she could even contemplate how to react, her body had already collapsed into the unyielding embrace of the harness, heart pounding even as her body melted.
His gloved hand appeared at the corner of her wavering vision, moving steadily to her face. Unbidden, her eyes drifted closed as a finger stroked the curve of her cheek and caught the single tear that tracked down the overheated skin.
Aura squeezed her eyes shut so tightly they burned in their sockets. “What are you doing to me?”
The rasping voice was soft. “Saving you.”
But the searching fingers continued down her cheek to trace the curved hollow of her throat. Then moved lower to tease at the opening of the sweat-soaked jumpsuit she still wore.
Even though the thick weave of his glove still separated them, the touch sent a shot of electricity through her. She didn't want this strange man to be touching her, but her body responded. A foreign sensation curled in her belly, clenching the tight muscles of her abdomen and leaving her gasping.
“Please…”
Aura was begging him to stop. But the utterance sounded plaintive, practically pleading, even to her own ears.
The Sotiri clearly interpreted his touch as welcome. Or he did not concern himself with her consent one way or another.
The unwelcome hand slid inside the gaping neck of her jumpsuit until he grasped one breast that was barely large enough to fill his palm. Repugnance mixed with the growing heat inside of her, making her lightheaded.
When a nipple the color of honeyed-wine was harshly squeezed, she gasped aloud from both pain and something else. It was a quivering feeling that was darker and more enticing.
“I know it’s difficult and confusing now,” the man drawled, trying and failing to sound reassuring. “But soon you will understand what it means to be an Omega under Alpha attention. Then it will seem laughable that you ever thought to fear it.”
Again he used those words she did not understand. Beta. Omega. Alpha. Perhaps the terms were native to the Sotiri and lacked a proper translation. Though he spoke the galactic standard language most common among the ship’s inhabitants, it wasn’t his native tongue and he likely used translation equipment.
The man seemed to sense how much of her fear was born of confusion and took pity on her.
“A full explanation will come in time, fragile girl. We will arrive soon in the Capital and all will be revealed. But I will answer the question that I see in your eyes.”
Lulled by the strange timbre of his voice and the rumbling vibration that punctuated every word, Aura could almost forget that his hand rested on her breast. He kneaded the soft flesh almost absently, like a child with a newly discovered toy.
She stared up at him wide-eyed, unable to form words to speak.
“The rations provided to your station were laced with hormonal stimulants, designed to induce latent Omega dynamics in the Beta population. Starvation and chemical contaminants have suppressed expression until now. Malnourished Omegas do not experience heat cycles.”
His words held no meaning. The confusion was enough for Aura to find her voice. “Heat?”
“The fever and confusion that you’re experiencing are the first markers of a heat cycle. It means that an Omega is fertile and ready to be mated.” He continued to stroke his fingers across her chest. The weave on his gloved fingers was rough against her skin, as he explored a part of her body that had never been exposed to anyone’s touch but her own. “The effects have been temporarily blocked with tranquilizers. When we arrive in the Capital, a proper mate will be selected for you.”
Mating was a word that Aura understood. She had spent enough time exploring the catacomb of tunnels within the walls of the station to stumble across frantic couples in the dark. She had seen desperate females trade their bodies for extra shares of rations or properly decontaminated water.
And she wanted nothing to do with any of it.
“I want to go home,” she begged, as fresh tears burned the corners of her eyes.
“That’s precisely where we are going, child.”
She was already shaking her head in a negative, ignoring the pain as the harness tightened around her. “No, no, no…”
“An Omega who remains unmated through her heat cycle experiences terrible agony. We would spare you that. Omegas are to be cherished.” He pinched her nipple hard as he spoke, in sharp contrast to his words.
An ache bloomed deep inside, an itch too deep to be scratched. It was entirely unwelcome and yet she yearned for things that she had no words to describe.
“Perhaps you should show her.” A second Sotiri spoke from just outside the edges of her vision, his voice through the re-breather indistinguishable from the one harshly groping her chest. “We won’t land for hours yet.”
Aura did not understand what was meant by that until his fingers pushed inside of her jumpsuit. She heard the rip of fabric just before cool air rushed over her and raised bumps along her skin.
“If only we could smell her,” the first man growled as his searching hands roved over every inch of bared skin. “I haven’t scented an unbound Omega in years.”
“She wouldn’t make it the Capital unsullied otherwise.” The second man’s scoff was audible even through the re-breather. He moved further inside of the small room until she could just make out his form in the corner of her vision. “You know what happens when an Alpha encounters unmated Omega scent without the benefit of the re-breather. Feral doesn’t even describe it.”
“How nice it is to have a Beta pilot to remind me.”
“Anytime, sir.”
Silently watching them, as if stillness would make them forget her, Aura realized that the second man was smaller than the first. Although he was still much larger than her slight form.
“Shouldn’t you be navigating this bucket you cal
l a jump-ship?”
“It’s on auto-pilot.”
“How convenient. I suppose you can watch.”
“Be careful,” the smaller man murmured. “Isn’t she untried?”
“Not for long.” The Alpha stroked thick fingers along her leg, the movement hampered by the fabric of her jumpsuit. “Soon she will be presented at the breeding halls of the Capital, mounted by a worthy Alpha and bred. It is an honor to serve the Protectorate.”
Those unwelcome fingers teased at the hidden flesh between her thighs, as she struggled in vain against the harness which tightened uncomfortably around her. “Stop, please. I don’t understand…”
“Do you understand what is to be mated, sweet girl?”
Aura had never felt shame like this as the uniformed Sotiri explored her body without even a modicum of restraint. She waited for the pain that she always understood to be a feature of a man’s touch, but it never came. Instead of discomfort, tiny flutters of a sensation that was not entirely unpleasant centered on the site of his brazen exploration.
She understood the concept of rape, even if she had never been the victim of it. And though she had no choice but to endure this stranger’s pawing, it didn’t feel like something that was intended to be traumatizing. That realization only deepened her shame.
Her head lolled against the highest strap of the harness, voice a harsh whisper. “I don’t want this.”
“You will.” A different sound emanated from the re-breather, deeper and growling. The noise cut through her, sending a spasm down clenched muscles and leaving her gasping. Moments later, a gush of fluid rushed from the place where his fingers gently stroked. “This is what it means to be Omega, girl. Only an Alpha can satisfy an Omega heat. Resisting our attention will only bring you torment.”
As if her body understood his words far better than her mind ever could, the fluttering sensation at the pit of her belly only increased. Her inner walls, a place that she had never been brave enough to explore even with her own fingers, rhythmically spasmed as if waiting for something to grasp and suck. The sensation continued to build as the tip of one of his fingers circled the little nubbin of flesh just above her opening.
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