Owned by the Alpha

by Laxmi Hariharan

  The claiming marks on either side of my shoulder throb. Pain sweeps down my spine. The space in my chest where the mating bond had locked in convulses and a jolt of fear races over my skin. My stomach churns, and my womb spasms.

  A hollowness fills my chest.

  I try to draw in a breath, but my lungs burn. I gasp and try to rise, only to sink back. I need to go to him.

  There’s the sound of the door opening, and a figure walks in. She breaks into a run halfway across the floor. Reaching me, she grabs my shoulders and rights me. “What’s wrong?”

  I blink into the eyes of the same omega female who’d brought me food and seen to my needs over the past week. “He’s in danger.” I gasp.

  “The General?”

  I press my lips together. “I need to go to him.”

  She hesitates.

  “Please, it’s not just him, it’s all his team, too.” I curl my fingers into fists. “Their lives are in danger.”

  She goes pale. “Ethan…Ethan’s with him.”

  “He’s also at risk.” I lean forward. “All of them. We need to get to them.”

  She takes a step back and turns to go.

  “Wait…what are you doing?”

  “I’m going to get Sol.” She straightens her spine. “He’ll know what to do.” She goes to the door.

  “Not here.”

  She shoots me a glance over her shoulder.

  I wave a hand toward the messed-up bed, the evidence of my coupling with Zeus everywhere. “I don’t want another alpha or anyone else to taint my space.”

  She angles her head, her gaze considering.

  “Help me up, take me to him.” I set my lips.

  “It’s against the General’s orders.”

  “If you don’t do that, there may not be any General or any Ethan left…” I fold my arms over my chest.

  She swallows.

  “You understand?”

  She lets go of the door, which snicks shut. Swiveling on her heels, she hurries back to me. She grabs a key from her pocket, and reaches for my cuffs. “I’ll help you to the shower.”

  2

  Zeus

  “Don’t go, Alpha.” Her voice echoes in my ears.

  I know I am dreaming, but I don’t want to break the images that fill my mind. Just this once, it’s okay to burrow into the fantasy, to cover her body with mine.

  That sweet scent of her arousal teases my nostrils and sinks into my skin, and I know I need more, so much more.

  I trace little kisses over her cheek, down her throat, to the hollow between her breasts, licking up the bead of sweat that lingers there.

  “Zeus.”

  Her breath sears my forehead. Her muscles tighten under my palm. I cup the firm curve of her breast and squeeze.

  She shivers. Her dark-red nipples pucker up. And I can’t stop myself. I curl my lips over them and bite down.

  “Zeus.”

  Her cry sweeps over my skin, and my groin tightens. My shaft throbs.

  “I need to be inside you,” I whisper.

  “Please.” A mewl rises up her throat and curls around my shoulders.

  I slide down her naked body, trailing wet kisses over the curve of her rib cage, down to where her waist dips to her belly button. I swirl my tongue over the indentation. Her muscles quiver. Her fingernails rake over my hair, and she grips the strands, pulling back my head as her pelvis pushes up toward me. Offering me her body, her soul, her everything. And I won’t be content unless I have her all over again. I trail my tongue down to the triangle between her legs, where her flesh pulses, and blow on it gently. Her entire body quakes. A moan tears out of her. My groin tightens; I need her. Want her. But first, I need her to come. Just to see her fall apart around me, so she knows who controls her body. So she knows she cannot do anything without my permission. She knows who’s in charge, and it’s not her. No matter what, my omega is stubborn; I need her to submit to me. She must acknowledge me as her master. I flick my finger over the nub of her core. Her thighs clench. The scent of her arousal bleeds into the air and shatters over my skin. My entire body tenses. And I thought I was teasing her?

  I grip her hips and raise her at just the right angle.

  Then, bending close, I purr, letting the sound flow up from my core, up from my chest and out over her, modulating my tone just right so it bleeds into the air between us, surrounding us, cocooning us.

  Her body shudders. Her spine arches, and her hips push up. “Take me, Alpha,” she pants.

  A smile curves up my lips. “Soon, my Squirrel, very soon. But first you need to learn your place.”

  Another growl rumbles up my chest, and I let the sound weave around her hips, lassoing the trembling flesh, bringing her closer, to the end that only I can see. Her legs twitch. She folds her knees, then widens her thighs further.

  I can’t stop the purr of satisfaction that drools out of me. She’s beautiful, gorgeous, and mine. All mine. I will make her mine even if it means I have to rip out every cell in my body, even if it means keeping her here until I have ravaged every portion of her skin, licked every inch of her curves, sucked on every piece of her flesh—or perhaps there is another way. Seduce her, taunt her, make her beg. A shiver of anticipation tugs my nerves. I go hard just thinking of everything else I want to do to her. Just teasing her, of course. I want her to realize what she’d miss if I was not there, what she’d get only from me.

  I release of her hips, and her body sinks back into the bed. Her muscles coil.

  “Wha…what are you doing?”

  “Shh!” I bare my teeth, knowing she can’t see it. I had clamped down a barrier over the mating bond, yet she seems to glean my thoughts. Despite my trying to separate us, she is tuned in to me, and it’s worrying. Damn if it isn’t also intriguing. It worries me. And excites me. Enough for me to want to test it.

  I reach up and tie her free arm to the headboard. “Close your eyes.” I reach for a second scarf.

  Her eyebrows draw down, and her mouth purses. I expect her to protest and say she doesn’t want me to blindfold her, that she doesn’t want to completely submit herself to my ministrations. Once again, my omega surprises me. Her shoulders tense, but she doesn’t say anything. Just raises her head from the pillow so I can tie the fabric around her eyes. I don’t need to reassure her, yet that part inside of me that seems to surprise me these days, ever since I met her, that is, coerces me.

  I flutter my knuckles over her jawline then place my lips close to her ear. “Trust me.”

  She nods, a quick jerk of her head. Almost imperceptible, but I catch it.

  “Good girl.”

  I brush my lips over hers.

  Her lips cling to mine, and before I give in to the temptation of thrusting my tongue inside her mouth and drinking of that essence of her that goes to my head, I withdraw. I balance my weight on my elbows and the balls of my feet, planking over her.

  My muscles strain with the weight of my entire body, but I can take it.

  She must sense the heat from my body for goosebumps pop on the skin over her breasts. Her nipples pucker. A bead of sweat creeps down her temple. I lean close and am about to lick it up. Then change my mind and blow on her skin.

  She shivers and sinks her teeth into her lower lip. I sense her muscles go solid under me. Ah! So she’s going to hold back the satisfaction of showing what I am doing to her? She’s just changed the tone of this entire game into a battle of wills. One I am not going to lose.

  A harsh purr rumbles up, and I lower my chest, close enough to almost graze her nipples—almost. Her flesh tightens, the buds pucker up. She must sense the vibrations, for the muscles of her waist quiver.

  I lower my mouth toward her breasts and open my mouth over the nipples and blow again. The pores of her breasts tighten, her curves swell. She swallows. Waves of anticipation roll off her, and that sweet, sugary scent of her arousal deepens. It’s more arousing than touching her, the fact that just my intent of wanting to bring her t
o climax is turning her on so much.

  I crawl down her body, making sure not to touch any part of it. Spotting another scarf, I bind it around her ankle and tug it tight to the side. Then the other so she’s spread-eagled.

  There’s the sound of a moan from her, quickly stifled. A trickle of slick sloshes down from between her legs. My omega is aroused, and I haven’t started yet.

  I rise off the bed and stand at the foot of the bed frame.

  My gaze sweeps over the curves of her body, a long, lean line of submission—no, not really. I bound her so I could bare her to my ministrations, but that doesn’t mean she has submitted to me. If anything, her shoulders straighten, her stance wary. She is anticipating everything that’s coming to her, but she’s not scared and that intrigues me.

  “What do you want, Omega?” My tone sounds gentle.

  Not how I’d wanted this session to go, but that’s how it always goes with her.

  Me trying to get her to come around to my way of doing things, her resisting, and me having to unbend just a little at a time.

  I’d set out to tame her, but she always manages to crawl her way inside of my heart, under my skin, right from the time I’d first laid eyes on her. No, even before, from the time I’d first dreamed about an omega with green eyes who I was going to take for my own.

  I’ve never told her that before, but I can show her what I want to do to her. How I want to make her beg for my touch, mewl for me to penetrate her, and then, I am going to hold back. Does that me a bastard?

  Probably.

  It's just how I am. I prefer to tease, to draw out the need, until every single molecule of her body wants me, only me.

  A harsh purr is drawn out of me. I throw my voice so that the edge of the tone lassoes over her. She tugs at her bonds, and her thighs clench. A gush of liquid pours out from between her legs, pooling below, and I can’t hold back anymore. All thought of teasing her goes out of my head. I lean down between her legs, lap up the liquid, then, scooping up the moisture, smear it over my hardness.

  “I know what you are doing.” Her voice trembles.

  “Do you?” I grip the base of my shaft, trying to hold back the need that tears at me. Just a little longer until I can have her. Just a few minutes more until I drive her to the edge. When she’s about to go over, I’m going to pull her back and do it all over again. But she doesn’t know that, yet.

  “Let me help you, Alpha.” She tilts her head.

  Clever omega, she thinks she can trick me into opening her blindfold?

  “I admit I am tempted.” I drag my grip up my cock, all the way to the end so a drop of precum appears at the tip.

  She groans.

  So do I.

  “Please.” She licks her lips and I feel the tug all the way to the tip of my shaft.

  I kneel over her, raising my torso until I am positioned right over her face. “Open your mouth.”

  “First take off my blindfold.”

  I swear. “You are not in a position to negotiate.”

  Her lips twist. “Neither are you.”

  A growl rumbles up from my throat. Low, deep, filled with every last sliver of intention of what I want to do to her. What I will be doing to her if she doesn’t cooperate.

  Color rises in her cheeks.

  She curls her fingers around her restraints. “You are such a sore loser.” She pouts.

  “And you are going to be more than just sore.” I rub my dick over her lips. “Everywhere.” Her lips fall open, and I slam my shaft into her mouth. “Once I am done with you…”

  My engorged flesh hits the back of her throat, and she gags.

  “I am going to punish you for your insubordination, Little Squirrel.”

  She licks the head of my shaft, and another purr is drawn out of me. My balls grow heavy, and damn if I am not near coming already.

  I skim my knuckles over her jawline. So gorgeous. So sensuous. And, all mine.

  She closes her mouth around me, and the heat sweeps down my spine. Sweat pops over my forehead. Who is taking who here? Anger flows into my chest, and it’s laced with pride…for her, for the fact that whatever I throw at her, she always takes it and comes back for more. Like she wants me…not just my body, but me, the harsh, cynical monster inside who hadn’t hesitated to kill his family for power. Who is hell-bent on wrecking his legacy, until there is nothing left of the tainted blood that runs in my veins.

  My nerve endings crackle with pain…with lust…with need for this omega who has me on my knees.

  She just doesn’t know it yet. I can’t tell her, not until I come to terms with how I see her. She’s not just my mate, she is more—my partner, and... no omega has ever stood next to her alpha, never fought alongside her mate, until her.

  She’d put her life at stake and saved me. She’d almost gotten killed in the process, and I cannot allow her to do that again. She needs to know where she belongs. Under me, in my bed, in my space, where I can protect her and keep her safe.

  My heart stutters.

  I cannot let anything happen to her. If she insists on continuously challenging me, it will put her at risk.

  I need to find a way to keep her here, voluntarily, and the only way to do that is to tame her spirit.

  I pull out of her, until the swollen head drags over her lips. “You’re going to take everything I give and ask for more, and when I am done with you—”

  All of her muscles tense.

  She pulls up her chin, and swipe her tongue over the edge of my cock. Liquid lust slams into my groin.

  “—I’ll take everything that is left, and when it’s over, you won’t know where you end and where I begin.” I thrust my flesh inside that heated, moist mouth of hers. “You’ll forget everything about yourself, everything except my name.”

  “Zeus.”

  Freezing water slaps my face, and I spring up on my feet. I swing my fists up in front of me. Water flows off of me, and my feet almost slip. I look around to find I am in the shallows of a river.

  On the raised bank just a foot ahead, Ethan faces me, his chest forward, knees bent. “We tried to wake you, but clearly you were…ah…too exhausted.” He chuckles. “We voted this was the best way to wake you up.”

  “The fuck?” I wade through the water before springing up on the bank.

  Liam bursts into the clearing. His breath comes in pants. He’s geared up in fatigues, a gun secured to his back, more guns packed into the belt around his waist, and a knife strapped to his thigh. “Found the Vikings.”

  I stride to him, shaking the water out of my hair. “How far?”

  “A mile, maybe two.”

  I move past him to where we’d broken camp. I grab my vest and pull it on over my dripping clothes. They’ll dry off in the heat of the day anyway. Already my clothes are steaming. Shoving my feet into my boots, I pick up my sword and slide it on over my back, then the organic gun which I hook onto my belt.

  Ethan reaches for his vest.

  “Your timing always did suck, Second.” I should be far angrier at him for having interrupted what had clearly been a dream.

  Though I'd clamped a barrier over the mating cord, these nightly dreams have been getting more vivid since we’d left London and headed off toward where the Vikings had last been seen. The plan is to catch them before they leave the shores of this country. Once they board the ships to Russia, they’ll be invincible—in more ways than one. At the time I’d left her, I'd thought it was a good idea to keep a distance been us.

  Right now, with my groin on fire, my balls straining like they weigh a ton, and that ever-present sting of the mating cord that claws at my breastbone, I am not so sure. I rub the skin over my chest and swear.

  “Is it my timing or yours you are talking about?” Ethan shrugs on his vest and hooks on his guns and the bow and arrow.

  “What do you mean?” I gather my hair and tie it back with a piece of leather.

  “You should have stayed and completed the mating bond wit
h your omega—”

  I close the distance between us then draw my knife and press its edge to his throat, “Why do I get a sense of déjà vu, Second?”

  “Just stating the obvious General.” He holds up his hands in mock surrender.

  “I told you never to talk about her.”

  “Someone has to, given you don’t want to acknowledge how much she’s already changing you.”

  I frown, “What do you mean?”

  “Apparently you give a fuck about someone else other than yourself.” He scratches his chin. “Not that it’s a bad thing, except—”

  “Except, it takes the edge off of my awareness.” I set my jaw. “It’s a source of distraction, one which threatens to take my attention away from what is important.” I push down on the knife until the blade slices through his skin. A trickle of blood spills down his throat.

  He swallows, and his eyes narrow. “Come now, Z, you know I am looking out for you.”

  “Yeah, the way you watched out for Golan right before you showed me to his suite and gave me your blessing to kill him?” I raise the knife, and he stiffens.

  I bring it down and he doesn’t move.

  The knife whizzes over his shoulder. Fucker doesn't blink, he continues to hold my gaze. He has balls, I’ll give him that.

  I brush past him to where the blade has gone through a fox.

  I slam my foot on the animal, hold down the carcass, and yank out the knife.

  “I did what was in the best interests of this city.” His voice follows me.

  “And I am doing what’s best for me.” I wipe the blade on the animal, then heave the carcass at Ryker. He snatches it up.

  Blood drips down from the animal.

  “Tonight you’re on cooking duties.” I jerk my chin at him. “Assuming we haven’t caught the marauders by then.”

  His features contort, and his lips draw down. “Aw, come on, General, you know I’d do almost anything other than cook.”

  “Time to learn, asshole.” I toss my head. “You throw me in the water—and not that I don’t appreciate the wakeup call, you get me? But every action has consequences, and don’t you forget that.”