Broken Angel: The Complete Collection: A Dark Omegaverse Romance

by Penelope Woods

  Chapter Eleven

  A street vendor near the station arranges the journey to Varikar.

  Out of money and forced into uncomfortable darkness for hours, the alphas don’t say a word. Instead, they sleep. Sometimes, when a bump wakes them, they each take turns peering out of the bullet holes that line the back of the packing truck.

  The vehicle takes them deep into the country where houses are sparse and the old fragments of war stand petrified on the stage of unpaved roads and tilted wagon wheels.

  “I know this place,” Lucas mutters.

  Rae curls her chin against his chest. Her fingers trace a line around his inked tattoos and other faint battle scars. There is something hidden inside him, a pain he wouldn’t dare let out until now.

  “You have been to Varikar?” she asks.

  “I grew up in a town south of here. It was not known as Varikar then,” he says.

  “But it must have been. I remember it so vividly,” she says.

  Lucas is prepared for her childish ideas. Cassian groomed her well enough to cause her to forget key details such as names. Her origin story is so much worse than she assumes.

  The artifacts of war bring familiar demons back into his heart. Ages ago, he’d fought those battles. Him and his father. But that was before the Republic fell and cities broke out into many civil conflicts.

  That was before alpha-kind fell.

  He never saw his mother again. Never saw his brothers, sisters, and optimistic neighbors who’d told him he could become somebody greater than himself.

  The rug had been pulled out from underneath their feet.

  Somehow, Lucas learned to harden his heart. And once he killed enough to betas and omegas to satisfy his bloodlust, he set his sights on Cassian.

  They disembark from the vehicle, stepping into the muddied soil. Bone fragments and gravestones litter the north side of the town. Fog drifts through the emptied and ruined horse stables as the sun rises over the horizon. The village itself seems completely abandoned. Burned to a crisp.

  “Is this how it always looked?” Vash asks.

  Rae swallows and glances back at the waiting vehicle. “They must have left…”

  Lowering her body to the sludge below, she tries to understand what happened here to no avail. She’s about to give up when she feels Lucas’ hand rub against her shoulder.

  “It’s not your fault,” he says. “We couldn’t have known they torched the place.”

  “This entire time, I gave into the illusion that they were waiting for me,” she says, tears dropping like rain from her smooth cheek. “Nobody is waiting for me. Were they even real?”

  Vash looks away without a response.

  “We have all lost something great,” Killian says.

  Rae reaches into her holster and pulls out the revolver. Despite the alphas’ efforts to stop her, she runs into the ghost town in search of her old home. What she finds is a mirror version of what she remembers, not quite the same, but close enough that it leaves her confused and exhausted.

  Cautiously, she touches the bricks that still barely hold the foundation. Rae feels a great horror occurred here, and she wonders why she felt the need to come back in the first place.

  It should have been obvious that they were all dead. Why wouldn’t they be?

  “We should go,” Vash says, placing his hand over hers.

  But she isn’t ready. Instead, she pulls her hand away, walking through the open-air entrance, facing the inner hallway that she remembers so well. This is where her father sold her.

  But as she walks further inside, she notices that the home is different. There are extra rooms. No, this is not the same place.

  “None of this makes any sense,” she whispers. “Where am I? Who am I?”

  In the corner of the primary room is a small chest adorned in gold. Vash immediately knows what it is. The chest that once housed his father’s old belongings.

  This is his home village, not Rae’s. A place he left as a child. There is only one alpha who is cruel enough to lead him here.

  “Cassian,” he mutters.

  He recognizes this place now, the home he grew up in before his father stole him from his family, subjugating him into a life of war. Forever.

  There is so much history he has yet to work through, but there is no time.

  Suddenly, the rooms feel alive again. He can see his mother near the stables outside. She is walking toward him, arms outstretched to hug his boyish body. She looks so beautiful.

  But then, the vision fragments back into reality.

  Cassian programmed Rae for this. To bring him here. But why?

  “Rae, we need to leave,” Killian insists.

  But Vash is transfixed. He needs to know what is inside that chest.

  Walking toward the large trunk, Vash bends and glides his hand over the gold filigree. The design, murderous as it is in nature, is the same insignia of the snake. Only, it is not eating its tail. Instead, it is rising above a pit of hot coals.

  The old logo.

  Vash isn’t like the other slave traders. Sure, his father raised him to be a soldier. That was the only life he truly knew. But he is more than a sword and a rifle. At least, he hopes he is more.

  “What’s inside?” Lucas asks, eyes narrowing.

  Heart pounding against his sternum, Vash opens the chest, staring at a small vial of liquid. That’s it. Just a glass of tonic.

  He takes the glass chamber and holds it against the foggy lighting.

  “He has decided to keep me alive,” Vash says, throat strained with apprehension.

  “Or kill you faster,” Killian says. “Better to throw it away. We will find a doctor in—”

  Vash crashes his fist against his chest. “There is no doctor!”

  “You could die, Vash,” Lucas says.

  “And who would care?” he responds.

  Vash stands and cracks the top over his mouth. Small drops of fluid dissolve into his tongue, distributing the contents through the active muscle tissue. Gulping, he licks the excess off his lips and growls.

  “You fool,” Lucas cries.

  Vash tongues at the inside of his lips, smiling when completely cleaned. “If I die, you can write that on my tombstone,” he says.

  Rae loses control.

  Her voice drops, deep and raw. “You… You brought me here to trick me. This isn’t my home. It’s a trick.”

  Watching her eyes dart between the three tormenters, Vash takes her arms and swings her off her feet. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. We’re going.”

  For once, Rae fights back, kicking out of his grasp. She scrapes her heels, tripping against the concrete floor. Sobbing, she says, “Somebody, please tell me what’s going on.”

  Vash stands in the middle of the group, tall and ominous. He holds out his hand to pick her up.

  “If we leave, I will tell you everything that I know. I promise to tell you my story.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Vash faces the window of the moving train car. Through the wiring of the cable cars, he could see the city of Dagon growing taller in the distance.

  “He has manipulated us,” Vash says.

  “No one has been manipulated more than me. More than my kind,” Rae mutters.

  Vash slings his back against the armrest. Oddly enough, he feels healthier. But a question keeps flashing in his mind like a strobe.

  Why?

  Why give him the cure after spending all this time trying to drive him into the earth? What is it that Cassian wants from him now?

  “You are an omega. It’s in your nature to be handled,” Vash says.

  Rae’s body shakes, but before she can react, the train car comes to a grinding halt. The alphas rush through of the crowded exits, but Rae struggles to keep up.

  “Do not tell me what is in my nature,” she says, taking his forearm.

  Vash keeps walking, past the station, past everything, until they reach a wall of broken buildings. Wit
h new health and vitality, he waits at the entrance of the safe house they previously abandoned.

  They are back. Home sweet fucking home.

  “Are there others like you?” she asks.

  “Other factions? They don’t measure against the Oroborous,” Killian says.

  “If you want to know more about your nature, Rae,” Vash sneers, “you will follow me inside and stop making a fuss.”

  Rae follows, but she holds the pistol steady.

  “I want to know what I really am,” she says.

  The alphas sit down on a torn-up couch. Hands against his forehead, Killian mutters, “First, we should tell you who we really are.”

  Rae pauses, and Lucas takes the reins. “We have all suffered.”

  Rae wags her head. “I’m sick of hearing that.”

  “Do our lives not matter?” Vash asks.

  Looking straight into his eyes, Rae answers. “Your lives matter once mine does to you,” she says. “Someday, omegas will claim power. Mark my words.”

  “The omegas won’t stand a chance against our armies,” Killian says.

  Then he stands with the intent of beating her back into submission, but Rae pulls the gun on him faster than any of them can react.

  The other two watch with unease. “Don’t fucking move,” she says.

  “Fucking omega,” Killian whispers through his teeth.

  “You see? I have fists, too. They’re shiny, metal, and as alluring as the kiss of death,” she says, grinning.

  All the men’s triggers seem to go off at once, but they do not react. One movement could end them.

  His anger turning into harsh amusement, Killian lowers himself to the floor. He bows.

  “Is this what you want? Power over us?” Vash asks.

  “Vash,” Lucas hisses.

  Rae stands above Killian, barrel aimed at his skull. “I am the alpha and the omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

  Killian crawls forward until his hands meet her dirtied feet. Raising his head, he places his palms flat in the air. As much as it makes him nervous, it also excites him to see her reacting like this.

  It’s change.

  “I’m not going to hurt you. We need each other,” he says, bone growing thick between his thighs.

  Slowly, he arches his back and extends his hips. His mealy foreskin parts into a blooming shine. The strong muscle tissue on the underside of his shaft and corpulent sac throbs.

  Rae places the end of the gun’s barrel against his winking urethra. “Explain to me what I am.”

  Killian closes his eyes, able to give his trust away. Never in his life did he expect to give his trust to an omega, but the world is changing. Progress requires some sacrifice.

  “That village is not your birthplace,” he says.

  Rae nods. “Do I even have a birthplace?”

  “Of course, you do. You are special, Rae. All of this is for a reason,” Lucas says, lowering next to Killian.

  Vash soon follows, although reluctantly. “We found you for a reason.”

  Rae sways the gun. “Then do not make me repeat my question.”

  Vash looks at the floor, voice cracking. “You don’t have a home. Well, not entirely.”

  “But that does not matter. We are your home now,” Lucas says.

  Rae falls silent for a moment, but Killian braces for the storm. Winding her arm back, Rae screams and cracks Vash’s cheek with the butt of the revolver. She gnashes her teeth, hammering her fists, while screaming into their eardrums.

  Finally, she spits on Vash’s incensed face and grabs his sac, ready to twist.

  “You lied to me. All of you,” she growls.

  Lucas lifts his eyes and wraps his fingers around her ankles. “Cassian brainwashed you. Filled you with false memories. We had no say.”

  “We did what we had to do,” Vash says. “If you knew too much too fast, you would have got us killed.”

  Rae squeezes the sac harder until the rough skin turns a darker shade of purple. His Adam’s apple swings up his neck, and he lets out a choked cry.

  Her eyes fly open, lashes curling, devastatingly beautiful against the ridge of her brow. “All of this is your fault, you inbred fuck,” she says. “Who is my father? My mother? Who the fuck made me?”

  They do not dare answer.

  Uttering a shrill scream, Rae collapses against the wall. She could kill the alphas if she wanted to. She could carve out their insides with sharp tools. Instead, she will let them live.

  She is alone, and without them, she would be lost in worse darkness.

  The alphas stand, albeit slowly. Gently, they come to her. They wrap her in their arms, providing her the warmth she now craves.

  In this world, nobody can win.

  They are all of the blood. Together.

  A realization hits her as hard as a punishing shock-wave grenade. “I am Cassian’s daughter. Aren’t I?”

  Vash kisses her temple and sighs, breath hot. “Yes,” he admits. “Cassian extracted his DNA to make an omega copy of himself. A perfect bloodline. What he created was you.”

  It’s almost too difficult to hear. Rae chokes on her stinging tears. She remembers the omegas’ voices at the facility. The tone and inflection. They sounded just like her.

  “Who are the other omegas inside the facilities?” she asks.

  But she knows. They are versions of her.

  “Botched attempts,” Vash clarifies. “He couldn’t get the coding right after he made you. The rest cannot bear kin.”

  “But you can,” Lucas says. “You were born with three cervixes, each leading to a different compartment inside your uterus. Incredibly rare. In fact, there are no known omegas with that characteristic.”

  “Three…?” Rae’s voice falls flat.

  “You weren’t the first he tried to create,” Killian says.

  “You were lucky,” Vash adds. “A complete mistake. He’s been trying to copy you ever since, but he is a failure. His team is even worse.”

  “Is that all I am? The obsessive failure of a madman?” Rae asks.

  “We have given you more free rein than any other alpha would in the sector. Clearly, there is more to you,” Lucas says.

  She looks down at her tight belly. Placing her palms flat against the skin, she takes a deep breath and feels it expand. “What if I can’t bear your children? What if I’m just like them?”

  “The data suggests that you aren’t,” Vash says. “I read each document before trying to find you.”

  Rae still has so many questions, but her mind feels worn down. “You are his brother. That means you are of his blood, too. We are the same,” she whispers.

  Vash bites his lip. They are not the same.

  “Vash is an illegitimate child, stolen as a young babe. You are not related by blood,” Killian says.

  “Is this true?” she asks Vash.

  He nods with contempt. “As Cassian and I watched our father’s last flames burn out, my mind became fixed on how the old brute found me. He took me as a child, during the first village occupations. The soldiers ravaged my town. Omegas were killed in front of my very eyes. My own mother…”

  Vash grew up knowing he was different. Cassian was a better fighter, a natural born killer, but he lacked foresight. Still, his father had trained him the same and expected them to rule together.

  Truth be told, he has been preparing for these days his entire life.

  “After my father died, everything changed. Cassian became hungry for revenge. Casting wars on all neighboring cities, he harvested the omegas. He stole their innocence and beauty. I believe he wants to be God, and I don’t think you are his last creation.”

  “You alphas underestimate the power of the omegas,” Rae says with confidence.

  “Tell me. What would you do in our situation? We are now up against the toughest alphas in the continent,” Killian says.

  It is obvious they are exceptional warriors, but the terms of their cruel game
has changed.

  “I know how to aim,” she says. “I proved that in the barracks. And if what you say is true, Cassian is my family. I think he wanted me to know that.”

  “That doesn’t tell us how you’ll take on his might,” Lucas says.

  “His cock will lead me right to him,” she says.

  The alphas stare at her in silent wonder. She holds the ability to bear more life than anyone on the planet. Bowing their heads in unusual respect, they wait for her next move.

  “Now.” She traces her fingers around the hem of her dress. “You may knot me. You will conquer me again and again. But above all else, you will please me and vow yourselves to my image forever.”

  Vash chokes, stuttering. “W-W-What?”

  “You’re fucking joking,” Killian stammers. “We vow our lives to no one.”

  She laughs and holsters the revolver. “When I’m left panting on the floor, I want to close my eyes knowing you truly love me,” she says.

  Then Rae spreads her legs, her warm slick dripping from her dewy walls. “Get to work, dogs. It’s time.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  “You may call me your queen.”

  Rae’s warm slick coats the back of their throats as their tongues dig deep inside her pussy. Holding her ankles close to her chest, she forces her legs into a compact diamond.

  Like carnivorous beasts, the alphas lap up and down. Gentle beads of lubricant roll from her lips, spreading throughout the curtained skin. Every delicate fold shines with intricate beauty. Once an unfamiliar and deeply mysterious mechanism, she now knows how to demand pleasure.

  She finds the clitoris to be a pure and separate entity. It is a shrouded mystery, waiting to be discovered, just like the sleek trigger of a loaded weapon.

  It’s the only spot on her body designed for pleasure. Its function is basic. Necessary to draw in enough semen. And somehow, the alphas believed they have it better.

  Yeah, right.

  She looks down at their tired, bloodshot eyes. Despite their exhaustion, she forces them to keep eating.

  “Lick me,” she moans.

  She tilts her head back and coos, lips curling inward. Vibratory sensations spread throughout her pelvis. Clit, hard and throbbing, Rae forces her hips forward and falls into the ocean of their tongues.