by Alison Aimes
She staggered toward the door.
There are no servants to hear you, bitch. I sent them all away. I wanted no one to witness my upcoming meeting. Seems that will serve me well on several fronts this rotation.
More of the prime omega’s thoughts. Naytalia didn’t want to hear anymore. Especially the last one.
Die.
She was almost to the door, panic flooding her body, when the searing pain sliced through her back and into her stomach.
She gasped. Went down hard.
Overwhelmed by pain, she almost thought she was imagining the sudden appearance of a wide-shouldered, robed figure in gray walking into her line of vision, his boots planted by her cheek—until he spoke. “What is going on here? This was not the plan. You were supposed to meet me in your room for a secret meeting, not cause a scene and execute an Alpha and his whore.”
“It could not be helped.” The prime omega was breathing fast, her excitement palpable. She liked what she’d done. “They weren’t supposed to be in this section of the compound. I tried to send them away, but Kuril was too busy fucking her to go. Then she read my mind. She knew I was plotting against the Brotherhood.”
“My employer does not like surprises.” The male’s voice sounded young, and arrogant.
“It won’t happen again.”
“You were told to learn account information, shipping routes, crime boss patterns, weaknesses, and most significantly, how and when the Brotherhood meetings are communicated and any means of infiltration.”
“All of which I will do. I swear it.” Tasha sounded more nervous than Naytalia had ever heard. “Olan is a fool. His security lax. And none of the Alpha crime bosses would ever suspect an omega. You have already seen how easily I was able to get you Olan’s account information, as well as that of the Kuril head.”
The robed figured growled low. “Do not make the mistake of thinking all Alphas are like those two. There are far smarter within the Brotherhood, and without.” His tone was heavy with warning. “There are also plenty of Alphas who know how to handle a disobedient omega.”
“Yes, of course, my Alpha Lord.” Eyes downcast, Tasha took solace behind false submissiveness.
“Hmmm.” The robed figure didn’t seem to buy her act. The air around him crackled with menace. “Do not pretend with me, omega. I don’t need your fake docility to force your surrender.”
“Yes, Alpha Lord.”
“See that you remember who is in charge.”
“Yes, of course. You are.” Tasha said the right words, but it was clear to Naytalia they’d scraped like jagged glass as they issued from the other omega’s throat. Poor Tasha. In this way, they were both alike. Both plotting and scheming for more. But Tasha craved power, whereas all Naytalia wanted was security. Thanks to the Alphas around them, it looked like neither would get their wish.
“A destabilized Brotherhood is distracted, sloppy, and prone to rash acts. Patience and deliberate chaos is the best way to ensure they never see us coming.”
“Yes, Alpha.” Tasha agreed in a rush. “If it pleases you, the fire will be ruled a tragic accident, the result of an omega whore’s carelessness with candles, but a cloud of suspicion will hang over Olan. One I can exploit at any time.”
“You are more devious than you appear.” The male sounded pleased.
Tasha preened. “I can turn this to my advantage. I promise.”
There was a scuffle of footsteps and before Naytalia could blink, the robed figure had Tasha in a chokehold, the laser in her hand immobilized.
“Not your advantage. Our employer’s advantage.” The male voice had gone hard as steel. “You serve him now, omega. Him and me. I do not expect to have to make this clear to you again.”
Naytalia took advantage of the distraction to inch closer to the door.
“Y-Yes. Of course, My Lord.” The prime omega gasped the words out. “I serve you and him. I promise.”
“We’ve spent several years getting into position to become a threat to the Brotherhood. They are notoriously secretive. It will take several more years before we know enough about their businesses as a whole to cripple them and capitalize on what we have begun. Your stupid rash act has threatened that.”
“I will do better.”
“Good.” The male sounded pleased. “The road may be hard, but such loyalty will be rewarded.”
He released Tasha.
The prime omega staggered out of reach.
“Start the fire.”
Hurrying to obey, Tasha grabbed one of the flaming candles from the top of Naytalia’s dresser and touched it to the drapes by the window. The flames leapt upward.
The Lundin omega’s excitement was palpable. “Soon, anything that might have led back to me or your employer will be ash.” A sharp crying from the cradle drew the omega’s attention. “The bitch’s brats. I will kill them now.”
She raised her laser once more.
Naytalia took advantage to drag herself closer to the door.
“Wait.” The male’s bark was heavy with command.
He strode to the cradle. Two silver-skinned arms poked out of the robe and reached into the cradle, a small circular skin design just visible on his exposed right forearm. “I will take these two with me. Consider it a gift of goodwill in appeasement for the mess you have made here.”
The prime omega nodded. “Good thinking. We—” she corrected herself, “—you and our employer has a business to run after all, and good cargo like these two are not easy to come by. They’ll make a fine profit on the market. Soon enough, no one will be looking for them.”
“You have no conscience, omega.”
“You do?” Tasha’s pretense of docility hadn’t lasted long.
But this time the hooded Alpha did not take offense. “I did once.” A long pause. “Now, it seems I have none at all.”
“Kuril!” Olan’s enraged voice echoed down the hall. “You have gone too far this time. My omegas’ gifts are mine! The prime omega is mine! I will tear you apart for taking what is mine.”
For an instant, both Tasha and the robed figure froze.
“He’s coming this way.” The male was eerily calm. The twins cried louder.
Tasha’s expression sharpened. “Perhaps I can kill him now too. Blame his death on the fire?”
“No. Now is not the time.” The male barked out commands. “Head him off. Say the fire is already too strong, and it is too late to save anyone else. Scream and cling to him, play on his Alpha instinct to get you out. Be sure to rub up against him, let any blood from Kuril and the omega that might have splattered on you soak into his clothes and skin. Make him look guilty in case this situation becomes useful to use against him later.”
“As you wish.”
The twins in hand, the silver-skinned male swaggered toward the door. “I’ll take the back way out. The servants are still out of the way?”
“Yes.” The prime omega tossed the burning candle onto the bed. “I’ll head Olan off now.”
“Kuril, Naytalia, you are going to pay. You hear me?” Olan’s boots pounded the ground as he stomped down the hall.
Hope fluttered in Naytalia’s chest. Maybe he would come in time . . . .
“Olan, help!” Tasha staggered out the door, the prime omega’s voice heavy with tears and panic, the perfect actress. “There’s a fire! Turn back or we’ll all be burned alive. The back entrance is already blocked by flames. Hurry to the front or we’ll die!”
Rage gave Naytalia an extra surge of strength. She inched closer to the door.
The robed figure glided past, juggling her children in his arms as he prodded her with his toe. “Still alive, huh? I’m sorry, but I can’t allow that to continue.”
Naytalia opened her mouth to scream.
She never got the chance. Searing pain slammed into her belly once more.
Then, nothing.
37
Dahlia returned to the present with a gasp, collapsing back into the seat of the ho
vercraft.
Horror was a thick coat of ice on her skin.
All this time, her mother was the killer.
All this time, she thought Olan was the worst monster in her midst.
All this time, the Skolov family had thought the twins were dead when they could still be alive.
“You did it.” The doc’s whisper pulled her from the last of the vision haze. “You made them all see. Amazing. The Alpha-omega bond is more powerful than I ever imagined.”
She looked around, the scene coming into focus. The doc was seated next to her, a laser awkwardly held in his shaking hand and pointed toward the door. Outside, crater-sized black soot marks darkened the landscape while large figures tussled, and laser blasts streaked through the air.
The doc answered her unasked question with a shrug. “We came under attack while you were under. I’m apparently the last line of defense.”
“Cover the omega. Don’t let her mother get to her.” Maxheim’s voice boomed from outside the vehicle.
“There’s too many. We’re pinned down.” Damien’s shout echoed down the ridge.
Laser fire seared the side of the vehicle.
The doc’s frightened gaze met hers. “I think your mother may be upset with you.”
No wonder her prime omega had never wanted Dahlia to reach her full potential.
But Dahlia had only one main concern. “Nikolai?”
Troubled pink and gray eyes blinked fast. “We’re not sure. We lost comms when the explosion occurred. As far as we can tell, the blast was meant to take out the Brotherhood heads.”
Her mother was as ruthless as any Alpha.
“Give up my daughter and my men will let you live.” A familiar voice cut through the roar of battle.
“I don’t take orders from an omega,” snarled Maxheim.
“Then you and your family will die at the hands of one.” Dahlia’s mother had dropped all pretense of servility.
Dahlia had to admit she admired the strength in the other omega’s voice.
Unfortunately, their goals were at odds. She could not allow her mother to do any more damage to the Skolov family.
The doc’s attention was on the unfolding scene outside. Taking advantage, Dahlia eased her door open and slipped out.
“Wait. Don’t—”
She closed the door on the doc’s protest and entered the world of snow and ice, her boots sinking into the deep snow as the icy wind whipped at her. Dressed for hovercraft travel, she was ill-prepared for the frigid Abzal temperatures. It didn’t matter.
Her rotations of allowing others to wage her fight were at an end.
Trudging through the deep snow, she moved away from the vehicle and called out. “It’s too late, prime omega. Your misdeeds have been exposed.” It was both gratifying and terrifying to witness the barrels of over fifty lasers swing in her direction, but at least they were not on the Skolov family any longer.
She stared across the icy expanse at the mother she’d never really known.
Tasha Lundin’s white-blond hair flowed freely, the wind whipping the waist-length hair into a frenzy, while her eyes burned with an intensity that would have been beautiful if it wasn’t so twisted by bitterness.
“You stupid girl. Who knew you would end up being the greatest thorn in my side?” She gestured toward a few of the guards, indicating they should advance toward where Dahlia stood. They weren’t Lundin soldiers but hired mercenaries. Her mother appeared to have created her own army. “Bring her to me unharmed.”
Too late for that. The staggering depth of her mother’s betrayal cut deep. “I thought you loved me.”
The prime omega scoffed. “There is no love in this world. There is just survival.”
The words struck like a fist around Dahlia’s heart, squeezing so hard it was difficult to breathe. She’d long ago stopped looking to her prime omega for emotional support or affection, but giving up the illusion of who her mother was and what was between them, ripped off a layer of her soul. Like grieving the loss of a person who was alive.
But she wasn’t the same female she’d once been either. “You’re wrong. There is love and it’s more powerful than you can imagine.”
Her mother’s disdain was obvious. “I prefer to rely on myself and my own machinations. They’ve gotten me impressively far.”
Dahlia marched backward up the slope of the mountain, forging a new path, the hem of her dress dragging in the thick powder.
Fortunately, the going was equally difficult for the guards coming for her.
It dawned on her what her mother meant. “You were the one who had the witnesses killed. You were the one who sent the man to kill me. Not Olan.”
“True.” Her mother tracked her progress like a predator did its prey, stepping easily in the boot marks left behind. “When you were first born, you seemed so helpless and useless. I almost killed you then, but that oaf Olan was so pleased to have proof of his breeding prowess, I reasoned it would be wiser to let you live so I could carry out my plans without him pawing at me all the time. For so long, you were so malleable, so desperate to please, it seemed like I’d calculated correctly.”
The cruelty of her mother’s words stung slightly less this time. No wonder Dahlia had always felt like a disappointment. To a mother concerned only with furthering her own power, she’d been one.
“When you showed your gift, I could scarcely believe it. Such power. What a waste.” The jealousy in her mother’s voice was clear. “That such a gift would be given to someone who had no interest in leveraging it for gain, but only wanted to pretend it didn’t exist?” She shook her head. “Pathetic.”
“I’ve no problem embracing it now.”
Her mother scowled, the reminder of Dahlia’s vision unwelcome. “If my gift had remained past my youth, I would never use it in the service of an arrogant Brotherhood Alpha. They deserve nothing we have to give.”
Clearly, her mother did not have someone like the doc in her entourage to let her know that the retention of the gift past adolescence was only possible if sparked by an Alpha-omega connection. Or that the strength of Dahlia’s gift relied on the tie between her and Nikolai.
And there was no question in Dahlia’s mind that her prime omega had never been happy enough to discover what truly powered an omega’s gift.
For all her mother had accomplished, she’d never known the joy that came from that bond.
It softened some of Dahlia’s anger. “I’m sorry Olan was such a monster to you, but not all Alphas are like that.”
Her mother laughed. “My father was worse.”
“Is that why you did all this? You wanted revenge against the Alphas who’d hurt you?”
“What I wanted was to be on top. To rise above all the fools and their small-minded plans and control my own empire and business.”
“An impressive goal.” But their Alphaverse did not allow ambitious omega’s like her mother to rise. In keeping her down, however, they’d twisted her into something even more dangerous. Dahlia could see the madness flickering in her mother’s gaze, no longer hidden by false docility.
It made Dahlia sad. It also left her angry. Such a waste. What might her mother have been if she’d been allowed to flourish? The same went for Naytalia.
Except neither omega had tried to change things for the better. Instead, they’d become as selfish and vicious as those they professed to want to escape.
“I’ve been running your father’s syndicate for years, but always behind the scenes and always hindered by his stupid, reckless choices. When I was contacted by my employer and asked to turn, I didn’t hesitate. I was so tired of being hobbled by the arrogance of the Alphas around me. I knew then exactly how I could rise above.” Her mother’s beautiful features sharpened with smug satisfaction. “Which is what I have done. Your gift comes too late. Neither the Brotherhood nor Nikolai Skolov can save you now. They’ve fallen at the hands of an omega they never saw coming.”
“Dahlia, keep comi
ng this way, and keep talking.” Maxheim’s low command whispered like the wind from behind a nearby cluster of ice. Somehow, he’d circled around and positioned himself to defend her. “Damien and Alexi are getting into place. We’ll take your mother and her men by surprise. We promised Nikolai, and we are not letting her take you.”
It was sweet, and not unexpected, but Dahlia had her own plan.
Determined, she moved in the opposite direction, forging up the mountain, her shivers increasing as the cold and wet seeped into her body. Still, she forced her feet upward, her gaze locked on her mother and the encircling mercenary soldiers. “What will happen now?”
“The people I work for will take over the Brotherhood’s enterprises and consolidate it into a more efficient, ruthless organization.”
“Who is your employer? Who is the silver-skinned robed figure from my vision?”
Her mother’s expression turned sly. “You’ll have the chance to meet them soon enough.”
“They aren’t here?”
Irritation sharpened the prime omega’s face. “Of course not. I have an army I paid for using Lundin funds siphoned into my own account years ago. I have enough manpower, and my employer has other plans afoot. But he knows what is happening, and he trusts me to get the job done.”
Dahlia sensed an opening. “Or he doesn’t want to risk getting caught and has left you to twist alone in the wind if things go wrong.”
“You know nothing.” Her mother’s dismissal was quick, but Dahlia caught the flicker of doubt. “I am of great importance. As important as his silver-skinned lackey. My employer has told me often through our written communications.”
“He has to be someone with vast resources and connections, but he clearly doesn’t like to get his hands dirty. He leaves that part—and the greatest risk—to pawns like you and the silver-skinned male.”
“Pawn?” The repeated insult worked, pricking her mother’s ego and loosening her tongue. “I am no pawn. My efforts are critical to my employer’s plan to take over the Brotherhood’s operations and consolidate its enterprises into one business controlled by a single great ruler. I am to be an essential advisor—and I am not the only one.”