Omega's Binding

by Lillian Sable

  Adrian had already left them with stern admonishments to stay inside of the house. Though this zone was in the midlevels, the area had been vacated years ago after a toxic spill. The sector had been decontaminated, but had never been repopulated. They would be safe here for the time being.

  What Ianthe wasn’t safe from was her sister’s invasive questions.

  “I just don’t understand this.” Circe was so overwhelmed with what she had to say that she hadn’t noticed that her scarf had slipped off from her head and was slung over one shoulder. “How did you end up arrested?”

  “I’ve already said it about a thousand times. Do you really need to hear it again?”

  “Well I have this distant memory, it’s been so long that it’s hard to remember. But I could swear that I must have said to you at some point that this would all end terribly.”

  Ianthe gave her sister a droll look. “Do you really think now is the best time to say I told you so?”

  “I can’t be sure this won’t be my last chance.Who knows how long I’ll have before you’re off on the next stupid adventure that might get you killed.” Circe kept the small smile on her face even as the concern in her eyes telegraphed the depth of her growing concern.

  “None of this is what I planned, you know that.” Ianthe found herself inexplicably near tears again. She brushed them away with the back of her hand. “I’m sorry for all of it.”

  For a moment, Circe looked away but when her gaze swung back her smile was full. “You did what you thought you had to do. We’ll get through this.”

  “That guy said there’d be food here, which makes it better than the streets.” Eaon spoke up for the first time, his voice bored. “Hanging out with Alphas in the upper levels doesn’t seem all that bad to me.”

  “That’s easy for you to say, twerp.” Circe said repressively. “He’s been running the streets since you left because he knows that I can’t go chasing after him. He’s lucky that he didn’t end up in detention.”

  Eaon made a rude noise but didn’t argue the point.

  “How did Adrian convince you to come with him?” Ianthe glanced from one of them to the other.

  “He said that we had to come with him if we ever wanted to see you again,” Circe said, her voice pitched suddenly low. As if shaking off a bad thought, she rolled her eyes at their brother. “Eaon almost got left behind. It took hours to track him down.”

  “You said we’d starve if I didn’t find a way to make some credits,” Eaon countered, voice accusing. “Pilfering was the only way to make that happen.”

  “And you know that’s not what I meant,” Circe shot back. “The man who runs the vegetable cart in the markets was going to pay you to make deliveries.”

  “Only for a handful of credits every cycle, barely enough for one meal much less dozens. Sounds like a good way to starve while still working yourself to the bone.”

  Ianthe interrupted before the argument could get truly heated. It was nice to know that some things didn’t change. “It doesn’t matter now. Things won’t be like that anymore. We’re going to figure something out.”

  “We knew something was up when the most recent payment from your job didn’t come on time.” The emphasis her brother placed on the word job made it clear that he had a good idea of what she was being paid to do. “But then we didn’t hear from you at all.”

  “That’s because both of us had been arrested.”

  Circe sighed. “I still can’t believe that you’ve gotten yourself wrapped up in all of this. And now you have a criminal for a mate who might end up hanging by his neck in the public square.”

  “Thank you for the reminder, dear sister.”

  “I’m just saying that I never thought something like this would happen.”

  “Neither did I,” Ianthe responded, fighting off a flash of annoyance. “If I had any inkling that I’d end up mated and pregnant by one of the most dangerous Alphas in the city then I never would have set a single foot inside of Eros House.”

  Silence descended, so deep that the sound of her own harsh breathing exploded in Ianthe’s ears. She had not intended to reveal her pregnancy, not until she was sure what she intended to do about it. And now the secret was out in the most ill-timed way possible.

  “You’re pregnant.” Circe did not say the words as a question, more like she was testing them for truth in her own mind. “How did this happen? You’ve been taking suppressants for years.”

  “The normal way I’d imagine,” Eaon said, rolling his eyes. “Not that I even want to think about that.”

  “He did it on purpose,” Ianthe added in response to her sister’s question. “A doctor that he paid off shot me full of hormonal inducers so that my estrous came way sooner than it should have.”

  Circe’s gaze grew more concerned. “I’m not sure that I like this Alpha of yours.”

  “I know I don’t.” Eaon piped up from the corner, punctuating each word with a flick of the knife in his hands.

  Ianthe wondered if she was sharing too much. She couldn’t expect them to understand something that she still had so much difficulty puzzling out herself. Her hand drifted to her stomach before she caught herself and placed it palm down on the table in front of her. “I’m still trying to figure out how I feel.”

  Her sister’s gaze roved over her mid-section. “Well you have about nine months to figure that out.”

  “Assuming that the father hasn’t already been killed.” She tried to keep her voice flippant but it broke as she said the last word. What would become of her if Legion was killed or kept imprisoned? She had no hope of returning to the slums even to work as a waitress, not now that she’d been outed as an Omega. By now, there was likely a warrant out for her arrest for dynamic concealment. Or worse if the Undersecretary decided to charge her with assault.

  “So what are we going to do?” Eoan asked as he crossed thin arms over his chest, belligerent as always. “We can’t stay in an abandoned sector forever. The food will run out in a couple of days.”

  Circe nibbled on her lip, expression growing concerned.

  “Legion trusted him. I can’t say anything beyond that. And let’s be honest, we don’t really have a choice.”

  “Legion.” Circe repeated the word as if testing the shape of it with her lips. “That’s the first time you’ve said his name.”

  Ianthe swallowed against the sudden lump forming in her throat. “I hadn’t realized.”

  “Was it all bad?” Circe asked softly, obviously trying for sensitivity. The expression on her face made it clear that she was burning with curiosity and unasked questions.

  “Nothing is ever all bad.”

  “Did you like it?”

  Silence reigned for a long moment as Ianthe mulled over her response. How could she possibly explain what it was like to have pleasure and shame intertwine so completely that it was impossible to tell one from the other? But she had nothing to lose at this point by being honest.

  “Some of it. I didn’t really have a choice once way or the other.”

  Circe drummed her fingers on the table, expression troubled. “People always talk, you know, about what it’s like between an Alpha and a real Omega. I can’t imagine all of it could be true.”

  “They make you feel things that you don’t want to and they make you like it. It gets to the point where you can’t tell if what you feel is real or not. And then you start questioning whether or not it really matters one way or the other. Raping your body is a small thing compared to your mind.”

  “That’s all I need to hear.” Eaon abruptly got up, abandoning the piece of carved wood on the counter. “I’m going to bed.”

  Circe watched him go with a mumbled good night but her gaze almost immediately swung back as soon as he was out of the room. The two sisters, who came into the world so similarly and yet had become something wholly different, regarded each other in the growing silence.

  “If I tell you something,” Circe said finally. “Will
you promise not to take it the wrong way.”

  Ianthe raised a dark eyebrow. “I’ve stopped making promises, to myself or anyone else. They’re too difficult to keep.”

  “Well I’ll tell you anyway.” Circe’s fingers played at the scarf wrapped loosely around her face, the fluttering movement the only sign of the agitation that she failed to completely hide. “I always envied the fact that you were Omega.”

  That revelation truly surprised her. “Why in the name of all that’s known would you envy a curse?”

  “But it’s not just a curse, is it? Mother doted on you for years because she knew that eventually your dynamic would reveal that you were Omega. And that dynamic is the only possible thing that can get girls like us out of the slums.” Circe abruptly stopped and looked away, but not before Ianthe saw the angry tears burning in her eyes. “And if I were Omega, Central Command would have paid to repair my face.”

  The truth in her words hung between them.

  “I’m sorry.”

  But Circe was already shaking her head. “I don’t want you to be sorry. It’s just, even with you saying that it can be so bad, I’m not sure that I totally believe it. If I was offered the chance to trade places with you...maybe I would.”

  “If this is just about your scars--“

  “It’s not.” Circe’s voice was flat. “Of course, I wish that I wasn’t physically unfit but it’s more than that. Your Alpha wanted you so badly that he was willing to snatch you off the streets, damn the consequences. Who’s going to want me?”

  There wasn’t much of anything for Ianthe to say to that. Any assurances would sound hollow. Neither of them could deny that in a place like Pandora, Circe had little chance of being anything more than she was. And nothing either of them could do would change that.

  It surprised her to hear her sister talk this way. Circe had seen what Alpha’s were capable of, had witnessed what it meant to be at the mercy of their whims. Their mother would be still be alive if Ianthe had not been born an Omega.

  But Ianthe didn’t say any of that. The strange mood that seemed to have overtaken her sister made her taut as a wire ready to snap.

  “I’ve lived in fear for most of my life,” Ianthe murmured. All of the windows had been covered by heavy fabric. For a moment, she contemplated the oozing darkness creeping along the sides as the sun set. An unbidden sense of foreboding washed over, as if something terrible awaited just on the other side of the glass. “I can’t remember a time that I’ve ever truly felt safe. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. Believe me, you don’t want this.”

  “It doesn’t matter. We can’t change things, even if we wanted to.”

  Before Ianthe could think of a reply, the sound of a loud crash erupted from the courtyard outside. She was on her feet and to the door, heedless of Adrian’s edict to stay inside their makeshift dwelling.

  Darkness had completely fallen when she shoved open the door, but was not deep enough to hide the skycar or the cloaked figures huddled in front of it. Only when she squinted her eyes could Ianthe make out that one of them was carrying the other.

  As they approached, Adrian’s drawn face flashed in the meager light from the open doorway and he regarded her with a grimace.

  “Get out of the way,” he grunted.

  But she was momentarily frozen in place. “Is that—“

  “He’s sedated, but not for long.”

  “But why?”

  Shaking his head in obvious frustration, Adrian growled at her. “I need to get him some place secure before he wakes. Move, girl.”

  Ianthe stepped aside before she could be elbowed out of the way. For a moment, she couldn’t help but marvel that the wiry Beta was able to bodily carry an Alpha as large as Legion for any real distance. Adrian was significantly stronger than he looked.

  Multiple emotions streaked through her when she finally caught sight of her mate’s slack face and relief was chief among them. Turmoil still broiled within her, but the confirmation that he was alive was enough to momentarily rob her of breath. Quickly recovering, Ianthe shut the door behind them as Adrian carried her unconscious mate towards the back of the house.

  “You need to stay back,” he warned, sounding slightly out of breath, as Circe looked on in confusion. “It isn’t safe.”

  Ignoring the warning, Ianthe followed him through the kitchen and down the small hallway. The house had several small bedrooms but the largest was all the way in the back and had a heavy padlock on the door that could be secured from the outside. She had not realized until that moment that it had likely been installed by Adrian.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “Locking him up. Trust me when I say it’s for the best.”

  Locking him up. Ianthe didn’t understand. “For how long.”

  His face was grim. “As long as it takes.”

  She had to tamp down on the urge to slap him. “For what?”

  “For him to recover his mind, if he ever does. Legion was tortured in creatively excruciating ways. Whatever they did to him has broken his mind. If I had arrived any later to liberate him, he wouldn’t have survived.”

  Hysteria bubbled up on the fringes of her thoughts. She fought off the rising panic with an effort. “I don’t understand what you’re telling me.”

  Adrian’s gaze was direct.”I told you there are things worse than death.”

  Chapter Eight

  Ianthe paced back and forth down the narrow hallway, her mind in turmoil. It had been hours since Adrian had brought Legion back and locked him inside of the room. She had been standing outside of the door ever since. Adrian had locked the door and kept the key so she was unable to enter the room even if she wanted to.

  The sounds that she heard through the door were enough to make every hair on her body stand on end. Growls and screams that pierced her eardrums, rattling thumps as a heavy body threw itself against the walls. But the noise alone was not what had her in turmoil.

  She had tried to reach through the bond, trace the shared connection that supposedly connected their very souls. He was just on the other side of the door, his presence should have been palpable through the bond.

  And she could not feel him at all.

  Adrian had told her that he couldn’t be sure what atrocities Legion may have endured. He’d been senseless and nearly unconscious when Adrian had found him. There was no telling how long it might take for him to recover.

  Ianthe had not asked how one man had managed to break into a black-site detention center because she was sure that she did not want to know. And Adrian had told her that with Legion in this state, he wasn’t of any further use as a source to be interrogated.

  Whatever they did had broken his mind.

  Like everyone, she had heard stories about what happened to Alphas who lost control of themselves and were no longer fit to be a part of society. Some were exiled to the Forbidden Zone to survive as they might or destroy each other. That was the fate that would have befallen the Alpha who attacked her parents, if they had survived. He was executed for the crime of contributing to the death of a fertile Omega, even if it had been ruled unintentional.

  But what would become of Legion if they couldn’t fix this.

  A sharp howl, unlike anything she had ever heard produced by a human throat, shook through the walls. A solid mass struck the door, rattling it in its frame, but somehow not breaking it.

  “You should rest.”

  Ianthe nearly jumped out of her skin when Adrian appeared at her shoulder. She waved him off with one hand, while the other pressed against her rapidly beating heart. “I’m fine.”

  “You should think of your unborn child. This pregnancy will be difficult enough as it is.”

  She shot him a dark look. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  Adrian leaned against the wall closest to the locked room, as if he was trying to keep himself between her and the door. “Omegas must be attuned to their mates during pregnancy. Without the protection o
f the bond, the stress on your body may be too much. The child might not survive. Or you, for that matter.”

  Ianthe wrapped her arms around herself, suppressing a shiver. She was not sure if she even wanted a child from the tainted union that Legion had forced on her, but the thought of any choice being taken from her did not sit well either. The child growing inside of her was innocent of its parents’ mistakes and the evils of this world.

  “I didn’t know that,” she said on a hoarse whisper.

  “Your mother died when you were still young. I’m sure there’s much you don’t know about the way of things.”

  She raised a mocking eyebrow. “The last few weeks have been more education than I ever wanted.”

  “True enough.”

  Had it really only been a handful of weeks since she first stepped foot inside Eros House and changed the course of her own life forever. That girl could not have possibly known that this was where that path would lead.

  The Beta’s presence was oddly comforting as she regarded him with a neutral gaze. She had made a conscious decision to trust him. But if Adrian planned to betray her, there was little she could do to stop him. She trusted him because there was no other choice.

  “What would help him?” she asked, aware of the fact that the answer was most likely to be nothing.

  “Time,” Adrian said shortly. “Time that we don’t have.”

  “What are we going to do now?” She leaned back against the wall in a mirror of his casual stance. “We can’t stay here forever.”

  “We should’ve already left. Every moment we stay here increases the likelihood of discovery.”

  Ianthe sighed. “I hear a but.”

  “Legion can’t be transported in this state. It took three shots of tranquilizer for me to get him here in the first place. He’d get us or himself killed if we tried. Probably both.”

  “How long can we afford to wait?”