by Susan Stoker
Morgaine could understand what was going on around her, she could see her mother’s struggles from the corner of her eye, but could do nothing. She should have been pleading for mercy, instead she listed, whispering, “I... feel strange.”
Those three words moved her purring captor to reach out and catch her limp body up in his arms. Once he had her to his chest, voice unbelievably gentle, the stranger murmured at her ear.
“Come, Omega, I know what will make you feel better.”
Chapter Two
Her dream was so rich, so perfectly contenting, that when lashes fluttered and she began to wake, Morgaine fought to stay in sleep. Some of the beauty followed her, the feeling of floating in cream, safe warmth where nothing bad might happen.
Except none of it was true.
The lingering soreness in her shoulder proved it when a deep breath disturbed her bones.
Engulfed in perfect darkness, cocooned in something softer than rabbit fur, fear edged out the last traces of her dream’s false security. It was more than her inability to see, it was the scent: spice, musk, salt, sweat... all decidedly male and not a single one familiar.
She was surrounded, locked in pitch black, and she had no idea which way to run.
The room seemed to answer the growing bang of her heart. Soft light emanated from an unknown source.
Morgaine found she was alone.
Alone and sprawled in a cushioned pit. Covering her body were fragments of fur, scattered like fallen flower petals over her while she’d slept. From each pelt emanated the aroma of a different Alpha male.
The smell was disturbingly pleasant, as was the fur’s texture, but the uncertainty of why such a thing had been done only encouraged raw feelings of disgust. Worse still, under the pile, her dress had been removed, unwanted scraps the only thing covering her nakedness.
Should she move, not a single piece would be large enough to cover more than one breast at a time.
Edging back until her shoulders met the curved side of the sleeping pit, Morgaine freed herself of the fur, pulling long curls over her shoulders in an attempt to maintain a modicum of modesty. Limbs free, she found the mud had been washed from her hands, arms, feet, but under her nails traces of grit remained. There were bruises on her body, some smeared with dried blue unguent. Not one of them hurt.
Considering the minor wound’s placement—knees and elbows—she’d earned them trying to drag her body as deep as possible into the woods.
Already the treated marks had faded to yellow. Soon they would be gone completely.
Just as her dress was gone. Just as her mother was gone.
She could still hear her screaming as the Alpha had carried her away. Morgaine’s last view of her home had been the woman’s flailing arms followed by the wooden rafters hung with bunches of drying herbs.
There had never been a chance to say goodbye.
She had not fought as she should have. She had lain in the arms of a violent soldier, a male who had threatened to burn her mother alive, and fallen asleep.
Tears could not be stopped. Choking cries, shortness of breath, all of it hurt deeper than any pain she’d known with the coming of the Alphas.
“It is not necessary to mourn. You are not in danger, Omega.”
Where he’d come from she did not know. It didn’t matter. With a shriek, Morgaine flew from the cushions. Knee over the ledge of the sunken bed, she scrambled out and ran to the farthest corner of the room.
He had not moved. He had not chased her. The stranger in black armor was stone. “My name is Sergeant Uriel. As a mated Alpha of proper rank, I have been tasked with managing your transition.”
She’d found her way behind a table laden with food, using a chair for both modesty and a potential weapon. Shaking, terrified, Morgaine still found the spite to hiss, “What was done to my mother?”
“You were procured by Corporal Esin. Any penalties inflicted on the Beta woman you will need to ask him yourself.” Sergeant Uriel took a step closer. “Put the chair down.”
Morgaine raised it higher, modesty be damned. “No.”
“You were ill when he found you and would not have survived much longer without the care of a vigilant Alpha. Omegas require specific attention.”
That word again, that hated title used to make naughty children behave else they be taken. To be Omega was to be something terrible. “I am not an Omega.”
Another step her way, and he grumbled, “You know you are Omega, and you have lied to both your mother and your people. You have no concept of what would have happened to you if left to Beta society. Had you, you would have submitted to the first Alpha to cross your path.”
That would never have happened, and her eyes narrowed telling the tale.
Sergeant Uriel was not to be waylaid. “At your first estrous you would have been raped by your neighbors, the male population of your settlement fighting each other to mount you until you died. It would not have been their fault. It would have been yours for presuming to hide from our eyes.”
She did not understand the term he used, but the picture he painted was nausea inducing. “You’re sick.”
He never wavered, Uriel’s expression neutral. “They would not have been able to stop themselves. How many would have died for your pride? Your mother surely would have been murdered had she tried to keep you from the rabid crowd.”
“My neighbors are peaceful people. I don’t know what your estrous is, but things like you describe do not happen in my settlement.”
“Recordings of such moments have been set aside for your required viewing, so that you may understand the weight of what could have been your fate.”
Like magic, the wall to her right came alive with images, the air filling with screams, moans, all nature of horrific noises. Morgaine looked without thinking and saw why—bodies climbing over bloody bodies, the throng moving like a twisting mass of snakes. In the center of it was a slack mouthed girl, her eyes pitch black as she was mauled.
Morgaine could not tell if the female was fighting the mob or pulling them nearer. All she saw was the fluids and the blood.
It was her first time viewing a naked male’s erect member. Many were displayed on that living wall, and never did she want to see another.
Unable to tear her eyes away, she pressed her hands to her ears to block out the carnage, and watched until the girl died. The Omega’s death had not stopped the mob fighting for any of the girl’s orifices they might penetrate.
Her corpse was literally torn apart.
The Alpha crossed the room, purposeful with each step until he might collect the hair of the retching female dry heaving over her feet and gather it away from her face. “When their rut subsided, the men were beside themselves with shame. The entire settlement had to be eradicated and replaced. Every last settler died because Esmerelda, like you, had avoided collection. Shall we watch Chen’s death next?”
Unable to straighten, Morgaine wailed, “No.”
His touch was gentle, even the arm he used to keep her upright placed so as not to cause discomfort. Uriel softened his tone, vibrations of deep purrs coloring his next words. “We have learned it is best to be direct when faced with the rare feral. You must be made to recognize that what was done was done for your benefit. Omegas are loved, protected by Alphas. Understanding this is key—”
Bile was rising up into her throat again, still Morgaine croaked her disgust. “Loved?”
Uriel sat her in the very chair she’d abandoned, nodding. “Yes. Loved. I love my mate very much.”
There had been no love in any Alpha action Morgaine had ever seen. “Did you force her to watch that?”
He reached for a pitcher, poured a glass of water, and pressed it to Morgaine’s lips. “It was not a lesson she required.”
Teeth chattering, cold and unable to stop shaking, Morgaine swallowed a little water before he drowned her in it, and knew she’d lost whatever battle had just taken place. “I’ve had enough.”
> “You will drink this water.” The Alpha was inflexible, determined, though his purr increased.
The noise calmed her enough to manage the rapid gulps required to drain the glass. When he pulled it away, she sucked in air and met his eyes. He was old enough to be a father, creases showing age. Grey marked the brown hair at his temples, but he was built like an ox, intimidating and powerful.
He was also incredibly scary.
Morgaine wilted under his stare. “I want to go home.”
Uriel’s brow cocked. “After what you just saw?”
No, of course not. Who would want that? Pathetic, she tried again. “I want my mother.”
“Soon you will have a mate, and your mother will be forgotten.” The Alpha straightened, pointing at the table before her. “Eat. When you have finished, bathe yourself in that corner over there. If these two things have not taken place by the time I have returned, there will be another lesson.”
***
The toilet, the tub, both were exposed to the room.
Uriel had taken his leave, Morgaine was already naked, but she felt uncomfortable attending her body out in the open. Swallowing down food had been near impossible but she had done it to avoid a lesson. Relieving herself had been harder... until the lights had dimmed.
Like the sleeping pit, the tub was sunken into the ground. Upon approach, it began to fill itself, causing Morgaine to startle. The room kept doing things. The lights, the wall where minutes ago a girl’s slaughter had filled the screen was now a window overlooking a forest. Even the air was filled with the chirp of birds and a soft breeze.
Technology like this did not exist in her settlement.
Betas did not need a wall projecting a fake forest. They had real forests and trees. They did not require tubs that filled on their own. How hard was it to turn a knob?
Like the excessive amounts of food, food she was certain had been stolen from her settlement, the offerings here were ostentatious and absurd.
Lowering her body into the steaming water, her back to the wall, Morgaine kept her eye on that view of the forest. When she did not start to scrub, the tub whirled, streams of water mixing with soap until bubbles covered the surface.
The scent was not to her taste, and the instant she wrinkled her nose, she would have sworn it altered. What had been roses became herbal... pleasant enough and easy to tolerate. She would have stayed in that water, protected by that layer of bubbles long after her skin and hair were clean. But it drained on its own.
There was no towel.
Dripping wet, she sat in the empty tub and hung her head in her hands.
She’d heard his steps, could smell him before the sound of a deep purr cut through her. Still she did not lift her head. “Is this what you had in mind when you claimed you knew what would make me feel better? Leaving me naked, wet, shamed, and frightened? Whatever punishment your people have decided I have coming, just get it over with.”
A hand came to rest on the top of her head. “That is not an appropriate way to address an Alpha.”
Disgusted that he would touch her, Morgaine squeezed her eyes shut behind her fingers. “Uriel? Was that his name, the one managing my transition? He said only you could tell me what became of my mother.”
Corporal Esin tried to soften the harshness of his features with gentle speech. “Her face was branded for treason.”
It was like a knife in the heart. Throwing off the hand that rested on her scalp, daring to raise an expression full of hate toward the very soldier who had stolen her from her house, Morgaine spat on the man kneeling at the edge of the tub.
Wiping her spittle from his cheek, unmoved, he claimed, “It was the most lenient punishment I could offer. Considering the offense, she should have been executed...not paid as handsomely as she was for the trouble. Be glad she still lives and has a fortune to see to her comfort.”
“If I ever find a way to brand your face in exchange for what you’ve done, I will do it. Better yet, I’d rather see you dead.”
“If you continue to speak this way, I will be forced to act, and you will not like the outcome.”
Morgaine was so very tempted to say more, to scream at him, to strike him, but her tongue grew fat and all that came were silent tears. Angry or not, she was afraid, and he had all the power.
Standing at the edge, he offered her a hand. “Step from the tub.”
Not only did she balk at the thought of touching him, the thought of him seeing her bared breasts and mound was just too much to bear. She shook her head.
“It was not a request, Morgaine. Get up so that you might be dried.”
She swallowed, eyes showing every ounce of her trepidation. “It is not right for you to look at me this way.”
“Because you are naked?”
Nodding, she added the other cause for concern. “And you are purring. It’s only done when a male is... interested. I don’t want to…” she could not think of any word that would not imply something inconsiderable.
He finished the sentence for her. “You do not want to be mounted.”
Before this horrid day, she’d never heard sex described that way, her mind filling with images of what happened to the girl on the wall… the writhing bodies… the screams.
Esin thought to offer reassurance. “I have not been given clearance to penetrate you today.”
Morgaine did not know what that meant, but it certainly was not a comforting thing to hear. “Today?”
“There is much that must be explained, and I refuse to have this conversation while you are dripping wet and shivering. Come out of the tub or I will climb in and get you.”
What dignity was there in being dragged out like a child? None. There was none. Breaking her eyes from his, she turned her face to the wall, covered her breasts with her arm, her mound with her free hand, and tried not to cringe when he put his hands on her body to help her out.
He produced fabric softer than the finest weave her mother might make. Starting with her cheeks, blotting the tears, Esin wielded his huge hands deftly and with caution… until he reached her breasts.
She refused to budge her arm.
So much stronger than her, he took a grip of her wrist, and forced her shield from her chest. She did not cry out, but every muscle in her body went stiff, her breath shallow and unsteady.
Esin purred all the louder. “You are a pretty one, renegade.” He palmed one breast with the fabric, then the other, extending the contact until her nipples peaked. “Tell me, has another male touched you this way?”
There had been caresses from boys in the village, a few stolen kisses, but none would have dared to touch her breasts. “No.”
“Upon your initial examination your hymen was found partly ruptured before it was removed for your future comfort.”
She abandoned boring a hole in the wall with her eyes to demand, “What?”
“Here.” He moved the towel to her mound, tapping where she pressed her legs together. “Your hymen.”
She knew what a hymen was, and could not believe that some stranger had examined her close enough between her legs to see it.
Face turning red with a blend of fury and embarrassment, trying to think up something worthy to shriek, Morgaine was silenced by the Alpha’s next probe. “Have you touched yourself there? Slipped your fingers into your body? Did you use a tool to stimulate yourself? Or was it a Beta’s attentions that damaged the membrane?”
“That is none of your business!”
“Actually, it is very much my business.”
Cocking her chin, Morgaine sneered. “I have lain with many of the boys in my village.”
Her answer amused him, and for the first time Esin smirked. “Boys? Not men?”
“Uhh.” Awkward in her reply, Morgaine fumbled. “I meant men.”
“And you are lying.” Chuckling, he returned to staring down at her body. “You have never been with a boy or a man… let alone many of them. It was your own fingers that did the damage. Eit
her that, or your age thinned it in preparation of your first estrous.”
Of course she had explored that part of her body in the dark, but only a few times when her mother was out of their small one-roomed dwelling. “How would you feel if I asked you intimate questions about your body?”
Snapping his gaze to hers, Esin’s brown eyes burned. “You can ask me anything. Even now I am hard and eager to be inside you—which is precisely why you keep sniffing the air and refusing to look down. My arousal makes you nervous.”
She had been unconsciously sniffing the air, unsure why. Hearing him speak so, shocked, she glanced to his crotch without thinking and saw the fabric tented with a clear outline of an erection far bigger than any she’d seen in Esmeralda’s mauling.
He growled, easing near her to promise, “The instant permission is granted to fuck you, I will knot you to the point you’ll adore me, pump my seed into your belly while you moan, and show you what it is to be mated by your Alpha.”
His words made her intensely uncomfortable, as did her body when there was a slight twinge between her legs. She didn’t want him, would never want him, but that twinge was there all the same.
Nostrils flaring, he sucked in a breath. “Do you know what a knot is? Have you seen an engorged Alpha cock? I can show you now if you like.”
She didn’t know. And from the way he was growling at her, she didn’t want to know. “Please… I’d like some clothing.”
Warm palms came to her skin, the towel forgotten as the Alpha pushed closer. “I’m allowed to touch you. Sergeant Uriel did not specify hands or mouth. I could lick the sweet spot between your legs. Taste you. Make you like it.”
Trying to back out of roving, unwelcome hands, Morgaine argued, “Stop.”
Her grabbed her by the wrists, too rough as he forced her fingers to his torso. “You could touch me anywhere you want.”
“I don’t want to. Let go of me!”
“That is enough, Corporal Esin.” A voice boomed from across the room, commanding and critical. “Step away from the Omega now.”