by Susan Stoker
Her assailant froze, not in fear, but in anger. Morgaine could see it in Esin’s eyes, the thoughts of outright challenge, the temptation to violence at the intrusion.
Sergeant Uriel barked a reminder. “Your claim would be forfeit should you break code. Collect yourself and heed orders.”
Esin took a deep breath, daring to press a kiss to Morgaine’s forehead before obeying his superior. Damp towel still clutched in his grip, he walked away saying, “My apologies, Sergeant, she just smells so good,” before he disappeared out of an unseen opening in the wall.
Chapter Three
Standing mortified, Morgaine stared at where the wall had grown whole, where no door could be seen. It was a smooth surface… smooth as glass. In fact, she could see her bared reflection in it, damp hair stuck to her skin, breasts flushed, eyes wild.
Under her breath, she muttered, “He took the towel with him.” Still in shock, unwilling to acknowledge the male who had warned Esin away. “I don’t have a towel.”
“I have brought you clothing.” Sergeant Uriel motioned for her to approach, gesturing to a place on the floor where he expected her to stand. “Come.”
She didn’t trust the other Alpha in the slightest. Not after what had just happened. Raising sad eyes to him, she asked, “Esin said he was not allowed to penetrate me today. Are you the one who decides when he rapes me?”
“It won’t be rape.”
Air left her lungs on a long sigh, emptiness growing in her chest. “I should just get it over with then. All of this, I want it to be over.” Tears fell in earnest, her voice shaking worse than her hands. “Call him back in and let him finish. I can keep my eyes closed.”
Sergeant Uriel did not press her to move again. Instead he crossed the room to her.
Draped over his arm was a cloth of royal blue, same as her eyes. He lifted it over her head, where one panel rested over her neck, leaving her back bared. Each breast was swathed with only a strip of vertical cloth. Around her waist he fashioned the two draped segments, one falling in front, the other over her rear.
There was no modesty in such clothing, every curve, every hint of secret flesh on display if she so much as breathed.
“The panels in front can be pulled aside to bare your breasts to your mate. Eventually, they will facilitate the easy feeding of an infant. Below the waist nothing constrictive will impede mutual pleasure. Your slick will saturate your thighs, not the fabric. And it is easy to remove.”
Slick… Morgaine did not need to ask him what slick was, it had been growing obvious since she crawled from the sleeping pit. Even now, even miserable, the place between her legs was slippery. Worse, the scent of it was obvious in the air.
A proper skirt might help mask the issue. “I would prefer a real dress.”
Uriel gave one more tug to the fabric at her waist, showing the Omega how easy it was to undo the garment. In one slip of cloth, she was naked again. “This is a real dress, but if you don’t want it…”
Grabbing at the slipping cloth, Morgaine clutched it to her. “I want it, please!”
Their eyes met, Uriel ceasing his purr so she might understand what was at stake. “Then obey and be still.”
Like a doll, she stood and let the man’s hands go where they would. Unlike Esin, Uriel was not interested in tweaking her nipples or palming her ass. His movement was perfunctory, his objective simple.
Once the simple garment was in place, he began his lecture. “You have questions, Morgaine, and are encouraged to ask them. My duty is to answer them as clearly and honestly as I can.”
It had been only a few hours since she’d woken, many things had been said, much of it out of her understanding. There were words thrown around she’d never heard, insinuations, expectations… none of it clear. “What is estrous? Why did the Beta males kill that girl?”
The Sergeant approved of her direction. “That is a good question. And one I can thoroughly answer.”
Taking her by the elbow he led her to the center of the room, sat her in a waiting chair, and faced Morgaine toward the forest view. “Keep your eyes on the screen. When I return, we will discuss what you’ve learned.”
***
Her hair had dried, her skin was dry, but the cushion under her body was dripping with slippery fluid. Even little puddles had begun to collect on the floor below her. Morgaine could not stop it, could not will her body’s unsettling reaction away.
It was the wall before her, alive again with images, and she had been told to sit and pay attention.
The things displayed were vulgar in nature, though little could be seen beyond a pretty girl’s expression and the bunching musculature of a male back pinning her down. Every groan, every coarse grunt as that unseen man surged forward echoed loudly in the room. The girl’s, the Omega’s, eager moans were even louder.
Like Esmerelda, the unnamed female’s irises had been eaten up fully by a black pupil. Only this time, Morgaine had watched the transformation from honey eyed innocent, to black-eyed… she was not even sure what to call such a wanton female. Whore?
The male called her mate. And then he had growled at her until the woman was practically salivating.
It was not a noise that inspired lust on the room’s solo audience. The Alpha’s growl had been animalistic and dangerous, similar in tone to the low pitched rumble that had come from Esin when he’d pawed Morgaine’s body earlier.
When the Alpha on screen had pushed his mate down, Morgaine had been unable to see what made the girl squeal. All she could see was the look of lust on the Omega’s face, and how her breath had caught with that first surge.
The beast used her roughly and for an extended period of time, until the girl was screaming for release, until even Morgaine had dug her fingernails into her palm in anticipation.
And then the roar.
It shook the room, shook Morgaine, and left the place between her legs leaking more fluid and clenching around a sorry feeling of emptiness.
“He is knotting her now, the base of his member expanding inside her body as he ejaculates.”
Distracted with the images, she had not heard Sergeant Uriel return.
Eyes wide, she cut a glance over her shoulder, unsure how to react to his presence. The panels of her skirt were soaked through, sexual excitement of this nature something Morgaine had never experienced. She even sniffed the air in Uriel’s direction, closing her eyes when rich Alpha musk filled her nose.
“If you were to look at yourself right now, Morgaine, you would find your eyes mirror the Omega in the image. Your pupils are blown, just as your genitalia is dripping slick. Both reactions entice an Alpha into the rut. Were you in estrous like the Omega on the screen, they would be compounded, and you would be begging any male to ease your excitement. In a controlled environment, in the care of an experienced Alpha, it would give you great pleasure.”
Staring, eyes glassy, Morgaine unknowingly licked her lips. “I would not beg.”
The corner of Uriel’s mouth turned up, his eyes squinting with the smile. “Your pride is something to be seen, girl. It has caught the attention of many Alphas and complicated arbitration. Many desire you for mate.”
Nipples tight and aching, she reached up to soothe them. Once her palms were full of flesh, the outrageousness of her behavior began to register. She blinked once, snapped out of it, and put a hand over her mouth in shame.
Uriel attempted to placate. “I am not offended by your interest. You responded to the exercise exactly as you should have. And if you wish to partake, I can send a suitable Alpha in to guide you through sexual stimulation to orgasm.”
To be pushed down and entered as the Omega on the screen had been, just the thought made her pussy clench with such power Morgaine struggled to stifle a whimper.
Never had a Beta’s attentions inspired her lust.
All of this from watching one pair grunting on screen.
And she had not even seen them fucking… she’d only seen the Alpha’s back
and the Omega’s face.
It was more than the screen; it was the smells in the room. The fur scraps in the bed—she was so much more in tune with them in that moment, wanted to rub herself on them, and felt as if her body had run away from her.
Uriel purred the temptation with a voice of velvet. “An experienced Alpha is waiting right outside the door.”
A stranger in a strange room who would touch her in a strange sunken bed saturated in the scent of many males. Why that sounded delicious, she could not say.
“It could be more than one Alpha, if you wish to sample those with the greatest stake in claiming you as theirs.”
The absurdity of his offer ended her madness. The thought of many touching her, and all she could think of was Esmeralda's mauling and pain.
In one day Morgaine had woken in fear, seen a gruesome death, been pawed by a male she despised, ordered around, told her life was in the hands of Alpha soldiers she could not see, that she had no say, that she would want everything they had planned for her… and then she had become aroused to the point of insanity by nothing but images on a wall.
This was not who she was. Her reputation in the settlement was excellent… or it had been until many of the young men began to call. Morgaine was a steady girl, a hard worker who could weave cloth almost as fine as her mother’s.
Her mother…
Her mother was alone, in their cottage, and she would never see her again. One outlandish projection on the wall could not take away that heartache.
The change in her scent was obvious to them both, sexual excitement fading into hopelessness. “I bet she’s sitting on my cot, right now, crying into my pillow. Unlike myself, I doubt she has eaten anything today. What has been done will destroy her, and there is nothing I can do but sit here and obey.”
“The Beta female was well compensated for her beautiful Omega offspring. She will never have to work again… might even have enough to tempt a settler of standing into taking her as wife. She could have more children, Beta children she could keep.”
Morgaine scoffed outright. “Alphas ruined her future long ago, no settler would have her. It was bad enough that one of you put me in her body, only for another Alpha to take me away. I was her everything… and you burned her face for protecting me from the same fate you forced on her.”
Narrowing his eyes, measuring her words, body language, and anger, Uriel said nothing.
“You didn’t know? Is it against your code to use the Beta women when you come to rob us?” She used the newest word in her vocabulary with spite. “You only mount Omegas?”
“If what you say is confirmed, the Alpha in question will face great penalties. Betas are protected—we assure they never suffer disease, hunger, war. Alphas design, supply, and protect their Eden, and in exchange we take what’s owed.”
“Protect from what? The only thing we have to fear is you.”
Her words set off the musk of Alpha anger. Gritting his teeth, Sergeant Uriel said, “You have no idea the dangers in this universe. I cannot count the Alphas who have sacrificed their lives so you might flourish in peace. There is war even now, always war, that you, your mother, your people are all shielded from. Be grateful, and consider why we take Omegas while they are still young. The love you feel for your mother was stolen. It was stolen from your future mate. It belongs to him alone, and he will help you learn that.”
“Then I hate him already.” Turning her head, staring at the lovers on the wall, Morgaine made herself look at their continued ecstasy and ignored the feeling of more slick trickling down her leg.
Chapter Four
The fourth morning was no better than the first. In the days of her continuous lessons, Morgaine failed to respond as expected, Sergeant Uriel’s tolerance had been replaced with antagonism, both parties trapped at an impasse.
He was frustrated with her utter unwillingness to allow Corporal Esin to so much as smell the air around her without fear. He was tired of her anger. And he had warned her that one more mention of her mother would end with punishment for both females—three strikes with a cane for the Omega, and a public whipping for the unsuspecting mother.
That had set Morgaine into uncontrollable sobbing no amount of purring could ease. Her punishment she could bear, but knowing her mother, a woman who was already grieving and in pain, would be whipped could never be allowed.
He’d left her alone to cry it out, the lights had gone down, and she had dumped herself into the sunken bed, hopeless and exhausted.
She was still asleep, buried under the scented furs when Uriel burst in for the next day’s work. “Your belligerent temperament has altered the timeline for the selection of your mate. We knew you would be feral, but having analyzed your complaints, we agree you are also under the false impression that you are not safe or cared for by our strict standards. Every law has been followed, every rule exacted with precision to ease your adjustment.”
Rubbing her eyes, Morgaine sat up with all the enthusiasm of a woman about to be fed to lions.
Standing at the edge of the sleeping pit, Uriel frowned. “It has been decided. I will no longer deny suitors from their rightful turn for physical interaction. Corporal Esin holds the greatest claim, he shall be first. Penetration will be permitted.”
Her fate was inevitable, her desire to remain untouched unheeded. “When?”
“At bedtime he will share your nest, with or without your initial cooperation. Tomorrow the next in line shall attend you, then the next, until arbitration has ended.”
Drained of feeling, Morgaine asked, “If Esin already has the greatest claim, then why draw out handing me over? Just give me to him and be done with it.”
Sergeant Uriel gestured toward the fur scraps. “Each pelt is a sampling of those who would contest his stake. As you can see, there are many soldiers to consider. Had you favored a scent from your nest, it would have altered the odds and ended arbitration more quickly.”
There was a way to have a different outcome? Morgaine grabbed at the furs, holding a bunch up to her nose to sniff. “What if I favor one now?”
Uriel gave away nothing. “It would be an illegitimate response. Had you recognized the scent of the most compatible male, you would not have scattered the fur away upon waking that first morning.”
The man could not have known that unless… the lights, the tub, the images on the wall were all coordinated by whoever was tasked with watching her. Her blood went cold, Morgaine certain every move she made had been projected for strangers to witness all these days of her captivity. “I’m being watched.”
“Of course.” The view of the forest, the screen that had previously shown the death of Esmerelda, the mating of the estrous high Omega, Sergeant Uriel looked pointedly at it. “Beyond that wall, many Alphas watch your every move—a team in place to regulate your keeping and assure your happiness.”
If Uriel was frustrated, Morgaine was exasperated. Love, happiness, safety, joy, pleasure, these words were barked at her over and over, but never once had she felt any of them in Alpha care. There was nothing to say, nothing that Alphas might listen to. Being born Omega was far worse than any nursery rhyme ever insinuated.
Shaking his head at her stubborn silence, he warned, “You continually reject Alpha attention, are unaccustomed to adult urges—that will change quickly with this new curriculum.” He took her hand and pulled her from the bed. “Sexual release accelerates acceptance. You cannot know what it is Corporal Esin offers you, and so your fear is misplaced.”
Lower lip trembling, Morgaine felt the strange vibration of the older man’s purr, and hated that it urged her to take a deep breath. “I do not want Esin’s attention. I do not want to be forced to have sex with strangers.”
A flicker of compassion was not to be found in Sergeant Uriel. He only projected cold discipline. “There is no Alpha on this ship who would cause you pain. All they want to offer is pleasure. Corporal Esin is no different. The decision is out of your inexperienced hands. As
with all Omegas I have trained, you will thank me once you’ve known release.”
Morgaine was led to the table, fed, swallowing the food Uriel had chosen for her without tasting a bite. Afterward a bath was ordered, the Omega charged with arranging her pointless garment herself. While she dressed, Sergeant Uriel offered news he thought might cheer her. “Your genetics were run through our database to assure none who offered for you were blood relation.”
Unsure how to answer, uncaring, Morgaine shrugged.
Further explanation was offered. “Your patriarch was also discovered and executed this morning.”
Her mouth fell open. “Executed?”
“As I told you before, Alphas protect Beta settlements. Such a grievous breach in protocol had to be answered for. All are safe from him now. This should please you.”
Morgaine had never thought of the male who’d fathered her as a real person. Even her mother had never spoken of it. She had only learned of it through neighborhood gossip. For all Morgaine knew, her mother had been a willing participant the day she was conceived.
Guilt for ever sharing the secret left her white as a sheet. She knew she had to answer, had to give him something or else a punishment might follow, so she muttered. “Alphas keep Betas safe.”
Uriel was pleased, a smile in his eyes. “You are learning.”
She was learning. Every day she learned Alphas were closer to monsters than men. “What is my lesson today? Shall I sit in the chair and watch the screen?”
“No.” Genuinely exultant, Uriel took her by the elbow and led her to the door. “Today we leave this room so that you can be introduced to those in the fleet with an interest in knowing you better.”
***
They had locked her in a glass enclosure, one so small she could not lay down without holding her knees to her chest. To be introduced was to be put on display, nowhere to hide, so that the hundreds, maybe even thousands, of Alphas walking through the ship's main gallery might have a moment to look upon her.