Taking Control

by L. V. Lane

  I fidgeted where I stood.

  “Demanding little thing, aren’t you?” He sat, leaning against the backpack and shuffling his back into it to gain a comfortable position. “Demanding and defiant and in serious need of correction.” Stretching his long legs out, he patted his lap. “Strip and bring my pussy to me. Don’t make me ask you twice.”

  It had taken me forever to put the armor on, but I stripped out of it in seconds.

  “Straddle me, baby,” he said softly, putting those big hands on my hips and guiding me to where he wanted. My hands rested on his shoulders, and our eyes met. Catching a firm hold of my chin between his thumb and forefinger, he dragged me in for a hot, wet kiss. I moaned into it. Wriggling on his lap, I fussed when I couldn't get close enough. His tongue plundered my mouth as his searching finger found my pussy.

  I gasped and jerked at the sudden intrusion, but he fisted my hair and held me down as he slow fucked those fingers up into me.

  “Please.” I shook my head. I had been too needy for too long and that quickly I was close.

  Dark eyes locked on mine as he pumped his fingers in and out.

  “You did good today. Even with your little lapse.” He ended that soft admonishment with a feral growl and a particularly deep thrust. “You can come whenever you want to and as often as you need to.”

  Anticipation rippled through me, at his praise and the open offer. This was the first time he had allowed me this privilege and such leeway was a heady thing.

  He swiped a thumb over my clit as he worked his fingers in my slick folds, and I rushed straight over that heavenly edge. Fingers tight around my hair, he swallowed up my cries of pleasure. I gasped for breath around his lips, and as I came down, he leaned back and settled his hands on my hips. “Feed me your tit, baby. I’ve got a feeling you’re going to be cum-greedy, and I don’t want any part of you to miss out.”

  My nipples were stiff buds eager for attention. His arm anchored around my waist, dragging me flush against him as his lips closed over that pink tip and he sucked hard.

  I jerked against the hold, a loud moan falling from my lips.

  He slapped my ass, a sharp, stinging blow that made me yelp and squirm against him.

  “Quiet baby. Don’t want my whole team jacking off on the other side of that door.” Lowering his head again, he sucked half my breast into the warm cavern of his mouth. I bit my lip and smothered another moan.

  “Oh god, you’re doing this on purpose!” I hissed next to his ear.

  “Uh-huh,” he said around another deep, drawing suck. He pulled off with a plop, that smirk on his lips. “Don’t think I’m going to make it easy on you. I know I said you could come whenever you want to, but there are many ways I can torment you and keep you hanging on the edge—I just need to be a little more creative about it.” He licked up from the bottom of my breast capturing the nipple with the tip of his tongue before biting down on it. “And you know I enjoy a challenge.”

  He sucked hard again, pinching and rolling the other nipple between his fingers as he did. He was tormenting me, bite and suck, bite and suck, lavishing attention on both breasts with his fingers and his mouth.

  Then he lifted his head to watch my face with hooded eyes as his fingers plucked and abused my stiff nipples, making me wriggle and twitch and whimper. “You like the pain, baby. You can take this.” He rolled it between his fingers hard, too hard, eyes locked on what he was doing. “Keep still for me, Eloise, or I will assume you’re tired and need to get some rest.” I froze, and his return smile was devilish. He knew I would endure anything rather than let him stop.

  This was worse than all his other punishments put together.

  He cupped both breasts before rolling the nipples between his thumb and forefinger, pulling and twisting that sensitive flesh. “I’d color your ass but they really would be jacking off listening to you scream and cream, and we both know I wouldn’t be able to help myself from taking your ass when I’m done. You definitely can’t take that without soundproof walls. They’d be rubbing their dicks raw.”

  I clutched at his hair as a burning need pooled between my legs and bit my lip to stifle my whimpers.

  “Watch what I’m doing to you.”

  I didn't want to look, but I did, half mindless and even more so when I saw how hard he pinched my nipples and how roughly he rolled them. He released them abruptly and swiped his thumb back and forth over the obscenely stiff peak.

  He gave them another little pinch before resuming the gentle swipe. I couldn't look—I couldn't look away. “So fucking distended. Your whole tit is swollen.” He squeezed both breasts in his hands again for emphasis. “I can’t get my hands around them, and I’ve got big fucking hands.”

  “Please stop talking,” I begged. My breasts were so sensitized, and I felt on the verge of blacking out. I tried hard to be still, but his thumbs were swiping back and forth over the buds before he used his forefingers to draw little circles around and around the tips over the areola. Each iteration of this torment drove my desperation higher. Each time he swiped his thumbs across the stiff peaks pleasure shots straight to my pussy like an invisible thread connected the two parts. I came to crave that swipe of his thumb, could barely suffer the gentle circling. “I can’t—I can’t.” I shook my head. I could not be still, and I writhed and tried to rub my swollen pussy against him.

  The mindless torment of the circling continued, followed by the gentle swipe back and forth, back and forth.

  I sobbed when he emitted that filthy growl my body was a slave to. My breath began to stutter when he didn’t stop the gentle swipe, the pleasure cranking until I came everywhere at once. It felt like the pleasure was consuming me, my breasts, my pussy and everywhere in between.

  Growling again, he pinched one nipple hard and shoved his fingers deep into my dripping pussy. Spasms rocked through me again, the whole surface of my skin awash with the pleasure.

  I came down slowly, blinking, and confused about where I was. He kissed me softly as his fingers rubbed inside, collecting the little echo spasms as I continued to milk the aftershocks.

  Easing out he circled a thumb over my clit, making me jerk as another climax set me convulsing again.

  A fuzzy sort of peace invaded me. Every bone in my body had turned to rubber, and I felt like I was floating on the surface of a carnal lake. He soothed me with gentle strokes over my sensitized skin. Every touch found its echo in my clit like a thousand threads pulling everywhere to that point.

  “There we go,” he said softly, that comforting rumble coming from his chest. “You’re so fucking beautiful when you come undone.” Kissing my forehead, my temple, and my cheek, he praised what a good girl I had been. “I hate to do this, but we need to get your armor on before you can rest.” I was boneless, utterly boneless and I sunk into his touch. He settled me on the floor, and I complained about every jostle as he put my armor back on. Ignoring my whining, he coaxed and cajoled until my over-stimulated skin was enclosed within the protection. Then he lay down behind me, pulling me into the warm wall of his body and as he lay the comforting weight of his arm over me, I drifted into sleep.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Eloise

  THE NEXT MORNING, I was woken by a gentle shake, disorientated until I remembered where I was.

  My racing heart calmed as I saw Logan standing over me. “Time to go, baby.”

  I took a bottle of water and ration bar from him in silence and watched as he shrugged his backpack on and went through the motions of checking weapons. By the time I had eaten my ration and gulped down the last of the water, I was fully awake.

  I was pretty sure Holden, who was the most inexpressive person I had ever met, rolled his eyes at Logan as we emerged from the office.

  Dano punched him in the shoulder and muttered, “Dickhead.”

  Logan grinned.

  Face heating, I tried not to think about how much noise I had made, or how flimsy the partition office wall was now that I stoppe
d to look at it.

  I didn’t do wild sex while people were in hearing range. I didn’t do wild sex at all. This wasn’t me, and yet it was me and given half a chance I’d do it all again. My gaze lingered on Logan as the team gathered their packs, and we made our way to the exit. The things he had done to me were not normal, and I was certain investment protocol did not include many of them—most of them.

  Or maybe it did? I wouldn’t know since I hadn’t read much on investment beyond the fact that it involved intimacy between the two parties. Perhaps his treatment of me was reasonable. It’s not his first time, I reminded myself. It was my first, though, and I knew I was falling hard.

  I took a steadying breath and tried to talk myself down from the ledge I was teetering on.

  Be in the moment, stay in the moment, live in the moment.

  Today we would find the family and the missing diplomat, and all too soon the operation would be over.

  And so, would we.

  I had known him a few weeks. A few weeks, for goodness sake.

  I was on my knees, he had put me there, and although I barely knew him, I knew enough.

  And he wasn't mine to keep, so I needed to get off the damn ledge and do my job.

  Dano, who was doing a last sweep of the room, gave confirmation.

  Hudson gave the order to move out, and we hustled up to the doorway.

  As we reached the door, Logan turned to rap his knuckles against my helmet. “You good?”

  And just like that, I was on the ledge again.

  I nodded, and my stomach tumbled as I took that leap of faith. I didn't try to talk myself down. It was too late, and I was too far gone. I think I was gone the first moment I met him.

  He grinned and winked.

  I was so screwed.

  “Down now!” a voice roared into my communicator. I was shoved down and a heavy weight settled on top of me. I peered up from where I was sprawled out on the floor, because if I was about to die, I wanted to see it coming, and because I couldn't help myself. “Keep your head down!” Logan shoved my head to the ground when I didn't move quickly enough, and still groggy, I tried to orientate myself. Explosions rocked the ground, and a shower of grit and debris rained down. I was hauled to my feet a moment later by the scruff of my neck. “I don’t care who can hear, I’m coloring your ass for that later,” he said roughly before shoving me out the door.

  It was dark outside, and I hadn’t thought to lower my visor or turn night mode on so I couldn't see a thing. I fumbled for the setting as I was propelled forward over a rough rocky surface that wasn’t there before.

  “Yes, I see it. Two o’clock,” someone said.

  Automatic fire opened up, and we ran. I'd no idea where to, but it wasn't like Logan was stopping to consult with me about this, so I ran and trusted that he knew what to do. We ducked behind a low wall. “Stay!” Logan said. Then he edged around the corner, and before I could say anything, disappeared from my view.

  I could hear sporadic gunfire in the distance, and each burst cranked up my fear. I was too disorientated to focus my power on unpicking this mess, but I didn't think it was the human kind of ambush. Then gunfire sounded closer. I felt bullets hitting the wall behind me, my body jolting like an electric shock was running through it with every dull pop of contact.

  Another louder explosion rocked the ground, close enough to send rocks and grit raining down from the wall over me.

  Dano slammed against the wall beside me, back to the wall…Logan followed, vaulting over the top and dropping down on the other side of me.

  They were both breathing hard. I was breathing hard too, but from stress and not because I'd just sprinted a hundred paces at a dead run.

  “Think we got them?” Logan asked.

  “I think so,” Dano said, still panting. “Battle walker and two bots. They know humans move at night. Perhaps there are more people in this area than we thought. The city is a shit storm. I can see why people would get out of that death trap if they could.”

  “We’re clear.”

  Recognizing Hudson’s voice in the communicator, my body sagged in relief.

  We gathered up outside the little gift shop we sought shelter in before heading out once again.

  More Uncorrupted patrols combed the streets, and we were forced to loop around them or hide in the rubble, of the once prosperous city, until they passed. The buildings became scattered as we moved on. Parklands and trees replaced high-rises. We emerged onto a scrubby tree steeped shoreline where we caught our first glimpse of the harbor in the distance. There was little to see from here but the faint glisten of cruisers and boats swaying in the moonlight. They were braced by a broad crescent of skyscrapers that tapered into squat structures to either side, before merging into the trees.

  The sea vessels jostled with a slight discord, rigging at an unnatural angle that I recognized as destruction. They lay on their sides or overturned, still bobbing on the surface or partially submerged.

  This place had not escaped our enemy, but our diplomat endured and hid there still.

  Red and gold lights flashed sporadically among the buildings.

  “It’s going to get busy,” Hudson said. “But we’ll have some cover when we bring the shuttle in.”

  Logan’s hand pressed to my shoulder. I never thought I would crave a touch the way I did his. Such a simple contact that meant a million things, but above them all, I am here, and you are safe.

  His gloved fingers settled over the nape of my neck, sliding around until they enclosed my throat. He squeezed gently, and just like that I was a hot, breathless mess.

  My sharp intake of breath sounded loud in the communicator. I really needed to work out how to turn it off.

  Logan chuckled, and I knew what he was thinking. Needy.

  I was, I really was.

  Hudson swung around to face us. I could tell it was Hudson despite the nondescript armor and the blackened visor, because he was bigger than everyone else. He would be scowling. I didn't even need the visual confirmation—I could feel that scowl.

  “Stop mind-fucking your woman,” Hudson growled and stomped off.

  Logan laughed harder.

  Dano muttered, “Dickhead.” But he was laughing, too.

  We trekked through the woods, coming out abruptly onto the edges of the metropolis and the first of the soaring towers.

  We met the first patrol soon after and hid inside a blasted-out shop as a battle walker clunked past. Then sprinted for the other side of the street. As we closed in on the family, their beacon became brighter. Moving in ever tighter circles toward that goal, and often forced further away before we could gain ground.

  Finally, we arrived at the harbor as the sky embraced the murky edge of dawn. In the distance, bot patrols and foot soldiers were searching from boat to boat. I shivered, the bots gave me the creeps, more than the velociraptor style, battle bots. They looked like big headless dogs with four spindly legs, bristling with weapons and sensors. Their soldiers used exoskeletons, which could make them freakishly strong. I could sense the eagerness in the Uncorrupted army as they took the harbor apart, blowing up each boat as it was checked.

  Hudson watched this. He was tense; we were all tense.

  The enemy was closing in on our target.

  We needed to get to them first.

  There was a small boutique hotel close to the harbor, and I told them that I had sensed the family there. Under this pretext of discovery, and of checking, I entered. The lobby was mostly intact. Blood stains covered the floor, a few broken pieces of furniture and discarded possessions, but no bodies. Those here were either taken or had time enough to flee before the enemy arrived.

  I knew immediately that I had found them. They were fearful after so long without contact from command.

  Now, I just needed a way to implement my own plan.

  Hudson decided that once I identified the vessel, I would stay here with a small team. Another small team would watch the harbor, and the
final three-man team, which included Hudson, would get the family from the boat.

  Thus, an opportunity was given to me—I took it.

  I identified the drunken looking vessel where they hid. Hudson gave the order and they moved out, leaving me alone with Logan and Dano.

  The pack was split. This was my best chance—my only chance.

  I just had to find a way to escape Logan’s hold. I tried to move, he wouldn’t allow it, keeping his warm hand on the back of my neck. I fidgeted, he told me to be still. Time was passing. “I need a drink.” He allowed me some leeway to rummage through the backpack under the pretext of finding water.

  I took my time. Logan watched me.

  Dano asked him a question.

  It was then that I sensed discord.

  It felt off, like a tune out of key or chalk scraping across a board.

  If it had a color, it would be crimson red.

  It was the color of betrayal.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Many people presumed all Omegas to be submissive and altruistic in nature. Nothing could be further from the truth. They did harbor these traits, but they could also ignore them in the pursuit of their chosen cause.

  All Omegas needed a cause, and if they did not already have one, they sought one out. They could be deceitful, manipulative, and consummate actors in pursuit of this cause.

  I observed that they could also engage in a plethora of negative behaviors for reasons of self-preservation.

  Doctor Lillian Brach

  Hudson

  THE DIPLOMAT WASN’T on the boat. No one was on the fucking boat.

  “Sir, there’s no one on the boat!” Sean announced.

  I gave him the signature James Hudson look, which shut him up.

  “What does this mean?” The other Beta, Jordan asked, because he hadn’t seen the shut up look. Sean gave him a nudge—he shut up.