Ruthless Control

by L. V. Lane

  “Because it requires a non-dynamic.” His steady gaze held mine. “A specific type of non-dynamic.”

  The spell was broken when he tapped the communicator in his ear and issued an instruction for someone to collect me.

  I was still trying to unpick what he had said when the elevator door opened, and Kade entered.

  “You’re unsettled after the…incident. Take the day to recover. My driver will collect you tomorrow, and we can discuss my proposal when you have a clear head.”

  “I—I can’t take the day off.” I had already been absent far too long.

  He frowned, and my heart rate surged. “Kade will take you wherever you wish. But tomorrow, we will discuss my proposal.”

  His tone brokered no argument. But his proposal was a worry for another day, and I followed Kade to the door.

  At the elevator, I paused and turned to glance back. He was watching me, but not in the lecherous way I had once imagined. “What about Omegas?”

  He raised a questioning brow. “Omegas, Pet?”

  “You said your…companions…were willing.”

  There was no notable change in his expression, but I got the impression he was amused.

  “Omegas are always willing,” he said.

  The elevator door opened, and still reeling from those words, I was escorted out.

  CHAPTER THREE

  The Copper virus was developed in a lab. Hailed as the next stage of human evolution, as unnatural as that evolution was. They thought it would bring us enlightenment. They released it to the mass population far too soon, in a politically motivated, glory-seeking move.

  It took us years to restore order, and it changed, not just individuals, but the entire political structure and power base.

  Doctor Lillian Brach

  I TOOK A deep breath as she left my office. Sometimes I convinced myself that I could smell her…almost.

  Something had been different today, and not only the fuckup that had happened while she was in the nightclub.

  I wanted her, had done for a while, and the feeling wasn’t going away. The forbidden fruit tasting sweeter or some shit like that. I didn’t do non-dynamics—my dick liked tight, not strangulation.

  When I had spoken to her of opportunities—it was my own opportunity that I was thinking about.

  I put a call through to my infamous tech-guru guy, Rhett. “Get your ass in my office. We need to talk about that drug.”

  He offered up a flippant reply…because the bastard had my money and me by the balls.

  A few moments later, my private elevator silently opened, and Rhett entered the room.

  He was dressed in a pair of sweatpants and an old t-shirt with writing so faded it was impossible to read, but I suspected it was something obnoxious. His feet were bare, a week's worth of beard growth covered his jaw, and his black hair was on the wild side of unkept. Our mother was a stoner, and I swear she'd had a bad batch when it came to naming Rhett and me.

  “Sup?” Rhett said by way of greeting, scratching absently at his stubbled jaw.

  My eyes narrowed, and I found myself straightening my cuffs as if to distance myself from the walking Alpha apocalypse who had entered my office. I could not abide by slovenly behavior. “When was the last time you showered, asshole?”

  He glared at me with bright green eyes that were a mirror of my own. “This morning, asshole!” Then he smirked and flipped me the bird.

  I sighed, and our mutual hostility softened.

  Rhett was agoraphobic, and the only person he had contact with was me…and a revolving door of paid companions. My office was one of his few ‘safe’ destinations.

  He was an anomaly in many ways; the appearance of an Alpha, intelligence to rival a Theta, and he never, ever went out.

  Lyus was a hell hole when the military came through and subjected us to a forced conscription. They knew we were borderline feral, so they didn’t bother with protocol. Gassed whole cities to subdue us so they could rip the Alphas out. The war might be desperate, but their methods were questionable by any standard. The drugs they gassed us with had left a dark legacy for a few. Rhett was one of the unlucky ones. He spent months in a coma, and after he regained consciousness, he was never the same.

  I’d die to protect the little shit—if I didn’t kill him first.

  Rhett might not leave his home, but he managed to cause more trouble than a small army via his computer network.

  I’d threatened to sever his connections more times than I could recall.

  He’d threatened to transfer all my money to a gecko sanctuary via a failsafe if I did.

  We were one big happy family.

  He grinned suddenly. “We going to test the drug on that little redhead you’ve been fawning over for the last few months?”

  Fawning? “I’m thinking about it,” I said.

  “Better work fast, bro, you’re not the only Alpha sniffing around that honeypot. Need to raise your game.”

  “Don’t fuck with me,” I growled. He liked to fuck with me. He liked to fuck with everyone, getting a rise from his antics was his greatest source of joy.

  He held up both hands, although I could see he was amused. “A bit suspicious if you ask me, two Alphas sniffing around a non-dynamic.”

  A shot of adrenaline coursed through my body so rapidly I felt a little dizzy. I had conditioned myself not to rise to Rhett’s form of baiting, but the bastard was a pro, and he knew how to find the chinks.

  I needed Madelyn wearing my collar—I got off on the thought of her wearing my collar. It might not have happened—yet—but I wasn’t about to tolerate another Alpha nosing around. “You think she’s on suppressants?”

  “Nah, can’t afford it. Family is all non-dynamics. And it’s harder for Omegas to hide their gift than their heat.”

  She would be stupid to come into an Alpha’s den even with suppressants, and she didn’t strike me as stupid.

  “Dino Malaxos,” he said, drawing each word out. “And, you’re welcome.”

  It took me a few seconds to catch up because he had sauntered over to the adjoining kitchen and was helping himself to a beer.

  “Who the fuck is Dino Malaxos? What kind of name is Dino? Sounds like a fucking dog.”

  Rhett chuckled and passed me an open beer. “Drug dealer from the south side.” He shrugged. “And other crime-related stuff.”

  I took the offered beer. I was disappointed the earlier fuckup had lost me my morning coffee. “He can’t be very good, I’ve never heard of him.”

  He took a slug of the beer. “Nah, he’s low scale. Keeps trying to branch out. Keeps getting slapped back.” He winked. “Visits your little Omega wannabe every month at that posh place she works, and they have a nice long chat.”

  I had no idea who the fuck this Dino ‘dog’ Malaxos was, but I was going to end the fucker. “What the fuck do they talk about?”

  “How would I know,” Rhett replied, shrugging. “There are limits to the surveillance they have and what I can easily access. It was more of a…passing snoop…and you’ve had me delving into other shit for Black.”

  A growl erupted from my chest, and I kept that shit on lockdown, so my lack of control pissed me off as much as the reason for the slip.

  He waved a dismissive hand like my lack of discipline wasn’t cause for concern and suddenly smirked. “Fine, I’ll look into it now. There’s a great gecko sanctuary just waiting for a cash injection. I’ll take that as a down payment.”

  I lifted the beer to my lips and took a gulp. I preferred spirits over beer.

  “I’m going to give her a proposal,” I said.

  “Yeah?” Rhett raised a questioning brow. “Proposal? That’s gotta be a first for you? I can see where this is going. What if she doesn’t accept?”

  I mulled that over for a moment because I liked to delude myself that I could be rational sometimes. “Then I’ll find a way to force it.”

  Rhett grinned, but it dropped an instant later. His head swung
toward the elevator, and his eyes became wary. “You got some bullshit incoming. I’m out of here.”

  One elevator closed on Rhett as the second opened, admitting Jordan, Kade, and two other floor managers. There was a Beta man between them, and he was whining like a pro.

  “Explain,” I snapped, and five faces turned my way.

  “Dealing,” Kade said, shoving the man a pace forward. “You said you wanted to know next time it happened.”

  I nodded. Staring without pity at the Beta. “Who does he work for?”

  Kade shrugged. “Some new dealer trying his luck. Must be fucking stupid. He hasn’t volunteered the name.”

  “I’ll need that name,” I said.

  “Go fuck yourself,” the man muttered.

  My chuckle was dark and deadly, and I drew my gun and shot the asshole in the foot.

  “Fucking Christ!” Jordan hissed. The Beta screamed and performed a freakish dance before collapsing to the floor.

  I’d never seen anyone do that before…interesting.

  “Can you quit shooting people in the damn office?” Jordan bitched. “It’s a fucking nightmare to get blood out of the flooring. That’s the third time this month!”

  “What are you, my goddamn mother?” I growled back over the Beta’s howls. “Don’t tell me where I can fucking shoot a man.” I gestured with my gun at the downed man. “Get him the fuck up, and get the name of his boss. Then I can shoot the prick and get this racket over.” I rubbed my temple.

  More screaming and shouting followed. I took a slug of the beer and checked my watch. Not even lunchtime…and I’d missed my coffee. Outside the floor to ceiling window, Peppermint Moon was still heaving with happy, oblivious patrons.

  “…Malaxos…”

  “Who?” My head snapped around, and an eerie silence settled over the room. Even the hapless Beta had ceased his wailing and took to sobbing like a baby. I dumped my beer on the table and covered the distance to the man in three strides. Gripping a handful of hair, I shoved the muzzle of my gun between his teeth and deep enough down his throat to make him gag. Wide, terrified eyes stared back at me.

  “Good, I have your attention. I want you to take a message to your boss. Tell him, I’m coming for him. And when I find him, I’m going to kill him and every mutt that lives in his lair. You understand me?”

  He blinked and nodded as best he could around the gun.

  I smirked and tapped his cheek before extracting the gun. “Throw his ass out the back.” I glanced at my gun, now covered in blood and slobber as the Beta was dragged—amid more screams—to his feet. I thrust the gun toward Kade, who took it from me with a grimace. “Clean this shit up,” I said.

  “I love how you give me all the good jobs,” he said. I was tempted to smack the fucker, but he was built like a tank and I doubted he would notice.

  I glanced up at the camera, where Rhett was doubtlessly watching the show unfold. “Reprioritize,” I said. “I want this bastard located.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  I WASN’T SURE how I got through the rest of the day after that loaded conversation with Lucian. There was a tension gathering between us, and every meeting cranked the dial up another notch.

  Lucian.

  Dino.

  Lucian.

  Dino.

  Like wolves they had been circling their prey. The only question was which one would act first.

  Proposal?

  The word chased me as I tried to get a handle on what was happening to my life. My stomach was in knots, and I literally could not think straight.

  The coffee house I worked at was part of a chain. The beans were shipped in from the far corners of the galaxy, where apparently the climate was perfect. They served other drinks and food, and the cultured clientele chatted in intimate nooks under the subtle, arty lighting. My hands shook so badly, it was a wonder I did not spill a drink over the posh patrons.

  My manager wasn’t a bad sort, but he was a stickler for impeccable service, and when he noticed the state I was in, he immediately sent me home. The loss of one waitress was a minor consideration compared to the fallout should my nerves yield less than perfect service.

  Normally, I would relish a rare moment alone in my home without anyone there. But the shabby apartment, empty of both my parents and my brother, was an unwelcome opportunity to think.

  My thinking led me nowhere good.

  My life was complicated enough, I did not need more attention. Avoiding attention had been my life mantra.

  I had been spectacularly unsuccessful in this quest…and my hair color did not help.

  My brother came home first, went straight to his room, and slammed the door. Loud music blared. I got on with making dinner, chopping the vegetables that were past their best. My mother arrived next, lighting a cigarette the moment she was enclosed in the privacy of our home. Clouds of smoke billowed, drenching the room in a sickly aroma. “Pour your Mummy a drink, sweet,” she said, tossing her shoes beside the sofa and massaging her calves with hands calloused and lined from her many years working various cleaning jobs.

  She thumped on my brother’s bedroom door as she passed, and the volume lowered a notch.

  Grabbing the bottle of cheap liquor from the cooler, I poured her a glass.

  Discarding her cigarette in the stained dish on the table, she took a sip. “Hmm,” she said, her eyes narrowing. “Has your father been adding water again?”

  I smiled because my mother was wily, and I was confident my father had watered it down. “He wouldn’t dare.”

  She went back into the tiny lounge and put the entertainment viewer on loud enough to compete with my brother's music.

  Hours were long and arduous for non-dynamics, and she didn’t notice that I was home earlier than usual. There was no such thing as the mandatory rest days other dynamics could expect. We were on the bottom rung. The grunt workers. The ones they gave the crud to because no one else would do it. It was sad that my job delivered the most money to our home, all because I had the misfortune to look like an Omega.

  With hindsight, I never should have taken the job—I wouldn’t be in this mess had I refused.

  But the money, that essential in life, was being put to use, and it would be hard to give it up.

  I cleared up after dinner, my father was doing a double shift, and my mother had passed out on the sofa when I went to bed. Beyond the paper-thin walls of my room, I could hear our neighbors screaming at one another—they performed the same ritual every night. As if on cue, their baby set to wailing, but at least it brought their altercation to an end, and the heavy thud of their front door slamming settled a peace of sorts.

  Outside, the drone of overworked vents and traffic produced a dim that was as familiar to me as the threadbare blankets on my bed.

  “You have no business being anything but an Omega,” Lucian had said. I snuggled deeper and wondered what it would be like to have a nest.

  When I was little, I had played at being an Omega and had made a pretend nest in the closet.

  When my mother found it, she had slapped my legs so hard I’d screamed. Then she had pinched my small arm cruelly as she shook me, and said she would smack me harder if she found me playing such games again.

  I’d sobbed as I put the blankets away, confused and sore, and I had never played the game again.

  I did not sleep. A heavy threat hung over me. I thought about running, but I did not know where to go, nor what I was running from. No, running was not a solution, merely a false hope. I could not escape indefinitely. “I have a proposition for you,” Lucian had said.

  Whatever Lucian’s proposal was, it could not be worse than what Dino had planned, and yet his bright, intent eyes had watched me in a predatory way.

  At five a.m., I rose and got dressed with a resolution in my mind.

  I had tried to fight against my nature.

  But it was time.

  I left before anyone awoke. My stomach too full of anxiety to eat; I took the
monorail to neither Lucian nor my workplace.

  I had never been to the Government district before, but I knew where it was. Soaring towers greeted me when I stepped off the monorail. I felt out of place in my plain dress and functional shoes. The neat streets seemed to glisten in the early morning sun. There was no billowing rubbish, no smell of sweat and sewage, no screams of fighting neighbors.

  Whatever happened next, I would make sure my family received the compensation promised. For them, at least, the problems would be over.

  Even as I thought this, I realized money would not serve any of them well. More money would let my mother drink herself into an earlier grave. My brother had been sucked into Dino’s world, and I did not think money would free him from that vice. My father was perhaps the only one who might make better given an opportunity, but he loved my mother and the beauty she had once been, and would likely follow her into the hole.

  I was twenty-one years old. What the fuck had happened to my life?

  At the bottom of the elevator, I stopped, trying to think of a way out of this, as rushing commuters passed on either side.

  Five minutes, I just needed five minutes, and I would be almost right.

  I was lost in the contemplation of my scuffed shoes when a shadow passed before me.

  I glanced up, a long way up, to find Kade studying me with a serious expression on his young face.

  “I think you got lost, sweetheart,” he said, and his lips tugged up, taking the edge off the intense foreboding that swamped me seeing him there. “Allow me to rescue you from a poor decision.” He indicated a sleek gray ground transport waiting by the curb.

  I puffed out a little breath and tried to steady my frantic heart rate. How had he found me? Why had he found me?

  I did not need those questions answered to know that they would frighten me. His relaxed stance eased some of my tension. Long moments passed while I weighed my lack of options.

  I nodded.