Wanted by the Alpha

by Laxmi Hariharan

  It's like all of my senses are centered right here, right in the core of my being, where his hungry mouth urges me on, to keep reaching for that light on the horizon.

  I push up my breasts, thrust up my hips and shove myself into his touch. All through, he keeps purring.

  Those strange subvocal waves in his voice bleed through me, tearing at my nerves, sensitizing my neurons, as if there is a straight connection between his tongue and my brain.

  As if he's speaking to me through his touch.

  Wooing me, making me come.

  For him.

  Just for him.

  A wave of sensations crashes over me. It rips through me, sweeping over my skin, circling my breasts.

  He drags his hands up my calves, over the back of my thighs to cup my hips. Then angles me such that he can sweep his tongue inside me deeper. He slides his mouth up my pussy then bites my clit again.

  I shatter.

  The wave of sensations crashes over me. All the hair on my forearms rises. White and red sparks flash behind my eyes. The pleasure sweeps through me. The cry builds from deep inside me, up from my core where his teeth still worry my dripping folds. Trembling over my waist, my rib cage, up my throat and then I throw my head back and scream.

  "Lucy."

  The faint sound of hammering breaks through the haze of emotions that swirl around me.

  I am still surrounded by this touch, his heat, the emotions pour over me keeping me captive. I want to move and find that I can't. Not yet. My limbs feel too heavy. My legs are weighed down.

  My heart thumps so fast, and I am sure it's going to break out of my rib cage. The blood pounds at my temples.

  "I heard someone scream, are you okay?"

  Something in the voice—a touch of desperation?—penetrates the sexual haze I am still caught up in.

  "If you don't let me in, I am breaking down this door now." A loud banging crashes through my head and shoves all other thought away.

  My eyes snap open. I sweep my gaze over the dresser in the far corner, my clothes strewn on the floor. To the door. I am still in my bedroom, in my father the Czar's stronghold, in Moscow.

  "Lucia?"

  I spring up and out of the bed. My bare feet hit the ground with a thud. I shudder. It's as if his touch from the dream has sensitized me.

  The cold of the floor sweeps up through my skin.

  I shiver and wrap my arms around myself, then take a step forward. My thighs feel sore, my pussy feels empty. So empty. I smell the sugary spoor of my own slickness and know whoever was in my dream, that alpha had made me climax in real life.

  Was it a dream? It felt so vivid. As if my subconscious mind had met his. I draw in a breath. The faint scent of burned pinewood seems to linger in the air, then wafts away.

  I shake my head to clear it.

  Reaching the door, I shove it open.

  Chloe, my sister, tumbles in. Her hair flows behind her. She grabs my arms and shoves me inside.

  Then bangs the door shut behind her.

  Dragging me into the room, she collapses on the bed, pulling me down with her.

  "They are here, Lucy," her chest heaves.

  "Who?" The cloth of my tunic drags at my nipples. My breasts ache. Damn the alpha, he made me come once, and it isn't enough. My body wants him again. Wants him to hold me down and thrust his cock into me and fuck me and—

  “The Vikings. They have taken over Moscow. Father has negotiated a truce with them." Sweat beads her upper lip.

  I curl my fingers into fists and bury my nails into my palm. The pain slices through my mind, forcing the last remnants of that very explicit dream from my head... but not the sight of those blue eyes which seem to be burned into my brain. "He's the Czar, that's his job isn't it? To protect his people?" I frown.

  "You don't understand." She pants. Her shoulders shake. "He is handing us and a few select other omegas over in return for the Vikings sparing the lives of the citizens.”

  Lucy

  "I don't believe it." Fear twists my guts. "He wouldn't do that."

  Chloe grips my hand; her palms are cold. "You mean you thought our father would treat us differently? You forget we are omegas. We are born to be bred."

  "But Father never treated us like omegas." I rub my other palm on my thigh. "He trained us to fight, to be independent and take care of ourselves."

  "Doesn’t change that nature intended us for just one purpose—"

  "—to be knotted by Alphas." My voice sounds hollow even to me.

  That won't do. I don’t want Chloe to know how afraid I am right now. She's only a few years younger than me. But our mother died so very young and I've always felt responsible for her. "You know I won’t let anything happen to you. Don't you?" I take her fingers between mine and begin to rub them.

  She tosses her hair. "Oh, yeah. So, you are going to do what? Stand up to the Vikings?"

  I straighten my spine. "If needed."

  "They are marauders. Berserkers. There are alphas, and then there are Vikings." Her chin trembles. She tries to tug her fingers from mine. I grip her hand tighter.

  "So what? Ultimately, they are alphas, like any other. They think with their dicks. They smell Omega pussy and lose all coherent thought—"

  Chloe blinks at me. Her mouth opens in an 'O' of surprise.

  "What?" I twist my lips. "Never heard me swearing before?"

  "You sound like... like..." She bites her lip.

  "Yeah, like someone who grew up on the streets." This time it is I who releases her fingers. I jump up to my feet and begin to pace. "Sometimes I think that would have been preferable to having been brought up here in this ... this gilded cage." I fling my arms out.

  She looks around the space. The floor to ceiling drapes. The thick, ankle-deep white carpet. The massive bed she's sitting on has a frilly cover which falls to the carpet. She crawls up the mattress and leans back against the pillows. "I don't know... sis, there are worse fates than being born into the first family of Russia."

  She turns her nails up to inspect them. “Besides, I like my luxury manicures too much. Which not everyone can afford."

  "Chloe, really." I blow the hair out of my face. "We are in danger of being bartered like... like—"

  "Omegas?" She quirks her lips.

  "You are not helping." I fold my arms behind my back and look at her.

  "Well, maybe it's not too bad, you know?" She grabs a plump red cushion and hugs it. "I am tired of being confined during my heat cycles. I wouldn't mind being fucked by an alpha and—"

  "Chloe." I stare. "Is that what you really want? To be rutted by an animal..."

  "...Alpha" she pouts.

  "Same thing."

  "Not." She sets her lips in a stubborn line. "It's us who get treated like animals by my father. Always made to march to his timetable. Study, weapons practice, exercise, solitary confinement during heat cycle. My life is bor-i-in-g," She throws her cushion at me.

  I catch it and cuddle it.

  The feel of the soft satin against my skin makes me yearn for something harder, the planes of his chest moving against my breasts, the feel of the rough hair of his forearms chafing against my waist, his beard scraping over the tender skin of my throat... a shudder of heat ripples down my spine. My thighs clench. A chill runs over my skin, leaving goosebumps in its wake. "Oh! Hell." I straighten my arms at my side. "Speaking of confinement."

  "What?" She sits up in bed. "What is it?"

  "I think my heat cycle is upon me." Just hearing myself say the words aloud makes my stomach churn.

  "No!" her eyes bug in horror.

  Walking to the bathroom, I open the tap then run water over my wrist. I am trying to calm the heat that's building inside me. But I know it's only temporary. Over the years I've tried everything. Running water over my skin. Dunking myself into a tub of water, plunging my head into a basin of ice. It helps temporarily.

  "How long before the cycle takes hold?"

  "Two, maybe thre
e days at the most." I raise my head to meet her gaze in the mirror. "That's how long we have to get out of here."

  "What are you thinking?" She frowns.

  I turn off the tap, then wipe my wet hands on the towel. The cloth is fluffy. The mirror gleams. The faucet is gold plated. My gaze surveys it all, the massive sunken tub in which I have soaked my aching limbs after a particularly hard round of training.

  "We are going to have to leave all this behind, aren't we?"

  Her voice cuts through my thoughts. I turn to lean my hip against the basin. "Yeah."

  "We are going to have to escape?" She folds her arms around her waist. Her gaze is wary. Her lower lip trembles.

  "Yes." There's no other way of disguising the truth. Best to be upfront about it.

  "I... I don't think I have the courage to do this." She wrings her hands together in front of her.

  I straighten then push away from the sink and stalk to her. "Now you listen to me, Chloe Erasmus. We won’t let Father decide our fate. Not Father, not anyone else. No one except ourselves."

  Her shoulders tremble, but she nods. "I am not as brave as you, Lucy. I never was."

  "Nonsense." I toss my head, "I've simply had to rebel more to fight my way forward. Comes with being firstborn."

  "You have a strong will, too," Her gaze slides away. "It's why I can only follow in your footsteps. Left to myself I'd have..." She twists her lips.

  "What? Gone along with what father says? Let him barter you to the Vikings? Let them knot you and rut you? Perhaps have one of them even mate you?"

  She looks at me. "Aren't you going to be claimed by an alpha, eventually?"

  "Yeah." I drop my hand from her shoulder and step back. There in that one word I have confessed my deepest fear. The fact that I can run and fight, but ultimately my fate is that of any other omega.

  "It's inevitable that you will be bred by an alpha sooner or later." My sister's soft voice spills into the space.

  I fold my fingers into fists. "And don’t I know it?" My nails slice into my skin. The pain slices through the emotions rolling around in my head. I will not let myself give up hope. I will fight. I am my own person. I am strong and independent. I can rely on myself.

  "So, is it even worth it to go through all of this?"

  I turn on her. "Go through what?"

  "Defy Father, run away. Go through, no doubt, what's going to be a tough time on the road and face threats to our lives. The possibility of being hunted down like an animal is—"

  "Better than being rutted like one—"

  My words ring through the space. My voice sounds strong, harsh. But inside, my heart trembles, my limbs quake with fear. My pulse begins to thud. "Everything you say is true." I narrow my gaze on her. "It will not be easy, to find our way to Scotland on our own."

  "Scotland?" She angles her head.

  I drag my fingers through my hair. "Kayden MacGregor, the Leader of Scotland, has a safe policy with Omegas. He allows the women to choose which alphas they want to lay with."

  "Huh?" She narrows her gaze. "He sounds too good to be true."

  "Only one way to find out." I bare my teeth in the semblance of a smile.

  "You really are a fighter, Lucy."

  "And you are not as timid as you pretend to be." I hold out my arms.

  My little sister walks over and hugs me. I lead her back into the bedroom.

  "When do we leave?"

  "Right away." I walk over to the closet and rummage around before coming up with what I was looking for.

  "What is that?" She frowns as I throw the clothes on the bed, then begin to strip.

  "Need to be disguised as males, don't we?"

  "Once you go into heat, nothing can disguise that scent." She folds her arms around her waist.

  I jut out my chin, "By then I plan to be ensconced in the belly of the ship that takes us to Scotland."

  "You have thought this through, haven't you?" There's a glint of admiration and something else (envy?) in her voice.

  I turn to her, "I am just desperate." I raise my shoulders and let them fall. "I want to choose the first alpha who'll break my heat cycle."

  "You are an optimist." Her lips curve up in a smile that doesn't meet her eyes. I have no such false expectations. "I want mine to happen sooner rather than later, so I know what all the fuss is about."

  Anger sweeps through me. "You should demand more for yourself."

  "And you, my darling sister, always take the difficult path. I prefer the one of least resistance. And if I can use my feminine wiles to ease my way, so be it." She fluffs her hair and flutters those long eyelashes at me.

  "Save those gestures for the right alpha."

  "Or the wrong one." She grins, her features brighten up, and she looks younger than her twenty years. "Don't admit you don’t want a rough, growly alpha to take you, and scrape his beard all over your skin and purr for you, only you." Her voice grows low and husky, her eyes half-close. She walks over to me and makes kissing noises. Her eyes gleam.

  My cheeks heat, "I thought you'd be over this childishness by now?" I glare at her.

  "Well, someone has to be less serious around here. You take on enough worries for both of us, big sis." She thumps my shoulder affectionately.

  "Besides," she peers down into my eyes, "I do believe I touched on a nerve." She grins, "Did I make you blush? Maybe even expose a secret dream of yours?"

  I huff out a breath.

  "Maybe that's why you took so long to open the doors? Were you caught up in a sex dream of your own with an imaginary male?" She snickers.

  My face goes fiery, and I am sure my creamy skin must show every last bit of my mortification.

  "I knew it." She pumps her fist in the air. "Tell me please, how it was? Who were you dreaming about?"

  "Jeez, gimme a break," I mutter, "though I admit, as dreams go, it was pretty hot. He..." I swallow and avert my gaze, "He was everything I've always wanted in an alpha."

  "How did he look?" Her voice peaks with excitement.

  "He looked..." I screw up my forehead. "Damn." I shake my head. "I can't recall his face."

  "What?" She grips my shoulders. "Come on, Lucy, don't hold back!"

  I squint up at her, "All I remember is his scent... a kind of burned pinewood and..."

  "And?" Her fingertips dig into my skin.

  "And lust, and everything forbidden." And everything I need.

  A tremor of longing surges through me.

  It also brings home the fact that the alpha is not here. "It was all a dream," I huff out a breath. "No doubt this man doesn't exist at all."

  "Maybe it's just your foresight telling you he's out there waiting for you?" She frowns.

  Foresight... the gift handed down to me from our mother. Nah, not likely, I toss my head, "I don't believe in stupid dreams anymore."

  "But it could be more than a dream." She grips my shoulder, "It could be your instincts giving you an inkling of what is to come?"

  "Hmm." The thought had struck me but I didn’t want to admit it. Or maybe I just don’t want to trust it, maybe I am too scared to believe in happy endings.

  There's a knock on the door. I push away all other thoughts and turn to face the new arrival.

  "Princess." My best friend enters. "I thought I heard voices."

  "Come in, Savana," I beckon the omega in. "Want to join us on a little trip to Scotland?"

  7

  Zeus

  I swagger up the grand hall in the stronghold. My booted feet echo on the wooden floor. Massive windows at the side let in the bluish-gray light of the day. The room is packed with alphas who belonged to Golan’s Council. I pass close to one of them, and he steps aside. When I turn to meet his gaze, he lowers his head. The stink of tension tightens the air, and the hair on the nape of my neck rises. They are afraid of me. Good. I sense their gaze following me, yet not one of them tries to stop me. The losers have come to watch the entertainment for today, provided courtesy of me. A low chuck
le rips out of me.

  I stride toward the platform at the front of the room.

  Ethan moves forward as if to climb onto the dais alongside me.

  I raise a hand.

  He halts and wrinkles his forehead. “You know the protocol, Zeus.” His voice is cold. “As the interim second to Golan, I am supposed to introduce you to the Council and its associates.”

  “Fuck that.” I keep my voice pleasant.

  Ethan folds his arms over his chest and glares at me. “I see you dressed for the occasion.” His mouth purses.

  “You sound like a repressed omega.” I run a finger around the collar of my vest, the one I’d worn on the streets, and which is stained with the blood and gore of many fights. “I am the General, not fucking royalty.”

  “No danger of being mistaken for that.” His lips thin.

  “I fight with my bare fists and take problems head-on. It’s how I plan to lead this city.” Well, when I am not running my inheritance into the ground, that is. “I’ll leave the politics to you. After all, you already dressed for that part.” I purposely survey his clothes. He wears a full three-piece suit, complete with a tie. Then I raise my gaze to his face.

  He holds it for a second, then lowers his gaze.

  Fucker is finally learning his place.

  Striding past him, I spring up on the platform, then turn to survey the gathered alphas. I take in their faces one by one. As my gaze alights on each one, they either look away or bow their heads. Fuckers.

  They all know exactly how I came to be here.

  By now, the rumor mills must have spread the word, so they know what I am: an alpha who kills his own to seize power. There’s nothing as dangerous and as much of an aphrodisiac as a man who has no qualms.

  The low hum of conversation quietens.

  “I assume no one here is foolish enough to challenge my bid to claim the title of General?” My voice is low, yet it carries around the room.

  The fear from the crowd is palpable. It rolls off them in waves, and I absorb it, thrive on it. I swagger to the very front of the platform and slap my chest. “Is there no one here who’d take on my claim and fight me for the title?” I crack my knuckles.