by L. V. Lane
But otherwise, the spacious corner office with a small conference table on one side, and a grand sweeping desk with a pleasant view over the research center gardens was as I remembered it.
It was good to be home.
Chimera.
My office.
My place as Director of the Program.
My hands smoothed over my flat stomach. I was still a little lean, but my Controller’s blood was helping to address the lingering effects of the trauma.
They weren’t only my Controllers anymore. We were bonded now, and they were officially my Alpha mates.
Both of them.
The war god and the movie star.
The savage and the psychopath.
Only neither of them deserved such derogatory titles. They had saved me, and I liked to think that I had saved them in my own way, too.
My world had been spinning ever since I revealed.
Today, it had finally stopped.
I was sad that I hadn’t caught and no child grew within my womb. But there would be a next time.
And I fully intended to enjoy it when my heat came around. I’d already started picking out furnishings for my nest. Had repurposed the small bedroom in my apartment. Neither of them was allowed to see it, as yet, but I had seen then eyeing my activity with interest. I would privately admit that I wasn’t very good at nesting. It was supposed to be natural for an Omega, but my nesting attempts produced only an abomination.
It was only a matter of time before one or both of them insisted on being shown the work in progress…which would probably lead to them fucking me in it. But I was looking forward to that as well.
I was looking forward to many things.
How was that even possible?
Leaving my office, I made my way to the lab, where I had a batch of samples incubating. I might be the Program Director again, but I still enjoyed getting my hands dirty in the lab.
And my new personal project investigating my singularity was critical. My secret wasn’t a secret anymore. Given what I had been through and all I had learned of the Uncorrupted’s Alpha program and Salvation, I wanted to help the war in any way I could. My singularity was unique and it needed to be explored.
I lost myself in my work for an hour. There was a certain therapeutic comfort in going through the tests and recording the results.
“Missed me?”
Jumping, I nearly knocked over the samples covering the laboratory table. I shot Ryker a glare.
“You’re a bit jumpy, babe. Anything you need to tell me?”
I grunted noncommittally as I retrieved the samples and took them over to the refrigerator while trying to settle my pounding heart. My body was no longer my own. A look from either of them was all it took to set me on fire. I hadn’t seen Ryker for two weeks. I had missed him…but we had made an agreement. “I thought we agreed that you weren’t going to interrupt my work anymore.”
He knew better than to arrive unannounced. Ryker wasn’t one for rules or agreements, though. Some days I convinced myself that he had changed…and the next day, he would remind me that he was exactly the same—a psychopath with a smile that could knock planets out of alignment, and a body to make angels swoon.
I’d be damned if I was going to give him the satisfaction of acknowledging any of this. And he knew well his mere arrival after any kind of absence was going to have a predictable effect.
I closed the giant medical-cooler door…and squealed when his arm snaked around my waist. His lips settled over the sensitive patch of skin on the left. “Are you flushing, Doctor Brach?”
With those words, my heart went into overdrive, and a familiar thumping started in my veins. “I’m fine,” I said.
We both froze.
“You agreed not to come here, Ryker,” I said, panicking. I was the Program Director. The position should command a level of respect, as should my lab time. “I—you know I’m flushing. There are students in the next room…and there is no privacy glass in the lab!”
He let me babble, the bastard, digging myself deeper into the hole. If only my psychic powers were less erratic, I could take back some control.
“I’ll need to talk to Ethan about this,” he said, voice regretful. “He’s going to take his belt to you. Probably make me hold you down while he does it.” There was a definite note of amusement in his voice, but the threat of the belt—the thought of Ryker restraining me for a punishment—set a dampness gathering in my pussy. “Or maybe we can try out that nice bench I’ve had installed in our bedroom suite.”
“What bench?” I glanced back at him over my shoulder, but his right hand started lifting my skirt, and my attention shot there. I grabbed his wrist, trying to slow the ascent while checking if anyone was in the central lab. I could see several heads bent over interactive desks and prayed they kept them there. “Ryker, for goodness sake!” He’d been going on about a bloody bench for weeks, and I wouldn’t be in the least bit surprised to find he’d had one delivered. Where does one even place such an item in their apartment? What if we had visitors and they needed to enter the bedroom?
“All kinds of interesting ways to position you while he’s painting welts on your ass,” he continued, lips trailing up closer to my ear. “I’ve had it specially designed so I can hold you without the need for any straps.” God help me, why was the thought of being restrained by Ryker in such a way turning me on? Restraints of any kind brought me out in a cold sweat, but their hands holding me was a form of addiction. Sometimes I needed their tight, inescapable possession to make me feel safe. And being trapped between them was a special kind of heaven. “And for fucking you after….perfect fucking height…and angle. The kind of angle that allows you to get really…deep.”
He bit my earlobe, and I groaned in helpless anticipation.
“Or I could let this little slip be our secret. If you let me sort out your flush, I won’t need to tell Ethan. No one will notice if I fuck you up against this nice sturdy medical cooler. Gotta weigh a ton. As good as a wall.”
“It’s transparent,” I hissed. “And I’ll tell Ethan myself.”
His teeth raked over the sensitive patch of skin in warning. Not quite breaking the surface, but I became perfectly still. His fingers hitched my dress higher before slipping inside my panties. “God, please don’t. I have to work with these people.”
Lifting his lips, he whispered, “Better keep quiet, baby.”
His mouth lowered to my throat again, and he bit as his finger plunged inside me. Blood flooded out, and I whimpered. My eyes rolled into the back of my head while I bit my lips and choked back my gasps. My body didn’t care where I was, it rushed straight for the cliff edge. The deep, sucking pulls of his mouth, the thick fingers plundering inside my pussy, and the rough thumb grinding mercilessly over my clit undid me in an embarrassingly short time.
I couldn’t possibly be quiet, and his mouth covered mine as my release ripped through me.
He pressed a kiss against my cheek as I came down.
In the center of my chest, a little echo thud kicked off. It was always muted for Ryker compared to Ethan, but I took comfort in it being there.
“Did you miss me?” I asked.
“I did,” he said. “That’s why I came straight here, even though I know it will piss Ethan off. He’ll try and beat my head through a wall later under the pretext of a training session. Thank fuck he’s getting fat now he’s behind a desk. Evens things up a bit.”
“He’s not getting fat! And you didn’t miss me, you missed fucking me.”
“Mind your language, babe.” He swatted my ass, and this time, my yelp was loud enough for a head to pop up in the adjoining lab. It snapped back down again, and Ryker chuckled.
“I missed you…and fucking you. I don’t understand why they need to be mutually exclusive. Didn’t Ethan tell you I was coming back?”
I shook my head. Although, Ethan had been particularly enthusiastic last night.
His face dropped to t
he serious one that still made my breath catch, and then he winked. “Good job I’m not one for playing fair. Ethan’s going to be tied up in all kinds of inconvenient meetings for a while.”
I let him escort me from the lab. I had missed him, and yes, if I was honest, I might have missed the fucking as well.
We spent the entire trip in the skycar with our hands and lips on each other…some of the details of us arriving at the apartment were a little hazy. Things heated up when we entered the privacy of our home. Hoisting me up into his arms, he staggered a zig-zag path for the bedroom.
Then came to an abrupt standstill.
His hands tightened briefly, then he released me to let my feet drop to the floor.
“You think I was going to fall for that shit a second time?”
My head whipped around so fast I became a little dizzy.
Ethan lounged back on my bedroom couch, hands behind his head, and looking the epitome of relaxed.
His eyes, though, they were not relaxed.
Ryker chuckled, and muttered, “Fuck.”
I gave him a half-hearted punch in the stomach, because he still had the most inappropriate sense of humor, and Ethan was clearly pissed.
“Indeed,” Ethan said, unfurling from the couch, he stood in a manner that emanated threat.
He stabbed a thumb toward the corner of the room. “And what the fuck is that?”
There, in the corner of my beautiful bedroom was a huge wooden contraption that looked better suited to torture. My hands went to my throat. Yes, what the fuck is that? I don’t think my imagination had known what to make of Ryker’s mental picture, but it was nothing like reality.
“She’s been…ahh…naughty again,” Ryker stated cheerfully.
He really didn’t know when to quit.
“Lying about being flushed,” he continued while I gaped. “And I’ve only been back five minutes.”
“I didn’t—”
“Ah-ah, Princess,” Ethan said, shaking his head in warning. Slow steps brought him forward. I took a nervous step back…right into Ryker. “You had your chance.”
Chance? I hadn’t been allowed to explain myself, and he knew it. I might have stomped my foot.
Ryker chuckled, and I was sure Ethan’s lips twitched as he eyeballed Ryker. “And you’re not getting your dick anywhere near her until I say…which might not be tonight.”
Ryker made a sound halfway between a groan and a growl. In his twisted, Ryker way, he loved being denied.
Ethan’s eyes darkened. Because he loved holding the ultimate control—over both of us.
And I loved everything they did, and everything about them.
Even if it terrified me.
Especially if it terrified me.
My stomach went into freefall, and my flight plans were nixed when Ryker’s hand settled over the back of my neck.
Ethan didn’t stop until he was close enough for me to feel the warmth emanating from his body. He cupped my cheek. And this time he did smirk. That beautiful war god meets a fallen angel kind of smirk, and the little thread inside me hummed. “Princess, we are going to have so much fun.”
Fun, yes, for all of us. Delicious, heady, sinful fun.
Glossary
CONTROLLER: THE EMPIRE uses Alpha soldiers to train and control Omega Dynamics when they are needed to join the war.
Copper virus: DNA altering virus. The virus may enhance characteristics already present in an infected individual.
Dynamic: If the Copper virus hosts, it changes the individual into a dynamic. There are twelve viral induced dynamics, Alpha through to Mu, and Omega. Each dynamic offers different physical and physiological benefits: intelligence, strength, memory, natural leaders or followers, or heightened skills such as mathematics or art.
Healer: Healers are a common Omega type who are able to heal physical and mental trauma through physical or psychic contact.
Singular: Singulars are rare Omegas with unique traits known as singularities. Predominantly psychic abilities, although other physical or physiological changes may occur.
Theta: Thetas are hyper-intelligent dynamics who are often driven toward the accumulation of wealth, prestige, or both.
Gamma: Gammas share many psychological characteristics with an Omega, but they do not experience heat, and are unaffected by pheromones.
Alphas: Alphas are aggressive and territorial. They experience a rut and can knot when in the presence of an Omega in heat. Many, but not all, retain a permanent knot after bonding.
Delta: Deltas are aggressive and territorial, like Alphas, but differ in certain physical and physiological characteristics. The most notable difference being that they have a hook instead of a knot. Unaffected by Omega heat, the hook is always present.
Empire: Governing council of the United Planet System
Non-dynamic: If the Copper virus does not host, the individual remains unaltered, also known as a non-dynamic.
Uncorrupted: A faction formed by those who fled the Empire during the first mass viral awakening. Many non-dynamics follow their cause and flee the Empire.
About the Author
I love a happy ever after, although sometimes the journey to get there can be rough on my poor characters.
An unashamed fan of the alpha, the antihero, and the throwback in all his guises and wherever he may lurk.
I’m a new author, learning as I go and appreciate feedback of all kinds.
Drop me a message and let me know what you think.
Where to find me…
Website: https://authorlvlane.wixsite.com/controllers
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Taking Control: An Alpha and Omega dark science fiction romance
(The Controllers Book One)
There is a war, and people with skills are deployed when and where it suits the cause. Even Omegas.
Where necessary, they are allocated protection.
A Controller.
And they are told to submit fully to the Controller. That it is recommended.
But the war brings many changes. Omegas must be protected at all costs and what was once a recommendation might soon become a mandate.
Eloise is an Omega, and with her first deployment imminent, she has already decided that she won’t submit to full control—not while the law still protects her.
But they haven’t allocated her to an ordinary Controller, they’ve let the best of them fight for the right. And nothing is going to stop the one who comes out on top from claiming his prize.