by L. V. Lane
“I’m not going to kill the little fuck,” Ethan growled, drawing me in close as he spoke. “But I am fantasizing about it. Don’t deny me this simple pleasure. The man has made your life hell for the last three years. Killing him would be far too kind an outcome. I may come from Lyus, but don’t confuse me with stupid. I am capable of reading, and I know the work to increase Omega yields was part of your doctorate thesis. I don’t claim to understand the nuances, but I recognize scum when I see it.”
I was embarrassed by my own prejudice, both against him as an Alpha and toward a man who’d had the misfortune to rise from a poor beginning.
“I’m sorry,” I said as we passed into the smaller chamber where the detailed planning would begin. “It frightened me when you said it. I thought for a moment that you really were contemplating Erison’s death. I misjudged you, I’m sorry.”
I caught a hint of a smirk as he walked me to my allocated seat. “Oh, make no mistake,” he said with menace. “I am going to kill him. But first I’m going to destroy him—systematically—I will strip him of every bit of false personal pride and fake prestige. I will rip him up and tear him down. And only then, when he is nothing, will I kill him.”
He squeezed gently over the nape of my neck as he parked me into the seat allocated for me. He pressed his lips close to my ear. “I like these clothes. They make you look civilized. I’m not civilized, not even a little, and I’m going to fuck you while you’re still wearing them the moment we get back home. Now, be a good little Omega, and don’t fuss about it. I’ll be right here, and Tsing will behave. If he doesn’t, I’ll have to rework my plans.”
As his fingers withdrew, I shivered. He assumed a position at the back of the room where he propped his shoulder against the wall and…observed.
My heart would not settle, it was like a tiny bird had taken up residence there.
The first part of the discussion escaped me, but eventually the words penetrated, and I became engrossed. I no longer wanted to help take non-dynamics and turn them into Omegas. There were other options I hoped to explore, including possible ways to mask Omega scent and to better manage the extreme nature of heat. This stream of work was my best chance to learn and help.
I couldn’t stop the program, but while I remained, I could have some influence. It was the best I could hope for.
Erison proposed an aggressive approach that made my stomach churn. He was so blinded by the need to outshine me, he was prepared to take risks with people’s lives. Given how poorly he had treated me, this shouldn’t have surprised me, but I could not stand idly by while he turned my former program into a circus.
I could see some of my fellow colleagues shifting uncomfortably. I wasn’t alone in thinking this was a risky approach.
“I cannot support this Doctor Tsing,” I said. “Nor will the research council. I studied the impacts of the drugs extensively during the trials as part of my doctorate, and test subjects showed deteriorations in health with half your proposed dose. Aside from the ethical implications, they will shut the program down should it result in a mortality. I cannot be part of such a directive. I am prepared to petition the council to this effect and tender my resignation if necessary.”
Silence greeted my words. I could see Erison’s cogs turning. He would like nothing better than to see me removed from the program because it would allow him full autonomy and glory. He wanted me gone, but not this way. He knew such a resignation would stir the genetics council to review his proposals. It would spark an inquiry, and an independent review would spot the flaws from a mile away.
Two more people came forward and agreed with me, their wary gaze shifting between Erison and me. I noticed Erison staring over my shoulder. He swallowed.
My glance found Ethan studying Erison in a way that reflected everything he had spoken of.
I shivered.
No one had ever had my corner before, not once in the last three years. Merry tried her best, but she was a Beta, and in the dynamic power game she was only one above an Omega. She had been right. I couldn’t go to my father, he would remove me from the program. As much as I’d used that as a threat to gain Erison’s concession, it was a bluff I was reluctant to enact.
I wasn’t alone in sending surreptitious glances Ethan’s way. His looming presence was tipping the scales in favor of reason without him uttering a single word.
It might infuriate me, but I still hoped it would encourage Erison to retract this insane plan. I had never aspired to be an Alpha, despite the power it afforded. I wished I could be me; an Omega who still held a position that commanded respect. I had no desire for secondhand respect because of who my father was…or any other Alpha. I was a slave to the constraints of the world, but wallowing in self-pity would not help me. I couldn’t change the world, not in a day anyway, but I wasn’t about to give up on it yet either.
I couldn’t predict the future, but I had an influence of sorts, and I would grasp it for as long as I could.
There was still time before my next heat for me to see how this would play out. But soon, I would need to make a decision. Despite all my supposed knowledge, control was nothing like my expectations. It wasn’t quite as cloying, and there might even be advantages to such a partnership—many Omegas appeared content.
Yet, my mind still riled against the inequality, and as I reflected on Ethan’s earlier words, I recognized that I was a long way from acceptance.
It wasn’t a partnership, that was the problem. I was little more than a possession and a sexual imperative, too steeped in animalistic urges to have hope. I wanted to be cherished for my mind as much as my biology. If I were a Beta, or any other dynamic or non-dynamic, Ethan would not have given me a second glance.
My attention was diverted by Erison agreeing to the points, and the proposal moved forward in a much more palatable vein.
CHAPTER FIVE
AFTER THE BATTLE of wills between Tsing and Lilly, I shadowed her for a series of meetings, ending with her spending a couple of hours in the lab with two Betas where they discussed subjects far beyond my basic scientific understanding. It might have been boring under other circumstances, but I found I enjoyed watching her as much as I enjoyed fucking her—and I loved fucking her—so the day didn’t turn out so bad.
It had been an absolute joy to fuck with Tsing during his little power play. I’d discovered a long time ago that my size and stare were often enough to unnerve people. In Doctor Tsing’s case, such tactics were a pleasure that could only be surpassed by me wrapping my fingers around his throat. But I hadn’t risen to the level I had on Lyus by allowing my aggression to take center stage. Many Alphas didn’t know the first thing about control. Couldn’t control themselves, never mind a sweet, needy little Omega. I was good at controlling Omegas because I was good at controlling myself, but when I relinquished that control, where circumstance required it, the results were often spectacular.
I’d made my first personal assessment of Tsing today. I’d gotten a good idea of the situation based on Ryker’s report. Fucking him up would be a great pleasure. Still, it didn’t pay to become overconfident. Tsing was a Theta, and they were renowned for their intelligence. He would be aware of my threat and would be working on a counter move.
It was a relief when the day came to a close, and we took a skycar back to her opulent apartment with its credit hungry views. As the son of two Beta’s who spent the first half of his childhood in a perpetual state of hunger, I’d never imagined finding myself in such luxury.
As we entered the reception room where the pink orchids sat beside the handwritten note from her father, her eyes searched mine. “Still feeling sorry for me?” I asked with a raised brow. Yesterday she’d given me a pitying look like she was imagining a poor little beggar boy getting his first taste of luxury.
Today, she cut me a cool glare that got my cock twitching as my lips curved in a smile. I’d warned her about what I was going to do when I got her home. It seemed my princess wanted to issue a
challenge.
And I was more than happy to accept.
I prowled after her into the lounge, watching the sway of her hips in the sky-blue skirt hugging her ass perfectly. The little Omega had no idea who she was playing with, throwing looks like that over her shoulder.
“I get the impression you’re a man who thrives in any environment,” she said, walking over to the window.
The sun had not yet begun to sink, and the snow-capped mountains and soaring city towers were cast into spectacular relief.
“I do my best,” I said, coming up behind her. I rested my hand over the nape of her neck. She shivered.
I liked the shiver.
It hadn’t been all bad on Lyus. I’d been a runner for an operation trading firearms before revealing as an Alpha. After, with the hormones running me hard, I’d killed the proprietor and announced I was taking over. I was big for my age, and had exceptional control, even during the volatile transition into adulthood.
My parents and siblings had not gone hungry again.
In a place where power was the only form of protection, I took it all, piece by piece. I became the king of a mud pit, a backwater shit-hole, but I was still a king.
The war with the Uncorrupted was a distant problem for someone else. The Empire had done nothing for Lyus, and we never suspected the Empire would expect us to do something for them.
I didn’t want to leave Lyus, certainly wouldn’t have done so by choice. I would have fought to the death to avoid any such fate, and I wasn’t alone in this.
The Empire knew this.
After they extracted me from Lyus, the military had done their best to break me and beat me into a good little soldier. It hadn’t worked out so well for them, but that’s what happens when you gas every major city across a planet so you can drag your chosen victims out. Any Alpha found was removed, whatever their age.
There was no going back. Those who didn’t or couldn’t accept the change, died.
I eventually accepted my fate on the condition they extract my family from the cesspit. It was a testament to my skill at killing that they agreed. My younger brother was already dead by then, killed in an Uncorrupted attack, because they had set about plundering Lyus the moment the conscription teams left.
I don’t know how I got through the next few years. It was all a little blurry, but I killed—a lot.
And I found something to hate more than I hated the ruling council. I was in a dark headspace, and the Uncorrupted minions were in my sights.
I took on a role within the war that allowed me a certain level of leeway—operations dangerous enough that I suspected they hoped I might get myself killed and relieve them of the problem.
That had been ten years ago, and I wasn’t dead yet.
And now they desired to change me yet again.
When her father first approached me regarding the temporary control of his daughter, I recognized it for what it was, an attempt to gain leverage over me that would better integrate me. I had acquired a body of knowledge on our enemy during my time working covert operations. At first, they didn’t much care if I lived or died, now they were terrified of losing my knowledge. They wanted me behind a desk, and Lillian Brach was a sweetener, meant to show me the delights of the Empire before she was handed over to someone more appropriate.
I was exceptional at control, and this one needed control badly. For now, the arrangement was meeting both needs.
I was okay with that.
Her father had been open about her failings and his own. He had indulged her—overindulged her—from the moment she was born, and he was concerned she might prove too challenging for the corporate Alpha dogs. He worried his influence might dissuade them from taking the hard-line. He knew the way I worked, and that I didn’t give a fuck who he was, and certainly wouldn’t cut his little princess any slack. He wanted her settled. After, he would pass her over to someone more fitting to her social standing.
As I studied her in the glass, I reflected that her father’s plans hadn’t turned out so well.
The nature of her singularity had put an end to that. It took them a year to work out what was happening to her and what she needed. Another six months of trialing on Betas before they discovered creating her viral match was no easy undertaking.
I’d known there was a possibility I might die when they asked my permission to infect me. All the Betas they had trialed it on had died. It was just another operation with risks, and one I was prepared to take given the magnitude of the prize. And Lillian Brach was quite a prize. I imagined the queue of wealthy Alphas lining up to petition her father. I guessed that now they had tested it on both Ryker and me, they would be more comfortable repeating it for a preferred candidate when we were done.
I’d been resigned to this back when I’d hauled her terrified ass out of the cage on the Uncorrupted ship.
Things had changed somewhere between me fucking her and handing her over to Ryker. At first, I’d convinced myself that I needed more than the usual few weeks, and I would argue for more time.
Then it had occurred to me that I was holding all the cards here. I’d called her father direct before I’d even gotten on the ship for Orla, told him I would fuck up the operation in ways he couldn’t comprehend if he didn’t agree to make this permanent. Told him if he thought about trying to shut me down, I would rain blood on his precious capital the likes of which he had never seen.
I had a knack of being hard to kill, so he knew I wasn’t bluffing.
He’d been shocked, then amused, and he’d agreed…with conditions.
Her amber eyes sought mine in the glass.
“Do you know what you look like?”
She shook her head.
“You look like the kind of woman who wouldn’t give a man like me the time of day,” I said. “And yet, here we are.”
“You can’t begin to imagine the kind of life I led before the power mongers you call a ruling party decided to make life choices for me. Feels poetic that I should end up with the daughter of one of those bastards. I spent all last night with my cock inside your prim little pussy, listening to those sweet sounds you make when you’re desperate to come—and your screams when you do come. Given the way you damn near ripped my cock off in your eagerness to get it inside you after I gave you your first spanking, I’d say you like the rough side just fine.” Her chest rose and fell unsteadily as I grabbed a handful of her soft ass and squeezed.
“Unobtainable,” I added, holding her steady gaze as her pupils darkened. “I need to fuck you exactly like this. I like seeing you in these fancy clothes and looking like a princess. Makes me want to get you all dirty.”
She swallowed, and I slipped my hand around to cup the front of her throat. My body dwarfed hers. She was so delicate, it seemed implausible that someone so tiny could take me the way she did. I pressed my lips to her temple, and her pulse jumped under my fingers—a little fearful and a lot aroused.
I had barely contained myself last time we’d entered this room, had taken her down on the floor and fucked her like a beast.
Turning her around, I backed her up against the glass.
Lifting her head, her bright amber eyes met mine. I undid the buttons on her jacket and slipped it over her shoulders, letting it drop to the floor. Then I tugged the ties on her blouse, parting it and yanking one cup of her bra aside to expose her tit. Her breathing hitched as my hand closed over it, cupping the soft weight before pinching the nipple. “I like this view. Beautiful clothes all messed up, tit out, and filling my hand. I thought about doing this to you while we were in that meeting. Wondered how far I would need to take things before people fled the room. Or maybe they wouldn’t. Maybe they would stay there and watch while I played with and then fucked you.”
Her pupils had darkened, but it was lust rather than a flush. I couldn’t get enough of her—it appeared the feeling was mutual.
I dragged her skirt up, pulling it high enough so I could push her black thong to the si
de and finger her. “Watch what I’m doing to you.”
Her eyes lowered to where my fingers pumped in and out of her pussy, making those delicious squelching sounds. I palmed her ass and dragged her up the glass, enjoying the little gasp that left her lips as I slammed her against it.
“Keep watching.” I popped my zipper open and shoved my pants down far enough to free my cock. Her eyes glazed over, and her lips parted. “Now, watch as my cock splits you in two.”
Bracing myself, I lined my cock up with her tight, little pussy, and slowly pushed in.
“Oh god!” Her breathy moan set a tightness in my balls.
“It’s obscene the way you have to stretch to take my dick. I can’t decide what I want to watch more, your face as I fuck you, or your pretty pink pussy being abused by my fat cock.”
“Oh god, you’re so big!”
I suppressed the urge to growl, she would flush, but I was never going to last if she kept talking like that. I fucked her slowly up against the window, feeling her hot pussy clenching around my cock. Her head was thrown back, caramel-blonde hair falling over her shoulders and her pretty clothes all screwed up.
Seeing her lips part, I ran my thumb over them, feeling my balls tighten when her tongue poked out to lick it. I wanted to growl, to snarl in her ear, and to take her rougher. I’d been close to losing control earlier. I was in that same danger zone again.
Her plump lips closed over the tip of my thumb.
I nearly lost it. I pulled my dick out. For a painful microsecond, I still thought I’d come. I’d been the one putting my thumb next to her mouth, I shouldn’t be feeling hard-done-by because she’d sucked on it.
There was nothing rational about how I felt. “I’m going to choke you on my fucking cock.”