Psycho Alphas, Part One

Chapter 1

ONE

4 years before—The day of the storm.

THISTLE

Like a strike of lightning, the world changed.

I felt it before I saw him: the lightest breeze before a storm. A rustle, dragging me from endless silence, and I surfaced from a lifetime underwater.

I spotted him first from the bar, where I was getting ready for the night. No one noticed the way I froze—all attention now on the group walking through the doors and into the dim lights of the seedy club.

The room went numb, the silence stretching forever despite the music that hadn’t stopped and the people still talking around me. I couldn’t hear anything, just nothingness and the faintest beat of a heart.

He was an Alpha that shifted the foundation of everything I’d ever known. I didn’t know Alphas could be gods, but I didn’t know a lot of things. I was good at piecing the world together quickly though, dragging up the fragments of knowledge I’d scrounged to unscramble the truth of what was before me.

And today…

That’s a God, Bunny.

A real one.

I knew it.

It was beauty I wanted to keep forever.

To be caught drawing meant punishment, but tonight I had to dig out the only pencil I had left. The bruises from the last time still hadn’t faded, but it didn’t matter the cost because it was better to die than to risk forgetting the Alpha before me.

I ducked behind the counter, grabbing a tray and scouring the bar for absinthe. If I made Dan a Sazerac, he couldn’t complain when I brought it—and I would do anything to get closer.

My eyes kept darting toward the visitor, tracing every inch of him the best I could, determined to memorise everything.

He peered around the trashy underground club, and from here I could see that the hair that fluttered around his forehead was inky black; so dark that my heart twisted with sorrow as my fingers fumbled the cup in my hand.

Fuck…

I thought to the worn old pencils I’d stolen for sneaking sketches on scraps of paper when I didn’t think I’d get caught.

They’re not gonna cut it, Bunny.

Even if I tore the paper with all the pressure in the world, they wouldn’t reflect the lightless black framing pale skin and stealing breath from my lungs.

I hurried to grab ice, ignoring the strange look from Izzy at my side. The others would always find a reason to judge me, and I took comfort in seeing her attention on me, and not the one who’d entered.

I was lesser: strange and undesirable even for an Omega; I was good for nothing but keeping a pack from a rut, or becoming feral. I wasn’t like Izzy, who was a pack Omega with Alphas who’d claimed her properly. Dan said I wasn’t even worth the dirt on the few bills he’d handed to my father to take me off his hands.

I’d been sold a year after I’d presented, and Dan had been warned never to let me nest or get attached. Not unless they wanted to deal with the consequences—as if falling for Alphas was a risk in this shithole. But they didn’t want possessive; they just wanted me around to get their knots wet when they were having a bad day.

I lived with it because the alternative, after what I’d done, was to be sent somewhere where everything would be suppressed. I couldn’t face that. My Omega side was the only place I’d ever found something that was mine that I liked.

Dan was introducing himself, and my beautiful god Alpha stood back, letting his colleagues do the talking.

What’s he going to think of us?

Of… me?

That was a dangerous thing to wonder.

Before today, I’d been close to quitting. The faint urges that made me want to live were becoming sparse while my self-loathing grew to a crescendo. Daydreams of what I’d do if the Alphas here were at my mercy—of the slow torture I’d exact… even those weren’t enough to give me strength anymore.

I’d once tried to run, but that had been a stupid idea. My nose had never set straight from the beating, and my hormones, sick of taking abuse from assholes that were supposed to be my protection, were almost as furious with me as they were.

But did any of that matter, now that I’d seen him?

I don’t know how this raven-haired Alpha had changed the world, I just knew he had. I looked down with a frown, focused on rolling the rim of the glass in sugar.

Could it ever change back, now?

Too late, I thought.

A few of Dan’s pack sat in a nearby booth, watching the visitor. I made it my business to know what went on in the club—I wasn’t the only Omega in their service, but I was the one that disgusted them the most. I had to stay alert for anything that might sour their mood, because those consequences fell back on me.

Dan’s pack had all been anxious today, talking about a visitor who was coming to the club. Someone powerful and frightening—though they would never admit that directly. Instead, they’d just become angrier as the day went on.

It was this visitor.

Ace Maverick, I’d heard them call him, but a simple name? That didn’t seem enough to truly encompass my beautiful god Alpha.

He was casual for a god, steps meandering, with sleeves rolled to the elbows in a messy fashion as he chose a place to sit. No one did that. If people came to visit Dan, he chose what booth and where. This was his domain. But I didn’t even see irritation on Dan’s face. Instead, he practically tripped over himself to follow.

A god, as it turned out, came with authority.

With the Sazerac ready and loaded onto the tray, I scanned the room again. I could see the shadow of the two bouncers at the door. The music was playing, but lower than it did when the night was in full swing.

We just gotta wait for the right moment…

A lull in conversation?

I wondered what his scent would be like. He wouldn’t catch mine, hidden as it was. Dan didn’t want anything as inconvenient as someone scent matching me.

I looked down at my outfit: a tight black dress—the way Dan liked it. He didn’t even mind other Alphas looking, not here, where it was clear who I belonged to.

Them .

But not enough to deserve a bite or a bond…

I shook away the thought. I had to wait for the group to settle, so it would be reasonable for me to bring the drink… Dan was shaking hands with one of the newcomers at the booth, but I noticed he never touched my raven-haired god.

Of course not.

It was wrong for anyone here to touch him; he was too important—even his men left him space.

He was leaning on the table, hands clasped, and I couldn’t wait any longer. Dan sat at the edge of the booth, visibly tense.

I darted around the bar and headed toward them, each step causing my heart to thunder in my ears.

And then I was there, standing before them, tray almost forgotten in my hands as I stared at my god Alpha, who graced me with a glance.

I had never drawn with colour before, but looking into his eyes, I knew I needed to. They were a shocking blue. My dad used to own stacks of old magazines that he used as kindling for the fireplace, and I would pick through them. One had been filled with images of nature I knew I’d never get to see, not locked away as I was. I remembered being impossibly drawn to the colours of glaciers, and I’d torn them all out and kept them under my pillow.

Now, I knew why: because that colour was enough to make the world come to a halt.

I couldn’t drag my gaze from him, not from the glint of silver of his wristwatch, of the wonderful way the tendons and veins were visible along his hand and arm with each small movement. And with every movement, it was as if the very air shifted, a push and pull of the tides, allowing breath… or ceasing it.

“What are you doing?” Dan’s sharp voice cut my thoughts off, and I tensed. I realised I’d been standing awkwardly at the side of the table, tray in hand.

I grabbed the drink, taking a small step up to the booth and placing it shakily down before him, then I darted back down the step, nervous to be so close.

“D-drinks…” My voice barely worked. “I thought I could ask what they might—?” I cut off as the god Alpha’s eyes snapped to me so sharply it was like a dagger was lodged in my throat. There was a strange fragment of silence, and right then there was no one else in the room.

I could feel him here, as if the world was drawing me toward him.

“Y-you’re looking for something?” I asked, the question sounding so much more foolish than it had in my head.

We just need him to know we noticed.

Dan flinched, and I tensed for a strike, but my beautiful god Alpha lifted his hand. It was only the slightest motion, but enough to draw everyone to a standstill.

“I was,” he said. The beautiful Alpha’s words were made of a dark silk that spun around me, and my whole body went still at the sound of it.

The voice of a god…

A low whine caught in my chest and Dan stiffened, edging toward me like he didn’t want anyone to have to look at me longer than they needed to.

“I can help you find it,” I choked out before Dan could stop me.

His eyebrows rose subtly, mouth opening a fraction as he continued that stare. Then he closed it, the most breathtaking smile stretching his lips. His scent was hidden, which might have been enough to make me cry if I wasn’t so enraptured by his gaze.

Was it okay to stare this long?

Should I look away?

My mind was like scrambled eggs.

Did he want my help? His reaction was so strange I didn’t know how to translate it.

Other Omegas would know—that smile he’d given me was probably supposed to tip me off…

Shit.

I don’t know what happened next. Lurching instincts turned my brain foggy. I think I tried to step toward him, a desperate motion that held no regard for the tray in my hand or my surroundings.

My foot caught on the shallow step up to the booth and in the next moment I’d crashed to the floor. I caught myself with my hands as the light waned and the edges of my vision darkened, panic crashing in.

No…

No, no, no…

An uncomfortable heat rushed up my neck like it never had before. There weren’t many things that I understood the context of in order to feel embarrassed in the first place, but my cheeks burned and my heart smashed against my ribs.

A stupid, clumsy, worthless Omega.

That’s all he’d see…

“You stupid whore!” Dan snarled. With a blinding pain in my side, he kicked me across the floor. A strangled whine tore from my chest. “No one asked you to be here. Izzy’s on drinks tonight.”

Tears gathered in my eyes. Not from the pain, or the hatred, but because I’d failed.

The only true Alpha I’d ever crossed knew, already, how pathetic I was.

I scrambled to my knees, ignoring the ache in my stomach as I looked up at Dan, ready to apologise so he wouldn’t lock me in my room—if he let me stay, I would be able to watch from a distance at least.

To my shock, I saw that my god Alpha was on his feet. Dan caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and froze.

“Sorry, Maverick,” he said.

My gaze snagged on my god Alpha’s expression. There was something ice-cold and deadly in it, a look aimed at Dan.

Dan spoke, but I only caught fragments of his words. “... Her father couldn’t get rid of her fast enough… Instincts are out of control?—”

“You know…” My beautiful god Alpha cut him off. “That’s what they say about me.” His low voice seeped through the cracks of my mind, and it was an echo I prayed would never leave.

“Those sorts of urges are more appropriate for an Alpha.”

“Those sorts of urges…?” the god Alpha asked curiously.

Dan took another slight step toward me and I could feel worry tangle with the fury in his vile stale fries scent.

My god Alpha spoke quietly, his words taking me by surprise. “Don’t touch her.”

“Really, she’s no one?—”

“I said don’t touch her .” That voice of silk turned to ice.

Was he… angry?

I shouldn’t have come…

Of course I shouldn’t. Someone like him wouldn’t want a nobody like me in his space. In his vision. Not anywhere near him.

Dan sounded strained. “I’ll send her away, she won’t be back?—”

“She’s mine.”

I blinked, lips parting in shock as I felt the weight of his attention settle over me.

A shiver crawled up my spine.

His?

None of this made sense—he was scentless and so was I. I dared a glance up and found ice-blue eyes locked with mine.

He’s… choosing us?

Why?

A strange quiet descended upon the room, and Dan went still.

“Yours?” he asked, a hint of nervous humour in his voice, but at the word, I felt the sensation of warm honey sliding through my chest as the man who hated me tripped on nerves before the god who’d just stepped into his domain.

My god.

My Alpha—as impossible as that was.

“You want her?—?”

“ Want her?” the god asked, cutting Dan off with a grin that stole my breath. “I didn’t say that. I said she is mine.”

Butterflies took flight in my stomach.

He felt it, too? Or perhaps he knew I saw him for what he was.

“Like a… scent match?” Dan asked, humour in his voice until he caught Ace’s deadly expression. “I mean—but her scent is hidden?”

“Are you calling me a liar?”

Dan paled. “Of course not.”

A… match ?

How could I be matched to a god?

And Dan was right. There was no scent exchange. But… he had said I was his, and somehow, that was the truth, too.

Maybe he didn’t mean a match, maybe he just meant he was choosing to claim me like Dan never had.

The impossibility of that tripped me up. It was the thing I’d never had.

My stomach twisted. Dan swore I was worthless, even for an Omega, and… My lip trembled and I bit it hard.

And I’d believed him…

Oh… we’ve been so stupid, Bunny…

I’d failed before I’d ever even met him. I was used up and broken and worthless, and I’d believed them when they said I could never have a chance at more.

My failure.

Dan’s jaw ticked as he watched, clearly unsure.

“Have they had you?” the god asked.

“Yes.” The word slipped out before I could stop it. Dan’s eyes burned, but I didn’t care. He didn’t understand. He wasn’t the most frightening thing in the world anymore.

I’d come to hate any Alpha who had touched me without claim, and now I knew why—I knew what it was I had been waiting for.

We should have done more, Bunny.

Fought harder.

Kept myself for him…

He beckoned me, and I stumbled to my feet, trying desperately to figure out where to cast my eyes now he was so near. I was small, even for an Omega, and this close my gaze fell easily along the top of his shirt and the few buttons undone to reveal that porcelain skin. I traced up past the ridges of his collarbones, the lean muscle along his neck—and this sight of that flesh made my stomach churn as I failed to stop my imaginings of what it would be like to sink my teeth in.

I’d never wanted to bite an Alpha before.

In a daring moment, I glanced at his face, not ready for how flawless it was, even up close. Dan and his pack weren’t Alphas any Omega would want to draw, even from a distance, but they got worse up close, with unkempt stubble, clammy skin after too much drinking, or foul breath mixing with their horrible scents.

But not my god Alpha. He was as perfect—I almost reached out and cupped his cheek, needing to be closer.

Fuck.

I had to get a hold of myself.

I dropped my eyes, tracing the cut of his pants, and the sharp black of his oxfords instead. But I knew the moment he exhaled, as if that very movement was permission to draw my own breath. Just as I knew when he took another, I could release mine.

“What do you think, Omega?” the god asked me. “Are you mine?”

My gaze slid to Dan for a brief second, knowing my answer, and knowing what it would cost me, but a whine slipped out as his fist closed in my hair. He dragged my gaze up. “Are you looking at another Alpha for permission?—”

“I’m yours.” My eyes darted about, knowing I shouldn’t hold his gaze. “Completely.” The answer was easy and my head tilted on instinct, even in his grip.

To… reveal my neck.

No Alpha had ever drawn that need from me. I hadn’t even known those instincts lurked anywhere at all…

It wasn’t deference that had caused me to look at Dan. It was the stark realisation that when I gave my answer, it would mean my end.

Painful and slow, Dan would beat me tonight until my breath gave out, just like he had beaten Penny last year for trying to get away when she was going into heat.

But for my beautiful god it was worth it.

I didn’t need to look at him to decide who I belonged to, and for the first time, it wasn’t my father, and it wasn’t this foul pack.

“Do you believe I could claim an Omega so thoroughly ruined?” my god Alpha asked.

His words sent me tumbling off a cliff.

I shut my eyes, jaw clenched as the weight of everything settled over me. “No.” My voice was the faintest, broken wisp.

Of course he can’t…

I jumped as something cool grazed my wrist.

I glanced down to see a gun pressed into my hand. I took it, my breath catching in my chest.

He’s merciful, Bunny.

He won’t leave us to a slow death. Not when we’ve shown our devotion.

He lifted the barrel of the gun carefully, and I didn’t break his gaze.

“You’ll fix it for me,” he breathed as the metal met my temple. “Won’t you?”

I nodded.

I could fix this—he was giving me a chance.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, not taking my eyes from his. Beautiful, and ice-blue, windows into a world so far out of reach. He’d said I was his, but that could never be.

A faint smile ghosted my lips. He’d given me something I’d never had. I didn’t deserve more, but I was glad to leave here having felt it. Because in his demand that I must die, there lay a claim.

The only true claim I’d ever had.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, beyond the club walls that had marked my grave since the moment I’d been dragged into them.

The room clouded with tears, my smile wavering.

Thank you.

I was tired. My fragments of will to survive were as worn as graphite stubs beneath my pillow.

But his beauty had changed the world to a state from which it could never return. Now I’d glimpsed something more, it was time to go.

It was the most thrilling thing, knowing I could do that with purpose, and all I had to do was pull this trigger.

For my beautiful god Alpha.

Ace Maverick.

And those world-stopping ice-blue eyes—they would be the last thing I got to see.

I took a breath and squeezed.