Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Esme
Ifucked up. I can’t even credit the level of fuck-up that just occurred. What was I thinking? What madness went through my mind? Trying to play an alpha that looked all unassuming and weak.
There was no weakness.
Who knows what they did to the alpha I was asked to manipulate in the viral program. Maybe they used drugs, or sleep deprivation… I’m sure they have a dozen methods for making their mind malleable to manipulation.
And now I’ve opened the door and invited the worst of the worst to notice me.
I saw the way he looked at me. That alpha isn’t like the others. He’s huge, for a start. Ridiculously huge. He had to duck to get through the doorway, and that doorway must be seven feet tall.
He just manhandled another alpha like he was a toy. Then, after, he looked me square in the eyes, and he knew. He fucking knew I had tried to manipulate that alpha.
I try to reason with myself that I am imagining this. But deep down, I know I’m not.
He’s on to me.
I’m so fucked.
I’m about to be fucked.
He wants me. He’s going to break me.
“That’s Jord,” Ashanti whispers beside me. Her hand slipping into mine jolts me out of my stupor. “The last time he was with an omega… It was bad. Real bad. She was in a regeneration tank for a week while her body healed.”
I blink furiously. My fingers tighten over hers.
“They put him through rehabilitation, but that only goes so far,” she adds. “And it’s still very experimental. Everything they do is.”
My mind is sinking into a state of chaos. If I’d just stayed in my corner and kept quiet, maybe no one would have even come for me. There are several other omegas here, and they appear to have been left alone, at least for now.
“Obey him,” she says. “Whatever he asks. No matter how terrible. Don’t fight him. Please. Just get through this.”
“You. Omega! Over here!”
I look up and start seeing the remaining guard staring directly at me.
He stabs a finger in my direction for emphasis. “Yes, you. Over here now.”
I shrink further into the corner.
The bars open, and he wades past the other dynamics, making directly for me. Taking my arm in a bruising grip, he marches me out, the bars rattling back into place.
I throw one last look over my shoulder at Ashanti before I’m shoved through the doorway, hustled down the corridor, and tossed into a room.
I stagger forward as the door clicks shut with an air of finality behind me.
The floor is cushioned underfoot, and I lose my balance, dropping to my knees.
It’s a small, intimate space, with subtle lighting and a large pile of soft bedding materials sits to one side. On the left is an open shower room.
My throat closes, forming a lump around my rising panic.
Now would be a really good time to start praying.
They just put me in a nesting chamber. And I have a very bad feeling about who’s about to join me here.
Zeb
The door to nesting chamber 21C opens. I step inside, and the door whooshes shut behind me.
And there she is, kneeling on the huge, cushioned nest directly in front of me, naked.
She’s fucking stunning. Her long hair falling down her back in waves, the curve of her spine.
Toned from the rigorous training they put omegas through, yet soft still.
A little padding. The memory of her smooth flesh depressing under my fingers threatens to break my stony facade.
I tear my gaze away from her and the temptation she represents, taking in the room.
There’s a little cubby just inside the door where you’re supposed to stow your clothes before entering the nest. Don’t want to pollute the nest with whatever you were doing before you arrived.
A shower is also available so that you can clean up.
Heaped beside her is a pile of nesting material.
Not that I imagine many omegas tossed into these cells masquerading as nests take the time to set it to their satisfaction.
I palm the plate, locked. No one’s going to disturb us. But they have monitoring in here, and they’ll be watching. Watching what I do.
Well, what Jord does. Jord, who’s apparently been rehabilitated.
So that’s something. Means I don’t have to act like a complete animal, which Jord clearly was.
Not that I could ever do that with her. But, still, I’ve got a lot of rage inside me after she disobeyed a direct order from her controller… also me.
Damn this has got to be the most confused personality and body transition I’ve ever been through.
The faint trembling in her body wakes me back up to the scene unfolding before me.
She doesn’t know who I am.
Not the man under this wrapper.
And I can’t tell her. Not yet. Not with the cameras in every corner. They’ll be watching—sick bastards. If I did, she’d probably think I was a deranged lunatic, claiming I’m an Empire soldier who can casually clone other men... One who is twice my fucking size.
Only, I think something has gone wrong with the cloning process because it feels like I’m still growing.
Maybe it’s all the adrenaline that flooded my system when I realized she was on the ship?
Perhaps the danger she’s in drives me to get even more pumped, because here, among the Uncorrupted, size and strength are definite benefits when challenges are so freely engaged in, and holding on to the prize means obliterating any competition.
Fuck. I’m going to fucking break her for sure…. I mean, just look at us? How the fuck are our two bodies even going to fit?
Don’t think about that. Nor those cute little whiney noises she made when I stuffed her full of cock and knot.
I clench my fists. My hormones are going rampant. Their alphas are strange. Unsavory.
But here, in this room, no one’s tracking hormone levels, are they? So I allow a subtle shift closer to that of a regular alpha.
A veil of calmness settles over me. Control.
That’s what our soldiers are trained for, although I believe it’s more about honing instincts that are already there.
Doesn’t matter what they do to an omega; they’re always in control.
They never, ever go beyond what their charges need, nor more than they can take.
Hurting an omega—real hurt, not the blush you put on their ass when you discipline them, but the kind that is done through ignorance, neglect, or with cruelty in mind—that shit’s not part of their makeup.
But the Uncorrupted? They’re not trained, and what they do to omegas is sure as hell not instinctive. They’re barely above animals. Yet they call us scum.
No, this is better. I can manage this. Go easy on her. Not that it’s going to be too easy. Not unless I can figure out how to tell her.
Her head lifts slowly, and she turns slightly, peeking back at me.
I haven’t moved. Haven’t said a fucking word. She doesn’t recognize me. That’s good… isn’t it? Can’t afford for her to give me away.
But then her eyes narrow. Not with fear. No, she’s calculating, watching, assessing me.
There’s a flush along her collarbone and a faint sheen of sweat at her throat. She’s not faking the heat signature anymore. Probably already realized that’s not a good idea.
But I can taste what she did. What she tried to do.
Such a brave girl. I fucking admire her for trying.
“Something has changed,” she says, her voice soft, breaking the spell
Not a question. It’s a statement.
My lips tug up so slightly.
“How so, omega?”
Her eyes drop to my hands, move onto my boots. She swallows, but I can see the calculation is back. Is she thinking about manipulating me?
I think she is.
She’s got a backbone, this one—my poor baby. I want to tell her she’s not alone, that I’m not going to hurt her. But I don’t know how yet. Until then, I’m nothing more than an Uncorrupted soldier come to discipline her, fuck her into submission, or both.
She thinks I’m going to break her.
I look like the kind of alpha who could and would.
Her shoulders square. She’s bracing… no, strategizing.
And then her scent hits me. Not just scent… this goes far deeper… more like a psychic pressure.
Her submission.
Her adoration.
I stagger forward a step before I can catch myself.
What the hell? No wonder that alpha turned feral. The urge to drop to my knees, to worship her, is overwhelming. I have to grit my teeth and fight it.
She looks so vulnerable. So pure. I wish I’d paid more attention to her file now. Pity I was too busy thinking with my dick.
She’s been trained in psychological warfare. And damn, she’s good.
Really fucking good.
I’ve got no doubts that if that alpha had gotten near her, he wouldn’t have hurt her. He’d have worshiped at her feet… Probably handed over launch codes to get her off the ship and waved her off with a kiss.
If anyone finds out what she can do… Images flash through my mind. Esme, used by the Empire. They would send her behind enemy lines and turn her into a weapon.
No. Hell, fucking no.
I can’t let that happen.
There’s only one way to keep her off the board. To make sure she’s no longer eligible for field duty.
I take a step back, and her eyes flicker. She sees it, how I resist, and her spine straightens.
I take another step and then begin to strip. Boots off. Uniform peeled away.
My cock… what the hell has happened to my cock?!
Her sawing breath drags my attention back to her. She’s still kneeling. Still hasn’t moved. Her body faces away, but her eyes remain on me.
Jord was a fucking giant. And a lunatic. With a monster fucking cock.
He’s also dead. But for now, I have to be him. So slip into character, as abhorrent as it is. I’m an alpha inspecting the toy, nothing else.
But my hands are shaking. And as I toss the last piece of clothing aside, I’m not sure which side of me is in charge anymore. My emotions are in constant flux. Not a chance I can shrink the beast swinging between my legs.
It’s not even fully erect yet, and I can tell it’s a grower.
Fuck! Think about something else, Zeb!