Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Rhett
She has just blown my mind.
She trusts me.
That shit is heady. Also, she’s really fucking hot when she gets all feisty.
I make a mental note. The more I learn about her, the more I realize just how layered she is.
Mind-reading aside, the woman’s been through hell, and survived with her sanity intact.
I’m not worthy, but fuck it. She wants me?
I’ll make myself worthy, do whatever it takes.
When Lucian first brought her to me, I noticed the marks on her. Now I know the story behind them. Everybody breaks. It’s human nature to survive.
Now it’s my time to take that burden from her, to make sure no one touches her ever again.
I’m no soldier. But I can fight, and I can handle a weapon.
My life on Lyus taught me plenty even before the government came through with their mass viral awakening.
Even in our early days on Chimera, after I awakened from my coma, life was gritty and a struggle.
The first apartment was government-sourced and in the non-dynamic slums. Lucian was away in training and then deployed.
I’d always had a fascination with computers, and I made some money doing repairs, monitoring, and some low-level hacking.
Then I was robbed of everything I owned by a local gang who’d gotten wind of what I was doing.
I started again, this time keeping my source equipment light and focusing on the hacking, using other networks for the grunt power I needed.
I also got a gun and took no fucking chances.
My reputation grew. Soon, I could afford my own protection.
Soon, I discovered that hacking was far more lucrative than I had realized, and criminals were coming to me.
My skills are unconventional. I never got the kind of training most alphas did, but I have other skills. And I’ll use every single one to make sure Larissa never ends up in the hands of the Uncorrupted again.
As for our government and their supposedly more civilized ways, I know exactly what they would do to her, and it would be no better than the Uncorrupted.
“I need to check on things,” I say.
“Things? Hacking things?” she asks.
“Exactly. I need to see if anyone is looking for you. Do you want to come with me? Maybe put some clothes on first,” I add, because she’s naked under that towel, and if she stays that way, I’ll need to fuck her again before we make it to the elevator.
Also, she washed all my scent off, and I really don’t like that. “Maybe grab one of my T-shirts from the closet.” I’ll get some clothes delivered for her later.
I take her to my closet where everything is in neat rows. I have a housekeeper come in. She cleans and does the laundry, leaves meals that I can just heat up. I pull off the T-shirt I’m wearing and, without a word, give it to her.
There is a brief moment of hesitation where our eyes meet, and she is just holding it. Then, with a contented sigh, she drops her towel and slips my T-shirt over her head.
Can’t lie, it’s all kinds of satisfying. Next, I grab a clean pair of boxers and kneel to help her step into them. Covering her pussy up is also probably for the best if I don’t want to fuck her on the closet floor. I’m thinking about it, but her safety comes first.
“You like me in your stuff,” she says, a note of challenge in her voice.
I grin and slowly rise. She’s so tiny, she barely reaches the middle of my chest. Yeah, and that makes me want to fuck her again… “You like wearing my stuff,” I counter. “Especially when it’s covered in my scent.”
She doesn’t argue, her eyes are all over my chest and abs, and if I’m not mistaken, she’s admiring her marks.
Don’t worry, baby, I’ll be encouraging you to add to the collection later… after I check what’s going on and make sure no surprises are coming for us.
She heads out, slipping into the bathroom.
I go to grab a T-shirt and then glance down at myself. Clothing has never been a source of great interest. Dirty in the hamper, clean T-shirt and sweats from the closet. Shoes are optional… it’s not like I ever go outside.
Still, Lucian’s jab from earlier—along with Larrisa’s comment about needing a wardrobe makeover—have me reconsidering my choices.
I select a clean black T-shirt, probably new—there’s not even a gecko on the front. Then I shove out of my sweats and pick up a pair of jeans. Socks feel wrong, as does the belt. And boots. I mean, I do put them on sometimes…
When I step back out, she’s leaving the bathroom and gasps. Her gaze drags over me slowly, teeth catching on her lip.
“You do have regular clothes, then.”
“Uh, yeah.” Not awkward at all… Does it look like I’m trying too hard? Lucian is going to give me hell, but who cares, I like the admiring gleam in her eyes.
“I feel a little underdressed,” she says.
“Don’t worry. It’ll be fine. Won’t be cold, and no one will see you.” If I had my way, you’d be naked. Right now, I can’t handle the temptation.
We take the elevator down to my office in the basement. Her second gasp in as many minutes makes me smirk as we step into the room.
I try to see it through her eyes. There’s a faint humming coming from the bank of servers. It’s got its own failsafe connections and independent power source. A big curving desk with a single chair faces a wall of monitors—the largest central screen shows a report of the latest alerts.
“Wow,” she says.
I grin. “Welcome to my lair.”
“There is only one seat,” she says.
“So there is…” I’m not necessarily anti-people, just anti-outside.
But I also like my privacy, especially when I am working.
Lucian occasionally comes inside, but never for long.
“If I were a gentleman, I’d give the seat to you.
” I scoop her up, sit down, and drop her onto my lap.
“There. You can stay here while I work. As I found out this morning, when I was with Lucian, I need to be close to you. Is this okay with you?”
“Yes,” she says. “I prefer it.”
A warm, contented, and completely alien sensation grows in the center of my chest. She prefers being close to me, too.
I pull up to the desk. I enter her details and set the bots to crawl the systems for chatter; everything else can wait. It’s not long before an alert starts.
“What is that?” she asks.
Well, fuck. That came around sooner than I was expecting. “Ethan Black just entered the building.”
Lucian
“Where is she?”
“She?” I play dumb and casually hit the call button to get my enforcers up here pronto.
Madelyn is pregnant and will throw a fucking fit if I smoke, but right now I could do with something to take the edge off.
This conversation is about to go south fast. I’ve no doubts my brother has his surveillance in place.
He has probably been tracking Ethan from the moment he stepped into the building.
“The bitch omega I left here,” Ethan elaborates, like I don’t already know.
“She went into heat after you left. I had to act… and she’s busy now.”
“Still?” His voice rises an octave, and in a very un-Ethan-like way. “That was a fucking week ago.”
“Eight days.” I offer a broad smile. “You may consider her permanently busy… and someone else’s problem.”
His eyes narrow. “You let someone mate her, claim her? Larissa-fucking-Olsen! Are you insane?!”
I wince at his roar, then go for nonchalant. “Let is a strong word. She went into heat within thirty seconds of you leaving. What the fuck was I supposed to do? Call you back? You were in full-bore, raging alpha mode, and acting like a dick!”
“No, no, no…” He grips his hair and starts pacing. “Tell me you didn’t give her to your gecko-loving brother.”
“Fine,” I say reasonably. “I won’t tell you that.”
The door opens and, as if on cue, my gecko-loving brother walks in.
What I’m not braced for, and neither is Ethan, is my brother slugging him in the face.
Rhett
“Fuck.” I shake out my fist. “I think I broke my hand.”
Lucian chuckles. Bastard.
The elevator beside me springs open, and Jordan and Kade enter the office like they’re ready for trouble. I’m guessing Lucian called them the moment Ethan turned up.
If Ethan loses his shit, we’re probably all fucked, but at least the two deltas even up the odds.
Lucian walks over to Jordan and, in an impressively slick move, liberates Jordan’s gun and levels it at the center of Ethan’s head.
“What the actual fuck!” Ethan growls, still rubbing his jaw where I punched him. With a scowl, he slowly raises his hands.
“Take a seat,” Lucian says, the gun never wavering as he nods at the casual seating arrangement: a couple of long couches facing each other with a chair on either side and a coffee table between.
“Motherfucker,” Ethan mutters, stalking over to one of the couches and dropping his ass down.
“Rhett, take a seat, too,” Lucian says coolly. “I don’t trust either of you, and I need your asses where I can see them. The only person who gets to kick shit off in my office is me.”
Glaring from my brother to Ethan, I take the nearest chair.
Kade must decide there’s too much risk, despite the gun, and with a nod to both of us, stands in the gap between the chair and the couch where Ethan is.
He’s the laid-back one out of the two, but he’s built like a brick wall.
Also, Jordan and me have a history—I mean, he tried to strangle me once…
Not sure how much help Jordan will be if Ethan decides to hand me my ass.
“Start talking,” Lucian says to Ethan as Jordan takes up position where he can intervene if he feels like it.
“And to be clear, I couldn’t give a fuck what she did to piss you off.
She’s mated to my brother now. If you or the government want her, you’ll have to come through me.
And if you think Rhett won’t leave you and every mofo involved destitute and languishing in an obscure off-world prison, you don’t know my brother. ”
Well, alright then…
Also, I really do have shit on everyone.
“Fine,” Ethan grits out. “But don’t fucking shoot the messenger.”
“We’re listening,” Lucian says. He unbuttons the jacket on his suit and sits down on the couch facing Ethan. He even puts the gun down, close at hand.
“Hammond Cohen is on Chimera,” Ethan says.
I’ve heard that name. Some bigshot Uncorrupted general. “What the fuck is he doing on Chimera?”
“Looking for his little dynamic pet,” Ethan says, drolly.
It takes a beat before the significance of his statement connects in my mind. I launch myself at him.
Jordan and Kade are on me, shoving me back into the seat. Lucian is pointing the gun at me now. I can’t believe this. “What the fuck?!”
“Calm your ass down,” Lucian says. “I have a feeling this conversation is going to get uncomfortable. Deal with it, or I will kick your ass out and you’ll have to watch the re-run.”
I shake out of Jordan and Kade’s hold. “Spill everything, right fucking now.”
“Cohen is arguably the most powerful general within the Uncorrupted ranks. His last ten years of success, his entire reputation, and their viral program are down to Larissa. His career won’t survive her loss.
So, yes, he’s here. Yes, he’ll take fucking risks to get her back.
They used her in interrogations of our people and meetings with their allies.
She’s the secret weapon he used to get the edge over us.
He just lost her. He wants her back. It’s about to get dirty. ”