Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Larissa
Two weeks later…
Chimera. After ten years as a ‘guest’ of the Uncorrupted, it feels strange to be back home. The glistening city lights, the skyscrapers, the electronic billboards, and the streams of skycars are familiar and yet alien as I observe them from the vantage of the backseat of the expensive SUV.
I hate you. I want to snap your fucking neck.
I barely flinch. Ethan shares the back seat with me, and he stares stoically out his window, his face giving away nothing of the hate that sears me from his mind.
He saved me, if one can call the shell that I am ‘saved’.
I realized Ethan had been working undercover, yet I still expected a representative from the government or the military, maybe both, to be waiting for us when we exited the shuttle.
I thought there’d be some sort of official presence rushing to escort us out of sight for debriefing, off to a military base or a secret government facility.
Instead, we were collected by a blacked-out SUV, and what appears to be a private security team is whisking us into the heart of the city.
I have a bad feeling the infamous alpha is going rogue.
The long days of travel back to my former home world under the heavy cloud of Ethan’s censure are taking their toll on me. I just want this to be over, to have a place to hole up, decompress, and find some blessed peace.
Peace is not yet mine. If I’m honest, it probably never will be mine again. Not that I’m sorry to escape the Uncorrupted. But the Empire seems to be simply the lesser of two evils.
Whatever Ethan Black’s current intentions, I think it’s likely I’m going to be dumped into the hands of some government agency, where I will be poked, prodded, and questioned, before they lock me up and repeat the cycle for days and weeks until they can decide what kind of threat I represent, at which point they will probably lock me up somewhere else and monitor me for the rest of my life.
At some distant juncture in the future, I can only hope they arrive at a measure of trust that will allow me to isolate somewhere, on my own terms.
I’m not hopeful.
I am the only known mind-reading omega. They lost me once. I am certain they will put me down rather than risk that happening again.
Despite the rough hand life has dealt me, I’m not bitter about my fate.
I intend to cooperate fully. But the simple truth is, I trust my fate here over a life with the Uncorrupted, where I was doomed to be bred by their ironically corrupted form of alphas.
Anything, even death, is preferable to being a plaything for a sick alpha…
or alphas. The thought of bringing an innocent life into that situation makes me want to vomit.
Thankfully—and I use the term in the loosest sense—Ethan Black saved me.
An event I’m doing my best to erase from my mind.
But what does he plan to do with me now? The feeling that something isn’t adding up increases as the busy streets of downtown Chimera flash past the windows.
The prickling sensation of unease intensifies as the vehicle enters the underground parking complex of a nightclub.
A flashing sign reads Peppermint Moon, catching my attention before the SUV is swallowed up by the concrete structure.
It looks prestigious to my untrained eye, the kind of nightclub that caters to dynamic elites.
What the hell are we doing here?
I glance across at Ethan as the vehicle slows then smoothly comes to a stop, but he gives nothing away as to this curious location. All I get is a pulsating hatred for me constantly emanating from him. The glimpses I’ve caught into his mind have all been of his fantasies about brutally killing me.
I get why he hates me—who could blame him?
“She’ll forgive you,” I told him afterward. God, I pray that she does, the omega who claims his heart.
I doubt she’ll forgive me, but that’s okay; they’re my dues. And I’ll take the guilt with me to my grave… which, as the vehicle door opens and I cautiously lean forward to look out of the car, could happen sooner than I thought.
All I see is the man holding the door open and two more waiting by an elevator with the air of club security. Ethan exits on the other side and circles the vehicle to join them.
I hesitate.
Ethan doesn’t touch me. He shoves his hands in his pockets, as though even accidental contact would be a betrayal. His voice, when he finally speaks, is bereft of emotion. “Walk. Don’t make me drag you.”
We follow the two betas to a private elevator.
Ethan ignores me as we ascend. He is tired now, and his mind gives a jumble of emotions regarding his mate rather than cohesive thoughts. They are making me even more unsettled, and I elect to stop snooping.
“Don’t ask me to forgive you,” he growls. “I’m not Lilly, and I don’t have a forgiving bone in my body… She’s my world.”
His jaw clenches hard enough that I hear the grind of teeth. For a second, I think he’s going to reach for me, shake me, hurt me. Instead, he turns away, shoulders rigid, as if even looking at me is contamination.
Lilly is his mate, the omega he betrayed because of me. The one he shares with another alpha by the name of Ryker Sherwin in a highly unusual menage situation. Alphas do not typically like to share a mate.
There is a line of excuses I can cling to.
How I was backed into a corner by Cohen, how I didn’t know he was mated.
But none of that matters, especially not to him.
My words forced him, a mated alpha, to put his hands on me, another omega going through her heat.
I need to take responsibility for what I did.
“I know,” I say quietly. “I envy her for being your world, even after all of this.”
He turns his head to look at me, and something flickers in his eyes.
Not anger this time, but grief so sharp it pierces me.
It’s gone in a blink, buried once more under the cruelty he wears like armor.
Turning his head to face the elevator doors again, he swipes a hand down his face.
The smile that appears is without humor.
“You’re not a total bitch. Just another viral victim fighting to survive.
” He side-eyes me, but I see only coldness there.
“Just so we’re crystal clear, I don’t give a shit about you or what you’ve had to live through.
You’re about to become someone else’s problem. ”
My earlier pep talk about meeting my fate with dignity really hasn’t worked, and now my fear of the unknown has the blood draining from my face.
Self-protection drives me to check thoughts, half-expecting him to be ready with some sadistic scene, only to find his attention focused on the elevator door and nothing else.
The doors open before I can succumb to a panic attack, directly onto a plush, very luxurious, and notably empty office.
As we step out, a second elevator on the opposite side of the room opens, and a tall, handsome alpha with striking green eyes dressed in business pants and a white dress shirt emerges, frowning at Ethan.
“What the fuck is so important that you had to drag me out of bed?” he grumbles.
I hang back as Ethan walks over to meet him. The elevator closing behind me leaves me feeling very trapped.
“I need a favor,” Ethan says, his voice fading as he walks out of my earshot.
Recognizing that this is important to me and my future, I have no issues crossing boundaries and listening to their thoughts.
Like fuck you’re getting a favor, the other alpha—Lucian—says. Fuck off and annoy someone else. I’ve had a lifetime’s worth of your assholery. His suspicious gaze shifts to me. Who the fuck is that?
His mind fills with the image of a pretty redheaded omega that he just left in his bed. Whatever Ethan is doing here is news to Lucian, and further, he does not appreciate the interruption.
I need to hide her somewhere safe, and your building is like a fort, Ethan says. Other than that one time —Lucian raises a brow, bristling—but I’m going to assume you’ve sorted your shit out after that slip.
Haven’t you been off on some super-secret black op? Who. Is. That? Lucian stabs a finger at me, again.
Larissa Olsen, Ethan says. I want her ruined. A big, mean motherfucker who’s going to break the bitch’s ass. His lips curl as he spits the words.
My blood drains for the second time in as many minutes, and I rescind all former charity I felt toward Ethan. I try to reason that his guilt is driving him to be purposely cruel, but it still fucking stings.
What the fuck is wrong with you? Lucian growls in a perfect representation of my sentiments on the subject. I don’t have a ready supply of bull-cocked alphas waiting to defile terrified omegas. Fucking insulting! What do I look like, a fucking pimp?!
My eyes shift between Lucian’s pissed expression and Ethan’s cold one.
Ethan enjoys tormenting me, but he’s kept it to verbal or mental abuse so far.
I can’t quickly decide if this is simply another game or whether he really did bring me here to be broken on some random alpha’s cock.
I take a tentative step backward, closer to the elevator, scanning the room for exits.
I need leverage in case Governor Brach decides to screw me over again, Ethan says.
And you’re going to hide the most infamous omega in the Empire for leverage against the Governor? Further, you want me to help you do this? And… ruining her? Really?
Ethan rubs his jaw. He looks tired and tense. His thoughts are chaotic and difficult to pin down. Yes, he says. You owe me.
Lucian huffs out a breath and narrows his eyes. I don’t fucking owe you. After Lyus, you’re all out of favors. Also, she’s standing right there, listening to every word we say.
Ethan glances over his shoulder at me and curls his lip in disgust before turning back to Lucian. She can’t hear us from over there.
Asshole. Yes, I can.
He absently touches the center of his chest, and a desperate longing rises within him for his mate, one that might have softened me toward him were he not trying to palm me off to be ruined.
Lucian frowns at me. I thought she was supposed to be a mind reader?
She is—I’ll owe you.
You already fucking owe me, Lucian says, but this time he says it with calculation, and his mind turns toward speculation as to how this might benefit him.
Meanwhile, Ethan alternates between longing for his mate, guilt at what he did with me, and a sharp rage that leaves no doubt that he still considers snapping my neck an option if Lucian doesn’t come to the table.
My gasp is involuntary—satisfaction floods Ethan’s mind; he enjoys that I’ve picked up on his thoughts.
Fine then, Lucian says. I’ll work something out. This is a temporary arrangement?
It is. Ethan’s thoughts shift to his mate, his sorrow deep, making me feel terrible all over again for what I made him do. A few weeks. Maybe more.
Lucian shrugs in a way of acceptance. Ethan nods and stalks back toward me, past me to the elevator.
“Ethan?” The name slips out, and I hate myself for the weakness in it.
He pauses, not looking in my direction, but his finger stays poised over the elevator call button like he’s waiting for me to say more.
I bite my inner cheek hard enough to taste blood. Fuck him, really, just fuck him.
He presses the button, throwing a look over his shoulder in Lucian’s direction when it arrives, before glancing down at me.
He wants to forget me, to erase me and everything about me from his mind.
But there, underneath all that visceral hatred, I see the vulnerable man terrified to return to his mate, to bring this trouble to her door.
Deep down, he believes she will forgive him, too, but that she will hate him at first.
And I see that he doesn’t really wish me harm. He said those cruel words already knowing that Lucian would never agree.
He was lashing out, wanting to hurt me because he was hurting himself.
He steps into the elevator and turns, looking at me with a sense of finality.
“Ethan,” I say quietly enough that only he hears, knowing I will likely never see him again—might not see the government or anyone official again, because he is giving me to Lucian to hide, as leverage. “Don’t trust a theta.”
His eyes widen, and a barrage of thoughts hits as the door clicks shut and the elevator descends.
I stare blankly at the closed elevator door, aware of Lucian on the other side of the room.
Lucian, who has agreed to keep me as leverage.
Lucian, who, as Ethan has just informed me, thanks to the mental deluge I triggered from him just before the metal doors closed between us, is a ruthless criminal. I am left with the one thought that stood out the most.
If you piss him off, he, unlike me, won’t hesitate to snap your neck.
Isn’t that just great…?
Slowly, I turn around to meet my fate.