Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Viper
When I woke in the hospital with a sweet little Omega curled on my chest, sleeping so peacefully, I thought I’d never have the chance to hold something so precious again.
I didn’t have the courage to even dream about having her back in my arms.
When Knox told us what General Stone ordered, I was still recovering from my injuries.
After balancing on the edge of madness and death, rejoining the realm of the living is tough.
I’d accepted that I was going to die, and it’s taking my mind time to come back from that precipice. The survivor’s guilt is strong.
Dealing with the fallout of my actions hasn’t been easy, and the shame stalks me through my every waking moment. I hurt fellow soldiers, friends I’ve known and fought beside for years, and I can’t ever forgive myself for it.
When it was Halley that joined our squad, I’d been shocked, then ecstatic, before promptly spiraling into a panic.
This whole plan to train an Omega as a soldier is dangerous and doomed to fail. We all know it and don’t want her involved in this clusterfuck. She should be tucked up safe and away from the horrors of war that haunt me daily.
Fuck, she shouldn’t be near someone as dangerous and broken as I am. I’m a liability and I’ll only drag her down with me.
However, now that I have her in my arms, I can’t find it in myself to wish her away. Her presence makes me feel as if I’ve been released from a prison. The soul-eating guilt doesn’t feel like it’s consuming me. I can breathe, and I’m not afraid to close my eyes.
I’m sitting on my bed and I’ve positioned her between my legs to lay against my chest as she sleeps. She should be resting in her own bunk by herself, but I can’t let her go.
Shade is watching us, the Beta Specialist standing quietly in the doorway. It’s what he does. He watches us and evaluates the situation before engaging. His big brain always thinking and analyzing.
When Shade finally speaks, his words are heavy.
“You can’t get attached, LT.”
I brush a stray hair behind her ear.
He mills around to sit on his bunk next to mine, resting his elbows on his knees. He’s still staring at her with a frown, like he’s equally captivated by the Omega but is confused why.
I find it interesting that she has him under her spell too, despite not having the biological pull of an Alpha to an Omega. It proves to me that there is something special about Halley Sparks. She’s meant to be with our squad.
“She’s a job, nothing more,” he finally says, but I think he’s trying to convince himself more than me.
I sigh and look down at the soft face of the little Omega, her skin smooth and warm. She’s so tiny despite her curves. Her heavy breasts and thick ass would look ridiculous on such a small framed Beta, but on her, it’s devastatingly sexy.
The heat and weight from her body is comforting. It grounds me and I can’t let her go.
I’m quiet for a long time, listening to her steady breaths.
“I know. I just…” I trail off, unable to voice how I’m feeling.
He looks at me sharply and then looks away.
I get where Knox is coming from. We can’t have a squad-mate slipping into some kind of trance-like state behind enemy lines.
It’s a liability. Though he’s going about it the wrong way.
I don’t know why he’s blaming Halley. It’s not her fault for being selected for this experiment, just like it’s not ours.
We should be working together to make it work, not antagonizing each other.
I’ve always followed our Prime Alpha’s orders unquestionably. I trust him with my life. This is the first time I’m not sure if I can obey.
Knox holds too tight to the protocols of the military, using orders as a shield against conflicting reality and morals.
He won’t deter from a direct command from General Stone.
If he does, it would mean we could have refused to perform the atrocities we’ve committed over the years.
He’s not ready to face that reality. He doesn’t want to acknowledge that ‘it was an order’ doesn’t excuse what we’ve done.
Shade flops down backwards onto his bunk with a defeated sigh, grinding the heels of his palms into his eyes before rolling to his side to continue staring at her.
His nostrils flare as he inhales her sweet scent.
She’s ripe. Sweat has soaked and dried in her clothes, amplifying her scent to intoxicating levels.
It’s addictive and I find myself sucking in lungfuls too.
“Fuck me. She’s just so gorgeous,” he breathes.
I examine the clasp holding her bite collar. It’s reinforced to prevent the guard from being torn from her in a frenzy, but the buckle itself is simple to open. My fingers twitch.
“Don’t even think about it,” Shade snaps, his voice hard as he cuts off my wandering thoughts.
I have no clue how the fucker always knows when one of us is about to do something reckless and stupid, but he’s saved us from ourselves too many times to count.
Halley called him Squad Daddy, and it describes him perfectly. And fuck, when she said it, I knew he’d be under her spell, too. Our Beta has a major Daddy kink. He thinks he hides it well, but we see it.
“She needs a shower,” I mumble. My tongue feels like it’s glued to the roof of my mouth. “Her scent is doing my head in.”
Betas don’t have as sensitive a nose as an Alpha, but I know he’s affected by her scent too. The tent in his trousers is evidence enough.
He opens his mouth to respond when a grunt of disapproval comes from the corner of the tent. “Don’t you fuckers dare wash her scent off.”
Blaze is sitting on her bed, surrounded by her pilfered blankets, the fly of his combat trousers open and his thick cock in his hand. He’s tugging at it roughly, the crown red and angry, as he looks at Halley like she’s doing more than simply sleeping.
“Oh come on, dude,” Shade says, his eyes darting back to Halley to ensure she’s still asleep.
I don’t even know when he arrived, and I’ve long since stopped being startled by his sudden appearances.
“Give me a break, I’ve been rock hard all day,” Blaze says, a wild look in his eyes.
Usually, when that twinkle in his pale eyes appears, it means someone is about to die in a very painful, gruesome way.
Usually with fire or rope. I shoot a covert glance at Shade and he gives me a subtle nod to let me know he sees it too.
Sex and violence is often blurred when it comes to Blaze. Yet, somehow, I instinctively know he’d never hurt her.
His grip on his cock tightens as he continues to stroke himself. His breathing getting heavier, and I know he’s about to get on with it.
I look away. As a squad, we have no privacy. Everything is shared and nothing is off limits. Dicks are whipped out and needs taken care of.
Actively watching someone jerk off is something I’m not into, but Blaze will greedily watch anyone who doesn’t hide. He’s a kinky fucker like that. Shade too, but he’s more subtle about it.
There’s a grunt, and the salty aroma mixes with the Omega scent.
“Great, now the tent smells like jizz,” Shade says, adjusting his junk.
My painfully hard cock is pressed against Halley, and it’s a wonder it hasn’t woken her up. She’s still out cold, but the purring has stopped. We truly had no clue what to expect when training an Omega, but this definitely wasn’t it.
“I’ve read about Omega losing touch with reality during a heat, but nothing about this,” Shade murmurs to himself. He flops onto his back, pulls his tablet out, and starts scrolling. He’s probably hunting for some research that will provide the answers we seek.
I look back down at the sleeping Omega and know she’s changed our squad forever.
I need to put some distance between us. Holding her in my bed was a mistake, because my attachment to her has only grown.
I scoop her up and shuffle over to her bunk. I pin Blaze with a glare and he reluctantly moves so I can place her on the bed. In her restful state, she mewls and immediately snuggles into the mess of blankets she calls her nest.
She’s so soft and gentle. I have no business tainting her with my darkness, the ever-present threat of my impending descent into Blood Lust. She shouldn’t be anywhere near me when it eventually takes me.
The Omega might have saved me in the hospital, but I can’t be certain I won’t hurt her next time.
No, I need to keep my distance from Omega Halley Sparks.