Chapter 43
Chapter Forty-Three
Halley
I summon the familiar drifting fog until it shimmers at my periphery, heralding O-space, the gateway to my mysterious Omega Command. My instincts deepen, and the softness of my inner Omega drags at my consciousness.
With Shade’s confirmation, I know the softness is not vulnerability. It hides a power to enthrall even the most stubborn of Alphas. An Omega answer to the fearsome Alpha Command. I’ve yet to discover just what Omega Command can do.
I’ve spent the last few weeks experimenting with it. Making little requests with a hint of my O-space influence behind it. It’s their fault, after all. If only they’d included me in the discussion after the chase, I wouldn’t have resorted to such subterfuge.
I’m done experimenting.
I want to see what I can really do.
I turn my head slightly, just enough to tilt my head back and look up at Viper. I gasp as I recognize the red spidery veins crawling from the corner of his wide, staring green eyes and down his cheeks.
Blood Lust.
I don’t think. I act.
“Viper. Calm down.”
The words hum, coming from the same place my purr resides, raspy and raw.
It works.
Like a soothing balm, his shoulders droop and his muscles relax. The red, inching veins fade and the wild look in his eyes is replaced by shock.
“Let me go.”
His thick tree-trunk arm slips from my waist, falling to his side. I want to apologize and check that he’s okay, but Blaze is still beating Shade senseless.
I rush to the fight. Shoving my hand through Blaze’s hair, I wrench his head backwards until his pale eyes are staring right up at me. The fury and hurt shining within them makes my heart stutter.
It hurts me to force him, but there isn’t time to waste.
“Stop fighting!” I growl, and he goes limp.
My breath catches as I glance at Shade. His face is covered in blood and his split lip drips with red. He coughs and groans, curling around his bruised ribs. The sound drags me from my shock, and I release Blaze from the hold.
With a snarl, Blaze pushes off the ground, turning to me with his hands curled into fists and his face twisted with rage. But he doesn’t react violently. He can’t. The Omega Command won’t let him.
I take a step towards him, but Blaze jerks away like I’m a nightmare come to life. His eyes flash with so much hurt that I can’t bear it. I look at Viper for help, but he just shakes his head at me, his green eyes filled with betrayal, but undeniably still calm.
There’s a rushing sound from behind me and once again, I’m caught in a tight hold.
The arms squeeze tightly, and my ribs ache in protest. Prime Alpha Knox isn’t letting me move an inch.
“Omega Sparks.” He barks in my ear loud enough to make me wince. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“Defusing the situation, sir,” I spit back.
My inner Omega is proud of me. We’re standing up to an Alpha. I don’t feel the need to bow down and submit. This is how Omegas have bent Alphas to their will for generations. We’re physically weaker, and this is our true power.
It’s thrilling and exciting.
“You don’t know what you’ve done,” he snarls. “You stupid girl.”
Any sense of guilt evaporates, and the next Command slips from me without hesitation.
“Let me go.”
His arms drop and I dash out of his reach, spinning to face him, glaring up at him with weeks of frustration and hatred flowing through me.
“You’re such a hypocrite,” I shout.
It’s fine for an Alpha to use their Alpha Command, but not me?
His nostrils flare and his eyelids grow heavy as he stalks towards me, the promise of something dark and torturous crossing his handsome face. I want to hate it, and him, but even now a part of me yearns for his proximity.
He stops a hair’s breath away, my chin almost touching his folded arms.
He inhales a shuddering breath.
“You’re playing with fire, Omega Sparks.”
“But at least it’s my choice if I burn.”
“You leave me no choice then,” he sighs before his hand lashes out. He threads his big hand through the hair at the base of my skull and pulls, forcing my head back just like I did to Blaze moments ago. “Let’s see how you like a taste of your own medicine.”
And then he releases a feral growl that shakes the ground. It comes from deep in his chest, and I immediately go limp in his hold. Pain radiates from my scalp as his grip on my hair holds me up.
“Obey your Prime Alpha.”
I whimper and tilt my neck in submission, but his hold is too strong. My body won’t respond, so completely enthralled by the power of his Alpha Command.
I don’t even have time to consider what he’s asking of me, or whether I’ll agree. My mind isn’t my own anymore, and I’m helpless to fight it.
“Tell me what you did with Beta Specialist Shade.”
It spills from me like water through a sieve, and I’m helpless to stop it.
“He showed me his tongue ring and licked me.”
“Where did he lick you?”
“My pussy.”
“How did it feel?”
“Good. He made me feel amazing.”
He smiles wickedly. “Did you come, little Omega? Did you get your slick all over his face?”
“I made a mess, Prime Alpha Knox.”
“Bad girl.”
Distress floods me as I react to the words of Omega nightmares. I’m raw, my usual defenses against my instincts torn away with his Command.
“I am. I disobeyed an order from my Prime Alpha,” I sob. “I’m sorry.”
He releases my hair and catches me around the waist before my legs give way. I blink, feeling like I’m waking from a dream. Prime Alpha Knox’s red eyes are locked on me.
My rage flares back to life, and before I can register the point he was trying to make about how cruel stripping someone of their mental freedom is, I unleash a vicious counterattack.
“Release me!”
Unlike the last few times, my voice doesn’t waver. The Command is strong and strikes out at Knox like a whip.
He drops me like he’s been burned, but once he’s fulfilled the Command, he’s back in control of himself and the rumble in his chest starts again. I act before he can put me back under his Alpha Command.
“Stop.”
He freezes.
“Good boy.”
Molten red eyes flash with warning, but he stays still.
I smirk with pride. Take that, Prime Asshole.
My small experiments and practice have paid off. Weeks ago, using this new skill felt like weaponizing my vulnerability. Now, using it for the first time openly, it feels like pure power.
It’s intoxicating, and I inhale deeply, reveling in the feeling of control for the first time in my life.
Shade limps towards me, concern and alarm warring on his bloodied face. “Halley, stop it. You can’t handle this amount of power untrained.”
He advances, his hands outstretched, pleading.
“Don’t come closer.”
His feet halt, the momentum of his body causing him to waver off balance. He looks up at me with hurt shimmering in his gaze.
It lights a fire of rage inside me.
How dare he act hurt?
I pin him with a challenging glare. “Screw you, Shade! This wouldn’t have happened if you’d all been honest with me from the start!”
Shade looks uneasy but not regretful. It boils my blood. I know they’ve discussed the experiment in the forest and the way Viper and Knox responded to me. It spooked them. They’re afraid that I’ll be stronger than them all. Cowards.
My head is spinning and an unraveling sensation curls in my belly.
“Pretty girl,” Viper rumbles, his soulful eyes imploring, burrowing into me. They beg for my understanding, for me to stop my tirade.
I won’t. Not this time.
I’m not a defenseless little Omega anymore, am I? There is something awake inside me. Something stronger than I ever knew possible.
They should fear me!
I run my hand over my braided hair, tugging at the loose strand. “You didn’t think you owe me some transparency?”
“We don’t owe you a damn thing,” Knox snarls from just behind me.
I whip back to face him and spit a command with more venom than I thought myself capable; “I told you to stay still! Don’t move!”
Anger and hurt sharpen the command, and they slice through his defiance like a hot knife through butter.
His muscles tighten, face frozen in his patented snarl and eyelids lowered. He stops blinking. An immoveable statue of solid muscle.
“It’s about me. It’s happening to me!” I shout at his immobile figure. “And you kept it from me. I get to know what’s going on with my own body.”
His face reddens, and his eyes water as the wind blows in time with my heaving breath.
Weeks of hurt and betrayal echo in my fury.
A bird calls from high above the creaking trees, unaware of the tempest raging below.
“Omega, he can’t breathe.”
It’s Viper’s soft, artificially calm tone that breaks through my veil of anger.
I blink and stare at Knox.
His chest isn’t rising and falling. He’s obeyed me completely. Not a single muscle moves and he’s stopped breathing.
Panic replaces the rage.
“Oh,” I gasp, reality slamming into me hard. I run my hands over his chest, babbling incoherently. “Oh frack.”
“Release him, Halley,” Viper’s deep voice prompts.
“Right,” I nod, halting my frenzied hands. I clear my throat and push the power back into my voice. “Prime Alpha Knox, I release you.”
Knox gasps, spittle flying as he chokes down a lungful of air. He drops to his hands and knees, coughing and spluttering. His usual strength is stripped from him and, for the first time since we met, he looks weak.
The haze drops like a curtain and horror rushes in.
I tremble uncontrollably.
What did I do?
Why did I do that?
I stare on helplessly, a ringing forming in my ears.
I almost killed my Prime Alpha.