Page 33 of Dark Company

I’m rooted to the spot, unable to turn away. It takes my decades of training just to advert my eyes, much less keep from wanting to touch her. All the feelings I had when looking at her picture slam into me, cutting off my air. I wanted her then, and my body never forgot it.

Stepping back, I can only watch in amazement as fury lights the depths of her eyes. Once more, she has the audacity to growl at me, snapping her teeth as if she can attack me while being so restrained. It’s almost as if she has no concept of how dangerous things are between us right now.

All she knows is the desire that runs through her body, demanding she ease the throbbing by any means possible. Again, she growls, the soft sound skimming down my spine to settle in my balls. It’s laughable. Something so small and delicate thinks she can take me on.

To my knowledge, she’s the first woman to ever not shy away from my touch or growl. If only she was another omega, I might actually be able to bed her without killing her. There’s a steel to her spine that’s absent from the omegas in the High Sanctum.

They’re docile, refined. The omega before me is nearly feral in her need to fuck me. No. Not me. She only turned to me when I stole her away from some beta cuckold that she was supposed to fuck instead. Is it merely because I’m an Alpha? Crossing my arms, I study her, taking in the firm set to her jaw.

They told me she was a beta. Why the fuck is she staring up at me with pleading eyes in the shade of an omega? Even the insignia on her wrists speaks to her beta birth. Why didn’t Annora tell me? Does she not realize how dangerous this is? If Karis goes into a full-blown heat with these Alphas and betas around, I can’t guarantee her safety.

Anger burns in my gut as I stare at the watery tears that track down her face. Her plump lips, the same shade as her pink nipples, darken as she bites down, attempting to hold in the whimpers I hear clawing at the back of her throat. She stares up at me as if I hold all the answers to the universe, as if I can rid her of this ache she feels as keenly as I do.

She deserves better than an Alpha like me. She deserves someone who can worship her body, who can bring her to the pinnacle of pleasure before taking his own. She deserves someone knowledgeable, someone that can squeeze every ounce of sensation from her trembling form. I can’t. I barely know what my own hand feels like. To fuck Karis would be to fuck a pristine.

It doesn’t matter that blood smears her inner thighs, showing proof that her innocence was indeed lost on that altar today. She’s still as good as pristine. She’s never known a human cock, and mine cannot be the first. Fuck. Why did she have to disobey me? Why couldn’t she leave herself intact? Knowing she possessed a barrier would have made it so much easier to leave her alone.

With her virginal barrier, I wouldn’t be able to take her without someone knowing. Now that everyone knows she’s already defiled, I could have my way with her, and no one will be the wiser. She took away the one protection she had. A growl vibrates my chest as I stalk back over to her. She fucked up, and she needs to know it.

“You stupid, stupid girl. I told you not to mess with that statue. Why in the hell did you disobey me?” My words come far harsher than I intended them.

I see the pain written on her face as she stares up at me with those eyes that burrow into my soul. In that moment, she looks like a fragile doll, already shattered, with the fine lines of her sorrow threading under the clear veneer that holds the porcelain in place. I’m not here to break her any further, but my very nature causes her distress.

But then it’s gone. In a few breaths, her lips pull back into a silent snarl as she writhes on the floor, attempting to get up onto her knees. With a swift nudge of my foot, I send her sprawling back to the earth with a soft thud. No need to have her loosening the bonds I so painstakingly put her in.

What vexes this omega so that she must fight me at every turn? Reaching out, I grab hold of the nearest ankle that flails about in a comedic attempt to kick me. No one else has ever been so bold as to try to kick me. The action alone causes my balls to continue to draw up near the point of pain.

What this omega needs is a firm hand and a good fucking to tame her. Though I crave to be that Alpha, I know I never can. Not without Jaxxon’s permission. If only we weren’t so far away from Stanlion. If we had transporters, it would have only taken us a matter of hours to get back home, but none of them could be spared.

Now that we have a new king, all our modes of swift transportation have to be at his beck and call if he needs them. And so, we’ve resorted to walking, living like the nomads we just left, bound to the whims of the weather. As if that’s actually the problem. Even if I had all the permissions in the world, I could still never bring myself to harm someone such as her. Blister her ass? Of course. Damage her beyond repair? Absolutely not.

Even with Jaxxon standing there, watching me take her, allowing me to, I couldn’t. Not unless something stronger than the gods compelled me. My body is made for destruction, and that’s not what she needs. I can’t take the chance of hurting her, of seeing that flash of pain in her eyes. For some reason, I could handle it from almost any other person, but not Karis.

Taking that slim ankle that’s far softer than it has any right to be, I stretch her out, chaining the limb to a nearby piece of furniture, then go back to secure the other. By the time I’m done, she’s completely spread out, her body taut between the three hold points.

Gods, but my cock leaps as I watch her there, her pretty lips spewing out words that no female, much less an omega, should know. She’s a conundrum and a pretty one at that. A gorgeous omega wrapped up in a fiery bow. Stalking forward, I note the quick inhale as her breath thrusts her chest up to me in an offering I cannot indulge in.

“Answer me, omega.” Once more, the growl vibrates my chest, filling the tent with my fury. “Why did you take away your virtue like that? What lies did they fill your pretty little head with?”

“You think I’m pretty?” She bites down on her lower lip and looks up at me with a beckoning glance.

Of course, that’s what she takes from all of this. Once more, the haughty beta that haunts my dreams flashes back into my brain, merging with the omega below me. It’s all an act, done to force me to abandon my beliefs and iron will. Well, it won’t be that easy. As long as my respirators hold out, I’ll be in control.

I just have to ensure that my men keep theirs in at all times. It’s not that I don’t trust them, but I know what an omega in heat does to a man, and when one looks as luscious as she does, it will be hard not to be tempted. This also means I’ll have to switch out with Leon while we guard her.

He’s the only other man I trust with a mission as important as this. The princess must be delivered back to Stanlion unmolested. It doesn’t matter that she’s begging for it, she’s nearly out of her mind with the heat. Even now, she thrusts her hips up, forcing the scent of her pussy into the air.

My fingers curl into fists as I loom over Karis, desperate to reach into my uniform and stroke myself until my cum covers her body. What part would I mark first? Her perky, pretty tits? Or that mouth-watering pussy that’s spread open wide, just begging to be filled?

No!

I cannot think this way! I cannot allow her to sway me like this. Gods give me the strength to resist such a temptation. It’s like she’s made for me, the perfect match for my ferocity. The one person to not cower before me. It could be she’s being bolstered by the heat, but there’s something else, something so different from anyone in Stanlion.

It’s like a cool breeze in the sweltering heat, water lapping at your feet after a long day, or what I could imagine would be a tongue darting out to lap at the cum welling up my shaft to coat my tip. She’s dangerous, the one thing that’s been able to shatter my calm.

For the first time, I know why men die for their omegas. I know why songs are written about them, why they are referred to in hushed, reverent tones. I never dreamed of being able to have my own goddess, yet here she is, in flesh and blood, begging me to take her body as my own. I want to rend the world apart if it means keeping her by my side. Fuck, I might even fight Jaxxon for her if I have to.

Gods know I could take him. But that’s wrong. All of this is wrong. What type of sorcery does she hold over me that I’m willing to fight the man I waged war for, that I helped put into power? This cannot happen. If only she hadn’t made it so easy for me to take what she’s offering.