Page 5 of Dark Goodbye

Ladria

“That’s right, omega,” he breathes, his eyes dilating. “I want to smell every bit of your terror. I want it to slide over me, to bathe me until all I can breathe in is that addicting scent that clings to your body.”

Despite my desire to be strong, another whimper escapes my lips, which only seems to feed the monster lurking inside his body. I watch, helpless, as his eyes seem to shift, turning pitch black, then back to his normal shade of green. This isn’t a human. It can’t be.

All of my fears and hatred toward Alphas never prepared me for something like this. Domineering, I expected. Manipulative, I knew was a given. But this Alpha seems to come straight from the pits of Arnakas itself. Heat shimmers off his body as he moved, leaving wisps of smoke in his wake.

Or am I dreaming?

Is any of this real?

No doubt the food did indeed make me sick. Any moment now, I’ll wake up, shivering and alone in that cell. But I have to wake up. I just have to. As the Alpha slides down toward the end of the bed, my vision is once more blinded by the lights. But do I really want to see what he’s about to do?

His gloved hands graze my upper thighs before he starts to knead the muscle underneath. Despite the terror flooding my system, his touch feels good. It’s abhorrent that anything about this man brings me pleasure, but in my haze, I let loose a low moan.

Emboldened by my response, he continues to dig in his fingers until I reach the point where pleasure disappears and only pain exists. My soft moan soon turns into a gasp as air rips from my lungs.

“Please,” I cry out, doing my best to shift my legs. “I can’t-.”

“I do recall the word anything being used in your earlier pleading. I wish for you to experience pain at my hand, and pleasure if I feel as if you earned it. That is the price for your freedom from that cell.”

“People will look for me. You can’t just steal a prisoner.”

His fingers stop their clawing movements, and he jerks them away. My sigh of relief is short-lived as he storms over to the head of the bed and looms over me, his eyes wild.

“Oh, you innocent thing. No one is going to look for you. When the guard flung you across the cell, I pronounced you as dead. Your ‘body’ was soon incinerated before it could attract all manner of vermin. According to Stanlion, you no longer exist.”

My body stills as his words seep into my brain. They circle there for countless moments, like water down a drain and just as dizzying. Even though I understand each word that was uttered, as a unit, they don’t make sense. My brain is not allowing them to come together in a semblance of order.

“I know you hear me.” His breath flutters at my temple, moving my hair about. “You can try to shut me out, force my voice out of your consciousness, but I’ll still be there, forcing my way in. Deny me all you want, but soon, you’ll come to crave every wicked, delicious thing I do to you. You’ll beg me for more.”

The words all collide at once, and I jerk my head away, not giving him the satisfaction of watching the horrific dawning as it crosses my face. Dead. I can’t be dead. There’s no way Stanlion would allow a pristine to just die without following up. We are precious to the Alphas. It’s the one thing I could depend on.

“I’m speaking to you. Turn and fucking face me.” Once more his growl laces the air, setting my insides to shaking.

I try to resist him. I do everything in my power, but the more he growls, the more I’m helpless. This is the curse of the omega. This is why I fled all those years ago. This is why I fucking wish I had actually died in that cell for real and not in my imagination. Being at the hands of this demented psycho is worse than any death I could have ever imagined.

His fingers curl around my jaw, wrenching my neck the rest of the way. The moment my mouth parts for me to cry out, his lips are there, hot and demanding against mine. Once more, bile races up my throat as his tongue darts between my teeth, forcing its way inside. After a moment or so, his hand slides up, cupping the back of my head so he can deepen the kiss.

This is my only chance, the only way I can inflict some injury onto him. Closing my eyes, I bite down on the squirmy, wriggling flesh, my heart jolting as his howl of pain floods my brain. Blood spills into my mouth as his fingers dig into my jaw, forcing my mouth open.

“You stupid cunt.” He draws his hand back and lets it fly across my face.

Spots dance in front of my eyes as my head whips back to the other side. Pain doesn’t even register for several moments, but when it does, I blink back the tears, desperate to hide the agony crawling over my skin.

“If you wanted blood, all you had to do was tell me.” Venom laces his voice as he lowers his lips to my ear. “And I promise you, I will make you bleed before today is over. “

“Why are you doing this,” I sputter, my sanity hanging on by a thread.

Deep down, I don’t want to know the answer. I know it will be something that I cannot handle. And yet, the burning desire to know picks at my brain, refusing to let up.

“Do I need a reason to pluck something so ripe, so sweet from the branch?” His voice gets a touch softer as he makes his way back down toward the foot of the bed. “I watched as they dragged you into that cell. I smelled you the moment I got close enough. They marked you as a beta, but what do the Guardian Alphas know? They’re not allowed to even go take a piss without their respirators in.”

Again, his fingers make their trek up my thighs, and this time, I know he won’t stop there. I injured both his tongue and his pride. It was stupid of me to try and fight back. The only thing keeping me from going to the auction block is that I’m pristine. If he takes that away…

“They were happy to go along with your designation, but I knew the truth.” His fingers dip in between my thighs, drawing a shuddering breath from my lips even though he’s taking me by force. “It was all simple really. I just had to wait until you needed medical attention.”

“The High Echelon-.”