Page 37 of His Stolen Omega

“There was no need.”

“Fuck you!” Elm shot to his feet and stormed forward, the chains only giving him a foot or so of slack the moment he stepped off the mattress, leaving more than enough room for her to step out of reach. He roared—some horrible sound he’d never made before that had her placing her hands over her ears and racing to the other side of the cage.

Fiora slammed the door shut and snatched the gasmask she’d left on the chair.

The stupid, pretentious one the Leviathan had sat in the entire time Elm had been suffering in front of him.

“Where the hell is he?!” he demanded. “Get him here!”

Fiora adjusted the mask over her face and gave a curt shake of her head. “The Dominus isn’t someone you can boss around.”

“I’m going to kill him!” He was going to try, and fail, anyway. Elm knew better than to think he actually stood a chance, but the anger was burning brightly enough to have logic and reason turning to ash. “You’re all monsters! Every last one of you!”

“We’re no worse than Kian,” she stated, laughing when he growled in offense. “Seriously? Come on. Surely you know better than most what he’s like. His capacity for cruelty is infamous. How do you think he surpassed the twins and took the throne?”

“Shut up!” The metal bit into his wrists harder, and he felt skin tear. “My brother has done more to clean the streets of Synastry and Glyph than your shitty Dominus ever could.”

She snorted. “Silly synthetic omega, putting aside the fact Kian has only ever done anything that directly benefits himself in some way, you should probably take a breath, and take another look around.”

Elm frowned, not following.

“He isn’t just my Dominus anymore,” she elaborated. “He’s yours too.”

“Bullshit!”

“Did you say you were a person earlier?” Fiora clicked her tongue and wagged a finger at him. “No, no, no. You, my synthetic omega friend, are property. You’re fortunate in the sense that your owner has a tendency to be careful with his belongings, but,” she dragged the word out until Elm noticeably stiffened, “the flipside to that is he also has this thing about submission. As in, we all have to.”

“I’m not submitting to the psychopathic wannabe mad scientist who is holding me against my will,” Elm stated.

“Even if it means surviving another day?”

He started weighing his options.

“The Leviathan is a dominant alpha, one strong enough to subdue even your intense pheromones,” she continued. “You might be able to make me retreat, but you’ll never overpower him. It’s best to fall in line, cooperate with the rest of the experiment. It’s in your best interests as well as ours. You want to know how you work just as much as we do, do you not?”

Sure.

But…

“I wasn’t born yesterday,” he said. “I know you plan on killing me once you’re done collecting your data.”

She tipped her head. “Did he tell you that?”

“He didn’t have to.” It was pretty obvious. “I might be the useless brother, but I’m still Kian’s brother nonetheless. That makes me a threat.”

“If you told him everything that was done, yes, I imagine so.”

“Help me.” It was a long shot, but what choice did he have but to try and play on an empathetic side she may or may not have? “Help me escape, and I’ll promise to send you all the data you want. I won’t tell Kian anything. Do you think I want to? Can you imagine that conversation? Hey, big brother, just so you know, I was fucked up the ass by a machine and then went feral for your greatest enemy. Yeah, hard pass.”

“I don’t experience embarrassment,” she replied, then added before he could become too dismayed, “but I understand it as a concept. It would be rather embarrassing for Kian to learn all of that about you.”

“Which is why I won’t tell him. Trust me, I—”

“The thing is, Elm,” she stopped him, surprising him with the use of his first name, “I oddly do believe you. I think, at this moment, you have every intention of keeping your word to me. And maybe you’d really keep it forever. Maybe you’d tell Kian it was those idiots at the docks this whole time. But frankly, what you do won’t matter. It’s what I do that does.”

His heart sank, even though he knew it wouldn’t work.

“How much do you know about the White Frost?” she asked, and when he refused to answer, sighed. “I imagine Kian at least prepared you a little? Gave you a list of our high standing members so you’d know who to look out for. You’ve met Baal and Koah, they’re scary, but arguably normal, wouldn’t you agree? Let’s say in comparison to your brother, and our Dominus.”