Chapter 12

The mood that accompanied the successful raid yesterday has waned throughout the day. I’ve been lost in introspection for much of that time. Journeying back to the day I revealed.

It’s her, I realize: Isla. I knew she wouldn’t reveal yet—I’d have been disappointed if she had.

But I also want it over, and for us to arrive at the endgame.

She smells fucking amazing. My dick has been hard all day, and by the time the base comes into view, I’m ready to climb the fucking walls. It’s a relief for all of us to finally have the opportunity to let our guard down.

The layout is different at this base. The rooms are bigger and designed for a unit, so there are three bedrooms, a communal bathroom, a central room with places to sit, and our own food-service replicator.

But this base also has a large permanent presence, and feels crowded as I hustle her into our designated quarters.

Wrestling with her imminent awakening and the prevailing sense of danger, she’s got a lot of questions today. More than is healthy. I can’t give her the answers. And even if I could, they wouldn’t make any sense.

Ash hands the blonde—I still don’t know her fucking name, and I don’t care—over to Noah and heads off to get an update.

Noah takes her straight into one of the bedrooms. The grunts, moans, and slaps of fucking ensue.

At least he took her into the bedroom. I’m so wired, I’m not sure what I might have done if he’d gone at her in front of me.

“Go to the bedroom,” I say, gesturing toward the room on the right.

Isla is gone before I finish the sentence. At least she doesn’t attempt to close the door.

I should get her some food.

I should eat something myself.

Instead, I pace the room like a caged beast while Noah fucks the unnamed blonde.

When Ash returns, with another woman—and I’ve no idea what her name is either—I step in front of him, blocking his path. We stare at one another while I try to decide how far I want to push this, and he waits to see if I will. My eyes slide to the woman at his side and back to Ash.

“There has been another breach,” he says.

I tense.

“Both are still planetside as far as we know.”

“Are we moving out tomorrow?”

“Yes. They want them safe.”

The bases are isolated and not ideal, but moving on feels like an unnecessary risk. He is not telling me something.

The woman fidgets at his side. She’s giving off the same sweet, musky scent that Isla is, and it crawls under my skin.

“I need to move things on…”

“Not yet.”

“If you’re trying to fucking break me, I’m already there.”

His face twists, and his sigh is heavy. “You saw her numbers as well as I did. That’s a guaranteed singularity, and they want her back untouched. She’s the reason they don’t want us to wait here, even though it would make sense. So, get her some food, get her cleaned up, and, if you need to take care of things, make sure you don’t get your cum on her anywhere, or I’ll be liberating you of your dick and shoving it up your ass.”

“Too late,” I grunt, raking a hand through my hair.

His eyes widen, and he scoffs. “Jesus. Why do you think I gave her to you? You’re the one with all the control. Find it. Don’t come on her again.”

“You lied,” I say.

He raises a brow.

“You said not yet. What you meant was not ever.” Everyone always gets a turn if they want it. Why does not getting one with her fuck me up?

Ash smirks. “I always knew I wasn’t going to get my hands on her. Think yourself lucky you lived with the delusion for a while.” He pushes past me, heading for the same bedroom where Noah is banging his girl.

I stare after them, feeling like I’m spinning.

I’ve already come on her. What the fuck does that mean?

Guaranteed singularity. Rare.They don’t want to risk us touching her until they know how it will manifest. At least, that’s what I understood, reading between the lines. She could be a psychic, but she might also have benefits, enhancements and more, in her saliva, on her skin, and in her blood. But this is my fifth run, and I’ve never had to wait. I just need to scratch this fucking itch before I lose it.

I huff out a breath. Telling me I’m the one with control is a double-edged compliment when I’m stuck on babysitting duty, and I’ll never get to have a taste. Which is why Ash is our leader. He always sees twenty paces in front of me on any given matter. When I saw her numbers, it didn’t cross my mind that it held significance beyond her guarantee to reveal as a high-value omega.

But singularities are tricky, and the omegas with them can have unpredictable effects on the alphas they come into contact with. It could take months, even years, before they know how her singularity will manifest.

If it’s really impressive, they will want to use her, breed her, or both.

I swallow. My eyes go to the bedroom where she went. I should check on her.

I don’t.

I throw myself down on the couch and will myself somewhere else.

It doesn’t help. All I can hear is the guys going at it as I stare up at the functional white ceiling, my dick trying to drill a hole through my pants.

A lull in the fucking brings a different sound to my ears, one that makes my gut clench. I rise, padding through to the bedroom, where I find her curled up on her side in the fetal position, sobbing quietly and her body trembling.

Well, fuck.

I try to find the hardness that tells me coddling her won’t do her any favors. But the part of me that’s still human, who once had a family and people I gave a fuck about, beyond Ash and Noah, can’t say the words.

Her vulnerability is like a tsunami sweeping over me and obliterating my good intentions.

I kick off my boots and slide in behind her on the bed.

The moment she feels me, she flails and kicks at me.

I slide my arm around her waist, catch and pin her wrists to the bed in front of her, then lean my weight onto her, rocking my hip forward and sliding my legs between hers until she is half-buried under me.

I purr.

She’s still trembling, but she stops fighting with me. Her sobs peter out, and her sniffles subside.

Omega. As if I had any doubt… as if I even needed the test. They love to feel trapped by an alpha’s weight. It triggers an instinct inside them, a primitive calling that says a worthy male has overpowered them, and they need to let go and submit.

My dick is nestled against her ass. If it weren’t for that reading on the first scan, I’d be naked, balls deep, and she’d be making her cute little contented sounds as she spasmed around my knot… eventually. Even an omega needs to build up to that.

I bury my nose into her hair and breathe in her sweet scent; even though it’s fucking torture, I can’t resist.

Her breathing evens out.

Asleep.

My dick throbs and beats for release.

I ignore it as best I can.

I follow her into sleep, where dark dreams taunt me, and I wake up to find the lights dimmed and the sounds of fucking.

Again.

Really.

I push up, rousing Isla.

Fisting her arm, I haul her from the bed.

“Seb! What?”

I’m going to fuck someone up.

A man on a mission, I drag Isla through the main room into the dimly lit bedroom. Here, I find Noah balls deep in the nameless blonde, and Ash lounging in an easy chair watching, with the other girl naked on his lap.

I feel Isla stiffen.

Not the best thought-out plan I’ve ever had, but sue me, I’m on fucking edge.

Only now, as I’m swimming in pheromones and the smell of sex, with the memory of Isla warm and soft in my arms, it is fucking and not fucking someone up that calls for me.

“I need some relief.”