Chapter 7

I turn and hesitate before kneeling as far away from his side as the counter will allow. A slow trail of fresh blood oozes from his wound, and even though he deserves every moment of pain, remorse wells in my soul.

My appa always spoke of his mentor with the highest respect. I misunderstood the pain in his voice every time he mentioned the nameless male. I always assumed it was because Alpha Fore murdered his mentor and thought my appa would forever mourn him like a lost loved one. I thought the tightness in his face when he spoke of Alpha Fore was because he feared and hated him for killing his mentor.

Now I know the truth.

He was in mourning, but not because his mentor died a gruesome death. No, his pain rose from knowing he'd broken this alpha's trust. He'd failed. He'd hurt the male who'd saved him from self-destruction in the slums and given every ounce of his pride to protect the female he loved more than himself.

The guilt slowly ate him alive every day, even as he cherished his omega mate and doted on his headstrong daughter.

I scoop a dollop of ointment from the tin and gently smear it over Fore's wound.

My appa never spoke of Alpha Fore with malice, either. He feared Fore's wrath, but never added to the rumors circulating about the massive, terrifying alpha. The monster I built in my mind originated from my own terror and the whispers of a scarred devil who destroyed everyone in his path. My omma's nightmares—which she'd rarely speak about but would often wake screaming from—had added fuel to my misconception.

I smooth the edges of the bandage over his wound and absently run my fingers over his flesh. How can someone so big and mean have such soft skin between his scars?

Ruthless hands grip my shoulders and lift me to my feet, yanking me from my musings. As I jerk back to the present, he spins me around and bends me over the counter.

I hiss as the cold metal flattens my breasts and stings the side of my face. Fire streaks through my backside, following the sound of flesh smacking flesh, and I squeal through clenched teeth as I realize he spanked me.

I rake my nails over the smooth counter but get nowhere, so I reach behind to protect myself and kick my leg, hoping to hit his wound.

He spans his thick fingers over the middle of my back and stands to the side with my ass cupped in his other hand, letting me flail. After the worst of my panic recedes, I clamp my knees together and search for his face through my wild curtain of hair.

He skims his nails over my abused ass, reawakening the deep throb between my legs.

"Are you done, tiny scorpion?" He growls as he runs his palm over the back of my thighs.

Emotions ball at the base of my throat, aggravating my swollen tissues and reminding me of his brutality, and I curse myself for letting down my guard.

Thick, knowledgeable fingers tease and stroke along my folds. A surge of wetness leaks from my pussy, and the lust simmering in my veins roars to life. An embarrassing squeak escapes my mouth as he wedges his digits between my legs and pinches my labia tight around my clit.

Stars burst through my vision as he grinds his fingers in circles, engaging every nerve in my clit and trapping me in a world of tight, wet, intense pleasure.

My hard nipples slide along the cold countertop in a jarring contrast. I teeter on the edge of combustion, my body eager for the release he keeps denying me.

I sob and cling to his wrist as he pulls away. He chuckles and pinches the globe of my ass before shaking out of my grip and collecting my forearms against my lower back in one massive hand. His body heat burns the handprint he left on my behind before he presses himself against me, pinning my legs to the cabinet.

Mindless need overrides my terror as the hot, hard length of his shaft glides between my ass cheeks. Despite my mind screaming in denial, my omega self moans and wiggles her hips, offering him everything—even the tight ring of her asshole. Whatever he needs, whatever he wants, she yearns to give it to him, as long as he soothes the ache growing in her core.

I bite the inside of my cheek and clamp my eyes shut. This can't be happening. I can't let him win, not when he's been so cruel to my parents. Not when he's openly said he'll use my own instincts against me. Not if this is all for revenge.

"Arch against me again, tiny scorpion. You're so fucking slick I might spill my seed all over your back without needing to use my hand. C'mon, little omega, be a good girl and tilt those hips just a little more."

I curl my nails into my palms and dig my knees into the cabinets, refusing to give him what he wants.

His low, evil chuckle vibrates up my spine.

"Fine, have it your way, just this once," he sneers.

Lightning arrows through me as he squeezes my entire sex with his rough hand. He grinds his long digits along my folds before dipping his fingertip past my entrance.

The wonderful, horrible stretch steals my breath. My hips tilt, but I catch myself and press against the edge of the counter.

He pushes his finger deeper into my body. I strain to accept him. There's no way the broad head of his cock will fit if I can barely handle a single digit.

The diabolical alpha draws sensual designs along my sopping folds with his other fingers, dancing in time with the digit lodged within my body, pressing and waking new sensations along my channel.

He pulls away and scoops his cupped hand up my inner thigh. His knuckles brush along my lower back and forearm. I peek through my matted hair and watch as he strokes his gigantic cock.

My mouth waters. I bite down and taste blood.

His growl hits deep inside me, and my eyes roll to the back of my head. My insides pulse. I need him.

I hate him.

Wet warmth splashes onto my back. His guttural groan superimposes itself into my mind, adding another layer of filth to my darkest fantasies.

Jet after jet of his seed hits my back, shoulders, and nape, and still he strokes himself. I slip deeper under his spell as the earthy, fiery storm of his pheromones invades my nostrils.

He shifts his aim and hits my chin, cheek, and hair, until his seed oozes from follicle to follicle and pools under my head. I press my lips together to resist the urge to steal a taste.

Answering wetness trickles past my knees. My insides feel swollen and ready to burst at the slightest touch.

He stops moving. I lie in tempting filth and struggle to breathe.

As the need pulsing through me abates, his deep, guttural breaths slowly become even and his hands gentle around my wrists. My fingers tingle as the circulation restores.

He straightens my arms and lays them at my sides.

"Don't move until my seed dries, unless you'd like another coating," he rumbles before he steps away.

I close my eyes and grimace as the syrupy gunk chills on my flesh.

Torn between disgust and peace, I curse my omega heart. Her need to be marked glows in satisfaction over his offering while my mind fumes over the humiliation.

The edge of the counter digs into my hips. My flesh pebbles as cold seeps into me from both the counter and his chilling cum.

Callused fingers brush my hair off my face. I swallow and keep my eyes and mouth clamped shut.

"Open your eyes and show me those thoughts, tiny scorpion," he murmurs.

I try, but the mess cakes my lashes together. A small, pathetic sound leaks from deep inside my chest.

His wry chuckle makes my core throb.

He runs a damp washcloth over my eyes and lifts me by my nape to clean the other.

I shudder at his gentle ministrations. My appa always doted on my omma like this.

A memory rises, confusing me almost as much as the change in treatment.

When I was eight years old, I didn't understand what was happening, but Omma was restless all day from her oncoming heat. She kept snapping at me. Appa came home late and sent me to hide in the secondary safe space he always had set up for emergencies. I'd lingered outside the door, scared both my parents were angry at me, and heard their first union. It wasn't the normal sweet and caring joining of their bodies. It sounded wild, raw, and dirty.

I couldn't look, even though it sounded like appa was hurting omma. I'd fled to safety and stayed curled in my hiding spot for days, afraid I'd lost everything dear to me.

When appa finally came to get me, he'd scolded me for not eating enough and carried me back to omma. She'd been glowing, but tired.

Everything had returned to normal.

Alpha Fore's grip on my nape tightens. My stomach twists as I recall his expression as he destroyed my father's world. He threatened my mother with the worst fate an omega could suffer and stole me away from them.

I can't lose focus. He may ruin my body and sway my omega side, but he'll never have me.

He drops the washcloth into the sink with a wet plop and guides me to a door on the same wall as the washroom.

I stare in shock.

Shelves full of soft, fluffy things line the walls. What was once a common gathering room is now an omega wonderland. Blankets, pillows, toys, carpets, cushions, quilts, curtains, you name it, there's at least one lying in wait. Two pristine couches bracket the room, blocking the doors on either side. Thick metal bars weld the left door shut, but the one on the right—a smaller, thicker door found only on the ship's hull—sports several padlocks and a watertight seal.

Mountains of cushions and pillows overflow the couches, adding beautiful colors to the chaotic mix of toys crowded along the edges of the room and piled in the corners. Tiny animals with faded patterns, missing eye buttons, and tattered ears sit in mismatched glory.

A bare mattress lies in the center of the room with a single pillow and folded blanket lying in one corner.

My fingers itch to touch and explore.

What alpha would spend decades collecting all of this just to abuse his omega?

With my tongue sticking to the roof of my dry mouth, I look over my shoulder—up and up—to Alpha Fore's face. The greying hairs on his chiseled chest and broad shoulders gleam in the overhead lights, but I continue past his scarred lips and meet his gaze.

My stomach plummets. The world fades away. His intense grey eyes pierce into my soul.

He never intended to harm my omma. Her betrayal hurt him beyond words. The years spent alone grated his soul to jagged, miniscule pieces.

He had no choice but to continue down the path my appa and omma pushed him onto.

Without an omega in his den, he had only one thing to focus on. Revenge.

My throat aches as I swallow.

I flinch when he raises his hand, but he traces his fingers over my jawline before bending down and nipping my ear.

"I can take it all away. Build a nest big enough for us both, tiny scorpion," his breath ghosts over my ear as he murmurs against my temple, our size difference making it too difficult for him to remain at my ear level, "so I have a comfortable place to defile that sweet little pussy, just like I promised your father."

My heart ices over. I long to run as far as my legs will carry me, but there's nowhere in our entire broken wasteland that could hide me away from myself.

Shaken to the very depths of my soul, I stumble when he pushes me forward. He relentlessly leads me to the mattress and shoves me onto my hands and knees. I balk and roll, intending to rush toward the door, but he tosses an armful of blankets onto me.

Bliss seeps into me as silky softness slides along my skin. I bask under the weight of clean fabric. Smelling of soap and sunlight, the material temporarily wipes out the pheromones clogging my nostrils.

Inexplicable fury roars through me. A feral beast steals my control. She flings the messy stack off her and snarls.

Rough digits splay over my stomach and pin me to the mattress. Smoky alpha pheromones filter into my senses, appeasing the wild animal in my soul. Unyielding fingers pinch my chin. Stern eyes study me.

Scarred lips tilt. The white line cutting through his eyebrow shifts as he quirks a brow. Slick puddles under me.

Without a word, my tormentor grabs the nearest blanket, rubs it over his chest, and drops it onto my head.

A needy groan fills the air.

Mygroan.

No, her groan. Not mine. I refuse to become this alpha's plaything.

Another blanket lands on top of the first. I wrap my arms around them and hug them tight to my chest. A third joins the pile. I nuzzle my face into it.

The fourth lands. Mouthwatering heat emanates from the fabric. I need it.

My mania returns. Nothing matters beyond surrounding myself with comfort. I nuzzle the fourth blanket, stealing a lick when my lips brush against a bit of stickiness, and moan in delight as a quilt adds more weight onto my chest.

In omega euphoria, I knead, stack, and fluff, creating a misshapen cocoon of luxury, until the mattress disappears and the nearby piles of toys merge into a mountain of joy. Unappeased, I snarl and pop my head and shoulders out of the fray when my alpha stops offering new items.

"More," demands the wild omega ruling my body.

"Come here, tiny scorpion, and ask nicely."

Lounging on the far couch, the creator of the marvelous scent beckons me with a wicked glint in his eyes. I hesitate. His low vibration knifes into my womb. Slick gushes down my legs and sullies my nest.

It smells wrong now. It needs more of him.

Unable to shake my instincts, I crawl out of my nest and rise onto wobbly legs.

He pulls a pillow off the nearest shelf and rubs it down his chest. My mouth waters as he settles the bit of cloud between his legs.

"Ask nicely," he purrs.

My right foot sneaks closer without my permission. I lean forward.

His snarl steals my legs out from under me. I drop to my knees and clutch my midsection.

"It hurts," I gasp as the pain recedes.

"Be a good girl and crawl to me," he rumbles.

Shame heats my cheeks as I close the distance between us. I reach for the pillow, desperate to finish my nest, but his fingers close over my wrist.

"Are you that eager for my stinger again, tiny scorpion? Use your mouth, then. I enjoyed it last time. I'll enjoy it just as much this time, too."

Something deep within my soul snaps. Miserable tears pour down my cheeks and sobs wrench through my chest. More vulnerable than ever before, I have nothing to protect myself from his cruelty. I cover my face to block out the world and find myself cocooned in hard, warm muscles.

Maybe if he had beaten me or struck my father, I could cling to my hatred, but the mixed signals destroyed my defenses.

Downy soft hairs tickle my side and a soothing vibration eases my angst.

"Hush, Vynn. Breathe."

It hurts. I miss my parents. I want to see them, but abhor the thought of them witnessing my downfall. They can't help me. I can't win against this heartless male. I'm untethered. Broken. Lost.

"You're okay. Deep breaths."

A manic laugh bursts from my chest.

"I'm not okay. I can't do this. I—"

He steals my thoughts with a demanding kiss, spearing his tongue past my teeth and coaxing me into the hottest, most erotic dueling of teeth and tongues, and I stare in shock as we share heaving breaths with our faces an inch apart. The yearning in his eyes as he studies my lips makes every nerve in my body tingle. Unlike the outpouring of slick when a cramp hits me, the slow rush of desire travels outward from my core.

"You don't have a choice, tiny scorpion. You can't stop now. Keep fighting," he murmurs, but his voice lacks its usual cold, angry edge.

Agony lances through my stomach.

"I adore your ferocity and resilience. Don't break now," he demands.

"It's not supposed to be like this. I don't want—"

The world spins and I tumble into softness as he drops me into the middle of my half-built nest. A freshly scented pillow bounces off my head. I snatch it up before it rolls out of reach.

Another pillow follows the first. I can't resist burying my face in the delicious smell.

My alpha provokes my instincts by sinking his hand into the pile nearest him. When he threatens to destroy my nest, I snarl and swipe clawed fingers at his forearm. He backs away and continues providing me with new items.

Smoothing a sheet over the top of my masterpiece, I settle in the center and purr in delight.

Fingers wrap around my ankle in an unbreakable grip.

"Invite me in, tiny scorpion," Alpha Fore demands.

I dig the heel of my other foot into his forearm. His snarl precedes his wide shoulders as he forces his way into my nest.

Our nest, my omega self corrects.

I snarl and push him away. He wraps a hand around my throat and pins me onto my back. Pain rips through my stomach and slick gushes over my legs.

He wedges his broad shoulders between my thighs. His elbow digs into my hipbone as he tightens his grip on my throat and dips closer. The scorching wet heat of his mouth closes over my entire sex.

Need barrels through me. He flicks the tip of his tongue over my hard clit. Electricity shoots from my core and sizzles through my nerve endings. I gasp and writhe, trapped between wanting to escape and needing more. He doesn't give me an option, licking, sucking, and nipping at my pussy until feral lust takes over.

His hard body settles over mine, and I taste myself on his tongue as he invades my mouth. Hot, demanding desire roars through me, and the universe ceases to exist beyond the overwhelming sights, smells, sounds, and sensations created by my alpha. He becomes my entire world, stripping away all thoughts and exposing my innermost being.

The hard length of his shaft glides through my wetness. I buck and wriggle. He makes a guttural sound and flexes his hips again, running the entire underside of his cock—from his tip to the bottom bulge of his partially inflated knot—through my folds, mashing my clit and electrifying every nerve in my body.

I scratch and fight, pulling and pushing in undecided frenzy, and lose another piece of myself as the metallic tang of blood fills the air. Sticky warmth cakes under my nails.

Hard hands gather my wrists and pin them above my head. Teeth nip my bottom lip and leave a trail of stinging kisses along my jaw and ear.

He fits the broad, smooth tip of his cock to my entrance. I hiss. He growls and tilts his hips. Slick spurts around his shallow invasion.

It hurts. A ring of fire flares to life and burns hotter between my legs as he pushes deeper.

My world implodes as he thrusts, sheathing himself to the hilt in one glorious, terrifying, horrendous movement. I detonate, shattering into tiny pieces, which then collide with the sparkling air and shatter into even tinier particles. Every muscle in my body locks in wonderful agony as I fly further and further away from the person I was before.

When I finally relax enough to take a breath, my alpha's scarred face fills my vision. His blown pupils and tight jaw reveal how much his restraint costs him.

I've never seen such beauty before in my life.

He pulls back with a wet, sucking sound, leaving all but my entrance achingly empty.

Beauty isn't the right word. He's striking. Menacing. Destructive.

The Destroyer lives up to his namesake.

I die a million beautiful deaths as he defiles my body with carnal glee. He fills me with powerful, ruthless strokes, taking my joy with him as he pulls out, only to return with brutal intensity.

He gives me everything my omega heart desires, fucking me hard and fast, until sweat drips off our bodies and our pheromones permeate from every scrap of fabric surrounding us.

When he shifts his grip from my throat to my breast and lifts my ass off the mattress, his cock hits impossibly deeper inside me.

I open my mouth on a silent scream. Unbearable pressure builds within my core. He angles his cock and strikes the same sensitive area again and again.

My vision flashes to white as he shoves his ballooning knot behind my pubic bone. Locked within me, his shaft jerks and spurts, filling me with his seed.

Agony rips through my shoulder as he sinks his teeth into my flesh.

Our souls merge. Incomplete, yet wonderfully brilliant, our bond snaps into place and reveals what words could never express.

This alpha—my alpha—isn't the monster I believed him to be. He yearns to pamper and coddle his omega. To praise her for taking his knot. To feed her the best food and watch her grow round with his offspring. He wants the battle of wills. The give and take found only in an alpha omega pairing.

He wants to give her everything.

No. It's not true.

He doesn't want ‘her'.

He no longer pines for a nameless omega. In fact, he can't even recall what my mother looked like when she betrayed him in her youth.

He wants me. Vynn. His tiny scorpion.

The moment he lifts his head, I sting him for the second time, sinking my teeth into the flesh over his heart.

He groans and cups the back of my head, holding me to him as though I'm the most precious thing in the world. I've never felt so cherished. Tears of gratitude, relief, and frustration pour down my temples and puddle in my filthy, matted hair.

With a shuddering breath, I extract my teeth from his chest and lick over his wound. Our bond pulses in time with the pounding of my heart. His soul wrapped around mine doesn't feel constricting. The subjugation and humiliation I expected to feel while trapped underneath him never rises.

Yet even with his knot locking us together, our mating bond complete, and the worst of my fears allayed, sadness flows through me.

My parents hurt him in more ways than one. Scars thicker than the jagged mark on his face run through his heart.

He hurt my parents. Threatened them. Stole me. Separated them and locked them in cages like animals.

My omma won't survive her pregnancy in such horrible conditions. Sorrow steals my strength. I give in to my exhaustion while a steady stream of silent tears drips down my face. Visions of my omma withering away as my sibling consumes her from the inside plague my nightmares. My appa's haunted eyes watch from between rusty metal bars. His helplessness twangs discordant notes through my alpha's resonant purr.

I should cling to my hatred of Alpha Fore and fight him with everything I have, but I can't. The pus festering in his soul doesn't reach so deep he lost sight of what he wants most. Despite the decades of loneliness and fury, he can't mistreat me the way he promised my parents he would.

He's rough and overbearing—and often cruel—but I can't deny how much my omega side craves his dominance. Even at the height of his frenzy, he remained in control.

When words wouldn't work, he took action. He hauled me into this room, expecting me to fight, but when I reached my limit and broke down, he completely changed course. Instead of dragging out my misery, he claimed me hard and fast and held me in his arms as though he'd die without me.

He isn't the heartless monster I expected him to be, even though he continues toward his goal of revenge. He used my own instincts against me. Defiled and marked me. Held me and cooed for me.

He changed my alliance.

I love my parents and yearn to see them happy, healthy, and living without fear, but I can't kill my alpha to free them.

I need him. I want him.

My destroyer.

My alpha.

Mine.