Nothing. What in the ever-loving fuck?
Where was the vision?
Nikolai fumed.
Things went the way he planned. He made damn sure of it. He did not like surprises. Especially when it came to her.
Years ago, Dahlia Lundin’s vision had slammed into him and the bands at his wrists had glowed to life. He hadn’t wanted it. Hadn’t expected it. Fact was, he’d been damned pissed about it, but it had come anyway.
Now, when he needed another glimpse into the past, her vision refused to come.
She was blocking it somehow. The energy and power beneath his fingertips sucked away before he could wield it as he wanted.
That was unacceptable. Omegas bent to the will of their Alphas, not the other way around.
“What are you doing to stop it?” He pressed her palm deeper into his skin, hoping more contact might do the trick.
“Nothing.”
But she was doing something. He could see the pleasure in her gaze, her defiance fueling his fury and his lust.
The damn fated-mate bond was messing with his head, making it harder than usual to control his rut and think logically.
“You knew my gift didn’t work.” She sounded calm. And smug. He’d need to punish her for that, too. “It hasn’t since that rotation.”
He knew that. He knew everything about her thanks to his spies.
But he’d been confident he could spark her gift back to life. And he had. Only he hadn’t expected she’d somehow have the ability to block him.
“You will regret defying me.” Swiveling, he stalked to his desk and activated the security unlock.
It was either that or flip the omega around and stuff her full of cock.
It had been so damn long, and now she was finally in front of him. Not some grainy image taken by his spies, but his omega in the flesh, with her silky skin, defiant spirit, and sweet, ripe cunt.
He wanted to devour her whole.
Except he needed her vision of the rotation of the murder to clinch his case with the Brotherhood. Because to discredit Olan without a doubt, Nikolai needed a visual of Olan wielding the gun used to kill the Kuril crime boss.
A visual the omega could access through her gift, share with him, and then with the Brotherhood.
If she stopped blocking it.
He grabbed the sheet off the bed and threw it toward her. “Cover yourself.”
Breathing as shallow as he could to lessen the allure of her scent, he slammed his hand on the comms screen in the center of his desk.
“Alpha Lord Skolov, good rotation to you.” The gray-haired, lined face of his top beta scientist and healer, Dr. Toth Randalff, appeared on the screen. Stacks of books, reports, and vids were piled high on every inch of his workstation. With his grandfather-like round cheeks, bushy eyebrows, and furry, white neck and arms tucked into a respectable lab coat, you’d never know the brilliant bastard had once spent his youth working for another Alpha making mood enhancers so addictive and deadly, one tab beneath the tongue had you hooked. Or that he’d been forced by the other Alpha to peddle that shit without approval in Nikolai’s territory.
Nikolai had retired the other Alpha permanently and then gently and politely convinced the beta to consider a career change and relocation to Abzal. He’d been putting his energies into Nikolai’s projects ever since.
From the way the doctor’s gray and pink-streaked eyes were blinking fast, Nikolai was pretty sure the beta scientist was currently regretting that decision.
“It’s not working.” Nikolai got right to it. His words were so close to a growl he wondered if the guy would understand him.
“What exactly isn’t working?”
“The vision. Didn’t happen. Something is blocking it.”
“I see.”
He couldn’t see his omega with his back turned, but he could feel her gaze burning into his back, scent her curiosity.
He would have tossed her outside, but there was no way in hells his instinct would allow that. The Alpha in him roared in fury at the idea of being as separated from her as he was currently.
Hunching his shoulders over the screen as much as possible, he leaned in and spoke as low as he could. “Her eyes are still blue. The visions aren’t coming, but the damn fated-mate bond is working too well.”
“I see.”
“Say I see again, and you won’t anymore. Ever.”
The doc cleared his throat. “We knew it might take time.”
Nikolai didn’t wait. “No. Something is wrong.”
More slow blinking from the healer. “What exactly, Alpha Lord?” Randalff’s gaze flickered over his shoulder. “She looks—”
“Don’t fucking look at her.”
The beta paled. “Of course, sir. I meant no disrespect. I’m simply trying to understand. What is your concern?”
Another snarl. “I don’t . . .” He pressed his nose closer to the screen and spoke through gritted teeth. “There’s some kind of block. And the throbbing in my wrist, gums, and dick won’t stop. I . . .” He shoved the words out, the admission like acid against his throat. “I can barely think. All I want to do is breed her.”
A brief silence. “Yes, my lord. That . . . that is to be expected.”
“I do not want to be affected.”
A longer silence.
“It is the bond, Alpha Lord,” the beta said at last. “It works both ways.”
Another low, angry growl.
His fingers itched to close around his favorite laser and start shooting. Which was unusual because while most crime family members carried pieces, Nikolai had always viewed them as more of a last resort. An Alpha’s body was itself a weapon, so reliance on an outside defense like a laser seemed like a lazy male’s strategy. He preferred a more hands-on approach when dealing with a problem.
But his desire to use a hands-on approach was the problem in this case.
“The deepening of the fated bond is necessary for what you want.” The doc’s measured voice pierced Nikolai’s thoughts.
He slammed his hand down. The screen cracked. Now, two slow blinking betas stared up at him. “What I want is for her to stop blocking her gift. What I want is for her to corroborate my witnesses’ stories. What I want is for her to provide the missing pieces about the fire and send that bastard Olan Lundin to his doom.” And he wanted so much fucking more too, but he kept the rest to himself.
“My lord, have you fucked your omega yet?”
“What do you think?” He roared—and then, at the low gasp behind him, modulated his voice to a lower decibel for some unknown reason. “I am trying to stay focused on using her gift, not her cunt.”
“I understand, Alpha Lord.” Randalff dragged a dusty tome forward and flipped to a well- worn page. “But according to one passage in the fated-mate research I discovered, the firing up of one might bring forth the other. Perhaps that will be enough to overcome the block.”
“What is he talking about?” The question came from behind, the pleasing sound of her voice rippling over his skin. Precum leaked from his dick.
They both moaned.
He willed himself to ignore her and her question.
He was usually in more control than this, but it had been fifteen fucking years.
“So, you’re saying fucking her might bring on the vision?” He had to be sure because that was exactly what he wanted to hear. Now. Immediately. “I thought the whole reason for keeping omegas untouched was to try and keep their gift around longer.”
“It is. But a fated-mate bond is said to be different. It shifts the dynamic between Alpha and omega.” There was another slight pause. “It might also alleviate your mood swings and help you to think more clearly. There is the chance too—”
Nikolai cut the line, his Alpha instincts a drumbeat in his brain, drowning out anything else.
He could let his instinct reign.
Years of waiting were finally over.
He whirled around—and barely dodged the heavy object headed straight for his temple.
“Resourceful, little omega.” She was still in mid swing—black sheets tucked around her like a sleeveless dress, hair a tangled halo around her spectacular face—when he seized her wrist and spun her around, twisting her hand so it pressed against her spine.
He’d always liked her spirit. Fifteen years ago, it had pleased him as much as her beauty and kindness. He was relieved to see time spent with her Lundin family hadn’t destroyed her backbone altogether. But that didn’t mean he intended to let her walk all over him.
He intended it to be very clear from the start who was in charge.
“Foolish, little omega.” He plucked the small marble globe of Abzal from her hand and tossed it over his shoulder onto the bed.
Then, he claimed the hand and, despite her puny attempt at resistance, easily added it to his hold, crossing it over her other wrist and securing them in one of his. “Do you know what I do whenever something blocks my way?”
He used his free hand to jerk the sheet from her body. “I ram through it. Hard.”
With a curse, she threw her head back, attempting to hit his nose. “I am not going to lay down and let you fuck me so you can use my gift to hurt my family.”
Her aggression triggered his own. His fangs dropped as the need to dominate surged through his blood like a raging river. He shoved his pants to his thighs, too far gone to take the time to remove them.
“Who said anything about laying down?” He licked her throat, savoring the wild flutter of her pulse against his tongue. “You’ll be bent over on all fours when I punish you for your disobedience, and you’ll be in the same position when I stick my cock inside you.”
“You think your threats scare me? Fuck you. You have no idea what I’ve endured.”
Her words didn’t sit well with him. Rage blazed hot and fast. But not at her defiance. No, that made him hard as hells. What bothered him was the idea of anyone hurting her. That same unfamiliar protectiveness that he’d only ever felt with his family surged to the fore.
A weakness to be sure, but one he couldn’t shake.
He’d wanted to tear Olan Lundin limb from limb for a very long time, but never more than he did at that moment picturing her having to endure pain at the hands of a brute three times her size.
Still, he could not afford to weaken. “You will speak to me with respect, omega.”
“My father demanded the same, and all it did was make me despise him more.”
He snarled. He didn’t like being compared to Olan in any way.
“Like him, you want something from me too much to actually kill me outright.” Anger sharpened her tone. “But unlike him, you don’t have something hanging over me to keep me in line.”
She was smarter than he’d realized. Or so she thought. “Your little sister,” he volunteered.
She stiffened, and he took pleasure in saying, “I know everything there is to know about you, little omega.” He didn’t wait for her answer but went for the jugular. “Do you really think your father is the only one who can get to Kaiya?”
His omega sucked down a shuddered breath.
“That’s right. I know how to pull each string so you dance just for me now.”
“You claim to know so much. Did you know I think you’re a bastard?”
He dropped to his knees, taking her with him.
She fell forward, her palms slapping the ground. Ass high in the air.
“You. Will. Learn. Respect.” Growling low, he covered her body with his, fisting her hair and tugging her neck upward so that her back arched. Presentation pose. Offering herself up like a good omega should.
“Don’t.” But she was already panting hard. Her hips pushed back into his cock despite her words of protest.
“That’s Alpha Lord bastard to you, omega.” He growled low once more. “I’m going to tear through every barricade in my way, little virgin. Soon enough you’ll learn that trying to block me out is a bad plan.”
She cursed and rocked back harder, her spine arching deeper as she lifted her ass higher. Presenting now all on her own. The instinct taking over.
The sight sent more precum leaking out. He liked her spirit. He liked her desperation to be fucked by him more.
He rubbed the swollen head of his cock against her tight, wet cunt.
The rut stole a little more of his control.
He was going to fuck that tight little hole. But first, he’d spank her ass pink and work her clit until she was crying, begging, and showing him the respect he deserved. Until she apologized for whatever block she’d placed on her visions and dropped it immediately. Then, he’d ram inside and claim all that was his due.
He raised his hand—
“Alert! Alert!” The computerized voice echoed through the room. “Two unidentified class B ships closing in fast, cloaked and armed. Initiating tactical evasive maneuvers and combat response. Fasten restraints immediately.”
The ship lurched to the side.