Four fucking rotations.
Four fucking rotations of listening to the doctor report on his omega’s progress while the scent of her clung to the bastard’s lab coat and Nikolai had to fight the urge not to kill the beta because he got to be in her presence and Nikolai didn’t.
Four rotations of waiting while he and his brothers failed to find the money trail linking Olan to the recent hits or identify who Olan had hired to help him since they damn well knew he wasn’t clever enough to hide the transactions himself.
Four rotations of pretending to listen to Maxheim, Alexi, and Damien discuss business while the links of the omega’s necklace dug into his thumb, and his cock pressed against the seam of his pants so hard he was sure there would be permanent lace marks.
Four rotations of waking up roaring his omega’s name, covered in sweat, plagued by nightmares where this time he didn’t reach her before her heart stopped for good and her body stayed lifeless and cold as ice in his arms, her eyes empty and unblinking.
Finally, though, the doc had given him the all clear.
Nikolai reached the eight hand-picked guards at her door, their faces covered in masks that blocked out the scent of his female. Overkill, maybe. But he wasn’t taking any chances. “Leave.”
They disappeared down the hall without a word.
He shoved open the door—and forgot how his lungs worked.
His omega stiffened in the bed, the hairbrush she’d been using freezing in mid stroke.
Her hair shimmered while red silk clung to every curve, showcased to perfection in a soft fabric of crisscrossed strips and a plunging neckline, the bands at her wrist and throat shimmering like a golden collar and cuffs. And then there was the bright silver manacle restraining her to the bed.
He wanted to stare at her forever. He wanted to rip the dress right off her.
“Who the fuck gave you that to wear?” He’d tear the doctor’s eyes out for seeing her like that.
Her eyes went wider. “You did.” She pointed to the package wrappings he’d left by her beside four rotations past. “They all look like this. I-I thought that was your choice.”
Damn Anya. That omega was far too wild for her own good, and almost as determined to push his limits as Alexi. He should have put a stop to it years ago but, truth be told, every time he remembered how she’d clung to him when he’d told her the twins and Naytalia were dead, he gave her one more chance.
This time she’d gone too far.
But he’d deal with her later. He had another omega in need of a reckoning right now.
For four fucking rotations he’d imagined little else.
His dick lengthened, pressing hard against the laces of his drawstring pants.
He stalked toward the bed. “You’re looking well. In fact, the doctor gave me the all clear. He said you were once again the picture of health.”
Her chest rose and fell, her back pressing into the mattress. But restrained to the cot, there was nowhere for her to go—and by the time he reached her side, he was pleased to see she’d wrestled her flight instinct under control and was staring up at him, chin jutting out, defiance flaring in her gorgeous crystal-blue eyes. “You said to be ready to fight—and I am.”
He didn’t think his cock could get harder, but it did. Seeing her four rotations past looking so defeated and lost had made his chest go tight, the urge to pull her close and comfort her almost as strong as the urge to fuck her. The only reason he’d managed to stave it off: the knowledge that she wouldn’t welcome his sympathy.
What the hells did he know about comforting, anyway? No one had ever done anything like that to him.
Still, the urge to obliterate her sadness had been a primal beat in his veins. It, therefore, pleased him more than it should that the lost, pinched look had been wiped clean from his omega’s face, her eyes flashing fire instead, her cheeks pink and flushed, her expression full of life and spirit. He liked her courage and her resistance. Almost as much as he liked the idea of turning that insolence into desperate need.
But first things first.
Retrieving the tablet he’d asked the doc to leave for him, Nikolai held it up for her viewing. “Kaiya. Safe and happy and on her way to a new galaxy, a new home, and a new life. My side of the deal upheld.”
His omega studied the screen as if it held the secrets to the universe.
Her breathing hitched, and for an instant, her eyes went glassy.
That strange panicked need to pull her close slammed through him once more.
But then her gaze cleared, and she nodded. “Thank you.”
He breathed an easier breath. “The communications will soon stop. It can’t be any other way. Otherwise, we’ll make it too easy for others to track them.”
She placed the hairbrush by her thigh, her movements stiff. “I understand. Whatever it takes to make her safe is the best plan.”
Again, he admired her loyalty. He’d yet to see any other Lundin behave with such honor.
But then again, she wasn’t a Lundin anymore. She was a Skolov, and the sooner he got her to accept that, the better for them all.
“It’s time, omega.” He picked up the hairbrush. Her wide eyes locked on his hand as he ran his thumb along the bristles. “Time to uphold your side of the deal.”
He’d fuck her over the cot first, silk dress flipped over her perfect ass. Then, he’d take her on all fours in the nest she’d make. After that, he’d command her to strip and use the silk to bind her wrists and ankles and keep her spread wide to his satisfaction.
But first came punishment.
That was going to take a toll on them both.
She blew out a breath. “I’m ready.”
“You don’t intend to fight me?” He knew better.
Her tipped chin proved him right. “Oh, I intend to fight. But not like you. I can’t batter through you like a raging river, but I can endure. Over time, a single droplet of water can change the shape of the hardest, densest rock.”
He almost smiled at the insult, and her spirit—until he remembered what that stubbornness of hers had almost cost them both.
“Do you know the usual penalty for an omega that dares to damage what belongs to her Alpha?” He turned the hairbrush over and tested its heft by smacking it lightly against his palm.
Thwack.
Despite her tough words, she was startled at the slight sound, her chained wrist clanking nicely against the bed rail. “I do.”
“Tell me.”
“Maiming.”
“That’s right. An eye for an eye. An evening of the score. Not any part of her body that’s useful to the Alpha, of course, but that leaves a lot of tissue, muscle, and organs to work with. It’s an important lesson. A reminder of exactly who is in charge of his property and who decides what happens to it. No one else. Not even the omega herself.”
She swallowed hard, but he could see her fighting to stay strong. “Y-yes.”
“But that is not the kind of punishment I have in mind for you.”
She wilted into the cot. “It’s not?”
“I would never harm anything so beautiful. But a lesson is in order. One that makes you think long and hard before you endanger yourself again. One that reminds you of exactly what is between us and what your rash action almost stole from us forever.”
“Us?” Questioning eyes found his. Eyes that had him wondering if he’d given too much away. Especially to someone who’d been so willing to throw it all away.
“Open your legs.”
She froze.
He growled low. “I will not tell you again. If I have to repeat myself, it will only earn you further discipline. It will also make me question whether you mean to keep to the terms of our deal.”
Her breath left her in a rush, her face turning away from him to stare at the opposite wall, but her legs slid open, the red silk rippling over her thighs as she moved, the intoxicating scent of her filling his lungs.
“Pull your dress to your waist. Bare that tight little cunt to me.” He pressed the bristles into his palm to keep control.
She whimpered, and for an instant, he wondered if she’d refuse, but then her free hand fisted in the silk of her dress and the hem rose, revealing her creamy skin an inch at a time. Delicate calves. Long, lean thighs. Until the red silk slithered above her hip bones and that perfect pink slit, prettier than any he’d ever seen, was his for the taking.
His mouth watered. His control slipped a notch. He fought to stave off the rut. “Bend your knees. Heels to your ass. Hips lifted.”
Her breath came faster.
Her heels slid up toward her bottom next, and he was treated to paradise.
“Good girl.” She was already soaked for him, and he’d only growled once.
Whatever was between them, however much she despised him, her body knew he was her fated mate. It lit up at the slightest hint of his aggression and attention.
The bond between them shimmered with lust while her nipples hardened to tight little points, poking insolently against the front of her dress, begging for his mouth.
But lust alone wasn’t what he wanted from her. Neither was access to her gift.
After finding her so still and cold on that dungeon floor, he understood in a way he hadn’t before that vanquishing her body would never give him what he craved most. He was determined to conquer her mind as well.
He wanted her to see him as her master and protector, ruler and champion, defender and disciplinarian. He wanted her to understand, deep in her bones, that he would do whatever it took to keep her alive, even if meant protecting her from herself.
Curling his arms beneath her knees, he jerked her to the edge of the cot, her white-gold hair fanning out behind her, her restrained arm stretching upward as her wrist stayed locked tight to the upper side rail.
“Look at me, omega. Look at me and face the consequences of what you’ve done.”
Her gaze rose to his. No longer blue, no longer defiant, her stunning eyes had streaks of black flaring within. He hadn’t touched her, and his omega was already heavy into her heat. Enthralled by his Alpha command.
His, if only for the moment.
He fought to keep his rut at bay.
It helped to remind himself of what she’d done. How he’d found her so icy and still and cold.
He let out another low growl.
She whimpered again, this time in fear and submission.
“For the first part of your punishment, you will receive five corrections with the hairbrush. One for each minute it took the doc to revive you, and I thought you were lost to me for good.”
She moaned. He had no idea if it was in protest, apology, or need.
“You will count every one or we will start again. Do you understand?”
“Yes.” The word was so faint he almost didn’t hear it.
Thwack. His first strike landed at the juncture of her thigh and seat.
She cried out. But he knew it was more out of surprise and anticipation than actual pain. He hadn’t hit with any real force. An Alpha’s strength was far greater than an omega’s and needed to be tempered or he could really hurt her. That was the opposite of what he wanted. He wasn’t after her tears. His intent was a lesson of a different kind.
“One.” It was easy to hear the thickening lust in her voice.
He knew exactly what his omega liked—his show of dominance, his display of care—and, damn him, he liked giving it to her.
Olan had never given a shit about her. Her mother had never had the time for her, either. Her actions, her life, had been secondary to their goals.
Before they finished here this rotation, Nikolai intended to show his omega that was no longer the case. She was his now, and everything she did mattered to him.
“Yes. One strike. For the first tortuous moment when I thought I’d never hear that soft purr again.”
Thwack. Thwack. Thwack. He landed the next three paddles in quick succession, each time in a slightly new spot, spreading the heat.
She called out with each one, counting as she’d been told to do. But her voice trembled more with each one, and her thighs shook. “Please.”
“Did you hesitate when you poured water on yourself? When you threw away your own life like it was nothing?”
She shook her head, her pupils dilated with arousal and what almost looked like remorse. “No.”
“But you won’t forget again, will you? Not the consequences, or the depth of what’s between us.” Pressing the back of the hairbrush against her clit, he worked it slowly over the swollen nub. Slow, light circles. “Hate and need and so much more. You may not like it, but you can’t deny it. Our bond is rare and vibrant and as alive as you, and it’s going to keep growing like those vines you like so much, binding us tighter and tighter.”
Her breathing hitched. “Yes. Oh, gods, yes. I feel it.”
“Good girl.” Slick left her pretty little hole glistening.
“Please, Alpha.” Her head tossed against the cot. Her legs shook. She was close to the edge.
The four rotations had been a long wait for her as well.
“If you come, you will be corrected further.”
Her eyes went wide. Surprise and then defiance flared within. “But—”
“Stay in position.”
Panting, her chest heaved as her nails curled into her palms and she struggled to bring herself under control.
He understood. He hung onto his own mastery by a thread.
But he would see it through.
Because this was not only about her, this was about them both. And the lesson was too important to shirk.
“You will not be coming for hours.” His voice was a rasp of lust and command. “Five to be exact.”
Golden eyes fused with his. “I can’t.”
“You will.” Thwack. The last light tap with the back of the hairbrush landed on her swollen cunt. “Because I say so. Because you are mine. Because from here on out, you understand exactly to whom you belong.”
She moaned, her back arching as her head fell back and her hips jerked. “Yes!”
Watching her fight to obey, legs spread wide, chest flushed, was the hottest sight he’d witnessed to date.
The hairbrush snapped in his hold.
His body shook with need, precum leaking from his cock and saturating the room with the scent of aggression and desire.
“Please.” Her voice was frantic and oh-so-sweet. “I can’t hold out.”
“You will.” He tossed the broken hairbrush aside. Then, he reached for the same tablet he’d used to show his omega her sister’s pictures. With a press of a button, he brought up the timer. Set it to countdown from five hours and pressed start. “Before we’re done, you will endure far more than you ever thought you could.”
She sobbed.
“We both will.”
Her gaze rose to his, surprise flaring within, cutting through the ribbon of desperate need.
“We’re in this together, Dahlia.” He answered her unasked question, his own lust so great his words emerged as little more than a gravelly rumble. “That’s what you don’t yet understand.”
But she would.
Before this punishment was over, he would ensure that the memory of this ordeal would deter her from ever endangering herself again. He would also guarantee it served as a reminder to him, too. His arrogance and lack of control had almost cost him everything.
He wouldn’t make that same mistake again.
He dropped to his knees, nostrils flaring at the feast before him.
“Prepare yourself, omega.”
He buried his face between her thighs.