Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 58365 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 233(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58365 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 233(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
They left her alone.
Light weight even came to land over where she trembled, as if blankets had been draped to cover where a foot or leg were exposed by inadequate furs.
In all her time in this horrible new place, with all the fear and uncertainty she’d endured over her instruction, never in her life had she been more terrified than in those heart-stopping moments watching the cracks grow in the glass.
She imagined she could still hear him, hear him shouting and the pounding of his fists as he roared and went mad.
“Corporal Esin! Do not approach the nest or touch her!” Sergeant Uriel boomed so all might hear. “That goes for all of you. The Omega is off limits.”
An unfamiliar voice spoke up. “Sir, she was supposed to be mine tonight.”
Real anger came from the sergeant. “Did I stutter?”
“You cannot leave her unattended in this state. I have a legal right to calm her.”
She didn’t know who Uriel spoke to, but Morgaine heard the command clearly. “Remove him from the room.”
The sounds of a struggle were short-lived. When the door closed, it grew quiet enough she heard the footsteps approaching where she’d burrowed.
“Morgaine, you are completely safe in here. The Omari cannot reach you. Come out of there so that I may see that you are unhurt.”
Nothing was going to move her, no amount of Alpha purrs, no threats. They would have to pull her kicking and screaming from the covers.
“Under these circumstances it would be appropriate to offer sedation. Medic, hand over the dram.”
In a flurry, the covering over her leg was whipped back. Before she could kick, a prick nicked her skin, and the scream prepared in her throat died on a sigh.
Pleasurable feeling washed over her, a mirror of that same warm safety she’d woken from that first morning. Drugs battled against her adrenaline, and between them, a drifting middle ground was found.
“She may not be able to sit up on her own with such a high dose.” The medic spoke, but it was Uriel she found carefully lifting away the layers she hid under.
When she saw the bleeding set of gashes across his cheek, Morgaine knew she had put them there. Just as she’d bit his hand to the point skin had broken. Even now blood stained her lips and flavored her tongue.
Half drunk, Morgaine took in the entirety of him and muttered, “You hit me with a stick. I’d rather be a lowly, feral Omega than an Alpha dog any day.”
Sergeant Uriel didn’t blink. He reached down, pulling her up to lean against the cushions despite her welts. “Her inhibition response is muted by the dram. Any slurs made now are off the record and forgiven.”
In that case, she was going to lay it all out. “And you”—sluggish eyes traveled to where Esin stood by—“you were going to whore me out for profit to the panting vermin outside my glass cage. I didn’t think it was possible to hate someone as much as I hate you. I was wrong. I haaaate you.”
He seemed genuinely forlorn to hear her slander and equally shocked by her obvious knowledge of what might be. “You misunderstand, renegade. I do not possess the rank to claim a mate yet. But with hard work, I could initiate a pair-bond in less than two years. What is a lifetime of joy to a few moments of disappointment? Do you think I rejoice in knowing other men will relish your time, that you will delight in their bodies during the hours I’m required by law to share you? I do not. It’s the only way we can be together as we are meant to be.”
It was not like her to use gross language, but, slurring, Morgaine swore, “I’d rather fuck every last disgusting Alpha on this ship than have you so much as look at me.”
Three snaps of calloused fingers came before her blurring vision. “That’s enough, Morgaine. Focus here.” Uriel kneeled so they were at eye level. “Are you hurt?”
Nodding, tears began to fall. “Everything you do here hurts.”
Despite knowing better, Morgaine crumpled, begging over and over for her mother.
“There will be no getting through to her in this state. Hand me another dose. She will be examined after she falls asleep.”
This time the prick came to her shoulder, and shortly after, she lay limp as a fresh corpse.
***
A metallic taste sat heavy on her tongue, arms and legs weighted by the remnants of waning sedatives. She had yet to move or open her eyes, prone on her belly, soft coverings on her back. There were voices in the room—no longer by the door as they had been before, but near the area where the room’s table always lay laden with food.
“How many of his men do you think their Heidron has killed trying to break out?”