Page 38 of The Hive

His rigid erection pressed against the slick apex of my thighs, and I had to remind myself why I wanted him to stop.

He snarled before launching me across the room. “No! You’re not the one. I do not want you. Get away from me.”

I smacked up against the far wall directly below where the camera was mounted. From my crumpled position on the floor, I could see it protruding ever so slightly, mocking me. I hoped someone was watching this because I was certain this alpha was going to kill me.

“I can’t. The door is locked. Just stay over there and I’ll stay over here.” My voice shook with unconcealed fear, but it did nothing to calm the wildness in the man’s rage-filled eyes.

There had to be a guard checking the cameras. The keepers would see what was happening and stop him before he killed me, I hoped. He was angry and looking for someone, but the scent of my imminent heat and the pheromone-laced air prodded him forward.

His brows knit together in pain as he struggled with some inner torment. Nostrils flaring and chest heaving, dragging in the polluted air. I realized then that the smell on the blanket reminded me of something specific, an omega in heat. They had deliberately covered me in another omega’s pheromones.

He rushed me again, unable to deny the raging alpha instincts. I didn’t think he would hold back this time. Insanity clouded his eyes. His nature was in control. My hand drifted to my pocket, and I grasped the vials Lex had passed me. I wasn’t sure if there would be enough to sedate him. Or too much might kill him. But it was him or me, and I knew my choice.

He was on me before I could blink, pinning my body to the floor with his substantial weight. Angry fingers tore at my clothes, but he left my arms free. Without waiting a moment longer, I brought the syringes down on his thigh and heard the click of the automated delivery system dispense the sedative into his muscle. He didn’t flinch, as if he hadn’t even felt it, and he continued to claw at me. Screams ripped from my throat as I stared at the ceiling, hoping he would at least make it fast.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Saphyra

The sound of tearing fabric and my own screams echoed in my ears for what felt like an eternity until seconds later he slowed, stilled, and went limp.

His massive weight dropped onto me, trapping my bruised, battered body beneath him. My clothes were ripped in places and ruined, but I was alive and relatively unharmed. The burden of his bulk was an anchor holding me to the ground. I wriggled and shoved, but couldn’t get out from under his immense frame. The more I struggled, the worse it got until I was wedged between his huge, muscled form and the unyielding metal wall.

Exhausted from the ordeal and the strain of the day, I grappled with consciousness. The pressure on my chest made breathing difficult, and I was lightheaded from the short, stilted inhalations that were all I could manage. Panic stirred, but I pushed it down. I had to be strong, even pinned under the warm deadweight of naked flesh.

Time ticked by, and still the guards hadn’t arrived. If this alpha had intended to kill me, I’d be dead. Something had delayed them, not that I had any expectation of rescue from the keepers, but someone should have come to determine why we were lying on the floor unmoving by now.

As I lay contemplating the delay, the cramps returned with a vengeance, making what I had experienced earlier seem like a pleasant tickle. My teeth ground together and I thrashed against the pain, desperate to find relief as each new wave crashed over me. I was unable to, stuck as I was. Tears trickled from the corners of my eyes as slick flowed freely and I suffered.

Darkness invaded my thoughts, and shadows pressed at the edge of my vision. I was going to die here, pinned under this giant wall of alpha, alone and in pain. I would never be able to see Lyrah’s sweet smile or hear her sing again. I would never be able to help the people stuck in this pretty prison, trapped by the illusion of safety. I missed the way Lex smelled and Ghost’s cocky grin. I missed Shadow’s glare and Grey’s quiet caretaking. My spirits plummeted as I stared out the glass ceiling into the cold depth of black space.

From within my yawning cavern of self-pity, a glint of something metallic caught my eye near the alpha’s collarbone. Buried in a particularly nasty cluster of scars, a crescent of iridescent-looking flesh glimmered. The light of the suns through the clear canopy was enough to make it shimmer faintly, even face down as he was. I squirmed, trying to touch it, and when my fingers brushed it, the silky-soft skin rippled, making it look like spilled oil on water. All dark rainbows and inky shine.

A surge of wicked cramps tore my attention away, gripping every muscle until it felt like it would snap. I had to focus on breathing through the agony. The heat of the alpha splayed over me and the steady rise and fall of his chest was a blessing and a curse. I was glad he wasn’t dead. I didn’t want that on my conscience, and as bad as what he had done was, he didn’t deserve that fate.

But my body was desperate for any kind of relief and didn’t care where it came from. His pheromones taunted and repulsed me in turns, and my instinct was excited by the proximity just as much as it was offended by it. He wasn’t mine. He smelled wrong and dangerous, like fire and rotting plums. As if he was meant for someone else. It reminded me of that sickly sweet-smelling blanket they had wrapped me in.

In a place like the Hive, I could imagine what the goal had been, covering me in another omega’s pheromones. I hurt for him as much as I did for myself. He was a slave just like I was. Kept against his will and made to breed omegas. His instincts and nature used against him to perform duties he raged against. He was angry, suffering, and forced to do atrocious things. Of course he was going to lash out and fight against an existence like that.

I had to get out of here and fix this. I just hoped I figured out how before he woke up and finished what he had started.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Saphyra

I waited for what felt like hours, but was probably less than thirty minutes, helpless to do anything but writhe in the grip of unrelenting need. The reaction was embarrassing, but I could do as much about it as I could about the huge unconscious alpha that still pinned me to the floor. My instincts recognized the scent even if it was acrid in my nose, and I was ashamed to think I wanted him. I needed him to take this all-encompassing ache away.

Caught in another wave of sweltering lust, I almost didn’t register when the light changed color above the door, but the rush of cool breeze alerted me, and felt blissful on the small amount of skin that wasn’t covered by naked man flesh. I gulped down lungfuls of the less saturated air, purging myself of the cinnamon-fire and rotten plum stench. In that breath, soothing hints of sun-warmed oak trees had me straining against the pain to see what caused the draft.

Heavy footsteps and growls invaded my senses as I panted and squirmed, trying in vain to free myself. Almost immediately, the weight was ripped off of me and flung across the room like some unwanted child’s toy, and a gut-wrenching sob tore from my chest.

“Lex.” I gasped, looking up as he towered over me like an avenging angel.

“Thank the Stars.” Grey’s voice came from the doorway as he rushed past the looming alpha and fell to his knees beside me. “Are you hurt?” He examined my bruises and the tatters of my clothes. I knew what it looked like and that they would all assume the worst.

Lex loomed above me, a raging thunderhead waiting to unleash his anger like a torrent. His face was a stone mask of fury, but he held himself back while Grey tended to me.

“I’m okay, I think,” I said, grimacing and shaking my head to clear my thoughts. Dizziness washed over me, but what I saw beyond Lex and Grey made me scramble to my feet, ignoring the pain. “NO! Stop! Don’t hurt him!” I screamed as Ghost and Shadow brought taser batons down onto the unconscious alpha.

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