Page 13 of Ruled By The Alpha

Females.Outside of missions, he remembers only one such creature.

A shiver travels up his spine, and he grits his teeth against the image ofherthat flickers through his mind. Her panting breath. The drum of her pulse beneath his fingers…

The metallic clang of the door opening breaks through his spiraling thoughts, and he looks up in time to see Dr. Green step through, followed by five strangers.

One of the other soldiers inhales sharply. Sean tightens his hands into fists by his side.

They are clad in colorful fabrics that leave much of their skin exposed—tanned, pale, dark. They are a smorgasbord of femininity—overspilling cleavages, lushly rounded hips, softly curved arms. And thesmellof them… Sweet perfumes intermingling over a warm, primal scent AX2’s body recognizes aswomanbefore his mind catches up. It cloys at his nostrils and lingers at the back of his throat, overriding the increasing stench of alpha aggression.

One of them giggles, the pearling sound entirely alien. “Ooh, they didn’t say anything about how handsome you’d be! Aren’t we lucky, girls?”

The others join in, filling the room with noises and smells his brain struggles to process as they spill in.

Dwayne, apparently much faster to work through the onslaught of new impressions, steps forward and grabs the nearest girl by the wrist.

“Oh!” She startles at the touch, then breaks into another giggle when he pulls her back to his pile of blankets, slips his arms around her soft body, and proceeds to bury his nose in her hair. “My, they weren’t kidding when they said you’d been without women for a while, huh? Don’t you worry, soldier. I’ll take excellent care of you. Oh, thattickles!”

Awakened by Dwayne’s conquest, the others move forward, snatching laughing women by the waists and hands and pulling them back to their corners. It is all so… easy.Warm.

New.

AX2 remains frozen by his blankets, his muscles tight around the sense of dread mounting in his chest. He should want this. He knows he should—but their scents overwhelm his senses, the colors of their clothes too bright when all he knows is searing white slashed with gray and darkness. Their voices ring too…loud.Too cheerful.

One girl remains alone, hovering by Dr. Green’s side. She clasps her wrist with one hand and darts her gaze around the room, finally zeroing in on him. Her smile is immediate and wide. She casts a quick glance at the beta by her side, and encouraged by his nod, crosses the floor until she stops in front of AX2.

“Hi,” she says, her long lashes lowering in mock shyness, even as her eyes rake over him with enough heat to prickle his skin. “I’m Candi.”

She’s got pretty dark eyes and painted lips, and black hair that shines like silk in the fluorescent light. A wide leather collar decorates her slim neck.

When he doesn’t reply, the corners of her mouth quirk higher, and without being invited, she places both hands on his T-shirt-clad chest. “Shy, huh? That’s okay. We can take it slow.”

The shock of her touch rocks through him, a blaze of heat, even though she doesn’t touch his skin. She smells like vanilla andfemale,but as she skims her small hands over his chest, his brain conjures up the uninvited memory of angry gray eyes.

Shit.He grits his teeth, banishing any and all thoughts of the monster who rules his life to focus on the girl in front of him. This is the only good thing they have granted him these past three years, and he’ll be damned if he letsherruin it.

“Do you want to sit down?” Candi tilts her head, indicating the pile of fabric. “Get a bit more comfortable, maybe?”

He nods stiffly and steps back to reach for them, but she is already kneeling, shaking out blankets and fluffing pillows until they are spread out around her in an oblong circle.A nest.

She gives him a slanted smile that suggests she knows exactly what the sight of a woman kneeling amid a such an arrangement of fabric is supposed to do to an alpha. He feels it too, somewhere deep in the parts of him not ruled by engineering: the excitement heating his blood and hardening his cock. But it is… muted. Like he’s looking at this pretty little thing through opaque glass, all her bright colors distorted.

“Come.” She reaches for him.

He hesitates, then takes it. The shock oftouchrolls through him again, pulling him down to her. She’s still smiling.

AX2 drags his gaze from her painted lips down to her hand, so small and delicate in his. This is what he’s longed for those many endless months. Human connection. Warmth.Touch.

He flicks his eyes back up her, pausing at the collar around her neck. Metal clasps wind through a delicate locking mechanism. It looks like something you’d put on a pet. Or a slave.

“You’re here voluntarily?” He moves his hand from hers to skim a couple of fingers over the leather.

Her smile tightens as she lowers her lashes. “Mmhm. Unless you’d like to pretend otherwise?”

Something sick and dark twists in his gut and rises like acid up his esophagus.“No.”

“A lot of alphas do. I don’t mind.” Candi teases a fingertip over his where it rests against her collar. He jerks back from the touch without meaning to, making her giggle. “You haven’t been with a whore before? The collar’s to ensure you don’t end upwith an accidental mate. We all wear them when we’re going to be with an alpha.”

A mate.

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