Page 15 of The Omega Trials: Part One

It may be prettier, but a brand is still brand. No amount of floral details will change that.

While Titus—if what the other alpha called him is his name—was raping me in that fucked-up ritual, a terrible slicing sensation burned my chest. It felt like I was being shallowly cut with a dull scalpel, a fine point that had to tear rather than slice its way through my flesh.

I wish that were the worst of it, but what happened after the magical marking was more excruciating than any physical pain could ever be.

My head slips under the surface of the water.

Being on display while getting raped and branded is without a doubt humiliating, but the humiliation isn’t even the worst part.

It’s the shame.

The shame I feel for pushing back into him, my pussy drenched. Shame for the way I came on his cock, mewled and ground down for more.

Still holding my breath underwater, I try uselessly to tug the ring—this backstabbing fucking ring—off my finger. It’s impossible. I know that. My bone is too fucked to ever let it come off.

I try to process how this could happen, how the Dusk Daisy could suppress my omega nature for so long and thenfailme. My body reacted to the pack of alphas, and they triggered my first ever heat. The omega equivalent to an alpha’s rut. Where theirs can be triggered by lust or aggression and cause burning desire to fuck and dominate, an omega’s heat makes her desperate for release that can only come from submission. Both can rage for as long as it takes for the urges to be satisfied.

Despite everything in me protesting, I still found myself presenting. I didn’t want to, but my body was a marionette being manipulated outside my control.

The physical pleasure was unholy, every molecule in my body searching out his. My ability to breathe seemed to depend on every thrust of his hips. I was desperate—so fucking desperate—for more. Like I might actually die if he wasn’t inside me.

But my brain didn’t get the message. Maybe the ring wasn’t strong enough to resist a noble-blooded alpha’s rut but was still able to stop the heat from reaching my mind. I acutely felt every spike of pleasure,knowingI didn’t want it.

I was aware my body was betraying me, but I could do nothing to stop it.

For the duration of the heat, I was trapped in the body of an omega without the matching psyche, mentally hating every second of pleasure.

I scream, bubbles streaming from my mouth and the faded sound in my ears. I scream and scream until I have no breaths left. I wish I were strong enough to stay under, to let darkness take me away. But my traitorous body fights for survival yet again. I shoot up, gulping down air.

Leaning back against the porcelain, I remember the sight of the white silk after the ritual, blemished with red in two spots. One where my freshly cut chest dripped and one where Titus—I grimace even saying his name in my head— wiped my blood off his dick. Despite his cum dripping down my leg, he was still hard. He looked at me like he wanted to strangle me. Part of me wanted to let him.

A fate worse than death . . .

But before he could, all the young alphas were called away and attendants led every family’s omega back to our quarters. As soon as I got here, I sent my attendant away and drew a bath, tearing off the dress that smelled likethem. A smell that while utterly repulsive, still made my pussy clench with want.

My head snaps up at the sound of the twisting knob of the bathroom door. My lungs seize. I draw my knees protectively into my chest as the locked door rattles in its frame.

“A locked door isn’t going to keep us out,Omega.”Titus’s voice spits the word omega, thick with distrust.

I frantically look around for anything I can use as a weapon. I’m too vulnerable to risk getting out of the tub without knowing what I’m going for.

I recognize the blond alpha’s voice next. “Just kick it in, Ti.”

Something about the casual nickname makes me want to gag. Monsters don’t get affectionate little names.

I scream in surprise as a huge fist smashes through the wood right above the knob. The hand reaches into the hole and swiftly disengages the lock.

“Get out, get out!” I yell, curling in on myself to hide as much of my nudity as possible.1

The door swings open. The three of them stand there like Cerberus keeping dead souls from escaping the underworld.

Well, if this is a fate worse than death, then maybe I am already dead.

“The Elders have called us to their council room tomorrow morning,” Titus says with a threatening cock of his head while stepping across the threshold.

I steel my voice and point toward the door, locking my elbow so it doesn’t shake. “Get. Out.”

Ignoring me completely, he hulks closer, the other two following behind him. “I want to know what game you’re playing now. I won’t be made a fool in front of them again.”

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