Page 13 of Rage

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, that tickles!”

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 and female, 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 lets her ruin 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 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 her hand. The shock of touch rolls 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 for so 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 up with an accidental mate. We all wear them when we’re going to be with an alpha.”

A mate.

This time, the horror in his gut is enough to kill the remainders of his erection. He stares down at Candi—at her delicate features and soft body—and imagines what it would be like to be tied to someone so breakable. In all the ways he’s been broken, his mind could not withstand that. He knows it in the marrow of his bones.

“Why are you here?” It comes out gruffer than he means to. “Offering yourself to me? You could be hurt.” She could hurt her.

Candi shrugs, her smile fading some. “This is a pretty safe gig. I’ve been to military bases before—granted, not blindfolded for three hours while driving there, but they’re always well-supervised. And the money’s good. Better than normal.” She flicks her eyes up to his, the muscles in her face twitching as if she realizes she’s let the facade slip. Placing her palm on his chest, she smiles again and says, “Besides… I like the knot. A lot.”

She doesn’t. He sees the lie in her dark eyes even as she lowers her lashes again and gives him that coy smile expertly crafted to lure him in. He doesn’t know her story, but he doesn’t need to; three years of forced servitude lets him recognize the desperation that has brought this girl to him. It has nothing to do with desire.

Another flash of the same cursed memory flickers through his mind—a slim neck in his grip, a heavy pulse under his fingers. That haunting moment before he realized the truth of his body’s betrayal and allowed her scent to roll over his tongue and deep into his lungs. Allowed her to take root in the core of his DNA.

There is no dark undertow to Candi. She’s delicate and deliciously curvy, and it would be easy to ignore what’s underneath her pretty smiles and take what she’s offering. He needs this. Touch. Relief.

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