If she could have made herself invisible, if she could have willed her soul away, she would have. Because the devil was roaring for it, and the cracks in the glass were growing.
Men fell upon him, men in vermilion armor and men in leather alike. It took an entire swarm to pull the bellowing beast away, even more to quell the growing rumble between the two groups. She saw him dragged from the room, saw the veins and muscles standing up in his neck, his snapping teeth, and the way his eyes were locked only on her.
What he shouted in his ugly tongue, whether they were curses or threats, Morgaine did not know. She’d pressed her hands over her ears, still screaming even as Sergeant Uriel entered to gather her up.
The mangled scents of the room hit her, the stink of furious musk, a cacophony of men, of sweat, of agitation, of fear… of hunger.
The instant she felt hands on her, she fought, biting and scratching just as she’d threatened the others. But one Alpha was much stronger than one traumatized Omega. The male ignored her thrashing, and rushed her away in the opposite direction.
Chapter 12
It was the nest she dove for the instant Morgaine was set free. The hated scraps of fur were burrowed under, Morgaine instinctively seeking cover no matter the orders any might snap or punishments that might be ordained.
No one tried to pull her out from where she hid, not even Sergeant Uriel barked an order. His hands were full dealing with several Alphas who’d entered the chamber behind them. Their voices could be heard arguing amongst themselves, meaning muffled by the hands she’d pressed over her ears.
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.
&nbs
p; 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.”