Chapter Five
Nikki
The next morning, I woke in my apartment and attended the mandatory count in Sanctuary Square. It was uneventful, and I kept my eyes down as I always did. I didn’t catch the attention of any of the guards and when we were released, I tried not to rush too quickly back to my apartment building and down into the tunnels. When I finally escaped back down into the underground, I hurried back to my office only to find Damiyen sitting in my chair, waiting for me. I stopped dead in my tracks.
He was seated, his legs crossed, and a cocky look of annoyance flashed across his features as he leaned forward and placed his elbows on my desk, folding his fingers together expectantly. His hair was slightly mussed, but that only seemed to make him more look dangerous and even more threatening than usual. He looked veritably pissed, still wearing the clothes he had worn the day before when I had shot him in the neck with a tranquilizer dart, only they were slightly more wrinkled this morning. I drew in a breath, watching him cautiously. If he was looking for an apology though, he wasn’t going to get one.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, unable to quell the nervous rumbling deep in my belly.
“I thought we should have a few words privately, between the two of us,” he offered, his voice oddly calm and entirely too much of an enigma. He was unreadable.
I didn’t respond and just crossed my arms over my chest instead. I felt like a cornered rabbit, about to be pounced on by a very hungry wolf. His eyes narrowed slightly as he studied me, sensing my disquiet and he sighed impatiently.
“I’m not your enemy, Nikki. I’m here to help you,” he said next, his tone softening but still, I stood there unnerved by his presence. There was something about him that left me feeling off balance and I couldn’t quite identify exactly what that was. I didn’t know what his motivations were and I would never feel comfortable with him until I figured them out.
“I don’t understand why. You’re a beta. Every beta in Tharia hates alphas and omegas. Our kind is just a red stain on the city’s history. I can’t find any believable reason why you’d be here helping us. It just doesn’t make sense to me,” I countered, and his face softened, but only for a second, almost as though he had lost himself in some sort of distant memory. It was for a brief moment, which quickly passed only to be replaced with a much darker expression.
“I have my reasons,” he replied, not elaborating any further. My upper lip rolled slightly in response and he sighed heavily. “Listen, you and I don’t have to be friends, but we have to be allies. I’m not here to rule you. I’m not an alpha. But I am here to ensure that the omegas have their best chance at breaking out of these walls and you have to let me do that. There has to be a hierarchy for the omega soldiers to answer to and that can never happen if you and I are constantly at each other’s throats, literally.” A flash of red twirled in his fingers. It was the dart I had shot into his neck and I had to suppress the smirk that edged at the corners of my lips.
“I don’t trust you,” I finally answered, and he shook his head with disappointment.
He sat there at my desk for a long time in silence and I stood there, feeling unsteady and unsure of what to do next.
“Well, this is probably for the best then. Remember though, I tried to do this the easy way, but you forced my hand,” he answered, before standing up from my chair. He walked around the table and toward the door, brushing by me.
“What’s for the best?” I asked, furrowing my brow with confusion as I tried to figure out what his vague words meant and he turned, wrapping a gentle arm around my waist. I almost pulled away, but for a moment I was stunned by how good it felt.
“This,” he answered, his tone abrupt and cryptic.
A sharp pain pricked into my backside and I yelped out loud, turning so I could see what the hell had just stung me. Damiyen stared into my eyes for a brief second and then I looked down, watching as he pushed a needle through my pants into my ass. He pressed the plunger down and I whimpered as he injected me with whatever liquid was inside that syringe.
“What the hell are you doing?” I asked, my voice rising with panic.
“It’s an injectable version of the anti-suppressant, much stronger than your prototypes, I’m told by your lovely omega scientists down here in the underground. You see, you and I are at odds, and I need that not to be so. So I’m going to teach you what it means to not be in control. I had easy access to the drug. Ethan, Alaric, and Viktor have all been taking regular doses and I just took a vial of it for myself. With you going into heat so terribly close, I don’t know if they’ll be able to resist. I think a humbling experience under the care of three alphas might change your mind about working together with all of us,” he explained, his lips smirking up in a dark grin.
I hissed as he withdrew the needle from my flesh and whirled around to slap him, but he caught my wrist in his grasp. Although he was smaller than the other alphas, he was still larger than me and handled me with ease. His fingers were strong, but gentle and I struggled to pull my arm free.
“I hope after this is all over that you’ll be a bit more agreeable when it comes to training our omega army,” he purred quietly, and I simply growled ferociously in return.
“I’ll never forgive you for this,” I spat in his direction.
“We’ll see,” he answered flippantly, before releasing my wrist and walking out the door, leaving me to fend off my natural instincts all on my own. I closed the door and whirled around, leaning my back against its cool surface. Quickly, I found the lock and turned it, breathing a small sigh of relief at my momentary glimmer of success.
I knew it wouldn’t last long. Right now, the anti-suppressant was making its way through my body, fighting against the airborne suppressant and quickly rendering it useless. I don’t know how strong the dose of medication had been or how much faster it would force me into the animal that nature had programmed me to become. Soon, my omega instincts would reign free, forcing me into a heat like I had never known. I had only felt a taste of it before, had only felt the first sparks of estrous. Just that had been a powerful and humbling experience and I knew it would be nothing like what was to come. I had hoped that the next time that happened, I’d have had more time to prepare for it.
I had no doubt that a full estrous would be that much more intense. This time, I didn’t have the city’s medication to counteract it. There were no suppressant stocks within the omega underground to stop it either. We had never had a need for them due to the airborne suppressant, so I had no hope of stopping what was to come. I was doomed to suffer through every agonizing moment of it all on my own.
My eye flashed to the clock, remembering how quickly the first feelings of estrous took hold the last time, how a small ball of desire had grown in the pit of my belly and how the very blood in my veins had grown hot as fire. Closing my eyes, I took stock of every inch of my body, trying to gauge how far along I was already. My senses felt just slightly heightened, my hearing and sense of smell far more intense than they had been just moments before.
The clock ticked tirelessly onward, the loud sound echoing harshly in my ears and I sniffed the air, sensing alpha scent not far away. I knew their underground bunker wasn’t very far from my office, and they’d likely have woken up some time ago. They were probably just waiting for the omegas to return so they could prepare to travel to the training grounds once more.
I drew in a deep breath, trying to calm myself but I could already feel the fever beginning to rage beneath my skin. My heart was pounding more fervently, the blood pumping through my veins faster than before and the very breath I pulled into my lungs felt fiery hot. I closed my eyes and just focused on quiet and peaceful thoughts, but nothing would stop the coming heat that was bound to take hold very soon.
With the rising temperature of my body, I was suddenly reminded that I hadn’t had a chance to remove my regulation clothing just yet. Within seconds, my skin itched uncontrollably, the fabric scratching against my flesh and forcing my temperature higher. I felt swallowed up by the terrible cloth and I knew that I had to get it off my body right away. I tore my shirt over my head and tossed it to the floor, followed by my regulation bra next. Hastily, I unbuttoned my pants, each button painfully irritating against my fingertips. I pushed the gray, ugly material down over my hips, taking the itchy panties they forced us to wear with them. I kicked off my boots and then shucked my pants all the way down my legs to my ankles, jerking them off completely then. Finally, I removed my socks, leaving myself stark naked and alone in my office.
I knew that likely wouldn’t last that much longer.
My nipples pebbled in the open air and my breasts felt heavy, sensitive even as I dragged my fingers along their curves. My thighs trembled just a little and as I pressed them together, I moaned with shock at what I discovered.