Rite of the Omega Read online

  The unceasing call grew deeper, richer. Something he’d never given voice to as he shoved a hand beneath her bucking hips. Cupping his palm to apply pressure above her mound, his fingers speared into her folds to rub swift circles over her clit. Pulling at the unraveling strands of her pleasure as she screamed into the darkness crackling with tension.

  The Omega did not disappoint. Becoming a feral, wild thing beneath him. Baring her teeth with animalistic sounds, groans tangled in diminutive growls as she strained. Violent jerks of her hips making it uncertain if she attempted to retreat or to get more. It mattered not, as she would take all that he would give her. Er’it scraped his teeth against her nape, her surprise palpable though she keened and bowed her head to give him yet more.

  She did not bloom as other women did. There were no delicate petals to this fragile female. Exploding into the night upon a savage cry, a dazzling shower of sunbursts and starshine as she bucked and shuddered beneath him. Base of his cock swelling in the fluttering grip of her molten heat, bathed in the rush of her scent and pleasure, Er’it made vicious, primal sounds. Ripping away his shirt and flinging the torn mess away so he could cover her back, the sheen of sweat upon their skin smearing between them, he powered through the strangling vice of her need. Dragging out her high-pitched screams until they twisted through his spine. Fingers delving into the tangled mess of her hair, he craned her neck so he could see the wide blown sky of her gaze, staring into the endless depths as he slammed home a final time. Sinking into her depths as his knot expanded. Shoving it deeper to lock behind her pelvic bone in spite of the painful tightness. The agonizing pleasure of it crackling through his spine as he bellowed with each shuddering spasm of his release.

  Black stars dotting his vision, he crushed the little creature. Grinding the knot in vicious, shallow thrusts that pained them both. Wrenching at the sheer ecstasy that ripped through him until they both lay gasping and spent.

  Listless and humming, Aida moaned when Er’it forced his arms to bear some of his weight. A grumble of dismay making her twitch and moan before she wailed. His arm under her belly hauling her against him as he pulled them both onto the bed, jostling the knot in the wringing clench of abused muscle. Er’it’s gruff sounds of comfort came unbidden as he settled over her. Pushing her deep into the soft mattress to still her plaintive twitching. Fingers in her hair, scrubbing at the base of her neck, he set his lips to her shoulder.

  His purr was a bare whisper of sound, but her reaction was immediate and complete. Every limb going lax, she hiccupped and began her humming once more.

  Despite this strange sense of completion, languid down to his very bones, it meant little. The perverse need to take her dissipated into nothingness as the last trickling surges of come filled her. Amusement, gnarled and jagged, twined through him as his thoughts turned in a direction other than the simple need to get his cock wet. For that was all this had been, the rarity of an Omega making it stronger than he’d felt before, but no different.

  Now he could concentrate, move on to the grander plans he had for the little Omega. Thanks to the Hat’or that they involved much more of this, even if he no longer craved her like a starving man does food.

  Omegas had no power, and he’d proven it. Taken her with ease, debasing the mythical creature with little more than a well-placed growl. She would serve her purpose and scream on his cock while doing so.

  Mind at ease, he settled down to rest. Waiting for the knot to diminish so he could do it again. The archaic books seemed to think frequent and thorough coupling would get her where Er’it needed her to be. Several also mentioned making the Omega imbibe the potent fluid of his pleasure to bring this phase he needed sooner.

  Oh, how he would enjoy showing her how to take him down that delectable throat.

  Chapter 6

  Aida

  She was sobbing before her eyes even opened to the roiling pitch of her room. Thick rivers pouring down chilled skin while she clawed at the ruined linens. Pain did not begin to describe the sensations shattering her lower body, agony a paltry word for the feel of flesh at the brink of ripping into tattered strands.

  “Be still,” the male said through a menacing growl at her ear. Somehow putting even more weight upon her, crushing her into the bed.

  “Hurts,” Aida whined through the straining gasps, lungs collapsing under his bulk.

  “Be still and it won’t.”

  Lies. No matter how quiet she tried to remain, even the little air he allowed her caused her body to move. The faintest sip of breath and virulent agony exploded through her hips in ragged waves, crashing through her until she wailed and struggled to get away again.

  The male didn’t care that he was ripping her in two. Even less that she felt faint and sick. A brand at her back, he caught her wrists and crushed them. Cruel as he shifted atop her, moving that horrible fullness around until she screamed while he swung his legs to pin her further.

  “Get used to it, princess,” the man rasped against her temple. “This is your purpose now.”

  Abrasive words scraping down her back, Aida trembled. White hot and fleeting, memories of the moments where he’d given her everything except pain seared the backs of her eyes. Screams still echoing around the crushed enclosure where the shattered remains of her heart tried to knit themselves back together. Aida could feel his anger, the mire of his hatred, coating at her skin. Cold and wet, slimy where it sucked at the wisp of brilliant sunshine that faded closer to darkness with every ragged breath. It denounced the roiling waves of heat his body pushed into hers, leaving her cold and adrift in a sea of fear and horror.

  He’d forced such sounds from her. Such hideous things he’d given her, that she begged for with more animal like cries. If he was a monster, a veritable beast, then she was little better for answering that vicious call. The one that had sparked through her bones, lighting her on fire from within. Simmering under her skin until she thought she would burst from the intensity of the glow. How the fire had teased her, promising such things on cruel lips that seared her mind into numbed desire.

  Yet as she plucked apart those brief moments where she reveled in him, the seconds like hours where she’d felt whole and alight with the burn of a thousand summer suns, something changed. Taut muscle relaxed, easing their burden. A rush of warmth through her hips mellowing the agony to the breathtaking crimson-golds of sunset, away from the churning thick black sludge. Bringing a stuttering sigh to her lips, matched by the grating resonance of the man.

  A groan. One he pressed against the side of her neck as he shifted again. Rocking that excessive girth within her. Pushing it against some part that made her squeak and arch. It felt strange, unbelievable pressure that shot straight to the spot he’d attacked with his fingers. It pulsed and raged, growing vicious and charged. Building with a violent surge as she tipped her hips. Easing the thick slide of him, angling it for the greatest result.

  Pain crumbled, whipped away on a fiery wind that twined around her very bones, she made another small sound. One of pleasure. Needy, desperate as another soon followed. Stretching her spine in an attempt to dislodge the blistering mass of him. Not to get away, but to spread her legs wider, those dreamy memories punctuated by the slap of skin assuring her it would feel all the better if he would just go a little deeper.

  He was there. Leveraged on his arms now, much of his weight centered on the backs of her thighs as he jerked in tiny thrusts. Pushing that fullness ever deeper until he pressed against something. Something that made an inhuman sound grind from her throat. Dancing over her lips to glide into the darkness that came alight with shimmering trails of reds and gold, chill blues and green. The unknown yawned wide before her, dragging her in.

  She didn’t fight it. Diving headfirst into the glittering heat, nails raking over the back of the male’s neck as she pulled him tighter where he hunched over her back. Glorying in the rough, husky sounds he made. Teeth snapping out swirling curses, tongue trailing vehement obscenities against her skin. A delicious cacophony underscored by her low moans and whines.

  Squealing when the rough breadth of his hand scored the softness of her hip, his thickness driving forward too hard, too fast. Lost the sound in another primal groan that stuttered when his seeking fingers found the tender nub of flesh. The pad of his thumb mashed it, rubbing in coarse circles that shoved a scream from the depths of her soul as he unleashed the tempest roiling within her.

  It wasn’t just warmth. The burn of the sun was nothing compared to the scorching heat rushing through her veins. Crashing waves pounding her against the sturdy, blistering ferocity of the man at her back, the swift motions of his thumb sending surge after surge erupting into the night. Pushing her further, higher with every grinding rut and rough caress.

  Her scream was savage as he pushed her from a too high precipice, down into the chaotic depths of molten sensation. Plunging her deep into the scorching bliss of it as he continued to snarl and curse in a ragged song against her skin. Soul a wildfire raging within the too tight confines of precious skin, she answered him with yet more ravenous murmurings. Throat raw with the guttural noises, she bucked. Hips rocking in time as her body fluttered and contracted around the pulsing girth once again.

  Rich and thick, heady in itself, an inferno erupted inside of her. The male’s groans echoing through the very marrow of her bones, the sound almost pained as he rutted against her with heavy slaps of his hips. Pushing and pulling that impossible thickness within the tight grip. Making her shriek in denial and pleasure both as he threatened to pull it free with each stuttering lunge.

  “So tight,” he rasped against her shoulder, digging his teeth into the soft flesh. Leaving a mark before he licked at the shell of her ear. “Strangle my knot, princess. Make me
earn it as you take my seed.”

  Cruel to the end, he plucked that raw nub of flesh. Pinching it between finger and thumb, rolling the aching bundle back and forth as she kicked and shrieked. Sending her soaring through a sky alight with liquid fire, trails of it snapping over her skin. Flaying her with exquisite sensation, leaving her naked and open to the explosion of fiery hues that blotted out everything but the man growling against her throat.

  Endless bliss. Perfect and complete while she heard her feral noises from far away. Body shuddering, twitching to a rhythm all its own as darkness engulfed her. Swallowing her vision as she sank into the downy softness of the bed with his midnight groan following her.

  Aida woke to the sweltering afternoon sun baking into her flesh. Sprawled naked and face down upon the bed, sheets crusted to her skin along with flaky white patches that reeked of musk and cedar. All of it smelled of him and of something with the faintest hint of sweetness. A scent that she’d long known as hers, yet strange and different. Fuller, richer.

  The first twitch of her thighs had the pain returning in full force. Throbbing agony between her legs, centered in that place she’d become far too aware of. Learning more about the delicate, ruffled folds of flesh in the hours of the night than she’d known in all her life. Touched by him and her own hand, guided by his as he spat curses and vicious obscenities that made her moan and clench.

  Burying her face in the thick drift of sheets crumpled into a loose bolster before her, Aida turned on her side. Beyond tender, every move making her gasp, she tugged a blanket free to drag over her miserable body. Not before she saw the raw, red marks. Bites and scrapes. Dusky blue-green bands and rounds peppering her arms and legs. Fingers ghosting over the aching line of her throat, a hiss slipped through clenched teeth as she felt the deep marks there. Sure to be worse long before it got better.

  She didn’t care that she roasted under the heavy blanket as the sun poured through the thick panes. Cold down to the very marrow of her bones, every moment replaying in her mind’s eye, she knew herself for the awful words Otaso called her. Cocooned in piles of bedding, she let the silent tears flow. Who knew when her new master would return, when he’d take his violence out on her person again? Aida would take this time to mourn everything she’d been or ever dreamed to be, for he was sure not to let such moments last.

  For she was a slave now. Whatever she’d been to Otaso, he had treated her with some respect all these years. He had not belittled and demeaned her at every turn. Kept her a prisoner, yes, but until that night under the stone arches, he’d treated her with some form of kindness. One she still did not wish to repay with what this unfamiliar man had taken with such pain and ferocity. If Otaso had planned even a portion of this, she would never have given herself over without a struggle.

  Though she had struggled little against this one. Not the first time he’d taken her, the second, third, or even the last time as the sun brightened the sky and she was so weary even his raking teeth had failed to pull more than low sighs and whimpers from her.

  “Get up.”

  A swift smack to her backside followed on the heels of his command. Pain ricocheting up her spine, she clenched her teeth around the shriek as she leapt from the bed. Aida fell in a tangle of blankets and limbs, blinking up at the man whose name she could scarce remember. Daring to clutch the thick folds to her naked breasts, hiding away the lurid marks, she cringed when he snapped his fingers in her face. Whimpered as he grabbed her arm and tugged her along like a rag doll when she didn’t move fast enough for his liking.

  Swung into the side of the bath, Aida grabbed hold of the edge before she could tumble over into the steaming water. A near miss that became pointless when his hand slapped between her shoulders and shoved her in. Surfacing with a sputtering cough, Aida swiped at her face and dug her heels into the floor. Sluicing through the scalding water until her back braced against the side, as far away from her tormentor as she could achieve.

  He laughed at her. A great, deep laugh that came from the belly and all at her expense. Full of mirth while he shed his strange clothes, tossing them away as if they were nothing but cheap muslin. Climbing in after her, he circled her ankle in his grip. Tugging her to where he wanted her, pushing and pulling at her body until she sat spread upon his thighs. Back molded to his chest, he cupped Aida’s chin and craned her neck back. Fingers holding that vulnerable column firm as he set her head against his shoulder and nipped at her ear.

  “You did well last night, princess,” he murmured against her damp skin, tongue leaving a burning trail as he licked at her cheek. “For that, I have decided to grant you a measure of mercy. You have much to do, and I do not have time to take my full pleasure from you.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Aida murmured to the ceiling. Eyes gone cloudy, filmed over with a sheen of despair, she gave the response she hoped he wished.

  He grunted, stiff at her back with a tension that she could feel sizzling through the air and crackling along her skin. Perhaps it hadn’t been the correct response. In a flurry of motion, sloshing water sent all over the place, he rearranged Aida so she faced him. Made to straddle his thighs, her averted gaze landed on the very thing that made her lower body throb still. Much to her dismay, it was in far more than pain.

  “Now, some rules,” he said, voice gone husky as roughened palms skimmed over her shoulders to her back. “You’ll not be sleeping all day any longer.”

  “Yes, sir.” Aida bit her tongue, hoping it wiser not to mention that Otaso kept her to a far more rigorous schedule, though he’d never once kept her awake until the roosters crowed.

  “You’ll tend my every need.”

  Aida bit the side of her lip hard, uncertain where his anger came from as his voice grew harsh. Certain she’d given the proper response, remaining calm as his touch became rougher, more demanding, she found herself fumbling in a way she hadn’t in a very long time. Otaso’s rule had been complete, set in place long before she could even think of acting against it.

  “I’ll not go around with your slick tainting me. You will wash me every morning. Understood?”

  “Yes, sir.” Teeth sinking further her lip to worry at the tender flesh, she kept her thoughts quiet. Didn’t mention he’d dressed before he woke her, though her gaze skittered in the abandoned pile’s direction. Hoping to hide the act, she spotted the waxy bar of soap perched on the ledge. Leaning over, she picked it up, dunking it into the water to slick its surface. Clenching fingers fumbling their grip half a dozen times as her hand moved from the water to the wide expanse of his chest, she kept her focus centered on the heavy medallion settled in the center of the sparse curling hairs there.

  Intricate for such a small piece, the deep bronzed hues shimmered and glinted with a light all their own. A single, multifaceted red stone sat proud in the center with a dusting of chips in various other colors following a strange twisting sweep of a half circle. Fascinating as it was, as much as she tried to explore each curve of metal, Aida found her gaze drifting to the firm skin beneath it.

  She’d never examined the male form unburdened by robes and armor. The breadth of his shoulders, the rolling hills and valleys of stern muscle all gliding under the soap as her touch grew less timid, her scrutiny bolder. The rich golden brown of his skin was not a mere product of the sun’s kiss, the deep coloring flowing down his chest and over the curve of hip and thigh, her hands following the thinning trail of hair centered there.

  Shimmying back on his thighs, her head ducked at his warning. Trembling hand aloft, gripping the soap so tight she worried it might shoot out from between her fingers, she gestured at the length of his legs. Aida regretted it in an instant.

  Shoving her off his lap, he stood before her. Leaving her kneeling in the water, now eye level with the jutting length of flesh that tormented her as much as the man himself. Blinking hard, she tried to ignore the warmth in her cheeks that prickled over her ears and down onto her chest. Setting soap to skin she swept the frothy mass of bubbles over his hips and thighs. Avoiding the thing that twitched and throbbed before her, she washed every other inch of him.