Page 20 of Dark Revolution

Langston sighs and grips the beta’s arm in his meaty paw. “What have I told you about addressing me like that?”

A pretty blush fans over her face as she attempts to look away. My cock twitches at the coquettish grin tilting up her lips. How can I have any reaction to her when just today my bond was severed. Wasn’t Annalise my mate, my soul?

“You’ve told me, Lord Alpha.”

“If you want to be disciplined, you need only ask. I don’t need you to flaunt my title around the other betas.”

Her eyes close to half-mast, and her grin turns into a seductive smirk. “Then yes, please,” her voice drops to where only we can hear. “Lord Alpha, I wish to be punished later.” Dipping down into a curtsy, the beta leaves, and I stare after her, mulling over the conversation.

I had heard smatterings of bawdy conversations between the other Guardian Alphas, and many of them mentioned their playmates enjoying a bite of pain with their lovemaking, but I never saw the need. The betas I bedded were only vessels for my seed and nothing more. I was only there to impregnate them with what would hopefully turn into another Alpha or, even better, an omega, but there were no sex games.

They would bend over their beds and let me plow into them. Most encounters were disappointing as many could not take my knot. The few that could, those were the ones I visited often. It wasn’t until fucking my omega that I knew just how perfect they were for me. Her body rippling around mine, taking me in deeper than any beta could ever hope to.

A flash of pain interrupts my thoughts, deflating my burgeoning erection. Staring down at my wrist, I watch in fascination as the bright light sears my skin, etching a foreign mark into my arm. I never knew what the common Alphas were given. During my time as Guardian, we all wore our marks on our chests. It was so much easier to hide them from the enemy, that way, they never knew who they faced.

After the mark is etched into my skin, Langston holds me there, preventing me from moving. Reaching down, he brings up a cup full of dark liquid and splashes it onto the site. The sensation of needles driving into my skin slams into my wrist and travels up my arm. If the mark itself hurt, this was ten times worse.

Bellowing, I thrash about, yanking on my arm to dislodge it from Langston’s grip. “Hold him!” He shouts, tipping the glass again. Two more Alphas surge forward, pinning me down in the chair. I snap my teeth at them, snarling, growling, twisting this way and that. The betas shrink away, their eyes like saucers in their faces.

The stench of fear permeates the room as they cower before us. Is this how they truly see us? Like monsters? “Enough!” The older Alpha comes barreling into the room, dropping his face until he’s level with mine. “This is a necessary protocol. Langston has to make the mark looks weather and lived in. If he doesn’t do this, you will get flagged for a counterfeit mark.”

Standing up, he turns his back to me, addressing the other betas. Why the fuck should he care about them. We don’t answer to their kind. Guilt and shame slam into me. That’s why these wars happened in the first place. We, as Alphas, have a responsibility to those less fortunate than us. At least, that’s what I stood for when I joined as a Guardian in the first place.

“He means you no harm. He just wasn’t expecting the pain. Right?” He turns to me, his lips curled in a silent snarl.

“Sorry. It hurts like a bitch.” The stench lessens a touch as a titter of laughter here and there pops up around the room. They still regard me with wary eyes, but the fear is lessened.

“Frighten my betas again, and my charity will run dry. Do you understand me, Alpha? You are here by our good graces. Not once have we harmed you. Keep that in mind while Langston finishes the job, then I want you out. You are not here for us, so do us all a favor and leave.”

I close my eyes and breathe deep, channeling the pain into something else. Each splash of the mysterious liquid threatens the rage boiling just below the surface, but the older Alpha is right. It’s not the betas’ fault, and for me to take it out on them is an abuse of my station. It makes me no better than the High Echelon and their terrorizing ways. Moments go by, and the Alphas start to loosen their grip.

The pain begins to lessen as my body acclimates to it. Staring down, I watch as a layer of new skin growth covers the mark, then is ripped away as the liquid touches it. Fascinating. Instead of shiny and black as before, each splash of the solution makes it duller, and as the Alpha put it, “lived in.”

“What’s your name?”

The older Alpha turns to me, a smirk tilting up his lips. “That’s none of your concern, but you may call me Father. It’s what the betas refer to me as. I’d like to think it has something to do with the silver in my hair.”

Langston rolls his eyes, a chuckle shaking his bulky frame. “Old man is more like it. He’s Gemhardt. None of us stand on ceremony here. All of us are equals. Old Father over here just happens to be more in charge since he’s the one that started this ragtag group. What’s your real name?”

“Jaxxon, but my fellow Alpha’s called me Jax. I guess you can too. It’s the least I can do since you’ve terrorized me without taking me to dinner first.”

The chuckle turns into a full belly laugh as Langston drops the last of the liquid onto my arm. “Trust me, I don’t usually take my conquests out to dinner first either. That comes after. It’s a reward for a job well done.” Letting go of my arm, he wipes the area with a soft cloth and holds it up for me to look at.

If I hadn’t known any better, I would think I’d had this mark my whole life. Rolling down my sleeve, I pick my bag back up and head towards the door I came through earlier. Langston follows and pulls me back, shaking his head. “Not that way. Besides, you don’t know where to go.”

Slipping out the back, we come up in between two broken-down buildings. The bricks are crumpled heaps, but I still know what they used to house. I stop for a moment and rest my palms against the rough, exposed blocks, and close my eyes. How many times did I buy food from here? How many times did I smile at the betas and play games with other Alphas?

Langston motions for me to follow him, and I leave the memories behind. Besides, what good is it to get sentimental now? We cross back in front of the main building, and the rotting omega is still there. Pausing, I watch as Langston makes a sign in the air - a prayer for the dead. It can’t help her now. We turn to leave when I stop dead in my tracks. It’s there again. That scent. Annalise’s scent.

It’s not possible, but I know it anywhere. It’s subtle, almost a whiff under the rotten underbelly of this new world, but I can still smell it. Following the trail, I lift my gaze and watch as a slip of a woman dodges in and out of the broken buildings. Langston hasn’t seen her yet, but that’s probably because he’s too busy ensuring this unknown has a good afterlife.

I’m riveted. From what I’ve gathered, no one should be here, much less an omega, if that’s even what she is. Of all the people in the underground hideaway, not one tipped my scent like she did. Perhaps she’s just a small, malnourished beta? I turn to stalk her when Langston pulls me up short. Lips curled back in a silent snarl, I follow his finger, my blood running cold as I watch another Alpha coming after her.

I want to go to her, to save her. There’s something about her that calls to me, something I can’t resist, but Langston stops me. I want to beat him off, to bury him in the sand, but right now, he’s the only person that can help acclimate me. Am I really willing to give that up over some beta pussy?