Page 22 of Dark Revolution

Caulder’s eyes are intense, solid black. I’ve heard whispers of the rut, but I’ve never seen one. Prayerfully, that’s not what’s happening here. My breath comes in small gasps, only allowing a slight quiver in my chest bringing us even closer. He studies me, his gaze slithering over my face, pausing on my nose.

Lips pursed, he reaches down and yanks my respirators out, sending my brain into a frenzy. I can’t breathe his air. It’s far too dangerous. His lips twist up in a sardonic smirk as he leans in close, running his nose against my cheek. I hold my breath for as long as I can, but it’s a mistake. Breathing in, I take in a huge gulp of air, filling my screaming lungs with the acrid stench of his anger.

I quiver beneath him, my body responding to the terror of his smell. He’s not even growling at me. He doesn’t need to. Sliding his hand up, he grips the wig, grinning as his fingers tighten. Should I wince like he’s hurting me? Before I can decide what to do, he yanks backward, and the wig comes off.

His mouth opens in an “O” of surprise as my thick, black curls come bounding out. Fuck me for wearing a blonde wig. If only I’d worn something darker, then maybe he wouldn’t have noticed. Then what would I have done when he inevitably stood me up? Either way, there’s no way to keep this sort of thing a secret for long.

Eyes widening, he rips the wig the rest of the way off and peers down at my face. “No. No, it’s not you.” Flipping me over, he ignores my cry of protest as my face slams down into the rusted metal. With no preamble, he yanks down my pants, revealing the faint bruises still marring my skin. Though I did my best with the medicine I had, there’s still the tell-tale evidence.

With an angry grunt, he turns me onto my back, pinning my hands beneath me. Pain shoots up my arms and into my shoulders, but I bite my lip, remaining silent. I can’t give him this. I can’t give in to the pain. Slamming his forearm down on my head, he holds me in place as he stares down into my eyes.

Fuck. He’ll know. He’ll fucking know. Then, I’ll never have a chance.If he thought I was a beta, I might have been sold to someone else. I might have had a chance at breaking free, but if he knows I’m an omega, there will be no escape. “Hold still, little beta. I have no problem removing your eyes.”

Tears well up as I hold myself motionless. To his credit, Caulder is gentle as he swipes out one contact then the other, revealing my true dynamic. Leaning back, he studies me, his tongue poking out as he wets his lips. “Well now, my little omega. Seems like you’ve found yourself in quite a quandary. I could execute you for hiding your dynamic. As it is, I’ll just take payment for my silence some other way.”

Growling, he shifts lower and yanks my pants down, leaving me bare to his gaze. As his hands skim up my calves where my pants are bunched up, he pauses, his lips quirking into a feral grin. He found the knife. He digs into the pocket and pulls it out, letting the sun bounce off of the razor edge. I don’t think he’ll kill me. It would mean no more fun for him. Then again, the Ferals still had fun long after that omega was dead.

Vomit rises in my throat, and I breathe deep, forcing my brain away from that memory and onto the present. Tutting, he stares at the juncture between my thighs, tapping the blade against his palm. “How long have you been masking your dynamic?” I don’t answer him. Instead, a frantic whimper spills from my lips. Growling, he stands up and presses some more buttons just as we enter another tunnel, plunging us into the dim light of the transport.

A few more button presses, and the car comes to a stop. Craning my neck, I look up at where the driver usually sits, and he’s not there. No one is controlling the car. “No one is going to save you, pretty omega. It's just you and me. Now tell me, how long have you been masking?” Again, I remain silent. Anything that wants to come out will just be a plea for mercy anyway. “Should we ask your sister? Hmm? Would Karis be able to tell us? The database says she’s also a beta, but how can we trust that? Perhaps she should go up for auction as well.”

“Since I can remember,” I scream out, fear for Karis loosening my lips. “My mother tried to hide it from me, but I saw her putting something into my drink. Between that and the contacts, I figured it out. When I was tested, I tested as a beta. I don’t know for sure if I’m an omega, but I still take the suppressants just in case.”

Leaning down towards his sleeve, he watches me as he slides his free finger across the fabric and raises it towards his lips. “Search the house. Search the school. Find Karis and bring her to the decompression room. I’ll finish questioning the omega, then I’ll bring her in.”

Heart in my throat, I look up at Caulder, pleading with him with my eyes. “Please. She knows nothing. I never told her anything.” He digs around in his pants pocket and pulls out the pills. Luckily, it was only half the dose, a normal number of suppressants for one person, but the look in his eyes tells me he knows why I was here a few days earlier. “Double doses, huh? All for you?”

He knows. Caulder tosses them to the floor and stomps on them, grinding them into a fine powder. More tears cascade down my face as the enormity of the situation hits me. Even if I somehow manage to escape, I can never go back to the Dead Lands. I’m doomed to forever be an omega. He kneels to the floor, straddling my hips with his thighs.

“Now then, I need to make you into the proper omega. And don’t worry about someone finding you like this. I have guards stationed in front of the transport room. No one will need this car until we’re done.”

My gut twists as he spreads my legs apart, much like the High Echelon Alpha did a few days earlier. Am I to endure yet another round of touching, defiling, degradation? Caulder brings the knife lower, sending tendrils of fear into my gut. Will he maim me? Cut me beyond all recognition? Is this how omegas are presented?

For once, I wish I had paid more attention in school, but right now, I know nothing of omegas and how they’re supposed to be. I spent so much time trying to hide who I am, dissolving my identity that I’ve erased any knowledge that would be helpful in a time like this. He slides the dull end of the blade down my inner thigh, and I hold my breath, tensing, waiting for the first burn of the cut, but it never comes.

Instead, he brings it back up, sliding it across my lower lips. Hooking my legs on either shoulder, he pins me with a horrid glare. “Move, and I’ll hurt you. Omegas only need a hole with which to breed. They don’t need that which brings them pleasure.”

As if to prove his point, he drags the tip lower, pressing into that same spot the High Echelon Alpha touched. The one that brought immense pleasure, only now, it’s a mixture of pain intermingling with the delight of that unknown area. Groaning, my hips move of their own accord, riding against the tip, finding that nugget of pleasure in the pain.

Caulder grins and pulls the knife away, smacking me down there with the back of his hand. A gasp tears through my body as the pleasure blossoms into something unimaginable. What is he doing to me? Never in my studies has there been any mention of this area being pleasurable. I only know that we were bred to be breeders and that Alphas cause nothing but agony when they knot. But this feels nothing like that.

Pulling his hand away, he smiles down at me, that feral smirk darkening his eyes. Am I not supposed to enjoy this? He’s the one forcing me to feel everything he’s doing to me. Closing my eyes, I direct my thoughts to the mundane, forcing out every bit of knowledge of the pleasure I now know exists down there. Caulder begins to run the knife over my skin with short, determined strokes, removing my hair. Shame floods my body as his breath washes across bare skin.

I have no clue how much hair is too much. I’ve never been taught what to do with it except make sure I use the cleansing streams after using the bathroom and when showering. But now that he’s removing my hair, perhaps more should have been done? Or is this strictly an omega thing? Turning my head to the side, I study the metal bars connecting the seats to the floor of the transport.

Rust blooms across most available surfaces, and I let my gaze drift up and down, following patterns that only exist in my mind. I feel his fingers on my skin, but it’s muted now, almost like it’s happening to someone else. Almost. His fingers skim the bare skin, replacing his hot breath, and I suck in a gasp.

Without hair, I feel everything he does - every touch, every caress. Just like the High Echelon Alpha, he slides his thumbs along the delicate skin and opens me up to his gaze. Thankfully, my legs are on either side of him and not stretched back near my ears. It’s no less humiliating, but it’s certainly less painful.

He slides a digit inside, and I’m mortified as dampness eases his passage. I’m not fully an omega. I’m not. Why does my body betray me like this? Bending down, Caulder runs his nose across that sensitive spot, and I gasp, jerking against his body. His chuckle brushes against my skin moments before I hear the sound of his inhale.

“You don’t smell like an omega. Not yet, but soon, you will.” His finger probes deeper, bumping against whatever barrier is inside me, releasing the horrified gasp from my throat. It’s not painful. Not yet, but every time he pushes against it, my core flutters in discomfort. His groan is a lusty reverberation against my skin as he slides in and out, drawing more moisture from inside of me.

“I can’t wait to fuck you, little omega. Soon, this cunt is going to take me, every inch, until my knot stuffs you so full you can’t even breathe without feeling it deep inside you.” Nausea sparks at his words as my mind drifts once again to the Ferals. They didn’t have knots, and yet, they were able to kill her easily.

“You like that, little omega? Hmmm? You like the idea of begging for my knot? I should punish you, you know,” he murmurs, pulling his finger out. I sigh as the intrusion starts to disappear, but it’s all in vain. As soon as he pulls out, he pushes two in, stopping just short of the barrier. A sharp pain flutters through my insides, and I drive my heels into his shoulders in a pathetic attempt to push him away.

“I could rip away your barrier right here and now, render you tainted, no longer pristine. No one would know.”