Page 4 of Dark Revolution

The man steps into view, Annalise in his arms. What the fuck is she doing with him? She’s still naked, her eyes black, fathomless depths from the heat. That’s when I notice the makeshift pile of clothes on the ground. My clothes. Most of them are work uniforms coated in my scent. Then he turns to me. Roderick. Fucking hell. I fight against my restraints, but they hold firm, keeping me immobile as he tosses Annalise down into the pile.

She writhes and buries her nose in my clothes. At least she has that to comfort her while I’m chained to this torture table. The unmistakable clicking sound of a zipper being opened reaches my ears, and I go deathly still. No. No. She’s mine. What does he possibly think he’s going to do to her? He can’t claim her now that she has my mark! It is forbidden.

Two men, robed in deep red, gather her up, removing her from the nest. Roaring my displeasure to the heavens, I almost miss the sound of his piss splashing against the various fabrics as he puts his taint over everything. Nodding at the men, he backs up and waits for them to put Annalise back into the damp mess before turning her onto her back and pushing her deep into his wet scent.

I wait for her to fight back, to realize this is wrong, but she doesn’t. Instead, she opens her legs for the Alpha, groaning as he stuffs her full with his cock. Agony spears me through the heart as he rides her like he owns her. I pull in vain, desperate to be free of these restraints so I can rip Roderick’s head from his neck. I don’t care that he outranks me. He failed to put her into heat where I succeeded.

She is mine. Her body knows it. Her heart knows it, and now that she carries my mark, her bond knows it. I want to look away as he drives into her, pulling out gasps and moans as if he knows her body, owns it. I can’t even look away when he bends down and bites her shoulder, marking her right on top of mine.

Pulling back, he turns to me, lips tainted red with her blood, and smiles. “You thought you could take her from me.”

“I did,” I scream back, my anger filling the space until all they can smell is her honeyed slick and my acrid wrath. “She’s mine. She bears my mark. The High Council gave her to me!”

The robed men approach and stand by me, one on either side. Roderick continues to smirk as he wipes the remaining blood off his lips. “Did they now?” The two robed men walk forward, one holding out a screen. Roderick’s name is there in black where mine had been.

“No!”

“I’m afraid, yes. You see, once I discovered your ploy to steal my omega, I simply righted what was wrong.” His eyes are feral, deranged. “And you will be punished for breaking the law and claiming an omega without consent.”

“She was bestowed upon me by the High Council!” My enraged screams sound foreign to my ears. A desperation I’ve never heard before taints my voice. Annalise, please fight him.

I reach back through the bond, relieved to find it still there, still strong. It’s polluted with the second bond, sending Annalise into a mental frenzy. I do my best to soothe her through my end. It’s not right for her to suffer for my transgressions. She was, after all, an innocent omega.

Roderick turns to his companions. “Does that sound right to you? Was he ever granted Annalise?”

“No, Lord High Echelon.”

My blood runs cold. Why are they addressing him with that title? “What are you going to do to her?”

“Breed her, of course. As is my right as her mated male.”

“You can’t kill me. Even with your bond, it will still fracture her. You know the laws!”

“Don’t you fucking dare lecture me about laws when you broke the most sacred of them all,” he hisses, running his fingers over Annalise in a soothing motion. “Lucky for her, I can be rid of you and cause no undue stress for my mate.”

He must be truly insane. He’s the one that’s breaking the law right now, and they’re just standing there helping him. I flail about in my bonds. I did nothing wrong. Why are they siding with this monster? He jerks his head, and the robed men begin to attach hoses to the cold table I’m strapped to. “Cryosleep,” he continues, smiling down at Annalise. “It will render you like the dead but not kill you. Until her dying breath, she will feel your bond as a shadow, a niggle of feeling, but will always respond to mine.”

A slight prick in the back of my neck registers for just a moment before the world turns black, and the nightmare disappears into nothingness.