The throbbing at her wrists and throat were so strong it was almost pain. Need mixed with agonizing longing—and lust.
She’d touched other Alphas before, especially early on when her parents and the teachers at her omega finishing school thought any touch might awaken her gift, but it had never felt like this.
This was thirst and craving and hunger. This was power.
This was everything.
Pressure built from within. Her fingertips tingled; her cunt wept.
She remembered what came next.
The vision itself, so vivid and real it was as if she’d lived through the murder of Nikolai’s father herself.
She braced herself for the onslaught of new images.
Except . . . nothing happened.
“What the fuck?” The Alpha’s frustrated shout was almost worth her own grief. “Why aren’t your eyes turning black? Where’s the vision? I can feel you blocking it somehow.”
She could feel that, too. A black hole swirling in the middle of her chest, sucking in all the energy and light as quickly as it sparked to life.
“Stop that at once,” he snarled
She hid a smile. She had no idea where the block had come from, but she was thrilled.
Fire, death, and destruction? Let him burn in it himself.
7
Nothing. What in the ever-loving fuck?
Where was the vision?
Nikolai fumed.
Things went the way he planned. He made damn sure of it. He did not like surprises. Especially when it came to her.
Years ago, Dahlia Lundin’s vision had slammed into him and the bands at his wrists had glowed to life. He hadn’t wanted it. Hadn’t expected it. Fact was, he’d been damned pissed about it, but it had come anyway.
Now, when he needed another glimpse into the past, her vision refused to come.
She was blocking it somehow. The energy and power beneath his fingertips sucked away before he could wield it as he wanted.
That was unacceptable. Omegas bent to the will of their Alphas, not the other way around.
“What are you doing to stop it?” He pressed her palm deeper into his skin, hoping more contact might do the trick.
“Nothing.”
But she was doing something. He could see the pleasure in her gaze, her defiance fueling his fury and his lust.
The damn fated-mate bond was messing with his head, making it harder than usual to control his rut and think logically.
“You knew my gift didn’t work.” She sounded calm. And smug. He’d need to punish her for that, too. “It hasn’t since that rotation.”
He knew that. He knew everything about her thanks to his spies.
But he’d been confident he could spark her gift back to life. And he had. Only he hadn’t expected she’d somehow have the ability to block him.
“You will regret defying me.” Swiveling, he stalked to his desk and activated the security unlock.
It was either that or flip the omega around and stuff her full of cock.
It had been so damn long, and now she was finally in front of him. Not some grainy image taken by his spies, but his omega in the flesh, with her silky skin, defiant spirit, and sweet, ripe cunt.
He wanted to devour her whole.
Except he needed her vision of the rotation of the murder to clinch his case with the Brotherhood. Because to discredit Olan without a doubt, Nikolai needed a visual of Olan wielding the gun used to kill the Kuril crime boss.
A visual the omega could access through her gift, share with him, and then with the Brotherhood.
If she stopped blocking it.
He grabbed the sheet off the bed and threw it toward her. “Cover yourself.”
Breathing as shallow as he could to lessen the allure of her scent, he slammed his hand on the comms screen in the center of his desk.
“Alpha Lord Skolov, good rotation to you.” The gray-haired, lined face of his top beta scientist and healer, Dr. Toth Randalff, appeared on the screen. Stacks of books, reports, and vids were piled high on every inch of his workstation. With his grandfather-like round cheeks, bushy eyebrows, and furry, white neck and arms tucked into a respectable lab coat, you’d never know the brilliant bastard had once spent his youth working for another Alpha making mood enhancers so addictive and deadly, one tab beneath the tongue had you hooked. Or that he’d been forced by the other Alpha to peddle that shit without approval in Nikolai’s territory.
Nikolai had retired the other Alpha permanently and then gently and politely convinced the beta to consider a career change and relocation to Abzal. He’d been putting his energies into Nikolai’s projects ever since.
From the way the doctor’s gray and pink-streaked eyes were blinking fast, Nikolai was pretty sure the beta scientist was currently regretting that decision.
“It’s not working.” Nikolai got right to it. His words were so close to a growl he wondered if the guy would understand him.
“What exactly isn’t working?”
“The vision. Didn’t happen. Something is blocking it.”
“I see.”
He couldn’t see his omega with his back turned, but he could feel her gaze burning into his back, scent her curiosity.
He would have tossed her outside, but there was no way in hells his instinct would allow that. The Alpha in him roared in fury at the idea of being as separated from her as he was currently.
Hunching his shoulders over the screen as much as possible, he leaned in and spoke as low as he could. “Her eyes are still blue. The visions aren’t coming, but the damn fated-mate bond is working too well.”
“I see.”
“Say I see again, and you won’t anymore. Ever.”
The doc cleared his throat. “We knew it might take time.”
Nikolai didn’t wait. “No. Something is wrong.”
More slow blinking from the healer. “What exactly, Alpha Lord?” Randalff’s gaze flickered over his shoulder. “She looks—”
“Don’t fucking look at her.”
The beta paled. “Of course, sir. I meant no disrespect. I’m simply trying to understand. What is your concern?”
Another snarl. “I don’t . . .” He pressed his nose closer to the screen and spoke through gritted teeth. “There’s some kind of block. And the throbbing in my wrist, gums, and dick won’t stop. I . . .” He shoved the words out, the admission like acid against his throat. “I can barely think. All I want to do is breed her.”
A brief silence. “Yes, my lord. That . . . that is to be expected.”
“I do not want to be affected.”
A longer silence.
“It is the bond, Alpha Lord,” the beta said at last. “It works both ways.”
Another low, angry growl.
His fingers itched to close around his favorite laser and start shooting. Which was unusual because while most crime family members carried pieces, Nikolai had always viewed them as more of a last resort. An Alpha’s body was itself a weapon, so reliance on an outside defense like a laser seemed like a lazy male’s strategy. He preferred a more hands-on approach when dealing with a problem.
But his desire to use a hands-on approach was the problem in this case.
“The deepening of the fated bond is necessary for what you want.” The doc’s measured voice pierced Nikolai’s thoughts.