He landed face side up, her on top. His huge cock dug into her ass.
Stunned, it took her a moment to find her voice. “What’s happening?” She had to shout to be heard over the alarms.
“Your father, I suspect. He doesn’t like to lose.” Skolov sounded pissed, but not at all surprised.
They slid together across the floor, the other wall coming up fast.
Gods help her, the ache for his hands to be between her legs throbbed so bad that even fear and shock were not enough to staunch it. He truly was pulling her strings to make her dance for him.
But she had another worry to contend with first.
“Olan is trying to shoot us out of the sky?” She flailed outward, searching for purchase.
“No.” Skolov caught the leg of the bolted-down desk with his palm, anchoring them in place. It was just in time as the shuttle tilted back in the other direction, and everything not pinned down slid back across the floor, slamming into the opposite wall. “Not us, only me. He wants me to know he’s taking you back before his goons deliver him a picture of my severed head.”
“How could you know that?”
“It’s what I’d do.” The ship rolled once more. “But he’s got to know it’s a suicide mission. No one is taking what belongs to me.”
“But the Brotherhood said not to retaliate against one another.”
“You think Olan cares about that? He’s spent years trying to kill me and mine.” He batted away a lamp headed straight for them. “Keep your head down.” He tucked her head beneath his free arm, shoving her nose into the crook of his elbow.
The potent scent of Alpha male and power filled her lungs, arrowing straight to her core. But what flared in her chest was more tantalizing. Warmth. Longing. Awe.
No one had ever protected her before.
This morning, she’d been stuck in the same four rooms for over 5,475 rotations. Outside of her clashes with her father, her schemes for escape, and the few times Olan had taken her out of her room, like a doll off the shelf, to be presented to his allies, nothing exciting ever occurred.
She hadn’t realized until this very moment that she’d been dying a slow death.
She hadn’t realized she’d been waiting for Nikolai Skolov to come back and wake her up.
Every nerve tingled. Every inch of her skin desperate for his touch.
A small faint voice in the back of her head whispered that this was the heat clouding her thinking.
But she felt too alive to care. Too treasured to mind.
Out of nowhere, a soft purr erupted from her. A sound she’d never made before in her life. The sensation and the emotion behind it were so wonderful it took her a moment to remember Nikolai Skolov wasn’t her savior at all.
“Two intruders,” announced the computer. “Entering through the airlock. Requesting permission to initiate vaporization.”
He could do that?
“Request denied.” The growl that issued from Skolov’s chest was so deadly it vibrated down to her toes and sent more slick pearling on her cunt. “Let. Them. Come.”
She pressed her thighs together and prayed he didn’t notice. “What? Why?”
Powerful arms flipped her over, bringing her face to face with full lips, elongated fangs, and fierce eyes the color of blood.
Panic and need slammed through her in equal measure.
Something had tripped him into full rut.
His nostrils flared wide. “I will rip them limb from limb. Then you will purr for me again and give me your gift and your body.”
Every possessive word, coupled with a blast of testosterone and aggression, muddled her mind worse than before. “I-I didn’t purr for you.”
Or had she?
He inhaled deep. “You like my aggression.”
“What? No.”
His palms skimmed down her body, gripping her ass and jerking her upward so that she rubbed over his cock.
They moaned in unison.
“You. Like. It.” Even in his rut, he was arrogant. “That pull is still there, even years later.”
“N-no.”
Crack. A slight sting radiated across her bottom. Crack. Another, this time on the other cheek.
She cried out. “Stop!”
“Punishment. For disobedience.” Crack. “And your lies.”
With each forceful spank, her ass throbbed with pain—and terrible heat. It traveled from her sore bottom to her pussy, her thighs so wet now she could feel them sliding open as she tried to keep them pressed tight.
“Tell me.” Crack.
“Yes,” she moaned. “You’re right, Skolov. The omega in me likes your aggression.”
“Mmmm.” He licked the side of her neck, his big palm molding her ass cheek like clay, spreading the heat, working her arousal higher. “Good omega. Obedient omega.” He breathed against her temple. “Mine.” Another low growl rumbled from his chest. “You will call me Nikolai or Alpha when I am fucking you, omega.”
Panting, she fought to stay lucid. Despite every effort, her body was responding to him, but she had no idea if whatever had been blocking her vision was weakening, too.
“The intruders have entered and are in hallway three,” announced the computer.
In the next moment, she was lifted bridal style and set down on her feet. He jerked his pants to his hips.
“Stay.” He marched toward the door, knuckles cracking.
“Wait.” Her heart slammed in her throat. “I . . . I need a weapon.” It was worth a try.
His fangs flashed. “You have one.” He slammed his chest with his fist. It was such an Alpha declaration. Primitive. Primal. Entitled.
Her traitorous clit throbbed harder.
Then he was gone.
Now was her chance.
She had no idea how long whatever had blocked the last vision would remain, or if it would be there the next time.
She grabbed the sheet from the mess on the floor and, folding it high enough to clear her ankles, wrapped it around her and tucked the end between her cleavage.
It seemed to take forever.
Then, she was weeding through the wreckage, tossing disks and papers and pillows aside until she froze.
Yes!
She’d found it. The tool Skolov had used to pull Olan’s tracker from her. She’d need it to remove the one inside her as well as similar trackers from her mother and sister—and the tool was solid enough to slam at someone’s head if she got lucky enough to get a swing in.
Perfect. She yanked it from the heap and made her next plan. She’d head in the other direction than the one the Alpha had taken. She’d locate the emergency escape pod. All shuttles this high tech had one, maybe two.
If she left now and returned to the Lundin compound, she might be able to get to her sister, remove her tracker, and run before her father realized she was no longer in Skolov’s custody. She would figure out how to get to her mother later.
For the first time in forever, she actually had a real chance at getting her sister away from all this.
Energized, Dahlia started forward and then stifled a moan. Her body was so primed, so swollen and wet from Nikolai’s Alpha growl, even that bit of friction was torment.
She’d have to push through.
A roar sounded.
Skolov’s call. Vicious and aggressive. Powerful. The call of the most powerful of Alphas.