Home > Ruthless King (Ruthless Warlords #1)(6)

Ruthless King (Ruthless Warlords #1)(6)
Author: Alison Aimes

“You think you can use my own property’s gift to destroy me?” The depth of Olan’s rage was so great it bounced down the hall and shook the tiles beneath Dahlia’s feet.

She really did not want to go into that room. Each volley they lobbed at one another embedded like shards of glass beneath her skin.

“They cannot get to you.” It was the beta to her left. Rather than pity, his voice was thick with impatience, and perhaps a little superiority, as he tugged her along faster. “They are speaking through a private comms system and separated by thick glass. Otherwise, they’d tear each other apart. Once you arrive, the signal will be given, and the other crime heads will enter their pods. The assessment will begin.”

“I-I don’t want to be assessed.”

“It is only Alphas who get what they wish.” With a nod to the other beta, he tightened his grip and pulled her along faster.

She tried digging in her heels, but no luck. She simply skidded along the floor and kept going, her heels stinging as they rubbed the tile. Even betas were twice as strong as omegas.

She twisted in their grasp, anyway.

She knew what her mother would say. Do not fight what you cannot change. They may take your body, but they can’t take your mind. Be smarter. Rise above.

But no matter how much she wanted to be like her mother—to accept serenely and stride into that room of horrors, head held high—she could not find the detachment to make that happen.

She did not know how to serenely accept. All she wanted to do was rage and fight.

Bucking in her guards’ hold, she struggled to break free—and only succeeded in being dragged more roughly down the corridor, the thunderous voices growing louder.

“Once I am found innocent of your accusations,” roared Olan, “I will destroy you.”

“You have to get there first.”

“You think my daughter can help you?” Olan’s tone turned mocking. “That’s rich. Have fun with her, then. Especially that gift of hers.”

A new worry emerged, fear threading with Dahlia’s shame.

Thanks to her father’s lies, Nikolai Skolov—like the Verish family and everyone else—expected her gift to work. What would he do when he found out she was worthless?

She had to escape before then. That part of her plan could not change.

“I will wipe you and your entire family from this universe, Skolov,” shouted her father. “Once I’m exonerated, I’ll personally enjoy killing each of your brothers. I’ll save that sweet, ripe omega sister of yours for last—and I’ll be sure to sample her, defile her, and knot her ’til she screams before I rip her throat and pussy wide.”

Dahlia had always hated her father but never more than she did now. Both for his cruelty to the omega she’d never met and for baiting the very male who now controlled Dahlia’s fate.

The betas pulled her to a stop in front of a thick, glossy door five times her size. Despite her determination to show strength, she was trembling enough to make standing difficult.

Panels were pressed, lights shimmered. The time waiting to be summoned passed in the blink of an eye and dragged on forever.

But too soon, the directive came.

“Enter.” It was the same disembodied voice she’d heard earlier.

The doors slid open.

The betas bowed low, pulling her into the room.

Twelve thick glass pods stood in upright positions evenly spaced over ten feet apart in the circular room. Each was filled with a huge, intimidating Alpha. Some were more animal-like in appearance, some insect-shaped, some covered in slime, and some, like her, humanoid in shape and genetic makeup, but all the warlord crime bosses were massive and fierce.

The instant she entered, their gazes locked on her with unblinking stares, their bodies going unnaturally still.

Hands, paws, and hooves slapped against the glass. Someone roared.

She whimpered.

“They can’t scent you through the glass or break free.” The second beta’s voice was kinder than the first. “They are here to observe. They must remain within the containers during the assessment.”

She barely heard, her thoughts scattering as her gaze was captured by one male.

She could not look away. Could barely breathe.

Nikolai Skolov stared at her as if his hand was already wrapped around her throat, locking her in place. Even with her robe as a barrier, his burning stare was as visceral as the tips of claws against her flesh, toying with her, circling her nipples, skimming across her belly, and dragging down the length of her body before probing between her legs.

Gods help her, she trembled with the urge to bow before him. To beg him to do exactly as his ruthless gaze promised. To arch her back and spread her legs and earn his praise. To be a good omega. His good, dutiful omega.

Everything she had always promised herself she would never be.

The thought was enough to shake her from the worst of her trance.

Her pulse still fluttered, her skin tight and needy, but at least she now remembered the omega part of her was not what ruled her.

“The assessment will begin.” The disembodied voice jerked her from her thoughts.

Her fury returned.

This was exactly the kind of horror she was desperate to save her sister from.

“Come.” The two betas dragged her toward a simple metallic bench. Positioned in the center of the room, it rotated slowly on a circular platform, so it was visible to each pod from every angle.

“No.” Her struggles did nothing. Chest heaving, she was brought to stand at the back of the bench. The heat of too many hard, hungry, predatory eyes burned into her skin.

For a moment, before the bench turned, her father’s pod was directly in front of her. The smirk he gave her sickened her, but worse was how quickly he dismissed her, his stare locking on Skolov, his hate for the other man obvious.

That animosity was more emotion than her father had ever shown her. Olan Lundin neither loved nor hated her. He simply used her.

All her life she’d wanted one person to truly feel something for her. Not for what she could do for them or how she could best serve them, but because they cared.

“The property’s robe will be removed.” It was the same disembodied voice as before.

Her breathing hitched. Shifting slightly, her gaze instinctively returned to the only male she suspected had a chance of stopping this humiliation. Against all hope, she searched for the boy who’d once lived inside the brutal Alpha before her now.

“Please, don’t.”

The Ruthless King’s expression hardened. “Skolovs do not beg.” Even through the thick glass, his rumbled disapproval was clear. “You will remove your robe and you will present. You will allow the betas to confirm you are unused and in prime condition.” Something in his voice shifted, so subtle she almost did not catch it. “This is a Brotherhood requirement. After this, no other male will touch my property again.”

The declaration offered little comfort.

She stifled a sob and vowed to herself she would survive this, and she would get away. Nothing had changed. She refused to be broken.

“Do it now.” Skolov’s massive hand slammed up against the glass, his amber gaze shifting to lock on the betas still holding tight to her arms as his growl turned deadly. “Do it and then get the hell out as fast as you can, or I’ll rip you apart.”

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