“Mine!” Rath snarled, the words weirdly distorted.
That’s when it happened. He… changed. The man she knew was taken over by something else. A beast. His shirt tore at the seams, revealing the same hardened skin and swirling marks across his back she’d seen on his chest.
She stumbled backward, every instinct screaming at her to run and hide. But he shot a hand out, clamping hard fingers around her wrist.
“Mine!” he roared, his voice deeper than she’d ever heard it. A small whimper broke from her throat and all she could think of was breaking free and running, finding somewhere to hide.
She heard a low growl from somewhere in front of her, but Rath snarled again and the next thing she heard was the scuffle of retreating footsteps.
“R-Rath?” she whispered his name and then reached out to place a hand on his back. Without thinking, she started to make that soft purring noise again.
“No!” Rath turned to glare down at her, and she saw his face for the first time. All black eyes and fangs, his handsome face twisted into something terrifying and bestial.
She squeaked and tried to pull away.
“Do not run, omega. Prey runs. Predators chase.”
She was too far gone in her fear to understand the warning. She needed to get away from him. Away from this place. Heart in her throat, she wrenched her wrist from his grasp with a small cry of pain and ran.
The roar echoed off the walls behind her, and her world narrowed down to corridors closing in on her, rough stone beneath her feet and the alpha chasing her. Terror added wings to her feet as she reached some stairs and tore up them. Halfway to freedom, though, a wrenching, wrong pain in her leg stole her ability to run. Crying out, she staggered to the side, trying to use the rail to pull herself up. But he was right behind her, the vicious snarls terrifying. So she did the only thing she could.
She dropped and curled up as small as she could where the wide step met the wall.
She expected to be grabbed and shaken.
Instead, a gentle hand touched her hair. “Shar’ai… what have you done?”
The question tore a laugh that was almost hysteria from her throat and she looked up to find black eyes studying her levelly. His beast hadn’t fully receded and she sucked a breath in at the sight. It wasn’t enough to hold her tongue, though.
“What did I do? Me? You did this!” she hissed. Fear gave way to anger and she embraced the emotional change. Anger was easier. She shoved at his chest. “You went all beast and grrr and I told you I didn’t want to come here!”
“And I told you not to run.” Rath’s voice was little more than a growl. He reached forward and picked her up like she was a wayward child instead of a grown woman.
“No!” She struggled against him but he held her easily against his broad chest. “I want to go back! Take me back to our place.”
“No.”
“Yes! Put me down and take me back!”
She tried to kick him, but he just growled again and hefted her into his arms like she weighed nothing. The next moment she found herself over his broad shoulder with an excellent view of his back and firm, tight ass as he stalked off.
“No! Stop it! Let me go!” She wriggled, not thinking that if he dropped her, it was a long way down to the floor.
“Behave!” he snarled, and his large hand landed heavily on her ass, spanking her. She squealed in outrage, struggling harder.
“Unless you wish to meet Lord Tane from your current position, you will stop fighting me. Now.”
That quieted her for a moment. “He’s here?”
“Yes. This is his citadel, and you managed to run almost right up to his door.”
“Which one?” she asked, trying to look around. It wasn’t easy and she couldn’t really see much apart from his back and her own hair.
Rath walked faster. “We just passed it.”
“What did that other one mean about not being allowed to claim an omega. You said I was yours. That you could protect me.”
“You are and I will.”
“How, if the Lord Overseer himself said you can’t claim me? Why did you bring me here? It’s not safe!”
Fear made her struggle against his hold again. It was the smartest plan, but it was hard to be clever when everyone around her—including the man who brought her here—was a dangerous alien. How had she managed to forget that?
He growled, hefting her again in his arms. Between one moment and the next she went from being over his shoulder to pinned up against the wall, his hard body capturing hers.
“You are safe,” he growled, his voice softer and his expression softening as he looked down at her. “I am Master at Arms to Lord Tane himself. My family has served his for generations. He trusts me, and he will back me when I explain.”
“Explain what, A’rath?” a dangerously deep and smooth voice invited, making her squeak and jump.
She looked over Rath’s shoulder to see a host of dangerous looking aliens behind him, the one in front the Overseer himself. She’d seen his likeness on banners and posters enough to know who he was.
Fear rolled through her, making the alien’s nostrils flare, and she drew closer to Rath instinctively. The movement made Lord Tane’s eyes narrow.
“My master at arms is quite right, little omega,” he rumbled. “You are safe here. No harm will come to you. On this, you have my word.”
Rath inclined his head, turning so she was sheltered behind him, protected from the others. The Lord Overseer might have assured her safety but the tension running through Rath’s body said otherwise.
“My lord,” he murmured, fist clenched over his heart in salute.
“Explain to me why you have an omega with a claiming mark when I specifically stated that no omegas were to be claimed?”
“He saved me,” Savannah managed to push the words through her suddenly too tight throat.
“Savannah is mine, my lord. Her scent calls to me. I cannot describe it.” He thumped a fist to his chest. “I feel it.”
“That seems to be going around,” Tane intoned dryly.
“You. Omega. What did my Master at Arms save you from?”
“Alphas. Raiders. They raided our village. I think they took all the women. Not just omegas.”
“The L’crav, my lord. They did this.”
Fury twisted the Lord Overseer’s features into something terrifying and Savannah hid behind Rath again.
“Your quarters. Now. Bring the omega.”
The omega. Savannah didn’t like the sound of that at all. She took a deep breath and stepped back into view. “I belong to A’rath of the H’thor.”
She felt Rath’s small intake of breath as the Lord Overseer’s dark gaze settled on her. “What did you say, little omega?”
For a moment fear crawled up her spine, locking her into place. Then she lifted her chin, her decision made. She was in the middle of a nest of vipers, and her only security was the mark Rath had put on her neck.
“I am not a little omega,” she said clearly, looking him in the eye. “I am Savannah, and I belong to A’rath of the H’thor.”
7
His omega had confirmed his claim in front of the Lord Overseer himself. Pride swelled Rath’s chest even as he hoped Tane was in a forgiving mood. The Lord Overseer was rarely addressed directly, and almost never by a female.