Chapter 8

 

Though Esin seemed optimistic with Morgaine’s behavior, Sergeant Uriel continued to press for a rapid and drastic change.

When he had come to see her upon Esin’s retreat, he shared none of the lower-ranking male’s smiles.

One sniff of the nest told a story Esin either failed to notice, or discounted out of pride.

But the astringent sting in the air spoke of much more than fear. It spoke of revulsion, of shame…

Even with direct stimulation, Morgaine failed to respond as expected. He climbed into her nest, unsettled the furs, sniffing often and growled in a ceaseless low hum of displeasure.

Damaged.

He might have muttered it under his breath, but she’d heard.

Maybe she was broken, but better to be broken than a mindless Alpha puppet. Standing where the sergeant had told her to wait, Morgaine watched him grow openly agitated. Before she might earn a lesson, she pleaded her defense. “I did everything he wanted.”

The sergeant’s slipping tolerance was been replaced with antagonism. Snapping his attention from the inadequate nest to her face, his voice came rough, angry and unforgiving. “Not only did he refrain from penetrating you for your comfort, he saw to your pleasure before his own.” Frustrated with her utter unwillingness to allow Corporal Esin to so much as smell the air around her without stinking of fear, impatient with her anger, her pleading, and her disgust, Uriel climbed from the nest, marching forward to stand over her and accuse. “I watched you enjoy it.”

It was uncanny knowing strangers had watched her scream at the top of her lungs, careless of how raw her voice had become when Esin began to rip off her furs. Morgaine had bit and scratched until sound failed her completely. She had cried for her mother when he’d forced open her legs.

The effort was for nothing.

Drawing her arms protectively around her body, Morgaine found she could not meet his gaze. She had felt unseen eyes on her from the first moments in this pretty prison—the lights, the tub, the cold air that would blast about as if there had been a change in the false forest’s wind… the images on the wall. All were coordinated by whomever was tasked with monitoring her.

Her blood like ice, Morgaine said aloud what they all knew, certain every move she made had been projected for strangers to witness all these days of her captivity, “You watched?”

“Of course.” Sergeant Uriel pointed at the artificial view of the forest on the screen that had previously shown the death of Esmerelda and the mating of the estrous-high Omega. “Beyond that wall, many Alphas observe your every move. There is a team in place to regulate your keeping and assure your happiness. Many among them are your suitors who have a legal right to have proof you are honored.”

Honored? If Uriel was frustrated, Morgaine was exasperated.

Love, happiness, safety, joy, pleasure—these words had been barked at her over and over, but never once had she felt any of them in Alpha care. Honor did not exist here.

He wasn’t done. “Furthermore, all mated Omegas are broadcast in their finest moments. How else are Alphas to learn how to please them, care for them, and discipline them where there are so few to go around? Grow accustomed to being watched.”

Amazed these monsters had found another way to shock her, Morgaine’s jaw dropped. “You allow other men to view your mate during...”

Pride swelling his chest, Sergeant Uriel stood tall. He even dared a hit of a smile. “Alphas need release. If they can find pleasure in the same moment I do, then it is my duty to provide it. An undrained Alpha is dangerous.”

“She is comfortable with this?”

“Like you, she has no choice.” He seemed to consider as if the thought had never occurred to him, following with, “I believe she takes delight in doing her duty for both me and the crew.”

Cheeks fiery red as the concept sunk in, she dared to meet the Alpha’s eyes. “Have you asked her?”

“Why would I?”

It was such a flippant reply that Morgaine could not help but snarl, “Because you love her… Because sex is sacred? Because even now I feel as if it was more than Esin who violated me.”

He gave her a slap, hard enough to sting, but not rough enough to knock her down. “Grasp this. You cannot be raped by an Alpha. You are an Omega, designed by nature to respond to our call.”

Hand to her stinging cheek, Morgaine stumbled back. “I did what he wanted…”

Countering her wobbly retreat, the sergeant came down upon her until she’d tripped and fallen hard on her rear. Reeking of furious Alpha musk, he roared. “You spent half the experience screaming for your mother! You are lucky he chose to exercise patience and leniency! Had it been I, you would have been silenced with that first embarrassing bleat!”

There was nothing to do but try to shrink back and appease, her every synapse warned that she was in danger. “I’m sorry.”

Seething, he closed his eyes, took a breath, and slowly grew collected. When a full minute had passed, he nodded at a thought, became the meditative man she’d first met, and said, “You’ll be silenced now. One more mention of her in any context, Morgaine, and there will be three strikes of the cane for you and a public whipping for Elizabeta where all your settlement might watch.”

Stricken, Morgaine could mutter no more than a terrified. “No…”

“Yes.” He seemed proud of the decree. “You will learn discipline. The best you can do for your mother is to forget she ever existed. Slip up, and she will bleed far more than you will. Someday you will even thank me for breaking you of your childish habit.”

His threat had set Morgaine into uncontrollable sobs no amount of purring could ease. Her punishment she could bear, but knowing her mother, a woman who was already grieving and in pain, would be whipped, could never be borne.

“Think on all I’ve said.” Uriel kneeled down and placed a hand on her bowed, shaking head. “Tomorrow you will impress me with the behavior of a woman and not the poor conduct of a child.”

He’d left her alone to cry it out. The lights had gone down and she had dumped herself into the sunken bed far away from the reeking furs and crusting remnants of Esin’s semen.

Hopeless and exhausted, she lay as still as a corpse no matter the artificial chill they pushed into the air.

They had taken her from her home. They had forced her to watch unspeakable things, made demands that were degrading and repugnant. And now… now they wanted to take her mother’s name out of her mouth.

It was worse than being stolen away, because Morgaine knew that one day she would slip. One day she would mention her mother, and the woman who loved her above all things would pay dearly for it.

***

When the lights came up, it had been after another sleepless night.

Sergeant Uriel entered with renewed vigor. Professional, with none of the prior day’s harsh temperament, he said, “I see you’ve spent a great deal of time in thought.”

Too tired to do anything but nod, Morgaine remained silent. Silence, in fact, was the best she could manage from now on. They wanted someone who only spoke when addressed. Now they would have one. Otherwise conversation would ignite a constant state of anxiety. It would be too easy to make a mistake.

Every phrase must be measured so that single, beautiful word might never pass her lips.

“Well, girl.” He cocked a brow. “Tell me your thoughts.”

Her thoughts were the most dangerous topic and would never be mentioned again. Rubbing her lips together, formulating an admissible reply, she said, “It’s time for breakfast.”

This displeased Sergeant Uriel. “Describe your distress.”

“I’m hungry.”

Lower went his unconvinced brow. “What is wrong with you?”

“I didn’t sleep well.”

“Enough, Omega.” He marched to where she stood meek and submissive just as he’d trained her. “You will explain this temperament.”

The more he pushed, the more Morgaine grew certain it was all some test. If she were to slip and explain a single thought in her head, she would fail.

And her mother would be mercilessly beaten.

He was waiting for an answer and she needed to find an appropriate one. A half-truth was the best she could do. “I have a slight headache.”

In fact, her head was pounding.

“My Omega enjoys when I brush her hair.” The locks that had modestly covered her bare breasts were gathered, Sergeant Uriel rubbing the golden waves between his fingers. “Would you enjoy such attention?”

Another test? “Does an Alpha enjoy offering it?”

“There is a deep satisfaction earned in pleasing one’s mate.”

Back in the settlement, after long days laboring over a loom, her mother would comb out her hair—offering her only child comfort, compassion, and love. The manipulation of large male hands wouldn’t erase the memory, only make it more painful. “Then I would be expected to comply.”

“That is an unsatisfactory answer, Morgaine.”

Anxiety bubbled into depression. Silent tears fell, Morgaine afraid if he heard her so much as sniff, a lesson would follow. “I don’t have a mate to comb out my hair, so I cannot answer you.”

“Do you want a mate?”

She wanted her mother. Eyes red, sinuses swollen, she stared forward and strove to be obedient. “You say a mate will make me feel happy. Everyone wants to be happy.”

“What’s wrong, Morgaine?”

She shook her head and did what Sergeant Uriel had told her was her purpose. “Nothing. What would you like me to do next?”

He wiped her tears, gentle in action but stern in voice. “Stop crying.”

Quiet, she nodded… and failed.

The wet drips kept falling.

With a resigned sigh, the sergeant dropped his hands from her hair and took a step away. “This will not do, Omega.”

Scrubbing her cheeks with the back of her hand, Morgaine sniffed. “I’m trying. I swear it.”

“And I believe you.” Abandoning her to her mood, he moved away. “Eat. I will return later.”

With that last word, he disappeared, leaving her a whole day alone to sit with her thoughts. The time was spent instead in dark, dreamless sleep.