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  “Okay. You win,” he said, stepping forward with his men. Raising his hands in the air, he kneeled on the concrete, immediately soaking his kneecaps.

  The guard lowered his weapon and let out a shriek of anger. Sniffing wildly, the man cocked his head through the thin window. “A ploy,” he whispered.

  “Not a ploy. I am of Cassian’s blood,” Vash said, revealing the unique and glowing ink on his wrist of the snake eating its own tail.

  The guard chuckled. Maybe he’d heard that excuse one too many times. “We will need to fingerprint and quarantine you and your men if you want access,” he said. “That will come after we call Lord Cassian.”

  Lord Cassian. He hadn’t heard that one before. Vash felt the urge to hurl.

  “Frederik Johannson,” Vash said. The man stirred but did not say a word. “Two children. One mate—a biological beta female, who, by her very nature, is not fruitful. You are required by law to keep an omega in the household at all times if you are a breeder, are you not?”

  “I… I do not thin—”

  Vash stood and revealed the glimmering coins. Cupping his palms, he let the money fall onto the wet pavement. “Let us in, and all of you can live deliciously.”

  Heavy whispers from above shrouded the guards’ plans. It was easier to take control of someone than most thought. Cassian knew this. He’d taught Vash his ideas, but Vash had internalized it in the opposite way. Every brute deserved hell for their sins. However, that didn’t mean he was going to let the omega off easy.

  True enough, the omega didn’t mean shit to him.

  The guard grimaced but acquiesced. “Sending someone down. Lower your weapons.”

  Without a word, the alphas complied and even kneeled to the guards above. As the lone guard descended the ladder, Vash smiled at his instant success. Now, he could find his brother’s great experiment, the overwhelming loneliness he trapped inside a body.

  Stepping into the puddle of water, the guard stepped in front of the men and raised his rifle. “I cost more than that,” he scoffed.

  Vash raised his eyes at the man and analyzed his youthful face. He was practically a kid. Must have been in his late teens. He didn’t know fuck-all about this house of trauma and pain. Someday, when Vash took control, he’d find out.

  “You called my bluff,” Vash said.

  The guard nudged his barrel against the tip of Vash’s cold nose. “Don’t have all night,” he said.

  When the last of Vash’s coins spilled out of his pocket and into the man’s grubby hands, a sudden stillness surrounded them, as if the guard just realized their plans. “Is this a-a-a-?” he asked.

  Killian finished the boy’s sentence for him. “Coup?”

  Vash ran his fangs against his lips, teasing the moment out. “I’d advise you and your men to leave the area at once.”

  “We’ll disband, but you’ll have to blow the dome open and take out any remaining men inside,” the guard said. “I’m not taking the fall for this.”

  Killian grimaced and ground his heel on a rock beneath his boot. Vash knew he’d go along with the plan because he wasn’t fond of Cassian. It wasn’t his brutishness that bothered Killian, necessarily. Behind every action was a clear lack of loyalty and disdain of any overarching hierarchy. Killian would never be able to understand that. A pack was supposed to be devoted to the group, but Cassian was a lone wolf hell-bent on taking power.

  “You must be proud.” Killian grimaced.

  The man raised his eyebrow before pocketing the remaining coins. Pointing at Vash, he peeled his lips back, revealing a dreadful smile. “It’s like the man said. A man’s gotta eat.”

  Appearing calm and collected, Lucas lowered his night-vision goggles and imaged the area for any heat signals. Quickly, he found the rows of sheds—rooms that supposedly housed the subjects. However, scattered throughout the vicinity were other guards. It wasn’t going to be as easy an entrance as they’d thought.

  Even then, they had no guarantee she would actually be in this facility. Vash had gone off his brothers’ descriptions, but there were notable signs she had been moved quite a number of times. Plus, there were facilities scattered throughout every neighboring metropolis.

  Lucas tried not to think too hard about this. The mission itself was more important than muddying his mind.

  Reaching into his bag, he felt the dense mold of C4 and wiring. Every step needed to be followed to an accurate detail, or they’d all be dead.

  Lucas inserted the blasting caps into the crystalline white mold, carefully bending the material to suit his needs. He applied the sticky adhesive and topped it against the thick glass door of the dome. Lastly, he threaded the cables into a small black box.

  “Get your men the fuck out of here,” he snarled at the remaining guards.

  Quicker than he’d expected, the men came down. “Where’s the money? C’mon, asshole. We played ball.”

  None of that mattered. A ploy was a ploy. Killian withdrew a pistol from underneath his jacket.

  “Truly sorry about this,” Killian muttered before hugging the trigger of death. Buckets of bullet casings drifted around their bodies, sizzling with the smoke of gunpowder and red mist of fresh alpha blood. The three unleashed a wave of horrid killing.

  Soon, the alarm broke through the air, sending shockwaves of panic throughout the area. Any second now, droves of soldiers would descend upon them.

  “Lucas, what’s it going to be? We’ve got sixty seconds to get in there,” Vash said.

  Lucas punched a code and waited for the correct response tone from the machine. “And we’re good to go!”

  Running to the other end of the road, they crouched behind a metal sheet and waited. But as the alarm gave way to penetrating gunfire, Vash frantically clutched his hands over his head. “What the fuck, Xan? When’s this thing going to blow?”

  Biting down on the toothpick, Lucas abruptly cursed and squeezed around the butt of his rifle. “Killian, tell me you put a new fuse in the box,” he spoke through his teeth.

  Killian shook his head. “Don’t put this one on me, pal.”

  “Fuck!” Vash screamed.

  As soon as Lucas poked his head out, a bullet dug through the concrete near him. He ducked behind the cover again, praying loudly. “He made darkness His secret place; his canopy around Him was dark waters and thick clouds of the skies…”

  “Shut the fuck up and get out there!” Killian screamed.

  Tumbling into the frantic war zone, Lucas jumped away from the sounds of whizzing bullets and fell against the detonation box. He quickly picked it up, glancing at the levels on the LED screen. “Fuse is fine!” he called out.

  “Shit, shit, shit!” Vash darted out from behind the metal sheet. Loosely aiming his rifle, he squeezed the trigger and fired blindly.

  He ran toward Lucas, scraping his legs across the rain soaked pavement. “You okay?”

  Lucas nodded, but he felt unusually rushed for time. “Yeah, but this should have worked. I don’t understand.”

  Killian loaded a second clip and grinned as he took out a guard on the west wing of the dome’s central tower. “What the fuck is the problem?” he asked. “Light that puppy up!”

  Annoyed, Lucas hit the side of the box with his palm. Suddenly, the glass erupted in a pulverizing detonation. The sound blistered through their eardrums, knocking the men to the ground.

  As Vash watched it all unfold, the scene seemed to slow down. The puddles on the ground dried almost instantly, but before he could close his eyes for the kiss of Death, rough hands pulled him away from the burning rubble.

  “Well…” A cold, callous face slithered above his. “Brother…”

  A chill ran through his veins before the shock numbed his nerves. It was over.

  Chapter Three

  “As you know, the old republic’s coalition of armies will forfeit their rule over the seven continents. They will be replaced with certain…small factions. My men, of course,” Cassian said. �
��Traders. Bounty hunters. We’ll keep the long-lasting institutions, but there will be some changes…”

  Rae rested on his lap like a small kitten. Dirt ran through the once shiny strands of hair, and a large red bruise swelled underneath her eye. As she listened to the devastating news, she watched her father, an old man with stress eating at his heart. The wrinkles seemed to reach every patch of skin. She saw his every weakness and knew what fate he’d bestow on her.

  Coward.

  By now, she knew this was just a memory Cassian teased out of her like the melody of a broken snow-globe. However, every time she lapsed onto that strain of truth, a rush of confusion shrouded her thinking.

  Maybe everything is an illusion…

  A smile formed on her face as soon as the thought passed. It gave her a sense of peace to think of her memories as different rooms with doors that could be opened or closed at any time. Sometimes, she would see her father and feel the utmost love. On bad days, she would see Cassian’s shadow and tremble. Perhaps “peace” wasn’t the right word, but if she believed these visions weren’t a mechanism of being trapped inside a gilded cage, she could keep finding the energy to push onward.

  Cassian spread her legs over his thigh, and he lightly tapped his heel against the wooden floor. As her pelvic bone bounced against his kneecap, Rae counted the exact number of spiders she saw hanging on the dirty cobwebs above the doorway to the living room. Eight legs on all of them. She imagined plucking each out. Was that how Cassian felt when he saw her running away?

  Her father simply bowed his head like a fanatic, one of the crazed people in the cities she’d had heard so much about. He praised the accomplishments of his veterans, of his skillful planning and fortitude.

  “But let’s discuss what you came to discuss,” her father said.

  A jagged grin cut against one side of Cassian’s cheek. “Which is?”

  “You have a liking for the girl. Don’t play any games with me, sir.”

  He stopped bouncing his heel. Rae squirmed away to her papa, and Cassian let her run.

  Pulling on her father’s work clothes, she began to cry. “Daddy, please. I want to stay with you.”

  “It’s okay, sweetie,” he whispered. A shiver of darkness ran through her, but her father made no attempt at squelching her fear. “How much is she worth to you?”

  “Ten thousand chips,” Cassian said.

  Hot air fell from the man’s mouth as he pretended to think about the number. Obviously, it was a great offer. Ten thousand chips would get him through the next five years of instability. It just might save his life.

  “I might need some time to think,” he said.

  Cassian reached for his belt. A fairly large leather satchel hung off the side, full of lifesaving coins. As he dangled his fingers around the bottom of the bag, they jingled loud enough to tantalize the father.

  “Time is something that I no longer have,” Cassian said. “The city of Dagon will fall any day now.”

  “Then, so be it. It is the lord’s way,” he said, voice trailing low until it disappeared completely.

  “Yes. The lord’s way,” Cassian repeated.

  Rae’s father lifted an eyebrow and actually smiled with sudden joy. “Shall we pray?”

  Religion was the one thing that had lasted throughout the ages. The passages from the great scrolls could be taken, twisted, molded like the clay that supposedly made men. It was a tool of control much like everything else in this grotesque world.

  Cassian stood up and kneeled in front of the girl. “Come. We don’t have to play games anymore. You know what happens next,” he said to her.

  Rae walked toward him and put her arms around his portly neck. “Will it hurt like last time?”

  Cassian nodded and took her hand. Unfurling her index finger, he dragged a sharpened nail across the skin. “Pain is simply your body’s response to weakness. If it hurts, it is entirely your fault.”

  He pressed the tip of his nail until a thin pool of blood formed.

  “Ouch!” Rae jerked her arm back and dipped her finger onto the bed of her soft and healing tongue.

  Weakness.

  She took his hand and watched Cassian channel his blade out of its sheath. “You are mine now.”

  She nodded. “So be it. The lord has spoken.”

  Quick and easy, he sliced her father’s throat clean through. Sprays of blood showered onto Rae’s nose. Unlatching the leather satchel on his hip, he let the coins fall onto his graying body.

  The front door swung wildly as the house started to deconstruct into ashes. Outside, the landscape turned into a darkened mess. He pulled her toward the open storm, laughing wildly.

  One thing was for sure. When he opened her, she’d tear his fucking cock off.

  Calmly steadying his eye against the microscope, the specialist looked at the girl’s blood sample and swiveled the dial to enlarge the image. “Everything in the slide appears normal,” he reported

  Her immune system was a little weak, but Cassian knew all of that could clear up in less than a week with the proper hydration and nutrition plan. He would socialize her again, and he’d pray this would be the last round of memory treatments they gave to the poor slut.

  He traced his finger down her smooth stomach, stopping when it hit the center of her navel. “Vash has taken one of the facilities down in the east.”

  The doctor cleared his throat and sucked in a breath. Cassian had enemies in every single area of the world. It was only a matter of time before the specialist’s safety fell into jeopardy. “My colleagues… Are they safe?”

  Cassian looked at the frail specialist. He would die eventually, of course, but now was not the place to mention the obvious. “You are worried?”

  “No,” he said, doggedly. “But I was promised safety. A place where I could finish out my…your project.”

  The slippery, swallowing sounds that bubbled inside the doctor’s mouth angered Cassian to no end. “I need this project finished more than you and your colleagues need to live. Which, ironically, is precisely why you will be granted permission to bear arms during the incoming raids of the outside provinces of the city.”

  “Thank you, sir,” the specialist said. “I believe in the struggle. Your fight.”

  Lightly chuckling, Cassian faced the man and swiveled his palm against his fragile shoulder blade. Admittedly, he wasn’t one to tell the truth when it didn’t benefit him. However, the specialist had been a good worker, and Cassian felt him deserving of some respect. “Yes, but the coalition will reveal the terms for peace,” he whispered. “And when it does, I will be the sole man in power.”

  Cassian would bring them home to roost, but he needed the bitch to be his bride before he could allow himself any real black celebration. More than anything, he yearned for a rightful heir who would someday grant his exit. “You do not need to worry,” he said with rare honesty. “The men who raided the facility are in my possession. My men will dole out their punishments shortly.”

  “Thank heavens,” the specialist whispered. “The girl needs all the care she can get during these tumultuous times.”

  “Yes. Care.”

  The tears stung Rae’s eyes, and they wouldn’t stop piling behind her sinuses. An inward, sharp and heavy shoulder pain left her as a pile of ragged skin. Cuts and bruises littered her body like a spoiled fruit. All she wanted to do was end this everlasting nightmare.

  “Why are you doing this to me?” she asked.

  Cassian gave her a wicked look, yellowing teeth shining through the darkness inside the room. “Because you are nothing to me. This world offers no princesses, no heroes to quench your thirst for justice. You are alone.”

  Was it true? Perhaps, there was nobody willing to help her. Perhaps, she was just a sore on this earth, one that wouldn’t be covered to heal. Once, her father told her that God opened wounds to change the obvious outcome of man’s actions. To move things forward. Every time she saw the flowing flower petals between h
er legs, she understood what she was to be used for. It made her despise the old bastard even more than she did.

  God opened the universe and sent planet-shattering seed through negative space. Man opened the earth to plant ripe fruit. He created bullets to seed into any person willing to step toward the light as a saving grace. He created civilization to implode back into the earth with all its unimaginable sorrow.

  And he created Rae to keep that sorrow alive as a well-preserved, single-burning ember.

  “I am truly alone,” she whispered.

  Cassian spread her creamy legs apart, examining her tender lips. Slowly lowering his body, he positioned his widened nose over the drying secretion. “Mmm,” he huffed.

  Rae’s body jerked back, but chains held her against the worn stable door. Bits of straw clung to her bleeding kneecaps, and frayed strands of hair draped across her face and swelling mouth. “N-no more,” she pleaded.

  Cassian raised his palm with brash excitement. Rae braced for the impact, and he hit her with the strength of a tank. She smelled the rough beastly scent of both the horses and Cassian’s unwashed body. He took hold of the edge of her dress, lifting her soft, exposed ass into the air. Her nipples glided against the center of the fabric, hardened from the cold air around her. Still, she shook against her chains to escape.

  Cassian’s breath filtered heavily through his clogged sinuses. His large, protruding belly tapped her arms. Pinning her against the confining stable, he leaned in and licked up the crook of her neck. “Yes, more,” he whispered.

  Unsheathing his meaty flesh from his leather cock ring, he glanced down at his firmly blooming cock. Small, glistening beads of lubricant drifted down the spongy crown, and Rae knew what was about to come next.

  Rae closed her eyes and tried to imagine a better place. She remembered when she was younger. The boys would taunt her, but she found a safe space in the shrouded silence of her father’s crops. She used to stare up at the blue sky and imagine her future. But as she opened her eyes again, the thug burned that future away.