Bariloche Sector by Lexi C. Foss
Kari
Norse Sector
My wolf whined inside me as a new presence lingered nearby. Alpha. Superior. Dominant.
I could feel him more than see him, his presence a beacon that demanded submission.
Sven had said no one would enter these rooms aside from him and Alpha Ludvig. Which meant the latter had arrived. But he wasn’t in the room. Otherwise, I would be able to hear him clearly. Instead, all I picked up on were the low rumble of voices.
I took another sip of the water, pacing myself in case Sven had lied and decided to come back to knot me. I’d learned long ago that it was best to suffer through sex on an empty stomach. Whenever I ate first, I ended up losing the contents of my insides on the Alpha, and that never ended well.
The low murmurs continued, their tenors suggesting they hadn’t moved.
I set the bottle down and wrapped the blanket tighter around myself before standing. A peek out the bedroom door confirmed they weren’t inside the apartment space. So I crept forward toward the main door to see if I could hear them any better.
Maybe they would reveal their plans for me.
Sven had said I wasn’t a slave. He’d also said he didn’t intend to fuck me in my current state—whatever that meant—and that we would figure out my place here.
But never once had he asked if I wanted to be here. Or bothered explaining why he’d taken me away from Winter Sector. He’d just kept telling me I was safe.
I nearly laughed.
An Omega was never safe around an Alpha.
As I approached the door, their voices became clearer to my wolf hearing. If I were more nourished and a stronger shifter, I probably could have discerned their words from the other room. Alas, I had to press my ear to the door to really make out what they were saying.
“… some glorified pet?” the deeper voice asked.
“That’s not what—”
“I heard what you said, Sven. She’s an unmated sterile Omega that you want for yourself. That’s not how this works, and you know it.”
“I won her. Therefore, she’s mine.”
“Correction. She’s mine,” the deep voice replied in a lethally soft voice. “Everything you do reflects back on Norse Sector. And that includes engaging in brawls with other Alphas over an Omega slave.”
Silence fell, sending a chill down my spine.
“It was the right thing to do,” Sven said after a beat. “I won’t apologize for it.”
“This isn’t about right and wrong, but about how your decisions impact the sector as a whole. If what you’ve told me about the situation is true, then yes, you won her fair and square. But she is not yours, Sven. She belongs to Norse Sector now. And she will be available for all the Alphas as a result.”
My stomach twisted, my future flashing before my eyes.
Sven had said I wasn’t a slave here. I hadn’t exactly believed him, but removing my collar had been a nice touch.
“She’s not ready for that,” Sven said in an equally dominant tone. “She’s malnourished, exhausted, and terrified. I know you can smell it as well as I can. She needs to eat and sleep. She also needs to be examined to determine if she’s even really sterile.”
“And you want to be the one to oversee that process.” It wasn’t a question but a statement.
“I won her. Therefore, it should be my responsibility to properly prepare her for Norse Sector.”
I almost snorted. Of course he would be the one to offer to feed me and “examine” me himself. I knew what that meant. He would knot me before the others. Get his fill of me and pass me on to his friends.
All Alphas were the same.
They only cared about their knot. Their pleasure. Their need.
It was never about Omegas or what we wanted. We were just here to bend over and take it.
I didn’t bother listening to the rest of their conversation. I’d overheard what I needed to know.
Sven Mickelson was just like every other Alpha I’d ever met. He’d won me in a violent game and taken me to his home sector. Away from Alpha Enrique—the only male wolf of my acquaintance who had ever given a damn about my desires.
Now what? I wondered. I was in a place I didn’t know, one my mother had claimed was different, with Alpha males who wanted to turn me into a slave of their own sort.
Yeah, he had removed my collar. But that didn’t mean anything if he intended to just keep me in this glorified prison for the Alphas of Norse Sector to use.
My teeth ground together as I ventured back to the bedroom.
He lied to me. I wasn’t sure why that surprised me. Or maybe surprised wasn’t the right term. It… it… well, it hurt for some reason. Maybe because he’d awakened a small glimmer of hope—a glimmer my mother had inserted into my thoughts as a young girl.
She’d always said there were decent Alphas out there.
For just a few minutes, I’d nearly believed her.
Alpha Sven had been almost tender with me. But his true colors had shown out in the hallway. He considered me his property because he’d won me.
And now he planned to prepare me for the Alphas of Norse Sector.
No doubt by pretending to be kind and considerate. Just to rip it all away when his need to rut came along.
Well, I wouldn’t make it easy for him. He’d taken away my one escape by removing me from that cage. I was supposed to only suffer through a final night. Then Alpha Enrique was going to help me.
He was the only Alpha who ever kept his word.
Now I had no way to reach him because Alpha Sven had stolen me. He’d ruined everything.
I hated him.
I refused to obey him.
And I would start by not eating.
Or bathing.
I dropped my blanket and looked down. Actually, I’d take it one step further.
I would no longer be human.
My wolf happily obliged my call, our freedom to shift at will a unique experience. The collar had always controlled me. Without it, I could finally bond with my animal side the way a shifter should.
Alpha Sven had unknowingly provided me with the opportunity.
Now I’d repay him by using it against him.
You want me healthy enough to take your knot? Good fucking luck.
I was done being a pleasure sleeve.
I wanted the right to choose. And at this point, I chose starvation… and death.
My wolf growled in disapproval.
It’s better this way, I argued.
She snorted out loud, reminding me that I’d shifted. On my own. Without someone demanding it.
Huh.
It had been so natural I’d barely felt it. Usually, changing hurt, almost as though my bones were being forced the wrong way. But this had been akin to standing up.
I spun around, reveling in the feel of being free. My fur fluffed out as static electricity stroked along my spine. I wanted to run. To frolic. To play. But there was nowhere for me to go other than that outside area.
I trotted over to the door Sven had shown me and nosed my way outside. Then I skipped to the end of the grass-coated patio area in less than a minute.
Well, that’s disappointing.
It just led to another door, which opened into a room like the one I’d just vacated. A peek out the bedroom door revealed a similar living area as well. So it was really two suites tied together by the hallway with the elevator and the outdoor patio.
I went back outside and looked up at the tree branches overhead. They were attached to live trees with roots in the soil and grass below, and they mostly blocked the sky above. Glass windows stretched high over the balcony walls completed the enclosure, allowing me to see the ocean and the moon beyond without risking any attempt at jumping off the platform to the waves below. Considering I was at least twenty stories in the air, I could understand that safety measure.
Well, this definitely beat my cage in Bariloche Sector. But I knew better than to become accustomed to this luxurious prison cell.
Once Alpha Sven realized that I had no desire to adhere to his commands, he’d throw me in a box.
Just like my father had.
My wolf whined a little at the thought. So I distracted her by giving up the reins to her animalistic senses.
Go sniff.
Go roam.
Go explore.
And maybe I could even coax her into destroying a few things along the way. Like the pillows inside.
You can’t trick me, Alpha Sven. I know your kind. So I’m going to try something new and not submit. You have nothing to hold over my head to force my compliance. So what do I have to lose?
