Bariloche Sector by Lexi C. Foss
Sven
I studiedthe raw steak in the snow, well aware of where it’d come from—the high outdoor balcony above that belonged to a certain guest suite.
Lars sniffed the meat, his furry head cocking to the side as he picked up the traces of Omega from the teeth indents on the top.
He lifted his big black snout up and pinned me with a pair of curious brown eyes.
“She’s a new addition,” I said in a low voice. “Alpha Ludvig intends to introduce her in a few weeks.”
Or days, I thought in annoyance.
When I’d reported on Kari’s state to him yesterday, he hadn’t shown me any leniency, stating I needed to prepare her before the pack caught wind of her scent.
Which she wasn’t exactly helping me out with by tossing her fucking food off the balcony.
She probably thought it went into the ocean, as she wouldn’t have been able to see the small strip of land from her vantage point. It would just look like all water from the glass windows lining the outdoor patio walls. She’d clearly found one of the ventilation slats to toss her food out through.
Normally, we left those vents closed to protect the enclosure from snow drifts. However, I’d left them open because I thought she’d appreciate the fresh air.
I’d have to rectify that during my next visit. Assuming I even remembered it. All I could really focus on was my desire to tie her down and teach her a lesson in respect.
Disobedient little Omega. I warned you, little one, and you tossed my single demand out the literal window.
Lars grunted, drawing my gaze back to him. He could probably pick up on my mounting aggression.
There was one thing I despised—disrespect. As a young Alpha, I experienced it regularly. But there was a reason I’d moved up through the ranks. And Kari was about to find out why the wolves of Norse Sector considered me almost as superior as Kaz and Alana, despite my age.
“Don’t tell the others,” I said to Lars, my quiet tone authoritative. As I was a higher-ranking member of the pack, he’d adhere to my demand. Still, I felt it necessary to explain why. Subordinates were more willing to comply when provided with a worthwhile reason to act. “She’s not ready to meet anyone yet.” At his continued stare, I added, “She’s from Bariloche Sector.”
He visibly flinched, his wolf releasing a low growl.
“Yeah, my feelings exactly.” Bariloche Sector was notorious for mistreating Omegas. But no one ever did anything about it because we all had our own problems to handle.
Like keeping the Infected off our turf.
X-Clan wolves were immune to the zombie virus, but that didn’t keep the infected humans from trying to bite us anyway. We were warm-blooded and food in their dead minds.
I’d grown up with this life, the pandemic having taken place almost eighty years before my birth. But others like Kaz often spoke of life pre-infection.
Was Kari from that time period?I wondered, glancing up at the building. How old is she?
Perhaps I’d ask her.
After I made her tell me why she’d thrown a perfectly good steak off the fucking balcony.
Oh, you’d better have eaten something else. Anything else,I thought, my teeth grinding together in frustration. Maybe leaving her for another day had been the wrong move. However, it’d seemed like she’d needed space.
I shook my head.
Well, you’ve had your space, little wolf. Almost thirty-six hours of it.Because I’d been roped into helping my mother with a task earlier that had taken a lot longer than expected.
Which meant Kari had been here for two days now.
And if my suspicions were right, she hadn’t eaten a single thing since arriving.
“Do me a favor and clean that up,” I said to the Beta in wolf form. “I don’t want anyone catching her scent yet.” Because that would only shorten my timeline even more.
Lars bobbed his head in acceptance, then picked up the meat with his teeth. I wasn’t sure if he planned to eat the steak or toss it into the water. I didn’t stick around to find out, my inner animal roaring in anger that the Omega had disobeyed a clear command to eat.
I’d given her a safe space to heal and hide. An abundance of resources, too. And she’d thanked me by destroying the furniture and tossing a perfectly good piece of meat off the balcony.
Right.
Time for a lesson.
If she couldn’t take care of herself, then I’d do the job for her.
I keyed in the necessary codes, and within minutes I stood outside her door.
Silence met my entry, and a quick scan of the kitchen proved Kari hadn’t touched a single morsel of food. The bowl of water I had left for her was turned over on the carpet, where the liquid had soaked into the fibers of the floor. Yet another fun mess to clean up later.
But I had a disobedient Omega to punish first.
I didn’t bother calling for her. Instead, I followed my nose and found her curled into a tight ball of fur on the balcony.
“Shift,” I demanded.
She didn’t move. Didn’t even lift her little head. But she was definitely awake. I could tell by the shiver of her shoulders that not only was she very aware of my presence, but a smart part of her was also worried about what would come next.
“Shift,” I repeated, giving her one more chance to do this willingly.
When she refused, I growled, low and commanding, and compelled her to return to human form through sheer force of will alone.
She whimpered as her body reacted to my dominance, doing exactly what I told her to do. Her lack of food was evident in how fast she complied, her weak state unable to put up even a semblance of a fight against my wolf.
Bones cracked as her legs extended, her animal crying out in pain at being forced to retreat.
Then she began to tremble, her terror a pungent scent that made my nose twitch.
She curled tighter into a ball, her arms encircling her legs as she tried to hide.
“Kari.” Her name rolled off my tongue on a growl, causing her to flinch. Then she began to roll to her back, her legs stretching out along the floor and parting in what most would consider to be an invitation to fuck.
My wolf perked up, curious.
But the man in me recognized the beaten expression of submission.
She’d been trained to react this way, to anticipate an Alpha’s need to rut, and to just lie there and take it. My heart panged painfully in my chest, all my frustration and ire at her not taking care of herself leaping off the balcony to join that imprint of steak on the ground.
This poor girl had been through hell and anticipated the worst from my anger.
All I wanted was to take care of her, and I suspected no amount of words would convince her of that. So I would need to approach this through actions only.
I crouched down beside her and gently slid my arms beneath her shoulders and knees to lift her from the ground. Her slight weight told me just how fragile she was, her stomach empty from who knew how many days of starvation.
Cradling her against my chest, I began to purr and took her inside.
Unlike last time, she didn’t cuddle into me. She remained limp, her eyes falling closed as though she were already dead.
I pressed my lips to the top of her head and carried her to the bedroom. She didn’t react; she barely even breathed, already resigned to her fate.
But I didn’t set her on the bed.
Instead, I took her into the bathroom and set her on the marble counter. I leaned her back against the mirror, then held a hand out, half afraid she might fall to the side. But she remained seated with her eyes closed and her lips shut.
This was an Omega who had fallen into a dark space inside her mind, allowing the Alpha to do whatever he wanted. And I didn’t like her in this state at all. I preferred the disobedient growls from yesterday, or even the quiet comfort she’d achieved the other night when I’d first brought her up here.
Something had happened. Some sort of switch in her mind that just gave up, and I suspected she’d been on the verge of that since she’d arrived. Giving her space had been the wrong move. I wouldn’t do it again.
She needed nurturing and replenishment to gain some trust.
As well as a bath, I thought, eyeing the tub.
Given her lethargic state, that didn’t seem like the best choice, so I flicked on the shower instead. I’d worry about feeding her once she was clean and bundled up in a warm towel.
I kicked off my shoes and socks and stripped down to my boxers, then ran my fingers through my hair in an attempt to tame the unruly strands.
The locks promptly fell back into place around the sides of my face.
It was at that length where I couldn’t really tie it back, nor could I seem to hold it behind my ears.
Giving up on trying, I tested the water’s temperature and found it already heated despite the cool winter climate outside. Leaving the glass door open, I stepped over to pick Kari up again, my purr vibrating loudly to keep her as calm as possible. But she didn’t seem to notice. She was too far gone in her mind to even seem to realize what was happening.
Forcing her back into her human form must have been the breaking point. It hurt to be ordered to shift, and something told me she’d purposely driven me to that point so I would remove all her choices. She wanted me to be the bad guy in this world, to show her my worst side. I wasn’t sure how she benefited from that. Maybe it was a way for her to define her new normal.
I drew my fingers through her hair as I moved us beneath the warm spray from above, allowing the water to soak into her blonde strands and pale skin. Her lack of movement confirmed she’d fallen into a state of unawareness. She could stay there for now while I took care of her, but I’d need her to snap out of it eventually to be able to eat.
Balancing her weight with one arm, I held her against my chest and used my opposite hand to shampoo and rinse her hair. Angling proved to be a bit of a challenge, but her slight frame was easy enough to manage. I repeated the action with the conditioner, then soaped her off thoroughly by moving her around against me.
Not once did she move on her own.
Nor did she bother to open those pretty blue eyes.
Her heart rate remained steady, her breathing shallow, but she wasn’t asleep. Just… vacant.
I allowed the water to run over both of us for a bit, ensuring all the suds went down the drain before turning off the shower. My chest continued to rumble in that tranquil, rhythmic sound, hoping it would lull her out of this state.
But nothing seemed to work.
I wrapped her in a big fluffy towel, combed her hair, and dried myself off, without any success in rousing her.
Sighing, I whispered, “All right, little one. You win.” She couldn’t eat like this, and I didn’t want to risk driving her further into this state by forcing her to snap out of it.
Instead, I set her on the floor of the bedroom while I remade the bed with fresh linens from the closet—because she’d destroyed the other sheets and comforter with her claws—and retrieved some bottles of water from the kitchen.
She remained limp the whole time, her body mine to move and do whatever I wanted with.
Scooping her up from the floor, I carried her to the bed and settled us into the blankets. If she wanted to rest, I’d lie with her.
Spooning her from behind, I allowed her to feel my strength as an Alpha while my wolf vowed through the rumbling in my chest that he would protect her in this weakened state for as long as she needed.
Mine,he hummed. This Omega is intended to be mine.
