Primal Possession: A dark Omegaverse Romance (Alphas of Sandor Book 1) Page 2

  Pushing himself off the wall, he walked toward her, his nostrils flaring involuntarily as each Omega’s scent reached him in turn.

  The girl was standing right at the end of the line, and when he reached her, Arius stopped dead in his tracks. Something he’d never felt before began to build deep in his gut, an unmistakable prickling sensation spreading through his entire body like red hot magma as he inhaled deeply.

  It was raw. It was primal. It was overwhelming.

  “Look at me,” he commanded.

  She raised two enormous, blue-green eyes to meet his and it was then that Arius knew.

  He had found his Omega.

  Chapter Two

  Saskia willed herself to stop trembling but it was damn near impossible. Especially when the huge, intimidating man stopped in front of her, pinned her in place with a piercing gray stare, and went absolutely still. It was as though he were carved out of stone.

  His nostrils flared as if in slow motion and her heart beat a frantic tattoo in her chest as he inhaled and she watched his expression change from one of mild curiosity to a look of raw, primal hunger.

  He looked like he would devour her.

  She had seen one or two Alphas from a distance, but never before had she stood in such close proximity to one. Even more impressive than the trademark expensive clothing they wore, which she had only ever viewed from afar, this one up close radiated power and dominance in a way she had never experienced before. He was undeniably attractive, in his perfectly tailored gray suit, but the way he was staring at her—like a cat eyeing a mouse—was distinctly unnerving.

  Breathe through your mouth, her mother had always warned her. If an Alpha’s pheromones reach you and he’s a breeding match, it will all be over. He’ll go into rut, you’ll go into estrus, and you’ll be powerless to stop him. It’s imperative that you don’t smell him.

  Saskia squeezed her eyes shut; the only way she could think of to escape that penetrating gaze he was leveling on her. But even against the sudden dark backdrop of her closed eyelids, his face remained as though imprinted in her mind.

  His long, shaggy black hair.

  His slightly hooked nose.

  His full, sensuous lips.

  The stubble coating his square, tense jaw.

  And those eyes… those iron-gray eyes that seemed to see right down into her soul.

  Saskia concentrated on breathing through her mouth until he interrupted her with a growl.

  “I thought I told you to look at me.”

  With a supreme effort, she forced her eyes back open and herself to meet his stare head-on. Determined not to cower or show any sign of fear, she lifted her chin and took a deep breath.

  Too late, she realized her mistake.

  A sensation she’d hoped never to feel began like a curl of smoke deep in her belly and spread out to encompass her entire body, lighting every nerve ending on fire. A slow, insistent pulse of lust thumped between her legs and she let out a gasp at the sudden, intensely erotic feeling.

  “Arius?” Another equally tall man appeared at his shoulder.

  Saskia was vaguely aware of dark russet hair and a second Alpha scent hovering in the vicinity but she couldn’t make her head turn to look at him, couldn’t speak, couldn’t do anything but stand there as her skin prickled and the insistent, pulsating ache grew stronger and stronger.

  Gods, help me.

  “Arius?” the second man repeated, louder this time.

  “This one,” Arius said slowly, reaching for Saskia. As his big hands gripped her upper arms, she let out a helpless moan and felt a gush of liquid warmth in her panties. “Name?” he said, almost like an afterthought.

  She shook her head, unable to speak.

  “This is Saskia, Your Highness.” A Trapper stepped forward proudly.

  Saskia blinked. Your Highness? Surely this wasn’t that Arius?

  “She managed to escape the Facility by disguising herself as a Beta, as you can no doubt see,” the Trapper babbled on. “We brought her back in not five minutes before you arrived, so there was no time for her to change. You can rest assured she will be severely punished for her attempt to run away.”

  “She will not.” Arius spoke slowly, the crushed velvet timbre of his voice sending chills down Saskia’s spine. “She will be coming home with me now. She will be my mate.”

  “Your Highness, this is most irregular—” the Trapper began, but the second Alpha cut him off mid-sentence.

  “Remember whom you are addressing,” he snarled. “This is Arius Sandarus, sole heir to Sandor. If he wishes to circumvent protocol and take this woman home with him, it is his right to do so.”

  The Trapper paled. “Of course,” he muttered. “I simply wanted to… wish you well. We can attend to the, uh, paperwork later and send her belongings on to, er, your address.”

  Saskia felt like she was hovering above her own body, observing the scene from someone else’s point of view. It was all too surreal. Just a few hours previously, she had been sitting in the kitchen of her family’s modest home, peeling vegetables.

  Now she had been chosen as the mate of the second most powerful Alpha in Sandor? One about whom very little was known, but who had a reputation of being just as cruel, greedy and indifferent to the plight of its citizens as his mad uncle?

  After the way her body had reacted the moment his scent had reached her nostrils, she was in no doubt that they were a breeding match. She could already feel herself going into estrus—two weeks earlier than she was due. But while she couldn’t control that, was powerless to stop the sudden hormones raging through her system, she could—and would—not be conquered easily.

  With terrifying ease, Arius lifted her and tossed her unceremoniously over his broad shoulder, leaving her dangling and helpless, her face a mere few feet above the ground.

  “Put me down!” she whispered, horrified at the plaintive tone in her voice.

  Ignoring her, he addressed the other man in the black suit. “Come on, Evander—or stay here and keep looking for an Omega. Either way, I have immediate business to take care of.” With that, he spun on his heel and stalked straight out of the building.

  Saskia watched the shiny floorboards of the Facility soon give way to the cobblestones that were typical of Sandor’s roads. She could feel the urgency vibrating through every inch of Arius’s immense, powerful body, and knew the proximity of her sex to his face was only increasing his lust. The Hill was still some distance away, and she wondered whether he’d be able to fight his desire to claim her long enough for them to reach it.

  This was not supposed to happen. Escape from the Facility was difficult, but obviously not impossible, otherwise the Trappers would have been more curious about where she’d come from. So her plan had been to somehow hide the fact that the Omega symbol was missing from her arm long enough to find a chance to escape and go home.

  Once Arius had claimed her for the first time, getting away would be nigh on impossible. Already her mind was growing foggy from the hormone cocktail surging through her bloodstream, and that was just from his scent and the cursory, utilitarian way he was carrying her to his car. The more time passed, the more he touched her, the less able she would be to resist. To fight. To escape.

  Clamping one thickly muscled arm around the backs of her knees while he opened the car door, he leaned down and bundled her inside without her feet even touching the ground.

  “Don’t move,” he said simply, and slammed the door shut. She was sprawled across the backseat, and by the time she had scrambled to a sitting position, he was already in the driver’s seat and the engine roared to life at the same time as the locks clicked all around her.

  She was trapped.

  Again.

  Leaning back, she pushed her hair off her face with trembling fingers and tried to form coherent thoughts.

  Make conversation, a little voice told her. Form a connection. If he likes you, he might…

  Might what? Be gentle? Take you
back to your parents’ house and come in for a cup of tea?

  The giggle bubbled up from somewhere deep inside and Saskia was helpless to prevent it. It was nervous hysteria, she knew that, but it didn’t sound like it, and she clapped her hands to her mouth to suppress the sound.

  Too late.

  “Do you find me so amusing?” Arius spoke regally, imperiously, navigating the narrow streets with deft precision.

  To her absolute horror, this only made Saskia laugh harder.

  “Please, little Omega, share your joke with me.”

  She bit the inside of her cheek, hard, the sharp pinch helping her regain her focus as she thought frantically how best to reply. If she told him the real reason, he’d know how intimidated she was. “Sorry,” she said, forcing her voice to remain steady. “I just… remembered a joke my father used to tell.” The thought of her father was enough to erase the last trace of laughter from her lips.

  “If it is so funny, I would like to hear it.”

  She wondered why he was speaking so formally. He hadn’t addressed his Alpha friend in such a bizarre, stiff way. “I don’t think you would enjoy it,” she said curtly, turning her head and staring out the window, enjoying the brief flash of satisfaction at being able to deny him this simple request. It definitely seemed like he was not a man accustomed to being denied anything.

  A dense, tense silence filled the car like a fog. She was trying to keep breathing through her mouth, reluctant to succumb even further to the heady allure of his scent, but it seemed to be growing stronger with every passing moment. Desperate for distraction, she tried another tack. “So how should I address you? Your Highness? Sire?” It was hard to keep the edge of sarcasm out of her voice. As far as Saskia was concerned, members of the royal family did nothing to earn their status. They were simply born to the right parents at the right time.

  “Arius,” he said abruptly.

  Saskia didn’t have a clue about royal protocol but she was fairly sure not everyone was permitted to address this man by his first name.

  “As my mate, you will call me Arius,” he repeated in response to her sullen silence. “It is a great honor.”

  She knew he was expecting a reply, possibly even hoping for a gushing show of gratitude. Again, she found satisfaction in refusing to grant him that.

  “There will be many rules for you to follow, and strict protocol, little Omega,” he went on when it became obvious she wasn’t about to respond. “But in return for being my prized mate and giving me heirs, you will be treated with respect and deference and live a life of luxury, of that I assure you.”

  “What about my family?” she blurted out.

  “What of them?” She could hear the frown in his voice.

  “Will I…” she swallowed past the sudden lump in her throat, “see them?”

  There was a long pause, during which she realized her error. Arius only confirmed it. “How old are you, little Omega?”

  “Twenty-three, and my name is Saskia.” She folded her arms across her chest.

  “So you have been at the Facility for five years. Plenty of time to adjust to no longer seeing your family.” The hidden meaning was clear. She had goofed. “In fact,” he went on, despite the sudden lurching feeling in her stomach, “I must admit I’m surprised not to have seen you before. Evander and I visit the Facility every month.”

  A cold feeling of panic replaced the lurching in her stomach, a steely cold fist gripping her gut, squeezing it tight. Her mind was racing. What to say? Confess to everything and risk her family’s punishment? No. They would almost definitely be executed. But what other reason could there be? She remained silent, gripping her upper arms so hard her knuckles turned white.

  “No matter,” he said at length, “I’m sure we’ll work it out. But not now. We’re here.”

  Arius was trying his best to concentrate, to focus, but it was nigh on impossible with that Omega’s scent surrounding him, scorching his nostrils, making his blood boil with lust.

  He regretted leaving Evander back at the facility—his friend could have helped distract him—but it was as if one whiff of her had made him unable to process a single coherent thought.

  His cock felt raw, as if the skin were too tight, and it was seeping already.

  Were he any other Alpha, he would have probably taken her at the Facility—dragged her into a back room, torn off that drab Beta coat, and slaked his initial, overwhelming need for her. But he was Arius, heir to Sandor, and she would be the mother of his children. There had to be some decorum. He’d been waiting for this moment for almost twenty years and he was going to savor it. Slowly. His mind would rule his body.

  He’d felt her eyes boring into the back of his head throughout most of the drive back to his residence. Lurking beneath the raging inferno of his hormones had been something else, a little voice urging caution, a sense that he should be wary of her somehow. That she was being dishonest with him.

  Her odd statement about seeing her family.

  The fact that he’d never laid eyes on her at the Facility until that very evening, even though she should have been there for five years now.

  But it was impossible to think clearly with that sweet, musky scent of hers permeating every inch of him.

  Parking the car in his underground garage, he unfolded himself from the driver’s seat and opened the door closest to her. Leaning in, he scooped her up.

  “I’m fully capable of walking,” she said angrily, struggling against his grip. “Put me down!”

  Maybe it was better that way. The closer he was to the heat of her body, to her scent, the more he had to fight to maintain his composure. “Very well,” he said, but took her hand in his. Just in case.

  They were at the door to his suite in minutes, Arius staring straight ahead, constantly conscious of her beside him, her little hand engulfed in his own. His staff knew he preferred them to be discreet—seen but not heard—and they scattered as he prowled into his rooms and slammed the door shut.

  Once in the bedroom, he and Saskia faced each other, panting. He let go of her hand with extreme reluctance.

  “You might like to freshen up,” he said, pointing to the door leading to the bathroom. “There are towels in there, soap, shampoo; anything you might need.”

  She stared at him, her chest heaving. One hand went self-consciously to her hair.

  “Now,” he growled, and there was a flash of something he couldn’t quite identify in those wide, aquamarine eyes—Anger? Fear? Resentment?—before she spun around and stalked into his luxurious ensuite.

  Taking a deep, ragged breath, he pushed his hair off his forehead and went back out into the hallway. As always, his two most trusted servants, Tavos and Cerus, were hovering nearby, waiting to be summoned.

  “I have found my mate,” Arius told them, still barely able to believe he was speaking those words after all this time. “Please have meals sent up and set outside my door. No one is to disturb us, not for any reason.”

  “Your Highness…” Tavos began.

  It was then that Arius spotted the light of panic in Tavos’s blue eyes. He raised an eyebrow, waiting for his servant to continue. The Beta was almost wringing his hands.

  “Sire, it’s your uncle. He’s… having another episode. More madness. More draconian decrees—”

  “More of the same,” Arius cut in. He would not let Deimos spoil this moment. Once Saskia’s heat cycle had passed, he would emerge from his rooms and deal with whatever new folly his uncle was entertaining. Not before. Maybe she’d already be pregnant and nesting, his first heir taking root in her belly. If that was the case, he might even overthrow the idiot. His claim would be strong enough if he’d proven he could further the Sandarus bloodline.

  Tavos looked torn, his eyes wide. “Sire, you don’t understand. He’s—”

  “I dislike repeating myself,” Arius interrupted him icily, “but I have found my Omega. I will not be disturbed until I give the order. In the meantime, meals ar
e to be left outside my door.” He turned and stalked back into his suite of rooms, leaving both Betas staring after him.

  The sound of the shower running was audible through the closed bathroom door, and Arius permitted himself a grim smile. So she did know how to obey, even if she sometimes had to be forced.

  He had no problem with that.

  As he waited, he wondered what had become of Evander. Surely the gods wouldn’t be that beneficent as to allow his best friend to find his own Omega on the same day. So the poor bugger would have to walk home, enshrouded in the heavy cloak of disappointment Arius knew only too well.

  Rubbing his jaw, Arius eyed the plush chair in the corner and opted to pace instead, trying in vain to work off some of his nervous energy. Every fiber in his being clamored for him to simply go into the bathroom and take what was now his, but he had never enjoyed fucking in the shower—it was too hard to grip his partner—and he wanted to savor this first time.

  That was how he felt, he realized as he stalked up and down in front of the rarely used fireplace. Like a virginal adolescent just before he saw his first naked woman. But Arius had had scores of women in his bed. So it wasn’t a case of nerves. It was the waiting.

  Arius was not accustomed to waiting.

  And the water was still running.

  He counted to ten before making for the ensuite and pounding on the door. “Time’s up, little Omega,” he growled. “Unless you want to be bent over the bathtub with your head under the running shower while I fuck you from behind, I suggest you dry off and come out here immediately.”

  There was a pause, then the water shut off. “I have nothing to wear.” Her voice was muffled but clear and steady. As though she wasn’t intimidated by him in the least.

  That irked him.

  “You don’t need clothes. I want you naked.”

  Another pause.

  Arius took a deep breath. Frankly, he didn’t care how dirty she was, he would have taken her anyway. But for reasons even he didn’t quite understand, he wanted this first time between them to be special. And while soap and water would never completely mask her scent, they might diminish it enough that he could retain some self-control, at least for a little while. Because the lust that raged through him the moment he took his first, intoxicating breath of her was unlike anything he had ever experienced before. It was enough to put a grown man on his knees.