Frenzy…

When a female omega meets a viable alpha mate and things start to proceed in a satisfactory way, she could tip over into frenzy. Increased sexual responsiveness and need, higher basal temperature, reduced inhibitions, it was all leading to one thing—a heat. I’d lose my fucking mind, become some animal thing, craving alpha cock, any cock, and willing to do anything to get it. When he knotted me, shoving that brutal base of his deep inside me, only then would I be able to settle, working myself over and over on his shaft, as far as that massive protuberance would allow, gushing slick and crying out for him.

For him to bite me.

Mark me like a bloody dog, ‘claiming’ me as his.

Like that was even possible. It was the subject of many overheated romance novels, but the reality? I saw those hardened faces of the girls back at Jace’s bar, the way they looked at me with a shitty mix of concern and pity. Omegas were currency in the zone, to be passed around as a form of coin, worthy only for what we could give an alpha.

Suppressants… the remains of my poor beta brain squeaked out. Dawn Agency.

An institution where omegas went in and were cared for but rarely seen. The thought of it had my fingers clawing at my nest materials, but what were my options? My new nature had plenty of answers for that.

I could almost feel him enter the room, stalking over, just staring at the position I’d put myself in, following the pearly trail of every drop of slick sliding down my thighs. His fingers, they’d collect some of it, rub it across his fingertips before those full lips would part and he’d lick them clean, greedy as a child. Then he’d go back for more.

I remembered him dragging my panties to his nose and inhaling like they were a drug. He still had my underwear somewhere in his apartment, since I hadn’t found them this morning and I’d been too embarrassed to ask.

I gushed helplessly as I pictured him bending over, sniffing the air, drawing my scent in, his tongue moving restlessly over his bottom lip because he knew what was coming—my taste, taken greedily from the source. My fingers stroked my clit anew as I saw his fingers digging into my arse, keeping me split wide as his tongue lashed everything from butt to clit, no part of me able to escape his oral inspection. He would eat me alive, sucking my slick straight out of my cunt, only for me to gush more. A high-pitched whine escaped my lips as he pulled back, face glistening, smiling down at me like some kind of savage god, while he palmed that ridiculously huge cock that I fucking craved.

Like all single women, I had a few dildos and vibes in my bedside table, but I knew none of them would be worth using anymore because they didn’t have what I ached for. I’d never been a size queen before, but now? I needed that stretch, that feel of him pushing me to my limits, just pushing himself in at first, only to withdraw, growing harder, deeper, faster with every stroke. I’d ride him, shoving myself back, chasing more, listening to his deep growls as I fought to take him, finally relenting when I wouldn’t be gentled. Then he’d stop thrusting, holding me still with iron hands as our bodies fought and his won. I’d part for him, taking that fucking knot.

My whines were loud and getting louder, a muffled sound at the door breaking my spell.

“Sloane, are you okay?”

Jace

It had been a shitty, fucked-up day all around. Despite Ryder’s declaration that he had Sloane’s sister’s number, it wasn’t doing us a whole lot of fucking good. Whoever Emma was, she wasn’t into answering calls, and even though we had Sloane’s credit card details, which you’d think would be enough, it wasn’t like we made a habit of hacking for a person’s address and phone number. So I was right back to square one—trying to track Sloane down the hard way.

On top of that, something was kicking off over on the other side of Desparion. Our sources said Snake was mobilising his forces. What I didn’t know was why.

It was late, and outside the window of my apartment, lights glistened through the darkness, the zone looking a whole lot prettier than it did during the day. Usually I stared out at it, like a warlord of old surveying his domain, but any satisfaction I might have gotten from the life I’d carved out in the zone was stolen by her.

Sloane.

She was hurting. I could feel it, like a niggling pain under my breastbone where I couldn’t scratch. It was just alpha bullshit, I knew that, but…it made it hard to sit still, to stand, to move, to fucking breathe. And what was worse was if I was aching, it had to be twice as hard for her. My hand dropped down into my lap, the heel of it rubbing against my cock. It had been semi-hard all day, which wasn’t helping me to think clearly.

For the first time since I’d discovered my alpha strength, I felt helpless. The memories of standing out the front of Ella’s door, listening to what the alphas were doing to her and not being able to do anything about that? I’d sworn I would never experience that level of powerlessness again, only here I was, right back in my own personal hell. It wasn’t my sister this time, not even someone I knew that well, so why did I fucking ache?

The same level of pain, but still, it was all different.

I needed Sloane to be safe, and even though it probably made me an arsehole, the only way she would be safe was with me.

She would be confused, and the last thing I wanted was for her to go to the Dawn Agency. Those bastards were as corrupt as they came. Half the omegas were sold off to whichever alpha had the most money in the zone, while the rest of them were experimented on, the betas looking for ways to stop alphas, control us, prevent us from being born. The thought of Sloane in their hands had me breaking out in a cold sweat.

I slugged back a gulp of the whiskey I was nursing in my hand, finishing it off and slamming the glass down on the windowsill. It burned my throat and hit my empty stomach like fire.

Then I took up pacing, staring outside, waiting for somebody to fucking call me with some answers, an address, a number, something. Nobody did, so I kept pacing. I wasn’t going to sleep tonight, and no way I’d get any rest. I needed…

Need her, he snarled. Mark, breed, claim. Never should’ve let her go.

I shoved that to one side. It wasn’t about me and my fucking instincts, it was her. I needed Sloane to be safe.

I checked my phone for the fiftieth time, my fingers tightening around it until the plastic started to creak dangerously. Like that was enough to force it to give me what I needed. No new messages, no new calls, nothing. No one I knew could tell me anything about where the omega was or what state she was in. My thighs tensed as I strode from one end of the room to the other, my heart rate speeding up faster and faster. I was an alpha. I sorted shit out, so why the fuck was I cooling my heels here?

I thought about calling Ryder or Dane, but last time I called Ryder, he’d told me to fuck off, get some rest, and not to hound him again so he could do his fucking job.

He was right. I just didn’t want him to be right.

There was little we needed from betas but their money and patronage. For the most part, we kept things legit here. It was different from the Beta Zone, but there were rules because without them, it would have been anarchy. The identity theft bullshit, that was all Snake. Which made me think about something I sure as fuck didn’t want to consider.

Betas didn’t care how things played out on our side of the fence. They were happy for the sides to mingle on their terms, let the curious betas come and play, see what it was like here, before returning home to the safety of the sterile world. They weren’t stupid, so they understood that blocking us off would only make people seek entry to the zone in less visible ways. I guessed some beta in charge had determined that limited contact was the best way to go for all.