Alphas of pandora, p.20
Alphas of Pandora, page 20
“So he can’t acknowledge me, but he also can’t let me go.” Saying it out loud made the reality of her situation seem that much more stark and unsolvable. “Which puts both of us at risk.”
“He comes to you every night. And he’s preparing to marry the Beta Princess from Vigil, a union that was arranged when both of them were still children.”
That was a thing that Aura had been forcing herself not to think about. Part other imagined there was a chance the marriage would not take place at all. She didn’t want to think about the alternative.
“Do you think he plans to keep me here forever?”
Ianthe scoffed. “It doesn’t seem as if he has much of a plan at all. But you have to ask yourself if this is a life that you can stand, trapped here while he lives a life of appearances. Eventually, he will be King and the public scrutiny will be even greater.”
“So you’re saying that I should leave?”
“He’s marked you,” Ianthe reminded her, voice solemn. “You’ll spend the rest of your life running from him, even if it’s only in your own mind. The only way to break the bond is through death. I can’t make that decision for you.”
Aura hesitated a moment before revealing more, concerned that sharing what she had just learned might only make her situation worse. But ultimately, she needed a true confidante, if just to share the terrible burden. “I’ve discovered something else.”
“What is it?”
“I met Princess Sirena and her advisor, Faseer, in the library. We were talking, and he revealed that Vigil has gained the capability to travel to space, the only people on the planet that have done so.”
“And you think they’re the ones who discovered your station and have been attempting to create Omegas from the population.” A moue of distaste twisted Ianthe’s lips before she regained control of her expression. “The whole idea of it makes me a little sick. These dynamics have caused enough problems in society without using science to knock it even more off-balance.”
“Castor must know they have the capability,” Aura reasoned, the bits of information in her head like pieces of a puzzle that wouldn’t fit together. “How could he not make the connection?”
“Why do you assume he didn’t?”
Aura’s mouth opened and closed it again as she searched for a response. Castor had been high-handed and imperious since the moment she’d met him, but this was so much more than that. “He wouldn’t.”
“The first thing you need to understand about Alphas is that they are practically incapable of realizing when they’re wrong. If I had a credit for every time Legion has hid information for my own good, I’d probably have enough to buy my own spaceship. They can’t help themselves.”
“You don’t make it sound easy to live with him.”
“I never said it was,” Ianthe replied, voice droll. “But there are other benefits.”
And Aura was well aware of what benefits those might be. “I have to talk to him.”
“Tread carefully. You don’t want to see what happens when you back an Alpha into the corner.” Ianthe stood to leave, expression somber. “We have someone prepared to aid you in escaping the palace, if that’s what you’ve decided. Should I make the arrangements?”
Aura stared down at her hands, willing the universe to illuminate a path for her. “I need more time to think and I have to speak to Castor.”
“Let me know if you change your mind. Legion and I are staying in the palace while the negotiations are going on with Vigil. You can send word to me through the servants.”
Ianthe left her alone then, closing the door gently behind her.
Aura’s mind remained in turmoil throughout the rest of day as she anxiously waited for night to fall and Castor to return to her. She imagined this as her life for the rest of her days and felt an emptiness so profound that it nearly left her gasping. Would he give her children to raise in the harem, practically slaves themselves, or would he grow tired of her and leave her to rot like the rest of the women here?
But if she could successfully escape, what then? Even if she were able to find the resistance group that Ianthe had told her about and they offered her shelter, that did not come close to solving her problems. As far as she knew, the Vigilians were the only ones with any capability to leave the planet and potentially reach the Citadel. If she ran, any chance she had of reuniting with her family would be lost.
It was an impossible choice.
And when she finally confronted Castor with all that she had learned, his response was a solemn shrug.
“Of course, I knew.”
Her surprise quickly turned to anger as she regarded the neutral expression on his face. “Why wouldn’t you tell me?”
“The information would have done you no good, and I did not want you to inadvertently let something slip in front of the Vigilians and reveal yourself.”
“That practically happened anyway, no thanks to you and your secrets,” Aura snapped as she paced back and forth across the carpet. “My translation unit had me speaking in their language. Faseer was more than suspicious.”
“He is no danger to you.”
“Eventually he will figure it out.”
“No harm will come to you. I will make sure of it.”
“By keeping me locked up in a cage?”
For his part, Castor reclined on the bed and simply watched her angry display with a heated gaze. “You should lower your voice before the entire harem comes running.”
She glared at him. “I’d hate for you to be embarrassed by being seen with me.”
His head tipped to the side. “You think I’m embarrassed of you.”
“What else could it be?”
“It’s not embarrassment.” Castor rose smoothly from the bed, like a predator uncoiling in preparation to strike. He stalked closer as she took an involuntarily step backward, stopping only when her back hit the bolted door. “It’s obsession. You infect my thoughts and haunt my dreams. Every night I come here and hope that tomorrow is when I’ll finally have the strength to resist. I have never been more out of control than since I met you.”
She stared up into his face, vision blurry with unshed tears. “Then why not just let me go?”
He looked away and glared at the air above her head, expression brooding. “I tell myself that you wouldn’t last a day on your own, which is likely an accurate assessment. But the truth is simpler than that, I can’t let you go. I won’t.”
“Then why are you marrying Princess Sirena?”
“Our marriage was arranged years ago. We need their technology and they need our military force. If I set her aside, the Council will use it as an excuse to take concerted efforts against me and seek an alliance in some other way. It was no accident that sent me crashing into the Forbidden Zone. My skycar was sabotaged. I’ve already executed one traitor, but I’m certain there are more. Vigil is involved somehow and until I figure out precisely how, these negotiations have to continue.”
“So you’re going to keep entertaining that awful man, knowing what he’s likely done.”
“Yes.” He made a sound of frustration. “Otherwise, I risk a war.”
“War! How—”
“I suspect that whoever is plotting to overthrow the Crown has received support from Vigil, it has to have something to do with the promise of Omegas. Vigil has none to spare so they must be planning to continue their experiments on unwitting people, starting with those on your station.”
She stared at him, askance. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this before?”
“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to worry unnecessarily.”
“I spend every moment of every day worried. Stop keeping secrets from me.”
But he shook his head. “You have no idea what is brewing under the surface here. I can’t promise to share everything with you, if it’s not safe.
The overbearing concern for her safety might just be the thing about him that she hated most. What was safe about ignorance? Frustrated, Aura tried another tactic. “If you already knew all of this, why haven’t you done anything about it yet?”
“Because I have no proof. I can’t take crack pot theories to the Council and just hope they will act on them. And I have to uncover who is plotting against me before taking any action at all. These negotiations are a convenient cover while I wait for the truth to reveal itself.”
“Even if you end up married to their Princess?”
He closed his eyes, but when he opened them, his gaze was full of flinty determination. “I will do what I have to do.”
“And what happens when you’ve married Sirena and rule a kingdom? Will these four walls be all that I ever have while you keep me locked away in the shadows?”
“Enough,” he snapped. “We’re not discussing this right now.
“You claimed me. Whether or not it shames you, it’s the truth.”
“It isn’t shame.” To her surprise he backed off and returned to the bed. He shifted to the far side so that his back rested against the wall, legs slightly bent. “Come here.”
Aura went to him because she had no other choice, to resist him when he was so close and commanding was impossible. And once his hands were on her skin and urging her onto the bed with him, it was much too easy to forget the deep well of her discontent.
He stripped her dress off her deliberately slowly, undoing the long tie at her waist and lifting it over her head until Aura was completely nude. The purposeful way that his gaze traced the hem of her dress as it lifted over her body and was tossed away sent a shiver of anticipation up her spine.
“You do not understand the danger that you’re in outside these walls.” His large hands skimmed up her sides with just enough pressure to tease along the skin. Small flutters moved through the pit of her belly. “I would lock you away completely before I let any harm come to you.”
His words should have spurred her to resist, triggered more of the fight she waged for her freedom. But they had the opposite effect, her body went limp beneath him and it was only his hands on her waist keeping her upright.
“Castor…”
He kissed her hard, swallowing his own name and pressing her body hard against his still-clothed form. The room was dimly lit, but enough that she could see the tension on his face when she looked up at him. Despite the hurt and the fear, she couldn’t imagine herself in any other place but his arms.
If only she could make him understand her suffering.
But more serious things fled from her mind when he laid her back on the silken sheets and loomed over her. The look on his face was one that she had not seen since their days trapped together in the cabin. It was all possession and dangerous intent that set her body to shaking.
When he kissed her, his tongue invaded her mouth without hesitation or restraint. Her hand rose to fist in the fabric of his shirt, as stroking fingers smoothed along her thighs. She panted against his lips as those same fingers found her saturated center.
There had been no growl, nothing to prepare her aside from his presence. She simply wanted him, more than she had ever wanted anything in her life.
He broke their kiss to lay a scorching trail along her chin and to her neck, biting and licking but not with enough force to break the skin. His teeth closed around the mark in her shoulder, mimicking the pattern that was permanently scarred into her skin. The effort it took him not to bite down was obvious as his groan sent a wave of moist heat tickling along her flesh.
A spark of electricity rocketed through her, lifting her hips off of the bed and drawing a ragged moan from her.
Her fingers were at his fly, fumbling with the garment as she tried to get it off of him. With a chuckle, he came to her aide and slid the pants down his hips and cast them aside. He pushed her down and lay poised at her entrance, hesitating for the briefest moment.
Aura’s hands rose to stroke his face, and she marveled at the texture that was so much different from hers. That innocent touch was enough to undo him and Castor pushed slowly into her, joining them completely. Her fingers traced the full lips that were set in a stern frown as he thrust gently in and out of her.
It was as if she rode a wave that carried her out into an ocean of sensation. She had never thought it would be like this, gentle possession in the face of so much turmoil. But it was almost as if the difficulty of the circumstances only brought them closer together, as they each became the others port in a brewing storm.
Castor rained kissed down on her face, lips stroking her nose, chin, cheeks, any place that he could reach. This mating differed from any that had come before it, his movements slow and measured as if he wanted to draw out every emotion she could express and lay it bare.
She looked down to where they were joined and watched as his enormous member disappeared into her body in a feat that practically seemed like magic. Her hips moved of their own volition to meet his, rising and falling off of the bed in a seductive rhythm. His hands shifted under her bottom to lift and press her against him, deepening each thrust in a way that robbed her of breath.
Aura stared up into his sharp features, so beautiful and unlike anything she had ever seen before. Physically, he was perfection, but she cared more about what existed underneath. The fire of emotion in his eyes matched the heat of her own.
The orgasm was pulled from her body in a way that seemed slower and deeper than any had before. A tremor started in her belly and flowed outward into the rest of her body.
It felt like surrender.
And tears slid down her cheek as the claiming mark on her shoulder burned in agony.
Twenty-Five
Castor brooded during the Council meeting, barely listening as a laundry list of items that were proposed for the next legislative session. Normally, he enjoyed governance and took great pains to act in a way that was both fair and in the best interests of the sector that he ruled.
But now, his mind wandered to thoughts of the Omega that waited for him in the harem like a beautiful captive bird. For the hundredth time, he questioned his decision to keep her in the palace. There was likely a safe place for her somewhere in the city, if he looked hard enough to find it. But the only way that her safety remained assured was if he kept her under his protection.
And more importantly, letting her go felt like an attempt to tear out his own soul. The terrible truth of it overlaid everything, making him quick to anger and unable to effectively juggle all the responsibilities that had been thrust upon him.
His distraction was obvious.
“Shall we take a small break, Prince Castor? I’m sure all of us could use one.” Councilman Vegane, one of the longest-serving members of the King’s Council, spoke from the other side of the long table.
Vegane had always been his father’s closest advisor and now looked at Castor with an expression that was fatherly. Castor did not appreciate the concern that he saw in the man’s eyes, but had to admit to himself that he hadn’t heard a word that had been said for the past twenty minutes.
“That is acceptable.” Castor reached for the golden statue of a sun at his right and banged it on the table. “The Council is adjourned. We shall reconvene at half-past the hour.”
The other men rose and filed out of the room while Castor leaned back in his ornate chair with a sigh. He had always loved attending the meetings that his brothers and even his father often described as excruciatingly boring. But the mental energy required to maintain attention seemed to have left him completely.
“You seem troubled, my Prince.”
He glanced up to see Legion take the seat next to him in the room that was empty, save for the two of them. The other Alpha lounged in the chair, pose relaxed, but a keen awareness burned in his gaze.
Castor immediately felt his hackles rise. “My troubles are none of your concern.”
“I beg to differ. You are the man who will soon be King. Your troubles are all of our concern.”
The anger deflated as quickly as it had arisen. “Is it really that obvious?”
“To someone like me, yes. But I pay attention. It’s the girl isn’t it, your Omega?”
“She’s unhappy in the harem, but there isn’t much that can be done about it.” Castor replied, gritting his teeth. “I let your woman in to sit with her because I thought that it would help to settle her, but it hasn’t helped.”
“You visit her night after night, that hasn’t been enough?”
“How do you know that?”
“There are eyes and spies everywhere, your majesty. You must know that by now.”
Castor did not exactly appreciate the reminder. “I’ll remind you to keep a civil tongue in your head before I have it cut out.”
“Apologies,” Legion said, expression placid. He appeared unbothered by the threat. “I only mean to point out that the girl has you distracted. That’s a problem. I need you focused on what is happening right now.”
“I don’t need lessons in governance from you,” Castor snapped, hating the fact that he was being shamed by a man who, by all rights, should be serving a sentence in the work camps.
“Really? There are at least five members of your cabinet who are currently planning to push through legislation that will affect nearly everyone in Pandora. And they’re doing it right under your nose while you obsess over an Omega.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Knowing what you do about what Vigil is up to, you don’t think it odd that your Council has brought up citizenship rights as an agenda item.”
Castor picked up the tablet in front of him and scrolled through the meeting minutes, realizing then just how much he had missed. “They’re proposing a law change that would limit citizenship to those born within the sector. Who brought this item forward?”
