“A reward,” she says bitterly. “For the soldiers. They get their pick. Some have favorites. But most don’t care.” Her dead eyes linger briefly on me. “You’re new.”
I nod. “Yes.”I did something really stupid and walked right into their hands.“I was picked up during the battle.”
Her gaze holds empathy before it empties. “Your controller will lose his mind… Assuming they didn’t kill him.” She blinks away tears. “They let their alphas rape me while mine was forcedto watch. Let him suffer through it for days. Then they killed him.”
My inhale is sharp.
“Gather your strength,” she cautions. “They will come for you, just as they will come for me. Their experiments take on many guises. Letting their alphas rut us keeps us malleable, or so they believe. Our bodies may react to them, but our minds never do. There will come a day when you don’t want to survive anymore, when you just want to die. I crossed that line a while ago…”
Another two guards arrive while I’m still reeling from her words, and they take an omega between them. God, are they going to share her?
Panic crawls around under my skin. My fellow prisoners are tense as fresh voices draw near.
But a plan begins to form in my mind. Zeb may or may not be coming. But my current situation is more pressing.
They killed her alpha after forcing him to watch her be raped.
I need no further education on the ruthless nature of our enemy. What I’m considering is unethical, but I suffer no reservations about using any trick at my disposal.
It’s not something the Empire likes to linger on, but omegas have some skills in manipulation. Especially those of the mind healer variety, although even regular healers have some abilities. Not a skill to test on our alphas. I’ve heard the cautionary words from my fellow healers who made that mistake, and how it often ends with an edging session that has them praying for mercy.
How alphas are relentless in teaching an omega her place if she dares to try manipulation on them.
Still, these are not our alphas, are they? Their scent is only the beginning of what’s wrong with them. The affliction goes so much deeper, as I know.
Two years ago, when Dr Tsing was still in charge of the viral program, I was called in for some testing. They had an Uncorrupted alpha in their possession, and I was told to befriend him, to use any means within my repertoire to make him fall for me, to believe without any act of intimacy that we were mated, and he must protect me.
The whole episode left me nauseous. Maybe they were testing ways for captured omegas to better survive, or more likely, how to weaponize our skills.
I’m alone here—maybe not quite alone, but that is yet to be verified. I’m a prisoner on a ship full of enemy soldiers, and I need an advocate in my corner.
“You’re planning something,” she whispers. “If they find out you’re not a regular healer, you’ll be in a worse situation than you already are.”
My eyes shift to meet hers.
She shrugs subtly. “My spirit is broken, not my mind. As for my body, I’m a healer, and we can take a lot before that gives out. I won’t give you away if you’re worried about that. Looking out for each other is the only thing we have left.” Her expression turns fierce. “Nothing they ever do will take that away.”
My heart breaks. But it also rises in hope. Maybe foolish hope, but nevertheless hope.
Her spirit is wounded but not broken. There is a fierce tendril that anchors her into her physical body.
“Your name?”
My question catches her off guard.
“Ashanti.”
“That’s a beautiful name,” I say softly. “As you have surmised, I am not purely a physical healer, and I have some skills in reading aura. Ashanti, I say this not to give you false hope, but as a solemn vow. You will get out of this, and when you do, when we’re back in the Empire, and you are given anopportunity to recover with your choice of spiritual healers who can love you until you find yourself again, ask for Dorian.”
I met Dorian a long time ago, when we passed through the healer initiation program together. He is one of the most amazing spiritual healers I have ever met, and I know instinctively he will be perfect for Ashanti.
Her smile is small, like she has forgotten how to. “Dorian, huh? Sounds like he’s something special.”
“He really is,” I agree, but I’m already casting my gaze and mind over the two men outside who appear to be non-dynamic guards, supervising the cell opening when the alphas come to collect their prizes. They are both calmer now, if still watchful. There is clear deference every time an alpha arrives.
I steady my breathing. Instinct tells me that neither of them is a good option; I need to wait for the right alpha, which does not give me much time to assess each one as they arrive.
Should I still try with the non-dynamic? Would it even work?
