First, my hearing goes. Our heavy breathing warps, turning into distant echoes.
Second, my sight. The edges shimmer, distorting my view of the world, honing in on only the Prime Alpha kissing me fiercely.
Then, the musty, damp smell of the fortress's stone walls fades, and I'm drowning in their scents. Spice, gunpowder, campfire, and pine. My mates. My Pack.
A haze washes over me, clouding my vision and making me dizzy.
“It’s happening,” I gasp against Knox’s mouth.
He grunts in acknowledgment
“Is this what you needed, Princess?” he gasps as he presses wet, passionate kisses along my jawline and down my throat. “To break your Prime and have him at your mercy?”
“Uh huh, I needed you. I always need you, Knox.”
“Great work you two,” Shade says from somewhere to the side, the tapping of fingers on his tablet a distant sound. “Halley, I need you to describe everything you’re experiencing, okay?”
I hum, eyelashes fluttering as Knox sucks at the sensitive spot behind my ear. My hands clutch at his back as I arch wantonly.
“Mmm, it’s… uh, it’s a dissociating feeling. My…Mmm. Yes, right there, Knox.” I can’t think straight with him touching, kissing me.
“Okay, ease up on her Prime, let me get this data,” Shade speaks, but I’m unable to process what he’s saying. My body is buzzing.
He bucks against me, his rigid bulge presses against my mound turning my moan into a shout of pleasure.
“Try to focus on summoning your Command, Halley.”
Focus. I need to focus. Practicing my Omega Command is important and I have to get a handle on the intoxicating power-trip before it becomes a problem.
I try to summon the Command, to pull it in front of me like a sword, gleaming and ready. I reach inward toward that shimmering core of power. Only now, it doesn’t come to me like it did in Rheamont.
That day, it was eager to rise. Too eager. I had to fight for my life to keep it from consuming me whole.
Today, it resists. Slippery and heavy.
A dull throb blooms behind my right eye, pulsing with stubborn warning.
I keep trying, but it’s like my fingers are grasping at wisps of smoke.
In retribution, pain rips through me like a detonation.
It’s not just a headache, rather a full-body rejection.
“Ah!” I cry out, my head tipping back as I grimace in agony. Knox scrambles to hold me steady.
I can feel it. It’s right there, but the problem is, it knows everything that I know.
It knows that I won’t let it get a foothold in my psyche again. I’m not naive to its influence anymore. I’m prepared for it to manipulate me, but this time, I’m ready to fight back. I’ll wrestle with it until it obeys, and even if it wins, I have backup. The Pack won’t let it eat me whole.
So it resists.
It doesn’t want to be controlled. It wants to do the controlling.
“Give it a try, Halley,” Shade urges, his voice steady, but he has no idea of the war raging inside me.
Still… he’s right.
The Pack’s worked so hard to pull my O-space to the surface. I can’t give up now.
