Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 65151 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 326(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65151 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 326(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
It hit a nerve, Jacques’s disappointed voice in her head. Face hot, Brenya shook her head, a silent refusal of the lesson. And then came a wave of such sadness Brenya thought she might cry.
Pretty Lucia would know how to do those things…. She would like what Jacques did…. She would earn his praise when she performed up to expectation.
“Brenya, there is power in embracing what you are,” said much more softly, as if Lucia had not meant the blow to land so hard.
Brenya slumped into the nearest chair, head in her hands, as her foot jittered against the floor. “No. I’m not like you.”
“No, you’re not like me. I had Ancil eating out of the palm of my hand after one night.”
“That is inaccurate. He kept you locked away and resentful. You exaggerate your influence, and that’s why you brought me here.” It wasn’t said with malice, Brenya didn’t work that way. But she absolutely struck a nerve, Lucia scowling as Brenya muttered, “You might be superior at sexual congress, and you might be experienced with politics, but I am the you keep pressuring for favors. And I am the one who will refuse.”
There was a moment of silence, and then there was hysteria—the Omegas collected façade unsustainable when confronted with Brenya’s deficiencies and perceived coldness.
“This ridiculous woman is who you think can help us?” It was the blonde who’d hung all over Jacques again, who’d given her all and still failed to win his favor. “Lucia, we’re doomed! How is that going to be able to do anything? My younger sister was eleventh on the list of potentials for Bernard Dome, Lucia! She’s out there right now suffering Gods only knows what—”
“So are at least two of mine!” Lucia snapped back. “So we keep our heads, and we… explain things to our Commodorina. It’s not her fault her brain is…. This is new to her, so we practice patience, hmm? We are the only other Omegas she’s ever met, and we were not exactly chosen for our gentleness, were we, girls? We were chosen for our ambition. So be nice.”
This was not the same Lucia from breakfast. This was not the woman from the elevator who had slapped her. There were no performative speeches or sneering threats. Not in that moment. She was floundering, but continued, “And Brenya here has been suffering separation sickness for weeks. Our Commodorina needs a proper meal; she needs sisterhood. So we serve her, or we get nothing.”
A snap of her fingers and Lucia began issuing orders, urgent and just as rude to them as she had always been to Brenya.
It all happened so fast: Brenya forced to sit upright, pushed into the plush back of her chair, a tray set on her lap that had to be balanced or spoil Annette’s fine rug. A spoon to her lips, so many hands patting and feeding and smoothing her hair.
The females worked like one many-armed machine.
A pack.
Even humming Omega song as they shoved some kind of green fruit down her throat and pressed a cup of spiced tea to her lips.
All while Lucia orchestrated the attack. “No, not that one, Gertrude. Look at her face. She doesn’t like the taste. Try the other one, the melon. Hurry up, we don’t have all day.”
In especially poor French, a petite brunette asked, “Can we cut hair?”
“Gods, yes. It’s too heavy at the ends.” Lucia crooked her finger at another one of the women, calling her over to wield the scissors. “You should never grow it out, Commodorina. That neck needs to always be on display. Trust me on this. The more Commodore Havel sees the bite, the more he will obey.”
A snip and a hank of brown hair fell on Brenya’s lap, then another, the shock of what they were doing leaving Brenya wide-eyed and furious.
“No, Carmen. Do not remove her hideous outfit. That’s the Commodore’s blood. It stays on her. Her nails. They are sharp and bloody, clean them. No, no, do not let her feed herself. More tea. We keep this up until she needs to urinate. Let’s get all those hormones out of her system. I cannot imagine the headache you have right now, Commodorina. I told Jules he took it too far. You should have been taken to Jacques weeks ago. You’re his mate; demand he take better care of you!”
“Ouch! She bit me!” the blonde again… Gertrude… whined, sucking her finger to ease the sting.
In the midst of a nightmare of physical touch and overstimulation, the growl that came from Brenya’s chest, whatever that sound was, it made them stop.
And Lucia smiled like a proud puppeteer, taking the seat across from her with a flourish of her skirts and a beautiful smile. “It’s natural, this response. You’ve been very sick, easy to manipulate all dazed and passive. Omegas are not passive. We do not let the males rule us. No. We bite back, Brenya. When they push you around, bite hard. It reminds them they are puppies tussling at our feet. It makes them wag their tails and sit up for more.”