Judgement 8 (Subject Alpha #1) Read online

  “You never did that with Petra?”

  “No, I didn’t even know it was possible. I could never get inside Petra’s head. She never allowed it.”

  “What?” I lifted off him, missing the feeling of him already. It didn’t feel right talking about his wife when his cock was still throbbing inside me.

  He shrugged. “Dunno, just how she was. But fuck. A man’s orgasm is more . . .” he chewed on his cheek trying to find the word, “ . . . centralised, mainly in the balls and spine but yours, wow, it’s kind of an all over feeling, feeding every single muscle with pleasure.”

  I chuckled, nodding. “I know, I felt it.”

  He grew serious, his thumb stroking over my bottom lip. “I didn’t do that just for the pleasure. I needed to feel your soul. I told you I’m yours. I wanted you to see and feel it, feel how . . .” He gulped, sucking in his lips for a moment. “Feel how I feel about you.”

  I exhaled, my heart tingling. Nodding, I reached forward and kissed him softly, leaving my lips resting against his. “Thank you for . . . for being gentle with me.”

  He quirked an eyebrow. “Well, I tried. You kind of didn’t let me.”

  I blushed but laughed. “Just because they . . . they did what they did, doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy it . . . rough.” He laughed at me when my whole face lit up, a deep flush embarrassing me.

  “You think that was rough?”

  I shrugged, not knowing how to answer him. He leaned into me, his eyes becoming so heated I squirmed on his lap when my arousal peaked again. “Rough is pounding you hard from behind, my cock ramming so deep you take all of me. Rough is my fingers wrapped around your elegant throat, forcing your head back so I can sink my teeth into your pretty little neck.”

  I gulped as I started to slide myself up and down his leg, his dirty words making me shiver with lust.

  “Rough is smacking that little arse of yours as it lifts to meet every thrust of my cock. Rough is taking my cock out of your pussy, your juices making it slick and hot, and then sliding it into your ass until your back bows in invitation for me to grab your shoulders and ram you back onto me even harder.”

  “Shit!” I panted as his words and the swift rub of my clit on his firm thigh brought me off, another orgasm flooring me.

  “Fuck,” he whispered as he quickly slid two fingers inside me, catching my orgasm and then bringing them to his mouth, his tongue savouring the taste of what he did to me. “You taste as beautiful as you look when you come.”

  Before I could answer him, he scooped me up and laid us both on the bed. Pulling me into him, he tucked me into his side and wrapped his arm around me as he pulled me in further. “Sleep. Revitalise. I took it all out of you and you’re still weak.”

  Nothing sounded better, my body glowing with the after burn of amazing sex, but my brain was tired. The crap Janice had injected into it, like Reid said, made me weak and tired.

  “Sleep,” he repeated, placing a soft kiss on my forehead.

  I fell instantly, the security of his body pressed against mine, the soft rhythm of his heartbeat in my ear and the way he stroked his hand down my hair feeding me with tranquillity.

  For once everything felt right. My life now held some hope, the possibility of something good in my future.

  I should have known it wouldn’t last.

  “EL!”

  I moaned, shaking my head and grumbling as my mother’s frantic voice tried to burrow into my sleep. “Elina, get up. You have to go.”

  Reid grumbled beside me, pulling me back into the curve of his body. A contented sigh left me; the feel of his warmth and his need for me made my body hum with happiness.

  “EL!”

  I snapped upright when she shook me, her urgency forcing me to wake with a start.

  “Baby, you need to go . . . NOW!”

  “What?”

  “Blaine’s coming. Get up and get out. Both of you.”

  The sound of Blaine’s name made Reid snap to attention. “Good, let him come,” he hissed angrily. I felt his anger, his need to deliver vengeance for me but I climbed out of bed, shaking my head as I pulled on the clothes my mother shoved into my hands.

  She threw clothes at Reid when he climbed out of bed, his body hard and smooth, his morning erection at full pelt making my mother scowl and roll her eyes. “Don’t even go there,” she warned him.

  He laughed without humour. “You do know what he did to Elina?”

  “Reid!”

  She tensed, biting her bottom lip as she nodded. “I know,” she whispered.

  “You know?”

  She snapped her eyes to me again, the pain and guilt on her face making me second guess her. Fuck, I was second guessing everything. “We don’t have time now,” she said. “You have to get out.”

  “No.” Reid stood firm, his narrow eyes on Janice. “You knew what he did yet you’re still bowing down to the cunt? What sort of mother are you?”

  I winced when Reid’s words slapped at my mother and a tear squeezed from her eye. Ignoring him, she grasped desperately at my hands. “Baby, I know. I know I deserve every bit of your hatred but there are things . . . stuff . . . there’s just stuff you don’t know!”

  “Then tell me,” I implored, taking hold of her hand when I sensed her heartache.

  Shaking her head, her bleached blonde bob swaying from side to side, she closed her eyes and sighed. “We don’t have time. He has no idea you’re here. He thought I was bringing Lettie to the lab to get some equipment I need.”

  Nothing made sense but Reid butted in. “Then let him come. He has no idea how fucking deep my fury runs. It’s about time he got to see.”

  “You stupid fool,” Janice snapped at him. “You have no idea who Blaine is, who his father is.”

  “What the fuck, woman?” Reid scoffed at her, but sensing her anxiety he slipped into his clothes.

  “You think you can take him on, Reid? Do you?”

  Reid frowned, his head tipping to one side. “Who the fuck is he, Janice?”

  She swallowed before lowering her eyes. “Blaine is . . . Blaine is Heather’s brother.”

  Reid’s eyes widened, his face paling. “What?”

  Janice nodded, her face tightening in sorrow. Sorrow for who or what I had no idea. Reid shook his head slowly, his throat bobbing. I lowered my face, not wanting to see the recognition on his face that his friend wasn’t actually his friend. Well, that’s what I thought, until he barked out his next words. “No. That would make him . . . Petra’s brother!”

  “Finally!” My mother murmured as she thrust a t-shirt over my head, waiting for me like I was five to slip my hands through the arms.

  When my head popped through the top I frowned at Reid who sat on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands. “Reid?”

  He lifted his eyes to mine, my heart breaking when I watched the single tear roll down his face. He stared at me then slowly blinked but my mother started her urgent need to get rid of us again. “Please, both of you, hurry.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “Reid will explain once you go. Jonah is waiting in the car for you.”

  “We need to get Lettie ready,” Reid said as he shook himself off and pulled on his t-shirt.

  “She comes with me.” Janice’s order caused the air in the room to still when Reid glared at her.

  “No way.”

  Janice clenched her teeth together as Lettie walked into the room. Sensing what was going on she frowned at Reid. “Daddy?”

  He smiled at her softly, my own smile forming with the love he held for her in his eyes. “You need to pack your things, pumpkin. We have to go.”

  She looked at Janice. “I thought I was coming with you.”

  “You are,” Janice said softly, smiling down at Lettie. I hated myself for the jealousy that attacked me. I loved Lettie with all my heart but my mother’s obvious love for someone else’s daughter, a love she had never provided her own with, hurt.

  Hidin
g my ache from them I scurried around my room, thrusting pieces of clothing into my old college backpack, my finger tracing over where Rowan had written our names inside a heart with a Sharpie.

  I stiffened when I felt Reid watching me over my shoulder, the way his teeth gnashed together made me cringe but he turned back to Janice. “Lettie comes with us.”

  “I can’t, Daddy,” Lettie said, shaking her head. “Janice needs me.”

  His furious gaze flicked from Janice to Lettie and back again.

  “You think you have the cure, Reid,” Janice said as she emerged from the bathroom with my toiletries, stuffing them into my bag before she turned to him. “You don’t.”

  I had completely forgotten about the cure with everything that had taken my life by storm the past few days.

  Reid blinked at her. “You know I do, Janice. Don’t try playing games with me just so you can take Lettie.”

  “She’s right, Daddy. Mummy wasn’t the cure.”

  Reid gulped, his eyes dropping to her, confusion written across his face.

  “But you are,” I finished for her.

  Lettie moved her eyes to mine, nodding. “Yes.” Turning back to Reid, she took his hand. “You need to let Janice do this, Daddy. Please or none of us will ever get to live normal lives.”

  “I don’t understand,” he whispered, the tightness of his throat making his voice an octave higher than his usual gruff timbre.

  “We thought it was Petra,” Janice said, ushering us down the stairs. “But it wasn’t. Yet her blood and your genes created something.” She smiled down at Lettie. “Something quite remarkable.”

  Lettie grinned up at her then turned to Reid. “Go, please. Janice will look after me.”

  “Reid,” Janice interrupted. She took a deep breath before carrying on. “I’m sorry . . . for Petra, for what she did.”

  He scoffed, shaking his head. “Don’t be, she wasn’t.” He flicked a glance to Lettie but she walked over to him and hugged him.

  “It’s okay, Daddy. I understand now. You don’t have to defend her for me. I know what she did.”

  He brought his hand to her cheek. “Whatever she did, Lettie, she loved you.”

  She nodded. “I know.”

  “Now go,” Janice urged, virtually throwing us out the back door to Jonah who sat in a waiting car with the engine already running. “I’ll be in touch when it’s safe. I promise then I’ll explain.”

  She pulled me into her, hugging me tight. “I need you to know something.” I nodded, my body enjoying the motherly hug. “You are stronger than you think, El. You’re it. Lettie may be the cure,” she whispered, her tears running down my neck, liberating my own. I had a feeling I would never see her again, and if the love she was giving me now was anything to go by, so did she. “But you’re the weapon.”

  I reared back. “What?”

  “You’ll understand soon.” She drew in a breath and nodded firmly. “Go.”

  I nodded, glancing at Reid and Lettie when she started to cry with the loss of her father.

  Something shivered through my brain and I looked back before climbing in the car. “I’m not the alpha, am I?”

  She locked my gaze, sadness engulfing her. “You are, but you’re the alpha for something completely different.”

  My heart stuttered and I stared at her. “I’m the weapon you created to destroy the cause.”

  Her face scrunched up as she ran down the path to me. “Don’t you ever think I didn’t love you, El. You were my salvation in more ways than one. But if I’m honest, then yes, I made you into the bomb I needed to win the war with.”

  “And Blaine?”

  She swallowed but looked me in the eyes. “Blaine, Petra and Heather are the alphas. They were orphans your father adopted a long time ago. They were sculptured to be used as a secret weapon in upcoming wars.” She sighed. “When they realised what they could do, power hungry bastards got involved. It was too dangerous.”

  “And he created those so . . . so what?”

  “So,” she flinched, guilt and shame covering her face. “I used him. I knew what he was doing. I knew what he was creating and I knew one day he would be unstoppable. There are forces way higher in this, Elina. We don’t have time now, but we will before. . . . I promise.”

  “So that’s why they wanted to terminate me the day I escaped.”

  She nodded. “They found out what you were, that you have the capability to take us all down.”

  “And my escape?”

  She gulped. “I surged your chip.”

  “Of course you did, and you knew, like when I asked you to do it, it wouldn’t terminate me.” My teeth vibrated, the tiny hairs in my nose capturing a sudden rush of chemicals. “They’re here.”

  “GO!” my mother hissed, pushing me into the car as she wrapped Lettie into her side. Before I had chance to pull the door closed, her fingers curled around the edge and she stopped me. Her wet eyes found mine. “I love you, Elina.”

  Staring at her, seeing the truth of her words in her eyes, I nodded. “And I love you.”

  Her face twisted as she tried to hold on to her emotions before she nodded and slammed the door shut, banging on the roof for Jonah to move.

  He tore away, leaving both Reid and me silent, both of us confused, angry, sad and in Reid’s case, totally destroyed by betrayal.

  BLAINE WALKED INTO THE room where I stood with Janice. I didn’t like Blaine; he was mean to me. When Elina ran away he . . . he hurt me. He made a great big bruise on my arm and he made my teeth cut my lip when he smacked my face.

  He looked at me with his lip curled, and snorted as if I repulsed him. But he turned back to Janice. “All done?”

  She nodded, stuffing some things into her large bag. “Yeah.”

  “Did they suspect?”

  Janice shook her head and I looked up at her, confused. What did he mean?

  “You reinserted her chip?”

  “You act like I don’t know what I’m doing, Blaine. Of course, I admit the only place I could insert it was into a wound on her arm where she’d cut herself climbing out of the burning house. But it’s in and it’s been tested. She’s completely trackable.”

  “What?” I asked, my eyes flicking to Blaine.

  He laughed cruelly. “Aww, did you actually think you were helping them? And you’re supposed to be intelligent.”

  Janice looked at me, her face bright as she laughed at me. “Yeah, I should do something about that.”

  My feet shuffled backwards when she grabbed my arm, her fingers digging into me as she pulled out a needle from her bag.

  “We need her,” Blaine said quickly, his eyes narrowing.

  “Relax.” I cried out when she stabbed me in the arm, the nasty clear liquid she squirted into me stinging. “I’m just sedating her, the little bitch is getting on my nerves. Fucking ‘Daddy’ this and ‘Elina’ that. Anyone would think they were superheroes.”

  I didn’t hear what else they said when my body suddenly grew heavy and I fell asleep, my body thudding on the floor when nobody bothered to catch me.

  MY CHEST FELT HEAVY as I settled my bag on the floor beside the bed. Another safe house, another dusty room and another basic bed covered by a single threadbare sheet, yet this time I was to share it with Reid.

  He’d been quiet on the drive, but I knew he had lots to think about.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, bringing me out of my musing and making me jump.

  I turned to him, biting my lip in bewilderment at the feeling in my bones. “I don’t know. Something’s not right. I can’t shake this feeling.” He stared at me, not offering any suggestions, his face blank as though he hadn’t even heard me. He’d completely withdrawn from me after our conversation with Janice.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, frowning at his cold attitude.

  He sucked air through his teeth then clicked his tongue and stormed across the room, causing me to step back so he didn’t plough me over. “I’m going for
a walk.”

  “Why don’t you take a stroll, Reid,” I said quietly to myself when he slammed the door behind him. “The fresh air will do you good, and maybe Jack Frost might freeze your face into a fucking smile.”

  Huffing, I stepped onto the landing and into the bathroom, my lip curling as my eyes slowly roamed the room. Picking up a facecloth and unpeeling it from its crispy ball, I washed it through and wiped the toilet seat, still placing toilet roll and hovering over the seat to pee.

  “What the hell, El?” I cursed myself when the weight in my chest grew. Something didn’t make sense but my brain couldn’t make sense of whatever my instincts were trying to tell me.

  I braced myself, pulling the shower curtain back hesitantly as I peered round it, surprised when an old but clean shower welcomed me. Reaching around, I turned the tap, jolting when it coughed and spluttered but eventually gave me a stream of clear warm water. “You beauty.” I beamed, stripping out of my clothes and stepping under the water.

  “Oh, God, yes!” I sighed, lifting my face to catch the refreshing water. I winced when I reached for the showerhead; the stitches in my arm pulling tight as I brought it lower to accommodate my height.

  I frowned, tipping my head to study them. They looked fresh but then I realised Janice had just cleaned them; the dried blood that had covered them had been wiped away and made them sore.

  Spending way too long under the revitalising deluge, my skin resembling the one time I’d attempted to bake a jacket potato in the microwave and I’d misread the cooking time, I switched the shower off and stepped back into the bathroom.

  “Shit!” There was no towel, so grabbing my t-shirt, I pulled it in front of my wet body and after peeking out of the door, made a run for it back to the bedroom praying Jonah didn’t decide to come up the stairs at that exact moment. The poor fella would have gotten the shock of his life; I told you my ass is way too flabby. That’s not a nice sight, watching my fat wobble across the landing.

  I grinned to myself when I made it into the bedroom, kicking the door shut quickly behind me before fate intercepted. However, I slammed to a halt when a smouldering Reid lay on the bed, his hands linked behind his head as he rested against the headboard, obviously waiting for me. He looked furious and I frowned; surely me having a shower hadn’t angered him?