AΩ - Chapter 4

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Chapter 1: https://www.patreon.com/posts/ao-chapter-1-58914152

Chapter 2: https://www.patreon.com/posts/62482388

Chapter 3: https://www.patreon.com/posts/ao-chapter-3-65642809


Word count: 9,505




Kara woke to the sound of the ocean and the distant notes of a melody carried by the humid breeze. As the memory of mating flourished in her mind, she reached for Lena only to find her gone. The slightest fragrance of her heat remained, and Kara groaned as she inhaled it. She stretched out, slow to get up and lethargic from the warm weather. Had not the sound of hushed whispers stirred her into opening her eyes, she would have sprawled in bed much longer.

She tensed at the discovery that curious deltas and omicrons were observing her. They crowded outside the front of her tent, alarmed by how fast she sat up to stare at them warily. One raised a meek hand as if to wave while others scattered for fear of an attack.

“You’re quite the spectacle here,” whispered a soft-spoken omega as she placed a jug for bathing at the foot of Kara’s bed. “Most will never see one of your kind up close.”

Kara was conscious of the chatter outside and kept her own voice low as she stood to pull on her robe. “I’m used to being a source of entertainment, though not as I sleep.”

“If you seek privacy, there are many places I would be happy to show you,” the omega offered, modest in the way she flirted through the reach of her pheromones.

Kara sensed many others beyond the canopy of her tent, a slew of sirens hoping to tempt her into a hammock while Nyxly was none the wiser.

The alpha in Kara welcomed the attention, but it was the thought of Lena that snuffed out those impulses.

“I have somewhere I need to be,” Kara tactfully informed the omega and ignored the omega to tend to her bathing.

“You heard her,” Nyxly crowed, appearing in the entrance of Kara’s tent with keen eyes and a smile as jagged as the end of a blade. “Shoo, before I tell your keeper that you plan to stray from your morning duties.”

Loath though she was to admit it, Kara was relieved to see her lanista. It could very well cost Kara her brief taste of luxury and freedom if she was discovered with an omega.

She sagged in gratitude, her posture going rigid the moment Nyxly walked over to clasp her by the face with a suspicious squint of her kohl-lined eyes.

“You seem different this morning. This is the closest I’ve ever come to seeing you relaxed,” Nyxly observed with a touch of genuine happiness. She caressed Kara’s strong jaw and wandered full circle around her to take in her posture and the dishevelled state of the bedding. “Am I to thank Lena for your good night's rest?”

The tendons on Kara’s throat pulled to the surface as she tensed, and she clenched her teeth as if to remain defiantly silent. If her tryst last night would have her befall a punishment, Kara was prepared to take it all on her own.

Nyxly laughed at her stone-faced posturing and peered up at Kara with a glimmer of pride. She looked pleased with the unintentional confirmation of Kara’s silence. “Oh, don’t look so alarmed, of course I knew. Andrea, too. It would be foolish for all of us if you didn’t take advantage of this opportunity while Lena is in heat. Now, how should we start our morning? Breakfast by the sea, or perhaps you’d care for–”

“The green tent. I haven’t yet seen it and I would prefer to start there if possible,” Kara stated, careful to make it a suggestion and less of a demand as her alpha postured at the thought of Lena waiting for her to arrive.

Nyxly’s smile faded as a frown clouded her good cheer, and she stepped back to assess Kara with a critical purse of her lips. “You’re sure that’s what you want?”

“Yes,” Kara informed her, a sudden sense of foreboding taking root within her stomach as she wondered what she would find within that particular tent.

The festival was rumored to involve all sorts of fanciful celebrations—some rather taboo and select to particular species. If Lena was entertaining, there was no telling what that might include.

“You may not be permitted entrance, though I suppose I could speak with the committee,” Nyxly proposed with a clear degree of reluctance. “I may be able to sway a few in our favor.”

Kara’s pheromones shifted along with her stance, and she cursed the eager stench of her alpha. It drew immediate suspicion from Nyxly, and the lanista appeared perturbed by Kara’s resolute desire.

Nyxly’s painted lips pulled back from her teeth before she regained her composure with a sly smirk. She flicked her fingers for Kara to follow at her heel. “I must say you continue to surprise me, Kara, though I suspect you underestimate the level of physical and mental exertion you will encounter. Hardly any of the classes here can tolerate the demands of the green tent. It’s one of the reasons it falls to the omegas. Their stamina sets them apart from the rest.”

Kara envisioned many hedonistic delights as she sat down to a breakfast of rare smoked meats and tropical juices. She sipped luminescent nectars, ki’ro pulp and gushing heliot fruit—and feasted on salted preon, cyan trout, and flambéed alderdash.

Nyxly spoke to more than one member of the committee, and they all stared at Kara for a while before they granted permission. They were open about their curiosity, confusion and skepticism—and it took much assurance on Nyxly’s part to convince them of Kara’s good will and intrigue when it came to each part of the festival. Kara cleared every platter that was offered to her during Nyxly’s absence and swallowed the final dripping piece of heliot fruit by the time the lanista returned.

“Nice of you to finish your meal before I’ve even tasted mine,” Nyxly sang with the faintest bit of judgment and wandered over to lift a more decorated chalice that was intended for her. “I’m going to dine with some of the members of the Epsilon alliance. Enjoy the green tent for as long as your endurance holds out.”

Kara wondered if the lanista would escort her over, but Nyxly glanced at the green pavilions with an odd sort of apprehension on her face.

Without lingering to have her liberties revoked, Kara gave her plates to the serving omegas and started off across the beach. She shivered in the blistering heat because of what she expected to lie inside of the lush canopies ahead. Her stride caught the eye of more omegas and she smiled demurely back at them.

Foliage hung over the entryway, and Kara trembled as she entered the jungle of branches and leaves. She blinked at the events taking place inside—her jaw dropping from the activities that she least anticipated. In one corner was a set of small tree stumps, and pups gathered around to listen to omega who was telling stories. The more rambunctious children played in another space, and others slept in another nursery den.

“Just as terrifying as the gladiatorial arena?” Lena quipped from behind her and laughed at the fright on Kara’s face.

The pups from Lena’s group crowded in around Kara, and some of them grabbed her strong arms and tried to climb onto her.

“No, this is much worse,” Kara groaned, her awkwardness exacerbated by the enthusiasm of the children that rushed forward to gawk at her size.

She towered over them, as strong and unyielding as one of the trees that grew on the island, and they scaled her just as eagerly.

Kara stank of betrayal as she stared at Lena, though she blamed her alpha for falling for the trickery. She held still as a rambunctious little girl dug her tiny fingers into the fabric of her robe to hoist herself up to Kara’s line of sight.

Her amethyst eyes widened as she took in Kara’s startled face, and then she broke into a toothy grin as she squealed, “Up!”

“Off,” Kara muttered, unable to shift the girl when a boy was swinging from her clenched fist and two others hung from her other arm.

“Up! Up! Up!” The girl laughed and grasped at Kara’s ear for leverage as she scampered onto her shoulders. She tangled her hands in Kara’s hair to keep her balance.

“Derona, don’t pull so tightly or our guest may not wish to play with us,” Lena lilted, refusing to help as she watched Kara struggle with the little ones.

The pups swarmed her without fear or hesitancy, and for every child Kara removed from her, another two seemed to take their place.

Tiny fists tugged at her robes indiscriminately and the sound of shrill laughter drowned out Kara’s grumble of pure misery.

She snarled as a finger poked her in the eye and shook herself to try and dislodge the little creatures, but it only encouraged them.

By spinning in a circle and huffing partial obscenities under her breath, she managed to lift a little one by the back of his robe to hold in the air above her head.

The intimidation failed when he thrashed with jovial glee, and Derona whined, “My turn, lift me!”

Kara resigned herself to her fate with a glower in Lena’s direction and sank to her knees while the children took turns using her muscular frame as their new climbing gym.

“How strong are you?” questioned a little one, who wiped her face against Kara’s long sleeve.

“Why are you so big?” asked another, her brows scrunched in curiosity and wonder.

Kara narrowed her eyes thoughtfully and leaned closer to admit, “Very strong and I grew this tall because I eat all of my vegetables. How else would I crush my enemies?”

The girl let out a high-pitched scream that Kara mistook as fear, and then the pup ran off as she yelled, “You can’t catch me!”

The rest of the children followed her lead, and Kara stumbled to her feet in pretend pursuit of them. It reminded her of a game she once played when she was their age. She lunged and chased each of them, hoisting those she caught high into the air or swinging them around while they cheered.

It took several rounds before the pups settled down and agreeably followed Lena to a woven mat where she handed out small glasses of juice and thickly iced buns.

“You lasted much longer than I assumed,” Lena laughed and smirked as one of the pups grabbed Kara by the hand and forced her to sit cross legged with them in a circle. “I thought you would leave very soon after your arrival.”

One of the smaller pups failed at lifting her cup to her lips and Kara helped by tipping it up for her.

Lena knitted her brows together upon witnessing that. Kara saw the same disquieted expression on the omega’s face at several points during her visit and each time it was after assisting one of the children with a basic task.

“Would you like some juice and a bun, maybe?” Lena asked in a condescending tone and placed the treats in front of Kara like she was one of her wards.

Kara meant to decline the food and question the omega’s intentions in extending an invitation to the green tent. “I was served breakfast earlier—”

It would have been easier to hold a conversation if not for the presence of the little ones, who interrupted just as she opened her mouth.

“There’s more frosting on your bun!” whined a rowdier pup. “I want that one.”

“Pups say thank you for their food without having a bad attitude,” Derona recited and stuck her nose up dramatically.

“It’s not fair,” The other pup complained and reached for Kara’s bun without asking if he could take it.

His little fingers almost grazed the icing, but Kara’s reflexes were much faster than the pup’s and she swiped up the treat.

“You will learn that a lot of things aren’t fair, but how we choose to treat one other is still in our hands.”

Lena observed Kara closely as she tore her bun into small chunks and shared it out amongst the pups that all happily gobbled the extra treat.

The slant of the omega’s lips was enigmatic, and when Kara’s eyes flicked to where she stood, Lena dropped her head to smile at a girl with frosting all over her chin.

The awkwardness of sitting beside such small children mattered less when she saw their pleased little faces, and Kara freed herself the moment they started to yawn. She sought out Lena, who had suspiciously kept her distance as the children ate and balked when the affronted scent of Lena’s omega assaulted her nose.

“Don’t come any closer. Your fingers are covered in icing,” Lena lectured, her pursed lips and critical squint showing more worry than it did displeasure.

“Are they?” Kara mused and peered at the children that all had sticky hands.

“Everyone take turns at the basin,” Lena commanded, as if she could see Kara’s machinations forming in her mind. She backed off instinctively with a sharply raised eyebrow, and bit her lip when Kara offered her a grin.

“And if we don’t?” Kara asked and motioned for the pups to get on their feet as if she were to rally them on an attack against the omega.

“You would be wise not to find out.” Lena warned with a frosty tone that might have deterred the children.

It did very little to persuade Kara to back down. She stalked forward in good humor, oblivious to how the other omegas stopped to stare at her playful antics. “Wisdom is not an alpha’s forte, but agility? You know I have plenty of that.”

Lena’s eyes lidded slightly at the memory, and her lips parted in annoyance as
the pups hurried to follow Kara with shrieks of laughter. There were hardly any areas in which to hide, and after a precarious glance over her shoulder, Lena took off running to the reading circle.

“Don’t let her escape!” Kara called out and allowed the children to rush off first while she predicted Lena’s next move. She stepped carefully around the sleeping quarters so as not to disturb the smallest pups and saw the omega who tended to them stifling their laughter.

Kara postured only for a moment, and then hurried to block the play area where Lena seemed to be heading.

“These robes are of the finest ivory silk,” Lena hissed with a paranoid glance to the herd of pups trying to catch up to her.

“And they’ll wash like all the others,” Kara insisted, grabbing her around the waist so that the pups could get their grubby little hands on her with unrestrained glee.

Despite the resistance all through her body, Lena succumbed to a laugh once she was caught. “I give in, now please go and clean your hands before nap time.”


Other omegas stepped in to take their turns caring for the pups, and Lena escorted Kara out into the scorching day. The waves raced up the shore, and hatched turtles ran down the beach to the water.

With the shimmering heat making its own ripples in the air, few people lingered under the sun. Kara heard their revelries and music as she passed by the colorful tents. Lena strolled barefoot across the sand, biting her lip as she glanced around to ensure they walked alone.

“You’re probably the only alpha that those children will ever meet,” Lena pondered aloud and evaded Kara’s eyes as they wandered. “Our pups may never have the chance. I will tell them you are not like the rest of the gladiators. That there was a gentleness to you.”

The arena wore everyone down eventually, and it went without saying that Lena believed Kara would die before she birthed any pups.

Kara wondered if that was true, if she would falter or misstep in a fight with a stronger opponent. It occupied her mind at nights when tinkering didn’t help, and sometimes she envisioned it so vividly she could taste blood in her mouth. The dying often coughed it up as their eyes clouded over for eternal night. Arrogance was the downfall of many combatants, but her chest expanded with a conviction that she would never lose.

She reached for Lena’s hand and pressed a kiss to her soft knuckles—not a one marred by violence. “On my honor, Lena, I will know our children.”

It must have been the billowing silk that Lena wore which gave Kara an impression of what the omega would look like if pregnant. Her pale skin was radiant, like the moon touched by the atmosphere and light. Lena walked towards the rocks on the beach and dropped her clothes once they came to a place where no one would see them.

“Andrea hopes I will bear many pups,” Lena whispered as she waded in the rolling shallows, splashing her breasts and rubbing at the buds of her nipples. “She reminds me every day. I’ve been in her household for three years. She has been trying to breed me with an alpha for just as long. The others were not gentle souls and I refused.”

Kara swallowed and crossed her arms as a strange new vulnerability washed over her along with the surf.

“Not that I think of you as a sensitive creature,” Lena stated with a bizarre defensiveness in her voice. She turned towards the ocean before Kara could become comfortable with staring into her eyes. “I don’t know what to make of you.”

Posturing was a matter of instinct, and Kara dropped her hands onto her hips as she eyed the omega’s softly heaving chest. Speckles of water remained on Lena’s skin, and she reached out to touch. Her fingertips grazed a clavicle and drifted down to the supple curve of Lena’s breast.

“My home world was one of the last to conform to the new class structure.” Kara shared as she delicately followed the rise and slope of Lena’s body. “I was born free into a society that didn’t fear alphas and respected omegas, at least on Krypton. We were more advanced than other races in the galaxy, our armies were impressive. Their defiance against the guild’s new rule was what kept us free for so long, though it destroyed our planet in the process. It’s little more than a toxic wasteland, lost to war.”

Lena’s eyes were wide with wonder and an innocence softened her words as she asked, “What was it like to live without someone controlling your every move?”

It was the first time Kara had any inkling that Lena was unhappy with her arrangement. The omega seemed so content to be Andrea’s that for a precarious moment, Kara remained silent.

Lena pressed her lips together in an effort to appear tougher than she seemed and stuck her chin into the air as she stared Kara in the eye. “Earth was one of the first to be converted. I know very little of what life was like without the new class structure.”

“Better than any dream you’ve had,” Kara supplied, her stoic front slipping away as surely as the water down Lena’s breasts. She cupped them in her palms just to feel the weight of them, and then stroked along the omega’s ribs.

“I was spoiled as a child,” Kara divulged as she bent to scoop up warm water in her hands. She poured it over Lena’s shoulders, mesmerized by the sunlight sparkling off her unblemished skin. “Never without food, knowledge, or technology. Over the years I traveled to different planets with my family. I learned other languages and drank my weight in wine. My hands were better suited for the finer tuning of machinery. The only weapons I’ve ever held were forced into my hands when I was shackled and thrust into an arena.”

A sadness took hold of Lena, ephemeral and gone with a single blink, but Kara was sure she had seen it. It compelled her to step closer, to keep her wandering hands on the supple shape of Lena’s body in the only form of comfort she knew how to give.

“Then I’m more fortunate than you,” Lena asserted with furrowed brows and a pout upon her lips. “I was spared the terrible loss you suffered of having everything you’ve ever known torn away in an instant. I was born into a world already changed by the governing classes.”

“The memory of my life encourages me to fight so I may see tomorrow,” Kara whispered earnestly. “We cannot be subdued forever.”

She ought to have been careful with talk like that. A simple utterance could see her beaten for days if anyone suspected her of orchestrating an uprising. She held her breath as Lena observed her and raised up her robe to help her out of the fabric.

“They teach the children that alphas must be kept in line, and avoid telling them that omegas are tethered to a life of servitude,” Lena muttered, slipping her fingertips across the scars on Kara’s chest, like she was memorizing their jagged paths.

“Do you know why that is?” Kara asked with a hand underneath Lena’s chin. She held the omega’s curiosity for as long as she could and waited for Lena to shake her head.

“Alphas and omegas belong together,” Kara imparted softly, her chest expanding as her pheromones unfurled to cloak Lena in possessive musk. “We were never meant to be kept apart. Claiming is not the brutal act they would have you believe. It bonded a mated pair for life. They would be loyal to one another above all else. It’s why the penalty for biting an omega is death. The other classes cannot replicate the bond between us, but they can use our biology, our need for one another, against us.”

Lena squinted as though wary and exhaled a sharp little breath that would prevent too much of Kara’s scent from residing in her nostrils. She turned her face, but it was to step closer and rest it in the curve of Kara’s neck.

“My heat would have me believe any tale that came out of your mouth,” Lena whispered with a flick of her lashes upwards as she took no more than a fleeting glance at Kara’s face. She brushed her lips over the place on Kara’s neck where her own was vulnerable.

Strange endorphins raced through Kara as Lena sucked on her throat and sank her teeth in. The bite was not strong enough to pierce the skin or leave a lasting sting. Lena smiled at the soft purplish mark of her creation and closed her lips around it again. She puckered and licked with a noise of satisfaction and arched her eyebrow at the splotch of color.

“A token of my affections, if not a symbol of any bond between us,” Lena declared with another alluring sweep of her eyes.

Kara shivered from the pleasures and intent of the bite. She pushed a lock of hair behind Lena’s ear and the spray of water from the ocean cooled them both before their desires got the best of them.

“What was it like to be born into this life?” Kara asked after a brief hesitancy. She wanted to know more of Lena’s past and experiences, though worried she overstepped when the omega pinched her lips together.

“I wasn’t raised by my own mother, if that’s what you’re asking.” Lena’s clipped words ended in a sigh and she took Kara by the hand to lead her deeper into the crystalline water. “I was much like the little ones you met today. Most of them were separated from their omegas at birth. I lived with several other human alphas until we were all thrust into the roles that society made for us. They were like my family. I don’t even know if they’re still alive, but I think of them often.”

Kara waded into the waves and washed off the scent of her concern. She sluiced water over Lena’s shoulders and avoided her eye as she divulged secrets she knew better than to share. “This may not bring you comfort, but Nyxly owns a few human alphas. They’re like my sisters. We look out for one another as if blood binds us all.”

Lena tipped her chin to the sky and for a while she did nothing except breathe. Kara joined her, feeling the weight of each breath and the silence of the scream that she imagined wanted to escape Lena’s lungs on every exhale.

“It’s peculiar, don’t you think?” Lena finally uttered, wetting her hair to slick it back as if cleansing herself of the misery that threatened to consume them both.

“What is?” Kara raised her brows in confusion and glanced to the shore where her robe still hung over a rock.

“That pups are considered a commodity.”

“Only the alphas and the omegas,” Kara corrected, no longer filled with bitter resentment born from the injustice of it. “The pups that mature into betas are practically revered.”

“They’re the most desired of all,” Lena scoffed as though she thought Kara was foolish and flicked water at her with a slight grin. “For an omega, there is no greater honor than birthing a beta. Andrea has promised me extravagant gifts if I deliver a beta. As if I have the power to choose.”

Kara’s lip curled along with her fingers to form clenched fists beneath the water. The implication of Andrea raising her pup as if it were her own enraged her alpha, yet it was the ache in her heart that brought frown lines to her forehead.

None of her future pups deserved to be born into a society where they wouldn’t be valued, and she deserved to raise them alongside Lena as an equal parent.

“Is that what you want?” Kara accused with a jealousy she could not temper, her emotions as turbulent as the waves that rocked against her thighs. “To keep only the pups she deems worthy?”

Lena recoiled slightly at the anger in Kara’s voice, her surprise lasting but a moment before she dared to step closer to get into Kara’s face. “I’ll raise them all as a mother should. They’ll be mine and I’ll love them equally.”

The hiss of Lena’s words faded with the spray of the water slapping against the rocks and Kara surged forward with a growl to match her intensity.


“Ours,” Kara corrected against Lena’s lips, snaring the omega about the waist to pull her into a kiss so undeniably desperate that it shocked them both.

Kara gripped at Lena’s backside like she feared the omega would float off without the weighty teether of her grasp. She held strong as Lena used the buoyancy of the water to wrap her thighs around Kara’s hips and their frantic greed tapered off to something far more dangerous and gentle.

The kiss softened with Kara’s tongue gliding against the expanse of Lena’s, and her hands relaxed to offer support instead of possessive intent.

She let emotion guide her instead of her alpha’s sexual aggression, and she waded them backwards toward shore while Lena sank her fingers into golden hair to keep their mouths locked.

This wasn’t simply an act of lust inspired by Lena’s heat. They both seemed to understand that as Kara pressed her naked back against a large rock and made no attempt to slot herself into the clenching center of Lena’s desire.

They caressed each other, taking solace in each other’s shape as their fingertips ghosted over arms and muscles. Supple and solid and unrushed in their discoveries as quiet moans became breathy sounds of mutual acceptance.

Something was shifting between them, and it wasn’t the raw need for gratification.

Kara nuzzled beneath Lena’s jawline, her lips pressing hotly to the unclaimed skin without the sting of her teeth to accompany it. The sensual caress deepened Lena’s breaths and her chest heaved.


Kara took pity on Lena’s aching nipples and rolled them between her fingers. She palmed fully at Lena’s breasts as her tongue tasted the salt from her skin.

The urge to whisper the wildest of things was only hindered by the sudden huffing of someone else's breath. The sound of shuffling footsteps drew near and Kara instinctively pressed a hand to Lena’s mouth and slid farther down the rock as an omicron hurried close to the ocean.

They both watched his shifty behavior as he looked around for any witnesses and then pulled an intricately carved shell out of his pocket. Kara had never seen such an instrument, and as he blew into it, the tune was shrill and nauseating. Lena covered her ears as the pitch forced her eyes closed and Kara did her best not to growl as the noise forced her teeth together.

“Rise, so we may rise along with you,” The omicron commanded, his laughter muted as he ran off.

“Who was that?” Lena uttered, their moment ruined by his antics. She pulled on her silk robes and handed Kara her own as they dressed with an implicit understanding that something bad was about to happen.

“The question you ought to be asking is what did he just do,” Kara stoically informed Lena.

Ice cold dread filled up Kara’s insides as the sand beneath them tremored.

Along the shore pups cried as their sand towers collapsed without warning, and the size of waves increased.

“The pups–” Lena gasped as half of the beach began to quake and split open beneath everyone's feet.

The omicrons in attendance collectively began to retreat, unbeknownst to those who couldn’t see the danger they were in. Drunken betas relaxed in the sun, oblivious to the threat as beasts from below began to emerge from the sea and sand.

Sharp shelled creatures rose out of the water with long armored limbs while others of their kind clawed themselves out of the sand.

Screams erupted from terrified children and the rest of the adults began to panic and scatter.

“Get them to safety! Go while I take care of the threat!” Kara demanded, leaving no room for Lena to argue. She took off down the sand with nothing but her own wits and bare hands as weapons.

She intercepted the first beast from behind and used her momentum to leap onto its broad and hardened back. Its four longer appendages couldn’t bend backwards to knock her off, and the monster stumbled as she grabbed its elongated head. Kara had no way of knowing it would split open, and her palm slid against the razored edge as she tried to regain her balance.

Blood trickled down its shell and Kara snarled as three whip-like tentacles flew out of the front of the beast's face.

The barbed flesh struck at her arms and Kara stopped trying to force the two halves of its head apart. She used her brute strength to close the thing in on itself, severing the limbs that still thrashed in the sand as the beast swung wildly.

It shook Kara off and she rolled as it began striking the sand with its blade like-limbs.

Across the beach, shouts and screams distracted her from the chaos unfolding. Kara caught sight of Lena ushering pups away from the carnage.

The fear on the omega’s face unlocked a primal sense of urgency in Kara’s alpha and she swung her foot out to collide sharply with the beast's knee, snapping its hardened shell with the force of the impact.

It made a grotesque sound that Kara perceived as anger, and she gave it no time to recover as she jumped onto its upper limb and dug her feet into its back to wrench the whole thing off.

Its liquid insides flooded out, thick and oily, and Kara spared it no mercy as she rammed her own arm into its severed limb to stab it to death. She wore it like armor, an extended sword that she used brutally against the next creature with unflinching precision.

It lashed at her with the sprouting tentacles in a blind fury to grab her. Each blow sliced its tender flesh as it coiled around the sharp shell that encased Kara’s arm.

Chunks of barbed tentacles fell to the sand as Kara thrashed back. She severed pieces as she raced forward to impale it through what she was believed was its face.

She only discovered she was wrong when a beta down the beach let out a scream. Kara turned in time to witness one of the creatures pulling him towards a cavernous mouth that cracked open in the middle of its chest. It used its sword-like limbs to mangle the body and stuff it into an abyss of circular jaws.

Several omegas fainted and pups wailed in despair as they were left behind without a ward. Kara knew Lena would try to gather them into a group, but the beach was swarming with the creatures, and more were clambering out of the sea.

“Fall back!” Kara shouted, though nobody could hear her in their panicked state.

She charged on, shielding herself with the shelled arm while she took out three other beasts in quick succession. She harpooned one with the limb she wielded, and ripped off the creature’s arm, dislodging it right out of its socket to use as a new weapon.

This one was covered in razored ridges and was heavier than the last. She trusted that it would withstand harder blows.

What the monsters lacked in intelligence they made up for in strength and Kara grunted as one rammed her from the side. She careened down the beach, landing with a sickening thump so close to a pup that the little one howled in fear and hid behind her hands.

“I’ll keep you safe,” Kara promised, though she must have looked worse than the creatures she battled.

It ached to breathe, and she forced herself up as one of the beasts bent low and charged forward to try and spear her with its pointed head. Kara grabbed the child by the back of her robes and hoisted her up to her hip.

“Hold on tight,” Kara instructed, and the pup obeyed, clinging to the fabric of Kara’s robe with her tiny fists.

Kara swung her armored arm to crack the back of the creature’s neck and its shell split in two. Dark liquid oozed from the gaps and it stood upright with a roar and tried to tangle Kara within its three tentacles.

Kara ducked reflexively and struck at its legs, but it began to splinter across its middle to unveil the gaping maw beneath its hard exterior.

The pup screeched and squirmed and Kara valiantly tried to hold onto her. The sand beneath their feet began to sink as the beast tried to dig them into a trap.

“Don’t look at it,” Kara screamed out, taking the full brunt of the lashing with her unprotected arm. She let it twist around her, slicing into her skin as it tried to yank them closer, and at the last second, Kara jammed the sword like appendage down its hideous throat.

It gurgled and screamed as Kara sliced through it with such force that it knocked several of its crooked teeth out. The beast staggered back and threatened to take them with it into the water.

Kara struggled to tug the limb free of its jaws and kicked at its torso with a battle cry of her own. She refused to fail the pup or Lena in her promise to keep them safe. Wrenching her armored arm free, she severed the tentacles that coiled around her.

Kara turned toward the sound of fighting and moved up the beach to where Nyxly fought with several omicrons. A few dropped to the ground unconscious as the lanista managed to fling little poisoned darts into their chest.

“Drop them if you want to live,” an omicron hissed with a weapon pointed at Nyxly.

He never got the chance to use it as Kara thrashed him with the tentacles still embedded in her arm. They coiled around his wrist and dug in deep as she pulled him to his knees, and Nyxly scoffed as Kara kicked him in the face to knock him out.

“I knew you liked me,” Nyxly gloated, her gratitude not nearly as hidden by her sardonic humor as she might have hoped.

Kara paused for a fraction of a second and then handed the pup to Nyxly.

The lanista held the child like it was more dangerous than their current surroundings and gaped at Kara in astonishment. “What am I meant to do with this?”

“You’ll figure it out,” Kara stated, knowing that Nyxly wouldn’t just leave the little one unattended.

With a rising anger that consumed her more than any emotion she had experienced before, Kara faced off against the remaining beasts and omicrons.

The beach was nothing like the arena, and Kara needed the rage to help her protect the thousands of innocents that came to the epsilon festivities. This was bigger than entertainment, and she was the only alpha around to save them all. It would have been a bloodbath without her, and the attack felt like it was never ending. For every creature she laid to waste in the sand, another emerged from the water. Kara burned with sweat as the final monstrosity let out a bellow and flopped forward on the rocks.

Higher on the cliffs, the betas had rounded up most of the omicrons that started the insurrection. The penalty was a swift and merciful fall to their deaths.

Kara turned and looked towards the pavilions, searching the faces in the crowd. She broke into a run as Andrea stepped out from the green tent with a troupe of other betas.

“No, no,” Kara repeated to herself as she imagined the omega dead beneath the rubble. “Lena?”

“Kara!” came a frantic and distressed reply. “Here, I’m here!”

Near one of the flapping emerald flags, an omicron had Lena in restraints.

Kara remembered the omicron from somewhere. She thought back to her meet-up with Lena and Andrea before her most recent tournament. The omicron had been present at the bar, and she had seen him around the festival grounds.

“William, let her go!” Andrea shouted and charged towards Lena with a petrified reek about her.

William jabbed the omega between the shoulders and pulled both of her arms back. He shoved Lena towards a boat, making it clear he was planning to use her as a hostage.

Lena screeched and kicked at him, helpless with her forearms bound. He stuck a blade against her neck, and she whimpered, staring at Kara like she believed the alpha was the last sight she would see.

William failed to notice when Kara deviated to the side, no longer rushing headfirst toward them. Andrea figured out what Kara was doing and distracted the omicron with a performance that was too shrill to be anything other than heartfelt.

“Willian, please–look at me,” Andrea begged, holding off the betas that followed her lead. She held her hands out, empty and upturned, and showed only desperate vulnerability in her plea for Lena to remain unharmed. “Whatever you want, you can have it. Just release her and we can negotiate.”

“We tried negotiating with the Beta Guild, but you refuse to allocate more power to us,” Willian spat, his fear allowing him to act unpredictably. “We no longer seek your approval. The rule of betas will end. Our friends will see to that!”

Ignoring the gathering of betas, William tried to drag Lena toward the little boat. She went defiantly limp in his grasp, and William cursed her under his breath for making his escape difficult. He managed to trail her the rest of the way, but it took longer than expected, and he shoved her unceremoniously into his vessel.

William climbed in after Lena and discovered all too late that the oars were missing.

Kara took great pleasure in leaping from the water to surprise him with an attack. She swung an oar at his head with enough strength to fracture it to splinters.

William toppled from the boat with a grunt, and Kara didn’t hesitate to take hold of him by the neck. She squeezed his throat and lifted him out of the water to snarl into his face.

“You see what I’ve done to those things?” Kara knew he couldn’t answer with her fist around his larynx, but she saw his bulging eyes scan the shoreline. “Now think of what I can do to you.”

He passed out in her tight grip, more from terror than loss of oxygen. Andrea rushed to collect Lena from the boat, untying her and leading the omega away from the danger. They disappeared behind one of the tents, safe and sound and beyond Kara’s line of sight.

Kara dropped the omicron at the feet of the other betas, and they hauled William off to suffer the same punishment as the rest of the traitors.

The deltas lit fire to the dead monsters and the atmosphere of mourning turned to one of celebration. Everyone on the beach stayed clear of Kara, and until the beginnings of nightfall, she wandered alone by the rocks and avoided making herself more of a spectacle. She sat down on a piece of driftwood beside an abandoned fire pit, and a while later, an omega scurried over with a basin and a scrub brush. The omega bowed as she presented it, too in awe to speak.

Kara accepted the items and waded into the sea to cleanse herself. When she finished, her hair was dripping down over her face and her teeth chattered, but she no longer had dried blood on her skin. She crossed the sands, keeping away from some of the betas as they recounted the violent uprising and soothed some of the distraught epsilons.

In the wake of the destruction and revelry, Nyxly strolled out from a white tent to find Kara. She wore darker robes and blackened ash around her eyes, and she stopped to regard Kara with respect. “You came to our defense today. The members of the Beta Guild don’t often see eye to eye, but they all agree that you performed admirably. They have decided to grant you a favor. You may make one reasonable request.”

Kara wondered what the Beta Guild would deem reasonable. She hadn’t expected thanks or praise, just more wariness and more fear from all of the classes that watched her kill. It weighed on her until she heard cheers go up around her — from the pups and omegas first, then the deltas, and epsilons, and finally the betas.

She didn’t even consider her request at length beforehand. It entered her head and she blurted it out without thinking of how Nyxyly would perceive it.

“Lena’s neck.”

“Her claim?” Nyxly purred, intrigued and meditative. She eyed Andrea, who appeared at the edge of the guild’s tent.

“No,” Andrea stated softly in jealousy and repulsion. “That would break one of our most sacred laws. Besides, Lena belongs to me, and I would never give an alpha permission to mark her.”

Nyxly’s eyes twinkled as if she might have given her consent. She smiled slyly and continued to stare at Kara. “Another request.”

Kara considered the chance that all of her demands would be seen as excessive. She folded her arms behind her back and bravely asked for what she truly wanted. It didn’t matter that Nyxly could deny her. She would never get an opportunity like this again.

“If Lena bears any pups, I wish to meet them.”

“Done,” Nyxly granted, all flashing teeth and maniacal delight. She didn’t even entertain Andrea’s possible protests as she ushered Kara off to the large blue tent.

Kara sensed Andrea’s displeasure in the purse of her lips and huff of resignation. The favor could still be revoked, though Nyxly had never been known to break a pact. Nxyly smirked as Andrea followed them towards the final enclosure Kara hoped to explore.

“We lost just two betas today,” Nyxly intimated as they passed by the debris. “Hundreds would have died without your intervention. The Beta Guild would have called an early end to the festival, but it seems they feel safer here for the night. They would like to honor you with an omega from each of their households, but I felt that you would appreciate just one.”

Parting the laps of the tent, Nyxly gave her the chance to behold the wonders within.

The space inside was large and illuminated with soft light. All of the structures were either draped in the finest of silks or made of the same limpid material. Tapestries covered the floor and provided resting places for large pewter bowls, each of them filled with scented oil of some sort. Around the items, Kara noticed large cushions and canopies of pale blue and powdery white.

Kara moved forward carefully, breathing in the mellow aromas of incense.

At the middle where the ceiling tented highest, Lena waited on a grand bed. Clad in the sheerest material, her pale skin glowed through the delicate lingerie.

Kara heard the distinct sound of the tent being sealed for their privacy.

“We’re not to be disturbed until midmorning.” Lena intoned as she rose from the bed and strutted towards Kara. The intimate perfume of her heat swirled in the air, and she used it to wrap around Kara’s senses.

Kara inhaled it deeply, no longer ashamed of her greed when it came to Lena. She met the omega in the middle, stepping in between cushions to utter sincerely, “You don’t have to reward me. You bravely saved the pups.”

“Oh, but I do,” Lena whispered, raising her hand to Kara’s cheek and glancing over her with concern. “I was only able to whisk the children off because you single-handedly took on that army of beasts. Not only that, but you saved me from the maniac who wished to use me as a means of escape.”

The omega was careful in her removal of Kara’s tattered robes, and if she was shocked at the sight of what was beneath them, she at least didn’t gasp.

Vulnerability caught Kara off guard, and she clasped Lena’s wrist as her questing fingers tried to pry off a bandage wrapped around her arm.

“These need to stay on.”

“Not in here they don’t,” Lena insisted, her lip quivering as she gazed up at Kara to plead, “I gave you my trust today. It’s only fair you give me yours in turn.”

Kara didn’t protest after that. She succumbed to the gentle persistence of Lena’s hands as they unraveled the cloths that covered her torn and tattered body. She said nothing as Lena stared at her wounds and frowned when the omega dipped her hands into a bowl filled with purple leaves and petals.

“In lieu of an omega from each household, the Beta Guild has sent you a number of gifts. This elixir can heal almost any wound.” Lena slathered it over Kara’s arms, and they both marveled at how the gashes sealed themselves together without leaving any scars.

Lena took her time as she massaged the rest of the oil over Kara, her touches far less healing and more sensually explorative as she set the bowl aside. She coaxed Kara down onto one of the large cushions.

It was remarkably soft, and Kara sank into it with a sigh as Lena took the liberty of straddling her lap.

“What does this one do?” Kara asked as she lifted an herbal mixture with curiosity.

Lena fluttered her lashes and raised her chin to flaunt her neck, as if she had heard what Kara had first requested. “It’s for your pleasure. It will make you more sensitive and me more prone to giving in to my urges.”

“Will it make you feel good?” Kara mused as she dipped her fingers into the liquid and then deftly slid her hand under Lena’s silk negligee. She massaged the oil into Lena’s breasts, palming them fully and then teasing the stiffened buds of her nipples. She plucked at them equally, pleased to see Lena’s eyes darken with desires she intended on fulfilling.

“Maybe you should use a little more to be sure,” Lena suggested, her breathy enjoyment more than enough to persuade Kara to continue.

Kara scooped some of the oil into her palm and bathed Lena’s cunt with it. She rubbed it smoothly into the slick crease of her lips and beyond the heated little cove of her entrance. She toyed with her for a moment, pushing two fingers into her internal grasp just to slide more of it inside. She did this several times and encouraged Lena’s pelvis to rock back and forth until she trembled from the friction.

Kara slid her fingers into the tightest part of Lena’s canal and rubbed into the creamier silk. Her thrusts elicited a moan from both of them and Lena’s arousal thickened as the first quakes of pleasure went through her thighs. Kara groaned at the heat of Lena’s sexual release as she pushed into it.

“Rut me selfishly,” Lena dictated crudely and opened her mouth in a silent gasp as they started to grind into one another. “By the morrow, my cunt should feel like you have used it. I want your seed on my body and in my womb.”

Kara spread the small crest in between Lena’s legs with her own girth — wide apart and without any means to sit comfortably on top of it.

That realization pulled Lena’s brows in, and she sank down several times without taking more into her glistening little chamber. She whined in vexation when her cunt would not cease its hot clenching.

Kara kissed ravenously at the omega’s throat and clutched Lena’s hair to tug her head back. She growled into the hollow between Lena’s breasts and took them each as prizes for her won battle.

“My claim will decorate your throat one day,” Kara uttered into the vulnerable skin, unafraid of the laws and their enforcers.

Her victory was putting ideas in her head, and Lena tasted like freedom—like sustenance after every fight where she could have perished. She would have her fill of the omega and then some.

Lena gasped at the rougher press of Kara’s lips around the quivery part of her neck. Kara sucked on the omega’s intact claim, her mouth forming a bruise on the virgin ivory. Her teeth pierced the spot around a single freckle and Lena climaxed from the experience.

The bite would heal without the permanency of a true claim, but they latched onto each other like their bond was assured.

Kara placed a hand on the omega’s lower back and slammed herself to the hilt inside of Lena’s chasm.

Lena bounced from the jostling thrusts and her cunt sounded lusciously wet. Kara groaned as the omega’s natural lubrication dripped down her cock and settled under the curvature of her knot-bulge.

“My cunt will stroke all of the seed from you,” Lena whispered provocatively and held herself in a posture conducive to keeping her legs open. “It will remain tight and warm around you until there’s nothing left, Kara—and then I intend to give you a knot so enlarged you will never get it out of me.”

Kara grunted as a spasm started from the bottom of her cock and coursed like hot lightning through it. She pumped into Lena’s carnal recesses, filling her cervix with the hot bounties of sex. Lena undulated as she accepted it all, moaning as they both tried to push it deeper into her womb.

The omega sprawled across a cushion after that and reached out to light a heavy bundle of incense and foliage. She clapped the burning sticks together, infusing the tent with an enticing aphrodisiac.

“The deltas call this sex pollen,” Lena husked as she backed into Kara and exposed her soft inner lips by positioning herself in a much lower crouch. “You must mount me now and we will breed as nature intended.”

The fragrant potency of the smoke was in Kara’s nostrils as she planted her feet on either side of Lena’s body. She stood above the exquisite curve of Lena’s back and admired the beauty of her prone mate. Her cock pointed down at the small crinkle of the omega’s lips—partially open from their first rut and utterly soaked in Kara’s seed.

“When an omega submits on her knees, it improves the chance that the seed will take.” Kara placed her hands on the soft cheeks of Lena’s ass and slipped back into welcoming spasms of her breeding cunt.

Her shaft ached pleasantly from sliding all the way in, and Lena’s sweet inner lips felt tighter around her knot-base. She halted for a moment to get acclimated and then began thrusting at a pace that made them both sweat. Lena curled her fingers around one of the tapestries on the floor and her softer whimpers became richer and gustier. They lacked an audience, but Lena’s cries would carry through the night air.

“How does it feel to finally give yourself to me without reservation?” Kara groaned out as her inhibitions melted away and her tongue loosened with ecstasy. She molded her palms to the slope of Lena’s spine and pressed heavily upon her shoulders to clasp the crook of her neck. The dominance Kara displayed kept Lena perfectly positioned for rigorous thrusts, and she indulged them both with faster rutting.

“Like I’ve always belonged right here beneath you,” Lena gasped, no longer cautious with her truths as she rocked into Kara’s lunges.

The momentum shoved the omega’s hips forward and she obediently pushed back, forcing the knot-base through the rippled silk of her walls. She shook from the pleasure of being taken and announced it with every sound she made.

The hot ridge of Kara’s cock stroked Lena into orgasmic compliance and she gushed from a powerful release. Strong contractions pleaded for Kara’s seed and Lena whined at the perpetual slam against her inner resistance.

Kara needed this from Lena, and she was delirious enough with lust to believe the only pups Lena would carry would be her own. She mounted her with ambition, like the only thing that mattered was filling her womb. Kara’s alpha promised that was the case, and that she was the only one worthy of Lena.

“Yes, Kara – breed me. I’m rightfully yours. Don’t stop until I’m pregnant.” Lena’s airy demand was all the sweeter as she flung her head back to flaunt the bruise of Kara’s teeth.

The taut skin of her throat looked marbled with the mark and Kara charged forward to sink her tip into the tightest crevice of Lena’s cunt. She bucked wildly, the ragged pants of her breath interspersed with growls of possession until she stiffened all over and expelled torrents of seed. The bulge of her knot extended farther, and Lena’s pretty mound was forced into a glossy spread around it.

Kara hunched over to kiss the omega’s neck and keep her in the breeding pose. They reached for each other as the knot swelled, extreme in girth and immersed within Lena’s pussy. In the thick clouds of incense, Kara continued to rock passionately and without any thought to stopping.

The scents influenced her libido, and she latched her teeth at Lena’s throat, groaning in intense satisfaction as she took claim.

Lena whimpered in shock, raising her hand to the place where it must have stung. “You marked me. I belong to you.”

The omega’s scent expressed nothing but pleasure, though the reality overwhelmed Kara until she saw the oil in the dish near Lena’s arm. She dipped her fingers into it, healing the claim before it caused Lena any distress.

Lena touched the unbroken skin in awe and pulled Kara closer. “Bite me again. I want to know what it’s like to be your mate, even if just for one night.”

Kara stroked her fingers into the omega’s hair, staying true to her instincts as she repeated what she had already done. She made a deeper mark with her teeth, sucking longer and harder. It gave them both fulfillment, and Kara acquired new senses that related to the bond. She could feel Lena’s presence differently, could pick up on every emotion beating in the omega’s chest.

They didn’t put words to it, and for a while all they did was breathe and shake from exhilaration and pleasure—but the experience was one that Kara would hold onto for the rest of her life.