Credence Read online

  “Torin,” she moaned.

  A deep groan escaped him, and his hand lowered to the hem of her tunic. He broke their kiss and moved his mouth to her ear. “I love the way you say my name, Victoya,” he murmured as his hand slipped up to her inner thighs.

  She had always loved the way he said hers, but she could barely even speak to tell him that. All she could do was whimper as his fingers entered her panties and began to stroke her pussy.

  “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” he muttered gruffly. “You have the most beautiful body and mind.” His fingers sunk deeper until he was caressing her clit.

  Victoya lost all ability to stand, but he held her up with an arm around her waist.

  “I love your scent. And your voice… you make the most wonderful sounds, Victoya.” The note of wonder in his voice as he looked down at her made her even weaker.

  Victoya could barely concentrate on anything else he said as his fingers increased their strum. The blissful rush that swept her rose in intensity, and when he kissed her again it climbed to heights that took her breath from her lungs. His mouth closed over one of her nipples through her tunic, and when he rolled it in his mouth, a sensation blasted through her entire body. She had no control over her flailing limbs or her cries of ecstasy.

  As she panted and shuddered, her orgasm abating, Torin pulled away slowly and pressed his forehead to hers, his gray eyes wistful as he simply stared.

  Staring back at him, she suddenly realized she hadn’t even touched him back. She wanted to make him feel good too, but where would she even start? She averted her eyes, embarrassed by her lack of experience.

  Torin stiffened, and then swiftly picked her up and entered his room. Flinging her arms around his neck, she breathed in that gorgeous scent that turned her on so much and marveled at how normal it felt for him to carry her.

  “I’m sorry, Victoya,” he said firmly, as he placed her down on the bed and laid beside her.

  Victoya’s face dropped, disappointment threatening to chase away the wonderful elation at the development of their relationship. “You didn’t mean to do it?”

  “I absolutely meant to do it,” he said, a rumble in his voice she’d never heard before that set her body alight. “But I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable—especially in the corridor.”

  She gave him a nervous smile. “You didn’t make me uncomfortable. No one was in the corridor, I think. And… it was amazing, Commander.”

  “Torin,” he corrected, his arms tightening around her and moving her until she was underneath him. He began to unbutton her tunic. “Tell me to stop, Victoya.” His gray eyes held hers, passionate and solemn. “Tell me to stop touching you.”

  She took a breath, their gaze remaining locked. “Why would I do that?” she whispered.

  The look in his eyes turned beautifully fierce and he kissed her again, this time rough and consuming as he ripped off her tunic.

  Victoya sighed at the feel of his hands and mouth claiming every inch of her; squeezing her thighs, licking her neck, biting her stomach, and clawing her ass. She had no idea when he undressed, but she moaned as his smooth, toned skin slid against hers. He kissed her again as his hand returned between her legs, but this time his fingers dipped inside her, and a sweet pleasurable pain erupted inside her.

  Torin groaned as she gasped in his mouth and he pumped his fingers in and out of her, creating a wet, rhythmic squelch that she would have been embarrassed by if she could think clearly. But all she could think was that she wanted more. She spread her legs as wide as she could and humped his fingers as she sucked on his bottom lip.

  Torin growled that same growl that had sent pleasurable shudders through her in the corridor. He moved between her legs and teased her clit with the tip of his cock before positioning himself at her slickened entrance. He swirled his tip, causing her to tilt her hips, eager for more. She wasn’t sure what more she needed—she hadn’t ever had sex before, but since Torin had almost kissed her that first night of the meetings, he had awakened something in her that wanted him. And it had been getting stronger and stronger until now it was demanding that she have him. She held his gaze as he smoothly pressed into her.

  Victoya cried out and arched her back but he didn’t stop until he filled her up completely, his cock fully seated inside her, stretching her wide and deep. Then he was stroking his hands through her hair and kissing her and murmuring that she’d be all right and how beautiful she was to him. Stars, how she loved when he said that. She ran her hands up his arms and whispered his name. And then he was thrusting into her hard and rough.

  Victoya ascended into a flood of sensual madness as he plunged into her over and over. She arched and twisted and writhed at the intensity of being filled so deeply, at his hot breath on her skin, and the scent of their joining filling the room. The gruff exhales from his throat turned her on so much as did the increasing roughness of his treatment of her. Torin slammed down on her hard, pinning her to the bed as he bit on her nipple, sending a shooting zing right through her. The climax that rocked her seemed to come out of nowhere, but it jostled her whole existence until she could no longer make sense of anything but the feel of her Beta.

  By the time she came down, he was rolling onto his back and pulling her on top of him. She placed her hands on his chest to keep herself upright, but as he held her hips and began to pump into her from underneath, she suddenly felt self-conscious. His desire-filled gray eyes lingered between her breasts and her face, but she had no idea what she was doing on top. She leaned forward to lie on his chest but he grabbed the back of her head and yanked her back up.

  “I want to see you,” he demanded.

  Victoya opened her mouth, trying to find a way to tell him she didn’t know what she was doing—he was probably used to more experienced women—but before she could get a word out, he pulled her head back and to the side, causing her to arch back as his other hand on her hip angled her down onto him harder and faster. Something about that position—being held tightly and arching so deeply—felt so good. She ground her hips onto him, increasing the strength and speed of their mating, and suddenly she found a rhythm on his cock. This time her climax rose slowly, surging within her with each heavy drop of her hips onto that incredible length. It seized her, lifting her to a delicious peak of the highest height and then roared through her, invading her whole body.

  Victoya found herself collapsed on Torin’s chest as he bucked his cock up into her, groaning as he came deep inside her.

  His arms encircled her as her panting slowed, and he cuddled her into him, brushing his lips on her forehead as his own breathing calmed. Victoya had never felt so comfortable. They lay in silence as he stroked his hand over her back.

  “I don’t want this to be temporary.”

  Victoya tilted her head up. “What do you mean?”

  “I claimed you to protect you,” Torin said, looking down at her. “But I want you, Victoya. This isn’t casual for me. I wish we were really becoming mates. I know I shouldn’t want that…” He lifted his head away from her and exhaled.

  She smiled up at him, so happy and relieved. “We can,” she whispered.

  Torin looked at her closely, his eyes flicking over her face. “As much as I would like that, I don’t think it can ever be. No matter how long we are together, you could always potentially find your true mate and I would have to let you go.” His arms squeezed tighter around her. “Even though I won’t want to. I fear it could ruin me.”

  Victoya chewed her lip in thought. He had no idea of her true circumstance and that was the reason why he kept bringing up her having a true mate. “Would you be open to it if that wasn’t the case?”

  Torin exhaled, his arms tightening around her. “I can never be what you need me to be, Victoya. All the things that is natural for an Alpha to do for his Omega, I have no knowledge of. When you go into your Haze, it won’t be me you will want. I will be unsatisfactory to you. You may feel like you are fi
ne with this now, but if you meet your true mate you will realize what you’re missing.”

  Victoya shook her head adamantly. “It’s not true.” A desperation rose in her to explain everything to him—to make him realize he was the one she wanted and there would be no one else, but she held back. Instead, she squeezed her muscles down on his hard cock still deep inside her, massaging all the sensitive spots deep within. “You’re still hard.”

  He inhaled sharply and then groaned. “Yes, that is unusual for me,” he muttered, “but it isn’t the same as an Alpha knot.”

  Victoya almost told him she didn’t care about having a knot and how good he felt still being inside her, but she resisted. He wouldn’t believe her. She had to tell him everything if she was going to find a way to be with him. And she knew now that she had to be with him. He was the only one who made her feel anything similar to how Cailyn described Drocco made her feel. But before she said anything, she needed advice.

  ***

  “I can’t believe I missed all this,” Cailyn scowled as she nursed Naya. “Why didn’t you tell me,” she snapped at Victoya. “You’ve been doing these meetings for over a week and you barely mentioned Torin!”

  Victoya suppressed a grin at Cailyn’s irritableness. “You’ve hardly slept for the past week, Cailyn. We haven’t had time to talk about anything but the actual meetings themselves.”

  “I don’t care,” Cailyn declared. “I want to know about everything that is going on with you and Torin. I’m the one who told you that he liked you in the first place!” She huffed and carefully moved Naya to her other breast. “I can’t believe he fought for you!” she said incredulously, once the baby had settled. “I’m your sister, I should get the information first.”

  “Actually, that’s why I’m here,” Victoya sighed. “I need some advice.”

  Cailyn beamed and sat up straighter in her chair. “Tell me.”

  Victoya took a breath. “You know I was here before to seduce Torin and find out information about the Lox? In order to make him aware of me, the Mothers did something to my dynamic.”

  The smile dropped from Cailyn’s face. “What do you mean? How could they do anything to your dynamic?”

  “Do you remember me mentioning dynamic scars?”

  Cailyn lowered her eyes in thought. “To tune you to him…,” she said slowly, reciting part of their conversation they’d had when they first met in the palace. She looked up shocked. “So the scars actually interfere with your dynamic?”

  Victoya nodded and watched Cailyn’s expression turned to one of horror.

  “What the fuck did the Mothers think they were doing?” Cailyn fumed. “How can they interfere with someone’s dynamic? How could you let them do that to you, Victoya?”

  Victoya winced at the anger in her voice. “It was a high-level mission,” she explained. “The type of mission that only the really experienced spies would take. And I thought it was reversible.”

  Cailyn’s eyes widened even further. “You mean it’s not? The scars are permanent?”

  As Victoya nodded, she cringed at the string of curses Cailyn breathed out.

  It took awhile for her to calm down. She ranted on and on about the Mothers and how they had shown such little care to Omegas even though they claim to be saving them. “I can understand some of the things they did,” Cailyn said forcefully, her voice quiet as she rocked Naya to sleep on her chest. “But this is unacceptable.”

  Victoya nodded miserably, saying nothing. It was the whole reason why she had been keen to find out the truth about the Mothers while Cailyn was at the compound, and why she left with Cailyn the first opportunity she got. She had felt so utterly betrayed by them—for their behavior toward both her and Cailyn—that she couldn’t even bear to look at them or remain in the compound where she had been lied to all her life. Joining Cailyn should have helped her to have a fresh start, but instead she was surrounded by Alphas wanting Omegas and Omegas wanting Alphas. It was simply a reminder of what they had done.

  Finally, Cailyn calmed down. She rose from the chair and lay Naya down in her crib. “Tell me exactly what these dynamic scars are, what they do, and why they were important,” she said sternly as she returned back to her chair. “And I want to know exactly what the procedure was.”

  “The scars are the result of tears in my dynamic fiber,” Victoya said slowly, trying to remember exactly how the Mothers had phrased it. “It strips away some of the unique energy that makes me an Omega, so that I became undetectable to Alphas.”

  “So this is something that happens at an energetic level,” Cailyn said slowly, trying to understand. “Is your Talent affected by this?”

  “No. I can draw magic as normal. The Mothers said that the ability to affect magic was kept intact.”

  Cailyn thought for a long moment. “So what specifically has been stripped away other than Alphas scenting you?”

  Victoya shrugged. “I’m not sure. I don’t feel any different. I had to drink some potion every day for a week, and then the Mothers worked together to gather magic from the Wastelands and directed it into me. It didn’t feel as though it touched my skin, but I could feel it within me.” Her body involuntarily shuddered with the memory of the wasteland magic tearing her insides apart. “And it hurt so badly—” Victoya stopped abruptly when she saw tears in Cailyn’s eyes.“It only hurt for a few weeks,” she said hurriedly. “They gave me healing potions every day that soothed the worst of the pain.”

  But her words did not stop her sister’s tears from falling. “If I’d been there this would never have happened at all,” Cailyn said, on the verge of a sob. “It’s unforgivable what they did.”

  “I didn’t think so until I learned it was irreversible,” Victoya said quietly. “Until I learned what you had with Drocco, and realized that if I did have a true mate, he no longer has the ability to even recognize me on an instinctual level.”

  Cailyn wiped her eyes, shaking her head in disgust. “The Mothers are lucky you didn’t tell me about this while we were there,” she said darkly. “But when I go back…”

  “I’m fine about it now,” Victoya said, trying to reassure her. “But I need to convince Torin that he doesn’t have to worry about me finding my true mate, or about another Alpha being truly interested in me.”

  Cailyn frowned. “But I thought you said there were other Alphas interested in you?”

  “Yes, but I think it is more curiosity and eagerness,” Victoya admitted. “They are keen to have an Omega and I’m the one they see the most. Or perhaps they want to have an Omega that is close to the empress so they can also be close to Drocco. I don’t know.” She shrugged. “But it’s not instinctual, I can tell that much.” She frowned in thought. “Actually, it feels instinctual with Torin.”

  “How so?”

  “Around him I feel…” Victoya kept trying to find the right word, but couldn’t. The commander drew out feelings and emotions that she couldn’t even name. It was as though her body and mind wanted—needed—to connect with his in every way. “I like everything about him,” she said finally. “Even his scent is just so beautiful to me, more so than any Alpha that has approached me so far.”

  Cailyn bit her lip in thought for a long moment. “Initially, you told me that the scars were to tune you to him. How were you tuned to him, and how do you know that what you are feeling is not that?”

  “The Mothers said that the scars would help to tune him to me because I would no longer be using my blocks,” she said slowly. “But I don’t know exactly how Torin would have been attracted to me specifically through the scars. The Mothers had no access to him to affect his response to me—they didn’t have me put anything in his food or drink. But whatever they meant to change or do, I’m not sure it worked because he never approached me before. The only reason why I have the chance to speak to him now is because we were working together for the meetings.”

  “But you said he did notice you in the kitchens.”

  Vict
oya nodded, a slow horror eclipsing over her. What if everything she was feeling was due to the dynamic scars? It was one thing to know that she would never be with an Alpha, but what if everything she felt for Torin wasn’t real? What if everything he thought he felt wasn’t real either?

  “If my feelings for him are all because of the scars, then….” She didn’t know how to continue. That idea was more upsetting than not having a true mate.

  Cailyn’s warm hands closed over hers as she moved to sit beside her. “I think you need to speak to the Mothers. They are the only ones who can tell you exactly what’s going on with you.”

  “I don’t want to,” she whispered. Everything in her rejected the idea of even seeing the Mothers again, let alone speaking to them.

  “I know,” Cailyn said, squeezing her hands. “But even if Torin wasn’t involved in this, you should know exactly what happened so that you can live your life the best way you can. I will come with you if you want me to.”

  Victoya took a breath and shook her head. She wouldn’t have Cailyn stepping in to help her once again. “No. I need to see them on my own.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  TORIN

  “Pardon me, Commander, you wanted to see me?”

  Torin looked up from his desk. A middle-aged man stood in the doorway of his office, gripping a hat in his hand. Torin stared at him blankly before realizing he looked as though he was from the kitchens.

  “You wanted to see me about Toya?” the man said stepping into the office hesitantly.

  Torin raised his hand to tell the man he no longer needed him, but the man spoke again before he had the chance.

  “You said to bring anything I could about the time she worked in the kitchens?” The man took another few steps into the room and held up a wad of parchment. “I brought her schedules. It’s the only thing that was documented from her time.”