The Omega Within (Alpha's Woman Book 5) Read online

  "Sir?" she answered tentatively, and the other women smiled.

  "Sounds like an Alpha," Tura snorted as she breastfed her baby.

  Ebby asked softly, "Would you like something to drink or eat?"

  "No, thank you."

  Cat patted her hand. "You're safe. But you don't have to talk if you don't want to."

  Olly snorted. "I don't know how safe I am, considering that I'm on what my Alpha would say is the wrong side."

  "We would never harm you."

  "You might not, but I bet your Alphas would."

  To her surprise, and to a woman, they all stood up at that, but it was Emmy who spoke, holding her children to her as she did so. "No. We won't let that happen."

  Olly didn't know where they were, but it was a relatively elaborate series of rabbit warrens. She was shown to her room, and the doctor stayed with her, giving her the comfortable bed while he took the chair. "Try to sleep if you can."

  "Why is everyone always telling me to sleep?" she yelled, punching her pillow.

  While she rested, the rest of them plotted.

  "We cannot let her be used as a pawn in this war. I want us to be free of Garron as much as the next person—maybe more so," Cat began. "But she's an innocent."

  "We have to do something. Something that will make both sides stop the battle. Fighting doesn't get us anywhere. We have to convince them that we can achieve more by working together—by trading and cooperation—than we can by fighting."

  Cat looked dubious. "Are you going to try to convince our Alphas of that? Good luck."

  The other women around the table looked just as doubtful.

  But Tura stepped up to defend her friend's idea. "What could we do to stop both sides cold? If we can at least get them to stop fighting, maybe we could bring them to the table and hammer something mutual out that's mutually beneficial."

  It was Hinda who spoke up. "I think I have an idea. It's very dangerous, but it just might work."

  The battle was raging around them. Kosh and Vaudt were fighting together on the front lines. Zerk was right there with them, to one side, and Ciaran was on the other. The four of them were a very formidable force, and they were busily mowing as many of the enemy down as they could—guns, knives, bayonets, hand to hand—it didn't matter how to any of them. They left a trail of dead bodies in their wake, and the rest of the force—that wasn't armored or mobile—had begun to fight around or behind them.

  It was damned hard to tell whether or not they were making any headway, though. Garron's men just kept coming—legions and legions of them. They'd been fighting for what seemed like days, all of them bloody and dirty, with new scars and nicks and cuts for their omegas to fuss over.

  But they were perfectly willing to keep on doing exactly what they'd been doing for nearly a half a day already.

  That was until they heard something—very loud—from behind and in front of them at the same time. They didn't know quite how that was happening, but it was.

  For his part, Garron wasn't far from them. He'd yet to meet any of his rivals in battle, but he was certainly up for it. He had a large gash along the side of one cheek and a bullet lodged in the fleshy part of his calf, but he was game for fighting until the very last man—which he intended would be himself.

  "Cease fire!" The call was coming from two points, one in front and one behind them, and the soldiers on both sides, more out of curiosity than anything else, had stopped fighting, mostly. Two heavily armored trucks were being driven toward each other, one from Garron's camp and one from Zerk's city. There was one person riding atop each truck, peeping from behind all of the armor just enough that when they were closer, the Supreme Commander and the Berzerker were able to recognize them.

  The one originating from Zerk's side was occupied by Seen.

  In the one from Garron's, rode Hinda.

  Each of them had something they were holding up to their mouths as they spoke that amplified it. It was a megaphone; Emmy had told them. She was the only one who knew what they were and how to use them, and she'd produced them when Seen had vetoed the idea because no one would be able to hear them.

  "We assume you know who we are, Commanders. But what you don't know is that your omegas have taken it upon themselves to end this battle."

  All of the Alphas, not just the men in command, looked utterly baffled. Garron kept his sword down but began to make his way through his men to nearer where his four main rivals were.

  "While you were busy killing yourselves, your omegas have been on the move," Seen continued.

  That struck fear into five very brave, very strong men's hearts.

  "As we speak, your omegas are in positions on the opposite sides. Garron, Olly and your unborn child are somewhere in the city that you are bombing. I brought her there myself."

  "Vaudt, Kosh, Ciaran, Zerk—your omegas—are somewhere behind enemy lines."

  The gasps that rose from the men they were speaking to were audible to all, and almost as one, they began to growl, low in their throats.

  "If you do not stop fighting and go to your neutral corners, they will remain where they are, and you will run the risk of one of your bombs or someone who doesn't know who they are—who just thinks they're the enemy—killing them." Hinda was in tears at that very real possibility by the time she finished her part of the speech.

  "If you agree to end this war and enter into peace talks that could benefit both sides, then lay down your arms and head back from where you came," Seen instructed. It was strange for him to be telling them what to do. "Envoys will be sent from each side to meet in the middle and hash out a peace agreement as soon as possible. For tonight, if you agree, we will care for our wounded and mourn our dead."

  For several very long, very tense moments, the men simply stood around, looking terribly angry and utterly impotent, which was a feeling they weren't used to at all.

  In the end, though, they looked at each other and knew that they had been outmaneuvered, four of them by their very own omegas, and one by his apparently peace-loving doctor.

  All five of them threw their weapons down in disgust and trudged away as their men followed suit.

  "Round up the dead, boys," Garron screamed, hands in fists and looking as if he was going to kill the first man who approached him. None of the other four, who were heading in the opposite direction, were looking any happier.

  When he got back to his tent, the commander screamed for a drink.

  When the four returned to Zerk's office, deep in the city, he uncorked a bottle and passed it around.

  No one was saying a word. They were all too fucking scared for the lives of their omegas and their as yet unborn children.

  Eventually, when the cease-fire appeared to be holding, the children were brought in. Those who could, ran to their daddies, those who couldn't, were placed in their waiting arms and hugged until they yelled in protest.

  But their women didn't come back until the next day, when a hasty cease-fire was signed by all. Every man around the table looked the worse for wear, all of their faces creased with worry lines when there had been few on their faces before. None had slept so much as a wink last night.

  At least some of them had their children with them. They were of some comfort. But even that was nowhere near enough to replace the presence of their omegas by their sides.

  Chapter 9

  "All right. We've signed the fucking thing. Where are our women?" they all snarled when it was over and done with.

  Seen and Hinda, who had bravely volunteered to oversee the negotiations, knew that they were pushing five very fiery, not particularly understanding men just about as far as they could be pushed and the two of them not end up dead.

  "Garron, if you will go back to your tent—"

  "Gladly," he growled, stalking off from the middle of what had been the battlefield even before the doctor finished talking.

  "And if the rest of you would gather in the meeting room by Zerk's office, they will ret
urn there shortly."

  "Better fucking well be quick about it," Zerk himself barked.

  "And they'd better be in as good health as they were when we saw them last," Kosh said, raising his voice so that the departing Supreme Commander could hear his insult, but the man just kept walking.

  "Yes, so I can give her the punishment of a lifetime," Ciaran didn't quite mumble.

  "Fuck, yes!" Vaudt agreed, even more loudly than the others. He felt the need to punish something or someone—he didn't get to exhaust himself in battle, but he was going to wear out her bottom for the next couple months or so—at least.

  When the commander made it back to the tent, he found it empty, and he slumped down onto his bed while rubbing his hand over his mouth.

  What was he going to do if something had happened to her? If someone had hurt her? He'd just signed an agreement that said he wouldn't wage war against Zerk's city. He should have made sure they added the caveat that his woman had to be returned in perfect condition.

  He knew the other men wouldn't hesitate to agree to that.

  Not that any of them really had any control over it. That was the worst part. He was always the leader, always the one who decided everything for everyone, even down to life and death. But they'd taken it away from him.

  Oh, not Ollyah. She had no part in it, he was sure. She was too innocent. It was that fucking doctor he blamed! He'd trusted that useless scrap of a man with the most precious thing in his world, and he'd taken her right into the heart of the enemy's territory.

  If he ever got his hands on that man, he was going to kill him, slowly and painfully. And he was going to enjoy the ever-loving fuck out of every second.

  He'd worked his way through most of the bottle of very strong ale before he heard a rustling at his tent flap, and she appeared before him.

  Garron stood, barely able to believe that she was here, and in one piece, it seemed.

  He rushed toward her, stopping a few feet away.

  She was beautiful. She wasn't wearing what he'd made for her. Instead, she was in a beautiful dress that hugged her burgeoning breasts and fell from there in a cloud of blue. She was so gorgeous, it hurt to look at her.

  But he was instantly terrified for her. "Ollyah, little girl, aren't you in danger wearing just that?"

  She smiled at him, and he thought it was probably the first time she'd done that. "I wore the outfit that you made me until I entered the tent, but I think that—whatever it is the doctor—"

  He interrupted her by snarling loudly at the mere mention of him.

  "—discovered really does work to cover my scent. I brought a lot of it back with me, along with some seeds to—"

  She was interrupted again when he practically launched himself at her, picking her up and whirling her around in his arms, holding her as gently as he could possibly manage to.

  Then he set her down, looking stricken. "Oh, no, I didn't do something that will hurt the baby, did I?"

  "No, you didn't, Sir."

  "I am so glad to have you back, little girl." He hesitated to say it, but it was true. "Y-you look better than when you left."

  "I am," she agreed, snuggling against him.

  "H-happier?"

  Olly looked up at him. "Yes, I am. It was so good for me to talk to other omegas, Sir. I spent a lot of time talking to Emmy and Cat in particular. They're very different women than I am, who come from really different backgrounds. But they… they both helped me with you and being pregnant and being an omega."

  "And that made you happy?" He was almost jealous that he wasn't the one who had been able to do that for her, and he was conflicted about the fact that he wanted to thank the women who had helped her.

  "Yes." She sighed, taking his hand and pressing something into it.

  Garron opened it. Seeds. "Oh, for the doctor's herb?"

  She shook her head, biting her lip. "No, those are different. These are apple seeds. I've been collecting them for years now, drying them and then grinding them up."

  He looked nonplussed. It was nice of her to give him a gift like this and all, but why apple seeds?

  "Remember when I was getting up without permission?"

  "Yes," he answered, saying it in a way that made her blush as he cupped her cheek, desperate to have her, but she was being so talkative and open that he didn't want to discourage her.

  "Well, when I gave you my reasons for doing so, they were right, but that was only part of what I was doing."

  She was biting her lip, as well she should. "Oh, young lady?"

  "Yes, well, the other part of what I was doing was collecting the apple seeds from the apples we ate."

  "Why apple seeds?"

  "Because they contain arsenic."

  He looked alarmed, and he was worried about where this was going.

  Olly tried to move a little away from him, but he wouldn't let her.

  "When I was just barely hanging on, I knew I didn't want to die of starvation—it's a terrible, terrible death. So, I began to collect apple seeds, because I knew, from somewhere, that if you ate enough of them, you'd die." She shrugged. "I figured that would be a better—easier—way to die.

  Garron pulled her to him, one hand on her mid back, and the other holding her head to his chest. "I am so glad you didn't do that, little one," he whispered against her hair. "So glad."

  "And then when I was given to you, I knew I didn't want to be anyone's omega, so I kept adding to my stash."

  He leaned back and looked at her. "Does this mean that you no longer want to do that?"

  "I no longer want to do that, and that's because of Cat and Emmy and Ebby and Tura. They're wonderful women, all strong and capable and smart, and they helped me so much."

  "I'm glad, Ollyah. I'm very glad." He hugged her very tightly, but his furious mind kept drifting back to the doctor. "I can't believe he brought you there, though. And then that obscene idea about putting you all in harm's way like that—"

  This time, she interrupted him, "Going there was his idea. But putting all of us behind enemy lines and letting you know that that was what we'd done? That was my idea."

  He couldn't wrap his head around it. His shy little girl came up with an idea like that?

  Before she knew it, though, he was drawing her over his lap.

  "No, you can't!"

  "Why not?" he asked suspiciously.

  "I'm pregnant."

  He lifted her up and kissed her hotly. "And if you weren't, you're about to be…"

  Back at Zerk's big conference room, the four Alphas were sitting around the table with every conceivable bottle of liquor opened—and mostly empty—between them. Their women had not as yet reappeared, and they were in the midst of planning their revenge on Garron.

  But then the door opened, and Emmy, Tura, Ebby, and Cat appeared, looking none the worse for wear in the least.

  They stood there for a moment, and the men did nothing, barely able to believe that they were there.

  "You're all right?" the men chorused at their women—even though they were going to discern the truth of it later when they were alone—who chorused, "Yes," right back at them.

  Then all of them got up, each taking ahold of their omega and, without saying a word, returning to his chair to tip her over his knee.

  "Wait!"

  Each of them looked up, four huge hands poised over four already bared behinds.

  "You can't spank them," Hinda cautioned. "They're pregnant."

  Up stood four women, looking distinctly smug.

  Vaudt cautioned Emmy in a stern tone, "I wouldn't look so happy if I were you, little girl. You're the furthest gone. You'll be the first to be punished."

  Emmy frowned fiercely at that pronouncement.

  "Yes, and you're next, little girl," each of them warned their omega in turn, until all of them were wearing frowns.

  But then they all grabbed their omegas—gently—around the middle and swung them around cautiously and carefully.

  "I
f you ever do something like that again, Ebby, you won't sit comfortably for a year. As it is, as soon as you pop, you're not going to sit comfortably for that year," Ciaran promised.

  Kosh nuzzled Tura's nose as he held her on his lap. "I'll give you a pass for the next few months, I suppose, my little omega," he agreed reluctantly.

  Tura put his hand on her belly. "This one will be a boy, I'm sure."

  As he stood with her in his arms, heading toward their rooms and the daughter they already had, he whispered into her ear, "As long as it's a healthy baby, I truly don't care, little one. I'm so glad to have you back."

  Ciaran kept Cat over his lap, his hand still resting on her bare backside.

  "Let me up!"

  "I'm thinking. At least when you're here, I know where the hell you are!"

  Then he flipped her over and kissed the breath out of her. "You're sure you're all right? You'd tell me if you weren't? If there's something wrong, Emmy is right down the hall," he asked, looking terribly worried. Then as he rose with her in his arms to take her back to their rooms and have his way with her, he stopped mid stride. "Is the baby all right?"

  "Everyone is all right, I promise you," she whispered, clinging close to him.

  Vaudt had been the first to forsake his comrades—without so much as a backward glance—in favor of taking his woman back to their rooms, where their children were already tucked in bed. He stood beside her as she kissed them both good night, trying not to disturb their slumber, then turning back to him to cup his dear face and kiss him with all of the love in her heart.

  "Sir?" she asked as he brought her to their bed, laying her down on it as if she was the most valuable thing in the world to him—and that was no lie.

  "Yes, little girl?" he asked, laying himself down beside her, in consideration of the size of her baby bump but looking at her in a way that made her cream sluice down her legs, especially when he began to divest her of her clothing, throwing each piece carelessly onto the floor.

  Emmy didn't even notice.

  "I'm sorry about putting us in danger." Her hand came down to rest on her expanding tummy protectively.