He gave her a slap, hard enough to sting, but not rough enough to knock her down. “Grasp this. You cannot be raped by an Alpha. You are an Omega, designed by nature to respond to our call.”
Hand to her stinging cheek, Morgaine stumbled back. “I did what he wanted…”
Countering her wobbly retreat, the sergeant came down upon her until she’d tripped and fallen hard on her rear. Reeking of furious Alpha musk, he roared. “You spent half the experience screaming for your mother! You are lucky he chose to exercise patience and leniency! Had it been I, you would have been silenced with that first embarrassing bleat!”
There was nothing to do but try to shrink back and appease, her every synapse warned that she was in danger. “I’m sorry.”
Seething, he closed his eyes, took a breath, and slowly grew collected. When a full minute had passed, he nodded at a thought, became the meditative man she’d first met, and said, “You’ll be silenced now. One more mention of her in any context, Morgaine, and there will be three strikes of the cane for you and a public whipping for Elizabeta where all your settlement might watch.”
Stricken, Morgaine could mutter no more
than a terrified. “No…”
“Yes.” He seemed proud of the decree. “You will learn discipline. The best you can do for your mother is to forget she ever existed. Slip up, and she will bleed far more than you will. Someday you will even thank me for breaking you of your childish habit.”
His threat had set Morgaine into uncontrollable sobs no amount of purring could ease. Her punishment she could bear, but knowing her mother, a woman who was already grieving and in pain, would be whipped, could never be borne.
“Think on all I’ve said.” Uriel kneeled down and placed a hand on her bowed, shaking head. “Tomorrow you will impress me with the behavior of a woman and not the poor conduct of a child.”
He’d left her alone to cry it out. The lights had gone down and she had dumped herself into the sunken bed far away from the reeking furs and crusting remnants of Esin’s semen.
Hopeless and exhausted, she lay as still as a corpse no matter the artificial chill they pushed into the air.
They had taken her from her home. They had forced her to watch unspeakable things, made demands that were degrading and repugnant. And now… now they wanted to take her mother’s name out of her mouth.
It was worse than being stolen away, because Morgaine knew that one day she would slip. One day she would mention her mother, and the woman who loved her above all things would pay dearly for it.
***
When the lights came up, it had been after another sleepless night.
Sergeant Uriel entered with renewed vigor. Professional, with none of the prior day’s harsh temperament, he said, “I see you’ve spent a great deal of time in thought.”
Too tired to do anything but nod, Morgaine remained silent. Silence, in fact, was the best she could manage from now on. They wanted someone who only spoke when addressed. Now they would have one. Otherwise conversation would ignite a constant state of anxiety. It would be too easy to make a mistake.
Every phrase must be measured so that single, beautiful word might never pass her lips.
“Well, girl.” He cocked a brow. “Tell me your thoughts.”
Her thoughts were the most dangerous topic and would never be mentioned again. Rubbing her lips together, formulating an admissible reply, she said, “It’s time for breakfast.”
This displeased Sergeant Uriel. “Describe your distress.”
“I’m hungry.”
Lower went his unconvinced brow. “What is wrong with you?”
“I didn’t sleep well.”
“Enough, Omega.” He marched to where she stood meek and submissive just as he’d trained her. “You will explain this temperament.”
The more he pushed, the more Morgaine grew certain it was all some test. If she were to slip and explain a single thought in her head, she would fail.
And her mother would be mercilessly beaten.
He was waiting for an answer and she needed to find an appropriate one. A half-truth was the best she could do. “I have a slight headache.”
In fact, her head was pounding.