The council chamber smelled wrong.
Not just aggression or cologne or the typical Alpha pissing contest. Something else. Something that made my skin crawl and my wolf whine low in my chest.
I noticed it the second we walked through those massive doors. The air was too thick. Too warm. And underneath everything else was a scent that made my stomach turn.
Slick. Fresh. Recent.
Another Omega had been in this room.
The realization hit me like cold water. They'd brought another Omega here. Recently. Maybe hours ago. And whatever had happened to her had been bad enough that her fear-scent still clung to the walls.
My biology recognized it before my brain caught up. Omega instincts screaming danger, this is where they break us, run.
I didn't run.
Twelve Alphas sat around a table carved from single piece of black oak. Probably cost more than I'd made in my entire life. They looked at me the way you'd look at a horse you were thinking about buying. Evaluating. Calculating worth.
The man at the head stood. Silver hair, sharp suit, face like carved granite. "Miss Morgan. How gracious of you to join us."
The sarcasm wasn't even subtle.
"Didn't realize I had a choice." I stayed by the door. Kael a solid presence at my back.
"Everyone has choices. Some are simply wiser than others." He gestured to a single chair positioned fifteen feet from the table. Not with them. In front of them. "Please. Sit."
The chair had restraints built into the arms.
I saw them. Leather straps with silver buckles worn smooth from use. They'd been undone, folded back, but they were there.
They'd tied someone to that chair. Maybe today. Maybe the Omega whose scent was still thick in the air.
"I'll stand."
"It wasn't a request." His voice dropped. Alpha command threaded through every syllable.
My knees buckled.
I caught myself on nothing, stumbling forward two steps before I could stop. My Omega biology responding to the command before my brain had a chance to fight it.
Kael's hand shot out, steadied me. "She said she'll stand."
"And I said sit." The silver-haired Alpha didn't even look at Kael. Kept his eyes on me. "This council operates under certain rules, Miss Morgan. Rule one: Omegas sit when addressed by council. Rule two: Omegas speak only when spoken to. Rule three—"
"How about rule four: Omegas aren't property and you can take your rules and shove them somewhere anatomically uncomfortable." My voice came out shakier than I wanted. My legs were still trembling from fighting the command.
Someone laughed. Young voice, surprised.
Silver-hair's expression didn't change. "I am Alpha Matthias Crowe, council chair. And you are standing in these chambers only because the Alpha King invoked protection. That protection is not absolute. Test me, girl, and you'll discover exactly how quickly it can be revoked."
Girl. Not Miss Morgan anymore. Just girl.
"Let's clarify something." I forced myself to take a step forward. Then another. Toward that chair. Toward him. "I'm not here begging for your protection. I'm here because someone drugged me and I want answers."
"And you'll get them. After the council votes on your status."
"My status. You mean whether you auction me off today or next week."
"We prefer the term placement." A different voice. Smooth as expensive whiskey. I found the source. Younger than Crowe, dark hair silvering at the temples, wearing a suit that probably cost more than a car. "And it's not an auction, Miss Morgan. It's a legal transfer of custodial responsibility to an appropriate Alpha who can provide adequate care."
The words were designed to sound reasonable. Clinical. Like they weren't talking about selling me.
"Marcus Kane." Kael's voice was ice. "Let's skip the corporate speak. You want to hand her over to the highest bidder and we all know it."
"I want what's best for these territories. An unmated Omega with uncontrolled abilities wandering free? That's not just dangerous for her. It's dangerous for everyone."
"Then let me train." I stepped forward again. Closer to that chair. "Let me learn to control what I can do. Then I'm not a danger."
"And who would train you? These abilities haven't been seen in generations." Marcus spread his hands. Reasonable. Concerned. Everything about him screamed trust me. "We have no one qualified to teach you. Which means you remain a threat until—"
"Until someone owns me and makes sure I don't use them." I reached the chair. Ran my fingers over one of the restraints. The leather was soft. Expensive. Well-maintained. "How many Omegas have sat in this chair, Marcus?"
His expression flickered. Just for a second.
"How many?" I pressed. "Because someone was here today. I can smell her. I can smell her fear soaked into this leather."
The room went very quiet.
"Miss Morgan—" Crowe started.
"Did she sit here willingly? Did she have a choice? Or did you use Alpha command to force her down and then vote on her future while she was too scared to fight back?"
"You're out of line."
"I'm right. That's different than being out of line." I turned to face them. All twelve. Let them see my face. See that I wasn't backing down. "You want to vote on me? Fine. But I'm not sitting in your obedience chair first."
Crowe's jaw tightened. "You will submit to council protocol or—"
"Or what? You'll hold me down? Force me?" I felt the projection starting to leak out. My anger bleeding into the room. "Go ahead. Show everyone here exactly what your protection looks like."
Several Alphas shifted uncomfortably. They could feel it. My rage pressing against their skin.
"Aria." Kael's voice behind me. Warning.
I ignored him. Kept my eyes on Crowe.
The old Alpha stood slowly. "You think your abilities make you special? Make you untouchable?" He stepped around the table. Started walking toward me. "Let me show you how quickly that protection evaporates."
He was going to use Alpha command. I could see it in his eyes. In the way his wolf was rising to the surface.
My Omega biology started screaming. Submit. Bow. Throat.
I locked my knees. Stayed standing.
"Kneel."
The command hit like a freight train. My legs gave out. I hit the floor hard enough that my teeth clacked together. Knees on cold marble. Head bowed. Throat exposed.
I couldn't stop it. Couldn't fight it. My biology overwhelming everything else.
"You see?" Crowe's voice came from above me. "This is what you are, Miss Morgan. Omega. Subject to Alpha command. Subject to our authority. Your abilities mean nothing when your own blood betrays you."
Shame burned through me. Hot and acidic. I was on my knees in front of twelve Alphas and I couldn't even stand up. Couldn't move. Could barely breathe past the compulsion to submit.
Kael started forward. "That's enough—"
"Is it?" Another Alpha stood. Older, maybe sixty, with a face that looked like leather left too long in the sun. "Seems to me we're just getting started. Girl needs to understand her place."
He walked over. Stood in front of me. I could see his shoes. Expensive. Polished.
"Look at me."
I couldn't. My head stayed bowed. Neck exposed. Every instinct screaming submit submit submit.
"I said look at me."
The command forced my head up. Forced me to meet his eyes.
He smiled. "There we go. Much better." His hand came down. Touched my hair. "Pretty little thing when you're not running your mouth."
My skin crawled. I wanted to pull away. Wanted to scream. Wanted to tear his hand off at the wrist.
I couldn't move.
"Ronan." Kael's voice had gone deadly quiet. "Remove your hand or lose it."
"She's unmated. I have as much right to assess her value as anyone." But he pulled his hand back anyway. "Though I suppose if you've already broken her in, that affects the bidding."
The implication hung in the air like poison.
"Say that again." Kael's voice was barely human now. "I fucking dare you."
"Gentlemen." Marcus Kane's smooth voice cut through the tension. "Let's maintain some decorum. Miss Morgan is here to answer questions, not to be... evaluated." The pause before evaluated was deliberate. "Though Alpha Crowe does make a valid point. We need to establish whether she can control her abilities or whether they control her."
Still on my knees. Still unable to move. The command holding me down like chains.
And then I felt it.
Heat. Starting low in my belly. Spreading.
No. No no no not now.
My next cycle wasn't supposed to start for two more days. But stress could trigger it early. Fear. Adrenaline.
Being on my knees in front of twelve Alphas while one of them touched my hair apparently qualified.
The scent hit the air. Honey and vanilla and Omega in heat.
Every Alpha in the room went rigid.
"Oh, this is perfect." Ronan's voice had gone rough. "Natural heat response to Alpha dominance. Exactly what a proper Omega should do."
"She's in heat." Another Alpha, younger, stood up. His eyes were starting to glow. "Unmated Omega in heat. That's—"
"That's what happens when you terrify someone whose biology is already unstable!" Naima's voice cut through. I hadn't even seen her enter. "Let her up. Now."
"She stays down until this council is finished." Crowe's voice was iron. "We have a vote to conduct."
"You can't hold a vote while she's in heat!" Naima was moving toward me now. "It's illegal. It's—"
"It's biology." Marcus Kane again. Calm. Reasonable. "And it proves our point. She can't control what she is. Can't control her abilities or her cycles. She needs structure. She needs an Alpha strong enough to manage her."
The heat was building faster now. Probably the stress. Probably the fear. My body trying to protect itself the only way it knew how - find an Alpha, submit, survive.
Every unmated Alpha in this room could smell it. Could feel it. And they were all looking at me like I was prey.
"The vote." Crowe's voice. "All in favor of immediate placement under council custody given the subject's current condition."
Subject. Not even girl anymore. Just subject.
Hands raised around the table. I couldn't count them. Couldn't focus. The heat was intensifying. Making everything hazy.
I was going to go into full heat in front of the council. They were going to vote on me while I was incapacitated. While I couldn't fight back.
And then they were going to hand me over to whoever bid highest.
I tried to push myself up. Tried to fight the command still holding me down.
Couldn't. My arms were shaking. My body was overriding my brain. Heat and submission and Omega biology all conspiring to keep me exactly where they wanted me.
On my knees.
"Majority vote approved." Crowe's voice sounded far away. "Miss Morgan is hereby placed under council custody pending—"
The doors exploded inward.
Not opened. Exploded. Wood splintering. Hinges tearing from stone.
Kael's dominance flooded the room like a tidal wave. Absolute. Crushing. The kind of Alpha command that made grown wolves piss themselves.
Every Alpha in the room dropped to their knees. Even Crowe. Even Marcus. Couldn't help it. Couldn't fight it.
The command holding me down shattered.
I gasped. Sucked in air. My body was still shaking. Still caught between heat and fear and about six different biological imperatives that were all screaming at once.
Kael was across the room in seconds. His hands found my face. Tilted my head up to look at him.
His eyes were pure wolf. Glowing ice-blue.
"We're leaving."
"The vote—" I started.
"Fuck the vote." He pulled me to my feet. My legs nearly gave out. The heat was intensifying. I could feel slick between my thighs. Could smell my own arousal mixing with fear.
Every Alpha in this room could smell it too.
"You can't just take her." Crowe's voice was strained. Fighting Kael's dominance enough to speak. "The council voted—"
"The council used Alpha command to force an Omega into heat and then voted on her while she was incapacitated." Kael's voice could have cut steel. "That's not legal. That's assault."
"She was already going into heat—"
"Because you terrified her! Because you put her on her knees and touched her and made her biology think she was being claimed!" He turned to face them. Still holding me against his chest. "Any of you want to argue that wasn't deliberate?"
Silence.
"That's what I thought." He started backing toward the door. Toward escape. "Here's how this is going to work. Aria stays with me. You want to auction off an Omega? Find a different one. This one is mine."
"You haven't marked her." Marcus Kane. Still on his knees but his voice steady. "Without a bite, your claim means nothing."
"Then watch."
Kael's hand threaded into my hair. Tilted my head to the side. Exposing my throat.
My heart stopped.
He was going to do it. Right here. Right now. In front of the council.
Mark me. Claim me. Make it permanent.
"Kael wait—" I started.
His mouth was already at my throat. I could feel his teeth. The sharp points pressing against my skin right where the mating mark would go.
One bite. One moment. And I'd be his forever.
The door behind us opened.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
We both froze.
Vivian Kane stood in the doorway. Behind her were guards. Maybe twenty of them. All armed.
"Hello, your Majesty." Her voice was pleasant. Friendly even. "I believe you're attempting to leave with something that doesn't belong to you."
"She doesn't belong to anyone."
"Not yet. But the council just voted. Which makes her council property until an appropriate Alpha claims her properly." Vivian smiled. "And you can't mark her now. Not with twenty witnesses who'll testify you did it under duress. The bond won't hold."
Kael's teeth were still against my throat. I could feel him shaking. His wolf screaming at him to do it anyway. To hell with witnesses. To hell with whether the bond held.
"Plus," Vivian continued conversationally, "there's the small matter of the three other Omegas we found this morning. All in heat. All unmated. All very much in need of council protection."
My blood turned to ice.
"What?" Kael's voice was a growl.
"Didn't you hear? Three Omegas appeared in the northern district overnight. No one knows where they came from. But they're here now. And they're suffering." She tilted her head. "One of them is asking for Aria Morgan specifically. Says she knows what really happened. Says she has proof of who drugged her."
I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think past the heat building in my body and the teeth at my throat and the knowledge that there were three more Omegas. Three more women about to go through exactly what I was going through.
"You're lying." But Kael's voice was uncertain.
"Am I? Why don't you come see for yourself." Vivian's smile widened. "Of course, you'd have to leave Aria here. With us. Under council protection. And we both know what will happen the moment you're gone."
The trap closed like a fist.
Kael could mark me now and maybe it would hold. Maybe. Or he could leave me to help the other Omegas and I'd be auctioned off before he got back.
Either way, someone lost.
"Choose." Vivian's voice was soft. "Your mate or your conscience. One Omega or three. Quick now. Before her heat makes the decision for you."
Kael's hands tightened in my hair.
And I felt the exact moment he understood there was no winning this.