Corrupted (Alpha's Claim Book 5) by Addison Cain (read more books txt) 📕

Because she was correct. No pair-bond would keep this man from hurting her.

Everyone was watching her, because whatever happened in this room hinged upon her completely. He was still holding her hand in both of his, and now she understood the gesture. It wasn’t comfort; it was control.

Of Jacques Bernard who could do nothing to prevent the Beta from touching her, though he seethed through the link.

Facing him fully to say what no male in the room had dared, she laid her free hand atop his grip and said what they had left to her. “Jules, what was done to you was wrong, and I am sorry for my part in it. I thought I could make it right, and I don’t truly understand what to offer or how to undo it. Teach me how, and I will try. But if you attempt to hurt my people, I will kill you.”

“Ms. Perin,” the man on the monitor with a voice of coarse rocks and scars called. “A moment of your time, please.”

She would not have looked at him, not as she waited for Jules to address a threat from a woman he understood was capable of things no one else in that room might grasp. Yet Jules pulled one of his hands from between hers and lay a finger to the side of her chin so Brenya might break their extended stare and turn her attention to the looming Shepherd.

He was still watching her in that way of his. The same way she watched.

Unblinking.

“Five men in Central died tonight from Red Consumption. I released the virus into Bernard Dome in response to your government’s treatment of my Ambassador and failure to uphold our agreement regarding the exchange of Omegas for orange trees.”

That was why the city was in lockdown! It wasn’t because she’d been caught. In fact, neither Jules nor Shepherd had informed the leadership of Bernard Dome of what she’d tried to do.

Why?

Holding tighter to Jules Havel’s hand as if he might give her strength instead of pain, Brenya shook her head. Because the things she was hearing could not be true.

Shepherd continued, “It was a controlled release, fully contained—the virus has been destroyed by incineration protocol and will not spread from that location. So understand that the day Jules Havel dies, so too will every last soul in your Dome choke to death on their blood. Be cautious of your threats.”

The screen changed to display an accelerated recording of five horrible, choking deaths, the bodies left lying in their fluids for ages before a delayed incineration protocol began. The camera burned, and the story ended. The story was so much more than the deaths. It was the very terrifying fact that a terrorist who had already destroyed one Dome for reasons she didn’t know, had conquered another, and now had power over hers.

She didn’t even know why she said it, the words small. “I have never seen anyone die.”

“So long as Jules Havel thrives, you will not see it again.”

All Brenya could think of was the Beta servant on the screen who had done nothing but her duty. How she had reached out for help and the men had ignored her. How her death would be explained away as reassignment.

Not one of her sisters in Beta Sector would know to mourn her.

Tears spilling, Brenya freed her hand from the Beta’s and gave her back to Chancellor Shepherd to snarl at Jacques Bernard—a full, threatening growl that would have seen her aggressively raped were Jacques in the situation to punish her. “You told me that the Bernard Dome could not defeat the leader of Greth! Yet you thought to leash a rabid dog as if there would be no consequence. You said Jules Havel could never hurt me, while you were hurting me. You forced both him and myself into a pair-bond only you desired. You starved and imprisoned a person you described as a terrorist. A man who had already destroyed an entire civilization. Jacques Bernard, this is your fault! You allowed dangerous men inside my home for OMEGAS! For sex! Every one of you in this room is the reason that Beta on the screen died terrified, away from her sisters. Your greed.”

Spinning so sharply her skirts flared, Brenya faced down the staring man on the screen. “And as for you, Chancellor Shepherd. Whatever took place in Thólos, it is not the situation in Bernard Dome. Do not judge my people by the actions of the few bad men. Unlike the corruption of Central, Alpha and Beta sectors are populated by good, hardworking innocents. Who were conditioned, just like I was, to serve one another for the greater good. Murdering that Beta female was wrong.”

“That is the nature of war, Ms. Perin. Innocents always pay.”

So be it. “Then I will pay. What is it that you want?”

“Orange trees for my bride. And as Jules Havel has chosen to remain in Bernard Dome so you might survive your unnatural pair-bond, a hostage in exchange.”

It was the second time the Chancellor had mentioned orange trees, yet it was the first time anyone mentioned that Jules leaving would equate to her inability to survive an unnatural pair-bond.

“Yes, Brenya. Shepherd is telling you that if I return to Greth, you will die.”

Irritated she had to even say it aloud, Brenya grit her teeth. “Then I die. Go home to your Rebecca.”

“I have no Rebecca. My wife died in Thólos. As did our two sons.” How could anyone say so horrible a thing with so little passion? How could a man breathe when he was totally dead inside?

A slow blink, shunting her eyes closed, Brenya drew in a deep breath. Pursing her lips on an exhale, she knew better than to trust. This demand for an exchange was too convenient.

Jules already knew what she’d ask for. So did Shepherd.

They had all been conversing long before she had come into the room.

It couldn’t be this easy.