Once the initial penetration had passed, Claire did not fight; she lay passive knowing Svana desired her resistance. Drugged as she was, she had no energy to fight, had extreme difficulty even focusing her eyes, and embraced the wave of chemical euphoria over the terror of what was taking place.

Swallowing back a shriek, unwilling to cringe when the hated woman lapped at her nipple, Claire lay still and fixated instead on her son’s fluttering movement deep inside her. Everything else was shut off.

“Now,” Stroking Claire’s black hair affectionately, Svana smiled as if they were old friends, still pumping in and out of the Omega’s body, “I won’t be able to stay and watch. Far more important things than you require my attention.”

With a lingering kiss on Claire’s mouth, a little flick of the tongue forced between her lips, Svana pulled her fingers from Claire’s body, licked them clean, and made her goodbye.

“I want you to know,” Claire called to Svana’s back before the woman exited the cell.

Svana turned, eager to hear the Omega beg, “Yes, dear?”

It was not even difficult to say, “I want you to know that I love him. That even after everything, I learned how to do it. And that is something you could never achieve.”

Svana laughed as if the very concept were absurd. She stood a moment, taking in the view of her enemy bound and at her mercy, the tip of Svana’s tongue licking over the edges of her teeth. One more chuckle, and she opened the barred door, leaving Claire naked and bound on a musty bed, while three men covered in Da’rin markings entered, smiling and eager.

Claire knew what was coming; a monster like Svana would require degradation and horror before death was achieved. Claire could smell the two putrefying corpses piled up in the cramped cell’s corner, could see from the withered limbs and small frames that the poor women had been Omega.

Death was coming for her. Death was coming for her baby. And it was all there in the smiles of the Alpha outcasts who circled like sharks.

The instant the first one touched her, Claire knew she would not be able to hold back her screams for long.

Brigadier Dane had to fight her way through the mob clogging the tunnels. The streets were chaos, having made it hard enough to get close to nearest underground access point, but navigating underground through the confused throngs was almost impossible. Some of the city was wise; a portion of citizens chose not to engage in the war, but to retreat to the Undercroft, away from the bitter cold already leaching the life from the city.

Or they were just plain cowards.