Alphas - Origins Read Online Free Page A

everything would be okay even if every instinct assured her it wouldn’t. She had to survive and adapt. She had to do whatever was necessary to get her daughter back.
    When she opened her eyelids, he waited for her with a synthetic cord in his hands. She hadn’t heard him move.
    â€œTo keep you still.” He moved toward her, uncoiling the cord.
    No. Lying there tied up and completely helpless while he drank her blood would be too much. “That’s okay,” she said quickly. “I won’t change my mind.”
    Lucas kept coming.
    â€œI won’t change my mind.” Desperation put steel into her voice. “I’ve agreed to this to save my daughter. They’ll let me see her after you feed. I won’t run or fight.”
    He halted.
    â€œArthur said I would stay here for as long as I live. That means you have to feed frequently. Might as well start it right.”
    Lucas gripped the rope. His biceps bulged. He snapped the rope apart. Karina winced. “If you’re trying to intimidate me, it’s too late. I’m already as scared as I’m going to get.”
    â€œI’m not trying to scare you.” He rolled the section of the rope into a tight wad, wrapped the end about it several times, tied it, and dropped it in her lap. “To bite down. In case it gets too rough.”
    She picked it up.
    Lucas sat next to her. “Arthur isn’t in charge of your daughter. I am. I guaranteed her safety. Both of you belong to me.”
    Lucas leaned to look into her face. She expected rage, hunger, some violent emotion, but instead she saw only steady calm.
    â€œI promise you that no matter what happens between you and me, your daughter will be safe. I will never use her against you. Everyone is afraid of me, and she will never be bullied or mistreated.”
    Karina stared at him in surprise.
    â€œYou wanted to start this right,” he said. “We can do that. Let’s be honest. The bitch in the hotel poisoned you. Technically she infected you with a virus that secretes a toxin into your bloodstream. To counteract the virus, you need my venom. I’ve already bitten you once but it will take several feedings before you’re in the clear.”
    â€œYou’ve bitten me?”
    â€œLeft thigh,” he said. “I was in the attack variant at the time, and biting you anywhere else would’ve caused too much damage.”
    She grabbed at her leg, trying to feel the wound through the fabric of the jeans.
    â€œIt was a very quick bite,” he said. “To keep you from dying. This will be worse.”
    He was serious. The thought of him feeding on her, chewing on her, was almost too much to contemplate. “Can we do a blood transfusion instead?”
    â€œNo. We’ve tried in the past and failed. There is some sort of relationship between your blood, my venom, and my saliva that we don’t understand. I have to feed on you. You need me to survive and I need you to . . .” He paused. “To counteract my venom.”
    He was holding something back, she could feel it.
    Lucas’s eyes held no mercy. “I’m a predator and my body knows that you’re my prey. Your fear is exciting. Try not to be so scared. Don’t struggle. The more you flail about and whimper, the more excited I’ll get. If you get me excited enough, I’ll chew up your veins and end up fucking you in a puddle of blood. I take it you don’t want that.”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œThen stay calm.” He nodded at the cord in her lap. “You sure you don’t want to be tied?”
    â€œYes.”
    Lucas stretched out on the bed, took her by the waist, and pulled her down, flush against him. They lay together, her butt pressed against his groin, her back tight against his chest. Like two lovers. Jonathan and she used to lie like this after sex. The perversity of it made her shiver.
    â€œLie still.” His arms pulled her