Aric: The Boundarylands Read online

  Aric

  The Boundarylands Omegaverse

  Callie Rhodes

  Contents

  Aric

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  The Boundarylands Omegaverse Series

  About the Author

  Aric

  Book 7 in The Boundarylands Omegaverse Series

  Boundaryland law is simple—whoever trespasses on an alpha’s land becomes his property to do with as he pleases.

  No woman willingly travels to the Boundarylands.

  That’s why Aric is so surprised to find a stranger asleep in his bed.

  She’s not who she says she is…or what she pretends to be. All he knows is that what lies in his bed is his to keep.

  Jocelyn never meant to come to the Boundarylands. Why would she? It’s where they are—the alphas.

  They keep to themselves in the wilderness, and beta civilization knows to keep its distance. Especially beta women…for fear they may not be a beta after all.

  The only way to know your true nature is to feel the touch of an Alpha. Omegas may be rare, but every woman knows their fates are hellish—held captive, broken, mated, knotted, and bred.

  But all Jocelyn wants is live a life free from fear…but now she’s afraid that while running from one monster, she’s ended up in the arms of a worse one.

  Chapter One

  "You must be the new girl."

  Jocelyn Waters froze. She'd been surprised—and very relieved—to find the papered-over glass doors of the store unlocked. Shed tried every other door in this run-down strip mall, other than the seedy-looking bar at the end, but they'd all been locked up tight for the night.

  She'd hoped to find the place empty, but instead, she'd come face-to-face with three women around her age.

  Jocelyn had no idea what they'd been doing in this mostly empty retail space, but they were all dressed for a fun night out, with heavy makeup, teased hair, and sexy outfits.

  "I—I'm sorry," Jocelyn stammered. "I think I have the wrong—"

  But then she heard a sound that made her blood run cold. One that she'd been running from for six hours and several hundred miles—the unmistakable roar of an all-too-familiar engine.

  "I mean, yes, that's me," Jocelyn said more forcefully, instinctively moving away from the door. "The new girl."

  "You're late," the woman standing closest to her, a curvy redhead in a black bustier and faux-leather pants, scolded her with her arms crossed. "You're damned lucky Nicky is so forgiving."

  "No shit," agreed a woman in a red dress with straight blonde hair down to her waist. "But the rest of us...not so much. So, if you want to make friends around here, I'd show up on time. Got it?"

  Jocelyn had no idea what to say. Hell, she didn't even know where she was or who she was with. So instead of opening her mouth and giving herself away, she simply nodded.

  "Nicky's already gone ahead," the first woman said, "but she asked us to stick around a few more minutes to see if you'd show or chicken out."

  "I'm sorry." Jocelyn gripped her heavy leather work bag so hard her knuckles turned white, wondering what the hell she'd gotten herself into.

  Sure, it was a little weird, but no matter what, it had to be a thousand times better than what was waiting for her outside.

  Honestly, she'd been lucky to find any sign of civilization this far away from the cities.

  For the last several hundred miles, there had been nothing but open grasslands, oak-covered foothills, and eventually, as the highway reached higher elevation, evergreen forests so dense that even moonlight struggled to get through.

  Not a great place to have to look for somewhere—anywhere—to hide. But when she'd spotted a flash of cherry red in her rearview mirror, she'd had no choice.

  Ever since she left the city, Jocelyn had been terrified that John was in every car that appeared in her rearview mirror. That he was moments from pulling alongside her, holding up that ugly black pistol she'd found in his office safe, aiming it through his passenger window and—

  Bye-bye Jocelyn.

  When an hour had gone by without her spotting any red cars, Jocelyn had started to relax, thinking maybe she'd managed to get away. But only seconds after passing a sign advertising GAS AND FOOD—NEXT EXIT, Jocelyn saw the glimmer of John’s red sports car growing larger in the rearview.

  Her luck had run out.

  Jocelyn should have known there would be no escape. Once out of the cities, there was only one damn northbound road. All John had to do was put his foot on the gas and let his ridiculously high-performance engine eat up the distance between them.

  Jocelyn had briefly wondered why a professional hitman would own such a flashy car. Wouldn't it be better to blend in?

  But John Barrington was full of surprises. As early as this morning, for instance, Jocelyn thought she worked as a bookkeeper for a construction contractor, not a contract killer.

  "I'm Traci," the redhead said impatiently. "This is Hannah, and that's Courtney."

  "Hi, I'm J—" Jocelyn checked herself. Using her real name probably wasn't the best idea. "I'm Jo."

  "Come on, we can do all this introduction shit in the car," the blonde said, leading the way to the back of the store. "I hate being the last picked."

  "What does it matter?" Traci said. "It's not like there's a bad one."

  Jocelyn held back as the women filed toward the back door, frozen with indecision. She couldn't just go with these women, could she? She didn't know who they were or where they were going. And they obviously had mistaken her for someone else.

  Maybe if she came clean and told them what was really going on, they'd help her.

  Hey, so, funny story—today I found out that the man I work for is a professional hitman, so I stole evidence to give to the authorities and two million dollars in cash from his safe to start a new life, but he must have found out because he's waiting in the parking lot to kill me and anyone else who gets in his way.

  Yeah…maybe honesty wasn't her best option.

  Jocelyn rushed to catch up to the others, who were getting into an unremarkable dark sedan parked a few feet from the back door. Traci took the wheel, and Jocelyn slipped into the back. Gripping her bag tightly to her chest, she slumped down low in the seat, letting her long hair cover her face.

  Energetic dance music filled the car, and Traci hit the gas. The moment they were out of the parking lot, Jocelyn twisted around in her seat to see if John had followed them, but the road was clear. In the distance, she spotted his car parked next to hers in the lot.

  Jocelyn let out the breath she'd been holding as she turned back around. That was close—way too close.

  "Nervous?" The woman named Hannah asked kindly. She seemed nicer than the others—or maybe she was just less worried about being picked last, whatever that meant. "Everybody is their first time. But don't worry, you'll do fine."

  Great, Jocelyn thought. Now she just had to figure out what the hell she was expected to do.

  "Where'd you work before this?" Traci asked from behind the wheel.

  "San Francisco." Jocelyn winced as soon as her words were out. She had to do better at covering her tracks, but she suspected she wouldn't be any better at lying than she was at stealing.

  "No shit," Courtney said, looking over the passenger seat. "I started there t
oo. What neighborhood?"

  "Pacific Heights."

  Courtney seemed taken aback. She looked Jocelyn up and down appraisingly, taking in her simple blue wrap dress and understated heels, her hair held back with a tortoise-shell band, her pearl stud earrings.

  "Fucking upscale," was her assessment. "But we're a long way from private mansions. How the hell did you end up here?"

  "Well, I…" Jocelyn cast about for a credible response, but couldn't come up with anything.

  "Leave her alone, Courtney," Hannah said. "You know better than anyone that we all have our stories and our secrets."

  Courtney turned back around in her seat with a huff. "I guess it explains the bag, but you won't need it or any other fancy props here."

  Jocelyn looked down at the fine, oversized leather handbag that she'd saved for months to buy, wondering what was wrong with it, but Hannah patted her leg reassuringly.

  "She just means these guys like it simple."

  These guys? Jocelyn wondered uneasily who she meant.

  "Yeah," Traci laughed. "Long and hard and simple. Even if you use every damn toy in that bag of tricks, you're still going to wake up sore tomorrow."

  Oh, shit.

  Guys...tricks...waking up sore tomorrow...

  Jocelyn had been too panicked to see it before. Too desperate for any way out.

  Desperate enough to pretend to be someone else and pile into a car with a bunch of prostitutes, and now she was headed to some kind of brothel, or party, or…hell, Jocelyn had no idea. She didn't have anything against sex workers; she just hadn't ever expected to join their ranks.

  Jocelyn closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It was going to be fine, she told herself. She would figure something out. Wherever they were headed, it couldn't be as bad as John and his gun waiting for her back at her car.

  And it wasn't as if she was a prisoner. Once the car stopped, Jocelyn would simply make up an excuse to slip away. These women were already annoyed with her. It wasn't like they'd come chasing after her.

  She would find a quiet spot to hide, get some sleep, and figure out what to do next.

  When she opened her eyes again, they were passing a sign announcing WARNING: BOUNDARYLANDS – 1 MILE.

  Jocelyn's breath caught in her throat. Her heart began to race. "Um…guys—didn't you see that sign? We're about to cross the boundary."

  Traci laughed behind the wheel. "Well, yeah, obviously. You didn't think that the alphas were going to come to us, did you?"

  Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit.

  What the hell had she done?

  Jocelyn hadn't just accidentally joined the ranks of a bunch of whores—she'd taken up with alpha whores.

  Oh God, things could not get any worse.

  Except…it turned out that they could. As the dark sedan speeded toward the border, a faint hum in the distance grew into the rumble of a familiar engine gaining on them. Even before Jocelyn turned around, she knew what she'd see.

  Sure enough, out the back window, she spotted the cherry red of John's car barreling down the road toward them…and catching up fast.

  Chapter Two

  Aric drained the last of his beer and wandered outside to enjoy one of the first balmy evenings of spring. He took up a post halfway down the porch that ran the length of Evander's Bar, leaning against its nondescript wall.

  Another Friday night.

  Another chance to lose himself for a few hours inside a pretty little beta.

  The ladies had already started arriving. Nicky had arrived first in her Trans Am, and then a pair of flashily dressed girls in a little red pickup followed by another car and another—an entire caravan of whores.

  Aric watched them from the shadows as they piled out and strutted into the bar, listening to the whoops and shouts of greeting from the waiting alphas.

  He knew all the girls, of course. There weren't so many beta prostitutes willing and able to service alpha clients that he couldn't keep the ladies straight. Some had been working this job with Nicky for months. Some…years.

  And they all knew him too.

  "Hey, Aric." Justine, a fiery brunette with tits that could fill even an alpha's hands, noticed him under the eaves and gave him a wink as she passed by. "You bring me any more of that moonshine of yours tonight? I'm almost out."

  A smile tugged at the corners of Aric's lips at Justine's lie. He didn't need to catch the tell-tale nuance in her scent to know she wasn't telling the truth.

  His whiskey was strong, even for alphas. He'd given Justine a jar of the stuff the last time he'd been with her, which was only a few weeks ago. There was no way in hell even a sturdy woman like Justine could go through it so quickly.

  But he could also tell from the sparkle in her eye that moonshine wasn't all she was thirsty for.

  "Sorry, Justine," he said, tipping his hat, a custom black Stetson his parents had given him as a going-away gift when he first left the family's ranch to come to the Boundarylands. "Not tonight."

  Until his alpha nature had showed, he'd been a pretty good bull rider. Now he was a damn good distiller.

  Justine made a show of pouting and added an extra swish to her hips as she headed inside.

  Aric didn't know exactly what he was in the mood for tonight, but apparently, it wasn't Justine…or any of the dozen other ladies who paraded by.

  One by one, he mentally crossed them off the list. Some were too sweet for his current mood, some too spicy. Others were too loud, too soft—too something, all of them.

  Soon after the last of the girls arrived, they began pairing off with his alpha brothers. Before long, couples had begun wandering out on the patio, flirting and drinking before they disappeared into the woods or the alphas' trucks for what would be hours of pleasure for both parties.

  Aric didn't know why he was being so damned picky tonight. It wasn't like there was a bad choice among Nicky's girls.

  For prostitutes who could handle the demands of sex with alphas, it was a coveted gig. Not only did the girls know they would be treated with respect, but most alphas' stamina and sexual skill far surpassed beta standards. Every single woman had been selected and trained by Nicky until they met her exacting standards. They all knew their job and did it well. He should know—by now, Aric had been with all of them several times over.

  Maybe that was the problem.

  Maybe what he needed was a little variety, something new to whet his appetites.

  Well, too fucking bad.

  It wasn't like Aric spent every damn Friday night wasting his money on beer and hookers. But sometimes an alpha just needed to screw, to find release for all of the energy and aggression that had built up inside him with a woman who could handle the pounding an alpha delivered.

  Tonight was one of those nights. Aric had met the coming of spring with a burst of pent-up energy and productivity, putting his whiskey still back into production after spending the cold, dark days and nights making repairs to the storage shed, truing his scales, building new casks, and cleaning the fermenter and airlock. His alpha brothers started showing up with the jars they'd emptied over the winter, demanding refills.

  Aric enjoyed the work, but the pressure had built up until he feared if he didn't let off some steam, he'd explode. What he needed to do was go inside and pick a girl—any girl—drive her a few miles down the Central Road to a spot where they could have a little privacy, and then hammer her like hot iron on an anvil until his blood cooled down.

  He had just convinced himself to go inside and make it happen when he heard another engine coming down the road.

  Apparently, one of the cars in the caravan had fallen behind, making his task easier. All he had to do was make an arrangement with whoever had come late.

  Aric leaned back against the wall to wait and see who it was. Sure enough, a couple minutes later, a dark sedan rolled in with four beta ladies and a shit ton of perfume.

  He watched them file out, wondering how he could have forgotten about Traci, Hannah, Cour
tney, and…

  Intrigued, Aric pushed off the wall.

  The crew had brought a new girl with them. He couldn't see her clearly in the back of the car, but he was intrigued nonetheless. Long, shiny black hair covered much of her face, obscuring her features, but that didn't worry him—Nicky only brought her best to the Boundarylands, every one of them a beauty.

  What really caught Aric's attention was the woman's scent—deep and lush, like a mossy riverbank on a summer day. He filled his lungs, wanting to breathe that scent for hours, to let it seep into his pores and cloud his mind, to lose himself in its rich pleasures.

  But it wasn't just the bloom of the woman's natural scent that beckoned Aric. It was also the emotion that sliced through it like a vein of sparkling quartz in a split boulder.

  The new girl was afraid.

  And why wouldn't she be? Aric thought as his heavy cock stirred to life. This was probably the first time she'd worked with alphas.

  The thought of being the first of his kind to touch her—something that had never crossed his mind before—made Aric hard in seconds flat. His mind raced as he imagined taking all that fear and turning it around, breaking her in properly. He imagined touching her and tasting her and making her beg for more.

  Aric was completely confident he could do her justice. Three flicks of his tongue and her scent would reflect a host of entirely different emotions.

  He couldn't help grinning as he realized Fate had delivered exactly what he hadn't known he wanted. The whole time he'd been standing out here letting the rest of the ladies pass him by, craving a different kind of experience tonight, the cure for what ailed him was on its way.