Unhinged Omega: A Dark Reverse Harem Omegaverse Romance (Ghost Alpha Unit Book 4)

‘It’s not gonna fit, you big oaf!’

‘Just push harder!’

The declaration, followed by masculine grunts, has my leather boots halting on the middle of the tarmac. I stare up at the recommissioned hangar on the far end of the shelled-out airport I recently had rebuilt into a proper base after the last one exploded, weighing just how badly I want to know what’s going on around the corner.

Fuck it, I’ve seen worse.

I’m just not sure if I’m relieved when I turn the corner and see the giant alpha and squirrelly beta trying to stuff crates marked with explosive warnings into the already overfilled section of the hangar.

Mikey grunts, his big muscles straining as he tries to wedge a crate on top of a tower that already looks like it’s going to topple over as soon as the door opens again, while Reese, his marginally less idiotic beta counterpart, barks instructions while doing shit all himself.

For fuck’s sake.

I haven’t slept in days, and this is what I come back to? Idiots playing Tetris with enough firepower to level a small country.

Home sweet fucking home.

My eyes burn from exhaustion, but I force them to stay open, scanning the yard. The place is a mess of crates and pallets, munitions of every caliber imaginable scattered like deadly building blocks. It’s more than I expected, even with Reinmich’s legendary arsenal.

I’ve been up all hours, shuttling weapons and supplies to my various hideouts across the Outer Reaches. Can’t keep it all in one place—that’s just asking for trouble. But fuck me if I didn’t underestimate just how much shit Reinmich was willing to part with.

Even if it was from its cold, dead hands.

A crash from inside the hangar snaps my attention back to the present. Reese comes stumbling out, tripping over his own feet as he backpedals.

‘Shit, shit, shit!’ he yelps, his eyes wide with panic.

Mikey’s bulk fills the doorway a second later, his meaty hand clamped around Reese’s collar as he hauls the smaller man backward. ‘Run!’

The world slows down as I watch the domino effect unfold. A single crate teeters on the edge of a stack, then topples. It hits the ground with a sickening crack, and suddenly the air is filled with the hiss of fuses.

Fuck.

The first explosion is almost anticlimactic. A dull thump that sends up a small plume of smoke. But it’s just the opening act. Within seconds, the entire section of the hangar erupts in a cacophony of bangs, whistles, and thunderous booms.

Rockets screech into the night sky, trailing sparks and smoke. Mortars thump in rapid succession, sending up geysers of dirt and shrapnel. It’s like the grand finale of the world’s most lethal fireworks display.

And in the middle of it all stand Mikey and Reese, frozen in place like a pair of slack-jawed statues as flaming debris rains down around them.

I don’t even realize I’ve moved until I’m grabbing them both by the scruffs of their necks, hauling them behind the dubious shelter of an overturned truck. We hit the ground hard as another wave of explosions rocks the compound, and then it’s over, as anticlimactically as it began.

‘Oh, hey boss,’ Reese says, his voice an octave higher than usual. He gives me a nervous grin, dirt and soot streaking his face. ‘Uh, at least there’s more room now?’

Mikey looks down at my feet and I notice the edge of my coat is on fire. I give the edge of the coat a violent flick that kills the flame and level them both with a glare that could strip paint.

‘Remind me again why I keep you walking advertisements for swallowing around?’ I ask, keeping my voice level, partly because I’m not sure if the scream building in my throat is capable of toppling the rest of those precariously stacked crates.

‘C’mon, boss,’ Reese whines. ‘You know we’re the two most loyal guys in the Family.’

‘I meant on earth!’ I bellow, loud enough that Reese jolts and Mikey grimaces.

Guess everything stayed in place. Before I can properly rip into them, the crunch of boots on gravel announces Lex’s arrival. She skids to a halt beside us, her scarred face a mask of confusion and alarm.

‘What the fuck?’ she pants, eyes darting between me and the smoldering wreckage of the hangar. ‘Are we under attack?’

Why does she sound fucking excited?

I push myself to my feet, dusting off my coat with deliberate slowness. ‘Yes,’ I say flatly. ‘From within.’

Lex’s brow furrows, then smooths out as understanding dawns. She turns to Mikey and Reese, both still sprawled on the ground looking like guilty children. ‘You two dipshits did this?’

Mikey at least has the decency to look ashamed. Reese, on the other hand, seems to have regained some of his usual bravado. He scrambles to his feet, puffing out his chest in a pitiful attempt at intimidation.

‘It wasn’t our fault!’ he protests. ‘If you’d just let us use the other storage facility⁠—’

‘The other storage facility,’ I cut him off, my voice low and dangerous, ‘is occupied.’

Reese’s mouth snaps shut with an audible click. His eyes dart nervously to Lex, who’s watching the exchange with barely concealed amusement.

‘Occupied?’ Mikey asks, his brow furrowed in confusion. ‘By what?’

I pinch the bridge of my nose, fighting back the migraine that’s been threatening to split my skull for days. ‘Not what,’ I growl. ‘Who.’

‘I thought it was whom,’ Mikey muses.

He’s never been a bright lad. But unlike Reese, he usually knows when to keep his fucking mouth shut.

Usually. They’ve clearly been rubbing off on each other.

‘None of your business, twatwaffle,’ Lex barks, smacking Reese up the back of the head. ‘Go get a fucking broom and start cleaning up this shit!’

‘Yes, sir,’ they answer in unison, scrambling to follow orders. The last time any of my men made the mistake of calling Lex ma’am, they were shitting out their own teeth for a week.

‘You thought it was a good idea to leave them in charge of packing munitions?’ I ask through my teeth, deciding my anger would be more properly directed toward the only member of my organization with two working brain hemispheres, apparently.

‘No, I left Diesel in charge of handing out jobs,’ she says gruffly, casting a rueful glance toward the mess hall. ‘Mistake noted.’

‘I should take it out of your pay,’ I mutter, striding toward the wrecked section of the hangar to assess the damage.

Her boots shuffle faster across the gravel. ‘You don’t pay me enough to manage this shitshow as it is, and I can damn near guarantee you the next poor fucker dumb enough to take the job’ll eat a bullet in a week.’

She has a point. One I refuse to acknowledge with anything other than the vaguest grunt.

I whip out my bandana to breathe through the smoke and survey the smoldering wreckage inside the hangar, mentally tallying the losses. Not as bad as I initially feared. The concrete barrier contained the blast, sparing the bulk of our stockpile.

Well. Most of the blast.

‘Could’ve been worse,’ I mutter, more to myself than Lex. ‘The facility near Belvast should be operational in a few days. We’ll move what’s left there.’

Lex’s eyebrows shoot up. ‘Belvast? Thought that was off the table.’

My jaw clenches. Of course she’d bring that up. As if I need the reminder.

Raven.

The name alone is enough to sour my mood further.

‘I’m not letting that spoiled hedonistic twink’s princess tantrums deter me from using a perfectly good facility,’ I snap, my voice harsher than intended. Lex doesn’t flinch. She’s used to my moods by now. ‘Besides, with Surhiiran forces crawling all over the Outer Reaches like they’re scouting real estate for one of their swanky little spa towns, a gutter like Belvast is the only safe option.’

Lex holds up her hands, placating. ‘Hey, you don’t gotta sell me on it. Just curious, is all.’ She pauses, and I can see the question forming before she even opens her mouth. ‘You, uh… heard anything from him lately?’

‘Of course not,’ I snarl, my hand instinctively going to the gun at my hip. The familiar weight is soothing. ‘Last I heard, the little shit had sunk all his ill-gotten gains from whoring into that cesspool of a club.’

‘Oh yeah,’ Lex muses, her scarred face scrunching up in thought. ‘What was it called again? Alpha Beta?’

‘The Alpha’s Alpha!’ Reese’s voice carries from outside, and I swear I can hear the grin in his tone.

‘Fuck off!’ I roar, my patience hanging by a thread. A thread that’s already stretched tight under the best of circumstances.

Lex snaps her fingers. ‘Right, that was it.’ She grimaces, shaking her head. ‘Never got the appeal of a place like that myself. Why would an alpha want another alpha when you could have an omega?’ There’s a wolfish glint in her eye as she grins. ‘A beta’ll do in a pinch, long as she’s got a nice rack, but⁠—’

‘Speaking of princesses,’ I cut her off before she says another word that’ll have Reese scrambling back in here to weigh in. ‘How’s our guest?’

‘Peachy. She’s been out the whole time since I picked her up. Least, she was until last night.’

I arch an eyebrow. ‘You drugged her?’

‘Nah.’ Lex shakes her head. ‘She was awake, just… not all there, y’know? Zoned out.’ She chuckles. ‘Now though? More like a rabid tiger. And a pretty cute one. Too spicy for my tastes, though. I like my omegas sweet.’

Something in her tone sets my teeth on edge. ‘I trust you followed my instructions to the letter?’

”Course, boss,’ she says, all innocence. ‘No men allowed near her, just like you said.’

I bristle. ‘I said female betas only.’

Lex’s grin turns downright shit-eating. ‘Did you? My bad. You know how the connection out here can be.’

I clench my fist, resisting the urge to put it through her face. ‘That omega is Arthur fucking Maybrecht’s brat. Do you have any idea the kind of shitstorm that’s going to rain down if we give her back even slightly inconvenienced?’

‘Since when do you care about diplomacy?’ she asks, folding her arms.

‘Since I have enough guns to be a diplomat,’ I answer with a sneer. My gaze tracks across what was once the most active airfield in the region. A country that no longer exists.

But that’s the way it is out here.

Empires rise and fall like dominoes, so why not add another to the mix?

A glint of excitement flashes in Lex’s eyes. ‘Diplomacy was never my strong suit,’ she muses, running a hand through her short-cropped hair. ‘But I could see myself as a general. Those fancy Surhiiran swords are something else.’

I can’t help but laugh at that. ‘We play our cards right,’ I drawl, ‘finish this deal with the Ghosts, and you can have all the fancy swords you want.’ I pause for effect, watching her eyes widen. ‘And an omega to hold each one.’

Lex throws her head back and laughs, the sound harsh and grating in the smoke-filled air. ‘You’re a crazy fucker, you know that?’ She shakes her head, still chuckling. ‘But that’s why I’d rather work for you than your old man.’

My mood sours instantly at the mention of my father. The great patriarch of the Vlakov Family.

I push the thoughts away, focusing on the matter at hand. ‘Speaking of prisoners,’ I say, my voice carefully neutral. ‘How’s our other guest doing?’

Lex’s brow furrows and she drops the laugh like a hot coal. ‘That’s the thing, boss. It won’t eat any of the meat we throw down there. Just stands and stares at the sky all night, at least when it’s not tryin’ to rip apart anyone who gets too close to the pit with those fucking claws. Sometimes it moves around like it’s trying to stand under the moon. So maybe it’s got some moon version of photo-sympathy.’

I arch an eyebrow. ‘Photosynthesis?’

‘Yeah, that’s it.’

I sigh. ‘Maybe it doesn’t eat meat.’

‘The fuck am I supposed to feed it then?’ Lex asks, exasperated. ‘Kibble? You know Bess doesn’t share.’

The scruffy shepherd mix that shadows her all the time pants up at me with her distinctly microwaved-cod-scented breath as if to agree.

‘It could eat people,’ I muse.

‘It sure ate some of our men like it had five minutes to finish its last bucket ever of chicken fingers,’ Lex says with a snort.

That earns a wary stare from me. ‘And what the fuck is a chicken finger?’

“Best damn food on the planet. Popular back in Columbia before they started using synth meat instead because it was more cost-effective,” she says, waving me off. ‘You wouldn’t get it. I’m sure you only go to those bougie places where you drink pricey champagne out of a stripper’s ass with a paper straw.’

‘I think you and I have very different definitions of ‘bougie,” I say dryly. I need to get this conversation back on track. Lex’s specialty may be derailing trains, but it’s also derailing a goddamn conversation. ‘Maybe it eats people.’

‘The stripper’s ass?’ she asks, bewildered.

‘No,’ I snarl. ‘The monster in the fucking pit.’

‘Why didn’t you just say so?’ Lex mutters. ‘And yeah, that’s a good point. But it’s not like we have a bunch of bodies lyin’ around we can throw to it to test that theory.’ She glances up at Mikey and Reese as the alpha lumbers by with the prattling beta close behind him like a mangy puppy dog. ‘Unless these two morons fuck something else up.’

I grunt, already striding toward the pit we dug out on the far side of the airfield. ‘I’ll take a look at it.’

The closer we get, the more the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. There’s something… off about the air around the pit. A heaviness, like the calm before a storm.

Or maybe I’m just on edge from lack of sleep.

I peer over the edge, and sure enough, there it is. The Knight. Standing perfectly still in the center of the pit like it’s meditating, its iron-masked face tilted up toward the sky. Following its eerie gaze, I spot a thin sliver of crescent moon peeking through the clouds.

Even motionless, the thing is a sight to behold. At least eight feet of pure muscle and metal, its skin a patchwork of scars and grafted armor plating. The iron mask fused to its face gleams in the moonlight, those eerie blue eyes glowing from within like trapped stars. It would look human except for the chip in the lower left quadrant, enough to reveal monster jaws full of sharp exposed teeth.

Rods of metal jut from its back like a twisted parody of wings, and its right arm is solid metal and fully articulated, ending in a clawed hand with massive curved blades where fingers should be. Despite the off-and-on rain we’ve been getting, there’s still blood on those claws from what it did to twenty-six men.

My men.

I should throw a few bombs into the pit for that. It was the most gruesome, violent thing I’ve ever witnessed out here, and that’s fucking saying something. But I knew the moment I saw it in action, I had to have it in my arsenal.

And not in pieces.

‘Thought you said it was being aggressive,’ I mutter to Lex, unable to tear my eyes away from the creature below.

She throws up her hands in exasperation. ‘It was! Snarling and clawing at anyone who came near the edge of the pit. That’s what all those marks are from.’ Her frustration ebbs back into a smirk. ‘Maybe it’s got a crush on you. Calmed right down as soon as you showed up.’

‘Fuck off,’ I growl. My mind is racing, piecing together fragments of rumors and half-forgotten stories. The Vytoskyk facility. Vrissian experiments pushed beyond the limits of human endurance.

‘What should we call him?’ Lex asks.

I give her a weary look. She insisted on naming that mutt we found scrounging around in the ruins, gnawing on a human arm bone, too. Bess is a hell of an innocuous name for a beast that’s eaten half my favorite boots and pissed in my favorite chair.

‘They call it the Knight,’ I answer. When I see the look she’s giving me, I add, ‘Finally dug it out of the Ghost who wears the plague doctor mask. Says they encountered it on their escape from that lab. Guess their feral omega got attached.’

She snorts at that. ‘An omega? Bit skittish for that, aren’t they?’noveldrama

‘Perhaps,’ I muse, studying the beast below as it continues gazing up at the night sky with a fixation that borders on worship, as if it’s completely oblivious to our presence. ‘All the ones I’ve encountered have been.’

‘You should go encounter the one in our basement,’ she scoffs. ‘Maybe you can charm her into giving us some intel on where her daddy keeps the big bucks before we hand her over. Don’t think she likes women.’

‘Maybe she just doesn’t like scumbags,’ I counter, already headed toward the entrance to the other storage facility turned dungeon.

‘You’re one to talk!’ she shoots back.

I flip her off and tug open the door leading into the pitch black corridor below. Fucking fuse must have blown again. But when I flip the switch, the lights come on one by one, illuminating the row of storage rooms we’ve been using as a makeshift jail. Usually, the cells are only occupied when my men get a little too rowdy.

Or Lex. It’s often Lex.

But for right now, they’re all reserved for our VIP.

I flip the switch and watch as the lights flicker to life, illuminating the dank corridor before me. The smell of mildew and stale air hits me as I descend the stairs, my boots echoing off the concrete walls. It’s a familiar scent, one that reminds me of countless other hideouts and safehouses I’ve inhabited over the years.

But as I reach the bottom of the stairs, another scent cuts through the musty air. Something… different.

Intoxicating.

Impossible.

My steps falter as it washes over me, unlike anything I’ve encountered before. It’s sweet, but not cloying. Pure, but not innocent. It calls to something primal within me, something I thought I’d buried years ago beneath layers of ambition and dried blood and ruthlessness.

I shake my head, trying to clear it. I’ve smelled omegas before. Plenty of them. But never like this. Never so…

Fuck.

A part of me wants to turn back, to retreat to the safety of my office and send someone else to deal with our ‘guest.’ Because suddenly, I’m not so sure I can trust myself.

But I am a Vrissian alpha. I may be Vrissian scum, but I am Vrissian nonetheless. Not some spineless Reinmichian coward hiding behind the Council or a posh elitist Surhiiran who’d rather hide in a university tower rather than get his hands dirty in the real world.

I face my problems.

Head fucking on.

I force myself to keep walking, even as that scent grows stronger with each step. It wraps around me like a silken cord, tugging me forward. By the time I reach her cell, my heart is pounding in my chest in a way it never has all the countless times I’ve faced death, my mouth dry as cotton.

I peer through the small window in the heavy metal door, and for a moment, all I can see is a spill of silvery-white hair across the pillow. She’s facing away from me, curled up on the cot like a sleeping cat. But even from here, I can tell the curves of her body beneath the thin blanket are all woman, soft and inviting in a way that makes my fingers itch to stroke something other than a trigger for the first time in months.

For a moment, I wonder if she’s in heat. That would explain the intensity of her scent, the way it’s affecting me. But no—there’s none of that musky undertone that comes with a heat cycle.

This is just… her.

Pure and undiluted.

Pure what…?

I rack my brain for any scent to compare it to, but despite the fact that I come up empty, there’s an undeniable familiarity there.

No, that scent isn’t like anything else on earth. But I do have a frame of reference. An image—no, a full-sensory fucking experience—that pops into my mind as she stirs in her sleep and the threadbare sheet slips away from those gloriously thick, milky thighs.

Moonlight.

What the fuck does that even mean?

How can something smell like moonlight?

No one’s even set foot on that useless rock since we decided killing each other and blowing up this one was a better use of funds. Even if I could ask the last trillionaire asshole who went up there, he’d probably say it smelled like fucking space dust and astronaut breath, not…

Whatever the fuck this is.

Before I realize what I’m doing, my hand is on the door handle. The rational part of my brain screams at me to stop, to think this through. But that voice is drowned out by the blood rushing in my ears, by the need to get closer to the source of that impossible scent.

The door swings open with a metallic groan, and she stirs at the sound. I hold my breath as she sits up slowly, that silvery hair cascading down her back like a waterfall.

And then she turns, and I’m lost.

Her eyes hit me first. They’re the color of royalty, a shade of violet so deep and rich it puts the finest Surhiiran silks to shame. They widen slightly as they meet mine, and for a moment—just a fraction of a second—I think I see a flicker of the same awe I’m feeling reflected in their depths.

But then her gaze hardens, and the spell is broken.

Well, not broken exactly.

I’m still locked in it.

Because in spite of the clear disdain twisting her features, she’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Who am I kidding? The spite only enhances it. Like a little pepper in a gourmet dish.

My eyes travel over her face and body, committing every detail to memory. The delicate arch of her eyebrows, the heart-shaped face. Her nose is straight and slightly turned up at the bottom, flushed slightly across the bridge. And that mouth…

Full lips, the bottom one slightly fuller than the top, currently pressed into a thin line of hate. I find myself wondering what they’d look like parted in pleasure instead. Or wrapped around my cock.

The thought sends a jolt of heat through me, and I have to clench my fists at my sides to keep from reaching for her. My gaze drifts lower, taking in the graceful curve of her neck, the hollow of her soft throat where her pulse flutters visibly.

The silky robe clinging to her plush curves looks rough and harsh in comparison to her skin. The robe has slipped off one shoulder, revealing a tantalizing expanse of creamy skin just begging for me to bury my fangs as deep as my…

Fuck.

No.

Fuck no.

Get it together, you fucking assclown.

I’ve spent years building my empire, clawing my way to the top through blood and betrayal. I’ve sacrificed everything—my family, my conscience, any chance at a normal life—all in pursuit of power.

And now, standing before this slip of an omega with eyes like amethysts and hair like moonlight, I realize how fragile it all is. Fragile enough that all it would take is a glimmer of moonlight to bring it all crashing down.

This omega is going to cost me everything.