Epsilon Warlord: A Sci-Fi Omegaverse Tale

By Katie Douglas

They thought they knew what omegas were like. They’d never met me.

Steph: Crazy day so far. Purple aliens abducted me. Their ship blew up. I escaped in a pod. Then he found me. Krekar. The alpha in charge of the Epsilon flagship. The most important captain in space. He says I’m an omega, and he wants to keep me out of harm’s way. Screw that. I’m not about to let some alien bloke turn me into his pampered princess.

When I get stranded on a battered, icy outpost, I find a newborn baby. This changes everything. Our odds of survival are slim, but I will do anything to protect her.

Krekar: I’ve always been in control. I’m used to being obeyed. Then Stephanie appears. The tiny omega doesn’t know what she’s gotten into. It’s my job to show her. To protect her. But when the threat comes from within my crew, and we’re forced apart into two deadly situations, I have to find a new way to fight for her. She’s stranded on an ice planet. I’m stuck on a ship that’s about to self-destruct. Can I save her?

This M/F Omegaverse tale is irreverent. The heroine is snarky and determined and the hero has a couple of people skills alongside his... other attributes. There is insta-lust. And space plot. If that sort of thing floats your boat, this book is for you. This is book 2 in the Epsilon Omegaverse series, but it can be read as a standalone.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Katie Douglas
• Release date: Sep 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9780463028018

Katie Douglas

Katie Douglas is a number one and USA Today bestselling author of erotic romance. Katie is an incorrigible romantic and her books reflect that. Especially the incorrigible part. In her spare time she likes to run headfirst into impossible projects, especially if those projects involve travel and good food. Her other love is shoe shopping. She is currently masquerading as a librarian by day. Although, given that she lives in China, her day is probably night time where you are. So maybe she's moonlighting as a librarian.

Book preview

Epsilon Warlord

by Katie Douglas

Epsilon Warlord

Copyright 2021 Katie Douglas

All rights reserved

Chapter 1:

Krekar

Captain, we’ve picked up an unusual signal. It was unlike Lieutenant Hak to be this vague. I looked up from my console.

What makes it unusual? How far?

An ambush?

My first thought was the Grigorians disguising their ship’s engine emissions to stop us detecting them.

It’s very faint. Likely the vessel is tiny. And it doesn’t have any kind of propulsion.

Are you certain it’s a vessel, not some space debris?

It’s surrounded by a field of debris, captain. The distinction is clear.

The picture was becoming clearer. An escape pod? I was surprised it hadn’t occurred to my best tactician.

Could be. He still didn’t seem certain. The signal is intermittent and very faint. It’s possible someone is jamming it.

I went back to my first thought, that this was an ambush. We had important cargo to deliver to an outpost and didn’t have time to spare on a firefight. But if someone needed rescuing, it was our responsibility to find them.

Lieutenant Yazat, take us in. Carefully. Hak, keep the defensive shields at maximum in case it’s a trap.

Yazat grinned and I saw the thrill of the hunt in his eyes. The alpha flyboy was almost as cocky as I’d been when I was a youngling a few years out of pilot training. Almost.

I knew I had a reputation for only recruiting and retaining the best talent on my ship, but I knew a good crew was the single deciding factor in warfare. As the captain of the Emperor’s flagship, I had no room for coasters or hangers-on.

Getting a visual, captain. Hak put the image on-screen. It was an escape pod. Badly damaged. The emergency rescue lights flickered. Whoever was inside probably hadn’t got much oxygen left.

Bring it on board.

Deploying energy lasso, sir. One of the newer bridge crew sent out the waveform energy that would bring the pod aboard.

Trans-mat would have been a better choice for a small object, Treskar, I told him.

Why, sir?

It reduces the time we are vulnerable to attack. With an energy lasso, we have to open and close the doors to the cargo bay. Hak’s explanation was succinct and I nodded my approval. The quiet beta was one of my best crew members.

The energy lasso was already doing the job, so there was no point cutting it and switching to trans-mat, but hopefully Treskar had learned something from Hak for next time.

Pod is in cargo bay three, Captain. Treskar pressed a few more buttons. After half a minute, he added, Doors closed, sir.

Full shields, Hak. Yazat, take us back on course at maximum speed.

A red light flashed up on my console. Internal communication. I accepted it.

Captain, please attend cargo bay three. You really need to see this.

First officer Av’o’s matronly voice held surprise. She was the most unemotional alpha I’d ever met. If she thought something was surprising, it was probably a flying soup monster or similar.

On my way. Lieutenant Yazat, you have the bridge.

I got to my feet and hurried to the cargo bay, leaving the ship’s course in the capable hands of my second officer.

Av’o was standing beside the pod defensively, snarling at two younger alpha crew members who looked bruised and bloodied.

What is going on here? I demanded.

Get them out, sir, Av’o said. I lifted one in each hand by the scruff of their neck and threw them out of the cargo bay. I noted their names so I could discipline them in a moment.

Computer, seal the doors, she told it. I raised a brow and moved closer.

What’s unnerved you? I asked her. Why did they attack?

Av’o looked up at me and I didn’t understand the pain in her eyes.

The pod contains an omega, sir.

I looked past her. Lying in the escape pod, looking scared, was a tiny omega. The door controls were jammed. I ripped the door off the pod and threw it to one side.

She sat up and I took in her features. Dark blonde hair was scraped back into a high ponytail. Her cheekbones were high and delicate. Eyes, a warm brown. Lips, plump and kissable.

My eyes moved south. Her breasts swelled and fell with every breath. Her waist was pinched in by a belt. She seemed to be wearing some sort of uniform in blue, with a small metal device clipped above one breast. The other side, she wore what looked like it might be a name badge in an alien language I couldn’t read.

Av’o punched me in the arm and I dragged my eyes away, but I couldn’t close my nostrils to the intoxicating scent of her. A mixture of pure, animal musk and... wildflowers?

The alphas who were in here are indicative of the problem we have, Av’o said. She’s an omega. We need to protect her.

And report this to the emperor. I knew of only a handful of omegas who had been rescued, so far. All from the same planet. None of them had been floating around alone in space on the other side of the galaxy.

Great, more giant aliens ready to treat me like a bloody Wedgewood teapot, the omega grumbled.

I’m Captain Krekar Aenqroth of the Epsilon Imperial Flagship, the Red Legion. An alpha. I was aware the omegas had lived all their lives on a planet of betas, and had probably never seen alphas before. I wanted to claim her immediately, before anyone else could, but I had to hold back. Facts needed to be established. And as the captain, I would need to be sure she was kept safe. Even from my own baser nature, which was fighting for control.

G’day. Stephanie Redfern. R.N. She held out her hand. I wasn’t certain what to do with it so I leaned down, sniffed it and nodded. She burst out laughing. Sorry, mate, it’s just... been a strange day.

How did you come to be in that escape pod? I was still struggling to get over the fact she was here, so far from the planet where we’d found the other omegas. Were there more in this vicinity? She obviously hadn’t been in the pod since birth; she wore adult clothes and spoke with something approaching an understandable dialect.

***

Stephanie

I looked up at the man in front of me—if man was the right word. He smelled like one. Strength and power radiated off him. It got inside my nose. An intangible scent beneath the more obvious one of his leather-and-sandalwood shower gel. Or soap. Or aftershave. Who knew how space aliens washed?

If I was at home, I could imagine this bloke spending half the day at the gym. He’d go home and chuck some beef on the barbie and down Castlemaine four-ex before crushing the cans on his head. Or someone else’s, if he was feeling rowdy. I usually saw them on Saturday nights in the Emergency Department after they’d gotten drunk and tried to do something stupid.

His hands were bigger than my feet. I’d met big blokes before. Beefy ones. But he would have been a head and shoulders above all of them. And wider, too. Beneath his black uniform, his body made a triangle from his broad, muscular shoulders down to his waist. Abs rippled through the fabric and further down...

I looked away as a blush covered my face. He had more crotch than David Bowie. The only time I’d seen a bulge like that was during the Ashes, when the cricketers wore their little protection boxes.

I was willing to bet serious dollars he was an arsehole. No one that attractive had ever been a good person in the whole history of people.

The last lot of blokes who looked like you were miserable buggers. How’d I know you’re not the same?

He looked confused. I guessed it was easily done. Blokes who smelled that good never had two brain cells to rub together.

I am the finest military commander in the fleet. My credentials speak for themselves.

Yeah, but which fleet? Who do you fight for? And why?

I defend the Epsilon Empire against attacks. We have many enemies, although our main foe are the Grigorians. Now answer my question. What were you doing here, so far from Earth?

How do you know about Earth? I found it weird that he had any idea where I was from.

I am the commander of the flagship. I am apprised of all our missions and interferences.

I snorted at the last bit. Sorry. Funny turn of phrase.

It’s apt. It is also necessary. Now answer my question.

I sighed. It’s nothing amazing. I was minding my own business on my way to work and some tosser with a spaceship nicked me off to put in his menagerie. He got attacked—maybe by those Gregory blokes you mentioned—and my cell door was banged open in the fight. I got out into an escape pod before the whole ship blew. It had been a really bad week. Maybe longer. My sense of time was buggered without a clock, calendar, or the whole night/day thing. Space was weird. But I’d had enough time to get used to some of it. And wherever I was now, it beat that cell I’d been locked in.

He raised a brow. How long were you there?

Too bloody long, that’s for sure. I don’t really know. A week maybe?

We can investigate this later. Do you know anything about what you are? Or what I am?

Not a single clue about you, mate. I shrugged. I’m human. And I’d like to go home, now.

He shook his head. You are not human. Your biology is different.

Captain, perhaps you should conduct this conversation in a more comfortable location? The other giant person spoke, now. I looked up at her. I think she was a her. She was about the same size as Krekar, and about as muscular, but she also had big tits. So probably a woman, on the balance of things.

She needs to know why she is unsafe.

She needs food. Drink. Warmth. To sit down on a couch.

The two of them squared off then the captain grunted. Was he whipped? Maybe she was his wife.

Fine. Accompany me, Av’o. She will be safe once we reach my quarters.

I wondered what kind of danger they thought I was in. I’d already been kidnapped and kept in a shitty cell and then been through a spaceship explosion. What more could happen to me on this ship, unless half the crew were torturers or something?

They led the way somewhere. I stepped out of the cargo bay half-expecting Vlad the Impaler to jump out from behind a corner. In reality, the corridors were well-lit with metal walls and floors, and everyone was walking around in an orderly fashion in similar black uniforms to the one the captain wore. I really didn’t see what he was worried about. Did I really need two people to walk me around this place?

We reached a nondescript metal door that looked like all the others. The captain unlocked it with his handprint and we went inside.

It was a huge lounge. A sofa, upholstered in teal fabric, was the main feature of the room. It was behind a coffee table that was almost tall enough to be a dining table.

Take a seat. Would you like a drink? He indicated the sofa, so I perched on it.

Have you got any ginger beer?

He frowned. I don’t know what that is.

Beer is a type of alcohol, I believe, Av’o provided.

I shook my head. Ginger beer isn’t alcoholic. It’s just... gingery. I guessed ginger didn’t grow around these parts. Let’s try again. I’d like a cold drink. Not too sweet. Fizzy, if you have it, please.

Try this. He handed me a glass of something blue. I sniffed it, hoping it wasn’t an energy drink. I hated those. I’d always thought they tasted like the smell of the clinical waste bin when it wasn’t emptied soon enough on a hot day.

To my surprise, this was fruity. Was it blueberries? I took a sip. It was refreshing.

You may return to your duties, Av’o, Krekar said.

The woman looked uncomfortable. Her gaze flicked from him to me.

With all due respect, is that wise, Captain? Did she really think I was a threat to them? Was that why it had taken two of them to walk me here?

You are dismissed, Av’o. His voice took on an edge.

Yes, sir. She left. Krekar sat at the other end of the couch and watched me drink.

In the cargo bay, I said you weren’t human and you didn’t understand. Let me explain.

I tried not to laugh. I was as human as they came. I was a nurse. And an Australian. Aliens never went to Australia. I think the snakes and spiders put them off.

On Epsilon, our homeworld, there are three types of people. Alphas, betas and omegas. They are all the same species, but very different—

Like dog breeds? I knew dogs were all the same species, but a poodle was very different from an Alsatian or a Labrador.

I don’t know what a dog is. Alphas are big, omegas are small, and betas are in the middle. They can all interbreed.

I nodded. That sounds just like dogs.

Fine. About twenty-five years ago, our planet was very different. The Epsilon space empire was in ruins and we were buckling from constant attacks from the Grigorians. Our outposts were smoking craters. His brow crumpled into a frown as he remembered what things had been like. Our homeworld was under threat from a solar flare. It caused a radiation storm that wiped out almost every omega on the planet. We couldn’t save them all. A handful who served on ships survived. The Emperor took a very difficult decision, and every baby on the planet was genetically screened. All the baby omegas were put on a space ark and the extra space was given to many adult omegas, who were chosen by a lottery. It should have been our salvation... He trailed off and I knew this was hard for