Warr: The Omega Collective, #4

By Susan Hayes and Mina Carter

First they stole her planet. Then they stole her sister…

 

Her twin might have surrendered to the enemy, but Max will never stop fighting the alien warriors that conquered Earth. 

 

She's the leader of a rebel army determined to fight for freedom and the future of the human race. The Tolath are her enemies, and she will never surrender to any of them… especially not to him. 

 

Warr is coming… He let her escape him once. She won't get away again.

 

Warr caught her scent once, and he'll never forget it. Whoever she is, wherever she is, he'll find her. And when he does he will learn all her secrets and teach her the consequences of running from a Tolathian general. 

 

His mission - retrieve his target and bring her back untouched and unclaimed. But no plan survives contact with the enemy, and Max is like no adversary he's ever faced before. She's beautiful, dangerous… and his. 

 

This series contains hot, growly aliens on a mission to find their mates - and a group of women determined to free their planet... and themselves. 

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Three Owls Publishing
• Release date: Nov 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201015275

Susan Hayes

USA Today Bestselling author and writer of award-winning Sci-Fi and Paranormal Romance Susan Hayes lives out on the Canadian west coast surrounded by open water, dear family, and good friends. She’s jumped out of perfectly good airplanes on purpose and accidentally swum with sharks on the Great Barrier Reef. If the world ends, she plans to survive as the spunky, comedic sidekick to the heroes of the new world, because she’s too damned short and out of shape to make it on her own for long. To contact her about her books or to arrange end of the world team-ups, you can email her at [e-mail] or find her at susanhayes.ca. If you'd prefer to stalk her from afar, you can sign up for her newsletter http://susanhayes.ca/susans-newsletter/

Book preview

Prologue

Max was an idiot. A complete and utter idiot.

She should absolutely not have come to the Tolathian fortress of Zabor T’ah without making sure her blockers were up to date. Rushing into the citadel with a blocker about to run out was… yeah, utterly stupid.

It took careening through the streets of the enemy’s capital city with an alpha hot on her heels to drive that lesson home with a vengeance, but lady goddess, she had it now. A roar filled the alley behind her as a big body crashed into a handcart when he tried to make the corner at top speed but failed. The vendor’s fruit, which looked like some kind of cross between watermelon and pumpkin, crashed to the floor and rolled all over the place. She had a split-second view of the alpha cursing and leaping to avoid them before she whipped her head around and dug down for more speed.

Fuck, he was a big bastard and no mistake.

She gritted her teeth as she raced at full speed down the alley, folding her arms over her head as she crashed through a thin fence. It hadn’t been there when she’d memorized her escape routes out of the citadel. Luckily, she recognized the construction of the flimsy panel. Tesha reed was decorative rather than sturdy. Even so, it was like hitting concrete at this speed, but a second later she was through it, leaping over stone benches in a small, private garden.

"Human! You will stop!" the alpha roared, crashing into the garden a few seconds after her.

She laughed, flicked him the bird over her shoulder, and continued running. Like she was going to stop just because an alpha said so. If she did, she was deader than the human race’s hopes and dreams. She clenched her jaw so tightly her teeth ached. These alien bastards hadn’t managed to kill her yet, and it wasn’t going to happen today.

"Stop!" The word devolved into a roar of anger and she grinned. No alpha liked to be ignored and disobeyed, but he was going to have to get used to it. She reached the other side of the garden and slipped through the gate into a side street. She gathered herself and ran full tilt at the wall. Three steps up, she twisted and launched herself at the opposite side of the street, wrapping her hand around a trailing rope. Her weight triggered the mechanism, and it yanked her upward at a dizzying speed toward safety and freedom.

A cry of pain was torn from her lips as something hard latched around her foot. Looking down, she found the alpha’s huge hand wrapped around the bottom of her boot. Her eyes widened. He had to have leaped at least ten feet to reach her.

Shit! she hissed, looking down into a snarling face, his black eyes blazing at her. Her entire body ached, her arm almost pulled out of its socket by the weight of him hanging on. They stalled mid-air, dangling high over the streets at the side of the citadel wall. Her heart pounded. If they fell… he would survive. She wouldn’t. And she wouldn’t want to as his prisoner.

You’re mine now, little beta, he hissed. Muscles in his arm tensed as he started to pull himself up.

Not a fucking chance! With adrenaline born of fear, she twisted, kicking out at him to try and dislodge him. His hand just clamped around her foot tighter.

No, she realized. Not her foot. Her boot.

With a grin, she palmed her knife in her free hand and reached down to slice the top of her laces. She caught her skin as well, sudden pain flaring at the flash of red on her blade, but she’d managed it. The laces unraveled under the tension, her boot sliding from her foot.

Have a nice flight! she called out with a chuckle as the alpha fell to the streets, his arms and legs windmilling. Relieved of the extra weight, the winch yanked her up and away to freedom not a moment too soon.

Max reached the top of the wall and scrambled over it, ignoring the pain in her injured leg. Despite the danger, she stole a quick glance back down at the fallen alpha. The big bastard was already on his feet and glaring up at her. If looks could kill, she’d be walking with the Grim Reaper right now. He still had her boot clutched in one hand. Pity. She liked these boots.

Her pursuer was roaring like a wounded bear, which meant it was time for her to go. It only took a few seconds to clip herself to another rope, double check it was properly attached, and launch herself off the edge of the outer wall.

The rope spooled, and the winch caught her weight with just enough tension to keep her from falling as she ran straight down the wall. She tried not to think about the other set of ropes she’d set up in case shit went sideways. The one she’d prepared for her sister. She wouldn’t need them, after all. Because as stupid as Max had been to come into the citadel, Serena was ten times more of an idiot for deciding to stay.

1

The boot was tiny. The female wearing it had been tiny as well, especially compared to him.

Warr glowered, growling under his breath as he glared at the footwear sitting on the table in front of him. Her blood was still on it, the memory of the scent blooming in the air still fresh in his mind. She’d cut herself free of it, catching her own skin before the mechanism she’d used to escape yanked her up and away from him.

He simmered in the darkness of his rooms with the blinds drawn, his anger almost at boiling point. It hadn’t taken him long to get to the top of the walls. Her scent was still strong when he reached the parapet. But she’d gone, the dangling rope and abandoned winch all that was left.

He snarled and slammed his fist into the table. Somehow, the rebels had managed to get escape equipment right into the citadel. His citadel. The one with his xarthing army guarding it, and one little female had managed to elude him and escape. It wasn’t just frustrating. It was embarrassing and called his competence into question.

Which was why he hadn’t told the Lord Overseer about the boot.

It was his prize—a talisman to focus his rage on until he could get his hands on the female it belonged to. Once he did… she would answer all his questions and share all her secrets with him, or he’d tear them out of her himself.

He rose and stalked around the room again. Xarthing humans were nothing but trouble. They didn’t know their place. Hell, twenty years of subjugation by the L’crav should have weakened even the strongest species, but these humans were insane. That had to be it. Why else would the males leading the rebellion use females as scouts? Even beta females deserved better than that. Were their troops so depleted they were recruiting females to their cause? And why did her scent seem so wrong? What were they doing to them?

Betas were not as valuable as omegas, but they still had worth. He ran a hand through his dark hair and snarled in frustration. This made no sense. No sense at all.

He found himself in front of the boot again. It sat there, taunting him. She was taunting him. Even though he’d told himself he wouldn’t, he found himself reaching out and wrapping his hand around the leather. The boots had been well-made, but they were old. The leather was worn but obviously taken care of. He let his fingers trail over the contours. It was almost like he could feel the shape of her delicate little foot in his hand.

A grumble of frustration rattled in the back of his throat as he lifted the boot to his nose. Her scent crowded into his nostrils, almost overwhelming him. The blood had worried him. Kranov knew why since these humans were an utter pain in the ass. And it wasn’t like she was an omega, but still… she was female and the alpha side of him rose in unwanted protectiveness.

He closed his eyes, drawing the scent deep into his lungs and rolling it over his tongue as he tried to figure it out. She wasn’t an omega. Her scent said beta. Screamed beta. But it was wrong. Too bright, too flashy… too everything. Like it was trying to hijack his attention and make up his mind for him.

He stayed still, his mind quiet as he let the scent settle.

There… almost at the tail end of the scent’s half-life, just before it began to fade away, were other notes. His eyes snapped open. He wasn’t sure what she was, but she wasn’t what she pretended to be.

Somehow, that