“Motherfucker.

I grumbled under my breath, cursing wildly in the quiet cabin as another

fat bead of sweat descended from my hairline to my brow. With a quick
slide, the heated droplet disappeared into the sweat stain on the fabric of my
jumpsuit.

My gaze strayed to the cabin’s temperature settings again, lingering

longingly on the dial even as the blue blinking numbers indicated that it was
far below what was comfortable. If the temperature dipped any lower, the
crew would be banging at my door with breath fogging from their lips.

It wasn’ t fair to punish them for the escalating warmth in my body.

But there was nothing else I could do to bring myself comfort. I’d
already divested my usual captain’s jumpsuit for a sleeveless gray number,
and undone the top three clasps—if I undid any more, it would border on
public indecency.

Not that my crew would complain about decency, of course, and they
were the only people around to witness my predicament. As omegas
themselves, they understood the pressing demands of a heat very well.

But there were different expectations of a captain.

I needed to set a standard. Keep up appearances. If I let something as

banal as a heat disrupt my day-to-day, I didn’t deserve to have a crew that
respected me.

Ugh.

I blew out a long, warm breath, watching in the mirror as my chest

heaved, pressing up towards the neckline. The usually deep, tawny hue of my
skin was awash in red undertones, showing clearly through the open vee of
the parted fabric.
 Or perhaps it was the reflection of the red velvet bedcurtains in the warm
light of the cabin. The decadent drapery had a way of shimmering with each
blast of central air, casting a reddish glow over everything in its path. The
curtains were more than a few decades old, yet they held their grandeur
without signs of age—one of the perks of never having seen sunlight or felt
the damaging effects of its rays.

Ever since I’d taken over command of the submarine from Pa, The
Omega had always been parked in deep waters, far away from the hazards
that lay ashore.

As the velvet curtains shimmered behind me yet again, I debated ripping

them down from their eternal cascade over the sprawling bed. They seemed
to be mocking me with each flurry, reminding me that as unflappable as I
tried to be, I was at the mercy of damned hormones.

It was a weakness, this heat. A nuisance that truncated my logical

thinking skills and made me far too vulnerable. I was a captain, for
Goddess’ sake. I’d worked hard, trained hard, honing my mind to be as
sharp as it could possibly be. I couldn’t afford to be felled by a heat every
few months.

Even as the thought crossed my mind, I shivered as another bead of sweat

slipped down my neck, streaking across my skin like the hot end of a laser.

Fuck this.

Fuck. This.

I pulled at the clasps of the jumpsuit and the middle parted all the way
down to my waist, releasing a burst of warmth that had been trapped under
the fabric. I sighed, finally feeling the cool air in the room touch my
overheated skin.

You’re in control.

This is just a heat like any other.

 In a few days, everything will be back to normal. I

had no doubt.

Fingers gripping the sides of the cherrywood vanity, I leaned forward,

rocking back and forth. It was a challenge to take deep, even breaths to self-
soothe before the pre-heat symptoms threatened to overwhelm my senses.

The slim circlet of gold around my neck dug deep into the sensitive skin
as I kept my head tilted back. The sole family heirloom was usually a source
of strength, and a reminder of my never-mated status.

Yet today, it was nothing but a nuisance.

Goddess, it was starting to feel too tight. Too restrictive. I ached to place
my thumb against its side, unlocking it and tossing it away where I wouldn’t
see it until my heat was over.

Truthfully, I wanted to toss everything away. My jewelry, my clothes,

my shoes…

My very skin.

A spiraling surge of heat coiled up my stomach and I grimaced,

wrapping my arms around myself as though it would protect me from the
insistent sensations within.

My body was so predictable, each heat exactly the same.

In another day or so, my breasts would start to itch and hurt as they
became more and more sensitized, the nipples turning red around the
circumference and thicker along the tip. I usually spent those days naked in
my bunk, seeking pleasure at my own fingertips and crying out for
something—anything—to ease the ache.

But it was not enough—it would never be enough.

It has to be, I reminded myself with a steely grimace. It just has to.
 Because the alternative was a terrifying thought—there was no way I
would ever seek an Alpha’s attention when I couldn’t control my body. I
could end up accidentally mated, or worse—heavy with pups.

The thought of an additional obligation made me shiver. I had my crew,

the ship, and a whole damn business to run. At thirty-two, I should be ready
to think about settling down and starting a family, but perhaps I was missing
that ‘family’ gene that was prized in all omegas.

Ever since I was twelve, and tall enough to reach the captain’s log panels
in the control room, I’d wanted to stand behind the dashboard, looking out
into the deep expanse of sea and chart the underwater vessel’s course. I’d
yearned for it, trained for it, lusted after it—only content when Pa had
officially retired and handed me the reins.

This was the life that I’d always wanted. Just me, the omega crew, and
open seas.

What kind of life would that be for a child, stuck on this vessel? My
baby sister Sage looked lost here and she only visited for a month when
school was out of session.

No, I thought resolutely. This is enough. I am enough.

If I sometimes daydreamed of pups and a home on land with a mate at

my side, it was my heat brain talking. Nothing more.

Reaching out with a damp, shaky palm, I gathered a handful of anti-heat

herbs from a little container on the vanity. My logical brain insisted it was
too late to take these now, but my heart dictated I had to try.

I crushed the little brown petals between my fingers, grinding down on

them until the unpleasant earthy scent filled my nostrils, triggering my gag
reflex. There wasn’t time to infuse them into a tea, so I shoved them past
my lips, my taste buds recoiling at the bitterness.

A swig of water did nothing to quell the hit of herbs. I shut my eyes,
focusing on keeping the petals down as they scratched their way down my
throat.
 “Cap’n?” Gambit called out through the closed door.

I swallowed a groan, fingers slipping on the dampened fabric as I

quickly tugged a few clasps closed.

“Come in,” I rasped, hating how breathless I sounded.

Yet another sign of weakness.

Gambit’s large frame filled the doorway, the blue-tinted paleness of her
skin bouncing off the light in the large cabin. Gambit was a Native—her
ancestors had been indigenous to the Seventh Star well before my people
had settled here after fleeing the polluted mass of Earth. It had taken almost
a century for her people to come to an accord with us, and the current truce
was fragile at best.

But within the crew, Gambit held no inherited anger. She was a loyal
mate and helpful beyond what was asked of her, climbing the ranks quickly
when I’d taken over The Omega from my father’s command.

“Five minutes to surface,” she reported, crossing her arms over her chest,
sending a line of muscles rippling up her biceps.

I nodded, looking away, and ignoring the little voice in my head that was
objectifying my first mate. Gambit was the only non-omega on my vessel, a
special case since she didn’t exude pheromones like the rest of us did. Native
biology didn’t work like ours—she wasn’t a slave to heats or ruts. Oh, how I
envied her.

When my father had first started his smuggling crew almost thirty years
ago, it had been abundantly clear that placing Alphas and Omegas within
the same underwater vessel for weeks on end was not a good idea.

In those early days, Alphas had fought each other over the right to mate
an omega in heat, creating a tense and unstable work environment for
everyone. One of the Alphas had also taken it upon herself to challenge my
father on the grounds that an omega had no authority to run a vessel as big
as this.
 That’s when he’d put his foot down—The Omega would only house and
employ omegas. And it had been that way for the past three decades.

My gaze moved to the large window panel on the side of my cabin,

looking out to nothing but the darkness of sea, with an occasional creature
zipping by too quickly for my eyes to capture. The captain’s log above my
bunk blinked rapidly, indicating we were fifty feet below the surface and
rising quickly, about two miles from the shores of lower Nestia.

“You okay?” Gambit’s voice cut into my thoughts. “You’re a little red. Is
it that time of the year already?”

I sighed, sweeping the dusty remnants of the anti-heat herbs into a bin.
“Yes.”

“Ah, shit. That sucks.” Her pale gray eyes softened in a familiar way.
“We’ll make this a quick one, don’t worry.”

I cleared my throat. “’Preciate it.”

“We have fifty crates ready to go, drop-off site secure,” she said, her tone
now business-like as she inspected her datapad. “We’ve done a quality
assurance check on the goods, and this supplier from Star Two has
maintained their fulfilment rate for the last year. I’ve gone ahead and
upgraded their rating on our system, so we know that we can trust them for
future imports. I see you’ve also signed off on the latest shipment?”

I nodded, watching in the mirror as a large breath flicked curls out of my

eyes. “I checked the delivery myself. Everything is in order.”

“Great,” Gambit said, marking the preliminary checks as complete.

“Where’s Sage?” I questioned, only belatedly realizing I hadn’t seen my

recalcitrant baby sister in a couple of hours.

“Think she’s on her Touch,” my first mate replied, stepping out slightly
to peek around the blue steel corridor. “She ran past me a while ago with
Candace on her neck.”
 I rolled my eyes, swiping beads of sweat from my forehead. Children
were so typical—grant them a new piece of technology and that was all
they focused on for months on end.

“Fine,” I conceded, twisting my curls into a low knot at the base of my

neck to keep them away from my sensitized skin. “As long as she stays out
of the way and doesn’t cause any trouble. Is the crew ready?”

“As always.” Gambit nodded once, clearing the doorway.

After a moment’s hesitation, she glanced back at me. “I also sent a stern
note to Fink on the second-grade blasters he was pitching to the Network.
Told him exactly what you wanted me to say—we don’t deal with weaponry
and never will. He will not be starting a chain of disasters to make a quick
buck.”

“Good.” I acknowledged with a nod. “We make more than enough credit
by importing small tech devices. Weaponry is simply unnecessary. What did
the Network say?”

“The vote is split,” Gambit reported gravely.

“How can it be split?” I bit out, irritation evident in each word. “I

thought we were all aligned on the no-violence policy.”

Gambit glanced down at the blinking device on her wrist, tapping on it

quickly.

“Hey, I’m with you on this,” she soothed. “I’m on your side—one
hundred percent. But I think you’ll need to make a case with your
associates if you want to hold your ground. Credit makes people blind to
common sense. Hey, that’s a great tattoo idea!”

I rolled my eyes, appreciating her attempt at humor when several

negative emotions were simmering under my skin.

Gambit was right. Credit and common sense weren’t usually

companions, but I’d assumed the founding members of our smugglers’
Network had a good head on their shoulders. Sparks of frustration racked
my brain and I forced myself to take a breath and grip the vanity for
support.

It was just one more thing to deal with after my heat—drumming

common sense into people who should already know better.

I took one last look at myself in the viewer, watching determination

creep into the swirling brown and green of my irises.

“Let me talk to Sage first,” I told Gambit. “We can’t have her sneaking
onto land again when we’re not looking. She’s enough trouble as it is. Meet
you on deck?”

With a nod, Gambit walked away with her signature long strides, and I
turned in the opposite direction in search of my adventurous little sister.

Sage tended to hide away in nooks and crannies of the ship, falling into a
deep sleep and ignoring the searching calls of the crew. More than once, I’d
felt panic rise in my chest when she couldn’t be found in time for supper,
wondering what I’d say to my father if something ever happened to her under
my watch.

As I made my way down the steely gray-blue corridor, boots thudding

hard on the metal floors, I wondered again which one of us had been the
‘accident’. Pa had been just twenty when he’d had me—I’d seen pictures of
him extremely pregnant, struggling to get out of a chair in the control room.
The soft memory of my usually hard father made my lips twitch in a smile.

Then Sage had come along almost twenty-two years later when Pa had
met and married Keran, the owner of a tavern in an Islandi port. They’d
never declared their intention to have a child—Pa always claimed I was
more than a handful—but they had seemed ecstatic when they’d found out
Sage was on the way.

So perhaps I’d been the ‘accident’. After all, who wanted to be saddled
with a child before they’d even started living their life?
 The thought sent a shudder through my overheated body. “Sage?”

I called out. My voice echoed through the long hallway.

I paused for a moment, waiting for her response, but there wasn’t even
the slightest movement.

Instead, I tried another tactic. A whistle left my lips, sharp and high as I
yelled out: “Candace!”

Within seconds, I heard the scampering of little feet on metal, the shifting
sounds warming my heart. The little monkey appeared from around the
corner of the library, her uneven gait making her toddle side to side.

Her somber brown fur was enhanced by a shock of soft, baby pink that
started at her chin and ran down to the top of her belly. She was a beauty,
despite her uneven legs. Ever since I’d saved her from the chopping block
on an Islandi port several years ago, she’d been my constant companion,
sleeping at the edge of my bed at night and acting as a second pair of eyes
when I was on duty.

Her mouth was open in a pant as she toddled up to me on her hind legs.

“Up.”

In a swift leap, she landed on my left shoulder, settling herself against

the side of my head. I reached up to give her chin a little scratch. She
grabbed my hand, rubbing her soft cheek against my palm.

“Where is Sage?” I asked, and she gave a little chirp, tilting her head
towards the door to the library.

I let her cradle my fingers as we moved to the darkened room, my eyes

adjusting to the low light.
 Candace chirped again, pointing upwards.

Of course.

Of course my baby sister would be balancing precariously at the very top

of a tall bookcase, peeking out through the smallest sliver of a window at the
dark expanse of sea we were crossing.

“Jaid!”

When she spotted me, she gave a little wave and hurled her body over
the side of the bookcase, using the layers of the shelf like a ladder.

My heart leapt into my throat as I ran forward, holding my hands out in

case she slipped. I supposed I’d forgotten to factor her Alpha athleticism,

because she was on the ground before I could even reach her.

“Have you been up there before?” she asked, her hazel eyes, a mirror of
my own, large with wonder. “The sea creatures are passing us by like zhh
zhh zhh.”

She made a sound like buzzing solar power, trying to show me how fast
the fish were swimming. I wanted to correct her by saying it was our ship
that was moving quickly, not the sea creatures, but I didn’t want to dim the
wonder in her eyes. She was only eight; reality would find her soon enough.
In the meantime, her adventurous spirit warmed my heart.

Maybe ‘cause it reminds you of how you were as a kid. Before your
shoulders were burdened by your responsibilities.

A voice, sounding a lot like my father, rang in my head.

Well… I shrugged internally. Perhaps the voice was right.

“Sage, I need you to stay in the library with Candace, okay?” I

instructed.
 In response, the little girl’s nose scrunched up.

“You smell funny,” she commented, sniffing the air. “Did you take a
shower today?”

I wondered if she was deliberately disregarding my instructions.

“Hey, hey, pay attention.” I placed a hand on her shoulder, turning her
towards me. “This is important. What did I say?”

She sighed dramatically, shoulders rising and falling with her breath. Her
tone was resigned when she said: “Stay here with Candace.”

“Good.”

I let my fingers comb through her close-cropped black curls in a soothing

gesture, rewarding her obedience with little scratches to her scalp.

“But I want to do grown up stuff,” she pouted, glancing up at me with

wide, hopeful eyes. “I don’t understand why you won’t let me do grown up
stuff with you guys.”

I sighed, conceding. “When I get back, I’ll let you navigate with me, all
right? Is that grown up enough for you?”

Her eyes lit up in a matter of seconds. “Will you let me press all the
buttons?”

I couldn’t help the smile that tilted my lips, despite the discomfort of my
heat-drenched skin.

“Not all, but some. You can be the captain for the rest of the night.”

“I always wanted to be captain!” she squealed, rushing forward to give

me a tight hug. The top of her head slammed into the center of my over-
sensitive breasts and a hot burst of pain shot up my chest.

But I didn’t pull away. I simply grit my teeth and hugged her back,
leaning forward to place a kiss on the crown of her head.
 “Stay here, all right?” I cautioned, ruffling her hair.

She nodded quickly, reaching up to my shoulder so that Candace could

scamper down her arm.

The announcement system clicked on.

Gambit’s voice.

“Surface.”

I pressed a quick kiss to her forehead. “Gotta go, munchkin. Be good.” My

skin prickled with Goosebumps as I walked through the ship, falling

In step with the crew as the vessel jerked to the surface of the shallow water

Near lower Nestia mountains. My belly quivered with a shadow of a heat

Cramp, and I bit my lip, braced for something more.

But just as quickly as it began, it faded away, leaving me almost

Breathless with worry.

I nodded to Gambit as she released the hatch, letting fresh air swoop into

The ship. I filled my lungs with the salty breeze, letting it flow through me
Like a tincture.

Just a quick supply drop, I reminded myself with a quivering breath. It’ll

Be over in no time.