Obsession forbidden alph.., p.1
Obsession: Forbidden Alphas, page 1
OBSESSION
Forbidden Alphas Book 2
LILIANA CARLISLE
Copyright © 2023 by Liliana Carlisle
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Cover by Dazed Designs
Edited by Courtney Countryman
Created with Vellum
CONTENTS
Author’s Note
Prologue
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
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Epilogue
Want a Free Read?
Sneak Peek of Alpha Inmate
About the Author
Also by Liliana Carlisle
AUTHOR’S NOTE
This book contains adult content not suitable for young readers. It contains mentions of physical and emotional abuse, not done by the hero. There is also a mention of self harm.
PROLOGUE
AUDREY
“You’re quitting.”
Don’t freak out. Stay strong and calm.
“Yes,” Audrey replies coolly, watching as Tabitha reviews her letter of resignation. Audrey stands awkwardly in front of her boss, her heart pounding rapidly as Tabitha regards the paper on her desk. With a sigh, she looks up at Audrey, her eyes narrowed.
“You shouldn’t do this, Audrey. Everything will die down soon. Is that what you’re worried about? That any of this will fall back on you?”
“Of course not,” Audrey replies. “I just don’t feel comfortable here anymore. For personal reasons.”
She hopes Tabitha doesn’t notice her nervous swallow.
Audrey doesn’t want to quit. She has dedicated the last three years of her life to working in the lab as a research assistant, taking notes and comparing data of Alphas and Omegas. It fascinates her.
In six months, applications for graduate schools open, and Audrey’s resignation all but ruins her plans for the future.
“Personal reasons,” Tabitha repeats, shaking her head and scoffing. Even seated, the older Beta woman’s presence is commanding, and it’s difficult to not apologize for wasting her boss’s time. Audrey digs her nails into her palms, forcing herself to remain as professional as possible.
She’s doing the right thing. She is.
“You realize that by ceasing your employment with us, you lose any recommendation the company might have offered,” Tabitha continues, drumming her manicured fingers on her desk and gazing up at Audrey, unamused. “I would advise you to rethink this before your morals impede your future.”
Audrey unclenches her hands. “They took a child, Tabitha. I don’t want to be a part of this anymore. Even if the kid was showing signs of presenting as an Alpha, how they handled it was not right.”
“No, Audrey,” Tabitha says softly. “We took a child. You are a part of this, too. How eager were you to jump at the chance to work on this special project? A child presenting? It was unheard of, and you all but begged me to let you be a part of the research.”
Tabitha has a habit of twisting words and making her target second-guess themselves. She’s brilliant, one of the top Beta scientists in the United States, and it’s always both stressful and exhilarating to work under her.
“You’re making a mistake,” Tabitha continues, standing up and circling Audrey. Tabitha is almost a foot taller than her, and the added inches force Audrey to crane her neck upward. “You want to throw away all you’ve done for a child that’s in perfectly safe hands? It’s research. It’s science, and we need to do this. For humanity.”
It sounds too much like a villain's speech out of a superhero movie. Even if Tabitha’s right…
“I’m sorry, Tabitha,” Audrey whispers, even though she promised herself she wouldn’t apologize. “I don’t belong here anymore.”
The grey-haired woman holds her gaze for an uncomfortable amount of time, but Audrey refuses to look away. She stares into the older woman’s eyes; deep blue, surrounded by lines of age and hard work.
Tabitha is brilliant. At one time, she was Audrey’s hero.
But the guilt that festers in Audrey’s soul after hearing the pleas of a mother begging for her child has torn through her dream of following in her mentor’s footsteps.
“Fine,” Tabitha sighs, shaking her head. “I can’t stop you from leaving or becoming a victim to your own idiotic decisions. You’re an adult.”
Audrey sucks in a breath. The barb stings, especially coming from Tabitha, but she holds on to her resolve.
I’m doing the right thing. I can’t be a part of this anymore.
Tabitha walks back to her desk and pulls open a drawer. “You need to sign this before you leave, though. Sit.”
“I’d prefer to stand.”
Tabitha raises a thin eyebrow and meets Audrey’s gaze. “Fine,” she barks. “This is a non-disclosure agreement.” She slaps a piece of paper and pen down on the desk and pushes them towards Audrey. “If you share any information from your time here, you will be subject to a lawsuit.”
Audrey glances down at the paper and skims it quickly.
She never wants to talk about this place again. She wants to put the past behind her and start somewhere new and not dwell on the last few years.
Even if she can’t use her time spent here as a reference, she’ll figure it out.
She always does.
She scribbles her name at the bottom of the paper and pushes it towards Tabitha.
“It’s a shame to lose you,” Tabitha adds as she meets Audrey’s gaze. “You were my best assistant.”
Audrey nods. “I know.” There’s no arrogance behind her agreement, it’s simply the truth—she put in more hours than anyone else at the lab and was behind more studies than any of her peers.
She was the best assistant. Her work was her life, and now she’s signing it away.
Internally, she’s terrified out of her mind, but she keeps herself as level-headed as possible while dealing with Tabitha.
She doesn’t want the older Beta woman to extort her weakness and try to get her to stay even after she signed the NDA.
“I’ll need your keycard as well,” Tabitha adds. “Now, please.”
The lie falls from Audrey’s lips before she can stop it.
“I forgot it at home,” she mutters.
She’s never left her card at home. Ever. It’s sitting in the small black purse that’s slung over her shoulder, but Tabitha doesn’t know that.
The older woman scoffs and rolls her eyes. “Fine. I’ll have to have security deactivate it, then.”
Audrey nods. “Is there anything else you need from me?” The strength is back in her voice, fueled by the white lie she’s told.
Tabitha doesn’t know everything. Tabitha isn’t always right.
“No, there’s nothing I need from you. Have a nice life, Audrey. It’s a shame it had to end this way.”
Audrey keeps her back straight and her head held high as she walks out of the office.
It isn’t until she enters her car that her careful mask cracks and a tear slides down her cheek.
School, then work, has always been her top priority. Without productivity or goals, she becomes restless.
Which is why she can’t stay unemployed for long.
It’s the first time she’s done something so…emotion-based, instead of logic-based. She didn’t even make a pros and cons list before she quit.
She simply typed up her resignation after a week of being plagued by nightmares.
Alphas present after they turn eighteen. And, as rare and powerful as they are, they’re then placed in the special Alpha military branch.
She doesn’t envy them. From what she’s seen and heard, it’s nothing but years of discipline and training.
When a boy named Connor showed signs of presenting at such a young age, Audrey was horrified.
Tabitha didn’t consider it a tragedy, despite Connor’s mother’s emails and pleas to anyone who would listen.
People in Audrey’s field were excited.
According to the reports, they ripped Connor away from his mother in the middle of the night.
And Tabitha rejoiced at the thought of the new research opportunities.
It made Audrey sick.
Things used to make sense to Audrey, back when it was a given that Alphas and Omegas presented after they reached adulthood.
Omegas stay in Lincoln City, close to the Alpha military base, where their scent is used to keep the Alphas in line. Other cities across the United States do the same.
Does she like it, necessarily? No.< br />
Did she question it before now?
No. She had heard little complaining from the Omegas, either. They receive a generous stipend from the government so they’re more than comfortable, all in exchange for their scent.
But now that a child has presented…
The system could collapse.
It’s been two weeks since she quit, and she struggles through job applications. She frowns as she submits each one, her pessimism crushing her in waves.
She needs a purpose. Soon.
Maybe, if she hadn’t dedicated her entire social life to the lab, she would have more friends.
“Meow.”
A black void of a cat jumps up on her desk, purring as loud as an engine.
Audrey has Pearl, at least. She’s not entirely alone.
She had thought Tabitha was her friend, or at least a mentor that she could go to for problems in her personal life.
It turns out that was a façade.
Pearl digs a claw into Audrey’s hand, immediately grounding Audrey in the present with the burn of her razor-sharp claws.
“I know, I know,” she murmurs to the feline, who obnoxiously thumps her tail on the desk. “I’ll figure it out.”
The interviews are pointless. She stutters through her reasons for leaving the laboratory, and none of them sound convincing.
By the end of the third week, she becomes restless and finds herself pacing around the house. She can only talk to Pearl for so long before the cat eventually tires of the one-sided conversation.
Her sister’s words repeat in her head.
“You should make more friends, Audrey.”
“Your whole life shouldn’t revolve around work.”
“You don’t always have to be the smartest person in the room.”
She doesn’t want to have the conversation with her older sister about why she left the best job she’s ever had just yet.
Her doorbell rings on Friday afternoon and she frowns.
She’s not expecting company and she didn’t order a package.
But there’s an annoyed huff behind her front door, followed by another round of panicked knocking.
“Audrey! It’s me!”
At the sound of her sister’s voice, Audrey startles.
Mindy never makes unexpected visits. She always calls first.
When Audrey opens the front door, she meets her sister’s pained expression.
“Have you turned on the news?” Mindy demands, without so much as her usual overenthusiastic greeting.
Audrey shakes her head, confused.
“Shit,” Mindy hisses, walking through the door before Audrey can even invite her in. “Turn it on. Now.”
Audrey powers on the television and reads the news headline twice before she can process it.
“Oh, my God.”
CHAPTER 1
AUDREY
Compartmentalize. Don’t panic.
“Why didn’t you tell me you quit?” Mindy demands, pacing around Audrey’s kitchen. The television in the front room has stayed on, and the scrolling headlines at the bottom of the screen make Audrey’s stomach churn.
Lincoln City evacuated!
Omegas to remain indoors with a trusted family member.
Report any Alpha sightings!
A video clip of a masked Alpha plays over and over, the one considered to be the orchestrator of the chaos.
Abel.
She skims her brain for any recognition, any time where that name would have rung a bell, but there’s nothing.
Of course, she never really bothered to learn the Alphas’ names while studying their files at the lab.
Tabitha said it didn’t matter.
“Audrey! Hey!” Mindy grabs her shoulders gently, turning her around so they’re face to face. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Distrust bubbles in Audrey’s stomach, but now is not the time for that fight. She bites back any retort that would make the stressful situation worse and replies as honestly as she can.
“I didn’t like what they were doing, Mindy. It went too far, and I couldn’t be a part of it anymore.”
Compartmentalize. Shove those emotions into a box for now. Revisit them later.
But her older sister, abrasive and intrusive as ever, doesn’t let up. “You should have called me. You shouldn’t make decisions like that so quickly! What about graduate school?”
Audrey sees her mother’s soft features in Mindy, and perhaps it’s why she never bothers to argue with her. Mindy means well and she loves Audrey fiercely, but if Mindy doesn’t agree with something Audrey’s done, she’ll never let it go.
Before Audrey can try to defend herself, realization dawns on Mindy’s face.
“It was because of the kid, wasn’t it?” she asks quietly, and Audrey looks away, unable to meet her gaze anymore. “It’s what that Alpha was saying in his speech. Is it true? Was a child showing signs of presenting?”
Audrey sighs and nods, then turns away from her sister and flops down on the couch. “Yes,” she whispers.
Mindy curses under her breath and joins Audrey on the other end of the couch. “Oh my God,” she mutters. “I’m so sorry, Audrey.”
Audrey scoffs and rubs at her eyes, which are sore from staring at the television. “Don’t be sorry for me. Be sorry for the child’s family.” She gestures towards the television as they replay the video of Abel. “Whatever he’s saying…at least about this, he’s not wrong. I don’t know about the other claims, though.” She turns to look at Mindy. “I thought I was doing the right thing when I was working with Tabitha.”
Mindy nods and gives her a sympathetic look. “I know. You’re a Beta. You couldn’t have known everything that was going on.”
Guilt gnaws at Audrey’s gut, like a sharp splinter that won’t go away.
I should have known, she thinks. I should have questioned more.
“Everything will be okay,” Mindy adds, gently patting Audrey on the knee. “It can’t get any worse.”
It does, in fact, get much worse.
An anonymous source leaks confidential documents online with information that chills her to her core.
She can’t sleep, so she scrolls through each page she finds on the darkest corners of the internet.
Every word makes her want to curl into a ball and die.
Alphas aren’t dangerous—at least, at one time, they weren’t.
The natural connection they have with Omegas should be cherished and respected, not controlled and weaponized.
Alphas and Omegas can integrate easily into society.
Her mind is at war with itself as she clutches her knees to her chest, tears silently rolling down her cheeks as she reads more about her part in this mess.
But Tabitha would have said something was wrong, wouldn’t she? If this information is correct, why didn’t Audrey have access to it?
Why didn’t I think for myself?
Why did I just accept that what we were doing was normal?
Audrey hopes Mindy doesn’t hear her dry heaving in her bathroom from the nausea churning in her gut.
She played a part in this. She played a part in deceiving the country.
The television stays on, with news anchors on every channel arguing about different viewpoints.
But the immediate issue is the escaped Alphas. Technically, as members of the special military, they’re still required to ‘report for duty.’
They’re all missing.
Breaking news: Canada offers asylum to any American Alphas
“Oh, God,” she groans. She has a killer headache from the stress, and the news grows worse every minute.
She doomscrolls through her phone, spiraling silently on her bathroom floor while her sister sleeps in the guestroom.
