Page 1 of Generation Omega: Revealed
CHAPTER1
TILLIE
“Into every generation anOMEGAREVEALS!” shouts the DJ, the thumping beats driving through me, encouraging my body to move with the kind of abandon usually reserved for solo dance fests in my dorm room. But there’s no reason to hide here, not in this lovely darkness only broken by the flashing of the strobe lights, a few well-placed disco balls, and all the glowing accessories worn by everyone, including me. Mine is a fluorescent, flowered tiara that shimmers brightly enough to illuminate the face I love most in this world.
When the dazzling lights catch Ethan’s blue eyes, I see something in his gaze that stops my heart. He’s not looking at me like I’m his lifelong bestie. The way his hands move on my hips isn’t familiar, though his closeness is. His fingers dig in as though ensuring I know exactly where I belong. Am I accurately reading the signals or have I wished for this so many times that I’m now hallucinating it? Thisisa rave, but I didn’t knowingly take anything to intensify the experience, as if it could be more intense than this.
Is it possible he’s finally ready? That he sees what we can be, what we should be? For me, there’s been a love hurricane trapped behind a bolted door for years, but for Ethan, something always held him back. Even without a solid answer, my body reacts to the confidence in his touch, tingling all over, wanting and needing more. But I’m afraid to hope, afraid that I’m wrong or that someone dosed him with something and all of this is a gift I won’t be allowed to keep.
But what if we have officially left the friend zone? That possibility detonates a fireworks show of years of unrequited longing and detailed sensual and sexual fantasies. My fiery blushing has nothing to do with the temperature in this ballroom, and his smile is smug. Does that mean something? Does he know my thoughts? Am I that transparent? Am I losing my grip on reality? And if so, do I want to abandon reality forever?
Breathe, Tillie… don’t overthink this, just let it happen if it’s meant to happen—that’s what the sensible part of my brain says, but my thoughts are feral kittens climbing the curtains, claws puncturing fabric, unwilling to surrender no matter how many times they slip.
I gasp when I feel Ethan’s lips on my neck, lightly kissing the hollow above my collarbone. In a husky tone I’ve never heard from him, he commands, “Don’t think, Till, just feel. Just be here with me. Trust me. I won’t let you fall.”
Shock meets inconvenient tears in the middle of the dance floor. Just feel, he said, but does he have any idea how much I feel for him? As if in answer, he pulls me closer and moves with me, our bodies finding their natural rhythm, owned by the same reverberating beat that slams us all. The longer we dance, the more we move with the familiarity of lovers. It doesn’t take long to realize that this connection is more authentic than life in the friend zone ever was.
I spin, my back now against his broad chest as I rub against him, my hands grazing along his muscular thighs concealed beneath jeans. While I’m busy discovering the architecture of muscles I want to grope, his fingers steal under the hem of my tank top and eliminate any doubt that I’m just imagining our sudden departure from the lust-forbidden land of friendship.
His deep, rough voice is at my ear. “I love you. I’ve always loved you. Sorry it took me so long to work through everything.” He groans. “Touching you… god, you feel so good.”
I’m instantly breathless, but then I’m in his arms, our faces inches apart, the spark in his eyes so true that I feel silly for doubting him.
“I love you, too.” Wow, that was the longest runway ever to land the easiest sentence I’ve ever spoken. Of course, he couldn’t hear me, not with the DJ demanding to know if we truly believe an omega will finally reveal and change our world forever.
The crowd’s collective response is impressive, the crescendo of the dancing mob colliding with an epic bass drop. The motion all around us becomes a tidal wave that envelops us instead of sweeping us out to sea. This frenzied group leaves no one behind—all believers are welcome.
A sweet, floral scent washes through the ballroom, inspiring more cheers from the grateful crowd who can now easily imagine they are omegas perfuming, thriving, gladly handing over control of their bodies to biology and destiny. Under normal circumstances, I would be just as giddy as they are, but I’m lost in Ethan’s intoxicating gaze. We’re here with all the other dreamers at the largest omegaverse convention in the world, but we’re also suddenly existing together in an undiscovered land as miraculous as the idea that omega myths are real.
“Till…” The strobe lights capture Ethan’s beautiful face, frantically flashing, creating an even more predatory aspect to the way he draws even closer. In the space between a breath, he pulls me to him and our lips meet in a thundering storm of rightness and passion.
The DJ calls to the crowd, but I can’t hear anything over the reckless hammering of my heart, its unsteady beats a warning. It’s too much. Too much love. Too much hope. Too much perfection to possibly contain.
You don’t realize you’ve been trapped in the desert until you’re guzzling from a fresh spring, drowning yourself to finally get enough of what you’ve been denied. That’s how I kiss him and it’s exactly how he kisses me. But more than that, the way his touch ignites every cell in my body makes me wonder how it’s possible that we’ve never kissed or been together. It makes no sense, but then, it never made any sense to me. We belong together and every hint of contact only proves that beyond doubt.
Locked together, we sway, a slow dance in the midst of a rowdy riot of movement from the hundreds who will never know their part in this unforgettable first in our lives. His burly arms surround me, one hand resting on the back of my neck, providing support that feels both profound and simple. He stops time so effortlessly, stealing it for me, for us. He thinks I saved him after what happened to his father, but I know the truth and I cling to him even more fiercely because no matter how strong a man is, life is forever fragile.
The volume of the music abruptly drops and the DJ’s sonorous voice seizes control. “Are you ready to declare the truth?!”
The crowd erupts and follows the DJ’s lead as he chants the ancient omega prophecy. Still in Ethan’s arms, I mouth the words I memorized as a tiny girl with enormous dreams. What surprises me and brings tears to my eyes is the rumble of Ethan’s chest as he too speaks the same words, not because he believes them or has ever shared my obsession with the omegaverse, but because he loves me. He listens to me. He’s never once mocked me for anything that meant something to me. And this—all of it—means everything to me.
I’ve heard from just about everyone how ridiculous it is to believe that omegas ever existed or revealed. That alphas were called to their omega. That one omega, bonded to a pack, could change the world for the better. People are always at their most spiteful when ridiculing someone else’s hope. They want to believe that this world we live in is all there is or could ever be. Even drinking a daily dose of misery, they can’t imagine any other life. But everyone in this ballroom, in this convention space, can imagine a different life for all of us, and we’ll never surrender it, no matter how long we have to wait.
Every generation is promised an omega. Every omega is promised alphas who will claim, bond, and support their omega in all things. Every alpha is promised strength and connection like no other, a purpose like no other. And every soul in every realm is promised a better life and a better world to leave their children.
That’s the prophecy. That’s what we believe. The pint-size version of my little girl self needed to believe in this promised future. With each passing year, I’ve wondered whether growing up would smother my childhood dreams, but it’s never happened. I need this belief as much today as I ever did. I need to believe that there’s a point and purpose to all of this and that there’s hope for a better life for everyone.
Even protected from reality in Ethan’s arms, I can still feel the people hurting outside the doors of this venue. People hurt everywhere and none of them deserve it. And since no one in power is interested in fixing all that’s broken in our society, where’s the harm in thinking that an omega will reveal and inspire the change we need?
The doubters aren’t wrong about one thing. No omega has revealed in hundreds of years, if ever. Rumors and legends are all we have, but for us, that’s enough.
As the DJ announces the final song of the night, Ethan cradles my face in his huge hands. “You are so fucking beautiful.”
“So are you.”
His blue eyes sparkle and need surges inside me for all that will happen at our own private after-party.
His fingers move behind my neck, the pressure in his hold perfect. “Are you ready?”
