Page 41 of Generation Omega: Revealed
Without thought, I kneel on the hard pavement beside him, not daring to touch him again. “Tell me again that you would do anything, giveanythingandeverything—that you gladly accept any fate to survive for her.”
He nods, murmuring, “Yes… anything.”
I can’t believe I’m doing it, even as I lift his burned hand to my mouth and bite down, my teeth breaking through his undamaged flesh in the meaty part between his wrist and his little finger.
His body flinches, and actual fear—an unfamiliar feeling—surfaces inside me. Maybe I’m too late. Maybe I’m not alpha enough to save him, given I haven’t even touched my omega, just smelled her intoxicating fragrance and tasted it on my lips.
I lift his upper body and hold him against me, mocked by my need to not let a warrior die on this shameful ground, punished for his courage and steadfastness in the face of certain death. Each second I remain, escape routes close. The omega’s continued freedom is reason enough for my father’s vengeance, but this…me, an alpha in the family—this taint on our bloodline will earn me all the cruelty I’ve ever administered and likely deserve.
I should have killed him and I should leave him. But I do neither. I wait… and dammit, Ihope.
Squealing tires… they’re nearing.
Voices shout over each other in my earpiece. They found the men inside the building. Am I daring them to come for me, to seize me and eventually murder me, just to escape this alpha curse?
Boots on the concrete at the far end of the alley… our time has almost expired.
It hits me that this man won’t die alone regardless of what becomes of me after he’s freed from this painful existence.
Hope is clearly toxic, given the implosion it’s causing inside me. But the truth makes itself known. The implosion isn’t my hope dying. It’s the walls within me crumbling to make room for a new awareness.
His thoughts.
His memories.
Her.
He’s alive, though he’s unconscious now.
More profoundly, he’smine—that’s what sings in my mind and heart, even my wispy wraith of a soul.Mine.
Only a second later, I’m gripped by a brand of terror I’ve only ever inflicted, never felt. For every window, wall, and door that’s disintegrating as our bond forces him to surrender all he is to me, I’m struck by a shock wave, pressuring me to abandon the fortress that conceals who I am from him.
Not a fucking chance am I going to give him unrestricted access into my world. I’m the alpha and I will control our connection, regardless of the enormous effort required to do exactly that. My last peaceful night was whenever I slept last, because I can’t lower my guard at all. He’s inside me, just as I’m inside him, and questions still need answering even though I’ve just done the most irreparable thing any alpha can do.
A visceral consequence of my rash decision quickly presents itself. To save him from the poison fatal to betas, I made him the bonded mate of an alpha. Perfectly sound thinking, except a drug is still a drug. This one incapacitates alphas and omegas, and I absorbed some directly from him. My vision wavers and my limbs are on their way to being as useful as bricks.
I scramble to my feet, leaning to lift him, my alpha arms now built to carry the man who’s almost as tall and broad as I am. He’s solid. He’s strong. He’ll live.
I’ll make sure he lives.
But I will never let him know the disappointment of discovering what’s inside the alpha who claimed him. A hollow void with nothing of value… he can’t ever know.
My father’s voice is in my ear. He’s near and I finally know the truest meaning of fear.
For the first time in my life, I have something to lose.
CHAPTER21
THATCHER
“Who is she?” I ask again, still incredulous that the question even needs to be asked. She’s an omega—myomega—and I have no idea who she is, what she looks like, whether she’s safe. All I know is that she’s alive.
“Thatcher,” Sage snaps, “stop asking that question and tell me what you feel.”
What I feel? She doesn’t want to know what I feel. It’s a swirling vortex of repressed sexual urges, possessiveness, rage, and the desire to destroy everything between me and my omega. All of that is mixed with a disconcerting sense that I’m dressed for war but can’t remember the directions to the battlefield. The longer I’m away from my omega, the more rudderless I’m becoming, the more I question whether any of this is real.
Thankfully, Sage remains focused on the dozen monitors displaying images from inside the venue, particularly the auditorium. She’s seeking any clues that will help us narrow the field of potential omega candidates in this sick game ofFind My Omega Before Our Enemies Kill Her.
