Page 89 of Generation Omega: Revealed
“Talk to me,” Gideon barks.
“We’re moving north now,” I state, and I’ll never admit that the actor’s bark worked on me. “It’s easing a bit. Is she feeling it, a small improvement?”
“She’s out of her mind— trembling and unresponsive. I would rush her to an emergency room if I could, but I can’t, can I?”
“No, and they can’t help her. Only you can.”
“How?”
“The professor is there, isn’t he?” Ethan asks. “What did he say?”
“I don’t trust him. He’s got an agenda here and so does Sage. I don’t know who owns this property, but I don’t like the company we’re keeping. More than that, Tillie doesn’t trust them. They are loyal to the omega legacy, not to Tillie. I don’t give a damn about the legacy. I care about her. Ethan, tell me how to help her—you’re the only one she trusts.”
I set my hand on Ethan’s leg, and our bond delivers a surge of strength. He needs it. He’s drowning in regret every bit as painful as what I’m enduring.
“She trusts me, and I betrayed her. I listened to the instincts and tried to make room for her to rely on you. It was too much. I shouldn’t have done it, but I brought up herparents.” Ethan speaks that word with unconcealed horror. “Gideon, you need to understand that Tillie lives her life on a dangerous edge. I always had to be careful or she would vanish—not harm herself necessarily, just fade into the background of her life. That’s what she’s doing. She’s trying to disappear, because only through disappearing does she feel like she has any control.”
Ethan’s memories crowd my mind, the few times he attempted to ask about her family, before realizing the only way she could function was to pretend they didn’t exist.
“I hear you. Tell me how to help her.”
The answer is obvious, but Ethan needs to be the one to say it.
A second later, he does. “You need to bite her, bond her, make her yours.”
“What?! Without her consent?”
“Gideon,” I snarl, “consent is a thing of the past. We’re all trapped in this primal nightmare now, and you need to be her alpha, not her bestie, her boyfriend, or even her favorite actor. Youareher alpha.Beher alpha. She can’t escape this, and waiting around for her to work that out will get her killed. Trust me. She’s not the first to struggle with acceptance.”
What I don’t share is that I’ve never heard of any omega fighting back like this, braving the legacy’s punishment rather than submitting. She’s feisty, and then I remember Ethan showing me what she did to those bullies. The omegaverse is just another bully to her, and this girl doesn’t back down until her enemies bleed.
“This is madness.” Gideon’s shock and revulsion will fade once he sinks his teeth into her and sets his inner alpha free. But he’s not there yet—he’s still trying to be the upstanding man he was, not the alpha he needs to be.
Experiencing the legacy’s flaws is cruelly ironic. I’ve exploited them all. Now, I get to live them. But my pain diminished because I surrendered to what the legacy wants. What’s happening to the little princess isn’t just about her proximity from me or denying the bond between us. No, she’s not rejectingourbond, however distasteful it is to her—she’s rejecting the omegaverse’s hold on her. She’s battling the source of everything I hate about the legacy. I can’t even begin to process what to feel about her reckless courage and commitment to the impossible.
“No, it’s not madness, but I get that it seems that way right now.” Ethan’s tone is surprisingly encouraging. “There’s a purpose to this,allof it—even what I did when I talked to her. I’m meant to be with her, but if I’m too close, she won’t accept her place with the rest of you. That’s why things went this way, with Kazimir and me. You’re all stuck with me forever, but that doesn’t mean Tillie and I will be who we were before this. We can never go back there.”
That admission weighs heavily on him. “You need to do what’s right for Tillie. If you wait for her to surrender, to abandon the future she thought we’d have, then we’ll all die. She doesn’t cave when something is important—not ever. To save her, you need to claim her, but only if that’s what your instincts are telling you. Are they?”
Gideon clears his throat. “I’ve been considering a muzzle since she was on the phone with you. My jaws ache from the need to make her mine, but it feels feral. It feels wrong.”
Ethan glances at me just briefly, the tenderness in his eyes so startling I can’t breathe again. “The bond is beautiful. It’s not what you think or what she fears. We aren’t losing ourselves. We’re evolving into the people we can become when we’re no longer alone, no longer hollow. The walls come down and we no longer need to hide. The support is… extraordinary.”
I mean that.That’s the message Ethan sends to me, before he continues. “You’re going to have to force her—just you though. If this becomes a mob of bonds, she’ll lose it and end those connections with a knife. But just remember, she’s always been alone. This will be the most profound change of her life, and it’s going to be explosive.”
Gideon’s hesitation is admirable—the man is in control of himself. “Do you truly believe I can remove her pain, or at least get her back? She’s not even conscious right now.”
“I know it. When Kaz touches the bondmark, I can’t even feel the bullet wounds. It’s real. Do it now. Be the hero you’re meant to be.” His forehead knots as he glares at the road. “One thing—I think because I’m a beta, I can’t hear inside Kazimir. It would really be helpful if you could open up to Tillie as much as she’ll be forced to open to you. You can prove yourself to her in a way she can believe, because you won’t be able to lie.”
“I’ve got it, Ethan. I’ll take care of her. Just get here as soon as you can. She needs you…both.”
“We’ll be there, but it’s going to take some time. I’ve got an idea, and the instincts approve of this one.” Dammit, I’m listening to theinstincts. Next, I’ll be buying fluffy pillows and checking to see whether I have a knot.
“See you soon.”
I end the call and witness both externally and internally exactly what that conversation cost Ethan. I reach and claim his hand, pulling at the gauze and licking the bite. The van swerves and I lessen the intensity of my efforts, while Ethan chuckles and focuses on the road ahead of us.
“Where are we going?”
