Page 11 of Generation Omega: Claimed
I inwardly reach for Ethan, searching for his fear, but awe is all that returns to me. Pushing for more, I see Gideon through Ethan’s eyes. He doesn’t see the predator I do—he sees a protector, a battler who won’t ever surrender. In Gideon, Ethan finds his leader, the feral beast that will tear apart all enemies to this pack, while giving everything he has to ensure its welfare. Though trapped just like I am, Ethan sends me his confidence, pleading with me not to fight for freedom that will be read as distrust or even a threat to the first alpha.
I’m not breathing as Gideon stalks toward Ethan, his bearing ferocious as he stands over my kneeling beta. Gideon doesn’t address his omega at all, and she’s wide-eyed and uncertain. Instead, Gideon menacingly leans closer to Ethan, his mouth at Ethan’s neck.
I manage to grasp the knife in my pocket. I don’t have a full range of motion, but I have enough to slow that monster down if he intends to bite what’s mine. If he harms…
Gideon sniffs at Ethan’s neck and purrs at finding his omega’s scent. It doesn’t break us free from his hold, but it brings a smile to Ethan’s face.
Gideon slowly, carefully extends his hands and rests his palms on Ethan’s face. “Pack,” he declares, sounding like a man who knows only one word and has never spoken it before now.
When Gideon stands straight, Ethan nods, as though a message was conveyed between them, and then crawls to the edge of the mattress. He moves toward me and then behind me, leaning against me, his arms around my waist.
I’m safe, Kaz. You saved us all. I’m pack now.Ethan’s trembling, but it’s still not fear. It’s relief. It’s hope. And it’s excitement to see what our first alpha does next.
With Ethan behind me, his warm body against me, I can release the terror of not being able to protect what matters most,of losing what I now live for. My purr answers him as we watch the first alpha aim his attention at his omega.
Gideon’s arms are crossed, his body as rigid as a corpse, his power heavy in the nest. He glares down at the omega where she kneels on the bed, staring up at him like she has everything to fear.
I don’t like it—seeing her like this, tasting her discomfort in the air, the sweetness of her perfume turning bitter. If I could move between them, I would, and I’m not alone. The professor and the politician’s delinquent spawn struggle against Gideon’s hold, just like I do.
It’s okay. Trust him. If the legacy were worried, it would tell us what to do.Ethan’s true-believer sensibilities clash with my innate distrust and inescapable cynicism.
Is Ethan right? Would you tell me if I need to fight for her? I forcefully push that message to the legacy, feeling utterly entitled to a damn answer given I’ve completely caved and actually care about the tiny minx. If I don’t get an answer, I’m throwing my knife at the massive bullseye that is Gideon’s back in three, two…
A test… the results are uncertain. If he harms her, this is over before it begins, but the challenge must be resolved.Immortal legacies are sometimes annoyingly unspecific.
Gideon’s purr-growl bursts again, aimed at Tillie who blanches under his stare but doesn’t move. Maybe she can’t, but given her sudden quivering, I think it’s nervousness holding her in place, rather than Gideon’s unspoken command. He wants something from her, and the way her eyes spark—a skirmish between cloud cover and fits of sky blue—she understands his order but won’t submit.
That’s what this is about—submission, domination, trust.She needs to be dominated.I said that to Ethan and expected a show. What I didn’t expect was… oh, the horror…it’scompassionthat’s infected me. I should be enjoying this moment when the omega gets put in her place. Only here will it happen, only during the heat, when the most primal bonds form, but I’m not enjoying this at all.
Gideon’s rumbling increases. He’s measuring the force needed to compel the omega’s submission, but her chin raises in challenge and something in her gaze darkens. It’s not ego though or sass. Something else is here in this nest with us, a power that isn’t about us, though it is about her.
Gideon adds more pressure, and my lungs are squeezed. In response, Ethan leans harder into me, knowing he is my solace.
Then it hits, the return of that keening cry. The omega dashes toward the kilted alpha, whose ready arms surround her as she sobs again. He doesn’t say a word, but he holds her like he understands, his thick, corded arms an impenetrable wall around the petite omega.
Gideon should grab her away from that alpha, force her to submit to him, but he silently waits as he watches them together. Her sobs rack out, and the kilted bulldozer’s hold on her remains steady. He allows her to cry, while rubbing his scruffy chin softly over her hair. Long minutes pass with none of us moving, until finally, it’s the kilted ginger who breaks the stalemate.
He stands with her in his arms and carries her to the middle of the nest. There, he places her on her knees while she gazes up at him, betrayal shining in her bloodshot eyes. In answer, he leans down and runs his finger over the bondmark on her shoulder, courtesy of the first alpha. Then he moves toward the door, before stopping with his back to her and remaining there. He’s not gone, but he’s not coddling her either.
The omega’s face is wet with tears as she stares at the kilted alpha’s back—her disbelief, loss, that black-hole grief worn openly and excruciatingly.
Gideon rips through the silence with a raging snarl that makes the omega flinch. Then he utters the most commanding, murmuring growl yet. She’s moving a second later, clearly under his control now. She bows her head to him and turns, moving onto her hands and knees before lowering her chest and forehead onto the bed. Her legs are spread, her neck exposed, as shepresentsfor her alpha.
He delivers a bark that sends an electric current through her. Her whines respond, with desperation-tinged whimpers following. A bright flush covers her body, and just like that, the first alpha forced her heat to begin in earnest.
I’m rattled by the new tenor of her cries, more than I was by her wailing when the final alphas arrived. I know this sound—no one who’s heard it could ever forget. It haunted me before this terrible bout of sympathy struck, but back then, the unfulfilled needs of an omega meant a job well done. Now, it’s different. Her cries call directly to me, begging me to be what she needs, to ease the ache inside her, to form a bond that will protect her… to give her a child of mine to fulfill her destiny.
Without Gideon’s hold on me and Ethan’s arms around me, I would already be moving to provide everything within my power to make her whole enough to never sound like this again.
But it’s not my place to satisfy her needs now. It’s Gideon’s and he’s over her a moment later, taking her from behind, thrusting inside her and filling all that’s hollow. Her sighs, moans, and breathy whines are louder now, but these sounds aren’t painful, because the omega surrendered and her needs will be met. She’ll have a cock inside her until the heat breaks. But, if my control holds, mine will remain in my pants where it belongs. Unless, of course, the first alpha decides otherwise, and then she’s not the only one who will be screwed by the omegaverse.
CHAPTER 6
NOT MACKENZIE
I’m not Mackenzie Malcolm McAllister. I’m a marauder who claimed space within him when he was still in the womb, a legacy handed down from generation to generation until I finally reached this place and time to serve my purpose.
It feels false now, all of it—now that I’m here, and she’s here. The clash of my deeply held beliefs with the reality I’m living is nothing but torment. This grief is without boundaries, its origins in a forgotten time and a mystical place, with a promise that’s now proven to be a malicious lie. I swallowed the delusion whole—and so did she—that in this time and place we would know the perfection that defined our time together, before we traded what remained for the chance to matter forever.
