Page 21 of Generation Omega: Claimed
Tend his bites. Keep them both with us—my origin alpha and the man whose body he inhabits. Keepthem. Ease his burdens. Don’t add to them. It’s not the reunion we were promised when we willingly gave our lives to protect the legacy we originated. So much sacrifice, but we will keep you alive, do everything we can for you. Just please, don’t let us fade forever, never to touch again.
When her alpha leaves me, my body trembles, and the shattered whimper that comes from my mouth is mine not my omega’s.
“Tillie,” Gideon says warily.
My eyes aren’t open, but I know who I need to see. “Ethan.”
“He’s on his way,” a growly Russian answers. Kazimir.
The world is slowly returning to me, and the omega is growing more distant. The last word I hear from her isplease.
No one touches me. They know not to, and I’m relieved. I sit up, not looking around, knowing the view will overwhelm me. The thick, cloying fragrance—mine—is already too much. The hints of Gideon’s lovely scent are there, but it’s mine that tells the story I must hear.
It’s over. My first heat is over, and I need to get out of this room. I need fresh air, my body cleaned of everything thathappened. I need tonotbe touched by an alpha, as much as I was desperate for them when the heat began. The spell has broken—no, the spell fractured into a million jagged shards, all of them mine.
I hear the door open and only then look at the man standing in the doorway. He’s completely naked, like I am, revealing that his wounds are mostly healed.
“Ethan?” I whisper, my voice hitching over an unrealized sob.
“Hey, I’m here.” Sweet words… a sweet tone—my tone, the one he only uses with me. He kneels before me on the mattress, raising his hand to brush my messy, damp hair off my face. “Everything’s okay.”
I don’t glance at anyone else as I take Ethan’s hand and allow him to lead me from the nest. In a hostile push, the omega surges again—please, she practically shouts.
I answer her. You saved my Ethan. I’ll save your alphaafterI find my footing and remember who I am.
Thank you, Tillie.Then she’s gone.
My hand quivers in Ethan’s, and he gives me a supportive squeeze.
“You’re okay,” he murmurs outside the nest, where he leads me down the hall and up the stairs.
At the top, the main level, we turn to the right and head down a spiral staircase I didn’t even notice when we first arrived. I was all about the nest then, and now, I’m glad to leave it behind. At the bottom of this staircase, we enter what must be the master suite that thankfully looks nothing like a nest. There’s a large bed in the center, a desk on one side with a chair, and a couch on the other, everything in soft, neutral colors. The large windows on both sides reveal that it’s night—I had no idea.
As though understanding my confusion, Ethan assists. “It will be morning soon. Maybe we can spend the day on the deck,enjoying the sun. My girl is looking a bit paler than normal.” He’s so warm, his voice, his entire presence. Without effort, he’s guiding me away from the panic riling me. There’s no shame in him, no inability to look me in the eyes, no barrier between us because of whatever happened when I wasn’t in control of my own body.
I shudder, an involuntary response like blinking or breathing, and can’t find a way to respond to him.
Ethan’s love is a beacon—his friendship the most important part of my life. So, when he smiles kindly at me, his sunlight reaches beyond the curtains drawn over all the windows within me, everything that darkened when I surrendered to the omegaverse. Cautiously, he raises his hand, pausing for me to bridge the distance. I do, leaning my cheek into his touch that feels the same as it always does… like home.
He moves closer, kissing my mop of hair. “Here’s my theory. What you’re going through is basicallyre-entry, like you’re an astronaut who just got home. You’ve been floating around in space, doing cool shit, being this big hero, and now you’re back. Worse, you’ve been infected by gravity—no more floating for you—and you’ve just realized they canceled all your favorite shows while you were gone, so life feels like it will never be the same. That’s got to be jarring, right?”
His cheerful nature tugs at me, and I hear what he’s not saying louder than his actual words. We’re okay. No matter how weird all of this gets, we’re always going to beus—no force in the universe or the omegaverse could ever change that.
Ethan doesn’t wait for me to speak, doesn’t put any pressure on me. “But here’s the thing. If you just give it some time, you’ll remember that floating around isn’t all that great and may lead to getting lost in space. Just ask any balloon in the hand of a distracted toddler how floating works out for them. And, even though your shows are gone, you now have the opportunity tofind new ones, better ones, that suit who you are today, not who you were.”
Ethan kisses my head again, snuggling close like I’m not a wafting vat of expired perfume. “I’ve decided something, a new post-heat pack protocol. I’mpack guardian, so I get to make the rules—that’s what I decided.” Now, he searches my eyes for understanding and permission to continue being his lighthearted, charming self. I nod.
“We’ll call thisrule number five, I’m thinking, because there were some other rules set down during the heat, but we can get into those later. This rule dictates that, as soon as the heat ends, the pack beta takes care of the omega in whatever way he sees fit. How does that sound?”
I nod again, realizing why I can’t speak—it’s fear that’s keeping me silent. The fear that I’ll just start screaming until I feel like myself again.
“Good, then this beta is going to shower with his girl and use a loofah to scrub her, tend her, and free her from the recent past. And, just FYI, it seems the badass assassin has quite a thing forloofahs—there are like a bazillion of them in here, in a variety of bright colors—which is just funny. But why shouldn’t killers exfoliate, you know? Seems judgy on my part.”
“I love you.” I blurt that because those words will never hide from me or need to be concealed.
Everything in him relaxes, as though I just gave him an amazing present. “I love you too, Till. Come on, let me take care of you and then we’ll talk, okay? I’ll answer every question you have, or none if you don’t want to know anything.”
“Okay,” I whisper.
