Page 32 of Generation Omega: Claimed
Very funny, baby girl. I deliver that right into her head, along with just how impressed I am in her perceptions about the pack.
Don’t distract me. I’m on a roll, but later…
“Jameson,” she says, testing out the sound of his name like it’s decadent chocolate, “I’m curious to really meet you. I already know you fuck like a god, even without any memories of what happened downstairs—I watched your sexy tapemanytimes—but I’ve got a stable full of capable alphas here. So, you must have more to bring to the pack than that.”
Our resident bad boy can’t summon a single snarky retort, and Tillie is pleased to have won this round. To me, she asks, “What’s next? I’m going to need a nap soon.”
“Bondmarks,” Thatcher announces, as though the word was trapped inside a shaken champagne bottle. “You need them. We’ve evaded notice for five days during your heat. We don’t have long before we need to announce ourselves and begin the process of not just surviving, but claiming power. Without bondmarks, this won’t work.”
“I’m not ready.” Tillie’s words lack any doubt, and I’m primed to stop Thatcher if he makes a move toward her, though Ory will get there first.
Thatcher, of the ruffled feather brigade, chooses violence in the form of increased volume. “I’m sorry, Tillie, but that doesn’t matter. What happened to you in that helicopter will happen again. If we’re discovered and forced to run, and you don’t have bondmarks, it will tear you and your unbonded alphas apart and make survival impossible.”
“Wait.” I’m jumping in here before Tillie gets too riled. “You’re saying that it won’t harm her ifIwere to leave, but it will if you do?”
Thatcher grimly nods, his lips pursed so tightly they’re a disturbing shade of white. “I’ve seen it before… once. It wouldn’t make sense to never be able to leave your omega—life still needs to happen. Your bond with her is solid and unbreakable, so yes, you could leave and not hurt her. But if we all must flee, or if we get caught, the bonds we didn’t forge will damage us more than our enemies ever could.”
Fuck—I want him to be wrong. I turn to Mackenzie, hoping for some confirmation from Ory. Mackenzie nods, providing exactly that. Ethan and Kazimir confront that news with the same discomfort, where Jameson grins like he’s more than ready to bite Tillie.
I know I’m still bargaining, but I can’t help it. “What about Ory and Mackenzie, with the feral omega’s bites?”
Thatcher raises his hands in the universal declaration ofwho fucking knows?“This situation with the origin alpha is new. I never imagined it could be possible, so I can’t even begin to fathom what it means.”
Mackenzie’s thick accent takes some work to understand, but I finally manage to translate—I know he’s basically speaking English, butisnaeandisn’taren’t the same. “Ory isn’t sure either, since it was the omega who claimed him, not me claiming Tillie.”
Tillie is now rigid with a firestorm about to launch from her eyes. “If you—ifanyone—tries to compel me…”
“Hey, stop that right now.” I grab her hand and hold it over my heart. “I won’t, and I’ve made that clear to the omegaverse and ProfessorBondmarks Now.”
“This is a mistake,” the professor snootily pronounces, like he can’t imagine how he ended up in this pack of idiots.
“Maybe,” Tillie snaps, “but it’s certainly not the first mistake the omegaverse made with this pack.” Her fury only burnshotter, until she notices Mackenzie wincing from the pain of his untended bites.
Tillie pushes her intentions at me, seeking understanding more than approval, and I raise her hand and kiss her palm to convey my support.
“One last thing,” I say, knowing this gathering needs to end before all our progress goes up in smoke, and Thatcher’s bobbing body is left in our wake. “What do we do? Do we head somewhere? Remain here?”
Thatcher erupts. “We can’t go public until the bondmarks have healed, so we must continue evading thousands of well-armed, well-funded, and well-trained omega hunters, because…”
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Kazimir barks. “I think we have a little time. I set some things in motion that are already playing out. It should keep them busy, but we need to keep moving all the same.”
Tillie leans toward Ethan, whispering to him. He kisses her head, before leaving the table with her books and walking toward the stairs. “Kazimir, could you drive the boat from this level?”
“Of course.”
“Good. I’d like some time with Mackenzie upstairs.”
“On the flybridge,” Kazimir provides, and Tillie nods, smirking as she cheerfully declares, “It’s a really lovelyboatyou have here.”
His low, rumbling growl is more amused than punishing. “Keep calling it that, little minx, and you’re going to earn yourself a punishment. Ethan will deliver it, of course—you probably don’t know just how aroused he is at the idea of doing exactly that.”
Tillie gasps, her face heating, her core pulsing. She holds up both hands like that will stop desire from overwhelming her andunleashing all the alphas surrounding her. “I need a rain check on that for now, but just for now.”
Kazimir seems to be seeing Tillie for the first time, and I know what I’m witnessing, the bonds forming before the biting commences. I feel Thatcher’s deep concern that this decision will destroy our chances, but I have to trust Tillie’s instincts and my own. I also observe what Thatcher refuses to acknowledge, something he’s about to hear in great detail—he’s still not even attempting to get to know Tillie. He’s talking at her like she’s one of his students, not his omega, the center of this pack, and the most important person on the planet.
Thatcher is correct. He doesn’t want to be, but he is. This mistake risks everything.Well, the omega legacy doesn’t mince wordssometimes.
I’m still not changing my mind—I can’t betray Tillie like that—but a certainty enters my awareness, and I’m grateful I can now conceal my thoughts from her. If it comes down to Tillie’s survival, I will force her and any resistant alphas to bond. I will betray her trust to keep her alive. It’s what I was put here to do. I just hope it doesn’t come to that.
