The three alphas huddled together, crouching their bodies near the capsule. As far as they were concerned, the world was ready to go up in flames, but the pod stopped humming with uncontrollable power. Slowly, the light from within dimmed to a glowing orb near to the center of Rae’s chest. Was it possible the bomb had been shut down?
Killian grinned. “Fuck it all.”
But the physical chaos did not end, and the world above their heads rocked with what sounded like airstrikes and demolition blasts. A populist coup, perhaps. Or, maybe the war commanders had gotten their shit together enough to hold the cities. But most importantly, the militarized zones spread throughout the globe were probably under siege. Those weren’t too difficult to destabilize.
Either way, it must have been chaos up above. Severin helped design this end. After all, the new way wasn’t a world for men. It was a world of worship, a world of false fantasies and ideals. But what about the citizens and soldiers who expressed their loyalty to the New Republic? They were fighting against an unknown enemy.
As the structure crumbled, the space gave way to more intruders. Soldiers descended from above. The men and women who raided the city of Dagon years ago... They were instantly recognizable with their cybernetic eyepieces and immaculate leather outfits. Where were the soldiers when they ransacked the marble towers? The New Republic had always been weak, but their army was pathetically devoted to people who had forgotten about them and led them astray.
Even now, the crowd was sparser than usual. Where there should have been a strong groundswell, there were ragged packs barely able to follow orders. They were like lost puppies, only far less cute.
“Brace for some more bullshit,” Lucas muttered.
Their formation, at the very least, was prolifically organized when need be, and their aim was as any might expect. The red crosshairs from their arsenal aligned over the center of the alphas’ foreheads. It served as more of an annoyance than anything.
“Stand down.”
The voice was weak. The tone thrashed with emotion like a tumultuous wave, and it was quite clear that the speaker had been weeping. The voice came from a woman, a weak omega. It came from Ruby.
With her call, the guards parted. Heavy metal and straps of powerful ammo hugged their armored chests and shoulders. Spikes around the soldiers with the highest kill counts from the “old days.” The raid of Dagon. It was their one big accomplishment that time had already begun to write over.
Forcing her hand forward, she revealed Noah and the clone. Harsh cries from the children rang out as two soldiers brought forward the small bedding. “You can’t do this!” Noah screamed, but Ruby forced the butt of her gun against his head, slamming him to the floor. The clone stayed silent.
Sweat ran down Ruby’s forehead. “Anyone else?” Ruby asked, eyes scouring the room for the next one to harass.
With the power of the freshly gathered state armies on their side, they looked at Rae’s sleep state with hesitance. The sight of the submerged omega so tenderly inhabited by cables, tubes, and wiring… it didn’t sit right, especially after her face had been broadcast around the world for everyone to see. A few soldiers quivered.
Lucas stood, palms facing outward as if he had nothing to reveal. The lord knew he had more to reveal than most, for when he smiled, it surely meant the opposite. “How’s about we add to your kill list, honey. You ready? I’m inclined to tear you to pieces.”
“Convicts.” She trembled. “Lay down your arms.”
Chuckling he raised his fingers to comb through his hair, but stopped. Instead, he stared at her as if she were the most confusing specimen on the face of the planet. Still, he hoisted the rifle from his shoulder and tossed it to the side without any grace. “What else could you possibly want from us? The world is over. Didn’t you get the memo?”
Ruby opened fire near Lucas’ feet, forcing him back toward Rae’s capsule. Close to silent, she could have sworn he heard her heartbeat, and possibly the sound of a woodwind instrument, ancient and rotten in tone, as if the cruelest forces the universe had to offer played it, forces they had no idea existed.
Vash jerked his wrist and caught the cuffs against the metal railing. “You cunt! We let you survive.”
Ruby marched forward, but as soon as her eyes truly focused on Rae’s body, she fell in seething torment, growling from the center of her heart. Although it didn’t seem forced, there wasn’t a soul on the planet who should have had empathy for her pain. She had broken the bonds of family, and that went against everything an alpha stood for. Still, they allowed for her words because the time was falling into the arms of the creator. Soon, nothing would exist but darkness.
“I learned everything there was about despair while coiled in their arms. As they took me, night after night after fucking night, I fell deeper and deeper into a pit of darkness,” she said. “Alphas, hungry beasts, and vile agitators. I was so young, and I took it all in stride. With each thrust, I bowed my head and waited for her to find me, my sister, the woman who was worshipped and adored by our creator. As the last glimmer of light before my formative years of youth dimmed, she never came. I promised I would find a way out, and I vowed for my own revenge.”
At last, she found the right words to say. It was enough to force the alphas to subdue their anger. Slowly, she unclasped her helmet. The solid locks released from around the oddly thin neck. Beads of sweat rolled down from her temples, and she threw the last of her armor down.
“Rae,” she muttered, forcing her way through to get to her sleeping chamber. “What have they done to us, sister?”
Ruby’s life culminated at this moment. Her rule was at stake, and though she knew it was the end, she had one last chance to stop it from crumbling around her.
“I should have known I’d find you here,” Ruby said. “Should have known Severin would use us both. I spent a lifetime with that man, and though I didn’t trust him, I thought he’d finally leave me be.”
Tears scorched the white of her eyes until, finally, the salty liquid rolled down her cheeks like innocent streams from the peaceful world of the past. Grappling with the fact she would not get the chance to see her sister in her rightful state, she clenched her fists and turned toward Killian. “You… what you told me back in my chambers… tell me more about this hope,” she whispered.
“You’ve been a stubborn woman,” he growled.
Ruby’s mind went back to that day she showed Rae the patch of forest. The look in her sister’s eyes was priceless, but all Ruby did was laugh and abuse her. The green trees, covered in moss and butterflies, were heavenly. The unpolluted air had filtered through her lungs, pure and innocent. It made her sister see life through a different lens; she knew that.
Turning without warning, Ruby reached to her side and brought out a pulse wave grenade. She eyed her legion of alphas and remembered all the pain her regime had caused. The people didn’t need the old world or the new. What the planet needed was more people like her sister.
“Noah. Bring the children to us and run. Run as fast as you can,” Ruby warned. Of course, the man and clone did as they were told, and soon they were all near each other and headed for safety in the bunkers below.
“Godspeed,” Noah said.
So, with the children in safety, she clutched the grenade like it was her heart and held it close to her lips, kissing the iron ripples. Taking a deep breath, she pulled the pin and relaxed. Everything was going to work out, with or without her. She would make sure of it now.
Killian nodded with anticipation. “Hope is like a young sprout in the middle of a forest,” he said. “In the absence of it, we must find a way to cultivate it.”
“You know what to do, you twisted bitch,” Vash growled and clenched his jaw. “Release the lever. Lower your ego and set your body ablaze.”
Ruby’s forehead wrinkled and twisted in her dismay. She opened her palm and felt the calm turn into quick bursts of fear. What was it like to die? “You’re right. I am just
another weed, waiting to get eradicated.”
That and that alone was Ruby’s biggest fear, now realized and felt from within. For her, life was full of painful sorrow and disappointment. She couldn’t bear children. She couldn’t even hold a relationship. It was time for her to admit that she felt worn out and weary, but she didn’t merely wish to sleep. She hoped for the world to erase the memory of her embarrassing conquest.
Ten seconds until the grenade would detonate, sending small but effective electrical shocks through their limbs…
Killian ran forward and extended his arm, though he must have seen the erratic but familiar look of realization before death. He must have seen it too many times before. He said, “Anyone can change.”
Five seconds…
But Ruby shook her head. “Has the world changed since they let you out of your cage?”
“Sometimes, it doesn’t seem like it, but I have to believe. It’s the only thing I’ve got,” Killian said.
Three seconds…
Ruby tensed her shoulders. As the grenade rolled against her palm, she made a decision, allowing it to fall from her hands. With just enough force, it rolled across the platform, barely stopping at the edge, near the soldiers’ feet. She stumbled back as Killian grabbed and pulled her near to them.
The explosion was punishingly loud and violently vulgar. Body parts turned to mashed bits of bone and crags of meat. Cogs in a corrupt system—that’s what the soldiers were to her. If she let them live, one would naturally break away from the social order and fire at her head.
Smoke coiled and rose around her shoulders like a taunting snake. Ruby dropped into Killian’s chest and let out a shrill cry. She wanted to end it all, for this to be the grand finale of her wretched existence. But she was far too weak to take her own life. Instead, she would let her sister do the execution when the time came. For the next task, she needed to rescue her from her slumber.
Vash’s mouth still distorted with natural revulsion, and Lucas stepped away from her. She knew she’d have to use her time in this world to repent the right way, but for now, she needed to know one thing.
“Why did you save me?” she asked.
“Asking myself the same question,” Vash muttered. Killian threw a glance his way, and Vash let out a slow sigh. “Look, I’m sorry. I am still in a state of shock. This is the woman who left us to rot in dark cages for two years. It was hell down there… Pure and utter hell.”
With defiant confidence, Killian broke the cuffs from around his wrists. “The three of us lead this pack now. We don’t need to feel alone anymore, brother,” he said and turned to face Ruby. “Because there’s more to this story. I used to believe in nothing. Now, I believe that all of us are important, and I still need you alive, Ruby.”
“Important? I think you are speaking of someone else,” Ruby stuttered, unable to process any of it. Her men were dead. What else did they need from her? “Please. I won’t do any man’s bidding any longer.”
“From here on out, we answer to forces more unknown and mysterious than ever before,” Killian said, eyes facing Rae’s resting body. He placed his hand over the glass. Lucas and Vash eyed each other, but it was clear that Killian’s days spent underground had graced him with some great knowledge.
Ruby sucked in her cheek and bit down to stop the tears from flowing, but it was too much to handle. She lived an entire life trying to replicate the bond of humanity, always getting close, but never close enough. Even if she lived, she thought, what would be the point?
“There is no reason to keep me alive,” she said. “I can’t have a family like you do. No children. Nothing. I am hollow and empty. The lord didn’t make me in his image. He made me in a glass tube.”
“I thought you didn’t believe in any of that stuff,” Killian said.
“I’m beginning to realize that it’s more real than what we made here,” she said.
“Ruby, of all your imperfections, your self-doubt is the most potent,” he added.
Ruby let out a deep breath. “But she was my perfect sister. I grew up hearing stories about Cassian’s creation. Not once was I mentioned. I was another throwaway doll just like the women in the filthy clubs.”
“No one is perfect,” Vash said. “The number of times we have succumbed to our failures has been uncountable, yet here we are, standing on the edge of the world.”
“Do not pacify me,” Ruby said, much too similar to Cassian’s dialect.
Lucas shook his head and took a shallow breath. “You and her are the same. I’m not certain of anything anymore, but if you want to save her, get up on your feet, soldier. You are a part of this family.”
Killian kept his attention toward the glowing capsule. “Place your hand on the glass and feel her warmth. We must let her know that we are here for her.”
“C-Can she hear us?” she asked.
Killian nodded, but there was no way for him to really know. “If she can, she needs us because where ever she is right now, it can’t be pretty.”
“Okay,” she whispered, facing the possibility of the unknown. “I’m ready to learn.”
The alphas’ children were silent and still, calmly observing their mother with wide and innocent eyes. Killian scooped them up, one by one, and held them against his beating heart. This was a hard journey. All that mattered was that they got back to her and the children.
He knelt and bowed his head before Rae. “Wherever you are, I’ll be there with a loaded gun, ready to back you up. My queen, my conqueror, our love…”
They would have done anything for Rae. She was, as Killian put it, their queen for life. “Our ride-or-die bitch,” Vash said.
“No doubt,” Lucas agreed. “Until the end.”
Killian cleared his throat and nodded his head as if agreeing with himself on something mysterious, something that he could finally unlock. “Ruby… welcome to the family.”
Ruby wiped her eyes and hesitated. She had never felt that vulnerable in her entire life. “Time for us to come together.”
And as they stood, huddled together with their hands placed near to her heart, she felt the radiating warmth and heard the sounds of some outer world. There was more to know, more to fight back against. The bombs never stopped, but it did not matter anymore because as they connected to their special one, their Precious, the small platform unhinged and slowly started to lower like an elevator.
Downward, they moved into a large glass cylinder. Surrounding them were fish and swirling tails of unknown monsters below. Yes, there was more mystery to be unlocked, and that was unsettling, but as they moved farther into the center of the earth, the warmth of molten rock and ancient air enveloped their bodies.
The platform came to a halt, and Rae’s capsule sank onto the ground. Suddenly, they were in a red-and-gold room. The sound of the inner world was muffled and constantly shifting like the growling of nightmarish beasts even worse than the alphas above.
“Where are we?” Killian asked.
Ruby remained silent. Severin had told her none of this. She doubted he even knew of the full capacity of its mechanisms.
But Lucas walked across the darkened pathway until he reached a passageway that housed a large and golden door. Above, an inscription had been carved. The Furnace.
It must have been thousands of years old…
“The Furnace?” Lucas whispered. “Virgil… he mentioned... something.”
Killian reached into his pocket. He pulled out the small disc of information that the clone, Karen, had given him. The Ark. The data of everything. Quickly, he placed it back inside his pocket, making sure it was safe.
The sound of quick and scurrying feet echoed throughout the area. Low and heavy breathing formed around them, spanning all sides of the under-region. Was this hell? And how many others were near? The sounds of woodwind instruments echoed alongside the sudden movements.
“Shh,” Ruby murmured, turning frantically without sight. “Do you hear that?”
Everyon
e turned to see who was with them, but the rest of the area was so dim they could only see more hallways, leading into more darkness. They were trapped in a confusing maze. Still, there was the feeling of someone watching, waiting, and analyzing their every move.
“We shouldn’t be here,” Vash said. “We should go.”
But there was no direction back. They were too far down. Not to mention, they didn’t belong on that scorched earth anymore, fighting with the rest of the alphas. Whatever this place was… they had to find out.
After making sure Rae was still safe, the four of them left her to her capsule. The golden door opened, loudly scraping through the lava rock. And then a voice echoed behind them, still shrouded in darkness and evil in nature.
“Go forth.”
Killian dropped back and grunted. “Enough! Where are we, and what do you want?”
A man with green and peeling skin appeared from one of the halls still shrouded in darkness. His eyes were red. His teeth were as sharp as fangs and doubled up like a shark’s. His mouth was big, and though he wore a smile, it seemed more like the son of some demonic force. He was neither alpha nor beta.
His jaw unhinged and cut tongue extended. His body was hunched like the elderly, but his muscles were horrifyingly bulbous. He bowed his head forward, revealing a pale, bald scalp covered in scabs.
“My ideas… proliferation… you have come and brought me her. Finally.”
Though a sharp shiver ran throughout Killian’s body, he took a daring step forward and cracked his knuckles. “Listen. Just let her go. You don’t need us. Don’t need her. We’re a family.”
The children started to cry loudly, and the devil’s eyes grew redder. “The well of souls…”
Ruby closed her eyes and started to weep. Now that the door had opened, they could see what was inside. Rae’s capsule slowly moved into the room until it reached the middle, an altar of carved stone with a sphinx in the center. Surrounding her were beautiful tapestries with complex geometrical shapes. Six burning candles lit the room.
Born Claimed: A Dark Omegaverse Romance (Broken Angel Book 2) Page 20
