The alphas look in his direction, but do not move.
Rae can still hear every single word uttered, albeit muffled behind the glass. She can feel the sway of the water, the hushed splashing from within her new home. With her senses numb, and her airway full, she thinks she might drown, but low and behold, she is kept alive.
A strange, warm, and viscous liquid drains through the cables. As it glides down her throat, her body starts to react violently. Limbs twitching, her mind starts to fade.
Once the liquid fills her pathways, she loses her breath, and this time, she feels connected to something much bigger. The flow of energy feels so different.
Peaceful. Equal and balanced.
“What is happening to her?” Lucas asks, turning away from his twitching wife’s body.
Vash bends, shielding his head from any incoming shrapnel. Retching, he vomits across the floor and falls into his knees. “Don’t die on us, dammit…”
“Look around you. It’s time,” Killian says. “We need to get to this bunker they keep mentioning.”
Vash twists his head and fights frantically to decide his next move. Darting back to his feet, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a set of cuffs. Without hesitation, he cuffs himself to the structure, leaning his head against the glass.
Crazed, the alpha allows a smile of relief. His skin is glazed with the sweat of hard work and dedication. He deserves this, deserves to go down with his love. If the bomb blows, at least he had her.
“I’m not leaving,” he says.
The underground facility starts to crumble around them, shaking with Rae in the center of it all. Precious Rae. Omega Rae. Taken, claimed then trained. And then, lost…
She is gone.
Really gone.
But to where?
Vash is stuck on the hard blame. He has failed them. As a leader. As a brother. As a pack alpha. Those years in the prisons broke them. And worst of all, that’s exactly what he expected to happen.
Collapsing, he mutters, “How could we have been so stupid?”
He tries not to react with too much wistfulness, but damn is the sour strong, and damn are his eyelids weak. And fuck the dirt that life is made from, and pity the ones who hold themselves back. Some things hurt. Life hurts.
The three alphas huddle together, crouching their bodies near the capsule. Ready to go up in flames. But the pod stops humming. Slowly, the light from within dims to a glowing orb near the center of Rae’s chest.
Is it possible the bomb has been shut down?
Killian grins. “Here we go.”
The world above the underground layer rocks with what sounds like airstrikes and demolition blasts. The populist uprising they started, perhaps. Or, maybe the war commanders finally got their shit together to fight back.
“Brace for some more bullshit,” Lucas mutters.
As the structure crumbles, the space gives way to more intruders. A small group of soldiers descend from above, shouting for them to get on the ground.
Red crosshairs from their arsenal align over the center of the alphas’ foreheads.
“Stand down,” a voice says.
The tone thrashes with emotion like a tumultuous wave, as if the speaker had been crying for some time. The voice came from an omega.
It came from Ruby.
She walks through the soldiers, commanding and unrighteous.
She drags Noah and the clone forward. Another soldier presents the bedding with their children.
“You can’t do this,” Noah screams, but Ruby forces the butt of her gun against his head, slamming him to the floor. The clone stays silent.
Sweat runs down Ruby’s forehead. “Anyone else?” Ruby asks, eyes scouring the clone.
With the power of the freshly gathered state army on her side, she looks at Rae’s sleep state with hesitance. The sight of the submerged omega so tenderly inhabited by cables, tubes, and wiring… it doesn’t sit right. A few soldiers quiver.
Lucas stands, palms facing outward as if he has nothing to reveal. “I’ve got nothing left to lose, honey. I’m inclined to tear you to pieces,” he says.
“Convicts.” She trembles. “Lay down your arms.”
Chuckling, he hoists the rifle from his shoulder and tosses 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 opens fire near Lucas’ feet, forcing him back toward Rae’s capsule.
Vash jerks his wrist and catches the cuffs against the metal railing. “You cunt. We let you survive.”
Ruby marches forward, but as soon as her eyes truly focus on Rae’s body, she turns away. Although her sadness appears honest, there isn’t a soul on the planet who has empathy for her pain. She has broken the bonds of family, and that goes against everything an alpha stands for.
“What do you want?” Killian asks. “Spit it out.”
“I learned everything there was about despair while coiled in the arms of Severin. As he took me, night after night, after fucking night, I fell deeper and deeper into a pit of darkness,” she says. “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 finds the right words to say. It is enough to force the alphas to subdue their anger. Slowly, she unclasps her helmet. The plastic locks release from around the oddly thin neck. Beads of sweat roll down from her temples, and she throws the last of her armor down.
“Rae,” she mutters, forcing her way through to get to the pod. “What have they done to us, sister?”
Silence.
“I should have known I’d find you here,” Ruby says. “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.”
Tears scorch the white of her eyes until, finally, the salty liquid rolls down her cheeks like innocent streams from the peaceful world of the past.
Grappling with the understanding that she will not get the chance to see her sister in her rightful state, she clenches her fists and turns toward Killian. “What you told me back in my chambers. Tell me more about this hope,” she whispers.
“You’ve been a stubborn woman,” he growls.
Ruby’s mind goes back to the day she showed Rae the green 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 filtered through her lungs, pure and innocent. It must have made her sister see life through a different lens.
Turning without warning, Ruby reaches to her side and brings out a pulse wave grenade. She eyes her legion of alphas and focuses on all the pain her regime has caused. The people don’t need the old world or the new. What the planet needs is more people like her sister.
“Noah. Bring the children to us and run. Run as fast as you can,” Ruby warns.
He does as he’s told. He runs.
With the children in safety, she clutches the grenade like it is her heart, holding it close to her lips, kissing the iron ripples.
“Ma’am,” a soldier grunts. “What are you doing?”
Taking a deep breath, she pulls the pin and relaxes. Everything is going to work out, with or without Rae. She will make sure of it now.
As with all things, there is more to the story.
Killian nods with anticipation. “Hope is like a young sprout in the middle of a forest,” he says. “In the absence of it, we must find a way to cultivate it.”
“You know what to do, you twisted bitch,” Vash growls, clenching his jaw. “Release the lever. Lower your ego and set your body ablaze.”
Ruby’s forehead relaxes with certainty. She opens
her palm and feels the calm sweep over her.
What is it like to die?
“You’re right. I am just another weed, waiting to get eradicated,” she says
She hopes for the world to erase the memory of her embarrassing conquest.
Killian takes her hand. He tells her, “Anyone can change.”
Ruby shakes her head. “Has the world changed since they let you out of your cage?”
“It doesn’t seem like it, but I have to believe. Hope is the only thing I’ve got,” Killian says.
“Ma’am, please,” a soldier growls. “We are under your command.”
Ruby tensed her shoulders. As the grenade rolls against her palm, she makes a decision, allowing it to fall from her hands. With just enough force, it rolls across the platform, barely stopping near the soldiers’ feet.
She stumbles back as Killian pulls her close to them.
And then it explodes.
Blue smoke rises around her shoulders like a taunting snake. Ruby drops into Killian’s chest and lets out a shrill cry. She wanted to end it all, for this to be the grand finale of her wretched existence. But she is far too weak to take her own life.
Vash’s mouth is distorted with natural revulsion, and Lucas steps away from her. She knew she’d have to use her time in this world to repent the right way, but for now, she needs to know one thing.
“Why did you save me?” she asks Killian.
“Asking myself the same question,” Vash mutters.
Killian throws a glance his way, and Vash lets out a slow sigh.
With defiant confidence, Killian breaks the cuffs from around his wrists. “I used to believe in nothing. Now, I believe that all of us are important, and I still need you alive, Ruby.”
“I have nothing to offer,” she says.
“Not now,” he says, turning to look at Rae’s floating body. “But maybe later.”
He places his hand over the glass, closing his eyes.
Ruby sucks in her cheek, biting down to stop the tears from flowing, but it’s still too much to handle. She lived an entire life trying to replicate the bond of family, always getting close, but never close enough. Even if she lived, what would be the point?
“There is no reason to keep me alive,” she says. “I can’t have a family like you. 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 says. “Faith.”
“I’m beginning to realize that it’s more real than what we made here,” she says.
Killian keeps his body facing the glowing capsule. “Place your hand on the glass and feel her warmth. We must let her know that we are here for her.”
“Can she hear us?” she asks.
Killian bends his head. “If she can, I’m sure she’ll appreciate the extra love.”
“Okay,” she whispers, facing the possibility of the unknown. “I’m ready to learn.”
The alphas’ children are silent and still, calmly observing their mother with wide and innocent eyes. Killian scoops them up, one by one, holding them against his beating heart. This was a hard journey. One that is only going to get harder.
But he is ready. He was born ready.
“Wherever you are, Rae, 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 is, as Killian once put it, their queen for life. “Our ride-or-die bitch,” Vash says.
“No doubt,” Lucas agrees. “Until the end.”
Killian clears his throat, nodding his head as if agreeing with himself on something mysterious, something he can finally unlock.
“Ruby. Welcome to the family,” he says.
Ruby wipes her eyes and hesitates. She has never felt this vulnerable in her entire life. “Time for us to come together,” Vash says, acquiescing to the reality set before them.
And as they stand, huddled together with their hands placed near to her heart, she Rae must feel the radiating warmth of their love.
There is so much more to know, so much more to fight back against. The war never ends. Neither does their quest to make the world whole.
The small platform unhinges, bringing them down into the planet’s core. The warmth of molten rock and ancient air envelopes their bodies.
The platform comes to a halt, and Rae’s capsule moves to a different area completely.
Separated, they find themselves in a red-and-gold room. The sound of the inner world is muffled and constantly shifting like the growling of nightmarish beasts even worse than the alphas above.
“Where are we?” Killian asks.
Ruby remains silent.
After a few seconds, Lucas walks across the darkened pathway until he reaches a passageway, a large and golden door.
It must have been thousands of years old…
Killian reaches into his pocket. He pulls out the small disc of information that the clone, Helen, had given him. The Ark. The data of everything. Quickly, he places it back inside his pocket, making sure it is safe.
The sound of quick and scurrying feet echoes throughout the area. Low and heavy breathing forms around them, spanning all sides of the under-region. Is this hell? And how many others are near them?
“Hush,” Ruby whispers, turning frantically without sight. “Do you hear that?”
Someone is near them.
Someone close.
Someone… evil.
Everyone turns, but the area is pitch black. They are trapped in another confusing maze.
“We shouldn’t be here,” Vash says. “We need to go. Now.”
But there is no direction back. They are too far down. Not to mention, they don’t belong on that scorched earth anymore, fighting with the rest of the alphas. They were taken here for a reason.
Killian pushes open the golden door. And then a voice echoes behind them. “Go forth.”
Killian drops back, startled. “Who are you, and what do you want?”
A creature hobbles forward, hunched and elderly, but his muscles are horrifyingly bulbous. His skin is green and peeling, and his eyes are red. His teeth look like shards of glass, and though he wears a smile, he doesn’t appear too happy.
Bowing his head forward, he reveals a pale, bald scalp covered in scabs.
“Finally, you have brought me her,” he says.
Killian takes a daring step forward. “Listen. Just let her go. You don’t need us. Don’t need her. We’re a family.”
The children howl, and the devil’s eyes grow redder. “The well of souls needs another,” he hisses.
Ruby closes her eyes and starts to weep. Now that the door has opened, they can see what is inside. Rae’s capsule slowly moves into the room until it reaches the middle, an altar of carved stone with a sphinx in the center. Surrounding her are beautiful tapestries with complex geometrical shapes.
Six burning candles light the room.
Ruby attempts to run inside after her, but as soon as she gets close to the door, it seals, shutting them out. The horrid creature runs and leaps, landing over their shoulders, clicking his teeth together.
“She has come to me like he said he would.”
“Speak clearly,” Lucas mutters, trying his best not to stutter and panic.
“It is time for the final chapter.”
The devilish brute laughs and turns back into the darkness. He walks through one of many caves, disappearing entirely.
Ruby, the alphas, and the children stand in absolute silence and darkness. There is no way out.
Together, they held each other’s hands, weakened by their circumstances. Vash swallows loudly and says the first thing that comes to mind. “I think we’ve finally made it, everyone. Welcome to Hell.”
Ruby kneels, shivering. Hurried cries escape the children’s lips, but she calms them as much as she can with song.
“Hell or not, we have a duty to save my si
ster,” she eventually says. “We will force the hands of evil and end the misery of the omegaverse, once and for all.”
“Sure,” Lucas says. “But where the fuck do we go next?”
They peer forward as best as they can. So many hallways. So many paths toward mystery.
They hoped this journey would provide answers that led to something concrete. Instead, life eluded them once again.
Who knew what else lurked inside these chambers?
Yet, they march forward into the unknown with little more than fear guiding them.
They have sacrificed so much already.
It isn’t time to give up on love now.
Born Broken: Book Three
“The desert of cities is equal to the desert of sand—the jungle of signs is equal to that of the forests—the vertigo of simulacra is equal to that of nature—only the vertiginous seduction of a dying system remains, in which work buries work, in which value buries value—leaving a virgin, sacred space without pathways, continuous as Bataille wished it, where only the wind lifts the sand, where only the wind watches over the sand.”
― Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation
Prologue: Rae
A bomb exploded.
Heavier than any bombs before it.
A collision of atomic fury.
100% destructive.
I float in ecstasy, remembering their fuck.
They’ve got me locked. Every hole, plugged.
Three alphas take me.
Alphas that love me. Alphas that saved my life.
Hard bone, tight flesh, and the tenacity of one hundred bulls.
I long to see them again.
Rae wakes to an answer.
She left the alphas. They won’t be coming back. A bomb took the world by surprise. It carved out half the world.
It decimated tribes. Nations turned to ruin.
The alphas no longer rule over the planet. The end is coming.
Rae gave all of herself: Her cunt, the sacred slick that spills between her two trembling thighs.
But everything changed when she gave up her children.
Broken Angel: The Complete Collection: A Dark Omegaverse Romance Page 34
