by Sara Fields
I sighed. I knew what I had to do, but that didn’t mean I had to like it.
“Alright. We’ll try it your way. But if anything you do puts my omegas in danger, you’re going to rue the day you met me,” I snarled, my upper lip twitching with defiance.
“I look forward to it, omega,” Damiyen smirked, his hazel eyes meeting mine with just as much challenge as I had thrown in his direction.
* * *
Over the next few days, Damiyen stayed true to his word. Gradually, our weapon rooms grew fuller and our food stocks grew, both underground and aboveground. A few government officials had passed some emergency bills, which substantially increased the food allotment budget within the omega sanctuary. He also assured me that in the next coming days we would soon have a location underground where he would begin training the omegas to use artillery, or at least something that would help prepare them for the insanity of battle.
I was careful not to show that I was impressed with his success thus far. I had learned a long time ago that trusting a beta could get me in hot water. It was the reason I’d been condemned to the omega sanctuary in the first place.
Even now, I regretted everything. If I had never opened my mouth in the first place, my life would have turned out very differently. Maybe I’d have a house of my own. Maybe even a career.
The reason for it all? His name was Randel.
He’d been a childhood friend of mine, but the man who had raised him was Philip Savile. I hadn’t known, but Randel had been indoctrinated from a young age to hate omegas and our natural instincts. Randel and I had been inseparable. We attended classes together, learned about the Great War and the biological warfare that had changed the face of the planet for all time. We even dreamed about seeing some of the great beasts that wandered the wilds outside the walls, like some sort of twisted safari adventure. I’d known my own omega status for a while, but it had worn on me and I had wanted to tell someone. I’d been too naïve, too trusting.
He’d assumed I was a beta, just like he was, but he was wrong.
I told him and those three little words destroyed our relationship forever. He denounced me as his friend, exposed my secret to Philip and other important government officials. His betrayal had condemned me to a life inside the omega sanctuary.
I’d only been thirteen when I was first imprisoned here. I grew up in the squalor of the sanctuary and it made me who I was today. It had been so long since I’d known anything else.
“Nikki,” Damiyen said, interrupting my thoughts.
“What,” I answered, unable to keep a touch of annoyance from my tone.
His jaw clenched hard once more.
“I just received word that the underground training center will be ready tomorrow. I’ll need you to ready forty or fifty women to begin with you. Ethan, Alaric, Viktor, and I will all assist in training the omegas,” he said, his voice tight.
“That sounds great,” I answered, careful to lighten my voice and he relaxed just a little. “We can start with some of the original women of the Omegaborn. They’re the most experienced with stealth and combat.”
I thought of the small group of women who had broken into the airborne suppressant building with me. They’d be best to start with and they were some of the strongest women I’d ever met. They’d show Damiyen what we were made of. He smiled back at me, his eyes analyzing me once more. It almost felt like he could reach into my soul and I didn’t like it. I came up with some sort of excuse to escape back into my office and he let me go, but I could feel his gaze on my back.
I shivered.
For the rest of the day, I busied myself by Ethan’s side. A few doctors had arrived and were treating many of the omegas for malnutrition and sickness and he and I worked together to distribute much needed medication and vitamins. Being around Ethan was comforting. His demeanor was strong, confident, and very protective. I watched out of the side of my eye the look on his face as he took in the wretched conditions of many of the women who lived here in the sanctuary and I saw how hard he tried to contain his fury.
It soon became very clear that he hated what was done to us, that he abhorred that we were kept here, living in squalor instead of living freely outside the city walls.
I felt his eyes on me sometimes, the protective growl if someone came to close to me, or the soft smile he gave me when he’d realized I’d noticed. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I felt comfortable with him.
Toward the end of the day, the line slowed as the omegas and the doctors went to dinner. Viktor and Alaric appeared with a bottle of whiskey, offering Ethan and me a shot.
“Where have you two been all day?” I began, taking a swig of the fiery liquid and gasping as it burned down my throat.
“Just sneaking in some more guns in through the tunnels,” Alaric answered nonchalantly. “It’s kind of a thrill knowing the guards are just feet above your head sometimes. I wish the rock wasn’t so thick so I could just shoot them through it.”
I smirked. The more I was around Alaric, the more I came to realize that he was clearly an adrenaline junkie.
Viktor huffed. He remained quiet and stoic, a mysterious package of a man. The dark tattoo around his eyes gave him a shadowy expression, which unnerved me just a little.
It was strange being around three alphas, especially ones as large as these men. In a bizarre, unexpected way, it was actually comforting. The four of us descended into the pit, where there were still a few omegas cooking in their stalls. With the increased food over the past few days, more and more women were returning to sell their wares in the underground, and it was feeling more like the old days.
Only now, there were three men by my side. Once entirely a world of women, it felt different down here in the underground with them. They were here out of necessity though. I realized that now.
We’d never break free without them.
Even now, the women in the pit already looked healthier, less gaunt and pale than they had in the past few weeks. They were smiling once again, and it was heartwarming to witness. I watched the alphas carefully though, still protective of the women under my care and I was overjoyed to see that the three of them never gawked at any of the omegas. Their demeanor was completely different from the guards and that made everyone who saw them infinitely more comfortable.
That, combined with an increasing number of sips of whiskey, finally forced me to relax. I asked the men about their experiences outside the wall and they regaled me with stories of ferocious beasts that breathed fire, giant birds that flew through the air, massive elephants and wild cats with pointed teeth as long as swords. I listened to them in disbelief the whole time.
“I’ve wanted to see such things since I was a little girl,” I admitted, my tongue loosened with the tingly sensation of alcohol.
“I’ll make sure you see them some day,” Ethan murmured, his small grin pulling up the right side of his lips. I smiled in return.
“Do you really think we can defeat them all? All those betas?” I whispered.
“They won’t know what’s coming for them,” Viktor scoffed, and I breathed a sigh of relief at the assured look on their faces. The three of them remained confident and that pulled me out of my moment of weakness.
Alaric remained aloof, just gazing over at me with a silly smirk.
“Don’t worry, omega. I live for battle. The betas haven’t seen anything like me,” he said, his cockiness obvious.
“The betas don’t have me either,” a gravelly voice said behind me. I turned, only to find Damiyen standing there, his hands clasped behind his back.
I took another shot of whiskey then.
* * *
The next morning, the four men and I met and prepared to journey to the underground training center that Damiyen had readied for all of us. A small group of omegas gathered and followed us to the armory. I took a tranquilizer gun, as well as a number of other weapons to practice with. After a short amount of time, we headed out into the tun
nels, following the men in silence.
After the massive influx of omegas into the sanctuary, there wasn’t enough work for all of us, so I just had to fill the seats in the factory, and no one would notice their absence. After mandatory counts in the morning, the only way someone noticed you were missing was if no one showed up to work in your place. I’d ensured that a number of omegas would work in the factory for them, so that they could train with me, the alphas, and Damiyen.
We headed deep underground, far deeper than I had ever ventured. After about forty-five minutes, we reached a massive cavern that appeared to be set up like a sort of indoor gun range. At one end, was a platform with a number of spaces where the omegas could stand and aim their fire toward the other side, where there was a massive pile of what appeared to be Styrofoam pellets or something to absorb the impact from the manufactured bullets we’d be practicing with.
Once we began to set up, Damiyen took over pretty quickly without even giving me the chance to lead. After that, I mostly ignored him. I knew how to put together and take apart a gun and I knew how to aim and shoot, especially with a dart gun. The other omegas gathered around him, but I went off on my own. I felt the alphas watching me, but I didn’t respond.
To be honest, I didn’t really feel like talking. My head was pounding and I was thirsty. For the first time in my life, I finally understood what it meant to be hungover and it was total shit. I groaned, tried to focus on the target hanging high on the other side of the cavern and squeezed the trigger. The gun had some sort of high-tech silencer on it that completely absorbed all semblance of sound, but the kickback hurt my shoulder enough to cause me to take a step back.
I’d missed the target entirely.
I looked up to see if anyone had noticed and swore under my breath when I realized that Damiyen had seen. I tore my eyes from his with a quiet huff and focused on reloading the cartridge once more.
No one said anything, but I was positive all four of them had noticed.
The hours passed and I could feel the other omegas getting restless. They usually looked to me for approval and I was off by myself, nursing my headache and wounded pride. None of them said as much, but I could feel it. In small groups, they began to wander off on their own, fiddling with the guns and trying to shoot at the targets.
After a few more hours, I heard Ethan call it a day. The omegas filed out of the cave, back to the underground, leaving me and the men behind.
I heard them shuffle toward me.
“You don’t have to stay. I’m going to practice a while longer,” I said, not expecting them to reply with anything but an agreement. That’s not what I got.
“Nikki, we need to talk,” Damiyen began.
“No, we don’t,” I replied. My head still hurt, and I wasn’t in the mood to banter with any of them. I wasn’t used to answering to anyone else and I hated that I was being forced to now.
“This will never work if we don’t put up a unified front. The omegas need to see that you support us and that’ll never happen if you don’t take part with them,” Ethan offered, his voice calm and soothing.
“Perhaps you should have asked for my assistance, rather than just take my place. You forget how much they’ve learned from me in the past,” I retorted and Damiyen tensed in response.
“But you’re not a trained soldier, Nikki. We are,” Ethan tried once more.
“Even Damiyen has had military training in the past. Alaric and I have fought in many battles in the wilds too,” Viktor added.
“I never run from a fight. I’ve been in a great number of them,” Alaric said.
I turned my head, trying to quell the annoyance rising in my blood.
“I’m an omega and I fight like one. So do they. They don’t fight like you. They don’t have the sheer body mass that you do. I appreciate what you four have done to help us thus far, but as far as training goes, it should be me teaching them how to use a gun, not you,” I retorted.
“No. That’s not how this is going to work,” Damiyen replied, his voice calm but his hazel eyes looked stormy as ever. It was clear that he wasn’t used to being questioned either.
“There needs to be a hierarchy in place. Without it, an army can’t survive,” Ethan said softly.
“They’re my soldiers,” I replied heatedly.
“Our soldiers,” Damiyen corrected and my frustration bubbled over.
The tension between us had left me unsteady for a while. Ever since I’d met them, I felt threatened by their presence, especially Damiyen. I’d worked so hard to get the Omegaborn to where they were today, led them through terrible times and brought them back together again after our failure to escape the city with the help of the anti-suppressant.
The four of them had arrived here in the sanctuary and had just expected me to roll over and give them everything, including my role as a leader.
I reacted impulsively, grabbing the tranquilizer gun from my belt and aiming it in Damiyen’s direction. The four men moved toward me, but I was too fast for that. I squeezed the trigger and the tiny red feathered dart surged forward, sticking itself into Damiyen’s throat before any of them could stop me. The furious look in his gaze caught mine before his eyes rolled back in his head and he toppled to the ground.
The three alphas stood by my side in disbelief. Viktor boldly reached forward and snatched the dart gun from my fingers.
“Damiyen isn’t going to take kindly to this,” Viktor said after a minute had passed.
“Leave him here to sleep it off,” I replied. The tranquilizer dart was strong enough to keep him sound asleep for several hours, well into the early hours of morning. I turned around and left the cavern then, leaving the men to figure out what to do next by themselves. I went back to my apartment in the sanctuary, where I knew none of them could touch me.
Chapter Five
Nikki
The next morning, I woke in my apartment and attended the mandatory count in Sanctuary Square. It was uneventful, and I kept my eyes down as I always did. I didn’t catch the attention of any of the guards and when we were released, I tried not to rush too quickly back to my apartment building and down into the tunnels. When I finally escaped back down into the underground, I hurried back to my office only to find Damiyen sitting in my chair, waiting for me. I stopped dead in my tracks.
He was seated, his legs crossed, and a cocky look of annoyance flashed across his features as he leaned forward and placed his elbows on my desk, folding his fingers together expectantly. His hair was slightly mussed, but that only seemed to make him more look dangerous and even more threatening than usual. He looked veritably pissed, still wearing the clothes he had worn the day before when I had shot him in the neck with a tranquilizer dart, only they were slightly more wrinkled this morning. I drew in a breath, watching him cautiously. If he was looking for an apology though, he wasn’t going to get one.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, unable to quell the nervous rumbling deep in my belly.
“I thought we should have a few words privately, between the two of us,” he offered, his voice oddly calm and entirely too much of an enigma. He was unreadable.
I didn’t respond and just crossed my arms over my chest instead. I felt like a cornered rabbit, about to be pounced on by a very hungry wolf. His eyes narrowed slightly as he studied me, sensing my disquiet and he sighed impatiently.
“I’m not your enemy, Nikki. I’m here to help you,” he said next, his tone softening but still, I stood there unnerved by his presence. There was something about him that left me feeling off balance and I couldn’t quite identify exactly what that was. I didn’t know what his motivations were and I would never feel comfortable with him until I figured them out.
“I don’t understand why. You’re a beta. Every beta in Tharia hates alphas and omegas. Our kind is just a red stain on the city’s history. I can’t find any believable reason why you’d be here helping us. It just doesn’t make sense to me,” I countered, and his face soft
ened, but only for a second, almost as though he had lost himself in some sort of distant memory. It was for a brief moment, which quickly passed only to be replaced with a much darker expression.
“I have my reasons,” he replied, not elaborating any further. My upper lip rolled slightly in response and he sighed heavily. “Listen, you and I don’t have to be friends, but we have to be allies. I’m not here to rule you. I’m not an alpha. But I am here to ensure that the omegas have their best chance at breaking out of these walls and you have to let me do that. There has to be a hierarchy for the omega soldiers to answer to and that can never happen if you and I are constantly at each other’s throats, literally.” A flash of red twirled in his fingers. It was the dart I had shot into his neck and I had to suppress the smirk that edged at the corners of my lips.
“I don’t trust you,” I finally answered, and he shook his head with disappointment.
He sat there at my desk for a long time in silence and I stood there, feeling unsteady and unsure of what to do next.
“Well, this is probably for the best then. Remember though, I tried to do this the easy way, but you forced my hand,” he answered, before standing up from my chair. He walked around the table and toward the door, brushing by me.
“What’s for the best?” I asked, furrowing my brow with confusion as I tried to figure out what his vague words meant and he turned, wrapping a gentle arm around my waist. I almost pulled away, but for a moment I was stunned by how good it felt.
“This,” he answered, his tone abrupt and cryptic.
A sharp pain pricked into my backside and I yelped out loud, turning so I could see what the hell had just stung me. Damiyen stared into my eyes for a brief second and then I looked down, watching as he pushed a needle through my pants into my ass. He pressed the plunger down and I whimpered as he injected me with whatever liquid was inside that syringe.
