Shared Omega (Quarantine Omega Book 2)

by Lizzy Bequin

  Addom looks at Kane thoughtfully, seemingly unfazed by the Alpha’s sudden outburst. He gestures toward me.

  “Is that not your mark upon the omega’s neck?” he asks calmly. “Situated there between the other two in the pack-leader’s position?”

  Kane drops his bearded chin to his bare chest.

  “It is, my chief. But I was deceived.”

  Addom quirks one quizzical eyebrow.

  “Deceived into marking an omega?”

  “Aye.”

  “But how can that be? Surely you know that these things are guided by the Will of the Source, old friend. I fail to see how an Alpha could be deceived into marking an omega that he did not mean to claim.”

  Kane opens his mouth to speak, but he cannot find the words. Addom raises one hand to silence him.

  “Be still, Kane. As I see it, there is no cause for unhappiness here. For too long you have been a loner, stalking the Farlands in search of Outsiders to kill, only returning to the center to recharge your soul in the presence of the Source.”

  “I had good cause, my chief.”

  This time, it is another Alpha who speaks. This one is standing behind Lily, his hand protectively placed on her shoulder. His appearance is terrifying, even more so than Kane. His head is shorn all the way down to a scalp that is criss-crossed with innumerable scars, as is the rest of his body. His face is covered in a thick beard that shakes as he speaks.

  “I too once felt as you do, Kane,” the Alpha says. “I loved Talia too. After she was killed, my heart burned with vengeance. But I have come to understand that not all Outsiders are evil.”

  Kane growls quietly.

  “I’m afraid I cannot forgive my sister’s death as easily as you, Hasker old friend.” The last two words are dripping with sarcasm.

  The one named Hasker tenses with anger, but Addom motions for him to be still. Then he gestures toward me again.

  “Kane, by your leave, may I parley with your omega.”

  “She’s not mine,” Kane grumbles.

  When Addom speaks again, he speaks rapidly, and his voice carries a sharp tone of reproach.

  “As the leader of the Alphas who dwell among the ruins, I take our traditions very seriously. The omega bears your mark, Kane. By our traditions, she is yours.”

  That does it. I don’t like how this guy is talking about me like I’m somebody’s piece of property. Especially not someone like Kane who hates my guts. I decide it’s time to speak out.

  “Hey, I’m right here, buddy,” I shout. “Don’t you think it’s a little rude to talk like that?”

  Dog squeezes my hand. “Sloane, what are you doing?”

  I know he’s not scared for his own sake. He’s only concerned about keeping me out of trouble. But I don’t care. I didn’t bust my butt in the marine academy just to have some Alpha talk about me like a piece of luggage.

  Kane, meanwhile, turns his head and glares at me.

  “Watch your mouth, Outsider. Addom is the leader of our people. Show some respect.”

  “I’ll show him some respect when he shows some to me,” I reply. Then, crossing my arms and squaring up, I face Addom. “You don’t need Kane’s or anyone else’s permission to speak to me. Now, what do you want to know?”

  A collective gasp rushes through the gathered crowd of Alphas, but I notice a knowing smile on Lily’s face.

  Addom looks at me sternly, and it takes everything I’ve got not to wilt under his intense glare. But after a moment, he tosses his head back and the cathedral fills with laughter that seems to shake the foundations of the building.

  “Kane, old friend, it seems you’ve found yourself an omega whose toughness matches your own. She reminds me of another intractable omega I know.”

  Behind him, a light blush touches Lily’s smiling face.

  “All right, Outsider,” Addom says, taking a few slow strides forward. “Speak your business then. Why have you come here to our homeland?”

  I take a deep breath.

  This is the moment I’ve been planning for. The whole mission depends on what happens next. But now I find myself at a loss for words.

  I decide to just come right out with it.

  “Lily, I’m Lance Corporal Sloane. I’ve been sent her by SynerGen to rescue you.”

  Lily laughs.

  “I’m sorry to disappoint you,” she says. “I’m sure you’ve gone through a great deal of trouble to get here. But I’m not in need of saving. I’m happy here, and I’m not going anywhere.”

  Shit. I figured that would happen. Even Dr. Frostgrave mentioned that the target would harbor delusions of wanting to stay. A kind of advanced Stockholm syndrome.

  Now that I can see her face to face, however, I’m wondering if it really is a delusion. She seems genuinely happy in this place.

  And she looks like a very different person from the one shown in her corporate ID photograph. Sure, all of the same facial features are there, along with her distinctive auburn hair. But now her face and body are decorated with tribal piercings to match her Alphas, and she’s dressed just like one of them, wearing nothing but a simple loincloth, and apparently unashamed of her naked breasts.

  She begins to step forward, but one of the Alphas stops her. He’s the youngest looking one with long, raven-black hair and skin as pale as marble.

  “Lily, be careful.”

  She touches his hand with a loving smile.

  “It’s okay, Kadmon,” she says. “She’s not going to hurt me. Besides, she’s unarmed. And I have something important to ask her.”

  Addom nods, and the young Alpha, Kadmon, reluctantly releases his grip. Lily steps forward with an imploring look.

  “Sloane, you’ve come here from the city hive. What has been happening there? Has anyone received my messages about this place? About the coverup? Is anyone doing anything about it?”

  She’s speaking so quickly I can barely keep up. I don’t know what the heck she’s talking about, but it’s clearly very important to her.

  “Your messages?” I ask, shaking my head. “What messages?”

  Lily’s face drops, and for an instant she almost looks like she’s going to cry, but she recovers herself. She takes another step forward. She is now several paces ahead of her Alphas.

  When she speaks again, her voice is on the verge of cracking.

  “You mean nobody has been receiving my transmissions? About the Cataclysm? About Seraph and the suppression field?”

  I shrug and shake my head again.

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t know what you’re—“

  I gasp as a sudden, unexpected tension seizes my muscles. My voice catches in my throat. For a split second, my body grows rigid, and a searing pain stabs at the base of my skull.

  Lily stares at me with a concerned look.

  “Sloane?”

  To my horror, I find my body acting against my will, moving with a strange, almost robotic precision. It is like I’m possessed—like I’ve become a puppet, and some demonic force is controlling my motions. The sensation is terrifying, and my stomach churns inside me.

  With frightening quickness, I unwillingly raise my leg, and of its own accord my hand darts to grab the thin, steel dagger concealed in my boot. Another fraction of a second, and the weapon is drawn, its deadly razor edge flashing like cold lightning as it catches the light.

  “No,” I gasp breathlessly.

  What is happening to me? Why am I doing this?

  Time seems to stretch out into slow motion. Lily’s eyes grow wide with fright, and her face blanches. In the background, I’m dimly aware of her Alphas moving forward to protect her, but they are too far away. The blade is already poised to be thrown. One quick flick of my arm and the blade will have flown and struck home.

  I want to close my eyes, but the lids won’t shut. They are focused with laser intensity on their target, which is right between Lily’s breasts.

  My muscles twitch. My arm begins its throw.

  But at
the last instant, a massive fist engulfs my wrist, arresting my swing and squeezing with a crushing pressure.

  At the same time, a powerful arm coils around my neck, muscles flexing, cutting off the blood to my brain.

  Warm breath tickles my ear.

  “Sloane, I’m sorry.”

  It’s Dog.

  His voice is the last thing I hear.

  The knife drops harmlessly from my crimped hand, but I don’t even hear it hit the floor before the world folds in on itself, and all that remains is endless darkness, silent and cold.

  CHAPTER 23: SLOANE

  I wake with a start.

  At first I think I’m still inside the cathedral—there is the same kind of eerie reverberation in the air that tells me this is a vast empty space. But I soon realize this place is different.

  Much different.

  It is an enormous domed room, dark and cavernous, with high-tech metal paneling all over the rounded ceiling and walls. I glance down at my body and see that I’m completely naked, lying on some sort of pallet. The air is cold, but my body is beaded with sweat.

  I try to sit up, but my muscles are weak and uncoordinated.

  “Come quick,” someone calls out, “She’s awake.”

  It’s Dog’s voice. The last sound I heard before I blacked out, and the first one I hear upon regaining consciousness. His voice is stern and militaristic as ever, but there is a clear note of concern.

  As I struggle to sit up, his strong arm slides under my shoulders, supporting me. He places his other hand on my chest, over my heart.

  “Easy,” he whispers. “Just relax, Sloane. Don’t strain yourself.”

  I open my lips to try and ask what the hell is going on, but my mouth is dry, and the only sound that comes out is a rasping breath.

  “She needs water,” Dog says.

  I realize that he is talking to Truk, who is kneeling on the other side of me. His ugly-handsome face framed with golden blond hair is a welcome and comforting sight. He nods and runs off, presumably to fetch some water for me.

  “Where…am I?” I croak.

  Dog simply shushes me gently and lays me back onto the pallet.

  There is a patter of running feet, and soon another figure leans over me, long strands of wavy auburn hair hanging down around an open, honest face filled with concern.

  It’s Lily.

  In an instant, the memory of everything that happened comes rushing back like a flood. The tense meeting in the cathedral. The mysterious things she was saying about SynerGen and the Cataclysm.

  And of course, the way that I lost control of my body and tried to kill Lily, the very woman I was sent to rescue.

  I wheeze and cough as I try to apologize—to explain that I didn’t want to hurt her, that I wasn’t acting of my own volition.

  It’s lucky that Dog was there to stop me.

  But Lily is not upset with me. In fact, she seems just as concerned for my wellbeing as everyone else. She drops to her knees beside me and gently holds me down to keep me from struggling.

  “Please, Sloane,” she says. “Just relax, okay? You’ve been through a lot, and your body needs to rest.”

  Truk returns with a tin cup spilling over with clear water. He guides it to my dry lips. The fluid splashes into my mouth, cool and refreshing, and the effect is almost immediate. It loosens my tongue and soothes my parched throat.

  Once I have swallowed a few gulps, I’m able to speak again.

  “Lily, I’m sorry. Please understand, I didn’t mean to attack you. Something took control of my body. I don’t know how to explain it, but you have to believe me.”

  She smiles.

  “I believe you, Sloane,” she says.

  “You do?”

  She nods. Well, that was easier than expected.

  “Not only that,” Lily goes on, “But I actually can explain it. Wait here. I’ll be right back.”

  I don’t know where the hell I’d go. I can barely even sit up.

  She runs off, and her footsteps echo lightly in this big, dark chamber.

  “Here,” Truk says, offering me the cup again. “Drink more.”

  I accept the water gratefully, finishing off the cup, and wiping the spills from my chin. Truk darts off for a refill.

  Okay, it’s time to figure out where the hell we are.

  Despite Dog’s protests, I finally manage to drag myself up into a sitting position. That’s when I realize that Kane is here too, crouching nearby. From his expression, I would swear that he’s relieved to see that I’m okay, but he immediately looks away, resuming his usual scowl instead.

  Nevertheless, I’m glad that he is here.

  I’m glad that all of my Alphas are here.

  It’s funny to think of them like that—as my Alphas—but somehow it just feels natural.

  I take a moment to blink the sleep out of my eyes and look around this cavernous chamber.

  The place is one enormous circular room, nearly the size of a stadium, with a rounded dome curving overhead. The floor, like the walls and ceiling, is covered with dark metal panelling. Thick insulated cables and conduits snake along the ground, converging toward the massive structure situated in the center of the room.

  “What is that?” I gasp.

  “That’s the Source,” Dog replies.

  That’s the Source? I had heard Truk and Kane mention that before, but I only assumed that they were referring to some abstract concept—a kind of deity in the religion of the Alphas. I never expected it to be a physical object.

  It is a massive device that dominates the center of this enormous space. Anyway, I think it’s a device. It is like a huge sphere covered in dark cones.

  Even more strangely, I notice it seems to be emitting a deep humming noise at the very lowest limit of audibility. It’s not even a sound so much as it is a feeling—a felt vibration deep in the very marrow of my bones.

  “The Source,” I whisper.

  Whatever it does, it is clearly important. The floor of the place is dotted here and there with other groups of Alphas and omegas. Some of them seem to be meditating or praying. Others are making slow laps around the Source. Yet others seem to be convalescents like me, lying on crude pallets surrounded by their companions.

  This really is some sort of holy place.

  I find Lily across the room. Her auburn hair makes her easy to spot, even in the dimness of this space. She is with her three Alphas, and I notice that they are holding little babies. Those must be Lily’s children.

  I didn’t realize she had children here. No wonder she has no interest in being rescued.

  A moment later, she comes running back toward us. She arrives almost simultaneously with Truk, who is bearing a welcome refill of water. I take the cup gratefully and sip while Lily takes a seat nearby.

  “Look at this,” she says.

  She holds out her open hand. Lying in her palm is a small device that almost looks like a little mechanical spider. I realize it is some sort of chip.

  “Do you know what this is?”

  I shake my head and take another gulp of water. I’ve never tasted anything so good in my life.

  “No clue,” I answer. “Where’d you get it?”

  “From inside your head.”

  I’m in the middle of taking another mouthful of water, and I nearly spray it all over her.

  “Inside my head?”

  Lily nods. “It’s the neural chip that SynerGen placed under the skin at the base of your neck.”

  She takes my hand and places the chip in my palm. I hold it close and study it in the low light. The thin pieces that look like spider legs must be the electrodes that connected it to my nerves.

  “I used to have one of those too,” Lily explains. “Only mine was very different. It could only be used to observe everything that I saw and heard. Yours seems to have been a new model. It could do more than just record your senses.”

  “Mind control,” I whisper.

  “Exactly. When yo
u tried to throw the knife at me before, your motions where strange and mechanical. I could tell that you weren’t really in control. I realized that it must have been some kind of control device, and I surmised that it was probably part of your neural implant.”

  A wave of anger surges over me as I understand what SynerGen and Dr. Frostgrave have done.

  “This was never really a rescue mission then.”

  Dog smooths his hand over my skin. His touch relaxes me a little.

  “Apparently not,” he says. “The rescue mission was just a front to get you close to Lily. Then, when you were in striking distance, somebody—probably Frostgrave—took control. The plan all along was to assassinate Lily, not to save her.”

  “But you stopped me.”

  Dog’s face takes on a pained expression.

  “I’m sorry I had to do it that way, Sloane. I didn’t want to hurt you. But I had to protect you at all costs. I knew if you threw that knife, the Alphas would fall on us and tear you to pieces for revenge. Even I’m not foolhardy enough to think I could hold off a hundred Alphas. My only option was to incapacitate you.”

  I place my hand on the hard muscles of his thigh and give him a squeeze.

  “Thank you,” I say. “I’m glad you did that.”

  I still don’t fully understand what Frostgrave’s plan was. There are too many missing pieces. But one thing is clear—Dog’s protective feelings toward me are what ensured that Frostgrave’s scheme failed, thankfully. In a way, it’s ironic.

  I look one more time at the neural chip in my palm. It’s just a little piece of metal and silicon,

  “Those fuckers,” I hiss.

  “Oh, you don’t even know how bad they are,” Lily says. “But you’ll find out soon enough. I’ve got lots of stuff to show you.”

  CHAPTER 24: SLOANE

  Once I’m feeling a little stronger, Lily leads me across the great chamber to the place where her Alphas are huddled protectively around three little babies who are sleeping peacefully on a soft blanket.

  At my approach, the Alphas tense up, eyeing me suspiciously, but Lily gives them a pacifying gesture.

  I can’t blame them for mistrusting me. After all, I tried to murder their mate right in front of their eyes. It wasn’t me doing it, but I don’t expect them to understand that.