The Omni Towers Boxed Set (Books 4-6): A Dystopian Fantasy Series

by Jamie A. Waters

  Love for Sergei, Nikolai, and Yuri filled her heart, and she infused her energy with the strength of her emotions, channeling it toward the figurine and into Sergei. In that moment, she realized these three men were more than her bondmates or family—they shared pieces of each other’s souls. They needed her as much as she needed them.

  It wasn’t just the bond’s connection, but something that extended into the most primitive parts of themselves they didn’t fully understand. It was elemental and primal, raw and pure power, and beyond her ability to comprehend. It was like catching sunlight in the palm of one’s hand, with the power to either gently warm or burn them if they got too close. The longer she channeled their combined strength, the brighter and hotter their power flared until it was nearly blinding.

  Whether it was instinctual or some sort of divine intervention, Valentina wasn’t sure. But a sense of knowing filled her, and she opened her eyes to look down into Sergei’s face. Even without checking, she knew the bullet was gone. Whatever damage had been caused by Lena’s gun had been repaired. Sergei was once again whole and perfect, and completely hers, just as she belonged to him.

  He sat up, causing the statue to tumble into his lap. Kayla and Ariana sat back, shaking their heads as though slightly dazed. The dragon hadn’t changed in appearance this time, although the swirls of pearlized reds and greens were much more obvious. It was even more beautiful than she’d initially realized.

  Sergei cupped her face, searching her expression, and murmured, “But not as beautiful as you.”

  She blinked at him. “You heard my thoughts?”

  He nodded, brushing his thumb across her cheek. “I feel you within me, little dove. You’ve always been in my heart, but this is so much more. Your love is so pure and more precious than anything I’ve ever experienced. You make me want to be worthy of such a gift.”

  “You’ve always been worthy, Seryozha,” she whispered, leaning even closer as his heated fire energy swirled around her, drawing her toward him. She placed her hand over his heart, her love for him nearly overwhelming with its intensity. More than anything, she wanted to show him how much she valued and treasured him. “But you should not say such things until we’re alone, Seryozha.”

  He gave her a knowing smile and pressed a light kiss against her lips. “I will have even more things to say to you then—a lifetime of things for your ears alone.”

  Her heart soared in acknowledgement of his words. Sergei had always known exactly what to say to her and how to chase away the shadows and darkness from her life. The world wouldn’t be nearly as bright without him in it. Tracing her fingers over the area where the bullet had entered, she couldn’t hide her relief at knowing he was out of danger.

  “There’s not even a mark, and I don’t sense the bullet anymore. Are you in any pain?”

  He placed his hand over hers. “No, Valechka. You’ve healed all my wounds, not just the ones caused here tonight. As long as you’re by my side, there is no pain. You are everything I have ever wanted.”

  Her stomach fluttered at his words, and she looked up into his eyes. She could easily get lost in their gray depths and the heat of his gaze. She swallowed, wishing they had a chance to be alone, but duty called. They couldn’t leave their people in danger, and she knew Sergei felt the same.

  Nikolai’s voice was gentle as he held out his hand to help her up. “We must go, Valya.”

  Valentina nodded and stood. Yuri extended his hand to help Sergei up.

  Sergei winked at her and said, “By the way, Yuri, I won’t need to take over your training duties after all.”

  Yuri’s gaze flew toward her. “Dammit, Valya. You agreed to marry him already? You couldn’t hold out until he accepted my terms?”

  She smiled sweetly. “Now why would I have done that? After all, you were the one who put the idea of marriage and babies into his head. Oh, and let’s not forget giving him the advantage when I tried sneaking out to meet with Dmitri. Maybe next time you’ll choose your allies more carefully.”

  Yuri scowled and crossed his arms over his chest.

  “It’s about time,” Nikolai murmured and brushed a kiss against her temple. “Come, Valya. Let’s go save our people and then you two can celebrate. You both deserve every happiness.”

  “I think we should go back to the days of having a vykup,” Yuri muttered, following behind them as they left the building. “If Sergei wants to marry her, we should be able to extract a bride price.”

  “Forget it, Yuri,” she said with a laugh. “You’re going to have to deal with training recruits on your own.”

  “That’s a shame,” Yuri said with a sigh.

  Sergei put his hand behind her back and led her up the hill toward their speeders. “It’s more of a shame that I would have agreed to two years of training.”

  Yuri cursed loudly. “How mad would you be if he got shot again, Valya?”

  Valentina leaned against Sergei and grinned. “You’re not shooting him, Yuri.”

  “Definitely a shame,” Yuri grumbled.

  Chapter Twelve

  The situation was worse than Valentina expected. On the drive to the excavation site, Sergei had been reaching out to their people while Kayla communicated with the ruin rats and Omnis stationed there. They were putting together bits and pieces of the story, and so far, it wasn’t looking good.

  From all appearances, the earthquake had originated within the vicinity of the underground cavern. The effects they’d experienced in Ivan’s camp had been negligible compared to the excavation site. More than a few people had been injured and some were trapped in the cavern, cut off from all exits. With the rapids possibly still rising, the situation was becoming dire.

  Valentina pulled up behind Sergei and climbed off her speeder. Kayla and Carl had arrived just minutes before them and were already rushing toward the large group congregating a short distance away.

  Taking off her helmet, Valentina placed it on the seat of her speeder as the rest of their group started arriving. Grigory had stayed with Ivan back in their camp while they assessed the rest of the damage from the earthquake. Peter and Viktor had also left to check on their people. She didn’t know what was going to happen to Lena’s second-in-command, but it was likely he’d be subjected to a formal inquiry. In the interim, Ivan would retain custody of Roman until a decision could be made.

  Nikolai climbed off his speeder and pulled off his helmet. Valentina took a step toward him and asked, “Did you speak with the people in our camp?”

  He nodded. “They’re all accounted for and unharmed. The earthquake didn’t affect them.” He turned to Sergei. “Who’s in charge here?”

  “Kayla and Carl, for the most part. We pulled off most of our people to work on the tower construction. I left a crew in place, but they’ve primarily been acting as support personnel for the excavation team.”

  Valentina studied the large group congregating amongst the ruined buildings and near the entrance to a large chasm. Some people were being treated for injuries, and a few were sitting down with bandages or bone molds covering portions of their bodies. The group was bigger than she expected. If she had to guess, she’d say two hundred people were living and working in the immediate vicinity, but not all of them were Coalition. “How many of our people are still here?”

  “Only about fifty, maybe a little more,” Sergei said, glancing in the direction she was looking. “Some are under my direct command, but we also have some who are loyal to Lena and Peter. A lesser number belong to Ivan’s camp, and I believe Nikolai has even fewer. The rest are ruin rats and Omnis.”

  She frowned. That might be something of a problem, depending on what orders Lena had given to her people. They wouldn’t find out about her death right away. Until word trickled down to their respective camps, Nikolai and Sergei could still be targets.

  “Kolya, there may be some tactical issues to consider if you accompany us.”

  “We’ll stay vigilant, Valya, but I must check on o
ur people,” Nikolai said, placing his hand on her back.

  She nodded. With Lena dead, and Ivan and Peter occupied, Nikolai could act as a stand-in to make any decisions necessary to preserve life.

  Ariana and Alec approached them, along with Brant and Lars right behind them. Ariana bit her lip and said, “I can feel everyone’s fear and worry from here. Do we know where the people are trapped?”

  “Not far from here,” Sergei said, motioning for them to follow.

  Valentina walked behind him, taking the opportunity to study the crumbling buildings. It was difficult to tell since she’d never been here, but based on the amount of rubble, the damage was more than a little extensive. They’d need to completely reinforce some of these buildings again if they intended to use them.

  They passed by a collapsed building, and she frowned, catching sight of crates of supplies within. If their people were trapped underground, it didn’t bode well for any of them. Ariana was a skilled earth channeler, but Valentina had a difficult time believing she could stabilize the earth enough to help them.

  A dark-haired woman broke away from the crowd and walked over to Sergei. “I’m glad you’re here. We managed to get the communication tower back up, but we’re still having problems reaching our people down below.”

  Sergei nodded. “How many are trapped, Yuisa?”

  “Four in the elevator, but another eight were down in the cavern running scans. A few of them were testing the water levels, so they were closest to the river. We don’t know if any of them are alive or not.”

  “Assume they’re alive unless we have confirmation otherwise,” Nikolai ordered, his tone sharp.

  Yuisa turned, her eyes widening at the sight of Valentina and Nikolai. “Oh— Of course, Chairman. I apologize. No disrespect was intended.”

  Valentina caught Yuri’s eye, and he moved forward to stand on the other side of Nikolai. Until they figured out who the players were, they needed to be cautious. The fact no one was expecting them was to their benefit, but she didn’t know how loyal these people were to Lena or Peter. Whenever Nikolai did venture out, he usually had more people protecting him.

  “You worry too much, Valya,” Nikolai said quietly enough that no one else could hear, except for Yuri.

  “And you don’t worry enough,” she murmured, catching sight of Brant beside Alec. Brant didn’t look particularly happy about Alec and Ariana being there either.

  Kayla jogged over to them. “They’re running stability scans on the area. We’ve lost supports in at least six areas, communication has crapped out, and a dozen people are missing.”

  Valentina frowned. “Do you know where they were last working?”

  “We have an idea,” Kayla said, motioning for them to follow her. She led them into a command tent where a few people were working. A man with light-brown hair was sitting at a console and looked up when they entered.

  “Scoot over, V,” Kayla said, nudging the man to the side. She took his place and pulled up a three-dimensional diagram of the underground cavern. Pointing to two locations on the screen, she said, “Okay. At the last check-in, we had one team here and another deeper below the surface. The others are in the elevator, which is about,” she pointed to another area, “there.”

  Sergei leaned forward, studying the diagram. “We need to secure the elevator first. If those cables snap, the people won’t survive. Can you rig a device to pull up the elevator?”

  Kayla nodded. “Yes, provided nothing is obstructing it. We can try lowering someone to attach a couple of cables to the elevator supports. Those devices are designed to only lift the weight of one person, but we can try to hook several of them together.”

  Valentina frowned. “What if the area around the elevator isn’t clear? The damage up here is bad enough. If these people are below ground, fallen rocks could be a problem.”

  Kayla blew out a breath. “That’s my worry too. We need a straight shot out of the chasm to pull the elevator up. Otherwise, we’ll have to manually pull them out one by one, and it’ll be more difficult to get to the rest of our people. Not all of them have experience ruin diving with a cable and harness. The elevator is our best option.”

  Alec cocked his head, studying the display. “How much does the elevator weigh?”

  “A lot,” Kayla admitted with a frown. “We might need a dozen cable devices and motors to pull it up. Unfortunately, some of our equipment has been damaged. I’m not sure we have enough that are still functional.”

  Sergei motioned to Yuisa. “Gather a few of our people to check on our equipment. Find as many of these devices and motors as you can, verify they’re in working order, and bring them to the edge of the chasm.”

  Yuisa nodded and ducked out of the tent.

  Kayla was quiet for a moment, studying the screen. She straightened and wiggled her fingers at Alec. “Hey! Can you do your thing on the elevator and pull it up with your energy?”

  Alec hesitated. “With Lars’s help, possibly. It would be better if we had more air channelers, but we may be able to do it. I’m just not sure we’ll have enough power to lift something that far. If it were a short distance, yes.”

  Valentina glanced around the room at the few remaining people she didn’t know. The man Kayla had greeted was still there, standing close to a woman with fiery-red hair. Based on their body language, they were obviously a couple. Another man was working at a different console. It appeared to be a communication system, but he didn’t seem to be having much luck with it.

  Sergei approached her and placed his hand on her back. “You have a thought, Valechka?”

  “Perhaps we should speak in private,” she said quietly, not willing to discuss her idea in front of these strangers.

  Sergei smiled and gestured to three people still in the command tent. “You can speak freely in front of them. Josten is one of the Shadows I worked with during our initial occupation of the towers. I’ve known him for over a year. Jinx and Veridian are close friends with Kayla. They’ll all understand our unique circumstances.”

  “They’re good people,” Kayla said, leaning back in her chair. “I grew up with V, and Jinx has become as close as a sister. Josten saved my ass when I tried to bring down the towers with an earthquake. They all know about this energy stuff, and they’re cool with it.”

  Brant smiled and shook his head. “You’re the only one I know who ends up being good friends with people who once tried to kill you.”

  Josten frowned. “I only took her hostage. I never tried to kill her.”

  Kayla nodded. “True. Most of my closest friends have either abducted me or wanted me dead a time or two. I don’t take it personally anymore.”

  Lars cleared his throat. “It must be your winning personality.”

  Kayla grinned at him. “Must be.”

  Valentina frowned. With her using the dragon to heal Sergei at Ivan’s camp, and the people who had witnessed their display in the towers after she’d been shot, their secret was well and truly out. She glanced over at Nikolai, who smiled in understanding.

  He took a step closer. “If our goal is to save our people, including those who may be trapped, we cannot remain silent. Go ahead, Valya. Speak freely. Time is of the essence.”

  Valentina nodded and pulled out the small dragon figurine. “Alec, would you be able to combine your powers using this? If you aren’t sure you have the power to perform such a feat, do you think this would help you?”

  Alec arched his brow, clearly intrigued as he studied the small statuette in her hand. “It might be possible. It worked well for you when you healed Sergei.”

  Kayla shook her head. “No. Valentina can direct it, but you can’t. It will tolerate you because of Ariana, but it belongs with Valentina. It really likes her.” Kayla frowned and leaned forward to view it. “Um, I don’t think it was swirling like that before we got here.”

  Ariana approached her and studied the figurine. “It’s resonating even stronger with you, Valentina. I think Kayla�
�s right. It wants you to be the one to use it. I’m somehow picking up traces of emotion from it.”

  Nikolai frowned. “How can stone project emotion?”

  Valentina lifted the small dragon, fascinated by the vivid swirls of red and green beneath the gold. It was almost hypnotizing, and the longer she stared at it, the more it seemed to warm in her hand. “I think… If you take me to this elevator, I believe I may able to use the stone.”

  Sergei frowned. “If this is dangerous to you, I do not want you to attempt it. We can try the cabling devices first.”

  “I don’t think it’s dangerous to me,” she admitted. “I’m not sure I can explain, but I think I know how to use it. I’ll need all of you there to help.”

  Sergei didn’t appear convinced, but he nodded. “I’ll show you where the lift is located. Hopefully, we can access that area without too much trouble.”

  Sergei handed another cabling device to Kayla. He’d offered to help set it up, but Kayla had shooed him away claiming the experts should be the ones to handle the ruin diving equipment. She was right, so he’d let her, Carl, and the rest of her group work on it.

  He turned and walked back toward a stack of crates. They’d gathered a large group of people and were coordinating their efforts to locate more cables and motors. It was an exercise in frustration to find that many of their supplies had been damaged from the earthquake. Some could still be salvaged, but it would take too long to repair them, so they were searching for working items that could be used in their rescue efforts.

  Valentina was standing a short distance away and speaking quietly with Nikolai and Yuri. The dragon was still in her hand, and she was showing it to Nikolai. Whatever she was saying was too low to be overheard. Through their bond, he could sense her apprehension. He knew she was trying to figure out the best way to use the statue to save their people. She’d never connected directly with Alec or Lars before, and none of them knew how it would work.