His Rebellious Omega (The Royal Omegas Book 3)

by P. Jameson

  Chapter Fifteen

  Cassian

  I paced the small room in the omega barracks, trying to burn off the remains of the drug I was given before June and the beta, Alix, pried six goddamned bullets from my healing chest. A type of mead laced with something that made my wolf cringe but did far worse to omegas… and the one beta who had tried it.

  The juice they called it for slang.

  Juice my ass.

  “It took me six weeks to get clean,” Alix murmured. “June, eight. And here, you are. Fine after just a few hours.”

  June nodded. “This is good. There’s no time to waste.”

  Back and forth, back and forth. Each step brought me out of the haze, made my mind clearer.

  My wolf was okay, my body was healed. My heart however, was crawling with worry over Charolet. June assured me she was safe and sleeping somewhere. But what if she’d been given the same mead?

  “Tell me again what it does to omegas.”

  “It starts out kind of nice,” June sighed, her voice sounding haunted. “You feel good. Fulfilled. Like when you’ve had a big meal, which is so rare in the Badlands, that feeling.” She shook her head. “But it’s more than that. You feel energized. Strong. Vibrant, when before you were only dull. It sharpens your senses.”

  “It takes a few doses for the addiction to kick in,” Alix said.

  “Doses?”

  “Transfusions. They hook you up to a machine and pump you full of that shit.”

  “You let them do that to you?”

  Alix tossed out a wry smile, appearing older than I’d thought. “Yeah. You want it. It feels good. Didn’t you think it felt good, alpha?”

  “No.” I shook out my shoulders. “It felt unnatural. It felt…”

  Alix raised an eyebrow. “Powerful?”

  I ignored that and turned back to June. “Continue.”

  “Well, after a few trips to the chairs—”

  “Chairs?”

  “That’s what we call the transfusion machines.”

  “Oh.” God. If Charolet was hooked up to one of those chairs—

  “I know what you’re thinking,” June said. “But she won’t be given a transfusion yet. She was shot with a tranquilizer. She’ll be out for a day at least.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief that threatened to bring me to my knees. If my omega was sleeping, she’d be safe from the juice.

  “Go on,” I ground out, returning to my pacing.

  “After a few trips to the chairs, your body starts to change.”

  “The mutants?”

  June shook her head. “Not like that. Not yet. That’s the next level. Only the most promising candidates become Elite. No, your body changes on the inside. Something happens to our animals. It represses them somehow, leaving them partially dormant. Much like…”

  “Like the unmated alpha beasts.” Like his own animal that couldn’t shift.

  “And the betas,” Alix added.

  “But even though we don’t physically shift, our beasts are very much alive inside.”

  “Ours too,” June continued. “The animal fights the drug while the human becomes addicted.” I remembered the way Jacoby’s eyes changed. The crazed expression just before he pulled the gun on Charolet. “The ones who fight hard enough, and prove their strength, move on to become Elite. The others… well… let me show you. Come with me.”

  She headed for the door that would take us into the hallway, and I followed her. The lighting in the corridor was dim, but I could make out the paisley pattern of old wallpaper that was peeling in places. This building hadn’t been cared for like the one I’d visited before, with Dagger and Tavia.

  We stepped into an elevator that had to be hand cranked. With Alix’s help, I brought us up to the seventh floor. The doors opened to a wide common room that looked like it took up at least half of the floor. It was full of omegas in various states of consciousness, some slouched in chairs, others lying on couches. In the farthest corner was a long row of beds, each with a patient. Small machines pumped yellow fluid through tubes draining yellow fluid into ports on their shoulders. Other omegas milled about, seemingly caring for the sick ones.

  “What is this?” I asked.

  “This is where we care for the broken ones,” June explained. “This is what happens to the omegas who fail to meet the requirements for the Elite program.” She walked forward, and again, I followed her, pausing when she stopped at a chair.

  A small female, younger than myself, sat slumped there, her expression hazy as she blinked to focus on us. June brushed the hair back from her face and I could see the red-rimmed gaze I was becoming familiar with.

  “Hello, Martha,” June murmured. “How are you today?”

  Martha smiled lazily. “Better,” she slurred. “Just had my dose, so I’m… I’m… better.”

  I frowned. “They gave her juice?”

  June nodded, and Martha’s eyes got big.

  “Juice? Do you have any?” she asked me, suddenly coming out of her fog. “I just had my dose and they won’t give me anymore, but if you have some… wait, are you human? You’re human, right? Please.” She reached for my arm but I kept it out of reach. “Please, take me to the Elite. I need more juice. I need it.” Her voice had risen to a screech.

  I imagined Charolet slumped in one of these chairs, the life drained from her eyes until someone mentioned the drug. It twisted my stomach, thinking what could have happened to her if she’d come here alone. If she hadn’t wrecked that Humvee. If I hadn’t caught her and agreed to return with her.

  “Shh,” June murmured, pushing Martha back to her seat. She nodded at a nearby omega and the male brought a medicine cup with hardly more than a drop of the yellow substance, pressing it to Martha’s lips as we walked away.

  “She starts detox tomorrow,” Alix explained, gesturing to the beds. “We only have so many drip machines, so many beds. It’s a slow process, but little by little, the omegas return to their former selves.”

  June nodded. “As we get clean, our numbers grow. There are currently one hundred and three unqualified omegas, but only thirty-seven of us clean and healthy. The ones who’ve been through the process, like myself and Alix, help the ones who are broken.”

  “And more sick are brought in every day.”

  “The humans know this is here?” My mind spun with the implications. What did they intend to do with these people?

  “Yes. As do our fellow omegas.”

  I looked at Alix. “The beta traitors?”

  “They know nothing. They… we… our motivations were misguided. We saw only that omegas might become equal to us, or we might even become obsolete altogether. We couldn’t see the bigger picture.” Alix’s expression grew grim. “I suspect there will be much pain in our future because of these decisions.”

  I couldn’t argue with that. King Adalai’s mother died as a result of an omega traitor. No doubt, he would deal harshly with the beta faction.

  “Why not return to the Badlands? The king has put an omega, Tavia, in charge of the rebuilding. You would be cared for there.”

  June and Alix shared a look. “We are not permitted to leave the keep once we enter. That is the agreement we enter into upon arriving. Several have tried to escape…”

  “They didn’t make it,” Alix finished.

  June stepped closer, her voice going urgent. “You are the first sign of hope we’ve had. You are an alpha. You can help us.”

  “You’re the only one who can help us,” Alix emphasized. “And… at the same time, fulfill your duty to the king.”

  “Alix.”

  “It’s true,” Alix hissed at June. “The betas are rising up, and he has sworn to protect the king. He can’t do that if he stays here.”

  They both stared at me, awaiting my decision.

  I was pulled in too many directions. It divided me into too many pieces, my mind and heart and soul scattering.

  My mind repeated my father’s chants about
duty and honor and laws. Keep your promises to Adalai.

  My heart told me to stay and find Charolet. Save her, your mate. The one you need, the one you long for.

  My soul bound me to the Weren at its very core. I was alpha, meant to lead and protect. Your people are everything. Help your people.

  In the end, one thing made my decision.

  Charolet.

  I imagined how she would feel if we traded places. If she walked into this room and saw what I saw. If she witnessed for herself, the way the humans made the omegas suffer under false pretenses. How she would feel if Martha had grabbed her arm, desperate for a little juice.

  My omega would raise hell to free them. She would risk her own safety, her own life, to help her people. How could I, being her mate, do any different? I could never walk out of this room and back to her, with my head held high, knowing I’d left her people to suffer.

  Our people. All of them.

  “I will return to Luxoria and prepare an army,” I said. “We will come for you, like we did before, except this time…” We wouldn’t be turned away with easy lies. It was time to redeem the kingdom and save our omegas. For good. “This time, we will bring you home.”

  The relief on June’s face, the trust she held there for me, an alpha, was unexpected and spoke to how badly she’d had it here in the keep.

  “But first, I need to speak to Charolet.”

  Alix shook her head. “She was tranq’ed, remember?”

  Shit. She would be unconscious for a while. If I hurried, perhaps I could make it back here before she woke.

  “Rielle, then. I need to speak with Rielle.”

  Alix glanced at June and they both nodded. “I can take you to her.” Alix stalked to a nearby cabinet and pulled out a hooded jacket. “You’ll need this.”

  Some time later, we moved through the shadows of the human keep like silent wraiths. Alix was stealthy and knew shortcuts I couldn’t have maneuvered on my own. Eventually we entered another omega barracks and wound through a similar rundown hallway.

  “Through there,” Alix whispered, pointing to an open entrance at the end. “She will be with the other recruits. Look for your chance, and make it brief. Also. Make sure she keeps it a secret.”

  I nodded, stepping into the shadows of a crumbling statue while Alix backed away.

  “Leave the same way you came in, through the fence. They don’t watch over there because we have trackers now.” Flashing a wrist to show me, I could see a green blinking light through the thin skin there.

  “Got it.”

  Alix gave me one final nod, one that conveyed too much hope, more than the traitor beta would have wanted me to see, and disappeared into the stairwell.

  I wasn’t sure how much time passed before Rielle stumbled into the dark hall, looking for a bathroom. Right away, I could tell she was disoriented, and my throat burned with fury knowing the reason why.

  Juice. They’d already dosed her.

  Shit.

  “Cassian!” she blurted when she saw me. “You were very, very bloody. Are you okay? Are you here? Am I seeing things? I can’t tell.” She frowned when I shushed her.

  “I have to go away for a little while.”

  “Oh no!” Her face turned sad and her lower lip actually trembled. “Are you dying? Is that why I’m seeing you? Or…” Her eyes went wide. “You’re a ghost aren’t you? Oh no, you’re a ghost.” Her expression collapsed in despair. “Charolet is going to be so sad when she finds out. This is just awful. She really likes you, I can tell.”

  Her admission surprised me. She was definitely under the influence if she was talking about Charolet’s feelings. Damn it.

  “Now what will she do with her broken heart.” Rielle giggled and hiccuped.

  “What the hell is funny about that?”

  “I just imagined her carrying around a shattered heart, all the little pieces slipping through her fingers. Can you imagine that? Charolet dropping all her perfect pieces.” Her expression sobered. “That’s… that’s sad. Not funny. Cassian, what’s wrong with me?”

  I didn’t have time to explain.

  “Listen to me, Rielle. I need you to pay very close attention.”

  She nodded, growing more and more concerned. More normal, less dazed. Good, this meant there was still time to help her before she turned into another Martha.

  “I have to go, but I’m coming back. I’m coming back for you all. Until I do, you need to stay away from the mead. Do you hear me? Stay away from the mead.”

  “Oh… o-okay.”

  “I need you tell Charolet when she wakes up.”

  “Where are you going?”

  I stared hard at her. It was better that she didn’t know. Just in case Jacoby or the humans discovered my plan.

  “I won’t be long. You must tell Charolet. Repeat what I said.”

  “You are coming back for her.”

  “Yes. And…”

  “And stay away from the mead.”

  “Yes.”

  But even as she said it, her eyes were wandering back to the room she’d just left. I had a feeling she would forget the most important part of my message.

  My chest throbbed at the idea of leaving Charolet to this. Alone, with all this. My wolf needed her near, needed to know without a doubt that she was okay.

  My animal would have to wait.

  Leaving was the only acceptable choice. Helping the people she—we—cared about was the only acceptable choice.

  Charolet was reckless but she wasn’t stupid. I was going to have to trust my omega enough to leave her. The reality was, I was leaving half of my goddamned heart with her, and I wouldn’t get it back until she was safe by my side.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Charolet

  The bed I woke up in was so comfortable I thought I was back at Cassian’s outpost cabin. Disoriented, I stretched, and every muscle screamed in protest.

  It was all coming back to me.

  I’d shifted. I’d been shot.

  Cassian…what happened to Cassian?

  Bolting upright, I scanned my surroundings. It didn’t look like anywhere I’d ever been before. A bright white room with windows close to the high ceiling. Sparse furniture, and a freshly made bed on the other wall.

  And no sign of the alpha. My heart lurched when I realized he wasn’t with me.

  But Rielle was. With her head at the other end of my bed, and her feet near my pillow, she snored softly.

  I took a quick peek at my bare skin under the sheet. No sign of the wound. Shifting was good for erasing damning evidence like that. Now I couldn’t be sure if I was shot with a tranquilizer gun or one of those silver bullets.

  No sign of my clothes, either. Tucking the sheet under my armpits, I rattled Rielle’s calf. “Ri, wake up.”

  She groaned, and pulled a ball of blankets closer to her, but made no attempt to open her eyes.

  “Rielle,” I said it with more force this time.

  Another whine as her eyes fluttered open. “Hey, Char, you’re human again.”

  I must’ve woken her from a deep sleep, because she was slurring her words like the time Zelene smuggled a bottle of wine out of the castle kitchen by hiding it under her skirt. Rielle patted my leg and put her head down on it.

  I jerked my leg out from underneath her head. “Where are we?”

  That earned me a scowl.

  “In the keep.” She sat up and exaggerated her stretch, accompanied by an audible yawn. “Oh! You have clothes. I was supposed to tell you that.”

  I considered the neatly folded pile on the table next to the bed. It looked to be a light linen top and bottom. I appreciated someone had thought to leave them for me.

  She giggled.

  That was when I noticed her eyes. They were rimmed with red, like Jacoby’s had been. That happened, right? My memory was fuzzy and I couldn’t exactly ask Rielle for a play by play until I figured out why the hell her eyes were red.

  “What’s wrong with
you?”

  “Nothing.” She drew back like I’d offended her. “I answered your questions, didn’t I?”

  Okay, that was a little more like Rielle. I eyed the bars over the high windows before I reached for the clothes. “Are we in jail?”

  It was totally possible, after the warm welcome we’d received.

  “No.” She tipped her face up, and she glowed in the sunshine. “This building used to be a hotel but they repurposed it to be an—” she yawned again, totally unlike her. Rielle was usually the first one out of bed in the morning. “—omega barracks.”

  “Doesn’t exactly sound like home sweet home.” I stood and fastened the pants. They were way too big. Zelene had ordered the castle kitchen staff to feed us until we couldn’t eat anymore. But after years of fighting to survive, I didn’t have much of an appetite. “Are we free to leave these barracks?”

  Rielle thought about it for a moment and shrugged.

  “Let’s find out. You can tell me what happened as you give me the tour.” I pulled her off the bed by her arm. I wasn’t sure which one of us was more conspicuous. Me in my bunker issued linens or her in her leather pants and belted jacket that pretty much screamed Property of Luxoria.

  I had to remind myself this wasn’t enemy territory. Wasn’t supposed to be, anyway. But we were greeted by the wrong end of more than one gun when we arrived. And by Jacoby. Damn. He was our friend. He should’ve given us the benefit of the doubt.

  But would I have given him the same luxury if the tables were turned? That assumed I had something to lose.

  Cassian. My heart tugged in my chest as we walked down a long quiet hallway checkered with shadows. “What happened to Cassian?” I whispered, like I had to protect him.

  “The omegas took him away, on this little cart type thingy.” Another giggle. If I didn’t need her help, I’d snap at her to get it together. But until I knew why we were shot at, no questions asked, and what was wrong with her, I couldn’t trust any other omega in the keep.

  “He was hurt, bad, Char. I don’t know how many shots Jacoby landed.” She sounded more lucid than she had before. “Jacoby shot Cassian. It’s like some weird dream in bizarro world.”