Page 80 of Marked Omega

“Hold on tight,” he growls. “And don’t let go.”

“I never will,” I whisper. “I promise.”

We set off, heading north toward the city. Toward home.

EPILOGUE: LILY

Heteropaternal superfecundation.

I know. Even though I’m a trained scientist, it was a new term for me too.

It refers to a phenomenon where twins or triplets have different fathers. It can happen when a woman has several ova fertilized by multiple males. In the outside world this is a very rare occurence, at least for humans.

But here in the zone, it’s pretty much the way things work.

Over the past several months, Hannah and I have helped out with a lot of births, and there are a few trends that we’ve noticed.

Alphas and omegas are always born in litters. Usually they are triplets or quadruplets, but the biggest litter we’ve seen so far is seven.

Also, omegas are relatively rare. Maybe one per litter at most.

There are fewer omegas to have babies, but when they do have babies, they have a whole bunch. And they are always mated to a pack of three or four Alphas. No couples here in the zone. It seems like all of this must be a part of Seraph’s “new plan,” although we still haven’t been able to dig too deeply into the AI’s secrets.

But the strangest thing that we’ve noticed in all these births is that the babies seem to share traits with all of their Alpha daddies, not just one of them.

Heteropaternal superfecundation. I can only assume that the same thing has happened to me.

That little life force that I sensed in my womb before? It’s grown, and now I realize there are actually three little ones growing inside me.

Three babies.

Three daddies.

One belly.

Mine.

You know, for a girl who was a virgin only half a year ago, I’d say things have escalated pretty quickly for me.

I wonder if one of my little ones will be an omega? If so, I will name her Eva.

And I’m not the only one who is expecting. I was right about Hannah. She was already pregnant by the time I showed up in the zone, and now she is getting very close. She looks like she could pop at any minute.

“Hey Lily,” she says as she waddles over carrying some audio equipment and cables. “Remember when you asked me if there was anything I miss about the outside?”

I smile up at her. We’re in the chamber of the Source right now, and I’m on the floor, working on some wiring that runs up from the promethium batteries buried below.

“Yeah?”

She drops the equipment and I offer her a hand to help her awkwardly sit down beside me.

“Ice cream,” she whispers. “I miss ice cream.”

My groan is almost orgasmic.

“Holy shit,” I say. “I could eat a whole gallon right now.”

I set to work hooking up the audio equipment into Dr. Lucian’s data slate, which is in turn hooked into the power system of the Source, the only electrical power in the entire zone.