Page 16 of Ruined Omega

It is a pre-mating ritual.

A sudden tremor runs up my spine, like someone just dropped an ice-cube down the back of my dress.

“You’re cold,” Tal says, sensing my shivers. “Wait here.”

Wait here? Where the hell would I go? Part of me is screaming to rip the planks off the boarded-up window and climb out. But of course I don’t do that. I stay rooted in place.

A moment later, Tal returns with his trench coat.

“You can use this as a blanket.”

I just stand there dumbly for a moment, fidgeting my fingers. Then I ask the first thing that pops into my mind.

“Where are you going to sleep?”

“I’m not.”

He lays the trench coat on the edge of the nest cushions, then trudges back toward the door, steps through, and pulls it to behind him. A narrow spear of dim light pokes in through the gap. I stand for minute, just listening to the tread of Tal’s bare feet as he crosses the outer room. Those feet are remarkably quiet for someone so big.

They are a predator’s feet.

There is a soft clunk as he drops back into the chair. A tired sigh. He’s going to keep watch all night long.

I crouch and climb into the strange nest of arranged blankets and pillows. It’s surprisingly comfortable. I take my earrings out and set them aside, along with my bracelets. Then I clutch Tal’s huge leather coat and pull it over myself to keep warm.

That’s when it hits me.

The scent.

His scent.

Of course I’ve noticed Tal’s scent from the moment I met him. And this little hovel—far too tiny for an Alpha—is filled wall to wall with his odor.

But this nest and this jacket, they are absolutely saturated with it. The smell of him. This is where Tal has slept for months. I imagine him catching short naps in the day time. Staying up all night to keep watch over me across the street. A secret protector that I never even guessed was over here.

It should be totally unnerving, being locked in alone with a brutal Alpha like Tal. But the way that the residue of his masculine scent quilts my body makes me feel safer than I’ve felt in a long, long time.

However, there is still some adrenaline coursing through me from the night’s excitement.

I can’t sleep. Not yet.

I find the pocket inside the leather coat and touch the hard rectangle of the box that contains Tal’s nanite serum. It occurs to me what a big sacrifice he is making. He has been living here in the city hive, alone and friendless, for months on end. All to watch over little old me. A woman who, until tonight, was a total stranger.

Tal’s medicine makes me think of my own.

The blue pills that I’ve never taken because I’ve never had to. In fact, taking them has never really been my intention at all.

I reach out of the nest and draw the pill bottle out of my bag, taking care not to rattle them. I don’t want Tal to hear and get suspicious again.

The blue pills are a top secret project—the very last remnant of SynerGen, which I have kept in my possession. Toward the end, my boss at SynerGen, Dr. Frostgrave, had me working on a “cure” for the contamination of the Quarantine Zone. A drug that would counteract the effects of the mutation.

Before SynerGen imploded, I managed to make off with the only batch of the drug—one small bottle. I don’t even know if the stuff works, but based on my calculations, it should be able to stave off the Quarantine Zone mutation, at least temporarily.

I’m the only person left who has any detailed knowledge about this medicine. The complex chemical recipe is stored on the hard drive of the computer across the street in my apartment.

I still don’t know what I’m going to do with it.

I haven’t even told Lily or Sloane about it in my messages.