Page 95 of Ruined Omega

I rush forward, catch it, and aim it at the Source.

“Turn her them both back!” I roar.

“You as well?” Seraph says, with just the faintest hint of annoyance in his voice.

My heart is pounding. My blood speeds in my veins and the rush of it fills my ears until it’s almost deafening. The Source is like a god to me and my people. It is the Source of all life within the Zone. And Seraph is its messenger. What I’m doing now—and what Canaris did a moment ago—is an unforgiveable heresy.

We are threatening to destroy our own god.

But I would go to any length to save my omega. I would condemn my soul to hell for the rest of eternity. She is that important to me. She is more important than anything else.

More important than the tribe.

Than the Zone.

Than the Source.

I keep my eyes focused on my target, but at the same time I sense Baen approaching behind me. I know, from our bond as pack brothers, why he is there. Should I start to change into a beta, should I drop this weapon, he will take it up after me.

“I’m serious,” I growl. “If I feel even the slightest twinge that you are turning me into a beta, I will pull this trigger. Look into my eyes and tell me that you don’t believe me…”

“I don’t need to look into your eyes,” Seraph says. “I believe you.”

“Good. Then you have until the count of three until—“

“That won’t be necessary,” Seraph answers calmly. “Answer me this Alpha: to what lengths would you go to save your omega? Would you die for her?”

“I would die. I would kill. I would burn the world if I had to.”

Seraph pauses for a beat, and then he responds, “Very well.”

CHAPTER 32: HINES

It sounds like someone is arguing, but their voices are distant and muted. I can’t tell what they are saying. My head throbs with a dull, grinding ache, and my insides feel all twisted up and gross.

But the nauseating tightness in my abdomen loosens up.

By slow degrees, the world comes back into focus. The sounds become clear again. The room becomes bright—or at least as bright as is possible in the dimness of the Temple of the Source.

Lily is leaning over me, her face close to mine. At first she still looks like a black-and-white photograph. Then, slowly but surely, the color returns. The pink of her cheeks and the deeper red of her lips. Her auburn hair.

Her mouth widens into a big grin.

“Hines!” Her clear shout is almost painful after the soft, muted sounds I’ve been experiencing. “Oh thank goodness you’re okay.” She turns. “Guys, come quick! Hines is better! Look…”

I turn my lolling head in the direction she is looking. The low angle tells me that I’m lying on the floor. That in and of itself is weird enough. But even more shocking is the fact that Tal is holding a bazooka, and he’s aiming it right at the giant orb of the Source and Seraph’s blue, holographic face.

Without moving the weapon, Tal tilts his head and looks toward me. His intensely blue eyes brighten with happiness when he sees me.

Suddenly, the events of the past few minutes come flooding back. The attack. The way that Seraph changed the Farlanders. Abaddon’s last words.

And finally, me turning into a beta.

My skin crawls and I shiver at the thought of what I became, if only briefly. I look down at my arms and find that the color has returned. The dark veins have disappeared.

I look back at Tal, still pointing the weapon at the Source.

Now I understand what happened. When I said that I knew the recipe for the medicine, the so-called cure for the mutation, Seraph saw me as a threat. From his perspective, the mutation wrought by the Source has brought balance to the Zone by creating Alphas and omegas. A cure could throw all of that out of whack. Seraph wanted to get rid of me by the only means in his power—by transforming me into a beta.