Page 31 of Savage Surrender

Later, he mouths.

“Assuming we survive the evening,” Tristan says. Then he presses his lips to the crown of her head - the gentlest thing he has done all night, smuggled beneath the swagger.

His hand moves higher along her thigh. Her breath catches, and the bond flares.

Then her chin lifts and the wall locks back into place.

“Don’t think this means you’re forgiven.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Tristan says darkly.

She laughs.

The sound does more damage than her mouth on my finger.

Then the lights dim. The quartet cuts off.

Montgomery takes the stage.

“Friends. Colleagues. Honored guests.” His amplified warmth settles over every table. “Tonight, I want to speak to you about the omega.”

And he does. His mission. His life’s work. The fragility of the omega population, declining numbers, heats that can still kill. His passion is genuine; that is what makes it obscene. He speaks of omegas like they’re precious. Scarce. Worth any sacrifice.

“For thirty years, my work has asked one question.” His pause lands exactly where he planned it. “How to perfect her so she will succeed.”

Perfect. My father has used the word all my life, usually from behind a desk while he itemized the distance between his standard and his son. Montgomery says it about an omega’s body. My shoulders square for the rest of the correction.

“Sturdier. Stronger. Less at the mercy of her own biology. And, most critically—” Another precise pause. “More fruitful. Over twenty years ago, my team developed a supplement protocol. Tonight, you will meet the results.”

He raises one hand toward the side of the stage and two omegas step forward.

Both look close to Bianca’s age. They wear formal gowns and composed smiles. Two groups of preschool-aged children walk beside them, holding hands in small chains.

Three children. Then four more.

“Even among omegas paired with packs,” Montgomery says, indicating to the omegas, “the average pregnancy produces a singleton: one gestation, one child, one paternal bloodline. Producing offspring for every bloodline within a pack may therefore require years of carefully managed pregnancies. Heteropaternal superfecundation allows a single multifetal gestation to produce children from multiple paternal bloodlines, eliminating that inefficiency within one cycle.”

The room goes silent.

“Scarcity is not the only threat to the omega population. Dependency is equally dangerous. An omega whose health and reproductive future depend upon access to a compatible alpha possesses no true biological security. She possesses a single point of failure. My work is intended to eliminate that vulnerability - to give omegas biological security without dependence on alpha compatibility.”

He pauses as if to let it sink in.

“Both of these women delivered multiple healthy children in a single pregnancy term. Under natural conditions, omega-designated births have declined steadily for decades. My protocol produced pregnancies resulting in two to five healthy children, with omegas in the majority.” His smile is gentle as a scalpel poised above an artery. “We have extended its benefits beyond the first generation. Some omegas in this room carry them despite never entering my clinic. The scarcity epidemic is not a crisis, ladies and gentlemen. It is a rounding error I intend to correct within a generation.”

Applause rises.

“Both omegas received the protocol from birth, though we are now seeing success in omegas treated later in development. And I could not be prouder to tell you that these two remarkable women are my daughters.”

Bianca gasps, and Tristan pulls her tight against his chest. He speaks into her ear without taking his flat, murderous gaze from the stage.

That makes them Bianca’s sisters.

They speak softly but confidently, their admiration for Montgomery real. They describe being allowed to choose their own alphas without pressure toward a particular pack or bloodline. They talk about large families as a future omegas can reclaim.

“My house is chaos,” the mother of four says.

Her sister smiles. “Mine too. But it’s perfect. And we both want more.”