Page 84 of Ruined Omega

“I’ve come to talk to Seraph,” she says. “There’s still so much to learn about the Source.”

Seraph, as we now know, is the artificial intelligence that was created by SynerGen to manage the energy of the Source. It was originally meant to be a suppression field, to manage the sexual urges of humans as a way to control overpopulation. But Seraph malfunctioned and made something else instead.

That’s not entirely correct, actually.

Seraph didn’t malfunction. He did exactly what his programmers designed him to do, which was to bring stability to the population. It’s just that his interpretation of that directive was not what his creators expected.

Since arriving here in the central ruins, Lily has introduced me to Seraph, allowed me to speak to him. If the ruins are an Emerald City, then talking to Seraph is like meeting the Wizard of Oz himself. A massive, floating face that appears on the surface of the Source.

It’s more than a little disconcerting. A bit like talking to a god. And as far as the Alphas are concerned, that’s what the Source is.

I start to say something to Lily, but then something else catches my eye. Tal is retrieving a fresh, sterile piercing needle from the satchel by his feet.

“Tal, what is that for?” I ask. “I thought we were finished.”

“Our piercings must match,” he says simply. “That is the key to the binding ceremony.”

“But they do match, Tal. The one in my nose matches Baen’s. The one in my nipple matches Canaris’s.” I can feel that one cool and hard against my back. “And the one in my lip matches yours,” I add.

A shadow of a smirk tints Tal’s lips. His eyes dip ever so slightly toward where my hand is covering my nakedness.

I follow his gaze. A glint of light catches my eye.

The hard steel piercing through the upper crown of his cock.

“Oh no,” I whisper.

My eyes dart toward Baen crouching on the other side. He is naked too, and I can see the round loop piercing the slit of his urethra.

“No, no…”

Something shifts below my butt. It’s Canaris’s big dick, waking up with a pulse of arousal. I think of the piercing that he has down there too. A studded cross-bar on his underside, through his frenulum—the sensitive V where his head meets his shaft.

I try to struggle away, but Canaris’s arms hug me firmly in place.

“Look,” I stammer. “I don’t know what you are thinking, Tal. You can’t give me a penis-piercing. I don’t even have a penis.”

“But you have a corresponding part.”

Tal gently but firmly moves my hand away, revealing my naked sex.

“You mean my…”

“Yes,” Tal says with a nod. “Your clitoris. The other piercings you’ve received have bound you to each of us individually. This last piercing is required to bind you to us all as a pack.”

A squeal catches in my throat.

I glance over at Hannah, hoping for some sisterly support, but I find none. Instead, all she says is, “It’s really not that bad, Hines.”

I swallow hard.

“You mean you…”

“Yup!”

Lily nods and lifts the flap of her loincloth, nonchalantly revealing a tufted triangle of auburn-colored hair and a glint of steel. I gasp.

“I was scared too,” Lily says, “but it only hurts for a second.”