Page 94 of Ruined Omega

A shrill cry cuts through the chamber like a blade.

At first I think it must be one of the injured. A poor omega crying out in pain. As I turn in the direction of the shout, however, I realize that it is our leader Addom’s omega, the one named Lily, and she is screaming at Seraph.

Then I drop my eyes to the ground by her feet, and the blood seems to drain from my body, leaving me cold.

It’s Hines. Something is wrong with Hines.

Something is wrong with my mate.

She is balled up on the floor shivering, and her skin looks deathly pale. I rush toward her immediately while my heart punches my breastbone like it is trying to slam its way out of my chest.

“Stop it!” Lily shouts up at Seraph’s massive, glowing face. “Seraph, you promised.”

“What’s happening?” I ask, not even trying to mask the terror in my voice.

I cannot lose Hines. She is everything. She is my life.

Dropping to my knees beside her, I gather her shivering body in my arms. Her eyes look dull and half-blind.

“Tal,” she whispers weakly.

“Seraph is turning her into a beta!” Lily cries above me.

Others have rushed over now. Sloane is there. So is my new pack brother, Baen. I sense his presence behind me, every bit as terrified as I am.

“Why?” I choke.

Seraph answers in a voice that is cold and emotionless.

“The one known as Hines represents a threat.”

“Stop it,” Lily cries again. “Seraph, we had a deal. You promised that you would not let Hines become a beta if she came into the Zone.”

“That agreement was made based on incomplete information.” Seraph’s voice remains cool and level. It seems to separate out into a multitude of voices, then re-join into one as he speaks. “I did not realize the dangerous knowledge that Hines was carrying in her mind. She knows how to make a cure. This is unacceptable. It could ruin everything I have created. I will not allow that.”

An even deeper fear seizes my heart. I don’t understand what Seraph is talking about. Something about Hines’s pills. But I can’t focus. I’m too worried about my omega. She is fading away in my arms.

I feel powerless.

“Turn her back,” Lily cries, “Seraph, you can’t do this!”

“I can and I must,” Seraph says. “Hines must be silenced, for the good of the Zone.”

The roar that erupts through the stillness of the Temple is so loud, so unexpected, that it raises the hairs on the back of my neck.

“Turn her back NOW!”

It is Canaris. He has picked up the Outsider weapon that Abaddon dropped. He is imitating the way that he saw Abaddon using it. He is now aiming it at Seraph and the Source.

“What are you doing, Alpha?” Seraph asks in his usual placid voice.

“Turn her back to an omega,” Canaris snarls. “Turn her back or I swear I will destroy the Source. I don’t care if it wipes out the whole damn Zone.”

And it’s clear from the look in his eyes that he isn’t bluffing.

“You will do no such thing, Alpha.”

Canaris chokes. His feet stagger. The same sickly pallor that has overtaken Hines now overtakes him as well. The weapon starts to tumble from his hand.