Page 118 of Shared Omega

“And if not?”

“If not, at least I’ll have a clear conscience.”

I give her a big hug, and it doesn’t occur to me until I’ve already done it that I’m completely naked. I blush and pull back.

“Be safe, Hines,” I whisper. “Maybe we’ll meet again some day.”

She nods, and then darts off down the alleyway, a small dark shape that merges and disappears into the dark.

“Come,” Kane says. “It’s time for us to go.”

“We need a vehicle,” Dog says.

The three Alphas and I edge toward the end of the alley, keeping to the shadows as best we can so nobody can see us.

That’s when I hear a familiar voice echoing down the street.

“My name is Lily. I am an omega.”

Daring to lean out of the shadows a bit, I peek cautiously around the corner.

Above the street is a massive display screen used for presenting news and advertisements, and there, fifty feet tall, is Lily’s face. Her voice is blasting out from loudspeakers, the sound carrying down the street. And I can hear other speakers in the distance playing her voice too. It’s all over the city.

Now I live in the Quarantine Zone, but it hasn’t always been this way. I used to live in the city hive like you. While I’ve been here in the Zone, I’ve learned things about the Cataclysm. Things that SynerGen has kept hidden for a long time. Things that you deserve to know.”

It really worked! Now everyone is going to find out about what SynerGen has done.

In the street, cars have stopped, and people are getting out, staring up at Lily’s image and listening.

“Here we go,” Dog says.

Straight ahead of us is a big SUV. The driver, a middle-aged businessman has gotten out, and he is standing by the idling vehicle, his face tilted up toward the screen. The driver’s side door is wide open.

Dog strides out onto the sidewalk, motioning for the rest of us to follow. The sidewalk is crowded, but everyone is so distracted by Lily’s message that they don’t notice the naked Alphas and omega creeping out into the open.

As Dog strolls up to the driver of the SUV, the man turns. When he sees us, his eyes widen and his jaw hangs open in surprise.

Right in front of him is Dog, a massive Alpha clad in nothing but black compression shorts. And behind Dog are two more stark naked Alphas, one with long, wild hair and the other with a dense steel-gray beard. Between them is a naked, buzz-cut woman—me. And the whole group is covered in metallic piercings.

The man is too shocked to even speak.

“I’m sorry about this,” Dog says in a voice that is commanding without being aggressive, “but we’re going to have to commandeer your vehicle, sir.”

The man doesn’t make a sound. His eyes just bounce from one Alpha to the next before he nods silently.

We pile into the vehicle and leave him standing there on the curb, still staring gape-mouthed after us as we drive away, weaving between the stopped cars as everyone listens to Lily speak.

CHAPTER 37: SLOANE

We drive back to the mineshaft under the cover of darkness, leaving the stolen vehicle where it will be found by one of the patrols. Hopefully, they return it to the guy we took it from. I don’t like stealing, but in this case it was necessary. We had to get out of the city and back to the Zone.

Truk leads us through the mineshaft by memory since we have no light this time. We make it to the end just before sunrise, and we are able to slip away before any of the guards on the distant wall can spot us.

We made it. We are back in the Zone.

It feels like a homecoming.

It’s strange, because the city hive is where I lived my whole life, but it never really felt like a home for me. I never felt like I fit in. But here, in the Zone, I have my pack, and our bond is so strong.