Page 89 of Desperate Omega

“Really?”

“Yeah,” I say, blushing a little. “And that’s not all. The alpha who caught me is one of my mates now too. Thorus.”

Hines looks totally astonished for a moment. Then she smiles and shakes her head.

“Well, there’s no way that could be a coincidence,” she says. “It sounds like fate to me.”

“The Source works in mysterious ways,” I say, repeating one of my fathers’ favorite phrases.

“It certainly does,” Hines agrees. “More than you probably even realize.” Her expression becomes serious again. “Syra, I didn’t just come here today to discuss the ritual. I also want to congratulate you on being a hero.”

“Are you talking about what happened at that old prison? I don’t consider that heroism. I just wanted to save Thorus. I know he would have done the same for me.”

Hines shakes her head.

“Syra, what happened at that old prison is bigger than you realize. You and your mates probably saved the entire Zone from destruction.”

“What do you mean?”

Hines explains.

Following the raid on the old prison, Delphine was taken captive and brought back to the Central Ruins to be interrogated. That much, I already knew. What I didn’t know, however, was that Delphine has since gone completely insane as a result of the death of her three alpha mates. Not that she was particularly sane beforehand, but apparently she’s gotten worse. I guess I should be glad to learn that she’s suffering, but I’m not. To be honest, I just feel sorry for her.

Due to her history as an Outsider, Hines has been closely connected to the investigation of Delphine’s crimes. As it turns out, the mad omega had been dealing with the Outsiders—indirectly at least.

Because the Outsiders cannot venture too deep into the Zone, they hired a gang of Farlanders to act as their middlemen, and they paid them with Outsider weaponry. The Farlanders then met with Delphine and her alphas, who provided them with certain items and information the Outsiders wanted.

“We searched that old prison,” Hines says. “We found maps. But these were not the hand-drawn maps that Zone-dwellers sometimes use. These were satellite photographs of the Central Ruins.”

“Satellite?”

I’ve heard of photographs before. I’ve even seen some of them. But I don’t know what a satellite is.

“Big machines,” Hines says, “that float way up in the sky.”

“Like planes?”

“Higher than that. Have you ever seen a star that moves? I don’t mean falling stars. I mean the ones that just kind of drift across the sky.”

I nod. I’ve seen such stars many times during my hunting excursions, and I’ve often wondered about them.

“Those are satellites,” Hines says. “They look tiny because they’re so far away, but they’re actually pretty big. Some of them have cameras that can take pictures of what’s on the ground, including the Zone and the Ruins.”

“But why did the Outsiders give photographs to Delphine?” I ask.

“So she could mark them up, to show important locations, such as where the members of the High Council have their dwellings, for example. We think she had been providing the Outsiders with other information too, including the number of alpha packs, what areas they patrol, and when. Stuff like that. That kind of information could be really useful to the Outsiders if they ever try to attack us.”

“Source,” I mutter. “Why would Delphine help the Outsiders like that?”

Hines sighs and shakes her head.

“It’s tough to say. She’s been pretty incoherent since her mates were killed. But we did find something else among her possessions when she was taken captive—pills.”

“What kind of pills?”

“It’s a medicine that changes an omega’s body chemistry. Makes it so that an omega won’t have a heat cycle. It also changes her scent so it doesn’t make alphas get aroused.”

“Source.”