More mysteries…
One omega who believed she was a curse, and another that might have one.
It took a while for me to drag my eyes away.
He was still in the bond. That’s what mattered.
“So, what's the plan?” I asked.
14
PHANTOM
We had a dark bonded omega, our pack lead was no longer feral, and we all had targets on our backs.
It was hard to take my eyes away from Crescent. She was tucked under Vandle’s wing like a shy, but rather pleased stray kitten that had found a home.
Blood still trailed down her throat from the vicious bite he’d given her, but she was far from upset. I could feel her in the bond, a vibrating ball of anxiety, relief, and… well… utter delight.
Our scent match…
I couldn’t deny that the bond, as confusing and twisted as it was, settled a part of me that had been on edge since the moment we’d caught her scent.
And on top of that, it was really, really hard to stay mad when she kept catching one of our eyes, a blush creeping up her cheeks. In fact, not only was Inotmad, but I wanted her undermyarm like that. As I watched, Karma, who was sitting on her other side, edged a little closer, side-eyeing her as he did.
Her hand drifted absently to his shirt as if to make sure he was there. When he noticed, he shifted closer again, and her fist balled in the fabric, contentment momentarily overtaking her nerves in the bond.
My gaze was locked on the contact long enough that Karma caught me looking. He puffed up, a smug smile on his lips.
Two omegas for one pack was unheard of in here. Both packs and solo alphas alike would kill for an omega to dark bond. Especially omegas like Crescent or Sin.
Crescent was delicate, with moonlight hair and a scent that could drive a sane alpha feral. Sin was pack—I loved him, and so did Karma, but he wasn’t a conventional omega, with energy that was borderline ‘alpha’, and a reputation to match.
They were about as opposite as two omegas could get, and somehow it just… fit.
I felt, for the first time, like this pack was complete.
Unlike many alphas down here, I did have memories from before.
They were faint, often torturous, but so vivid. Images of streets filled with graffiti, gum flattened onto concrete, turned black by thousands of feet, warm breaths from alleys backing onto laundromats, and the faint hisses of a bus as it lowered to accept travellers.
Downtown New Oxford had been alive to me in a way that it wasn’t for most. Living and breathing, impossible to quiet…
I’d always dreamed of escape until that escape had been in the shape of the Cimmerian Vaults.
Now I didn’t know if my dreams were the same smoke-scented streets that had once been my nightmare, or if I needed to go further now. A future beyond what I believed we could have.
Sin didn’t like to talk about what we would do if we ever got out—I think, perhaps, he wasn’t ready to accept that it might be possible.
Sin and I were the only ones who had talked about getting to the other side of these prison walls.
Karma didn’t talk about it. I knew his fears, but none of them were entangled with Anarchy. I think he was more nervous about the idea of getting out than anything else.
So I’d buried the dreams that seemed out of reach.
Or I had, until I looked at her.
Because it wasn’t fair to bite her into a pack who would settle for destruction. The others weren’t ready for that hope, so I needed to do it for them.
