It’s not him.
But my body doesn’t care.
Heat crawls across my skin. My lips part on a sharp inhale, my chest tightening. This isn’t just memory, it’s muscle memory. My body remembers how it feels to be near him. How his scent filled the air right before he kissed me at that glorious waterfall.
The ache splits me open from the inside, my desire wrapped in grief. Every part of me is starved for him. For them. For what I threw away.
My palms sweat. My gland swells with stupid hope.
How weak.
One whiff of ink and my whole body betrays me.
"You can go in now," says the young Beta soldier beside the door, tapping away at the tablet, engrossed in the data. He reminds me of Shade and I swallow the spit that suddenly feels thick in my mouth.
I miss him and our talks.
Even the stupid discussions about what caffeine ratio was optimal for maximum alertness to endure one of Knox’s lengthy combat theory lessons. We settled on two cups, enough to stay awake but not enough to induce jitters which would draw the Prime Alpha’s ire.
I stand up on shaky legs and push open the door, revealing the spacious chamber inside. A large table takes up most of the space and is covered in maps, charts, and stacks of datapads. The air in this room feels heavy with decisions that aren’t mine to make.
General Stone turns from a roaring fire to face me. The flames make his weathered skin appear leathery, and the light casts deep shadows across his eyes.
"Ah, Omega Sparks. Thank you for joining me," he greets, beckoning me to enter.
Time spent with the General is never a pleasant experience. Every negative event that followed my meeting Viper in the hospital can be linked to this Alpha and his plotting. He’s used me like a plaything, shifting me around a chessboard to suit his whims.
He threatened me with the closure of The Omega Division, risking the lives of those I love, and set me an impossible task. He wanted to ‘increase an Omegas value to the military’. To find a way to validate the ongoing enlistment of unmateable, defective Omegas.
It was all a lie. A manipulation of the truth.
Besides, the purpose of my initial mission is irrelevant now that the whole fracking country imploded, and he’s no longer associated with the military.
The most unforgivable part of his betrayal is that he kidnapped my friends. And despite declaring that he only wants to protect them, he refuses to tell me where my loved ones are!
Everlyn is right. General Stone is an asshat.
He likes manipulating the vulnerable, twisting us as if we’re dolls for his amusement.
I scowl. “Unless you’re ready to tell me what you did with my friends, we have nothing to discuss.”
"Now, now, don't be like that." Despite the early hour, he pours himself a crystal glass of something amber. I wrinkle my nose and exhale sharply to expel the scent of alcohol that burns my nostrils.
"I’m not being like anything,sir,” I say with a mocking intonation, my words dripping with false sweetness.
He chuckles, like I told a funny joke, and takes a sip of his drink.
"Take a seat." He gestures to one of the chairs in front of the desk as he sits behind it.
I sit reluctantly. Maybe he’s changed his mind. Maybe today he’ll finally give me the information I need and make my sacrifices all worthwhile.
He doesn't speak and I become more uncomfortable with each passing minute, shifting awkwardly as I watch him finish his drink.
“You know, you surprised me at every turn,” he finally says, cocking his head as if he can examine my insides with only a pointed stare. “Just when I thought it was going to work the way I planned, you’d do something unexpected.”
"Is that why you wanted to see me? To berate me for spoiling your plan?"
“So hostile.” He clicks his tongue and swirls his glass, the amber liquid glinting as it catches the light from the fireplace. “I suppose an Omega with a fractured bondwouldbecome hysterical.”
