I swallow hard, my hands clenching the fabric of my trousers, and look away.
“You were supposed to bond with them, make them a Pack, and unlock the abilities lying beneath. Instead, you appear before me, alone and wielding only a fraction of your true potential and the elite squad of soldiers I spent years mentoring are in the wind.”
That’s what he cares about — the wasted potential. The power. He doesn’t care that now I’ve had a taste of Pack life, I’m forever doomed to crave something I’ll never have.
I pick at the skin around my thumb. The cold weather has made it dry and my fingers ache when they flex. These days, all my joints hurt.
Without the squad’s presence, I feel physically and emotionally weaker, as if my soul is withering away and my bodydeteriorating. The force I felt growing within me like a wildfire has diminished to a flickering ember.
He sighs heavily. “Where did it go wrong?”
My eyes flick to the door. I'm not a prisoner, but I can’t leave until he tells me where he has hidden the others. For now, I have to stay and listen to this dickbag wax poetic and it feels like a form of punishment.
“Tell me where Dazz, Ember, and Flicker are and I’ll tell you what happened.”
He laughs at me and takes another sip, watching me over the rim.
We’ve tangled in this dance before. I demand information, he deflects, I get angry, he calls me hysterical. Except this time, a glint sparkles behind his cunning eyes.
Not good.
He clicks his tongue and cocks his head as if he’s about to do me a great favor. “I tell you what, Omega Sparks. You do something for me, and I’ll tell you what I know about your Omega friends.”
It’s too good to be true. I feel like a mouse tempted by cheese in a trap.
"Prime Alpha Knox kept me up to date with all your developments, and Beta Specialist Shade's data has been very insightful.”
I knew Knox and Shade were reporting back to General Stone, but the time we spent together felt almost… intimate. Sacred. The thought of them sharing that with the General makes my stomach churn, like a betrayal of a deeply held secret.
“In particular, I’m interested to see this Omega Command in action."
My stomach drops.
Not that. Anything but that.
“It doesn’t matter. It’s gone.” I shake my head, my mouth suddenly dry. “I’m not… whole anymore.”
The unspoken is clear.
I’m not whole withoutthem.
General Stone sighs, rubbing his face with a hand. He looks older in that moment, tired. “We need that power, Omega Sparks. Enemies are coming at us from all angles, and in our current state, wewilllose.”
He doesn’t seem to understand what I’m saying.
My Omega Command is gone.
After long months of my powers fading away, I’ve been left with an undeniable truth. The Omega Command wasn’t mine alone. It was a product of our resonance, our bond. It only unlocked and grew because of our connection, and when I snapped that tether, the power slowly slipped back into my hindbrain, becoming dormant once more.
Besides, even if I could, I won’t. I’m still wracked with shame and guilt about Commanding them and forcing them to watch me walk away. It was wrong. It went against every moral I hold. Besides that, the vicious physical toll the Command takes is nothing compared to how it twists me into the cruelest version of myself. For those reasons, I won’t let it get a foothold ever again.
“Saving the world isn’t my responsibility.”
He scoffs like I’m a disobedient child who doesn’t understand how silly they’re being.
“It’s all of our responsibility because, if we don’t step up, Demi-humans will be wiped from the face of this planet. Your precious Omegas too. Everyone will die. We need every advantage we can get if we're going to win this.”
“I just want to find my friends,” I weakly respond, speaking mostly to myself.
