The soldiers raise their rifles, aiming at the civilians, shouting at them to back down and leave.
It gets louder.
The soldiers yell orders.
The town folk scream obscenities.
I step closer to Prime Alpha Zero, huddling behind his hulking form, and a bead of sweat rolls down my neck into my bite collar.
This is going sideways quickly and the sun hasn’t stopped its descent. We’re almost out of time. None of us can afford this delay.
More civilians join the angry mob. They swarm, jostling closer, testing the soldiers’ restraint.
“Omega Sparks!”
Prime Alpha Zero’s voice booms through the chaos. He says something else, but I can’t make it out over the screaming crowd.
He shoots me rapid-fire hand signals.
Knox taught me those. He spent hours drilling them into my head until I started dreaming in obscure gestures. But now? In the heat of a battle, I can’t remember half of what they mean.
Still, I get the gist.
It’s time.
This is the reason they brought me here. He wants me to do what General Stone promised. Three months have passed since I used my O-space.
I was utterly convinced I’d lost it. Bled out like the special bond which had begun to grow between us.
But now I feel it.
As if there is haste in the air, ushering it along. I feel stronger. More grounded. And the withdrawal symptoms I’ve been experiencing have all but vanished.
It rises.
Like smoke from a dying fire, licking at my throat.
It wants out.
Chapter Six
Halley
My vision fractures at the edges, soft and shimmery, like light glancing off broken glass.
O-space is here.
The sharp panic in my chest eases as calm wraps around my bones like velvet, and a strange confidence anchors itself behind my breastbone.
I know Prime Alpha Zero is counting on me using my Omega Command, but I fight against it. I brace against the surge of sick, sweet whisperings that urge me to use the power inside me. To strip someone else’s will bare and wear it like a coat.
I grit my teeth in determination. I can’t let that happen. Not again. I’m better than that.
I won’t do it.
The townsfolk are scared, but I don’t have to exert dominance to help them. Not when there is another option.
So I dig deep and reach for something I know calms even the most crazed beasts. A power that brought an Alpha in Bloodlust to heel.
