A purr could calm the crowd, but my O-space feels like it’s stuck in my chest, refusing to rise. The sparkling edges stay buried, smothered by the weight of my anxiety.
That leaves the Omega Command, my last resort. It is still unreliable. I have not tested it on anyone outside the Pack since training began, and with our bond a tangled mess of rage, fear, and protectiveness, I cannot trust their emotions to hold me steady.
Negotiation might be the safest path left. Maybe I can give her what she wants.
"Maddie, I’m so sorry that it’s gone this way, but there is a simple solution. Yeah? Prime Alpha Zero is going to evacuate the camp of all personnel, and then you can take everything you need to survive and leave.”
"So, they’ll just give us supplies? Just hand them over, no strings attached?" she hisses sarcastically in my ear. "I'm not an idiot. I know how Alphas work, they won’t give us anything they promise. They won’t give up control. They decide how much we get and where we're sent. Fuck that. Omega, you’re our golden ticket to get what's owed to us and go where we please."
The Betas in her group are looking at her nervously. This wasn't the plan, but they’re ready to follow her. Ready to die for the chance of freedom away from the oppression of others.
“Do you hear that, Prime Alpha Zero?” she spits his name with venom. “You try anything and I pull the trigger. This precious little Omega’s brains will splatter on the floor before you can even flinch.”
Oh frack. Oh,rutting-frack.
I was wrong. Negotiating won’t work with someone like Maddie. She’s too blinded by her hate.
The panic kicks up a notch, and more growls fill the air, and not only from my Pack. Other Alpha soldiers have slunk from the shadows, violence flashing in their eyes. Threatening an Omega goes against their instincts, and their very biology won't let such a threat go unpunished.
The situation is going sideways. Fast.
Okay. New plan. I have to Command her, even if it’s risky.
I dig deep, forcing my mind toward Omega injustice and every moment of cruelty I have endured, trying to spark the anger I need to fuel my Command. Still nothing.
All I can feel is fear, sharp and cold, twisting tight in my chest.
Frack.
This is so typical. Even after weeks of intensive training, the moment I need it, the Command is nowhere to be found.
I plead instead. “Maddie, please. I don’t want to die. Just let me go, this isn't the way.”
Maddie ignores me, her breathing labored as adrenaline pumps through her veins. She drags me even closer, and it stings where her nails dig in, drawing blood.
She calls out to Prime Alpha Zero again. "We want two trucks full of food, water, and medical supplies. You'll give us that and let us go safely through the Pass or I swear, I’ll put a bullet in your pretty little Omega’s skull. Don’t fucking test me."
I can hear the truth in her words. Shewillkill me.
My voice is shaking and high-pitched with tension. "Let's be rational about this."
Maddie rears her hand back and smacks the gun against my head hard.
My head bursts into a blinding throb, and everything is suddenly fuzzy. The faces before me swirl and spin.
"Shut the fuck up, Omega," she hisses. "I'm doing the negotiating here. I'm in charge!"
Someone, Knox maybe, roars.
A wave of killing intent slams into me through the Pack bond, hot and suffocating. My pulse hammers in my ears.
The Betas feel it too. Every Alpha in the area is radiating rage, the kind that promises pain. The air thickens with the scent of it, sharp and primal, and the Betas shift uneasily, instincts screaming at them to run.
The realization is hitting them too late. Maddie’s personal vendetta has just painted targets on all their backs. You do not hit an Omega. Not while an Alpha is watching.
The crowd heaves, and a hard shove knocks into the person behind me.
White-hot pain sears as the knife jolts into my back.
