General Stone's brow raises accusingly at me.
I take a step back as the rush of blood roars in my ears.
He knew.
The rut-damned fracker sent me on that mission to use my Omega Command on civilians, knowing full well he couldn't fulfill his side of our agreement.
"You lied," I whisper, simmering rage spilling over.
"I said I’d tell you what I know—"
"You lied!" I yell. "You…You said... You told me if I went on that mission you’d tell me where they are, knowing all along you couldn’t make good on that promise."
“I never said I knew where they—”
“You're a manipulative, power hungry Alpha and I’m not playing your twisted games anymore.” My eyes sting as tears of frustration threaten to spill and I clench my teeth to hold myself together. “You don’t care about the greater good, you just can’t stand the idea of not being in control.”
I feel stupid. My gut screamed at me, ‘Don’t trust him', but the glimmer of hope in my heart refused to let the slight possibility he was telling the truth slip by. I need to reevaluate what I’m doing here. I’ve wasted three months on the chance this withered old Alpha would tell me their location, but the whole time he had no clue.
I turn, intent on leaving and figuring out how to find them on my own, when he speaks with a desperate tinge.
“Stop and be smart, Omega Specialist Sparks. You’ll never find them on your own. I can reach out. Find where they went.”
I shake my head. "I can’t trust anything you say."
And yet, my heart sinks as I recognize the truth in his words. Blackreach Province is big. Really fracking big, and even if I knew where to start looking I’d get lost without the proper gear.
He stands and walks around his desk, his size used to intimidate me, but after spending so much time with Scorch Squad, I see him for what he is. An old man.
“If you stay and train your Command with Scorch Squad, I’ll prioritize contacting them.”
“I want to knowwherethey are,” I demand, my lower lip beginning to wobble with emotion.
I can almost taste his desperation, an acrid bite that settles on my tongue. His ambition. His fear. At his core, General Stone believes that if he loses control of me, he will lose this war.
I sigh.
Double rutting frack.
There is no chance he will ever tell me where the Omegas are.
It’s his leverage to keep me compliant. A trump card that compels me better than an Alpha Command ever could.
“I can’t do that. No one can know their location, it’s safer that way.”
The dim flicker of hope that I’d find my Omega family, which valiantly burned deep in my heart, splutters and dies.
And yet, in its place, a spark of serenity grows.
I finally get it. The awful, gut-twisting truth I’ve been too stubborn to face.
I was never meant to save them.
What was I gonna do? Really?
Even if I somehow slipped past the General’s army, even if I somehow knew exactly where they are in the endless sprawl of Blackreach... what then?
Drag them out of hiding? Rip them from safety just so we could all end up running for our lives together?
