Page 24 of Shattered Omega: Part Three

“The Atropa abomination?” he asked. I tried to focus on him, but it was hard. “I’ve seen it tear packs apart. One alpha—that’s all it takes. One pack mate falls and there are no survivors. Not even the last one standing—the one who wins?” He snorted, then lifted his hand and mimed shooting himself in the head. “Is that you, Omega?”

“What?” I asked, blinking up at him. I was still trying to keep my nerves in check. What had he said? I was inching my fingers toward the stack as I ran back over his words.

Kill entire packs?

Right.

I knew that about the poison. I mean, kind of. Vandle had been alive, and he’d been the one to kill his pack mates—but then, Umbra had said something about him being forced not to kill himself… I think.

Finally, my fingers brushed the paper, and I nudged it out of place from the others, nerves cooling.

Right.

Everything was right, again.

Except… Mord had replied, I realised, though his eyes had slid from me to the page I’d just adjusted. His lips drew into a line.

What had he just said about me?

“Devastation?” I asked him. Me? “No, I’m just?—”

“Dark bonded?”

I frowned, swallowing at the weight he put into those words, as if they meant something different to him.

“What’s your scent?” I asked, hoping to throw him off whatever trail he thought he was on. “I can’t… I can’t pin it down.” It was true.

I saw a stiff curve to the edge of his lips. “What do you think it is?”

“Ebony wood. But I don’t um… know what the other part is.”

Just… hold it together. It was just a test. Like an exam. I had to stay calm. I reached out for the stack again, but he got there first, placing another piece of paper onto it, keeping it perfectly straight.

My admissions page was hidden. Stuck in the stack… It was proof they hadn’t opened the safe…

What if I’d imagined it?

“Why did they dark bond you?” he asked.

I stared at him, unsure of how to answer.

Why did he want to know that?

I didn’t know what the Lincoln pack was doing or what their play was. Any answer I gave might destroy a position I needed to claim later.

Did I play the victim…? Or that I was on it all the time…? Was I in love with Dusk, Umbra, and Ransom—or did I hate them?

“I’m…” My voice was weak. “I can’t talk about the…” I shut my eyes. “The bond.”

“They’ve commanded you not to speak about it?”

I nodded desperately, even if it was a lie.

“Do you want their bond?” he asked. I grit my teeth, eyes falling on the stack of paper. I reached for it again, but this time Mord caught me by the wrist. “Do you want that bond?”

“They uh…” My voice shook. Feigning this fear wasn’t hard at all. “The Lincoln pack rejected me, and no alpha was ever going to want me after that. But they… they did.”

Was that enough to walk the line? To let him conclude what he wanted? I shut my eyes, tugging my wrist from his grip.

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