Page 118 of Feral Omega

It lingers, taunts.

A promise and a curse.

Ivy.

Mine.

But not mine.

Never mine.

Endure, resist, fight.

For her.

Even if I shatter.

Will not let the monster win.

Chapter

Forty-Two

THANE

The nightmare grips me in its merciless talons, dragging me down into the abyss of my deepest fears. It's a familiar terror, one that haunts the shadowed corners of my mind, waiting to pounce when I'm at my most vulnerable.

Wraith, my brother in all but blood, the other half of my fractured soul, lost to the feral rage that consumes him. He's a tempest of savagery, tearing through our pack like a force of nature, unstoppable and uncontrollable.

It's a familiar scene that torments me night after night.

Each time, I know what I have to do.

Each time, I fail.

It's the one sacrifice I can't—won't—make for my pack.

This time, though, something is different.

Something that changes everything.

There, in the midst of the chaos, is Ivy. Our omega, the light in our darkness, caught in the crosshairs of Wraith's madness.

Fear rushes through me, sharp and cold, constricting my lungs until I can barely breathe.

I have to protect her, have to shield her from the destruction Wraith leaves in his wake. It's not just a duty, but a primal imperative, and it's etched into my very bones, into the marrow, the cells.

The others shout, their voices a cacophony of desperation and fury. They demand I put Wraith down like the rabid beast he's become, to end the threat before it's too late.

But I hesitate, my finger frozen on the trigger of my rifle. He's my brother, my responsibility. I can't just extinguish his life like snuffing out a candle.

There has to be another way, some glimmer of humanity left to appeal to.

But then Wraith lunges for Ivy, a snarl ripping from his throat, his white-blue eyes devoid of any recognition or reason.

And just like that, my resolve hardens into unbreakable diamond.

I'll do anything to keep her safe, even if it means putting my own brother in the ground.

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