Page 1 of Feral Omega

Chapter

One

IVY

The metal door swings open, screeching on its hinges. My eyes snap up from the dirty tiles on the floor I've counted thousands of times by now. I've lost track of how many months they've kept me in this room. This glorified cell with nothing more than a hole in the ground and four walls I can barely pace between.

But I know exactly how many tiles there are.

Six-hundred and eighty five.

A familiar scent wafts in through the open door. The unmistakable stench of male beta. My lip curls in disgust as the guard steps inside, his muddy boots leaving streaks across the tile. The Nightingales won't mop it up. They don't come to the solitary ward.

Clean floors and decent meals are luxuries for good omegas.

And I'll die before I let these fuckers turn me into one.

"Good morning, Six One Seven," he sneers, the number that's replaced my name for so long I've almost forgotten it rolling off his tongue like a slur. "Ready to eat today?"

My gaze shifts to the tray clutched in his meaty hands.

A fresh meal.

If you can even call the slop they serve here a "meal."

But my traitorous stomach still cramps and growls, the hunger pangs I've been stubbornly ignoring for weeks now making themselves known. I swallow hard, refusing to give the beta the satisfaction of seeing me grovel.

"Go to hell," I rasp, my voice cracking from disuse.

He chuckles darkly, unfazed by my defiance. "You'll eat. They always do. Eventually, that smart mouth of yours will learn some manners."

I meet his gaze steadily, clenching my jaw.

If only he knew the things I'd survived before being dragged to this hellhole. A few days of starvation is nothing compared to the years I spent scraping by in the wilderness after my mother...

My throat tightens and I force the thought away.

I can't afford to get lost in the past.

Not when I need every ounce of my strength to endure this fresh nightmare. Enduring is what I'm good at.

Surviving against all odds.

The guard's lips curl into a smirk as he lifts the sandwich off the tray, bringing it to his mouth and taking an exaggerated bite. He moans theatrically, crumbs spilling down his stained uniform as he chews with his mouth open.

Disgusting.

Every beta has always treated me like I'm less than human. It's always been that way for us.

Alphas subjugate us, betas hate us.

As if the world didn't have enough to deal with in the aftermath of mass nuclear war and crumbling society, alphas and omegas came into the picture, born to the perfectly normal yet irradiated people that are now referred to as betas.

Alphas are bigger, faster, and stronger. The ideal super soldiers.

Omegas are a siren's song to the alphas' aggressive primal instincts.

And we're rare.

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