Page 12 of The Omega Trials: Part One

Hit with a desire to savor this moment—this exploration—I don’t rush trailing up her thighs, the soft, rounded muscles of her quads. Her trembling hands clasp in front of her right when I reach her cunt, and I smirk to myself.

That’s okay, Omega. We can leave something for later.

I begin to feel the telltale signs of an impending rut. Sensations like crackling electricity dance at the base of my spine. I can’t bring myself to care about the time I’m wasting or even the ceremony on the other side of the doors behind me.

I suck in a ragged breath as my eyes caress over the slope of her stomach, and protectiveness flares in my chest when I see her defined ribs, clearly thinner than a healthy weight. It’s quickly replaced with lust when I reach her breasts, pale and peaked with rosy points.

I think I’ve forgotten how to breathe. I wonder in the back of my mind if I will pass out from lack of oxygen before I see her face.

Forcefully, I lift my gaze away from her small, perfect tits to her neck—

“Oh, fuckno!”My head wrenches up, and I can’t hold back the growl in my throat.

She is almost unrecognizable cleaned up and out of that dank cesspool. Her blonde hair cascades to her shoulders in loose, shiny waves dotted with blue flowers.

But I’d never forget that fire in her eyes, the petulance in her glare.

Or the vicious scar collaring her throat.

I flare my nostrils to scent her for the first time and I’m hit with . . .nothing.

Bishop must have come to the same conclusion as he balks next to me. “She’s not an omega.”

“No shit,” she spews with venom.

The dark-haired woman with her blanches, her fair skin going ghostly white. She tries to smooth over the girl’s outburst with a polite but nervous answer. “Uh, you are correct, sir.”

“Jesus,”Ecker scoffs.

I can’t even formulate my rage-clouded thoughts before two heavy knocks beat on the doors at my back. It’s our time to join the ceremony.

“Fuck,” I curse and grab the girl roughly by the arm. She yelps as I yank her into my chest and growl, “I hope you got good at faking it while at the whore house because you better put on the show of your goddamn life.”

She tries to rear back, but I keep her locked in place. “I’m not a whore,” she hisses defiantly.

“Yeah,” I scoff, “and we’re not royally fucked.”

The entire Echelon is inside waiting for us. There’s no option other than walking through those doors with our heads held high and a whore at our side.

As I push through the double doors, I look at my brothers to remind me why murdering everyone would be a very bad idea. In an attempt to calm down, I try to tell myself it doesn’t matter who she is as long as I have them at my side.

The Great Hall is like a ballroom with polished marble floors, expansive windows, and ornate molding.2 Brass candelabras with tapered candles form a glowing ring half the size of a football field around the five packs being initiated.

Each pack is in the same ceremonial position. White silk is wrapped like a shallow nest in front of where my brothers and I stand, and in the center of our circle kneels ouromega—as far as anyone else knows. Large, cylindrical candles encircle each pack. With no holder, the white wax melts directly onto the floor while the flame is reflected in the shiny stone.

A balcony overlooking the floor is filled with Echelon members. Like the personification of night terrors, they all wear black cloaks and gold masks, their faces flickering with creepy, twisted reflections from the candles below.

Recalling the little information we learned about the Echelon from our parents, I identify each family by the animal depicted in their masks. Storks for the Cyans, Elephants for the Beryls, Wolves for the Cobalts, and Stags for the Azurites, the most powerful of the families.

The only animal missing is the bear.

The Bear for the Ceruleans.

An eerie stillness falls on the already silent room when everyone except a single Elder steps back from the railing.

I almost imagine a gust of cold wind before the Azurite Elder speaks, projecting to the vast hall. “Before the ceremony can commence, we must handle some unpleasant but necessary business.”

I watch a shiver rankle down the back of the girl kneeling in front of us.

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