Page 4 of The Omega Trials: Part Three

Light steam now billows from the shower, and he shimmies my bottoms off before leading me under the stream of water. I turn to face him, the water cascading down my back, and help him out of his clothes just like he did for me.

I pull him under the water with me. Drops gather on his thick eyelashes and sluices down the defined, golden canvas of his body. “You’re so beautiful,” I whisper, and he wraps me in his arms, the hot water beating soothingly down on us.

Any comfort found in this moment is quickly followed by guilt.

How can I feel anything but pain?

I shouldn’t be able to, not when my grandmother is on some back alley operating table fighting for her life . . . if she’s even still alive. The thought makes me begin to shake as if to cry again, but I have no tears left.

“I’m going to clean you up now,” Bishop says softly and steadies my shoulders. Then he gently tips my chin up. I expecthim to brush my lips with his, but he only presses a light, chaste kiss to my cheekbone then whispers, “I can’t promise everything will be okay. But I can promise to be by your side no matter what.”

1. “Time Stands” by Nathaniel Rateliff

Chapter 3

Jolly Old Saint Celia

Ecker

It’s times like this that I wish I smoked. But premature aging isn’t really my thing.

Though the events of the past forty-eight hours have probably had the same effect as smoking a pack a day for ten years.

I rest my head against the brick building and look up at the passing clouds. I imagine a puff of smoke joining them in the bleak gray sky. There’s a light breeze and it makes the rusty swing set in front of me creak.

We’re at a decrepit, abandoned school. Doc has set up a mostly-sterile operating theater in one of the old scienceclassrooms and is doing his damnedest to save Sinclair’s grandmother. Titus hasn’t left her side.

I can’t believe they went after an old lady—scratch that, Iknowthe Echelon is capable of any number of heinous acts, no matter how low or heartless. Their depravity knows no bounds.

Experiencing Sinclair’s pain through the bond was the most excruciating thing I’ve ever felt. I take comfort when I feel a sense of solace coming from her now. Bishop is doing a good job taking care of our mate—not that I ever doubted him for a second.

The door beside me opens, and I immediately tense, involuntarily bracing for bad news. Expecting Titus, I’m surprised when it’s Sinclair’s mother who steps outside. Once I see who it is, I refocus on the sky as if I can completely ignore her presence.

“My name is Celia.” Even her voice shares an uncanny similarity to Sinclair’s, only raspier.

“I don’t care if your name is fucking Santa Claus.” Anger simmers right below my skin. I clench my teeth together hard and exhale shakily through my nose. My emotions are too damn raw to deal with this shit right now.

“I—”

I cut her off instantly. “Do you know what she went through? Do you haveanyfucking clue the hell she lived through because ofyou?” My voice shakes with rage. “That pissant cocksucker of a pimp branded her like cattle, then sold her off like a piece of meat—” My tirade comes to an abrupt halt as I complete that train of thought in my head.

He sold her off like a piece of meat tous.

Wewere the monsters waiting for her on the other side of that deal.

When he put the white-hot collar to her skin, did she scream just as loud as she did during the ceremony? When we, too, branded her, body and soul?

And the worst part is, I can’t bring myself to regret it.

I can’t imagine our pack with any other omega. Sometimes, I wonder how we even got this far without her.

“I know I will never make up for all the ways I’ve let her down, but you have to believe me—”

“I don’t have to believe a word you say.” I know I’m projecting the anger I feel at myself, but I don’t care. It feels too good to have someone else to blame for once.

“Fine, then just listen to mylies.”She has the same bite as her daughter, and I have to hide my smirk. “If I thought for one second that they would take her, I would have been back here in a heartbeat.”

I resist the urge to roll my eyes. “What did you think was going to happen when you ran off to play dead?”

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