Page 14 of Dodging Bullets

Paloma

The man in front of me was a male Omega. Before yesterday, I hadn’t known male Omegas even existed until I met Strat, the male Omega in OJ’s Pack. But here in front of me was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen, and he was an Omega.

Unlike OJ and Strat, the man in front of me didn’t put me on edge, like I was in someone else’s territory. No, this Omega felt likemine,which was insane, because I’d only just met him and he hadn’t said a single word to me.

He had stepped up to protect me, though, and that made that little voice inside my head coo happily.

As he sat down on the coffee table opposite me, the Omega’s eyes ran over my face like he could see into my soul. He would soon find I was split open and rotten at the core, like spoiled fruit. That’s what Sister Aurelia had always said to me anyway. Broken and rotten.

He gave me a soft smile. “Hello, Paloma. I don’t know if these guys have told you, but my name is August.” His expression was so honest and open and warm. Had anyone ever looked at me like that before?

“Hello.” I wished my voice was stronger, not so beaten-down.

I saw Rio twitch, and August’s eyes flicked toward him before coming back to me. “You have my word that I will leave anytime you want. We can talk about as much or as little as you want. I’ll answer any questions you might have. Would you like a drink?”

I lifted the water bottle Max had given me earlier. “No, I’m okay.”

Another warm smile that made my heart race. “That’s great. Not to state the obvious, Paloma, but you have no hair. Is there anything medically relevant we should know to help you?”

I lifted my hand to rub over the stubble of my hair regrowth. He thought I was sick? “No. The Leaders believed that an Omega’s hair was only for her Alpha mates, and was a source of temptation to others, so all unmated Omegas had to have their heads shaved and wear the lace.”

“The lace?”

I chewed my lip. “Uh, a veil?”

“Ah, I see. Wearing a head covering is very popular in modern religions. Did you do it for religious reasons or just cultural ones?”

I didn’t know how to answer that. Our religionwasour culture. They were one and the same. “Uh, I guess, cultural ones. The Sisters and Brothers didn’t have to wear them to honor Izuny. Just the Omegas. A kind of divine penance for our betrayal.”

“Izuny? Was that your Prophet?” Something about August’s light tone put me at ease, or maybe it was Max’s big body pressed close to mine, keeping me safe.

So I shook my head. “No, Izuny is our god. The supreme Alpha. We worship him and live how he wishes.”

“Were the Omegas worshiped too?”

This time, I laughed out loud, but it wasn’t a joyous sound. “No. Uh, what’s the opposite of worshiped?” I asked August, and he tilted his head as if pondering my question.

“Reviled would be the right word, I think.”

That sounded correct. “Yes, that. Omegas were reviled. We were marked by the Betrayer goddess, Melize, the first Omega.”

He was being very good at keeping his own thoughts to himself, but I could see the recoil in his expression. “That’s quite unlike our society as a whole, but very interesting. What about Betas?”

I licked my dry lips. “Betas are the children of Basric, Izuny’s brother. While not punished by Izuny for being led astray by Melize, Basric’s children showed they were unwilling to put the good of their people above being led into temptation by Melize, so they could never become Leaders. They became Brothers and Sisters, keepers of the faith, and they worked to keep the Homestead going.”

“The Homestead? That’s where you lived?” Max asked, and I turned to look at him, his intense eyes boring into my own.

The scent of rich melted chocolate swept over me, and I knew it was August. It made me feel languid and chased away the anxiety that lived in my chest like a monster. “That’s what we called it. It was a big community, with a fence around the perimeter to stop the bad things from coming in. But I’m beginning to think that maybe it was to keep us from getting out?”

Panic was crawling up my throat, and Max pulled me onto his lap again. I turned my cheek to the firm muscle. Strong. Safe. I could just stay here forever.

“We thought that we’d been through the apocalypse. That we were the last people left. I was born on the Homestead. I thought I’d die there too.”

“What about your parents? Did they live there too?”

I shrugged. “We didn’t have parents. All the children were raised by the households.” I couldn’t even be sure who my mother was, despite my guesses.

As if he sensed my discomfort, Doodles appeared. I’d left him in my nest an hour ago in his favorite position, which looked a lot like a dead cockroach. He launched himself at the couch, missed because he only had one back leg, and landed on the floorboards. He was quickly back up, though, panting and happy, as he scrambled onto the couch and pushed his way into the warm space between me and Max.

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