Page 40 of Unhinged Omega

My mind keeps drifting back toher. Those violet eyes fluttering open briefly before they rolled back into her head asthose mongrels carried her off. I shake my head, trying to focus on the task at hand. Sustaining my weakening body.

"So, this dream girl of yours," Geo resumes after a few minutes. Usually, I'm the one filling the silence. He must be nervous about meeting the Ghosts. "She know about your little… problem?"

"You're making it sound like I can't get a fucking erection," I snap.

"More like you've had one so long it's melted your common sense."

I flip him off.

He has a point, though. Not about the erection, but my… issues. They're not exactly common for an alpha, and there's a chance she'll reject me outright when she finds out just how fucked in the head I am, but it doesn't matter.

Okay, so it matters and I'll probably throw myself in a well, but at least she'll be away from those grungy barbarians.

"How much longer?" I ask, suddenly in a mood as sour as the irradiated sky.

"Soon," Geo grunts. "You sure this is worth it? It'll be five against one."

I can't help but scoff. "No, it won't. It'll be two on two."

Geo's brow furrows, confusion etched across his weathered features. "How the hell do you know that?"

His features are more weathered now with that damn eye patch, but I know if I ask him about it, he'll be sulking the rest of the trip. He likes to pretend he doesn't care about that kind of thing, but he does. He likes to pretend he doesn't care about a lot of things.

I'm holding my tongue on mentioning the flecks of gray hair he's getting around his temples and in his short beard, too. Probably thinks it isn't obvious now that he's got rakish post-apocalyptic rogue hair. Which just so happens to be styled so a few strands "accidentally" come down over his eye patch.

Yep. He cares.

I sigh, tossing the empty cracker package out the window. A small act of rebellion against a world that's already come to an end. "It's simple, really. Valek's coming, obviously. He's an escaped serial killer, so they're certainly not sending him alone. That soldier—Thane, was it?—will insist on keeping an eye on him. You can tell from his body language he trusts him the least."

"And the others?" Geo presses, his tone wary.

I roll my eyes. "Please. They wouldn't risk bringing that scrappy little redhead into the presence of Outer Reaches deviants unnecessarily. The giant one that growls all the time is surgically grafted to her like a shadow, so he's not going anywhere. I doubt the others would leave her alone withhim, either."

"Which leaves..."

"The prince and the cute one," I finish. "And they'll want to stick together. One glance back at the Alpha's Alpha and I knew those two were fucking."

Geo does a double-take, swerving a bit. "Wait, which one's the 'cute one'?"

"Whiskey, of course," I reply. "Abs are overrated."

Geo just curls his lip back and focuses on the road. Guess he isn’t wild about finding out he’s more of my type than he previously thought.

I gave up on trying to get into his pants eons ago, and if I'm being honest, the fact that I never could makes him more charming. Not many people in this world who haven't wanted to use me for something, and Geo is one of them. He's straight as an arrow—genuinely straight, not the type that's possible to bend with enough incentive. Monetary or otherwise.

But he's fun to fluster. I like when the vein pops out in his forehead because he's pissed.

Reminds me of…

No one.

"You got all that from a ten-minute showdown?" Geo asks, doubt coloring his gruff voice.

I shrug, turning to look out the window at the barren landscape rushing by. "You don't grow up in a brothel without learning how to read people."

Geo falls into an awkward silence, his eye fixed on the road ahead. I can practically see the gears turning in that thick skull of his. Finally, he clears his throat. "How old were you when Nikolai pulled you out of that shithole, anyway?"

Ah, there it is. I can't help the smirk that tugs at my lips. "Your fatherly concern is showing, Daddy."