Page 99 of Generation Omega: Revealed

“You don’t need to worry about that orhim.” Her obvious stress belies her words. Understanding that isn’t the end of it, she turns and meets my gaze that unfortunately conveys my own distress. “Thatcher, what is it? What’s happening? I know your omega is struggling, but…” She waves her hand at me. “… this is more than that. It has to be.”

“One thing at a time. What did you trade for this sanctuary?”

Sage rolls her eyes and smiles. “A date—onedate. That’s all. It’s fine. Yes, he’s a man of questionable morals, ethics, and integrity, whose conflict-resolution skills often involve a hatchet, but he’s a looker, so there’s that. And it’s just one date.” She shoves a few wispy hairs behind her ear in a rare display of nervousness.

“He’s been hounding me for a few years to let him show me a good time, and honestly, my recent dates have been depressingly dull. My date with himwon’tbe dull—that’s a guarantee. It will likely involve a plane ride with an unknown destination and the finest food in the world.” Sage seems to realize she’s gushing about a man so feared that not even BD or the president himself wouldn’t dream of trespassing on this property. “It’s fine—that’s all I’m saying.”

“Sage.” Her name spoken just right makes such an effective rebuke.

“I know!” She shakes her head and sighs as she leans against the counter. “When you have billions, along with dozens of companies and thousands of employees, everything becomes a spreadsheet. I’m living aspreadsheetlife, and he’s not a spreadsheet kind of guy. So, sue me for being intrigued.”

I don’t know what to say, but the thought of her dating that man is entirely disconcerting. I’ll just have to add that to the list of all that’s unsettling about my current reality. “Fine, but I hope you inject a tracker so we can locate you when he decides to keep you as a pet on a private island somewhere.”

She blurts a laugh. “Would that be an acceptable excuse to miss my next board meeting? Asking for a friend.”

“Probably not.” I tilt my head toward the table. “We need to talk. There’s something you need to know.”

“I figured.” Sage follows me toward the table and sits across from me, instantly fiddling with the tiles on the tabletop. “Was I wrong to encourage you to go to her?”

“No, you weren’t. You weren’t wrong about anything. I needed to go to her.” I exhale as though I can empty myself of all my regrets. “It’s not at all what I thought it would be. All this knowledge and I was a feral maniac when I first met her. Gideon was forced to control my impulses. It’s quite shocking and embarrassing.”

Sage is not shocked at all. She might even be a little amused. “You are a sexually repressed nerd who’s suddenly infused with primal impulses. Did you think you’d just want tea and crumpets with her? Or something much less controlled and infinitely more satisfying?”

“Yes, well, I know the answer to that now, but my role with her is still unclear. I can’t even feel her right now. She’s rejecting all of it. I gave my suggestion on how to help her, but Gideon slammed the door in my face. He doesn’t understand the stakes. How could he? He’s anactor.”

“And you, my friend, are an intellectual snob. I love ya, Thatch, I do, but my main concern with you being an alpha is that you’ll use your knowledge to build rules that may not even apply to her. You have the broad strokes, enough data to isolate patterns, but your time with omegas and alphas has been limited. I wish you could put all that learning in a file cabinet to refer to, if needed, instead of building expectations that will only lead to disappointment.”

I can’t even form a rebuttal—there isn’t an honest one—and hearing the same guidance from Sage that I so recently heard from the actor… how incredibly unpleasant.

“Think about it,” Sage continues. “She’s rejecting biology. There’s a reason for that, but to me, it shows just how powerful she is. To combat the sad state of our world, we need a fierce, uncompromising omega. A woman who attempts to tear apart the legacy from within—that’s power.”

“I told him to bond her,” I admit, hearing the words differently now. “I said I should bond her too, and that we should work together toforceher to accept her reveal.” As though it actually matters, I add, “It’s been done before.”

Sage winces and struggles to respond. “I don’t mean to be disloyal, but I’m glad he rejected that advice. We have to consider the age we live in. This isn’t thegrand, olddays of arranged marriages when women couldn’t have careers, vote, or own property. We’re not fancy luggage to be traded around by our fathers anymore. Tillie isn’t a lady at court. She’s an art student at a prestigious art school. She’s on a full-ride scholarship because of her talent, and she istalented. Her sculptures are incredible.”

“Have you been cyberstalking my omega?”

“Yup, like it’s my job. We don’t need to worry about protecting her family—they are fairly free-range. I’m not sure she knows where they are.” Sage pauses and then grips the table. “Tell me. My dread is building. Did you learn something about…?”

“I don’t want to crush your belief in all of this, even though mine may never recover.”

She leans forward, setting her hands on the table. “I can’t imagine what would destroy your beliefnow. I mean, we’re here. Your omega is with her first alpha. We’ve won some time to let her form bonds. And there are fifty armed mercenaries here to protect her. This is all progress. It’s what we’ve been working toward for years. What is it? What happened that’s challenging your faith after we’ve come so far?”

It’s time and I’m internally cringing. “When your warning arrived about the danger at the penthouse, we had just begun a video call where I discovered the identity of the third alpha. His information agreed with yours, and the call only lasted a few minutes. I honestly don’t remember much of it, because I just couldn’t believe it.”

“Say it.”

“Sage, it’s Kazimir Volkov—he’s her third alpha. And, if I understood correctly, he’s bonded her boyfriend, abeta.”

Sage pales and grows still before she explodes out her chair, knocking it over with force. “You are fucking kidding me! You have to be fucking kidding me! It can’t be! It can’t!”

I remain in my seat, knowing she needs space. “He was there to kill her and, to save her life, the lineage turned him into an alpha. That’s the only explanation that makes any sense. But think of what it means, the change that’s come to the legacy. Instead of choosing like-minded alphas of position and influence, it’s now recruiting those with whatever skills are necessary in the moment.”

My hands become fists, and violence ripples through me. “He came to kill and became her alpha, mypackmate. It’ll happen again. Packs will be rogue accumulations of whatever was needed at the time. It’s baser now, more raw. The legacy is fighting back—fighting dirty—and where that leads, I just don’t know. I don’t know whether I belong in this new, savage adaptation.”

Her rage and disillusionment mirror mine exactly. “Fuck. Fuck!” She covers her face with her hands, once again leaning against the counter. “Fuck.”

I rise and walk to the kitchen, leaning against the opposite counter. “I’ll deal with it—I swear I will.”

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