Page 28 of Omega Shattered
"And this was the pack you found? One that hates omegas?"
"Well, yes, and no. I don't personally hate omegas," I told her. "But I met River at work when we were both waiters. He was putting himself through school, I was just fooling around until I could figure out what I wanted out of life. We made a good team. Then we met Kade and Orion though an ad for roommates and suddenly we realized we all fit together really well. So we formed a pack. It wasn't that we started out with a plan to stay away from omegas, but later, River and Kade brought it up and Orion agreed. We would be an omegaless pack. It was for the greater good."
Quinn sighed. "Just like I want to be alphaless."
"Correct." Orion nuzzled her head, breathing in her wet hair. "My story is different. I did have a pack, back in Mexico. We were five, Diego, Leon, Sergio, myself, and our omega, Alejandra."
"You had an omega?" Quinn looked surprised. "What happened to her?"
"Them. I lost my entire pack. We had a business in cartel territory and I didn't pay the extorition fees one month. The next month, a bomb went off as I was returning from the market. Everyone burned except me. I tried to get into the house, but it was too hot."
His eyes burned with cold fury as he looked at me. "Everything I loved burned in that house and when I finally got inside, I found Diego and Alejandra together in the kitchen, embracing each other. He threw himself over her to protect her and he died instantly, we think. She was still alive."
Quinn gasped.
I watched Orion carefully. He'd never told me any details, just that his family had been slaughtered by the cartel. I didn't know that his omega had survived.
"She lived for three months," Diego said, his voice rough. "It was horrible. She was in so much pain. So many surgeries. And then, she caught an infection and went septic. She was gone, the last of the family I'd built."
"I'm sorry," Quinn looked up at him, her lower lip quivering. "That's awful, Orion."
"I came to the US and ran into Kade at a truck stop. Caught a ride with him and we hit it off. The rest you know. I don't hate omegas," he gave her a soft look. "But I don't want to risk my heart like that again."
"Why do Kade and River hate omegas?" she asked curiously.
Her interest in use was catching me off guard. She didn't want alphas, but she was here, going into heat after so many years. That had to mean something.
Remembering her question, I glanced at Orion. "I think they should tell their own stories."
Orion nodded. "You'll have to ask them."
Quinn huffed a little, leaning back and staring at the fire.
I hid a smile. The little omega was feisty, it had just been tamped down over the years. "It's your turn, Quinn. What happened to you in the center?"
Chapter 15
Retelling
The omega sat there on the bed where I'd shoved her and watched me with wary eyes. She was feisty, but she held a lot back. She'd asked me what had happened to make me this way, but that was a story that no one should hear, let alone live.
"We're leaving first thing in the morning," I told her.
"How did your brother die?"
She wasn't going to let this go. I leaned over her, letting the omega feel the full weight of my anger. Years of frustration and fury poured off me in waves and from the sudden bitterness in her scent, I knew she felt it.
"I told you. My mother killed him."
Her grey eyes were fixed on mine. "I want to hear it. How did she kill him? What made you think that all omegas are evil?"
Fine. She wanted to hear it. I'd tell her.
"My brother was four years younger than me. He was sick that night and she left him with me, a ten-year-old, while he was burning up with a fever. She didn't come home for two days and when she did, he was so sick, he couldn't move or talk anymore.She took him to the hospital, but it was too late. He died while I held his hand in the ICU . . . and when I came out of his room, she was gone. I never saw her again."
"That's horrible." Tears were welling up in her eyes and she wiped them away roughly. "I'm so sorry, River. What's your brother's name?"
"Lake." I snorted. "She liked water names."
