Page 58 of The Omega's Unexpected Bounty
“Found them.”
Nate let out a wondering murmur. “Why those two?”
“A few reasons. Nobody expects me to contact them. Second, they’re living together which suggests a relationship. If they are, Graden and I were the reason for them getting together. They might be open to helping us.”
“And if they aren’t?”
“Then we indirectly delivered ourselves to the enemy, but that’s not a big issue.” I ran my hand over my stomach. I couldn’t think of my upcoming child as a problem, but the visibility was. Omegas and Femeni weren’t as rare as they were after the Gloom war but uncommon enough to warrant a closer look. A face changer would have been handy, but I only had so much room in my body, and I didn’t want to get filled with parts. I’ve seen walking armories before, and they were more machine than man.
Not a path I want to go down.
I think I knew the answer but asked anyway. “I have an idea on how we can sneak through. But if it doesn’t hurt my baby, let’s do it.”
Nate leaned forward down to Tiny while I explained the plan via Tiny’s mouth.
***
My nose wrinkled at the heavy scent of testosterone and sweat while the hoverchair darted down the alleyways. Thankfully, I wasn’t still so it wouldn’t linger. It was foul to me because it was synthetic or I already had a mate. The scent made me sneeze and my stomach rumble with nausea but marked me as ‘hands off.’
I held up my hand and looked at the darker color. It wasn’t like Taleen’s but close. Tiny spoke via our implant. “Technically, increased melanin is for when you’re chasing a bounty under the hot New Texas sun.”
“It’ll still protect me. Before it was against sunburns, now I won’t get burned by a Volardi security guard.” A quick lurch to the right got my attention. Thanks to Tiny’s vantage point, planetary net connection, and tapping into the security orbs, we avoided detection. At least that was the hope. Just like on New Texas, you didn’t know if someone spotted you until the fist or bullets came.
Stopping in front of Nate’s residence was too suspicious, so we met in a back stone wall alley. His forehead wrinkled – presumably from my darker skin – or my pregnancy. I’m sure he already knew, but there’s a difference between hearing it and seeing it. His face softened when he stared at my stomach. I had a good guess on what he thought. He gave me away, and that child was now pregnant with his grandson. Three generations in an alley – even Tiny was sort of my child. His hand went down to his stomach, and I wondered what memories came back but didn’t ask.
I explained the plan. Tiny previously modified my medical bracelet to give off a weak, intermittent pulse while attached to a flying delivery drone. Every fifteen minutes it would broadcast a weak signal; just enough for the Volardi authorities to search the general area before I showed up somewhere new.
Nate’s fingers pointed to his hands and face. “What’s with the–”
“Darker color? Figure it could only help. They’re looking for somebody that looks like me, and that’s not someone I should look like.”
He let out a slightly dismissive murmur. “Face changer would have been better.”
I raise my eyebrows. “Do you have one?”
“Used to. I intentionally burned it out a long time ago. One of my few acts of defiance.”
I swallowed hard. It didn’t take a genius to figure out why a town full of men, wanted their plaything to have different faces. With that, you could be any man’s dream.
I felt I should say something, but there were no words for something like that. Fortunately, he gave me an out with the next question. He tapped his nose. “What’s with the–”
“Smell?”
“I was going to say stench.”
“Tiny altered my hormones. I’m pumping out extra testosterone at five times the normal rate.”
“You’re okay?” asked Nate.
“I feel like I want to throw my fist through the stone wall behind you, but it might be the pregnancy doing that.”
That got a quick grin before he spoke. “I guess let’s get started.”
He was right, this wasn’t the time to dawdle. We all had to get out of the kingdom so I can find an opportunity there. I had Tiny watch for any surveillance.
“Nate? One more thing?”
His voice was hollowed. “Yeah.” Maybe he thought I’d chastise him again for what he did. Instead, I asked another question.
