Page 11 of Into the Fire: After
I shook my head, ignoring the pounding behind my eyes. “How long have I been here?”
“Sit down befo—”
“How long?”
“If I told you two hours, would you lay down?”
“Not if it’s a lie.”
She sighed and took a long draw from her mug, setting it on the table. “Two days.”
Shit.
“I have to go,” I said, limping toward the door. For all I’d apparently been resting for days, my body screamed at every movement. “She’s been alone for two days. I have to find her, get her somewhere safe—”
“There’s no such thing as ‘safe’ anymore.” There were ghosts in her eyes as she stepped toward me like she was ready to grab my arm if I tried to bolt. “Not once they’ve set their sights on you.”
“You wouldn’t have brought me here if you weren’t willing to help me.” Like a partner in a dance, I tried to sidestep so I’d have a clear shot at the door. “You knew my omega is out there, vulnerable. And you brought me back because you want to helpher.”
Neither of us made a move or a sound.
I didn’t want to hurt her, but if she tried to keep me here, I’d fight. And I’d win, even weak as I was.
Still, I had no clear where we were. If we were as far from the cabin—and the cave—as she said, I'd definitely need some direction to get back.
And, fuck it, she seemed to know a lot. Maybe she knew something useful to us.
Moving slowly, I sat in the chair opposite from hers and folded my hands on top, waiting. In silent accord, she followed.
“You know about who’s chasing us?”
Nova’s jaw clenched, and she took a drink.
I shook my head. My pulse thrummed in my fingertips. I massaged them together. “Webarely know about who’s chasing us, or why.” I squeezed my fingers into fists, letting my nails bite into my own palms. “God, we don’t know a damn thing.”
It was true. We knew about the medical testing Taryn’s mother had undertaken when she was pregnant, a clinical trial performed by Phoenix Labs, commissioned by Wainwright Corp. And we knew about the omegas who’d been born to mothers from that trial—omegas who’d gone missing within months of their presentation and Registration. All part of their long-game experiment to try and discover the designation gene.
Discover, and manipulate.
But beyond that? We were clueless why they cared so much aboutouromega. Why they were willing to offer bounty hunters up to half a million bucks to bring her to them.
If Nova had anything to share, any light to shed on what and why and where and who, I would play nice to get it out of her.
She seemed to consider her words. She sat with unsettling stillness, none of the fidgeting or readjusting I was used to with Taryn. Chills crawled up my spine at the thought of what would’ve instilled an instinct to such stillness in this omega.
“Wainwright Corp. has been dabbling in designation eugenics for decades,” she finally said, eyes on her mug. I sat forward, ready to commit every word she uttered to memory.
Nova cleared her throat, then continued, “At first, it was choosing the primary sex. Then they started promising all sorts of miracle treatments that would make male alphas bigger and stronger and more dominant, that could heighten omegapheromones, could dampen female alpha instincts so they’d be easier to mold and bend.
“It’s only been relatively recently that they’ve shifted focus to embryonic research and finding the designation gene.”
“Why?”
“Money. Why else?” Nova snapped. “Do you know how much those rich fucks would pay for a female omega embryo? To be guaranteed a status symbol like that?”
Bile coated my stomach as I shook my head. “They aren’t though,” I muttered. “Status symbols. Not anymore.”
“How cute of you to think that,” Nova replied before draining her mug and slapping it back to the table. “Designation neutrality is a more fragile idea than you realize. A gift,” she chuckled darkly, “from the alphas.
