Page 110 of Dark City Omega

“She’s a fuckin’ asshole.”

I laugh at that and sit up straighter, reaching for my threadbare clothes — what’s left of them, at any rate. “Yeah, but one doesn’t negate the other. She’s a badass and she’s really cool.”

“Cool?” Adam balks, one leg shoved into his sweatpants, the other proud and thick and looking so very delicious. “Cool?You hit your head on one a’ those rocks?”

I laugh again and shake my head, trying to stop the familiar banter I’m so used to with him.We’re not together.“She is. She handles herself like a one woman army. She doesn’t need saving.”

“Psh — you don’t need savin’.”

“You saved me,” I begrudgingly admit.

“You were holdin’ your own.”

“I needed help. I always need help.” I shrug. “But I felt a little more in control with Freya’s help. Maybe, just with her there. She carries Omega energy. I can feel it.”

“Good.”

“You carry energy, too,” I admit.

Adam hesitates before answering and I don’t want to look up and see his face, looking struck. Lookin’ humbled. I shouldn’t be talking like this. Leading him on. Giving him hope. I hate him. I hate his hope.

“But even with all the help in the world, I still don’t know what I’m doing. I may have the gifts, but I’m not good at using them. I know what I want to do but I can’t make it happen most of the time. It’s either a landslide or an earthquake or nothing.”

“You’re an all or nothin’ kinda warrior. It’s one of the things I love most about you.” He laughs when I look up at him and give him a stern look.

“Adam…” I start.

“Nah.” He shakes his head, runs his fingers back through his hair, tugs on the tip of his short beard. “Don’t fuckin’ think of changin’ anything about you. I love it all. The way you move. The way you hate. I love all of it. I love all of you.”

They throw me, the words coming out of his mouth. Like love-caged violence. That’s who he is. And I need to put an end to it before we both sink into the pit where violence and love are left to battle it out to the gruesome, gory death. Right now, I’m not sure which would win.

“Look. Adam, I…” But I make the mistake of being distracted by him looking for his tee shirt. He can’t find it because he wasn’t wearing one. Still, he’s got something around his neck. “What are you wearing?”

“Pants.”

I can see that. The erection tenting the front of them is unmistakable. “Not that. Around your neck.”

He stands up and runs his finger over the thing. “You like it?” His grin is wild and impish and I’m afraid of it. I glance around for Fear, needing her now, but she still seems reluctant to make an appearance.

“Adam…” My voice fucking shakes. Why does it do that?

“I gotta show the world I belong to the Fallen Earth Omega, don’t I? Couldn’t think of a better way. Made it outta your vines. Impressed? They’re hard as shit to work with. Either brittle or so damn delicate. Makes sense knowin’ who made ‘em, doesn’t it?”

Stop it.That’s what I would tell him if I had words, but I can’t find my voice. He’s robbed me of it with a thin little band made of green vines coiled around thicker brown ones. I shake my head. “No one should own anybody else.”

“And if I wanna be?”

I shake my head. My heart weighs me down like a brick.Stop it,I say, but I realize only after a moment that I haven’t said the words out loud. I’ve said them only to myself.

“Enough.” He ruffles my hair and cocks his head toward the light sky shining in from outside. “Heard some commotion out there. Think they mighta found somethin’ to eat. Maybe hunters brought back somethin’ good.”

“Hunters?” Confused and disoriented and on shaky legs, I follow Adam at a distance, worried to get too close.

“Yeah. That a problem.”

“Might be. Last time I tried to hunt in front of Freya, she smacked the shit outta me.”

“Shewhat?” Adam rounds on me, but I step past him, giving him an overly wide berth as I make my way out of the tree. I open my mouth to call Freya’s name — to stop her from killing anybody — but the moment my eyes take in the world around me, the words I’d been poised to speak fail me.

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