Page 106 of Shattered Omega: Part Two

What they’d taken from my pack, they still had it, and my fear… it was nothing in the face of that.

TWENTY-SIX

RANSOM

The look of absolute fury on Shatter’s face as Decebal had reached out to collect the stack of papers was almost enough to get a smile from me—even when I felt sick at what I’d just learned.

She went from despair to protectiveness in a split second, a growl rising in her chest, narrowed eyes fixated on Decebal’s hand.

Decebal drew back, eyebrows raised. “We have to destroy them.”

“Destroy them?”In moments, she’d seized every piece of paper from the coffee table, clutching them to her chest like someone had threatened to steal her firstborn.

“I have the same data in my safe at home,” Dusk told her. “But if the Institute gets a hold of those papers?—”

“They’ll… take you?” She stared at him in horror. “Like Uncle was worried about me being taken?”

“If that’s all they did, we’d be lucky,” Dusk said.

Again, Decebal tried to tug the papers from her, but she wouldn’t let them go.

“Just wait. I’m notfinished. There’s… so much information, and I need to fix it.” She pulled it back from Decebal’s grip.

“Fix it?” Umbra asked.

“When I read textbooks, everything is in order. This is adisaster, nothing is together right.”

“You think we’re missing connections?” Decebal asked with a frown.

“Everywhere.”

He glanced at Dusk, but Umbra looked unexpectedly happy. “She’s a genius. You need to let her have them.”

“Genius?” Decebal asked, and I echoed the surprise.

My omega was a genius?

I peered at her. Her hair was wild, eyes wide as she clutched those papers to her chest desperately.

Of course she was.

And…couldshe help, perhaps? Offer something they didn’t know.

I needed something other than despair.

“You know you said you didn’t know where she got those entry exams?” Dusk asked Decebal.

“Yeh.”

“She took them.”

He looked taken aback. “Those numbers were hacked. There isn’t even a record of scores that high.”

“Ididtake them.” Shatter’s nose wrinkled with indignance.

“Lucky,” Decebal said. “It’s theonlyreason they overlooked the rest of your admission disaster.”

“I workedreally hardon my admission,” she said.

---