He still doesn’t have the girl. He doesn’t even have his kids.
“Aden,” Lucas yawns. “Would you say I’m a bad father?”
Aden glances in his mirror. “I don’t know if we can make it much longer. Engine’s giving me trouble,” he says.
“I guess I haven’t set a great example for them,” Lucas says. “But this is who I am. I grew up in war. I’m a pack alpha. I’m still trying to figure my shit out. But I’m trying to move on. That’s something, right?”
An electrifying noise pops and sizzles below them. Gravity shifts as the Rover sends the two flying into the snow-covered sand.
Groaning, Aden stands and wipes the snow off his wear. “I just got that thing serviced,” he says. “It’s toast.”
Lucas lies back. The snow melts into his hair. “We must walk the rest of the way. What does the GPS say?”
It’s been hundreds of miles and, truth be told, Lucas has found a soft spot for Aden’s blue psychotropic drink.
He guzzles it down.
Aden pulls away the leather drink pouch. “Easy on that, brother. You never know when you’ll need your sanity,” Aden says.
An infectious haze taunts them; Lucas squints but can see what direction they’re headed. It’s white as far as the eyes can see. White with a yellow sky.
The sun hides behind a dark set of clouds.
“GPS is shot,” Aden says with a worried glare.
Lucas pulls out a compass, but the dial won’t stop spinning.
“Electromagnetic activity is through the roof,” he says. “Iron Eye must be close, but where the hell is it?”
The temperature is only slightly painful. Soon, the snow will fall again. He’s sure of it. Maybe, if they’re lucky, they could make it another day on foot, but he can feel his toes numb.
This isn’t what he expected. Not by a long shot. In his naivety, he thought he’d be with her by now, fucking her senseless.
He thought he’d be with the pack again. Somehow, he really thought his family could reunite.
Family hits him the hardest. He never thought about what it meant to be a father. None of that came into the equation.
To breed is a part of alpha’s drive, inherent in their biology, and doomed to fail only because the urge does stop. The sexual nature of an alpha is like a parasite. It won’t stop until it fills every hole.
That same drive turned omegas into a commodity. Instinct drove them to gather the hunted. That was their life.
None of their parents raised them with dignity. They were taught to follow that drive and see it through to the end, because their fathers and their great sacrifice was virtuous. They were supposed to be the ones on the right path to solving the growing problem of sterility.
The population dwindled. They served and became their own versions of evil.
They gave up.
But Rae was never a commodity. She was someone they could save.
Always needing to be saved... But in the process, she saved everyone else.
She was an angel, but the real kind. The kind of angel that loses feathers and wears her scars. A broken angel.
She just wanted to be loved. To be adored and treasured.
When they fucked, the world connected. The past, the present, and the future collided until seed spilled into her womb. Their fuck was an act of holiness, the consummation of flesh. The triplets are their bond in solid form.
And he left them behind out of his own stubbornness.
Freezing and drowsy from Aden’s drink, Lucas decides. “I’m turning around. I can’t do this.”
A violent gust of wind knocks Aden onto his heels. “Don’t be an idiot. We’re almost there. We just need to keep moving.”
Lucas squints his eyes, but it’s impossible to see over ten feet in front of him. It doesn’t matter where he looks. There is no path to follow.
“The dunes are endless,” Lucas says, voice raspy and weak. He feels fearful, and that fear quickly turns to blame. “We’re lost because of you.”
Aden starts for him. “Because of me?”
Lucas winds back, frantic. Viciously, he hisses, “You were the one who led us here, and now we will die.”
Blame for what he didn’t do to save her. Blame for leaving his children behind. Fear makes an alpha turn on himself and every one around him.
Aden stares at his partner, and Lucas wonders what he’s thinking. Does he want to kill him?
Aden reaches into his bag and hands him the leather pouch. Is he going to kill him? Leave him here and find his daughter himself?
He nudges it into his hands. “Go on. Drink. We’re not turning back now. Look how far you’ve come. You’ve conquered nations, brought the first and second Republics to their knees. And now you will save the world,” he says.
“I can’t do it,” Lucas mutters. “I can’t--”
Aden’s voice rises. “Shut up,” he says.
Lucas shuts up.
“You’re a good father. There’s no doubt about that,” he says. “You’ve made mistakes, but shit was out of your hands. This fucked up world will turn out to be better than what any of us got. At the end of this is a second chance You’ve got a real shot of starting over. You sure you want to throw that chance away?”
Lucas breathes. If he focuses hard enough, he can still smell her scent. The snow starts to falls around his shoulders, but his courage solidifies.
“Okay,” he says. “Follow me.”
Instinct kicks in. A different kind of instinct. He follows his heart and pushes through the wintry wind front. Together, they wade through the snow of the coldest desert known to alpha.
Every now and then, the visibility drifts in and out of focus. He can just make out the round edges of boulders, but it’s far off in the distance.
“Over there,” Lucas points. “You see it?”
Aden nods. “We’re going in the right direction. We’ll be there in twenty-four hours, counting rest time.”
Lucas clenches his hands together, bitterness running through his bones. Aching, he begins to ascend a large hill. “No time for resting,” he says, already out of breath.
His legs ache. His eyes are freezing over. There’s no way they could camp here. The snow would eat them alive.
“Guess you’re right,” Aden says. “I’m freezing my ass off out here.”
Lucas and Aden climb over the crest of the hill and see signs of death. Blood splatter. They keep walking and find the body of an alpha. His brains leak from a massive hole in his skull. An ominous feeling washes over Lucas.
“Weapons check,” he mutters.
Lucas nudges his pack, checks himself once over. “Pulse grenade. Auto-rifle. Multi-Chamber. Okay,” he whispers to himself.
Aden nods at him. “I’m good,” he says.
A chill runs through his spine, a warning, telling him to give into his gut feeling. He should turn around and leave, but the allure of the Iron Eye is too strong.
“Can you feel it?” Aden asks, kneeling into the snow.
Lucas nods and wipes his nose. It’s getting colder. “I can feel it. It’s like a solid hum.”
“Unstable energy. That, or seismic activity,” he says. “It’s like it’s… alive.”
Maybe the Iron Eye is alive, Lucas thinks.
As the wind whips and howls around the snow hills, Aden reaches into his pack and pulls out what looks to be a small, metallic disc. “We only get one chance with this thing, but I think now’s the time to give it a go,” he says.
Lucas leans to get a closer look. “What is it?”
“It’s a landscape analysis bot,” Aden says.
Although the snow has lessened, the sun has set, and the wind won’t let up.
“Run it, already,” Lucas says. “But make sure you get it right. I’m not dying out here.”
Aden smirks and rolls his pack back onto his back. Fastening the shoulder straps, he asks, “You still concerned about me?”
Lucas answers. “I don�
�t know. Should I be?”
Twisting the shiny, metallic object, Aden gives it a little push. Robotic legs dig into the snow, and a thin antenna extends out of its center. It walks into the darkness ahead of them.
A few seconds of silence passes. Then the wind howls. The sound of gunfire echoes, but it sounds far away.
“What happened?” Lucas asks.
Aden tenses. “Wait for it.”
A full minute seems to pass. A blue flash expands around them. Lucas turns away from the blinding light.
When the first brightness clears, they can see a residual neon blue grid across the entire area. Aden clears his throat and nods to himself. “We’ll be able to see for about thirty seconds,” he says.
Lucas throws his rifle over his shoulder and groans. “That’s it? It’s been at least ten, already.”
“It’ll flash three more times before its battery dies. After that, we just have our memory, so keep those eyes sharp. Don’t let anything out of sight, and keep that drink tucked away. There’ll be no more of that from here on out.”
Lucas sighs. The drink was just about the only pleasure he was allowed to enjoy. There has been no sex. No dripping penetration. None of what he aches to receive has come to fruition. They have followed the path like fucking monks. The drink was all he got.
Honey… her sweet nectar. Could he miss anything more?
They take off toward least resistance. With the snow hills illuminated, the area is much easier to see. Far off, he observes the Iron Eye, but even closer is something to take notice of.
He can’t see what the object is, but it’s inert and small. “Ahead of us,” Lucas says.
Aden rips out his binoculars. “I see it. A figure?” he asks.
The blue grid dies out. They’re back to no visibility as darkness reclaims the land.
The bot flashes again. They jog, and when they get closer to the object, Lucas can make out what it is.
Before the blue grid disappears again, he stops ahead of a small statue. The light goes out, but it burns the image in his mind. It’s a gold ouroboros statue.
“How is this possible?” Aden asks.
Lucas tightens his jaw and stops breathing. He drops to his knees and starts digging. “It’s a grave,” he says.
But he can’t understand it either. The Ouroboros was the alpha army he belonged to, but they don’t exist anymore. This grave, if one, looks fresh. Meaning, someone left it there for them to find.
Another blue flash goes off. They’ve got thirty seconds to decide what to do.
“Out here?” Aden says, looking around. “It’s empty. There’s not a soul around us.”
Lucas drives the butt of his rifle into the earth. He digs until the earth turns soft. The wet slush of snow and sand numbs Lucas’ hands. In fact, his entire body feels like it’s ready to give up, but his heart is pumping, alive.
He hits something hard. It’s wood.
Brushing off the excess dirt, he cocks his head and looks at Aden, exhilarated. “Don’t just stand there. Help me get this thing out,” he says.
Aden drops and digs out the surrounding snow and mud. Eventually, it’s easy to see what the object is. As expected, it’s a coffin, decorated with gold, silver, and jewels that line around the lid. Whoever is inside was held with esteem, but why in the hell would anyone be buried here?
Out of breath and exhausted, the alphas grab the silver hands and pull. It doesn’t budge, and Aden falls against it, groaning in pain.
“What’s the matter?” Lucas asks. “You tired, already?”
Aden’s chest pumps. His stubble has collected small crystals of ice. Large bags have formed under his eyes, creating a sense of weariness among them. “We’ve been traveling for days. Do you really have to ask?”
Gathering the rest of their energy is difficult, but they get the coffin out of the ground. Without exhausting the rest of their resources, Lucas opens it up. Inside is a woman, very dead.
Lucas’ mind seems to shut down. He tries to catch his breath, but a nauseating phlegm hits the back of his throat. He vomits into the snow, cries when he realizes it’s not some kind of fucked up illusion or hallucination from the blue drink.
It’s Rae. She’s dead. And Lucas is devastated. A broken saint, he turns numb.
"It can’t be," Aden whispers.
If someone is sending a message, he doesn't know who it could be.
A voice sounds behind them, raspy and familiar. Too fucking familiar. “I knew you’d be back.”
Lucas slowly turns, unable to believe his ears. “Cassian,” he says.
Sure enough, it’s his old leader. The massive brute stands about ten feet from them, eyeing the grave. “Lucas,” he replies. “I was expecting the others to stand with you during this troubling time. I suppose I was wrong.”
Lucas bites against the cold. “Who is this man?”
A deep laughter resounds from his belly. His eyes are dark and mesmerizing. From his position, he stares at the open grave.
“Someone I loved,” he says.
“Explain, you sick fuck,” Lucas responds.
Cassian shows his teeth, aggression carrying him. “I built the Iron Eye to end the problems of our society,” he says, pausing for a moment. “I know—it’s difficult to understand. But the particle accelerator was supposed to be a bridge for alpha.”
Aden freezes, hands gripped over his holster. “So what happened?” Aden asks.
Cassian sighs, close enough to charge them if he was so inclined to do so. Instead, he takes his time with the story. “Our tests were simple at first. We tweaked particles of matter to see how they behaved under certain circumstances. We were naïve. We thought we could change our position in the universe.”
His expression hardens. “With the knowledge gained, our scope expanded. We set our aim to creating new worlds. Universes with an infinite number of planets just like this one. But, in the end, I knew none of it would solve the problems of our world. Our results didn’t tackle alpha and omega sterility and infertility. I realized I had gone too far. No matter how much time and effort we invested in the project, we were just creating more problems to deal with down the road.”
Lucas thinks about all of what Rae has gone through because of this. “Then why didn’t you stop it? If you knew we were on a collision course, why did you continue the project?” he asks.
Cassian peers over at a lit crescent moon. “I stopped it. I hired a team of scientists to make sure the accelerator would melt down. What we didn’t expect was the electromagnetic activity in the region. It was unstable, and something set it off. A detonation brought destruction across the entire planet. Alphas and omegas panicked. And when that happened, a revelation washed over me,” he says. “I had found my one chance at eradicating the Old Republic. I had to act.”
“The rogue nations that played a small role in the project’s startup were no match against my army. Power is something that comes once in a lifetime, and I took the chance to grab it. I owned it and won,” Cassian growls and clenches his fist.
“You lost control,” Lucas says. “You lost everything you valued.”
Cassian is close enough to place a hand around his rifle. He holds a firm grip, and Lucas struggles against him.
“Mother was dying, and I had to keep Rae. It was your pack who ruined everything,” he grunts.
“And I’d do it again, too,” Lucas growls back and forces him away.
“I’ll admit it. That cunt was my one weakness, the pussy I never got to breed. But the Omega Unlimited project was far too important to toss aside. If the warring nations and tribes of feral alphas got ahold of them, the consequences would have been too catastrophic,” Cassian replies.
Aden laughs in his face. “You can’t claim to be noble.”
Cassian turns tyrannical, rage rising like a tempest. “Don’t forget, you were on the forefront of my invasions. Both of you.” He turns to Lucas again. “You raped and killed hundreds of defenseless omegas. Th
ousands were taken. Do you really go to bed at night thinking you’re a good father?”
He takes another step forward as Lucas loses his footing.
“You’re just like me,” Cassian sneers. “You are alpha. It’s in our blood, our DNA. It is what makes us who we are. Our biology demands us to continue the path forward.”
Lucas has too many questions to ask. He wants to know if the extinction gene is real, but the next question that comes to mind is how the hell he survived that night at the offsite facility.
How did he survive Rae gutting him like a fish? Both Vash and Rae said they saw it happen. Severin and Ruby took the body for burial.
He grins like he knows what Lucas is thinking. Lifting his tattered armor, he shows off a scar that runs from his chest to his pelvis. Lucas can see his heart beating against the ruined skin.
“On the night Rae killed me, Severin and the New Republic deployed men to my facility. They operated on me. It’s a fucking miracle I survived. A true gift from God,” he says. “I survived them all.”
“What about the extinction gene? Will you survive that, too?” Aden interrupts.
Cassian’s eyes stare a hole right through Lucas. “The New Republic is a finished project. Rae is dead. Join me, and we’ll start again.”
Lucas steps away from him, but he trips over the ouroboros statue. He lands into a thick patch of snow. “You’re crazy,” he says. “I’ll never join you.”
Cassian keeps walking, backing Lucas against the statue. “Think about your pack. Do you really think they’ll accept you now? They’ve got your kids hostage, Lucas. They have Ruby to Raise them now. When they find out their precious omega is already dead, they will turn to her for support. You will be forgotten.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Aden cries.
Cassian’s grin falls. “You’ll never see them again. Not without me.”
Back resting against the statue, Lucas stops struggling. In his peripheral, he can see the body in the casket. He doesn’t dare to look any further. He knows it’s her, but it’s just so hard to believe.
“If I follow you, where will we go?” Lucas asks.
Aden collapses. “No,” he cries. “Think about what you are doing.”
Broken Angel: The Complete Collection: A Dark Omegaverse Romance Page 42