Omega

by Susannah Sandlin

  Randa arched a brow at him, slipped her fingers beneath the sheet, and cupped him in her hand with a slight squeeze. “Anything else off-limits?”

  His body arched beneath her. “Ah…no. Although, Krys said I couldn’t get it up until the morphine wore…ahh.”

  She pumped him once, twice, three times. “I think Krys was wrong. How about you?”

  He held her hand in place over his shaft, making her fingers curve around it as he slowly thrust against her hand. “Uh-huh.”

  Randa leaned over him and nipped his lower lip as she worked him with her hand. She wanted him inside her, and badly, but not enough to risk reinjuring that leg. Tonight was foreplay.

  Cage’s leg hurt, and he was bored. A normal bullet wound should already have healed, but when Krys had dug the plug out of his thigh, they’d discovered it was silver. Whatever else Matthias Ludlam was, he was cunning. Had to give him credit for that. And sadistic.

  So instead of being back to normal in a couple of hours, he’d be useless until after his daysleep—maybe two daysleeps. He wouldn’t heal human slow, but it wouldn’t be vampire fast, either.

  They’d first taken him into the medical ward with Melissa, but as soon as Krys dug out the bullet and offered something for the pain, Aidan had ushered him back into his room. Aidan and Krys wanted to spend time alone with Melissa, a good idea. New vampires needed mentoring to understand the changes in their bodies and how to control their impulses. Without that mentoring, some vampires turned out OK, but most turned into predators. It was their nature, after all, and Melissa was getting a late start.

  Cage also didn’t want to be there when Melissa saw Mark again. He hoped for both their sakes that their love and their bond could withstand her being turned. For his own sake, he wished he hadn’t started to care so much. Her selflessness, even when she was in pain from her transition and facing a possible eternity with Matthias, had touched him like nothing he could remember.

  Aidan had sensed his attraction to her that first night, and he’d be on the alert for any inappropriate attention from his British lieutenant.

  No worries. Cage was the consummate professional. Which sometimes royally sucked.

  The door to the hallway opened after a soft knock, and Aidan stuck his head in. “Can I talk to you a minute?”

  “Sure.” Cage maneuvered to a seated position on the bed and propped his back against the wall. He had nothing but time and a boring novel that probably should never have been published.

  “How’s the leg?”

  “We need to get some of those bullets—they’re damned effective. Hurts like hell.”

  Aidan smiled. “Already put them on Will’s shopping list for tomorrow night—he should be able to travel by then. That was my first question—is it safe to send anyone out of Omega?”

  Cage thought about the areas he knew Matthias’s men were searching. “So far, as long as he’s careful. They haven’t fanned out as far as the Omega entrance. But are you sure you want to send Will on these runs? If Matthias captures you or me, he’ll eventually kill us. Will’s future would be worse than death.”

  Aidan took a seat on the other bed. “I picked him because he’s fast and can think on his feet. I know he hates Matthias. Is there something I need to know from Matthias’s side of the story?”

  Cage pondered his suspicions about Shelton, weighing Aidan’s need to know against Will’s right to privacy.

  Aidan leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees. “If it’s something that might impact his ability to do his job, you need to tell me. It won’t leave this room. If it’s not, just say so and I won’t ask again.”

  It could impact his ability to do the job. If he were confronted with Shelton again, how would Will react? He knew Will had seen Shelton briefly when he went on the successful raid to free Mirren and Glory in Virginia the month before last. He had even spared Shelton’s life, mostly because he was focused on Mirren.

  Cage didn’t think that would happen again. If he got caught and Shelton pushed him enough, Will might snap. That could backfire on Matthias—or it could backfire on his friends in Omega.

  “I’ll tell you this,” Cage said. “There were things done to Will when he was young, just after he was turned, that might impact how he’d react if his father caught him.”

  Aidan nodded slowly. “I know Matthias killed Will’s mother and sister, trying to turn them, that he strong-armed Will into going along with it. I know he’s been verbally abusive Will’s whole life.”

  “Not just verbally, Aidan. Sexually. Not Matthias himself, but his man Shelton, with Matthias’s knowledge and permission. I’m pretty sure it’s how they got Will under control—well, until he ran away. Will hinted as much, and I saw Shelton in action with a kid he’s got up there who can’t be more than fourteen or fifteen. Will was older, but he looks young and he’d only been turned a few months, so he wouldn’t have known how to defend himself.”

  “Shit.” Aidan ran his hands through his hair. “It’s a goddamn miracle he even survived. I need to give it some thought. If I pull him off patrols, he’ll want to know why. He’ll see it as punishment, not us trying to protect him.”

  “Understandable.” Cage sighed. There were no easy paths in this new world of theirs. “Just know that if Will gets caught, there are worse things Matthias can do than kill him. He still wants him as an acolyte, however he achieves it.”

  Aidan nodded. “I’ll give it some more thought. In the meantime, there’s something else I need to ask you. About Melissa.”

  Cage tensed. “What about her?”

  “She’s asking for you. I think it’s because you fed her, yes? She’s formed an emotional bond to you.”

  “I did feed her, a couple of times.” Cage’s tone came out defensive, but he wouldn’t apologize for his actions. It had kept her from falling even more under Matthias’s influence.

  “Don’t get me wrong—I’m glad you kept her as strong as you could. But I want to bring Mark to her to feed. She’s nervous about it, afraid she’ll hurt him. We can keep that from happening, but it might help if you were there.”

  Cage closed his eyes. God help him, he wished Mark wasn’t in the picture or wasn’t such a good guy. But Mark and Melissa had a solid marriage before she’d been turned. Since she died—or he thought she died—he’d been shuffling around Omega like a wraith. There wasn’t a person here, vampire or human, who hadn’t agonized over his pain and wanted to help him.

  “The faster Mark and Melissa get together, the better their chances of reforming their bonds to each other.” Ten points for Cage. Shouldn’t doing the right thing feel better? “I think you really need to prepare him, though. He can’t go in without knowing what to expect. And it might not just be Mel who has some adjustments to make.”

  “I’m going to talk to him now.” Aidan stood and looked down at Cage. “I know you care about her, and whatever happens, happens. Just give them a chance first.”

  Cage met Aidan’s gaze and held it. “Agreed. Do you still want me in there, to help ease her way to Mark? If she has formed some attachment to me, it might make things worse.”

  “I trust you to help her.”

  While Aidan headed down the hall to tell Mark that Melissa was alive—and thank God it wasn’t his job—Cage hobbled back to the medical ward. He knocked and waited for Krys to open the door.

  “I’m glad you’re here.” She moved aside and let him in the room.

  Melissa looked paler than before, if possible, but she wore a clean sweater and jeans, and her hair was damp and pulled back in a ponytail. Cage had barely cleared the door before she ran to him and threw her arms around his waist. “I wanted to make sure you were OK.”

  He met Krys’s worried look over Melissa’s head, but wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “It’s OK, love. You’re safe now. We’re both safe now.”

  Cage wasn’t sure they’d ever truly be safe again, but safety was relative.

  He gently
extricated her arms from around him and stepped back to look at her. So fragile and yet strong. He smiled at her and received a tentative one in return. “You’re looking like yourself again. How do you feel?”

  The good doctor Cage, that was him.

  “Better. Aidan’s bringing Mark.” She lowered her voice. “I’m afraid to see him.”

  Cage took her hand and enveloped it in both of his. “You won’t hurt him.”

  She shook her head and fought back tears, still looking very human and vulnerable. Her voice came out in a whisper even Cage, standing next to her, struggled to hear. “I can’t remember loving him. I remember it in my head, but not in my heart.”

  Something alien and predatory unfurled in Cage’s chest, something that met her pronouncement with rejoicing. He beat it down with self-control forged of iron. “When you see him, you’ll remember. Your heart will remember.”

  “That’s what I told her,” Krys said. She’d been standing near the door, giving them privacy, but now joined them in the middle of the room. “Aidan and I went through this, remember, Mel? It took us a couple of weeks, but we found our way back to each other.”

  Melissa nodded. “How long do you think it’ll be before they come?”

  “Soon.” Cage led her to the bed and sat beside her. Krys took one of the chairs. “It’s only an hour until dawn, so it can’t be long.”

  He’d thought it might take at least a half hour for Aidan to explain things to Mark, but fewer than ten minutes elapsed before Mark came bursting into the room, with Aidan following close behind, his brows lowered in a frown. “Where’s Mel?”

  As soon as Mark spotted her, he froze. He’d probably lost half a stone’s worth of weight since they’d been in Omega, and the bruises from his injuries hadn’t finished healing. Mark, in his own way, had had just as rough a time as Melissa. Shame filled Cage’s heart that part of him wanted this man’s wife, wanted her to reject the man she’d loved so deeply.

  Melissa’s hand still rested in his, but she pulled it away and walked to meet Mark. Anticipation, dread, excitement, fear—they all swirled in this room with an almost physical presence.

  Mark tried to smile at her, but the tears overwhelmed him as soon they made eye contact. Cage wished it was possible to give them privacy. They couldn’t, though. Not yet. But he walked to the desk at the far end of the room and pretended to study a roll of athletic tape. Krys and Aidan stayed near the door to the hallway. It was the most privacy they could give them while still keeping Mark safe.

  Whispers, crying, soft words. Cage tried to shut them all out until Mark yelped in pain, and he whirled to see Melissa with her mouth at her husband’s neck. They’d expected this. He and Aidan reached them at the same time. Cage put an arm around Melissa’s waist from behind and lowered his mouth to her ear.

  “Go easy, love. You know what to do. Remember when you fed from me? Remember Aidan feeding from you? You know how to keep it from hurting.”

  Melissa shoved Mark away and crumpled to the floor with her head in her hands, Mark’s blood streaming down her chin. Krys put her mouth to Mark’s wound and stopped the bleeding. It took him a few seconds to stop shaking.

  “Mel, it’s OK.” Mark knelt in front of Melissa, but she wouldn’t look at him. He looked up at Aidan, desperation widening his eyes.

  “It’s almost dawn,” Cage said. “Maybe Melissa needs to get through a daysleep. It’s been a long night for everyone.” He wanted to sit on the floor next to her, take her in his arms, tell her everything would be good after a day of rest. But for one thing, with his bum leg, if he ever got on the floor, he’d need help getting up.

  Plus, he wasn’t sure it was true.

  Damn, but it felt good to stand upright. Will had spent the first two hours after daysleep walking back and forth across the length of Omega, taking occasional breaks to stop and chat with the small groups that had settled into chairs or wandered aimlessly around the facility. The evil Dr. Slayer had ordered him to stay on his feet awhile before going on shopping patrol, to make sure the leg would hold his weight. So far, so good.

  The people of Omega were bored, and Will couldn’t blame them. Mirren was working with Glory, hoping she could use her telekinesis to clear a new exit, but there was nowhere for her to move the dirt. Will had little hope for that project. Aidan, Krys, and Cage were sequestered with Mark and Melissa—whose arrival had spread around Omega like a brush fire and cheered everyone up, at least temporarily. People smiled more and argued less.

  But they were all restless and unsettled. Before he’d escorted Mark back to the medical ward, Aidan had asked Hannah and Randa to sit down and develop work schedules in different parts of Omega to keep everyone busy and to come up with ways for the humans, especially, to entertain themselves during the vampires’ daysleep. Those plans would determine part of his shopping trip.

  So far, as he’d passed them on his Omega walkabouts, he’d heard discussions about a karaoke night, a puzzle contest, and art classes.

  “I have an idea.” He smiled at Randa as he sat next to Hannah and slipped an arm around her thin shoulders. “We could talk to Mirren about drawing lessons. You know, turn the meeting room into an art studio and let him teach.”

  Hannah giggled. “He could wear a beret and hold a palette.”

  Randa was grinning now too. “He could model for people. Whoever draws the best likeness wins a prize.”

  “Maybe a—”

  “A what, junior? Finish that fucking sentence.” A ham-sized hand landed on Will’s shoulder, hard enough to knock him off balance.

  It was worth Mirren’s wrath to see Hannah laughing again. “You really shouldn’t curse around women and children, big guy.”

  “Shut it.” Mirren upended Will’s chair on his way out of the room, causing him to do some fancy balancing maneuvers to keep his ass off the floor.

  Might be a good time to leave. “Like I was saying, gotta run some errands. Tell me what you guys need besides art supplies.”

  “Can I talk to you a minute before you go?” Randa stood and pointed toward the hallway toward their room.

  “You bet.” Will leaned over and kissed Hannah on the cheek. “You need anything, sweetie? A new cat purse?”

  Her dark eyes turned solemn, and she shook her head. Will gave her a squeeze before following Randa into the room.

  Things had been a little awkward between them when they woke from daysleep, half-dressed, their limbs tangled together. He didn’t plan to let the awkwardness move them backward, so he closed the door behind him and pulled her into a kiss before she could start telling him all the reasons why it was a bad idea.

  To his surprise, she didn’t fight him. Instead, she met him with an aggressive assault of lips and tongue that slowed and softened as he figured out she wasn’t running from him and vice versa.

  He smoothed a curl behind her ear. “I was afraid you wanted to tell me last night couldn’t happen again.”

  “Oh, last night’s not going to happen again.” Randa arched a brow at him. “Next time, you’re going to be a more active participant, minus the morphine buzz. Got that, soldier?”

  Oh yeah, he definitely got that. “I might have to come back from Opelika a little early.” Cage hadn’t mentioned moving back into their room, and Randa hadn’t mentioned throwing him out of hers. Which meant he had his pick of sleeping spots. Not that he planned to sleep.

  Randa turned away from him and walked to the bookshelf that functioned as dressing table, nightstand, and storage for the small room. She pulled down a backpack and drew a sheet of paper from it.

  “Think you can find a Wi-Fi hot spot in Opelika?”

  He took the paper. “Sure. I can take my laptop with me. What am I looking for?”

  “Read it.”

  He unfolded the sheet, which had been printed off a website, and sounded out the words. “Rory’s Ramblings? It’s a blog?”

  “Notice anything familiar about the guy?”

  He looked
at the grainy ink-jet print job, at a smiling soldier in uniform, with red hair cut military short, a straight nose, eyes that crinkled just like…

  “He’s your brother?”

  “My twin brother, Rory. We were the youngest of the five kids—I’m the only girl—and when our mom died, Rory and I shared everything. It tore him up when I…when I died.” She wouldn’t meet his eye, but seemed to be examining her shoes. “He blogged about it.”

  “What’s wrong, Ran?” Will led her to the bed, and they sat side by side. “You want to try and make contact with him?” He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He’d heard of very few vampires who’d been able to form any kind of relationship with human family members. For one thing, families aged and vampires didn’t. Plus, it was dicey with the Tribunal, who, for all their dithering and hypocrisy, had been consistent in advising vampires to be very careful in letting humans know of their existence. Aidan had the Penton fams bonded or erased memories to prevent people from talking, for their own protection as well as the vampires’.

  “I’ve been keeping up with the family through Rory’s blog since I got back to the States after being turned. He stuck with it until last month, when he suddenly stopped. Until then, he’d posted a blog at least three or four times a week.” She looked down at their intertwined fingers and squeezed Will’s hand. “I have a feeling something bad has happened.”

  “You want me to see what I can find out?”

  Randa nodded and finally looked up at him. “I hear you can hack into anything.”

  Her eyes were haunted, maybe even a little frightened, and Will wanted nothing more than to protect her. “If there’s anything to be found, I’ll find it.”

  He’d found it all right, and he wasn’t sure how he was going to break the news to Randa.

  Will struggled to keep his mind on the road as he drove back from Opelika. He’d blown through a Dollar Tree and a Walmart, grabbing only the essentials he could carry.