by Lizzy Bequin
“Hannah,” I touch her arm. “The lead researcher on the team. Was it Dr. Lucian?”
Her face takes on a bitter expression and she nods.
“Yes,” she says. “That fucking bastard.”
Her voice cracks.
I stop walking and clutch her arm. Kadmon pauses beside me, and Addom and Hasker turn to see what’s going on.
“Hannah, was there another woman with your group? Another research assistant named Eva?”
Hannah’s mouth becomes tight, and I can feel the dull ache of tears forming behind my eyes. I don’t know exactly what she has to say, but I can tell it isn’t good. I vaguely realize that my thumb is unconsciously fidgeting with the ring Kadmon brought me.
Hannah nods.
“She was your friend, right? She talked about you.”
My vision blurs with tears. Kadmon’s grip tightens on my arm to keep me steady.
“I’m sorry, Lily,” Hannah whispers. “When those men—those bastards—when they hung us out like bait and exposed us to the zone, Eva became a beta.
She doesn’t say anything else. She doesn’t have to. I understand what she is telling me.
Eva is dead. Just like what happened to Sara.
A tear rolls down the bridge of my nose and falls to the floor. Kadmon catches me before I collapse.
“Come, Lily,” he says gently. “You should lie down. You need to rest.”
CHAPTER 17: LILY
“Wake up, Lily.”
My eyes flutter open to golden and green light. My body jolts upright, shocked by my unfamiliar surroundings.
“Easy,” Addom says, sliding his big arms around me. “You’re at home. Remember?”
I take a deep breath to calm myself and blink away the sleep from my eyes. We are in the dwelling shared by three Alphas, and now by me as well. I’m still getting used to thinking of it as home.
The dwelling was once a lavish penthouse, back before the cataclysm. Now it is so overgrown with lush green plants, it is a veritable indoor jungle. The massive floor to ceiling window along the eastern-facing wall provides a breathtaking view of the city. It also gives the impression that we are living in a giant terrarium. Rain water caught in a massive collection tank on the roof of this building provides a source of running water. A small waterfall trickles from the ceiling into what used to be a recessed living room but is now a shallow pool framed with curling green ferns.
Our bed is in the corner. Actually, it’s more like a nest formed from plant fibers, grass, and moss. At night, surrounded by three naked Alphas, it is surprisingly warm and comfortable.
“Come,” Addom says, helping me to my feet. “We have a big day ahead of us.”
I can hear Kadmon and Hasker moving about and talking and the crackle of fire. They must be out on the patio deck that is also covered with greenery and serves as our rustic firewood kitchen.
“A big day?” I ask rubbing the sleep from my eyes.
It’s been a few days since Hannah declared me well enough to leave the proximity of the Source. Today I feel like I’m back to one hundred percent. Even better than that, actually.
Addom places his strong hand on my shoulder and guides me to the outer balcony.
“Yes,” he answers me. “Tonight we will finally be bound. You must prepare.”
Bound. The Alphas have mentioned it briefly before, but they haven’t gone into many details and I haven’t asked. But I have some idea of what it involves.
Over the past few days, they have been gentle with me as I was recovering. But last night they marked me once again, like they did at the waterfall. This time, however, Kadmon was allowed to finish as well. Several times.
But still, despite everything we have done, we have not actually had sex yet. It sounds like that will soon change.
“W-what is the binding ceremony like?” I stammer.
Addom smooths his big hand over my back. His touch is gentle but firm.
“Tonight we will claim your body,” he says as if that explains everything. “We must show the tribe that you belong to us now, in accordance with our laws.”
“When you say claim my body, you mean…you’re going to fuck me?”
I’ve known that this was coming. I’ve been awaiting it with a mix of excitement and apprehension. There’s no denying the physical attraction I have for all three of these Alphas, even Hasker. In fact, it has grown deeper with every passing day since they first marked my body with their seed. Now there is nothing I want more than to feel them moving inside me. I want to go all the way with all three of them.
But these Alphas aren’t into casual sex. They want to breed me.
And an even greater source of apprehension are those words that Addom keeps using.
Claim. Possess. Belong.
Okay, fine, when I was back in the city hives, my life was hardly one of exuberant freedom. I was basically a wage slave for the SynerGen Corporation. And my comings and goings were greatly restricted by the draconian laws of the new world.
But no one owned me. The way these Alphas are talking, you would think I was their pet.
I shouldn’t like that idea. I really shouldn’t.
Addom just gives me a mysterious smile. We step out onto the wide balcony patio where Hasker and Kadmon are crouching by a small fire cooking. Hasker’s intense, dark eyes flash under his thick eyebrows, and his heavy beard makes his expression unreadable, but I’m sure he’s just scowling under that hair. Kadmon rises and brings me a wooden board laden with food.
After a lifetime of eating synthetic food, it seemed so strange to eat things from nature, but I’m starting to get used to the idea.
“Eat,” Addom says sternly. “You will need your strength for the binding.”
I’ll need my strength? Yeah, this ceremony definitely sounds like more than a wedding. And then there’s that little turn of phrase that Addom used a moment ago.
He said we were going to show the tribe. Does that mean we’re going to have an audience? I’m not sure how I feel about that. What we did before in the cave and last night in this very dwelling was private, far from prying eyes, and that’s how it should be. Over the past few days I’ve learned how pleasurable intimacy can be, but it is also dirty. Something to be hidden. Something to be ashamed of.
And if we are going to have an audience for this claiming ritual, how big will it be?
But when I try to ask these questions, Addom just responds as before, like a broken record.
“Eat,” he urges. “You will need your strength.”
***
After breakfast we depart.
Our jungle penthouse is several stories up. Instead of taking the stairs down to street level, the Alphas rappel down the thick, ropey vines climbing the walls of the tower. I am lashed to Addom’s back with leather straps that he assures me are secure. Nevertheless, I hold on to his thick neck for dear life. By the time we get down to the ground, however, my nervousness has started to fade, and I find myself actually enjoying being the Jane to his Tarzan, just like in the antique movies I used to watch as a girl.
Only this Jane has three Tarzans.
Due to my convalescence, I haven’t spent much time down on the streets of the city yet. In fact, this is my first time walking around in the daylight. The atmosphere is surreal. For one thing, the buildings are overgrown with plants and vines like they were ancient jungle temples instead of skyscrapers.
But even weirder is the sense of space and emptiness. Back in the city hives, it doesn’t matter where you go; everyplace is crammed with anxious, busy people—the trains, the pedestrian gantries, the office lobbies and food canteens.
Here, however, there is room to breathe. The grass covered roads are spacious, the plant-filtered air is oxygen rich and energizing. And best of all, you can actually hear yourself think. No shouting crowds or clanging machinery here; just the gentle moan of the wind drifting through the manmade canyons.
That’s not to say that the streets are comple
tely empty. We pass many other groups of people along the way—clutches of tall, broad shouldered Alphas surrounding their much smaller and more delicate omegas covered in piercings.
All of them stare unabashedly as we pass. They are curious about me. Curious about the strange little outsider whose skin bears no jewelery.
It makes me feel extra naked, if that is even a thing.
There are also some groups of Alphas, mostly younger ones, who do not have an omega with them. These eye me with particular interest. Whenever this happens, I notice Kadmon putting his body in front of mine to block their view.
He’s being protective of me. Or maybe possessive is a better word.
At last we arrive at our destination. The building is so obscured and overgrown with plants that it’s difficult to tell what it once was from the outside, but as we step indoors, I recognize it as the lobby of a hotel.
I have only seen such things in pictures. While there are hotels in the city hives, they are mostly restricted to the upper levels. Only the elites do much traveling. The rest of us never leave the cities of our birth.
Of course, I have become an exception.
“Over here,” Addom says.
At the rear of the dark, cavernous lobby, there are three huge Alphas lounging and chatting. They look up as we approach, and they pass easy greetings with my guys. Behind them is a series of broad archways opening onto a room filled with wavering skeins of bluish light reflecting off water. I’m expecting a swimming pool, but what I find inside is a bit different.
The air inside is thick and humid. A classical style colonnade and tiled floor surround a few steaming, shallow pools that I realize must be hot baths.
“Lily!”
There, waiting for us at the water’s edge, is Hannah. I realize those Alphas sitting outside must be her mates.
She rushes forward to greet us, throwing her arms around me in a big hug like we’ve been best friends all our lives. Her piercings are cool against my bare skin. Naked hugs are a bit of a surprise for me. Certainly not something that friends would do back in the city hive.
Then again, considering everything I’ve been through in the past week, this is nothing. Besides, all awkwardness aside, it’s nice to have a friend here. Even though she has gone native, so to speak, she still remembers life on the outside, which means she’s the only person who can relate to my situation.
“Hannah will bathe you in preparation for the ceremony,” Addom says like it’s no big deal. He nods toward Hannah. “She has been through the same process not long ago, so she knows what to do.”
“Wait, what?” I gasp. “Bathe me? But—“
Addom raises his hand and cuts me off.
“You must prepare. Hasker, Kadmon, and I will leave you now. We must meditate. We will be just outside, so you will be safe in this place.”
And just like that, the three bulky Alphas turn and head back the way we came. Only Kadmon casts a longing glance over his shoulder as he goes, his eyes glinting blue between the dark strands of his long hair.
“All right,” Hannah says with a clap of her hands. “You ready for me to scrub you down, babe?”
I spin around in disbelief. Hannah just stares at me, her eyebrows raised, and her expression serious. Then I notice a twitching at the corner of her mouth, and a moment later the sound of her laughter echoes through the colonnades surrounding the baths.
“Lily, I wish you could see your face right now,” she giggles. “Priceless. Absolutely priceless.”
“So you’re not gonna…”
“What? Bathe you?” she says, mimicking Addom’s deep stern voice. “Um, no. You’re a big girl, so I think you can handle it yourself. I’ll keep you company though.”
I take off my loin cloth and place it by the pool. Hannah does the same with hers. Something glints between her thighs and catches my eye.
She’s pierced down there too.
Hannah catches me looking, and I glance away, but I can feel the rush of heat in my cheeks. Am I going to have a piercing like that too?
I don’t bother asking now. I wouldn’t even know how to broach the question. Besides, I’m ready to relax, and the steaming waters of the hot baths are enticing.
CHAPTER 18: LILY
Hannah explains that the water for these baths comes from natural underground hot springs. Back before the cataclysm, this hotel was some kind of resort, and the hot baths were the main attraction.
As Hannah and I lounge in the steaming water, we talk for a while about everyday things, but eventually our conversation comes back around to the Source.
“What could it be?” I ask Hannah. “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
She shrugs while working suds into her hair.
“All we know for sure is that it’s the cause of the mutations in the zone.” She pauses and thinks for a moment as she slicks her shampooed hair back. “And we know that it was made by SynerGen.”
She submerges, and I can see the wavering form of her body beneath the surface as she runs her hands over her head underwater, rinsing her hair.
Hannah is right. The implication of that is huge. Whether intentionally or by accident, SynerGen caused the cataclysm. The single most destructive event in history. If word of that were to get out, it would shake the entire world.
After a moment, Hannah breaks the surface, squinting and wiping her rinsed hair back from her face.
“Hannah,” I say, “what if this gets out? About SynerGen and the Source.”
She shakes her head and chuckles bitterly.
“That’s the thing,” she says. “It’s never going to get out. All of the evidence is quarantined here in the zone.”
“But we know,” I insist. “We could tell people.”
“Who?” she asks, leaning back against the side of the bath. “Who are you going to tell? And more important, how are you going to tell them? You’ve seen the firepower they have surrounding the zone. You’d get blown to smithereens before you even got close to that quarantine wall.”
She lolls her head back and studies the tile ceiling overhead, obscured with steam.
“Besides,” she adds, “even if you could tell the outside world, think about the effect it would have. There would be riots probably. It could undermine the entire foundation of society. Is that really what you want?”
I hadn’t thought about it that way. Still, the truth is the truth, and people have a right to know. We’ve all been lied to for all these years.
“Well what about this?” I ask her. “Now, I’m not necessarily saying this is a good idea, but what would happen if the power to the Source was turned off.”
Hannah tilts her head forward. Her eyes are wide, and they dart around the room.
“Lily, listen to me,” she says in a whisper. “You mustn’t talk like that. If the Alphas heard you…that thing is the center of the universe to them.”
“I know, I know,” I tell her, surprised by her reaction. “I mean, I said I wasn’t really suggesting we try to do that. But, well…just for argument’s sake, what do you think would happen?”
Hannah relaxes a little. She rolls her eyes back as she thinks.
“I’m not really sure,” she says. “But I don’t think it would be good for the people of the zone. I mean, we know that the energy field that it emits definitely dissipates as you get farther away, right? That’s why the Alphas that live in the far lands are so messed up. And that’s why it has no effect on people outside the zone. Beyond the wall.”
We both get quiet for a moment as we think about that world beyond the wall. The civilized world that we have left behind.
“Do you ever miss it?” I ask. “The outside world, I mean?”
Hannah’s eyes grow distant and sad.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I shouldn’t have…”
Hannah shakes her head.
“No it’s okay,” she says. “I mean, if you’re talking about the overcrowding in the city hives, the smoggy air, the
flavorless food…the flavorless life that I was leading from day to day. No. I don’t miss any of that. But there are people I miss.”
Hannah inhales deeply, holds it for a moment, and then lets it out, her shoulders sinking like she’s breathing out all of her tension.
“I was married,” she says. “I had a husband. I do miss him. And I wish there was some way I could, you know…just let him know that I’m alive.”
She shakes her head, and looks down at her body, at the metal piercing in her nipple that is right at the surface of the water. Beneath the surface, her hand is resting on her belly, and I have a sudden intuition.
Hannah is pregnant. Pregnant with an Alpha baby.
“Then again, maybe it’s better that he doesn’t know what’s happened to me…”
For a moment, she grows silent, and I don’t know what to say. The only sound is the faint lapping of the water around the edge of the bath. Then she goes on.
“He was a good guy.” Hannah says. “He still is, I suppose. I mean, I think I loved him. I dunno. But with my Alphas, everything is different. The bond that I have with them goes so much deeper than love. It’s like…”
She looks around the steamy air as if she might find the right word floating there like a butterfly on the breeze.
“Fate,” she says at last. “It feels like fate. I know that probably doesn’t make much sense, but that’s the only way I can explain it. Our bond is so strong.”
I wave my arms slowly under the water, enjoying the warm sensations on my skin.
“I guess I’ll understand soon enough,” I say quietly.
Hannah crosses the shallow pool and joins me by the stairs.
“You’re going to be fine,” she says. “Trust me.”
I shake my head.
“I don’t know. I can’t believe I’m going to be bound to them. I hardly even know them. I mean, Kadmon, maybe. He’s the most…sensitive. And I have to admit that Addom has his, um…nice qualities. But Hasker? He hates me. How can I be bound to someone that hates me?”
“He doesn’t hate you,” Hannah says simply.
I laugh, and the sound echoes through the colonnades.