Page 48 of Brave New Omega, Part 2

Chapter 48

KATIE

A thick curtain of maroon velvet drops, cutting the large ballroom in half, women on one side and men on the other. What a primitive world, this Alpha-Beta-Omega world is. As if gender is the only way to love. As if the most dangerous thing to a woman is a horny man.

Well, that might not be wrong. But there are plenty of other dangers too.

I sigh, and press the small knife against my leg. I wanted to take one of Callum's guns, the strange laser-bullets both comforting and terrifying in my grip. But he refused.

“They’ll search you, and how do we explain a Traveler and an Omega with a gun? You’ll look like a damn assassin.”

“Maybe I ought to be,” I’d snarled back at him. All this prissy pampering of Omegas, assuming that just because of my biology I was weak. Not just weak, but that I wanted to be weak. I hated it, even as I now understood how vulnerable Omegas could be. That heat spike had left me nearly paralyzed with need.

It sucked. It was like the weeks after the glass and metal shards had eviscerated my knee and they’d ripped my joint out and replaced it. Learning to walk and hold weight again was painful. I had to rely on nurses and physical therapists, which was itself a kind of torture.

I watch the seething throng of women pulse in and out as people greet one another.

“Look at that dress,” Layla moans next to me. The woman in question is tall, even taller than Maddie, with ebony skin and an afro framing her head like a halo. The dress is a creamy white, like a mermaid wedding dress with lace and pearls. It’s an objectively beautiful dress on a truly stunning woman.

“It smells like money in here,” Maddie says, wrinkling her nose.

“And that’s a bad thing?” Layla rolls her eyes..

“If it’s all spent on pointless baubles and jewels and doesn’t do anything to make the world better, then yes. It’s bullshit.”

“Maddie, spare me your anarchist manifesto, okay? Can we just enjoy a party that we’re not responsible for? It’s been a fucking shitty month of losing everything we had and trying to rebuild and make the most of it, so if you don’t mind, I want to enjoy myself.” Layla exhales sharply and smoothes her dress.

Maddie raises her eyebrows and glances over at me.

I thought Layla had been loving every minute of this new life. She seemed to accept it so easily.

“You okay, Lala?”

She frowns, then relaxes her features. “I’m fine. It’s just… it all felt like a dream when we first got here. Us, special. Like a family of princesses hidden across space and time. But it’s not like that really. And Mads isn’t totally wrong, but what choice do we have?” For a moment Layla looks helpless, then she squares her shoulders and shrugs.

“So, I am going to make the most of what’s available. If Omegas get to be pampered princesses with half a dozen fawning hotties, I’m not going to complain.” She winks but I know there are words left unsaid. But they’ll have to stay unsaid until we can drink a couple glasses of wine safely away from all this estrogen.

“Alright Captain, you said we had a mission. What’s our first objective?” Maddie asks.

Right . The whole damn point of us coming to this party.

“We need to greet the Bride, Celeste – Loren’s younger sister – and give her a toast. It’s a big deal since I’m the presumptive Omega for Pack Murphy. Then I need to mingle with some of the Betas and Omegas of the other family Packs and basically shove it in their faces that Loren is happy and I’m a good Omega.”

“Give a baller toast and show them you're awesome, check.” Maddie says, making a checkmark in the air. “Anything else?”

I frown. There is something else, but I’m not quite sure what the true objective is. Genevieve is a thorn in Pack Murphy’s side. I need her to back off, but how do I do that?

“We need to make sure Genevieve stays away from my Pack and their family. I think she’s…” I hesitate. “It's just a hunch, no concrete proof, but what the guys have said, but I think she’s some kind of spy. But not like an Audrey Hepburn letter-carrying spy, but like La Femme Nikita assassin-spy.”

Maddie whistles. “The little blond bitch Layla told me about?”

“You think she’s that bad?” Layla asks.

“I think she might be a lot worse.”

The crowd surges around us, and we are forced into a stream of women, slowly walking around an outside loop.

“Upstairs, ladies,” an older woman in an elegant black silk gown calls over the crowd. “The receiving line is upstairs, and the Alphas below will get a better view of you from the glassed-in upper story. Don’t want to disappoint them, I’m sure.”

“Meat market,” Maddie mumbles as we’re pushed toward a large staircase. We pass two young men, the few extra-rare male Omegas, talking quietly together in a corner.

“There’s champagne at the top for your toasts,” the woman calls. Her voice is magnified, but she’s not holding a microphone. “After your toasts, you can make your way to the ballroom where the refreshments are located.”

Two women in their mid-forties slide in ahead of us, arms linked. I make sure that I’m linked with Maddie and Layla – I’m not about to lose them in this rainbow current of silk and satin.

“I heard that there were new Omegas at the Conservatory,” the brunette of the women ahead of us says. The blond on her arm nods her head.

“Yes, and not only new Omegas, but Travelers .”

Beside me, both Maddie and Layla stiffen. I pull them up the next stair, but all three of us narrow in on the women one step above.

“Do you think they’ll look different? Travelers are from another world, right? Maybe they have horns?”

“Or tails?”

The two women snort.

“Might make it hard for the poor Alphas to knot them then. Let alone procreate.”

“Good. We already have weakened blood. Luken Winters is right. There’s no need to dilute it further with an alien species.”

Maddie’s fists clench and Layla’s scowl is hot enough to melt glass.

“Let it go,” I whisper, tugging their arms and gratefully accepting a flute of champagne.

Maddie grumbles. “I’ll show her where she can shove a knot–”

“How lovely of you to make it, Katie!”

I paste a smile onto my face and turn to greet the older woman casually sauntering over.

“Hello Matilda,” I say, inclining my head. Was I supposed to bow or something? The rules of this society were still completely foreign to me.

Alien .

“Holly, Akira, have you met the new Omega that Loren’s pack is courting?” She indicates the women ahead of me. The brunette whips around, her perfect bangs framing critical cat-like eyes. The blond, busty with deep lines around mouth, surveys me – then my sisters.

“I was just telling Akira that the Conservatory has made quite a showing today,” Holly says.

“You’re all Conservatory Omegas?” Akira asks, one perfectly manicured brow raised. Her dress is a shimmer of crystals and she looks like a slightly aged Bond Girl.

“Absolutely,” Layla says sweetly, offering a short half-curtsey. The three older women all smile, their shoulders relaxing. Fucking Layla charm. Glad she’s using it for good.

“It’s good to see that Loren got you cleaned up nicely for tonight. I’m sure he had a harder time with his Packmates,” Matilda says to me.

“Callum and Max are both extremely well, thank you.”

This bitch was not going to insult my guys without me poking a few barbs back at her.

“Mmm, yes, and who are these two beauties with you?” She sniffs the air around us, and I can’t help but recoil slightly. It never stops feeling weird when strangers sniff me.

“Matilda, these are my sisters – Layla and Maddison.” Layla smiles and gives a slightly deeper curtsey. Maddie softens her scowl into a neutral expression and nods her head. Well, that’s about as good as we’re going to get.

“Sisters? Ah, so the rumor is true, then?”

“Probably not,” I say before I can stop myself. We shuffle forward, the line propelling us in a slow glide toward a cluster of women. One is a familiar willowy woman dressed in an exquisite gown of deepest emerald green, interwoven with rich gold. Her skin is bronze, her hair a glossy chestnut that falls in light waves just past her shoulders. One side is swept back with a gold comb in the shape of a dragonfly.

Celeste . Two other women flank her, one a tall pristine black woman in a rich plum jumpsuit that somehow looks every inch as elegant as the gowns around her. The other a pale, hunched woman sitting in a well-upholstered chair. Her once-blond hair is streaked with gray, her head resting heavily against the chair back. Her eyes drift in and out of focus.

Matilda frowns at me, then forces her features to soften as we approach the bride. Two young girls ahead of us curtsey and giggle before standing and raising their glasses.

“A toast to the bride. May you never be left wanting –in or out of bed!” They giggle again before taking a deep drink of their champagne flutes. The bride inclines her head and only takes the tiniest sip from her ornate crystal glass.

Holly and Akira step forward, with Matilda hovering on their other side. I watch Celeste, the way she greets them with a kind but indifferent smile. Her gaze flicks up to Matilda and the tiniest cloud of annoyance shadows her features before smoothing away.

So even her own Pack find her annoying. I smirk.

“To the lovely Bride, we were at the Conservatory with your dear mother,” Holly pauses and glances pointedly at the woman in the chair. “She was a light to us, and no doubt a light to you. We toast to your enduring health, that you may live long and well with your Pack.”

Celeste’s features tighten, and she blinks rapidly before nodding and lifting her glass.

“Thank you,” she says to the women, who lean in to kiss her cheek. The tall woman on the other side embraces the two women, murmuring in their ears, before they both offer a short curtsey and stroll directly toward the back wall and what looks like an open bar.

Matilda continues to hover like an annoying fly.

“What do we do?” Maddie hisses in my ear.

“Follow my lead,” I hiss back.

I step forward and offer the best curtsey I can, my knee trembling with the exertion. Then I lift my champagne flute. “To the Bride, I have the pleasure of courting your brother and know how important family is to him.” Her eyes soften, and she reaches out to grab my free hand in hers.

“May you have the love and support of family no matter where you go,” I tilt my glass forward and she raises hers. We both sip, and in my peripheral vision I see both Layla and Maddie sip as well.

“Katie! Oh Loren has already told me so much about you –I wish we’d had more time to talk at the engagement dinner,” she squeezes my fingers and looks past me to Layla and Maddie.

“Celeste, these are my sisters, Layla and Maddie.”

“A true pleasure,” she says, offering each of them her free hand in turn, before grabbing my fingers again. “I know you’ve already met Matilda, but have you met Nymabi, Pack Bellrose’s other Beta?”

The tall woman beside her snorts. “I was the first Beta.”

“Of course Ny,” Celeste smiles up at the woman.

“Lovely to meet Loren’s Omega,” she says, pulling me into a hug instead of a simple handshake. “And her sisters.” She hugs them, too.

“Yes, our Pack has two bonded Betas,” Matilda titters behind me, clearly vying for attention. How strange, she’d been the belle of the ball at the engagement dinner. And I hadn’t seen Nyambi there at all.

“Have you met Mother?” Celeste’s voice is soft, almost reverent, as she leans down to plant a gentle kiss on the seated woman’s cheek. Nymabi’s features are tight, like she’s holding back emotions she dare not expose to sunlight.

I kneel, hearing my knee pop in the descent. I’ll figure out how to stand in a minute. Instead, I crouch so that the Omega of Pack Bellrose can see me from where her face is angled downward.

“Mother, this is Katie– the Omega Loren is courting. Remember, I showed you a picture?”

The woman’s gaze only wanders across my features, unseeing. Celeste licks her lips and swallows thickly.

“This is my and Loren’s mother, Claudia. Omega of Pack Bellrose.”

I gently take her hand. Her skin is hot to the touch. The Omega sickness clearly still ravages her body and mind.

“It’s wonderful to meet you, Claudia. Your son is the most amazing gentleman –you did well by him.”

I glance up to Nymabi, letting her know with my eyes that I include her in my words. She nods at me.

“It’s a pity,” Matilda says behind the protective circle of my sisters and me. “The Omega sickness has taken so much from her.” She sighs heavily, and Celeste’s lips press into a thin line.

Definitely not a family favorite.

I press my fingers against Claudia’s hand. My words are stuck in my throat. What can I say? Looking at her is too much like looking at my own mother in those last few days before the cancer stole her from us. I blink, too many feelings, too many memories threatening to overwhelm me like a tidal wave.

I struggle to stand, and find Maddie’s strong hand on my elbow, helping to lift me up. As I wobble upward, Layla draws their attention away from me. “Thank you for welcoming us to your Bridal Toast. I’m so happy to see my sister join a Pack with so much love and care – and to know that I shall soon have another lovely sister of sorts.” She curtsies and Celeste’s tightness eases.

“You know,” Nyambi whispers to me, “I was the only Beta until Claudia got sick.”

I open my mouth, but no words come out. Matilda… joined them much later.

“Be careful around some of the Betas. We might not have Alpha bark, or Omega perfume, but we still can bite. Yeah?”

I nod at her, before half curtseying for Celeste once more and stumbling out of the long toasting line, my knee aching and my head spinning.