Page 91 of Eclipse Sector

CHAPTER TWENTY

IVANA

Several Hours Later

Home sweet home.

Only it didn’t feel all thatsweetto be here.

Sighing, I fell back into my nest, my gaze on the ceiling. It’d been a long flight home. I could have shadowed myself back to Blood Sector, but I hadn’t wanted to leave the other Omegas. They’d needed someone—a local—to soothe their nerves.

I’d done the best I could. Now, the Sanctuary Omegas were with Quinn and Kyra. They’d be better at providing comfort, mostly because of their shared histories.

Rather than stay, I’d opted to come back here. Alone. Primarily to think about Cillian.

He’d remained in Glacier Sector where all the Alpha candidates were gathering for a meeting. Kieran would be off to join them any minute now. He’d chosen to wait for all the Omegas to settle in his palace before leaving. As soon as he did, Lorcan would become the acting Blood Sector Alpha. Or King, I supposed.

Or is it the Blood Sector Prince?I grunted.Who the hell knows the right term anymore?

Yawning, I curled into a ball and shifted my focus to Cillian. Primarily hisknot. Because now I knew what it looked like. How it felt. And yeah, my toy—I glanced at the drawer housing said instrument—wasn’t nearly accurate enough.

My thighs squeezed together as I recalled the way his knot had felt against my core, how hot and thick he’d been between my legs.

Stars,this wasn’t the time to be thinking about this. Not after everything that had occurred tonight.

First Sylvia.

Then all the Omegas being concerned about what had happened and what might happen next.

And then there’d been Ashlyn.

She was… interesting. The Z-Clan Omega had been mostly quiet the entire way home, except for when writing in my journal. I’d wanted to snap at her for it, but something in her gaze had made me bite my tongue.

Forlorn,I thought, picturing her again now.She had looked so forlorn.

Sylvia was her friend. Of course Ashlyn was worried. Yet it’d felt deeper than that, almost as though she’d given up hope.

Rather than lecture her on journal etiquette, I’d tried to convince her—and several others—that Blood Sector was safe. That Sylvia would be okay. That the Alphas here would protect all of them, not hurt them.

Are Quinn and Kyra repeating all of that to them right now?I wondered.

Probably.

I blew out a breath and closed my eyes.

I’d never been great at making friends, but I’d tried to be one today. If the other Omegas hadn’t believed me, they’d believe Kyra and Quinn.

If that didn’t work, then this whole program would probably go up in flames.

“If it hasn’t already,” I muttered to myself as I pushed away from my nest. “I need a distraction. Maybe food.”

And now I was talking to myself.

“Good job, Ivana,” I grumbled.

Shoving aside my bout of quirkiness, I focused on fixing a comfort meal.Noodles. Cream cheese. Tomato sauce. Mozzarella cheese. And bake it for thirty minutes.

The minute the buzzer rang, I devoured a good portion of my pasta-bake casserole.