Page 22 of Generation Omega: Claimed (Originverse #3)

TILLIE

Clean, hair pulled back in a ponytail, and wearing a grey wrap dress I found in the closet—probably courtesy of Sage McGee—I leave the suite and climb the circular stairs to the main level.

I pass the kitchen and dining area, though I’ll be returning very soon.

Hunger is beginning to make itself known, as is a pleasant weariness that will require some enthusiastic cuddling in the near future.

I know I’m just scratching the surface of my true omega life, with my first heat behind me, but I’m already sensing a definite shift in my awareness of myself.

Before the heat, I was still me, just with primal drives that emerged in uncontrolled bursts, mostly involving ripping my clothes off and rubbing against the nearest alpha.

I’m grateful for the moments between those overwhelming urges, when I was still myself, just a girl living a new and unexpected adventure.

With a legacy that’s existed forever, each stage of an omega’s journey must be important and intended, as this one is, the place where I stop, turn around, and discover just how far I’ve already come.

I’m not the same Tillie who entered the nest with her alphas—I’ll never be that person again, that beta who thought she knew what her life would be.

What’s different and welcome is I’m okay with the change that’s come to my life.

I’m not even close to reaching my peak omega-ness , but I am an omega now. I feel that in my body and in the pull to connect with my alphas outside the nest, to know them, to encourage the unseen bonds that permanently link us.

I pause, drawing a sharp breath, when I finally realize the other change—evolution really—in me.

My heart, always the source of my continuous status updates, declares the beginning of a new chapter in my life.

There are no empty holes in my heart. All of them aren’t full and overflowing like Gideon’s, but none of them are hollow.

I’m not hollow anymore, waiting for answers about my place in this world.

I have those answers now, though one question is waving a comically mocking flag at me.

Luckily, the answer to this question is staring at me through the loveliest green eyes I’ve ever seen.

My heart inconveniently threatens to stop at just how dreamy this ginger god is. His lovely red beard calls to be stroked, hopefully while I’m seated on his lap… riding his… oops , accidental blush-o-rama alert.

I really thought the heat would have dulled my rampant lust, but that’s not looking too promising.

Or it’s the most promising thing ever to realize my omega hasn’t snagged all my sex drive and naughty desires.

So far, I’ve been with Ethan and Gideon.

My omega has been with everyone, except Kazimir, I think.

But is there a chance that I get to be with the true Mr. Kilt before she leaps on him?

Breaking me free from my statue impersonation, my feet lead me closer, while my eyes remain locked on his appealing features.

His broad forehead, the strong bones in his cheeks that laugh at even the fiercest boxer’s punch, his tapering jaw, and square chin—I don’t know why or how, but I would swear I’ve seen his face before now, and not just in my hazy omega’s memories.

My gaze drifts lower to his neck that’s seriously massive, his shoulders that are pure Viking deity, his meaty, bare chest—everything is corded muscles over a solid frame capable of amazing strength.

I’ve never in my life seen anyone up close who was more powerful than this man, and yet, in perfect contrast, his eyes display an almost fragile openness and warmth.

He’s staring at me with unconcealed wonder, as though learning every one of my features exactly as I’m learning his. I haven’t bitten him, and he hasn’t bitten me, but we’re already bonded by the forces within us who desperately need us to be irreparably bound.

My eyes seize hold of the dozen bites on his neck, shoulders, and chest—bites I’ll be tending—along with the claw marks from my feisty omega. No judgment here—she and I share the same taste, because I would have done all that and more.

Like a sudden craving I can’t control, I’m already imagining dragging my tongue over his chest, his neck, his shoulders, his arms—licking, sucking, urgently nursing those bondmarks that sealed us together for a lifetime.

We’re strangers still, like a couple whose vows have already been exchanged in an arranged marriage, who are just now being introduced.

I find myself smiling, feeling more than a little tipsy, in meeting this man who is already my alpha, but may prove to be so much more than that.

I almost speak, but I don’t. I wait, because there’s a movie playing in his eyes that reveals how overcome he is to be near me.

It’s like I’m watching some part of him fracture.

I’d be worried if not for the relief I sense in him, as though what’s coming apart is all the unhappy experiences that came before this moment.

“Oh, lass,” he murmurs in a voice that’s instantly addicting, his Scottish accent as lacking in subtlety as his stature. “I can’t believe I’m finally here… with you.”

I don’t know what to say, all my thoughts stolen by the invisible magnets drawing us together. I step closer to him, and he takes a small step nearer to me.

My giddy heart dances in my chest. “Will you tell me what you know about all of this? About me?”

His forehead knots, and I know his heart is beating as recklessly as mine. He glances at the sofa beside us. “Do you mind if we sit? I don’t wish to frighten you or threaten your safety by collapsing on top of you.” His hand rests over his heart. “It’s unsteady just now.”

“Of course, we can sit.”

He waits for me to claim my spot and then sits beside me, not far but not close enough either.

Mr. Kilt—I still don’t know his name—should be called Mr. Towel.

My intense gaze gets trapped on the top edge of that white towel, almost willing it to surrender its hold so that there’s no barrier to stop me climbing aboard.

I almost groan, but manage to keep it inside, when I realize why the only clothes in the closet were wrap dresses.

It’s an omega uniform, isn’t it? Easily openable so that I’m always ready to have my bare skin against whichever alpha is handy.

I want to be annoyed at the logic, but more than that, I want my flesh pressed against my burliest alpha’s chest. I want to be on his lap.

I want our hearts beating together, and I’ve never hated a towel more in my life.

The wave that took me out to sea during the heat and brought me back when it ended, is still with me, though gentler now.

It’s easing into me all that makes me an omega and tugging away all that made me a beta.

A beta rarely gets to climb on half a dozen men and know that they belong to her and will never cast her aside.

I’m not truly there yet with all my alphas, but even in the silence between Mr. Kilt and me, I know his lap will always be available to me, his chest always bare if I wish it—and I do.

He’s gathering his words, slowing his breaths, maybe even attempting to wrangle his heart into a steady rhythm.

He hasn’t been through this before, like I have, so he doesn’t know that our hearts are seeking connection, and touch is the only thing that will end their chaotic dance.

I’m ready to touch him, but I want him to be ready to touch me.

“I think we should begin with an introduction. I do know your name, but I doubt you know mine.” His hand still over his heart, he says, “I’m Mackenzie Malcolm McAllister.”

If I were wearing panties, they’d be drowning with what that sexy name does to me. Mackenzie … perfection. “I’m Tillie Marie Harrison, your omega.”

His intake of breath at my designation and his role in my life is beautiful. Mackenzie is in a state of perpetual amazement, which I hope he’ll explain, while I’m also praying it never fades. To be so obviously dear to someone, a stranger even, captures me in a way I don’t understand.

“I don’t quite know where to begin, but I think it’s important to share that I’ve lived my entire life as an unfinished person.

I knew enough to know that I didn’t belong in a normal life, but I was lost for guidance on how to discover where I was meant to be.

It wasn’t until the voice of the first alpha spoke to me that I began to understand. ”

I release a nervous laugh. “That had to be odd for you, suddenly hearing voices. It was the same for me, and for the rest of us, I’m sure. Though now, when they’re silent, I get suspicious.” I nibble on my lip, attracting his attention to my mouth. “Mackenzie…”

He smiles so warmly hearing me speak his name. “Yes, Tillie?”

“Did you… I mean, did he take you over or give you a choice?”

“Oh, don’t worry yourself about that—I chose to be here.

I’ll always choose to be here. He promised me answers to all my questions and warned me he was terrible at sharing, but now that I’m here with you, I can’t even blame him for that.

” Mackenzie pauses, grabbing a breath. “We need him—he can wield my body like a weapon to protect you and this pack. I would do the same, though I haven’t the same devotion to all that’s brutal and primal.

He also insists that there’s another role I’m meant to play in the time beyond the battles that are coming, and I have no reason to doubt him. ”

A stealth blush attacks him, peeking out from beneath and around his beard. “I think you should know that he’s not really all that present just now—I think your omega broke him.”

I laugh. “Oh, I bet she did.” I wave my hand at his many bites. “And she did a number on you too.”

I’m watching closely, ensuring there’s no shock or regret in him.

There’s nothing but delight as he says, “It appears your omega missed dinner or possibly just thought her favorite alpha is—or I am—quite tasty.” His eyes display a sweet earnestness.

“I wasn’t there much—like I said, my bossy lodger doesn’t share well and doesn’t ever plan to during heats. ”

I don’t even try to hold back my words. “Then we’ll have to spend heaps of time getting to know each other between heats.”

“Lassie, there’s nothing I want more than to know you in every way you’ll let me and to be known by you.”

I raise my hand, my palm facing him. “Then touch me, Mackenzie, and let our hearts find their rhythm together… unless you’re not ready.”

Mackenzie doesn’t pause, raising his enormous hand and placing his palm against mine, our fingers intertwining.

Bliss blossoms inside me as my heart reaches for his and his answers.

But this isn’t like with Gideon or even briefly with Thatcher, before my distrust booted the professor from our heart link.

It takes a few seconds to understand what I’m feeling—what Mackenzie is experiencing—as a hole that existed in his heart is filled by his contact with me.

It’s not a round hole like those in my heart, but more like a keyhole to the lock that’s kept his heart closed all his life.

My brain trips and stumbles as I realize I’m the key opening Mackenzie’s heart for the first time.

“Tillie…” Tears well in his gorgeous eyes that look like endless green fields on the most perfect day. “… it’s what I’ve always dreamed it would be.”

“What, Mackenzie—what did you dream?”

“The true meaning of home .” He says that last word as though it’s sacred.

“I never knew. Home was just a notion, never anything solid, never anything true. I only felt shades of it when I was with my sister, sometimes with my parents, but it was never clear, never like this, like there is a place for me here—that there has always been a place for me in your heart.”

I can’t stop my own tears from drifting down my cheeks, and I’m incredibly grateful that Mackenzie wasn’t my first alpha and didn’t suffer from my doubts or my rebellion against the omegaverse.

This is better, because I’m able to share the stunning tenderness in his gaze and speak the words I’m glad are true.

“You’ve belonged in my heart almost my whole life—that’s absolutely real.

” I raise my free hand and rest it against the soft scruff on his face.

“You’re home, Mackenzie, with me. Forever. ”