Page 51 of Generation Omega: Claimed (Originverse #3)

“So, if you did, would that upset your origin omega? I mean, if Mackenzie and I have a baby, that’s different, right?

If you and I got pregnant, that would mean you and I will be together someday.

” She throws her hands up and gestures nonspecifically.

“I just don’t know how this works. Are you and Mackenzie basically the same in the baby-making category?

Or are you two different men in the same body, therefore making separate babies? ”

She pauses and then makes a breathy sound that I don’t understand. “Oh my…”

“What?”

Tillie remains quiet in the most vexing way, and when she finally glances up at me, her eyes are lit by wonder. “Mackenzie… he does have a scent—I didn’t realize.”

I’m annoyed with my responsibility to drive the vehicle instead of glare at Tillie until she explains.

“You don’t have a scent, not yet—at least for me—but it’s been bugging me that I’m bonding my alphas, doing what the omega legacy wants, and still not getting the mystical stuff that I always loved about the omegaverse.

I thought that since I haven’t been with Mackenzie much, other than that first time before we shared with you and your omega, that his scent might be delayed. But that’s not it at all.”

If I was Mackenzie, I never would have allowed that prima donna with the bigger hair to monopolize all of Tillie’s amorous time for three days. But that’s hardly the point now. To gain more information, I risk sending a withering look in Tillie’s direction.

“Right, okay, so I smell like the garden, don’t I? The garden from the beginning of all this, when the world was young, and you and your omega kicked ass, stuck heads on poles, and such.”

“Yes, you smell exactly like our garden.” So much it pains me, my longing for the simplicity of primal love and violence an ache that never relents.

“Well, so does Mackenzie. I didn’t realize about his scent because he and I share the same one.

But you don’t, which makes no sense. That garden is basically your home address.

Is it really possible that you and Mackenzie might have unique scents?

Wouldn’t that be wild?” Her giddiness casts rays like the sun that’s entirely absent in this place.

I suddenly can’t respond, my reaction to Tillie too unsettling to navigate.

It’s a betrayal, sheer avarice run amok.

This reckless behavior would have had me gasping for air through a freshly pierced hole in my throat back in the dawn of the omegaverse.

Sleeping beside my knife-obsessed omega within our perfuming garden always carried untold dangers.

“It’s okay,” Tillie soothes… me . “It’s confusing.”

For several long minutes, we don’t speak as I attack my inappropriate thoughts, confronting an unyielding truth that can’t be spoken aloud. Finally, I grab Mackenzie and yank him forward, not delivering control but seeking his opinion.

I want to be with her. I, Ory , want to be with Tillie , not just my omega. I didn’t see this coming and it’s wrong, but I want this… I might need this.

You need to talk to her—your omega—before you say anything to Tillie or act on anything. We don’t need a battle between Tillie and her omega over you, especially with everything else we’re facing.

But would it offend you?

It would offend me if you’re using Tillie to fill the hole left by someone else. I don’t think that’s what this is, but spend more time together, get to know Tillie, and we’ll discuss it later. She’s so easy to love, our wee lassie. I’d honestly be surprised if you didn’t fall for her.

Before I send him back, he gasps. She’s thinking about being with both of us at the same time—riding you while kissing me, imagining bearing twins from us.

“Tillie!” I roar.

“What?!” A guilty blush sweeps over her face. “You said you couldn’t hear my thoughts?!”

“I can’t, but Mackenzie just did.”

Tillie squeezes her lips together to keep from saying anything else, while the pulsing in her core reaches me in waves of need that have me rising to satisfy my omega. “We can’t,” she mutters, “I’ll go into heat, for sure, if you even look at me right now.”

I’m breathing through the agony of desire as I struggle to rein in my alpha urges. Thankfully, the small airport comes into view, while I curse at just how uncomfortable erections are in non-kilt clothing. I really shouldn’t have left my kilt on the yacht.

Tillie’s chest rises, her breasts temptingly erect, her eyes closed… lust all about her like a cape she wears.

I know what I must do, but I hate to do it. “Tillie, not now!” My bark hits her, and she exhales deeply.

“Wow, thanks.” She shakes her head, still wearing that sweet blush on her cheeks. “We’re new, just figuring things out. We’ll get there.”

The car is now parked, giving me the chance to meet her gaze. I don’t say anything, but I hope she knows how dear she is to me, independent of the omega within her. But how would she know that?

“Stay close to me,” I command without force.

“I will, Ory.” Her cheeks raise, her eyes sparkle, and I swear I’ve never beheld such a tender bloom on any face in my entire life. My omega was stunning but more self-possessed, never tender in the slightest.

“Let’s go.”

“Do you know about the others?”

“They’ll be here soon.”

We leave the vehicle and walk directly to the hangar.

Our plane awaits, with a crew at the ready.

Without a word, we move up the steps and into the cabin, a nice affair with a dozen seats, a table surrounded by four chairs, and a couple couches.

Thankfully, we only wait a few minutes for the others to join us, and once they’re aboard, the doors close and we are away.

Tillie’s entire bearing relaxes as she dashes to embrace everyone, as though it’s been days not a small accumulation of minutes since we were last together.

Once seated, Tillie asks Gideon, “Are you going to tell me where we’re heading?”

“Nope. And, actually, I’m going to force a naptime on you. A lot is going to happen in the coming days, and you need to be as rested as possible.”

Tillie’s hands become fists, and her scowl strikes me like a misfired arrow. “No, I don’t want to rest. I want to know what’s happening, what we’re doing. I get that you want to protect me, but at a certain point…”

Gideon catches Tillie as she slumps over, forced into sleep by a silent command.

The part of me that rankles is unhelpful.

The first alpha isn’t wrong, and yet, this doesn’t feel right either.

It feels like another betrayal, a crime perhaps.

My posture is locked and loaded for violence, but I remain unmoving for now.