Page 61 of Generation Omega: Claimed (Originverse #3)

Tillie appears small and uncomfortable, gripping her own hands, deliberately avoiding glancing at the angry mark on my neck.

“I didn’t trust you,” she says softly. “I didn’t listen.

You weren’t wrong about the importance of my bonds.

Maybe if I’d worked harder to find common ground with you, you wouldn’t be suffering like this. ”

“No, Tillie—this is entirely on me, and it began long before I ever met you… before I even met the omegaverse. I don’t want to make excuses, because no excuses can ever forgive what I did to you from the moment I knew of your existence.

” My agonizing gulp as I attempt to swallow causes her to wince.

“Every step I took was wrong. I rebelled against being called as an alpha. I delayed reaching you. I let my unchecked desire awaken an entitlement that was completely unwarranted.”

Against her will, her gaze lands on the mark of my punishment, as compassion shines in her eyes.

“I failed you,” I continue, “and I apologize. I can’t make it up to you, what I did… I’ll never be able to make it right. And if you don’t want me to even try, then Kazimir will take care of it.”

“It?” she blurts, her uneasiness radiating at me.

“Me. My life… he’ll end it.”

“No!” Tillie fearlessly moves closer, extending her hand to me.

I can’t move an inch, so I stammer, “No, you shouldn’t. It won’t go well.”

Her hand stops just inches from me. “I can’t touch you?”

“I’m defiled in the eyes of the omegaverse, beneath you in every way. You can do whatever you like, but there will be grim consequences for me.”

Tillie slowly lowers her hand. “What do we do? How do we fix this?”

I can’t believe she asked that question, or that she’s exhibiting so much empathy for me. “There is no fixing this. I’m a rogue alpha, now and forever.”

“No. This isn’t okay.”

“It’s what I deserve, but it’s kind of you to be offended on my behalf.”

Tillie scoffs, the flash of her irritation another unexpected gift. “I’m more than offended, and I’m going to fix this.”

I should play the victim and beg for exactly that, and yet, I find myself unable to withhold what’s in my best interest to conceal.

“That’s a waste of your time and effort, because I don’t deserve to be saved from the fate I earned.

Please, if you can stand it, let me learn to be better.

This punishment is hell, but I’m not redeemed or rehabilitated just from suffering it.

If my burdens were suddenly lifted, I can’t promise that my damaged soul wouldn’t fail you again. ”

I’m a man confessing to his crimes, without the ability to stop, and then I understand the weight of my mark in a new, tragic way.

I’m battling against this compulsion to provide the vilest truth to my omega, but there is no power that can overwhelm the mark’s dual purposes.

The R burning on my neck isn’t just for rogue —it’s for reveal .

The mark wins, and I lose again. Worse, my tone is born of violence as I declare our reality.

“Without this leash, you wouldn’t be safe with me right now.

Just as you weren’t safe in that penthouse when I arrived.

Just as you wouldn’t have been safe during the heat if I weren’t muzzled.

I would make you mine, no consent required, because that is my right.

” I’m grasping to stop the flow of my truth, but still, I continue.

“Let’s be honest with ourselves. If I’d been able to, I would have fucked you in the auditorium on that stage and then roared my conquest to all the world.

If I’d been your first alpha, you would know your place. ”

I watch in absolute horror as my words gain purchase within her mind and body. What surprises me is the sly spark in her eyes, as though she apprehends her power over me.

“Dr. Naughty Professor, is it?” she teases, and I wonder what’s come over her.

She should be recoiling from me, fleeing to her benevolent alphas.

“Here’s the thing. You’re an alpha, and the idea of getting plowed on that stage in front of the world would drench my panties—if I were wearing any.

” Oh, no, she’s not lying about her arousal.

Her perfume is reaching me, but it’s not for me now.

It’s acrid, not appealing at all, just another form of correction if I were to presume to still be her alpha.

She doesn’t notice my reaction. “I’m beyond worrying about primal impulses and all the ways I can get shagged .

As much as you might like to think omegas are delicate flowers, we’re much closer to unruly vines.

We’re heartier than you’ve ever imagined, or maybe that’s just me and the origin omega—that chick is badass.

Anyway, since you can’t conceal anything from me, I have a question that’s going to decide how you’ll be treated by our pack. ”

Tillie doesn’t wait for any response from me. “Tell me this. Were you planning to hurt Ethan? Or Kazimir?”

Again, the skirmish begins, and I succumb almost instantly. “Yes.”

If Tillie is surprised, she doesn’t disclose it. “Hurt or kill ?”

It’s no use, this struggle, and yet, I try. “Kill.”

If Tillie had knives, I wouldn’t be breathing at all.

“In that case, you deserve the leash you wear. You deserve the pain you feel right now and every second for the rest of your life. Better you than me—because what you’re experiencing is what you would have done to me if you’d murdered Ethan or any of my alphas. ”

She cocks her head, reloading her quiver. “You planned to kill Kazimir and the innocent beta who only ended up in this mess because of his decency. And what did Kazimir do? He saved your life. You do get it, right? How much worthier Kazimir is than you?”

“I’m aware.”

“Good, because I don’t ever want you to forget that Kazimir Volkov is the reason we still have a chance to save the omegaverse from extinction. It’s certainly no thanks to you.”

“Tillie, please…”

“No.” Her face reddens with seething rage.

“You don’t talk to me. You don’t say my name.

You love status and hierarchies so much—well, welcome to the fucking bottom, you traitor.

And don’t you call anyone by their names.

You’re beneath them. They are my alphas.

They deserve respect. Ethan is my soulmate, and you can call him Sir .

You’re now the pack butler you thought we needed, maybe even our clown or, better yet, court jester.

Or really, just our rogue , annoying burden.

You don’t even deserve a name, but I’ll leave that detail up to your new boss. ”

The thumping reverberations from a helicopter reach us, and Tillie’s eyes harden. “That’s Sage. She’s here to help. Kazimir called her. You’ll get a little reunion first, and then we need to make our pack reveal announcement and leave.”

I want to plead with her to let me hide my shame from Sage, but that’s what Tillie’s waiting for, just so she can deny me.

“Our packmates won’t be intentionally cruel to you—Kazimir’s orders,” Tillie says as she moves toward the door. “But they will give you the boundaries you need. I don’t have the time or energy to waste on you until you have something to offer the omegaverse and this pack.”

“Why don’t you just have Kazimir kill me?”

There’s laughter in her eyes when she focuses on my neck again. “Because you don’t deserve peace, Rogue . You deserve torture. But, either way, you’re pack, and we don’t forget the mission even when it’s difficult—not even when it sucks as much as you.”

Her words still impact me, even after she slams the door behind her.

Immobile, trapped in this place, in this body, in this life, I’m ready to beg Kazimir to obliterate my mind.

But ideas begin to stir, as though compelled by a magician’s wand.

A force within me—certainly the omega legacy—is here to continue what Kazimir and Tillie instigated, the confrontation between who I thought I was and who I actually am.

The legacy demands that I assess every word that was spoken, every expression, every change in tone and emotion.

It’s like a mandatory rumination loop, trapping me in my new failures.

It’s sickening to see it all play out, like a movie in my head.

Only on the fourth round do I understand the lesson.

I still don’t have a clue who Tillie is, and I spent not one ounce of effort rectifying that oversight.

It was still all about me and my perceived slights—it had nothing to do with the woman Kazimir called our queen.

The origin omega would have mounted my head on a pole. Tillie’s more subtle, but her weapons are just as sharp. Is it possible? Could it actually be? Is Tillie the omega I always dreamed would come, the one with a brand of power that couldn’t be denied, not even by our fiercest enemies?

For what it’s worth… I push my words at the omega legacy. I get it. I’ll do better. I’ll serve my purpose.

The door opens again, and I stare into the green eyes of the person I would have called my best friend before this moment.

A best friend would display some emotion about my plight, but Sage’s eyes reveal only disappointment, not a hint of mercy.

Her miraculous empathy a once overflowing river that’s finally run dry.

The silence between us is a black hole swallowing our shared past minute by minute. We’ll be complete strangers soon.

“I’m…”

“Nope. I’ve got nothing for you.” Without another word, she’s gone, and I can do nothing but sit in this space, unmoving, until someone remembers I exist, or has a use for me.

The movie begins again, but it doesn’t start with the omegaverse’s arrival in my life. It begins at the beginning and forces me to watch my life play out in excruciating detail. I already know it won’t stop until someone comes for me, just like I deserve.

Now, I discover the only part of me that can still move. My tears.