Page 8 of Generation Omega: Claimed (Originverse #3)

KAZIMIR

My breaths are ragged, and my soul is raw. Ethan caught a glimpse of my past and it left me shaking, unable to touch him, definitely more leery of any contact with her. But her taste is still in my mouth. I can’t escape it.

Control battles me, and my naughty beta will pay for placing tempting images in my thoughts—fucking his ass as he fucks the omega.

But who am I kidding? He didn’t need to send those ideas my way, not when I have a fully operational debauchery department already up and running.

Ethan’s muscular ass stole all my focus, the way it moved as he drove into her.

He’s a powerful man in his own right, beta or not, and his body is made of perfectly tuned muscles, rippling with strength and endurance.

When I do take him—when I penetrate his virgin ass—I won’t let up until we both shatter. If the end comes, all I want is to be buried inside him as the world fucking detonates. I wouldn’t even care because I would already be in heaven, with no force in the universe able to bar my way.

Another missive arrives from my very own smut bureau, a regret really, that I don’t have two cocks so that my beta and my omega can mount up at once.

Now, that’s a pretty picture. A soul-deep grimace claims me at even imagining touching her, and not just because of its effect on my faltering willpower.

To touch her will mean completely surrendering to the omegaverse.

I know I’m a delusional fool to think that act of surrender is still before me, but in some ways, it is.

I haven’t touched her. I haven’t allowed her into my heart that already feels ten sizes too big, with just what I feel for Ethan.

If she summons more from me, I’ll be nothing but feelings and deep care, a living, breathing, unguarded bullseye for anyone seeking to destroy me.

I’ve never had anything I couldn’t lose.

Before Ethan, this yacht was my most mournable possession, but I could easily acquire another one.

There is only one Ethan and, as much as it pains me to admit, there is only one Tillie Marie Harrison.

A warrior girl in a delicate body, with a mighty, uncompromising heart—she could save this world from itself, from its enemies, from my father and everyone like him.

Proving my self-mastery isn’t what it should be, I trip over my intentions and land in a field of fantasies about what it will be like to connect with her.

To be the origin of her appealing sighs, to awaken something in her that will only belong to me because of what I am to Ethan.

Somehow, I just know she’ll give me something that no one else will ever know or touch because of what Ethan means to us both.

Accepting that truth alters my lustful desires.

He’s still between us in my reverie, but it’s not about just claiming him—it’s the omega and me claiming our beta, shielding him between us.

My heart clenches as I realize I’m not simply here to be her alpha, to protect and nurture her.

I’m here to help her protect and nurture Ethan.

Tillie knows what I know, that he’s the purest soul this world has ever known.

She’ll only be able to embrace her omega role because she knows that I’m her knight tasked with cherishing Ethan, a beta.

Even as I realize how manipulated I should feel, I understand profoundly why I’m here.

I will never forget this world is filled with betas.

How could I, when what I feel for Ethan is a testament to how precious every person is?

Everyone just trying to find something beautiful and true in their short, harsh lives.

I belong here. In this nest. In this pack. In the omegaverse. In this broken world.

Yes, you do. None of this works without you. The legacy is cautious with me, trying not to make this more difficult than it already is.

They will survive. They will thrive. I swear it. That’s what I declare, while inwardly cursing my faith. Who’s the fucking true believer now?

That’s not up to you alone, but it can’t happen without you. Pack.

Fuck, now comes the play nicely with others speech—always be the alpha adult in the room, don’t mock the unhinged professor, the douchey First Son , or…

I can’t even come up with something sarcastic for Mr. Kilt because his confusion and grief remain.

He’s leaning against the wall, so lost and utterly conflicted, as he watches everything that’s happening with an intense gaze that might come with spine-snapping laser beams.

Should I do something for him? Dammit , I am becoming the man of the people or the pack, more specifically.

You’ll know what to do when it’s time.

The legacy goes silent, and my snark recharges. You really aren’t going to tell me to be nicer to Professor McDouchery and the whiny, entitled celebutante ?

I think I hear the legacy chuckling, which is disturbing. Give them hell, as only you can. You’re definitely not here for your winning personality, but the other skills you’ve perfected. Packs don’t form; they’re built. There’s work to be done, and Gideon will need your help.

I almost ask how the legacy could choose the man who’s destroyed so many packs, most before they were fully called. But I don’t. Now is not the time for that intervention, not with Ethan smeared with the omega’s slick and the first alpha proclaiming the end of this heat’s prologue.

I mean to grab Ethan and move him out of the path of our conquering alpha king, but when I attempt to reach him, my body won’t budge.

I’m a statue, a livid one, but I’m not alone.

No one can escape, because the first alpha’s roar is a next-level display of domination over not just this nest but the pack that fills it.

Ice overtakes my veins at the threat in our midst. This is exactly what the legacy feared, why it sought to empower Ethan—with my support—to be the voice of reason in the presence of raw, amoral power.

Gideon isn’t flexing his authority over us in some cocky display of dominance.

Gideon isn’t even here. His precious humanity is buried under the will of the primeval that’s awakened within him.

Unease erupts within me, prickling at my flesh, particularly my neck that feels too exposed before this predator.

Unable to reach Ethan, I turn and face the first alpha, struck by the sight of him.

He’s completely naked now, his body peak perfection, his knot engorged, his cock the First Cock that no other cock will ever compare to, at least for his omega.

But it’s those dark eyes daring anyone to challenge him that unsettle me most. My fury builds, forcing me to reach for my own inner alpha to combat this assault.

But no matter how much I scrap, I can’t get free, and Gideon’s rumbling command doesn’t ease.

He steps into the nest, his snarling now like something out of a nightmare. It’s like being bound in a swamp, hearing the crocodile rustling the leaves as he nears, releasing that unmistakable growl just so he can taste your fear before he drags you to your helpless, gasping end.

I inwardly reach for Ethan, searching for his fear, but awe is all that returns to me.

Pushing for more, I see Gideon through Ethan’s eyes.

He doesn’t see the predator I do—he sees a protector, a battler who won’t ever surrender.

In Gideon, Ethan finds his leader, the feral beast that will tear apart all enemies to this pack, while giving everything he has to ensure its welfare.

Though trapped just like I am, Ethan sends me his confidence, pleading with me not to fight for freedom that will be read as distrust or even a threat to the first alpha.

I’m not breathing as Gideon stalks toward Ethan, his bearing ferocious as he stands over my kneeling beta. Gideon doesn’t address his omega at all, and she’s wide-eyed and uncertain. Instead, Gideon menacingly leans closer to Ethan, his mouth at Ethan’s neck.

I manage to grasp the knife in my pocket. I don’t have a full range of motion, but I have enough to slow that monster down if he intends to bite what’s mine. If he harms…

Gideon sniffs at Ethan’s neck and purrs at finding his omega’s scent. It doesn’t break us free from his hold, but it brings a smile to Ethan’s face.

Gideon slowly, carefully extends his hands and rests his palms on Ethan’s face. “Pack,” he declares, sounding like a man who knows only one word and has never spoken it before now.

When Gideon stands straight, Ethan nods, as though a message was conveyed between them, and then crawls to the edge of the mattress. He moves toward me and then behind me, leaning against me, his arms around my waist.

I’m safe, Kaz. You saved us all. I’m pack now. Ethan’s trembling, but it’s still not fear. It’s relief. It’s hope. And it’s excitement to see what our first alpha does next.

With Ethan behind me, his warm body against me, I can release the terror of not being able to protect what matters most, of losing what I now live for. My purr answers him as we watch the first alpha aim his attention at his omega.

Gideon’s arms are crossed, his body as rigid as a corpse, his power heavy in the nest. He glares down at the omega where she kneels on the bed, staring up at him like she has everything to fear.

I don’t like it—seeing her like this, tasting her discomfort in the air, the sweetness of her perfume turning bitter. If I could move between them, I would, and I’m not alone. The professor and the politician’s delinquent spawn struggle against Gideon’s hold, just like I do.

It’s okay. Trust him. If the legacy were worried, it would tell us what to do. Ethan’s true-believer sensibilities clash with my innate distrust and inescapable cynicism.