Page 85 of Generation Omega: Claimed (Originverse #3)

We never intended for Beta Dominion to become so brutal, but these trials are necessary because we’re no longer seeking an omega to be guided by us.

We’re vanishing more each second, and this power we hold will either vanish with us or live within you.

If you and your pack prove your worth, you, Tillie Marie Harrison, will become not just an omega but the omegaverse itself, its future entirely up to you.

This world will be yours to save or destroy.

The queen of overwhelm knows what to do with that info dump, immediately adding it to the TMI category for now. Every ladder starts with one rung, so what’s the first rung of this ladder?

Why am I conscious when the others aren’t?

Follow the breadcrumbs, and answer that question. Go back to the beginning, and see it all for what it was. You’re ready.

The beginning? Ethan building me a nest in his aunt’s attic and then managing to get tickets to Omega-Palooza that sold out in seconds. I guess we were living in a reality TV show after all, because all the coincidences make sense and prove that nothing was random.

The first phase was bringing us all to the same city, which included Auntie Jem’s omegaverse awareness, even her work saving that historic property that figures into the omegaverse somehow.

Thatcher, the guest speaker at Omega-Palooza.

Mackenzie at a Highland games. Gideon in an omegaverse movie.

Jamie at his mother’s property. Kazimir in that alley. But that’s just the beginning.

A yacht. A plane. A mansion. A cabin. A pool.

Kypsie’s connections that got us out of the auditorium.

Titus—Gideon’s cousin—who was ready to protect us.

Gideon’s in case of emergency penthouse exactly where we needed it.

Sage’s helicopter and that mysteriously owned property that no enemy would touch.

Even my favorite cupcakes stocked on an assassin’s boat.

But those are all the pretty side of the legacy’s game prep.

It’s their dark side that fuels the ache in me that may never fade.

Sarah McGee revealed as an omega just to be sacrificed, so that all Sage’s resources would be mine—an anguished, guilt-ridden, dedicated asset unleashed.

Sage never would have created Omega-Palooza if she hadn’t lost Sarah.

The legacy guided the hunter who came for Sarah, just like it guided the hunter who came for us.

Does it matter that Sarah would have already died without the legacy’s interference in her life?

If she’s alive, and we can reunite Sarah and Sage, providing them the opportunity to know the truth of each other, then I have to believe that even the horrific consequences of the legacy’s actions might be worth it—justified even—in the end.

Those words echo through me… horrific consequences , like Ethan getting shot and landing himself a remarkable alpha.

Oh my god. I know why I’m conscious. The toxin that almost killed Ethan—Kazimir bit him and ingested some of it. Ethan had it in his system. The heat… we all got incredibly familiar, didn’t we? You inoculated us, didn’t you?

Yes. And your child is being inoculated now.

But why aren’t the others conscious?

Variations in physiology between alphas and omegas, but it will wear off sooner than anyone expects.

What am I supposed to do?

For now, the future isn’t in your hands.

One of your alphas, the keeper of your pack’s light, will make the choice that will decide the fates of all.

It doesn’t mean your lives will end based on his decision, but your pack’s worthiness to continue the trials will either be validated or destroyed.

The danger will be extreme either way he chooses, and it’s unlikely your packmates will all survive.

Fuck you. How could you do this? How could you exist forever without finding a better way to run an omega leadership academy? What an epic failure you turned out to be.

We couldn’t agree more with your assessment.

We weren’t at all prepared for the challenges.

We tried over and over, but no matter what we did, society always spiraled toward savagery.

People were constantly threatened by others, by their differences, by the scarcity that makes humans defend even unlimited resources from satiating the needs of those seen as less worthy or outsiders.

All the while, we spent our power managing an increasingly toxic world, always weakened by it and its divisions.

Five hundred years ago, we almost succeeded with a pack that could have endured, but disaster struck again. Not all were lost, but there wasn’t enough power left to fuel true change. So began all that brought us to this moment, our last gasping effort to do what humanity has never done for itself.

Why did you do it? Why did you care about people this much?

Don’t you know?

Before I can ask what the legacy means, I hear movement in the hall and the subtle squeak as the door opens. Quiet footsteps prove someone is nearing, someone without a discernible scent. Not Ethan, Jameson, or Gideon.

The keeper of our pack’s light—that can only be one person, the man who’s responsible for us making it this far, who stayed true no matter what test was forced on him.

The man who told me that he had me, Ethan, Thatcher, and would take on all the rest if needed.

The man who called me his queen and told me there was nothing he wouldn’t do for me.

Kazimir’s promise is about to be tested in the most disgusting way, isn’t it?

I’m getting the true objective now. Take our most impressive qualities and set them on a stump, and then fire every weapon you have at them.

So that even if we triumph, despite the legacy’s violence against us, our wounds—burns, bullet holes, the debris from endless detonations—will never completely heal, just as they will never be forgotten.

This sick process isn’t battle-testing us.

It’s dosing us with pure darkness and then daring us to find the light.

“Dear Kazzie,” a woman sneers, her voice a surprise, “is she your pick?”

I hate you for this. That’s what I inform the legacy that was probably astonished by Kazimir’s decency, watching his heart begin to beat for something other than destruction, sitting in the audience observing as a killer fell in love.

Instead of nurturing that extraordinary event, it got out its checklist and added the most beautiful and wondrous gift to the column marked Destroy Next .

My soul weeps for Kazimir and this hell that’s claimed him.

The man was right about the omegaverse all along.

He must make this choice. He must honor the demands of love over his own heart’s desire. What could provide better proof that your pack will always honor justice over selfishness than this test?

I’m done with you. We’re not the ones being tested—you are.

This ruthless pursuit of knowledge has cost you your souls, if you even have them.

The reason you could never make humanity better is because, to do that, you would have to be better, and you’re not.

You’re just the reflection of the worst that humanity has to offer.

You fancy yourselves above us, but you are us.

Did you ever think to help Kazimir when he was a troubled, tortured boy?

To use your puppet skills to bring love his way that might have given him an escape from life as an assassin?

Did you ever consider supporting Thatcher with whatever caused him to be like this?

Did you ever think about leading Sage to her sister, ending her grief?

What about Jamie—did you ever once think about easing his loneliness, bringing a true friend his way?

What about Ethan—couldn’t you have helped him? Couldn’t you have helped us all?

But you didn’t. You were so busy moving us around as pieces on a chessboard, manipulating us into playing your game, that you never once considered being the guiding force that we so desperately needed.

Society only looks like this because you spent all your time searching for the perfect pawns instead of joining the true battle.

Let me give you this newsflash—we’re never going to be perfect.

I will never be perfect. Raising us up and then knocking us down, like everyone who ever revealed was just another bowling pin for you to decimate, because we are and always will be flawed…

this is evil masquerading as some all-knowing force that actually doesn’t have a fucking clue.

I feel Kazimir close and the way the bed moves as he sits beside me. Without any ability to speak or move, my heart sends a steady stream of love, acceptance, and forgiveness toward him.

When the legacy attempts to speak to me, I shut it down, realizing another consequence of my trip to the old ways.

I’m not that omega who had to struggle to free herself from the omegaverse anymore.

I’m the anointed heir to the omega legacy now, and my power easily flexes with the slightest effort.

But that doesn’t mean I can make my body move, that I can communicate directly into an unbonded alpha’s mind, or that I know what to do with everything I now comprehend about the sinister web that caught us all.

Kazimir’s hand takes hold of mine, where it rests on the mattress. The connection between us is there, but I doubt he knows I’m here, sending him every ounce of belief in my body and soul.

“I’m sorry,” he murmurs, his words faltering and his heart clearly broken, “but I can’t …”

I sense the legacy’s extreme letdown and the way it draws its power away from us, counting us out.

And that’s just fine, because I don’t want its help anymore.

The omega legacy’s ruling body doesn’t control our fates now.

We do—this pack of strangers who were brought together to prove our worth in the fight to save humanity.

Every one of us has punched our ticket to enter this war in blood, passion, and faith, and anyone who stands against us—immortal mojo or living, breathing monsters—is going to learn exactly what it means to battle true believers.

To the miracle baby I can’t wait to meet, I make a vow. I’m going to build you a beautiful world, and anyone who tries to harm you will discover just how vicious an omega’s delicate heart can be.

“Kazzie, make your choice already. They’re almost here.” This bitch is at the top of my kill list already. Kazimir is mine —no one else gets to give him silly nicknames.

Kazimir squeezes my hand, his presence so warm and solid. “Tillie, please, forgive me.”

Save him, alpha—that’s what I would tell Kazimir if I could. But since I can’t, I start banging a drum to alert the omegaverse that there’s a new barbarian in town, and she’s feeling sassy.

The Origin Pack’s story continues in the final book in the series, Generation Omega: Bonded coming later this year.

In writing this book, it became clear that it had entirely too much smut (impossible right?!?!)… so, I have some bonus smut that I will be sharing with newsletter subscribers (want to know exactly what Jameson did with Tillie and Ethan as his willing toys???).

Thanks for reading, and please share about the series if you enjoyed it and post reviews.