Page 31 of Knot Gonna Lie (Syzygy Omegaverse #1)

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

LUCA

Tension coiled in the mess hall, thick enough to choke on. Jaxom squared off against his sister across the metal table, every line of his body taut.

Fourteen years of silence sat heavy between them.

Nova held herself rigidly, matching Jaxom’s pride with her own.

Her gamma, Alleria, stood just close enough to play it off as professional, but I saw the signs—too still, too aware.

They weren’t just bonded by duty. They were close. Closer than protocol allowed.

“Why did you stay away?” Jaxom’s voice cracked on the question. “All these years, I’ve been coming to the station. I’ve looked for you in every crowd, every corridor. Why didn’t you—”

“We’re not supposed to.” Nova’s fingers twisted in her lap, betraying the distress her carefully composed facade tried to hide. “Omegas are instructed on arrival—no contact with our past lives. Not family, not friends. Not until we’re claimed and our alpha permits it.”

“Reminders were forbidden,” Alleria said quietly, her hand tightening around Nova’s side in a gentle squeeze. “They always told us it made things easier—for omegas to forget their old lives. To accept the new ones. To depend on their assigned gammas instead.”

The words hit me like ice water, revelation pooling cold in my stomach. Elara had been isolated not just physically but emotionally, cut off from every tie that might have anchored her to who she’d been before.

The cruelty of it made my alpha instincts snarl, bristling beneath civilized skin.

“That’s barbaric,” Xavier muttered from his position by the door, and I silently agreed.

“That’s control,” Nova corrected, her voice flat, bitterness cutting through every word.

“They tell us it’s for our protection. That maintaining past connections will distract us from finding suitable alphas.

That we need to become new people, untethered from who we were before our scents turned sweet. ”

My attention caught on the subtle interplay between Nova and Alleria—the way they breathed in synchronization, how their bodies angled toward each other like flowers, seeking the same sun. Where Elara and Quinn had maintained professional distance despite their obvious affection, these two…

Their scents weren’t just mingled from proximity. They were interwoven, saturated with each other in ways that spoke of shared heat cycles, intimate moments, the kind of bonding that should have been impossible between omega and gamma.

Forbidden. Completely forbidden by station law.

“You’ve been together.” The words slipped out before I could stop them—undeniable, solid. Not just a statement. A fact .

Alleria stiffened, hand dropping to the weapon at her hip with enforcer instinct. But Nova simply lifted her chin, defiance blazing in eyes that matched her brother’s for sheer stubbornness.

“Yes,” she said simply, daring me to disapprove. “Five years now. Through four heats, hidden from the Matron’s sight.”

“Nova!” Jaxom’s shock rippled through the room, and I felt my clan tense around us like a collective held breath. “Do you have any idea what they’d do if they found out? To both of you?”

“Separate us. Banish Alleria. Force me into The Den every day until I claim an alpha out of desperation.” Nova’s voice held steel beneath silk, the kind of strength forged in secret rebellion.

“Which is why we need to get out of here…Together. I don’t want to be forced to live a lie due to our society’s rigid caste system. ”

Through the nascent bond, I felt Elara’s emotions spike—raw frustration and a fierce protectiveness that made my own pale in comparison.

She was coming—wild and fast.

I straightened, instincts already on edge. The last thing we needed was her walking in and demanding Nova be gone. She had every right to—this was her clan now, her territory. And if her instincts flared hard enough, no one could stop her from acting on them.

They weren’t part of our clan—not really. But Nova was Jaxom’s little omega sister, and that made things complicated. My instincts pulled in two directions, loyalty stretching thin. I didn’t want to be forced to choose between them. But if it came to that…I would. No hesitation.

Elara was mine —our clan’s present and future. And mine in every way that mattered.

Nothing would change that.

Not even an omega-gamma pair, bonded against every law. Living proof that the system’s rigid categories meant nothing when hearts chose their own paths. And they’d trusted us with this secret that could destroy them.

One that I know deep down, Elara and the rest of the clan would protect.

After all, I’d risked everything for her —my honor, my clan, my company. Even my bond with my brother, whose name I’d used to claim her.

“How?” Stella asked, psyblade forgotten in her hand. “The suppressants, the monitoring—”

“Love finds a way.” Alleria spoke for the first time, her voice carrying enforcer steel softened by something infinitely tender.

“We found each other during Nova’s first heat.

I was supposed to guard her door, keep her safe.

Instead…” She looked at Nova with naked devotion that made my chest tight.

“Instead, I found my reason for breathing.”

“I didn’t want any unfamiliar scent near me,” Nova said, correcting gently. Then she looked at Alleria with a soft smile—the kind you only gave someone you loved. “She was safe…and I didn’t want anyone else.”

The mess hall doors slid open as Seth entered with Elara tucked close beside him. The sight hit hard. My omega moved in sync with him—too in sync—and something between them had changed. And yet, there was no scent of a claiming—I would’ve tasted it in the air between them—but the shift was there.

Subtle. Unmistakable. Permanent.

My clan noticed too.

Stella stilled completely, Sylas straightened from his casual lean against the bulkhead and grabbed her shoulders, comforting her. Maia shot a smirk at Tobias, knowing full well Seth’s brother would tease him about it later. Even Xavier’s perpetual smirk softened into something more thoughtful.

We all watched as Elara crossed the room and settled against my side like she belonged there.

My arm came around her, drawing her into the shelter of my body where she belonged.

Our scents merged—my tropical paradise with her lavender fields creating something entirely new, something that made my alpha instincts purr with satisfaction.

The bond between us pulsed, still new, still raw. I felt it the moment she reached for Seth, her fingers stretching out like she was anchoring both of us.

She dragged him to her other side, shooting me a look that carried volumes—permission sought, boundaries tested, new clan dynamics shifting into new configurations like stars realigning.

I understood without words. She’d chosen her first pack mate, the bonds still gossamer-thin but strengthening with each shared breath. No jealousy stirred in my chest, only warm approval that bloomed like sunrises. She was claiming what she needed, building what her instincts demanded.

One day, I hoped to claim her hurt as well.

“Why are you here?” Elara’s question cut the silence, delivered with the authority of an omega who’d found her voice. “On my ship, when I should be celebrating with my clan?”

Nova studied her closely, recognition passing between them—two omegas who had taken risks, who knew what it cost to go against what was expected.

“Because my brother deserves the truth before he leaves,” Nova said, her voice tight. “He needs to understand why I’ve been avoiding him—and that it wasn’t my choice.”

“Which is?”

“I’m in love with my gamma.” Her words hit like a challenge, daring Elara to argue. “And I want her in my life. In my nest. In my future. Away from this station and its broken rules.”

“Incoming,” Xavier’s voice crackled through the comm, tension threading through his usual casual tone. “Two gammas requesting boarding. Quinn and…Jenna.”

“Shit,” Alleria muttered. “They can’t know we’re here.”

Elara stepped away from me and Seth, calmness radiating from every measured step. Her gaze locked on Nova’s, cutting through the panic.

“No,” she said, her conviction ringing through our bond—steady and sharp. “Quinn won’t betray us. Any of us.”

The certainty in her voice silenced the room. She wasn’t guessing. She knew.

Nova and Alleria exchanged weighted looks, prepared to flee. “We should go. Before—”

“Stay,” I commanded, alpha authority threading through the word with power I rarely used, feeling it settle over the room. “If Elara trusts Quinn, then we should too.”

“You’d risk everything for strangers?” Nova spat, disbelief painting her features.

“You’re not strangers.” I looked at Jaxom—his gratitude clear, no hiding it. “You’re a sister of one of ours. That makes you ours to protect.”

The weight of my declaration settled over the room—calming both my clan and our visitors.

My ship. My clan. My omega. Everything hung in the balance.

We could turn them away, protect ourselves, reach Tera without additional complications. Every instinct screamed to shield what was mine from the chaos Nova and Alleria represented.

But stronger than fear was the memory of Elara walking across that arena floor, choosing against every protocol. Of my own desperate gamble with stolen identity. Of Seth’s quiet courage and Jaxom’s steady loyalty during dinner.

We’d all chosen dangerous paths to find each other.

How could we deny others the same chance?

The mess hall doors slid open again, Xavier leading Quinn and Jenna into the room with his usual casual swagger—as if nothing was astray. Quinn and Jenna stepped in, eyes sweeping the room—two omegas, one gamma, and a pack clearly ready to fight for all three. Nothing escaped their notice.

“Well,” Quinn said mildly, a flicker of amusement tugging at her mouth. “Isn’t this a scene.”

“It’s not what it looks like…” Alleria stepped in front of Nova.