Page 17

The world around me faded in and out of color with the voices around me. They were like echoes, vibrating around my skull. Each one a distinct vibration to it. There wasn’t much I could do in my state. They’d gotten to me, captured me, put me under whatever they had the other omegas under. I wondered if this is what a medically induced coma felt like, considering I couldn’t move but I was very aware.

I heard everything they said. I couldn’t keep track of it all for long. I didn’t know how long I’d been under for, but I knew it had been a while. Some voices elicited different associated phrases. The doctors specifically, they spoke freely around me, as if they’d forgotten I was in the room with them, them, and all the other groaning omegas who were suffering hallucinations.

“He’ll be here soon,” Doctor Rathe’s upbeat voice was shaped like a firework in my mind, rockets of dull purple.

“I’m not sure we dosed him enough,” Doctor Payne’s voice dripped with a sludge green-yellow. “He’s got a lot of muscle. It’s possible he’s metabolizing the toxins much faster now. It would make some sense as to why he was able to pull himself free from the effects last time.”

I wanted to sprung awake in the bed and tell them it was me. It was al me, for whatever reason, it was me. I was the reason Vasilis was able to break out of their mind control. And yet, I probably wouldn’t want to volunteer that information at all. I knew it was dangerous for anyone to know that I could get rid of the venoms and toxins they clung to with plans of world domination.

The only thing missing from their plan was for Drakon to be a mustache twirling villain. I hadn’t even seen him, so in my mind, that’s exactly the role he took on.

“I’m not going to mention anything about the omega,” Doctor Rathe said. “We’ll just tell him it’s a new addition. They’re going to be wheeled into the first omega bay once they’ve been dosed. If he’s still under the Syndicate’s control, he’s going to do it without asking any questions.

“And if he doesn’t?” Doctor Payne asked.

Their voices, almost crushing as if they were having this tea time together across my chest. I was only existing in my mind, unable to even manifest a physical twitch or motion from my muscles.

And then his voice appeared. He greeted the doctors and they had a little back and forth chat with each other before they directed him to me. He was eager to get to biting. It wasn’t going to do anything but break him from their control. I welcomed the bite. If I could, I’d have told him to bite me, harder this time. I just wanted to feel something, and make sure I actually had feelings.

Vasilis’s words grew soft near me, mumbled almost. “Soren.”

That was me. He knew me. He was about to wreak havoc on them for what they’d done to me.

“Is everything ok?” Doctor Rathe asked, her voice annoyingly closer now, and almost the same sludge as her partner in doctored crime. “We promise the blood is still pumping in it, regardless of the way we’ve dressed it.”

It. I was an it now. I wanted to break free and begin my own tirade. And yet, even as I tried to just tell myself to sit up and throw a fist, my body was betraying me and refusing all actions.

“It’s all good,” he said. “I was just thinking of another omega with a similar scent. It’s fine, I haven’t seen them in years.”

All he had to do was bite me and this would all go away, or just stay close enough for whatever pheromones I’d been putting out into the world around him came back and did their magic again.

“On second thoughts, maybe it’s not good if you do it,” Doctor Payne said. “We don’t want you getting even more sick. Especially after everything you’ve just been through.”

Vasilis’s laugh was different in cadence. He wasn’t listening to them, that was the type of laugh. “I’m Vasilis Vepres. I’m going to do my job and infect every omega. And then, we’re going to have a great party to celebrate. We are, after all, going to be welcoming a host of offspring. Right?”

They applauded him. Fuck. He wasn’t the same person anymore. And he needed to bite me now. Right now. I couldn’t have him going around thinking he wanted to impregnate all of these omegas when we were bonded. I wouldn’t let him mate with anyone else.

“I’m also letting everyone know that nobody is to feed from any of the omegas, especially not this one,” he said. Was it a hint? Was he trying to tell me that he knew I was in here. He had said my name. Or was I imagining things? Maybe all of this was a trick of my brain. I couldn’t trust anything anymore.

Sloppy slurping sounds came into my sphere, they were tainted with deep rouges, like the color of blood. Vasilis’s moans were covered in the color. If my ears were still working, he’d definitely bitten into me, even if I couldn’t process the penetration of his teeth into my skin.

“Is that everything?” Vasilis asked with a heavy sigh. “Because I’m actually feeling a little tired now. I don’t mean to push you on it, but could you check him and make sure the poison has taken. Please.”

Both of the doctors were over me and around me at the same time it seemed, almost inside me.

“You can remove the sheet,” Vasilis said. “He’s unconscious. Right?”

“He,” Doctor Rathe said. “We didn’t mention whether it was a man or woman.”

“I could taste it,” Vasilis said. “You don’t need to be an Alpha to know. There was a lot of signs that it was a man in there. Least of all the obvious, his flat chest, not to sound like someone pointing out physical attributes, but in some cases, it’s true.”

“Well, I suppose you’re able to differentiate from smell as well,” Doctor Payne said. “Which is remarkable. I have always been curious on the ways in which someone like you, and like them can tell so much just from the animal side of your being.”

I wanted to reach up and punch him. Humans shouldn’t have any part of our lives, even if it meant they would put more funding into researching us. We didn’t need it, I didn’t need them poking around my body. I’d seen what they’d done to the omegas already in those beds, this wasn’t the way anyone should be kept. And I definitely didn’t want it.

“You should really count yourself lucky that we allow you this time with us,” Vasilis said as if feeling my thoughts. “I’m capable of things you cannot even wrap your minds around. It’s impressive for you to be stuck in those shells you call bodies that have nothing, spectacular about them happening at all. Don’t you feel out of place here?”

“Well, putting it like that, I’m pretty sure it’s the reason we’re here in the first place,” Doctor Payne answered. “We’re not involved in your world, we’re just here to observe, and of course, do as the Apex commands. We want to be on the good side of history, Vasilis. The same as you.”

I could feel the hesitation in Vasilis, our bond was reconnecting. We were cementing ourselves. If only I knew how to use it to tell him what was going on in my head right now. I hoped he’d know, even if he wasn’t saying it.

A loud bang thundered out, sending a cascade of grays grumbling in my mind. It was followed by a soldier’s formalities speaking to Vasilis, the commander. “One of the omegas in the second unit has gone mad. They’ve pulled one of their eyeballs out. I—”

If I could function, I would’ve jumped to my feet to help them. These so-called doctors didn’t sound too bothered by it.

“There’s nothing we can do about that now,” Doctor Rathe said. “Make sure they’re strapped in, and make sure the rest of them are bound as well.”

“Don’t you think you should check it out?” Vasilis asked. “It could be serious. It might be a complication. And, we need these omegas ready for the plan.”

Hearing his words talk about a plan and supporting the Syndicate after everything made me want to throw up. Pastel puke yellow fizzled around my mind, and suffocated me where I laid.

There was no sound at all, and then suddenly, right in my ear, Vasilis whispered, or at least I assumed it was in my ear. It was quiet, yet intense.”I’m getting you out of here,” he said. “Things are coming back, but we’re gonna have to leave right now, and I don’t know how to unplug any of this shit. So, I guess we’re just gonna have to give it all a shot.”

I wanted to guide him through it, but without seeing the layout and setup of it all, I didn’t know exactly how to get myself out of this state.

Everything went black.

***

Vasilis had been in the bed for days, still seemingly too scared to tell me everything he’d been through to get to the point where he was trying to hide out in my parents shrubbery, and in that, he might’ve died, but even death didn’t make him speak.

In the kitchenette of the guest house, where I’d told my parents I would be spending time now because I needed some independence, I made Vasilis soup over the hob. It wasn’t the first time I’d done it, and they didn’t care, not while they were dealing with my brother and sister as they were groomed into roles at the company.

“Is there anything with meat in it?” he called out.

“I only do meat on the weekends,” I replied with a chuckle. It was a lie. I didn’t want him getting a taste for me while I was around, and then him turning on me and thinking I looked like the perfect midnight snack. And while it was true, I kept myself tight and right, I was not going to be some serpent boy’s plaything, even if he was very attractive.

“I’m not going to heal fully without some proper protein in my diet,” he said.

That was code for, feed me meat, or I seek the meat right from your body. “You can’t even chew,” I remind him. “Unless you’re forgetting that. You know, since your jaw is still very sensitive. If you keep moving it, you’ll never heal.”

“Or it’ll heal faster because it knows I’m using it.”

The soup had been warmed through when I transferred it to a bowl and some slices of bread on the side for dipping. That was as solid as he would be getting for food. Carrying it in to him, he had a big smile on his smug face, it always looked smug, even when I could feel him trying to be sincere.

“As soon as I’m able to see recovery in the affected areas, we’ll go to something else,” I said, placing the tray on the bed. “Let me have a look at them.” I pulled back at the gauze on his chin to see it still struggling to heal. His collarbone had been the same. “Are you sure you’re going to heal? It shouldn’t take this long for an Alpha, right?” I reached for the cut near his eye and he flinched.

“Please, just give me the food. I’ll be fine. I just need—”

“You just need,” I mocked him. “You just need to tell me what’s going on.”

“My family would kill me. They’re not like your family.”

Nobodies family was like my family. I rolled my eyes and sat on the chair I used every day to help feed him from. He hated it, sometimes even refusing to open his mouth and telling me I should just throw him out onto the streets.

“The moment you stop feeling sorry for yourself, I bet you’ll begin to heal,” I said. I didn’t know a lot about Alpha physiological make up, but I was assuming that there was something stopping him from healing in the form of a mental block. Anything was possible when it came to shifters. It was fucking annoying.

“I don’t feel sorry for myself,” he said and pursed his lips before scowling. “Everything hurts. Everything is on fire. And I’m—”

Another large eye roll incoming. “If you took the pain killers, you might actually feel better, maybe that’s why.”

Vasilis was a strong headed Alpha, stubborn in whatever lessons he’d learned about pain management. “Then get them for me.”

I’d already created an argument, but he’d agreed with me. I wasn’t prepared for this. “Ok. Finally, we’re getting somewhere. Now, do you want the tablets and the creams? I know you didn’t want those, but I promise they’re good. I have stuff made by local witches that helps healing.”

“No. Just the pills.”

We were getting somewhere. It was slow, but we were getting there. Now it was the pills, but soon, he’d want the creams, and then he might even open up to me about why he left his home. An Alpha with his looks. The only thing I could imagine would be a forced marriage, but that was mostly a thought from watching telenovelas at some of the hospitals I’d worked in.