Page 92 of Ruined Omega

Even though my body is still buzzing with adrenaline, a cool wash of relief sluices down my spine. The Farlanders have all been defeated. The Source has been saved, for now.

But there’s something I can’t figure out, and only Abaddon would know the answer.

I rush forward to where he fell.

“Hines, wait!” Tal shouts.

My Alpha tries to snatch me back, but I move too fast. With a few quick, sprinting strides, I reach Abaddon. A second later, I feel Tal’s hands on my shoulders, keeping me from getting too close. Baen rises from where he fell, brushing the dust and cinders from his skin. Canaris appears on the other side of me, his body splattered with blood that is not his own. His eyes are glaring white amid the red stain.

Abaddon’s body is a crumpled mess. His arm is dislocated and turned the wrong way. The crooked angle of his torso makes it clear that his back is broken. His burn-scarred face is still midway between Alpha and beta.

His jaw opens and closely noiselessly a few times before his words finally emerge.

“Kill me,” he rasps. “Please, it hurts so bad…”

Canaris is eager to oblige him, but I stop him with my hand on his arm.

Abaddon is going to die soon. Or at least he will succumb to the beta transformation. First, I need to question him.

“Abaddon, where did you get these weapons?” I ask.

The broken Alpha coughs blood. His face forms an expression that is half a bitter grin and half a painful wince.

“Outsiders,” he struggles to say. “The Outsiders gave…”

“Why?” My voice is frantic. “They wanted you to destroy the Source?”

Abaddon shakes his head and chuckles. “No…no…that was my idea.”

“Then what did they want?”

“You,” he exhales. “They wanted me to…capture…you…omega…”

A chill prickles the back of my neck.

The beta mutation is progressing. Black veins are creeping up his neck and face like morbid veins. His eyes are growing duller and paler by the moment.

“Please…kill me…hurts…so bad.”

Before, I thought that Abaddon meant his injuries. But this time the tears in his voice tell me what he really means.

He’s referring to the wound left on his heart by the death of his mate. His old wound that never healed. Now that I have been bound to a pack, I have some inkling of what his loss must mean to him. To my surprise, my heart pangs with the last emotion I would have ever expected to feel for the monstrous Alpha.

Pity.

With a lump forming in my throat, and the dull ache of tears behind my eyeballs, I nod to Canaris.

The silvered Alpha steps forward and puts his father’s killer out of his misery.

He makes it quick.

For a long time, silence reigns within the chamber. Altogether, the thwarted attack on the Source was over before it began. Everything from the first explosion to the last happened in the course of one minute, though it felt like an eternity.

Lily and Sloane’s Alphas come rushing up, relieved to find their mates unharmed. One of Lily’s Alphas—the one named Addom, the leader of the tribe—sets to work organizing the efforts to help the injured.

Fortunately, the Farlanders lack of skill with their newly acquired weapons means that none of our tribe was killed, though some were injured. These wounded will be cared for here in the temple, where the healing power of the Source is strongest.

While the Alphas set to work, Lily appears at my side.