Page 82 of Shared Omega

A blush comes into my cheeks and neck as I think about all the dirty things I’ve done since I became an omega. Letting my body be used and shared by three dominant Alphas. Begging for it.

My libido is anything but suppressed.

“So what happened?” I ask “How did a suppression field end up making a bunch of Alphas and omegas? Was it a malfunction or something?”

“Not a malfunction,” Seraph says. “My objective was optimization of human reproductive processes. I noted a significant flaw—an imbalance—and I corrected it.”

“What imbalance?”

“Females of the species were grossly undervalued by their mates, and this in turn exacerbated the overpopulation problems. Women were impregnated by men who had no intention of supporting a family. In some cases women were even impregnated through forcible intercourse. They were viewed merely as sexual objects. Their reproductive value was not adequately appreciated, and as a result that value was used in dysfunctional ways. I have rectified that.”

I look around the massive chamber at the small clusters of people milling about. Little knots of Alphas and omegas. It’s not hard to see that the Alphas outnumber the omegas three or four to one.

And then I think of all the women who died in the great Cataclysm when they became betas.

“Rectified? How, by killing all of the women off? There are hardly any left now.”

“As a rule, a rare commodity is a valued commodity,” Seraph replies flatly.

I can’t believe what I’m hearing. My blood heats with anger. I would yell at this frigging machine if it weren’t for the little baby suckling peacefully at Lily’s breast beside me.

“You’re talking about people, not commodities,” I hiss.

Lily’s hand touches my shoulder.

“Sloane,” she says in a pacifying voice. “Remember. Seraph is a machine. He doesn’t think like you and me.”

She’s right of course. I take a deep breath to calm my nerves.

“Look around,” Seraph says. “Are you omegas not valued?”

I do as he says, and glance about the chamber one more time, and I have to admit that he is right. Everywhere I look, every omega has the attention of three or four massive Alphas. For every Alpha, his omega mate is the focus of his life—his whole reason for being.

“The omegas are the source of life,” Seraph says. “Each one is joined with a pack of Alpha mates who jealously protect her from harm. And each omega produces a litter large enough to keep the population stable.”

Lily nudges me.

“Any more questions for Seraph?”

I shake my head. I feel like my brain is already overloaded. Lily reaches for the console.

“Thank you, Seraph, that will be all for now, I think.”

“Goodbye,” Seraph says in that strange, cold voice, and his visage fades.

This is all so much information to take in at once. My mind is reeling. I was never under any illusions that SynerGen was some kind of saintly organization, but this is beyond anything I ever imagined.

SynerGen caused the whole Cataclysm, resulting in millions of deaths. Sure, that wasn’t their intention, but their original plan wasn’t that much nicer. And now they are trying to cover the whole thing up by sending me to murder the person who knows their dirty little secret.

Lily has uncovered the biggest conspiracy perhaps of all time. If this information got out to the public, the shockwaves would be felt around the world.

“Look,” she says, picking up a cracked data slate that is wired into the console. “I nabbed this device off the head scientist of the expedition that brought me here. It’s basically the only communication device that we have here in the Zone. For the past six months, I’ve been using this device to send messages out to the city hive, trying to explain about everything—SynerGen, Seraph, the suppression field, and how they caused the Cataclysm. And there’s so much more than that, Sloane. For example, they are planning to use Alphas in the city hive to secretly kill off millions of people to bring the population down. Genocide, Sloane. Truly evil stuff.”

I rub my temples, trying to assuage the dull headache that’s building up inside my skull. I feel like my brain is about to explode.

“But your messages haven’t been getting through,” I say after a moment. “Nobody in the city hives knows anything about this, Lily. Nobody.”

Lily frowns and nods. She fiddles nervously with the piercing in her lip.