Page 174 of The Other Omega

Fifty of my soldiers stood around the room, watching as I stopped before the prisoners. One man lifted his head, while another glanced towards the guards behind me. Neither spoke.

“You dared come into the Stormforge residence.” I shot the man nearest me, then turned to the next.

“To attack a pregnant Omega.” My second shot brought him down, and the third man recoiled as I approached him.

“House Vaelor remembers.” I shot him and continued along the line, stopping before the fourth.

“And the Stormforge Pack has no mercy.” He fell beneath my next shot, and I moved towards the fifth man, who immediately began pleading.

“Please! I didn’t know she was pregnant!”

“Does that redeem you?” I shot him before he could answer and executed the sixth without another word.

The last man was trembling, his bound hands shaking against his belt.

“Please, have mercy.”

I stopped before him. “Is that why you came into my home? To show my Omega mercy?”

He closed his eyes, tears running down his face, and I shot him.

I handed the weapon back to Harrow and addressed my soldiers.

“Remove the bodies. Preserve their equipment for Intelligence and begin clearing the rooms. The barricades remain until Command lifts the lockdown.”

“Yes, Director.”

I left them to it and headed towards the Family Wing. Alaric confirmed that the wider defences were holding. Caius remained at House Vaelor, Lucien had taken charge of the captured officers, and Leon was waiting for the lockdown to be lifted so he could return home.

The air in the Family Wing was clear, and the lights were still on. I passed the guard at the entrance and found the detail leader outside Elowen’s room.

“How is Lady Stormforge?”

“She is extremely distressed, Director.”

Dread tightened in my chest as I overrode the locks and opened the doors. Her scent struck me with such force that I had to brace myself against the doorframe. The air was saturated with Omega terror and distress, and every breath tightened my chest.

Elowen had dragged cushions and pillows into the farthest corner of the nest, building a barricade around herself and Eira. Blankets covered them both so completely that at first I saw only a trembling mound of bedding. Then Elowen shifted, and I caught the upper half of her face above the blanket’s edge. Beside her, Eira watched me with concern and something close to dread.

I stopped at the edge of the nest.

“Elowen.”

Her whole body jerked beneath the blankets.

“No!”

“Sweet Omega, look at me. It is only me.”

She stared at me from behind the blankets as though she did not recognise me.

What have I done?

Chapter 37

Darius

“Leave.”