"Worse." I jabbed my finger in his chest, the hollow thud of a void echoing back. "We have one chance to get our Omegas back, and get that damn King in Xerai back for what he did to us. She can create Omegas for us. She can bring back what we lost. If we can stop Theon from starting a war and keep Aldric from fucking her to death. After feeling... after experiencing..." I stalled out, my chest tightening.
I hadn't expected the connection to be so strong, this animalistic need to both protect and experience her. We had talked about breeding new Omegas and stopping Theon before he ended us all.
But now I wanted to protect her. She wasn’t just a weapon, she was something to worship.
Fuck it all. Garret was right, there was something besides fucking and cumming. Not that I would tell him that.
"If we want this to work we need to be on the same team. We need to keep Aldric away from her. We need to keep her clean and out of heat until we can get her out of here. We were able to hold back before, but if she goes into heat..." I didn't have to finish. He knew. He was the one who had tried to keep the last Omega alive. The poor boy had arrived in heat. We both remembered the fury that came after.
An Omega in heat brings out the worst kind of animal in any Alpha. And Synians were already dangerous without going feral.
"Trust me, I have no interest in bedding her." Garret was back to looking up and down the halls. "And you shouldn't either."
"Sure, sure," I answered. There was no way in hell I was making that promise. Garret gave me an all-knowing look, but I just grinned. He knew me too well, and my fake promises weren't worth the fight. He would just have to get used to it.
There was only one person I cared about. Me.
Although...
"Is that why your man is missing," I asked, forcing myself to change the subject. "You found your Omega and he took off."
Garret narrowed his eyes at me, both of us leaning against the wall now.
"You can tell me," I promised, and Garret foolishly accepted it.
"An Alpha can take multiple mates, Parris. A strong Alpha can even have multiple Omegas. You know this," he said and I nodded. I did know that, even if it was fun to pester him otherwise. "Elliot will always be mine. But I... I changed my mind on something. He was upset with me and then like an idiot I asked him to watch her."
"Ah, trouble in paradise," I repeated, although I did try not to pester him so much. Tried. His answering growl would say I wasn't super successful.
I had always mocked Garret and his love of the shifter, but I was actually losing my steam. Not that it wasn't fun to watch my brother writhe in frustration, but because I was starting to understand where he was coming from.
I was starting to understand his heart.
Damn it all!
"Well," I continued after a minute. "Perhaps you should go see her. Omegas are supposed to be able to soothe their Alpha's woes." At least that's what I heard.
"I think it's best if I stay away. Best not to get attached." He pushed himself off the wall with a sigh, his eyes focused on the same stretch of tile I had been before he turned and began to walk the other way.
I hated how my chest loosened with each step he took in the other direction. I had never felt jealous before, especially not of Garret. He had been my brother before we had been changed into Synians. We had even been chosen together as we claimed the same woman. We had shared blood and sex, even slid against each other claiming the same woman. Stretching her cunt together.
I had never felt jealous of him.
But now I did.
Now I wanted to claim her first. I needed to get the thought out of my head.
"You say that like she's going to die," I called after him. Garret turned back to me, his eyes black as he stared at me. As whatever air in my chest was sucked out of existence.
"The last one did. And if this one does..." He didn't need to say more. We all knew. Well, Garret and I knew. Aldric was too obsessed with blood and sex to care.
If this one died, then the door to follow Theon, the door to stop him, would close. If we didn't stop him then a war between the Synians and the Fae would begin.
And we all knew there was no way we would survive.