Page 2 of Untamed Omega

“Is it that obvious?”

Kellan nodded. “It is to me.”

Goddess bless him, I wanted to. I wanted to relieve some of the constant weight on my chest. I told others that speaking things out loud often led to epiphanies and realizations about things. Our inner voice could be the unkindest entity in our lives.

“Another time?” I asked.

“Of course. I’m here any time you need me. Five minutes or five hours, it doesn’t matter to me.”

My face began to heat and my body shook with the anxiety I’d contained within it for so long. I’d tried to forgive myself but I just couldn’t.

“I think I’ll take a walk.”

“Sounds good. See you later.”

I’d gone a few steps when Kellan turned. “Hey, Markus?”

“Yeah?”

“What part of a male is his muffins? You’re the healer.”

Snorting, I shrugged my shoulders. “Ask your mate. I have no clue.”

Chapter Two

Sam

All the lights went out.

In my many months here, I hadn’t seen darkness, ever. I had heard rumors that in some sections of the building that wasn’t the case, but in our wing, it was humming fluorescents twenty-four seven. At first, it had kept me awake, my nerves zinging in concert, but the body and mind can only survive for so long without rest, and eventually the sound blended into the background and the glare became my new normal.

In addition, the temperature of the cells and labs remained below what anyone could consider comfortable, air-conditioning vents blowing their icy gales through the hallways. Only my natural shifter temperature kept me from freezing, although my beast’s fur would have been welcome. Unfortunately, I was unable to shift due to…something. In my food or drink or possibly the IV fluids pumped into my veins. Or the tablets forced down my throat. Something.

The constant unpleasant surroundings, the lack of windows or clocks, made keeping track of days and nights, weeks and months, impossible. The white coats all wore watches, but their long sleeves kept them hidden most of the time, and while strapped down to a table for “tests,” I strained to get a glimpse of their wrists, craving the normalcy of knowing the hour.

At first, I didn’t know what woke me from my fitful sleep. My eyes still closed, I tried to figure out what had changed. No AC. No poor excuse for a blanket either. It must have fallen off as the temperature rose. Searching for it, I opened my eyes to pitch blackness. And silence. No hum from the lights, no whoosh from the air-conditioning. No electronic sounds from everything else.

But, most surprising, in this apocalyptic change, no voices. There were always guards around here, and techs and scientists and orderlies… Even at times I guessed were late at night, conversations went on. The white coats and their underlings spoke in front of us as if we were deaf or stupid. Or maybe because they knew we’d never be in a position to pass on what we overheard.

That had always scared me.

But not as much as the dark silence coating my skin at this time. If the building had shut down, if nobody was there, what did that mean?

Sitting on the side of the bed, I tried to push down the haze that usually occupied my brain. I needed to think clearly if I was going to understand what was going on and see how it affected me. It had been a long time since hope held any part of my life, and it might be more than I could survive if I let it in now only to learn it was a blown fuse or circuit breaker or a power line or whatever. That might explain the power elements but not the lack of personnel.

I stood and took a tentative step toward the door of my cell. Hope was beginning, despite my efforts. The door had no knob, and it opened electronically, triggered elsewhere. I didn’t know where. In some control room, I supposed. It was hard to tell what direction I was going, despite spending almost all my time in this space I had paced for endless hours.

Just never in the dark.

Hands out in front of me, I waited to find the door—or a wall if I somehow went in the wrong direction, but after about fifteen steps, I knew something was wrong. My cell was seven by ten feet. All that pacing confirmed it. I couldn’t still be inside my horrible home base. Another three steps, and I planted my palms against a solid surface. The hallway.

My door must have been opened by the outage, and maybe others were as well, but I had no idea what to do now. I might be able to find my way to the labs, but outside? I’d been brought in here unconscious and never seen a sign of an exit.

Despair, my usual state, crept back in, replacing that small flicker of hope. How could I ever find my way out of this place? I slid down to the floor in a pathetic heap.

But then out of nowhere, a hand closed around my arm, and a voice hissed, “Stand up and come with me if you want to be free.”

“Who are you?”

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