Page 175 of Eclipse Sector
Where’s the Omega?I wondered.
Sylvia’s unconscious,he replied, making me freeze mid-step.
“Sylvia?” I repeated aloud, causing Quinn to falter as well. “The one with the compulsion power isSylvia?”
His jaw clenched as he nodded. “Yeah.”
“How is that possible?” Quinn demanded. “She’s from the Sanctuary.”
“How long has she been there?” he asked. “Is she a more recent addition? Do you know where she came from?”
“I…” She trailed off, frowning. “Jas vetted all the Omegas. She just re-vetted them recently, after everything that happened with Fritz.”
Cillian nodded. “And she probably assumes she vetted Sylvia. That’s what Sylvia would have forced her to believe.”
Quinn’s jaw clenched, her gaze hardening as she resumed her trek down the stairs. Only, she wasn’t stepping now so much as marching.
“But Sylvia was drugged, too,” I said, frowning. “Why would she drug herself?”
“To have access to Blood Sector,” Cillian replied. “Access to Kieran and Quinn. To their powers. Theirminds.”
My eyes widened. “Oh, shit.”
“And then Granger dosed everyone else with the same serum to create a distraction. He slipped it into the refreshments Cael and Dixon were handing out after Sylvia’s attack.”
My eyes widened even more. “I helped distribute that drink.”
“You had no way of knowing, Vana.”
“Yeah, this is not on you,” Quinn echoed. “This… this is aboutthem.”
Her stomping grew even louder, her anger a palpable presence that had me wincing. Pregnancy emotions were… intense. However, I shared those emotions right now.
Because I’d helped Granger.
Unknowingly, yes.
But that didn’t change what had happened.
“What was the point of it all?” I wondered out loud. “Why did they drug us?” Because they clearly hadn’t benefited from the “estrus party” they’d created; it’d started after we’d arrived in Blood Sector.
“They originally planned to attack us while we were all busy taking care of the Omegas in heat—but Ashlyn did something to stop them. I don’t know what yet, just that she’d posed a problem that required their plans to shift.”
“You gathered all of this from Sylvia’s mind? Or Granger’s?”
“Both,” he replied. “And Tadhg’s thoughts have confirmed some of it as well.”
“I’m going to enjoy watching Kieran kill Tadhg,” Quinn seethed. “But Sylvia ismineto handle.”
“It’s possible she’s still a victim here,” Cillian hedged. “From what I saw in Granger’s mind, Tadhg groomed her to become his personal weapon, one he deploys at will.”
“But… but how did he know to send her to the Sanctuary?” I asked. “You all didn’t share information on it until recently, right?”
Cillian’s jaw clenched. “The shadow organization Cael and Grey mentioned has clearly been aware of the Sanctuary for quite some time, but they haven’t known how to get through the barrier. They set Sylvia up as bait, and potentially others, too.”
Quinn snarled at that, her boot landing hard on the final step before reaching the main floor. Had she been wearing heels, she probably would have broken one with that final stomp.
“So the slave trade is true,” I whispered.
