Page 44 of One Flew Over the Omega's Nest: Part One
His jaw goes tight as he runs a hand through his hair. "None."
"So why us?"
My question stumps him, if his silence is any indication, and by the time we make it to my door, I have more questions than ever. It's clearhe feelssomethingfor me…but if it was romantic, he wouldnotbe okay with me and Hayden.
He is quite a bit older than me, maybe even by ten years. Is it possible he sees me how Declan does? Why does that thought fill me with disappointment?
"Well, thanks for the escort," I say with false bravado, shooting Sam a wink. He rolls his eyes and turns to leave, grumbling something to himself as he goes.
We wait until he disappears around the corner to open my door, and my heart falls at the sight of my room.
All my nest materials are gone, and instead of Hayden's used jumpsuit and comforter, there's a new set of linens on the bed. I swallow down an upset sound as Hayden panics. "Fuck, it's okay, Fireball. I'll get you new ones, and—"
I shake my head. "It's okay."
"What? No, you're an omega, and you need a nest—"
I shake my head again. "No."
Then I tell him everything I overheard while they thought I was still sleeping. How Brooks and Whitmore talked about completely nullifying the designations, and how my omega is all but gone, locked in a cage in my mind.
"Fuck, Fireball," he mutters, gathering me in his arms. "Why would they do that?"
"I don't know. But when Whitmore set his eyes on me, he looked at me like hehatesme. He doesn't even know me—how could he already have that opinion?"
"You think it's because you're an omega?" he asks, and I pause, frowning.
Huh. I had been thinking that maybe he knew some of the alphas I expelled from existence, but now that he says it, it's not the hatred ofsomeone that I've personally offended. It was like he was disgusted by my veryexistence.
"Actually…maybe."
"My dad…" Hayden sighs, flopping back onto my bed. "My dad is one of the New York State Senators. He used to talk about a group that wanted to completely eradicate designations. Find a way to remove alphas and omegas from the world and leave it with only betas. Killing them all would cause too much discord, but a drug? Fuck, Jo, that sounds like just the thing they would do."
"Your dad…?" I ask hesitantly. "Is he an alpha?"
"A beta," he says tightly. "I used to think he was talking about them with disgust, but maybe…" He shakes his head. "I'm sorry Jo, I don't have much more than that."
"I…" This might go so much further than I had thought. They obviously take omegas as test subjects, so is that what they're doing with Mabel right now? Then I remember the name they said, something about reporting to… "Does Senator Kinsley ring a bell?"
"Yeah," he frowns, "he's the other New York Senator."
"Shit," I mutter, falling next to Hayden. "They said that they wanted to keep him updated on the progress of the drug."
Which means he has a hand in this, which could very well mean this place is government funded. Why did that not come up in any of my research? Probably the same reason nothing about this being an experimental facility popped up.
"Shit." Hayden echoes. Before he can say anything else, I hear the tell-tale squeaking of Turnip coming out of my air vent.
"Turnip!" I cry, sitting up and scrambling to the vent. It pops off easily, and in the next moment the little rat is climbing up to my shoulder, rubbing her face against mine. "Oh, I missed you too, girl! I hope you found someone tofeed you while I was gone." Turnip squeaks happily, and I look over to see Hayden staring at us with this love-struck look on his face.
"You really are something else, Fireball," he murmurs, walking over and pressing a kiss to my head.
nineteen
Jo
Inever thought I'd miss anything about being an omega.
Sitting across from Hayden at dinner though, and not being able to scent the barest whiff of smoky pepper off him?
