17. Lazarus
Lazarus
My shadow is unruly. It’s a fight to keep him tamed as he should behave around an omega, especially around Honey. He wants to wrap around her, coil her tight in his hold, to keep and to possess.
Temptation is a five-foot-four-inch brunette omega with curves and pouty lips. I could be seven deadly sins deep in her before even taking a breath of her scent.
She’s inoculated to prevent her from glowing, but I’m ready to sin beyond that of the Ten Commandments if it means getting a glimpse of her light.
Silence lapses between us as we wait for the boys’ return. Regardless of Fox’s findings, she will likely require sustenance.
In the refrigerator, there are bins designated for lunches and dinner meals.
But on the bottom shelf are foods free of containment to be consumed at any time.
I debate between cooking a full meal and using the unallocated ingredients.
But none of the baskets of food are those that would be respectable breakfast foods.
An omega should be fed traditionally. Coming from the House of Apostles, she’ll be used to eating eggs, sausage, and fruit with grain for breakfast. It’s respectful for me to feed her what she needs. There are only so many changes she should be experiencing at one time.
I shouldn’t be worried about her changes. She is not our omega. Her well-being should be met with the most basic needs. I shouldn’t worry whether it’s the proper food for breakfast, just that she’s fed.
Even though a part of me cares, more than it should?
“Alphas behave differently here,” Honey says quietly. “Most of the shadows are so free. It’s so unique.”
I check my shadow, and sure enough, he’s on the countertop and inching toward her.
Honey reaches out toward it, and I wonder if she knows that you can’t pet them; they’re not tangible.
“Why do the alphas at the House of Apostles not allow their shadows freedom?”
I drag my shadow back away from her. “The apostles believe that untamed shadows are a symptom of weakness, that an alpha is unable to care for themselves to the highest order and therefore untrustworthy to take care of an omega.”
She cocks her head and scrunches her nose, still intently watching my shadow. “What is a spectrum? The other omega, she told me that there were lights designed to go against an omega’s spectrum.”
Her words confirm that the plan the apostles were brewing for keeping the omegas in submission is coming to fruition.
I always knew it would be a bad thing, but I forced myself to dismiss that life entirely.
Other omegas outside the community needed saving.
The apostles were keeping omegas healthy at least. Or so I thought.
But if that’s the case, then why can I not remember an omega named Honey?
Without a knock, Fox strolls into the apartment with the twins.
He wrinkles his nose and blinks against the all-spectrum lighting in our unit.
I set it to all-spectrum for Honey’s sake, not knowing her preferred lighting since we don’t know what color she glows.
I reach for the controls to adjust the lighting to something more suitable, darker and less bright, for alphas, but Fox waves me off.
He approaches Honey slowly, assessing her from head to toe. From his pockets, he pulls out a thermometer and a spectrograph. He runs both over her skin and shrugs. Then he pulls out his phone and texts me:
Fox
She’s not in estrus. But without running more tests, I cannot determine what ended it prematurely. Because Z and P are still in rut, it makes me think that it isn’t her body’s natural cycle. She would have released hormones that told their bodies enough was enough.
Keep her up here for another day, and if she doesn’t lapse back into estrus, then we should run some more tests.
I would not recommend rutting an omega who is not in estrus, but it wouldn’t be detrimental to her health. It might save you the headache of dealing with the two of them.
He gives me a thumbs-up, then promptly turns to leave.
With anticipatory glances, the twins look between their brother and me. Then they turn hungry eyes to Honey. Their lust-fueled gazes rake over her body, and Honey squirms.
Fox’s findings are not the most scientific answer, but it’s certainly actionable. Despite leaving me with a choice on how to handle Zephyr and Phoenix, there is a way through this interesting turn of events.
Do I stay the course for the omega’s safety or let them have their way, and keep her, for my own sanity?