Chapter Forty-Four #2
Her wide eyes snag on something, and her face changes. Chubby cheeks lift into a gummy smile, a string of happy babbles spilling out as her tiny hand reaches forward, pointing across the camp.
"Is... Is that an Omega?" The young girl whispers to me in awe. "I've never seen one in real life. She's so pretty. Is she nice?"
Halley is handing a bag of supplies to an older man with a hunch and a beard that touches his belt. She's smiling along as he animatedly tells her a story.
“Her name is Halley,” I tell her, pride sharpening my tone. “And yes, she is very nice. Go on. She will take good care of you both.”
I watch as my Omega greets them with warmth that seems effortless. When the pup raises her arms, Halley scoops her up without hesitation, bouncing her on her hip until the child’s delighted laughter carries across the space.
The survivors love Halley.
All day, they've flocked to her like she’s a beacon of hope in the bleak darkness.
Her scent and her presence calms their frayed nerves like a balm over raw wounds. It was a brilliant strategy by Zero to have her issue supplies, and by extension, comfort.
Clever for the operation.
But as her Prime Alpha and future mate, I do not approve.
Protect. Ours. Omega. Protect.
I want to shield her from the horrors of the war. From the filth, the desperation, the way war not only tears at flesh but rots people from the inside.
Her sweet, giving soul will demand she pour every ounce of herself into these survivors until there is nothing left, and she will still try to give more.
I want her tucked away somewhere safe because I don't know if I can bear to see her cry for these poor people. I don’t think I’m strong enough to watch her heart break again and again.
But I can’t stop her.
I won’t.
I know from our time together at the training camp that controlling her will extinguish her spark. She needs freedom to be an Omega. Soft, caring, nurturing, proud. Everything these weary souls need.
Our girl will always choose to do what is right for others.
It’s my responsibility as her Alpha to support her.
The babe babbles at Halley, her tiny fists grabbing her hair, and a smile blooms over both their faces, bright and happy.
“She’s a natural with the pups,” a Beta volunteer says as she straightens the growing pile of intake paperwork. Her clothes are plain but neat, her tone casual. "Guess it makes sense, Omegas are made for that sort of thing, right?"
I grunt in reply, my chest tight. It's true. Omegas are designed to be mothers. It's the main reason Alphas crave them. To breed and claim them, to create strong, healthy offspring.
Except our Halley cannot.
Our Omega is infertile.
It doesn't matter to me. It never crossed my mind I might one day have a kid. Being the Prime Alpha of Scorch Squad didn't allow time for daydreaming about dating or family.
Halley giggles as the child snuggles into her chest, nose nuzzling and seeking out Halley’s soothing lavender scent. Her natural pheromones calming the child effortlessly.
Something inside me clenches at the sight.
The Beta woman is right. This is written into Halley’s biology. An instinctive need to nurture and protect her own.
I never understood why Halley emphasized her infertility so much when she announced she was leaving. She stood in front of us, shaking like a leaf, and said the words like we’d recoil. As though the bond we’d been building would instantly sever from our disgust.
To us, it was no loss at all. Barely a passing issue. We were all expecting to die on a battlefield somewhere with no one to grieve us, certainly not to have a child. You can’t mourn something you were never meant to have.
But to Halley, she was meant to have it. A child. A family. And its absence is her deepest wound.
That day, when she left us on the side of the mountain, she was pointing right at that wound, begging us to see the lifelong pain. The insecurity and shame. The reason she had to leave.
And we did not understand.
Today, watching her rock the little child in her arms, I finally get it.
She is an Omega who cannot do the one thing her designation is built for.
But our girl. Our brave girl. Whether she realizes it or not, didn’t let that stop her. She might not have had babies of her own, but she certainly has those she loves as fiercely as her own flesh and blood.
Her Omegas.
Like a mother, she sacrificed herself to protect them. She endured my grueling training regime because General Stone threatened them. She changed fundamental elements of herself, piece by piece, in the hope that it would be enough to spare them.
Then, when she heard they were in danger, kidnapped as the world fell apart, she left her Pack behind for them. She endured months of the General’s manipulations in the hope of finding a clue to rescue them.
Like a mother, she is still doing everything in her power to keep them safe… even preparing to stand against an entire army with a power she can barely control.
Halley kisses the top of the baby’s head, eyes crinkling as she gently passes the child back into the young girl’s arms.
No, Halley will never give birth.
But she was born to be a protector.