Chapter 36 Syra

Afew minutes later, I'm sitting in a pool of steaming hot water.

The room where the pool is located is like nothing I've ever seen before. The air is so hazy from the steam, I can't even see the edges of the room, but I can see enough to know it's huge. Around the pool, rows of thick marble columns give the impression of a forest of perfectly uniform trees. The only sounds are the lapping of ripples at the sides of the pool, and the occasional click of condensation falling from the ceiling high above.

"Neat place, huh?" says Hines.

She's sitting across from me at the other end of the pool, submerged up to her shoulders in the steaming water. I caught a glimpse of her naked body as she got into the pool, so I know she has the piercings that are customary for a mated omega of the Central Ruins Tribe. Tomorrow, I will receive piercings like that too, through my nipples, my navel—even through the hood of my clitoris.

I finger the pendant hanging between my breasts. My mother's old ring. Like Hines, I took my clothes off before getting into the water, but I kept the necklace on. It feels… special.

"It's wonderful," I say in response to Hines's question. "The, um, the water feels great."

It's true. The hot water really does feel amazing, and I wouldn't mind soaking in it for hours. But it also reminds me of the pool in the cave where Markus and Brik shared me, and that memory makes my body respond in ways I wish it wouldn't, at least not in the presence of a total stranger like Hines.

Thankfully, my erect nipples and leaking pussy are hidden beneath the surface of the water and obscured by the wisps of steam rising off the surface.

"It's fed by a hot spring under the city," Hines explains. "This whole place used to be a luxury hotel back before the Cataclysm, and I guess this hot bath was one of the attractions."

"The Cataclysm?"

"Sorry," Hines says, smiling. "The Big Change, I mean. I've been living here in the Zone for fifteen years, but I still slip into Outsider vocabulary from time to time."

"You mean… you're an Outsider?"

Hines nods.

"Yup. Used to be, anyway. I've been here long enough to consider myself an honorary Zone dweller, I think… in spite of my occasional linguistic lapses."

I manage to keep my mouth from dropping open in shock, but just barely.

I already knew, of course, that there are a few former Outsiders living among the Tribe, but there can't be more than two or three. I never thought I would actually meet any of them, and I certainly never expected to be sharing a bath with one of them before my mating ritual.

Naturally, I bombard her with questions about her life before she came to the Zone.

There was a time, not so long ago, when I envied the Outsiders. If I had been born on the Outside, I wouldn't have to be an omega, I wouldn't have to go through a heat cycle, I wouldn't need to be dominated by a pack of alphas.

But the picture of the outer world which Hines paints for me is not a particularly appealing one. The city where she used to live sounds more like an insect hive than a dwelling place. The air was poisoned, the food was synthetic, and half the population was hooked on drugs to help them cope with the strain of their unnatural way of living.

If I'd lived in a place like that, I never would have learned how to hunt, unless perhaps I was hunting rats in the sewers. I wouldn't be able to run free through the grassy plains and shady forests. I wouldn't be able to sleep out under the stars.

And I would never have met my three alpha mates.

My old anxieties are gone now. My alphas have taught me how to be an omega. I've learned not only to accept their dominance, but to revel in it. And I understand that their protectiveness does not mean I am weak.

After a while, my conversation with Hines shifts to other topics. She tells me about her life now, about her three mates, Taliesin, Baen, and Canaris, and about her many children. Her four oldest—Aleph, Ash, Abram, and Azura—are fourteen now. It's obvious that Hines loves them very much.

She asks me many questions about myself as well—about my mates, about my fathers, about my love of hunting.

Before long, we are laughing together like two old friends.

I've never had an omega friend before.

It's kind of nice.

"You know," Hines says after a while, "we should probably talk about the ritual a little. I mean, that's the whole reason I'm here, after all. Before every mating ritual, the omega who is to be claimed is appointed an older omega to be her guide, so to speak. They meet here in the bath house so they can discuss the ritual to come."

"And you were appointed to be my guide?" I ask.

"Yup." Her face suddenly grows serious. "I guess you've probably discussed it with your mates already, but um… you do know what the ritual entails, right?"

"Pretty much. Actually, I've seen one."

"Oh?" Hines says. "So you've attended a ritual before?"

"Well… not exactly. When I was thirteen, my friend and I snuck into the ventilation system so I could spy on the ritual. It didn't turn out so well. We ended up falling through the ceiling during the middle of the ceremony. If one of the alphas down below hadn't caught me, I probably would have broken my neck."

Hines's eyes go wide.

"That was you?"

I nod sheepishly.

"Holy shit!" Hines says, and she laughs. "I remember that. There was a boy with you too, right? Whatever happened to him?"

"Actually, that was Markus. He's one of my mates now."

"Really?"

"Yeah," I say, blushing a little. "And that's not all. The alpha who caught me is one of my mates now too. Thorus."

Hines looks totally astonished for a moment. Then she smiles and shakes her head.

"Well, there's no way that could be a coincidence," she says. "It sounds like fate to me."

"The Source works in mysterious ways," I say, repeating one of my fathers' favorite phrases.

"It certainly does," Hines agrees. "More than you probably even realize." Her expression becomes serious again. "Syra, I didn't just come here today to discuss the ritual. I also want to congratulate you on being a hero."

"Are you talking about what happened at that old prison? I don't consider that heroism. I just wanted to save Thorus. I know he would have done the same for me."

Hines shakes her head.

"Syra, what happened at that old prison is bigger than you realize. You and your mates probably saved the entire Zone from destruction."

"What do you mean?"

Hines explains.

Following the raid on the old prison, Delphine was taken captive and brought back to the Central Ruins to be interrogated. That much, I already knew. What I didn't know, however, was that Delphine has since gone completely insane as a result of the death of her three alpha mates. Not that she was particularly sane beforehand, but apparently she's gotten worse. I guess I should be glad to learn that she's suffering, but I'm not. To be honest, I just feel sorry for her.

Due to her history as an Outsider, Hines has been closely connected to the investigation of Delphine's crimes. As it turns out, the mad omega had been dealing with the Outsiders—indirectly at least.

Because the Outsiders cannot venture too deep into the Zone, they hired a gang of Farlanders to act as their middlemen, and they paid them with Outsider weaponry. The Farlanders then met with Delphine and her alphas, who provided them with certain items and information the Outsiders wanted.

"We searched that old prison," Hines says. "We found maps. But these were not the hand-drawn maps that Zone-dwellers sometimes use. These were satellite photographs of the Central Ruins."

"Satellite?"

I've heard of photographs before. I've even seen some of them. But I don't know what a satellite is.

"Big machines," Hines says, "that float way up in the sky."

"Like planes?"

"Higher than that. Have you ever seen a star that moves? I don't mean falling stars. I mean the ones that just kind of drift across the sky."

I nod. I've seen such stars many times during my hunting excursions, and I've often wondered about them.

"Those are satellites," Hines says. "They look tiny because they're so far away, but they're actually pretty big. Some of them have cameras that can take pictures of what's on the ground, including the Zone and the Ruins."

"But why did the Outsiders give photographs to Delphine?" I ask.

"So she could mark them up, to show important locations, such as where the members of the High Council have their dwellings, for example. We think she had been providing the Outsiders with other information too, including the number of alpha packs, what areas they patrol, and when. Stuff like that. That kind of information could be really useful to the Outsiders if they ever try to attack us."

"Source," I mutter. "Why would Delphine help the Outsiders like that?"

Hines sighs and shakes her head.

"It's tough to say. She's been pretty incoherent since her mates were killed. But we did find something else among her possessions when she was taken captive—pills."

"What kind of pills?"

"It's a medicine that changes an omega's body chemistry. Makes it so that an omega won't have a heat cycle. It also changes her scent so it doesn't make alphas get aroused."

"Source."

There was a time not too long ago when I too despised the idea of being an omega. I was ashamed of my body and my urges, I was afraid of my heat, and I hated the idea of being shared and dominated by the alphas. But I never would have sold out the people of the Zone because of it. Never.

"What's going to happen to Delphine now?" I ask.

Hines's face grows solemn.

"She'll be executed. It's a harsh punishment, but her crimes were serious. She endangered everyone living inside the Zone."

I want to say she deserves it, after what she did to Thorus, Brik, and me. But I can't really bring myself to feel happy about her punishment. I just hope the alphas make her death clean and quick. I know they will.

"I'm sorry," Hines says, probably noticing my expression. "I shouldn't have brought all of this up right now. You've got enough on your mind already with the ritual."

"No, that's okay. I'm glad you told me. It's good to have some closure to everything that's happened."

Hines nods, then smiles.

"It's getting late," she says. "Your alphas are probably almost ready for you. Come on, let's get dried off, then we'll get you dressed for the ceremony."

She climbs out of the pool, and I follow her.