Corrupted (Alpha's Claim Book 5) by Addison Cain (read more books txt) 📕

willing to venture into the city, Claire would not step anywhere near a public Omega space. The very idea was ludicrous. Alphas would lurk. Omegas would be harassed, stalked home, cornered, taken. Heaven only knew how Shepherd would react if someone so much as whistled in her general direction.

Furthermore, there was a reason Omegas didn’t have public places. There was a reason that being Omega meant to either adapt to the Beta population or avoid Alphas unless one desired a pair-bond. Even mated Omegas kept their heads down if they were smart. They shopped for groceries in the daylight, most likely with a family escort. They didn’t tour the promenade alone or sip coffee in the breeze.

Not unless they lived as Claire had lived. Not unless no one knew they were Omega.

“What are you thinking, Claire?”

Pressing up from the ground, she brushed a few straggling feathers from her skirt. “I’m thinking it sounds too good to be true. Therefore, it’s a ploy. Wise Omegas only congregate in private, in secret. It’s sacred. I don’t believe there is such a thing as an Omega restaurant unless it’s managed by Alphas trying to lure in easy prey.”

“If you’d bothered to read the chapters I prepared for you on the local population, Mrs. O’Donnell, then you would know that there are more Omegas per capita than Alphas in Greth. They outnumber their matching dynamic. Competition for mates is fierce. Omegas walk freely, dress provocatively—”

“Enough.” Claire put up her hands to end the madness. “I don’t have any interest in discussing this topic. Grethentine Omegas can do what they want, but I am Thólosen, and we don’t speak about our dynamic with Alphas.”

Cocking her head, Dr. Osin said, “You not talking about Omegas is the reason they are all dead back in Thólos and not living a good life here.”

Her fingers curled into fists, Claire clenching her jaw so hard it ached. “Shepherd really did send you with the mission to piss me off today.”

Leaning against the door, Dr. Osin crossed her arms over her chest. “You think more clearly when you’re angry. No point in denying it.”

Snarling, Claire showed teeth. “Then I am clearly telling you to go fuck yourself. I don’t want your Omega fancy food. I’ll make my own fucking lunch when I fucking feel like it.”

“How long has it been since you’ve thought about the Omegas you saved back in Thólos? Nona, wasn’t that the name of the one you were close to? The murderess?”

Claire’s blood went ice-cold, her eyes narrowing. “I think you need to leave now.”

Instead, the doctor took another step inside Claire’s room. “Isn’t this where you try to explain? Don’t you want to tell me about the Omega sanctuary and how the survivors gathered up all the broken women? Didn’t they keep them like caged birds in a pretty building that won’t have power by the end of the year? Did they drug them like they drugged you? What happens when the rest of the survivors realize that all the pretty Omegas live in luxury while they all suffer in the Undercroft? Infected with Da’rin and eating mold. A gruesome end awaits those Omegas because of you.”

Stalking right up to the vicious Dr. Osin, Claire snarled, “I refuse to bear the blame for what Followers did to Thólos. I will NOT feel guilt for doing the right thing and keeping good women away from Shepherd’s men!” Red-faced, raging, she stuck a finger in the old woman’s face and screamed, “We chose what we wanted. We all did. Not one of us chose you!”

Batting away the finger Claire had put in her face, Dr. Osin shrugged. “And now all your friends are dead, stranded, mated, or missing. And you are so frightened of connecting with anyone that you are terrified to attend a social setting. What might you see when you get there? Who are you going to want to save with your misguided hero complex?”

She had gone past agitation, and known moments of rage, and now… now, Claire was still as a viper ready to strike. “You want me to say what we all already know. I am aware that to Shepherd, when it comes to his mate’s friends, a person has the same worth as the pillow he tore apart this morning. Nothing but a tool he could use to make a point or destroy at will. What point is there in having a friend that he will threaten and terrify? I will not allow him to use my affections to force me to do things against my judgment.”

“Your judgment is flawed.”

“And you are a sycophant drunk on the punch. Shepherd is not a God. I love him as a man, but I want nothing to do with his cult.”

“I am hearing a whole lot of excuses for ‘I’m scared to go outside because I am a fragile Omega who can’t handle her mate.’”

“Handle Shepherd?” Claire actually laughed. And then she laughed some more. “How many times has he threatened your life specifically in relation to me?”

Dr. Osin did not hesitate to answer. “Five.”

Which was both hilarious and completely insane! “And you say it as if it were normal.”

“It is normal. Shepherd is a king, responsible for the wellbeing of an entire Dome, caring for his recovering, difficult Omega, and beholden to his Followers—who put their lives and the lives of their families at risk so all of us might live free. Shepherd has the responsibility of the entire world upon his shoulders. And you—pretending there is no work to be done—you think a fancy nest will solve his problems? You add to his burden, Claire O’Donnell, by refusing to be the strong, worthy mate an Alpha of his stature needs at his side.”

Oh… Dr. Osin was going to get it.

“When I look at you, all prim and dressed in black, do you know what I see?” There was no backing down from such an insult, Claire moving closer so that unless Dr. Osin wanted