Ex-Ouroboros. Aiden must know him.
“I heard you’d be here,” Aiden says. “An alpha like you with no place to go. This place is a perfect set for your end.”
The alpha takes a deep breath and rises. “You thought it wise to find me here?”
“You always had a death wish,” Aiden mutters.
The alpha is still. “That voice. I recognize that voice.”
Aiden pushes past Lucas. “Calvin,” he says. “It’s me.”
The alpha’s ears perk up, but his body quickly hardens with ill ease. He faces the other alphas, analyzing the situation like a feral predator. “It wasn’t enough to leave me high and dry right before the detonation?”
Aiden keeps a friendly demeanor, wrapping his arm around his. “I had a bit of a hiccup with my thrusters. There wasn’t a mechanic left in the city. Forgive me.”
A cheeky smile forms on Calvin’s face. A soft chuckle breathes life back into the room. “I’m not forgiving shit. The world is on fire, and I need to collect my dues.”
Aiden drops his arm to his side. “That’s why I’m here,” he says.
Carefully reaching into his pocket, Aiden pulls out a bag of cash chips. He places it into the alpha’s hands.
Calvin purrs deeply. “What else you got for me?”
“I’m afraid my offerings are limited these days,” Aiden says. “No omegas. No product to sell. The clone industry left us bankrupt.”
His tongue slivers around his lips. “Omega Unlimited,” he sneers. “Your breeding industry destroyed the planet.”
“What’re you talking about?” Aiden asks.
Calvin’s eyes get bigger. “The clone,” he says. “I’ve heard the rumors. If she’s alive, she’s a ticking time bomb. Cassian fucked us.”
“She’s dead,” Aiden lies. “The bomb you felt was from her.”
Lucas turns inward, fighting a battle he cannot win. Rae is a ticking time bomb? He bites his cheek and listens.
“Don’t pretend extinction isn’t coming, brother because it is. And when it comes, none of this bullshit will matter anymore,” he says. “But here I am, still fighting to survive in case I’m wrong. Let’s hope you’re right about her.”
Aiden opens his mouth to argue, but Lucas’ curiosity gets the best of him. “What do you know about extinction?” Lucas asks.
Calvin’s lips arch into a demonic smile. “I know what I’ve been told,” he says.
“Like what? Like, she will blow up the planet?”
“Cassian and you lot were playing with fire. Hiring cheap genetic coders to create a breeding industry bigger than the Dagon Trade Company,” he says.
“We are of the same brand,” Lucas says. “The Ouroboros.”
“No longer,” he says. “I’m far done with that.”
He turns back to kneel in his prayer corner. “We are the Alpha-Omega. Without omega, we are nothing. She is the last, and she will destroy what we’ve built for our sins,” he says.
“I will find her,” Lucas says.
Calvin leans his head against the corner of the wall, breath, filtering out of his lungs, slowly. “If you think that’s possible, turn back now. Every tribe and their daddies are looking for a fresh cunt to seed.” He turns his head and grins. “If she was alive, we’d be all over her by now.”
Lucas holds back from breaking the bastard, but only because he’s vastly outnumbered. He looks back at the door. “Just let us cross through to the Iron Eye. We don’t have any beef with your alphas, and with Aiden’s debt squared away, it seems as if you’ve got none with us either,” Lucas reasons.
“It’s a fair trade,” Aiden says.