The male hardly blinked an eye. “I see.”
Dirty fingers untucked the hair from behind her ear, drawing the locks forward as if to cover her face. “I am aware the disfigurement is off-putting. Omegas are supposed to be beautiful.”
“Omegas are supposed to be people.”
There had been no inflection behind his phrasing. It was just a blunt statement, but something about hearing so simple a declaration made Brenya shyly turn her head to face him, horribly scarred cheek and all.
She didn’t know what to say, she didn’t know why those words seemed important, she just wanted to look in his eyes and see if he was lying.
It was hard to tell.
“May I explore your ship further? I can catalogue any required repairs your diagnostic programs may have missed.”
Steps sounded on the gangplank, a familiar aggressive scent preceding the massive body of the last person Brenya wanted to see.
“I have been looking for you, mon chou.” Narrowing his eyes, Jacques looked over her messy clothing, glancing next to the nearby Beta before announcing in a voice that was not one bit pleased. “How strange to find you here.”
Her heart sank. It would have been nice to spend a few hours enjoying the craft before he took her away and ended her life. Wiping her hands on her skirt, she cast her eyes to the floor. “Hello, Jacques.”
Jules’ open disdain was cruel, the Beta mocking her before the Alpha. “Your Omega has taken it upon herself to pull my ship apart.”
An ironic chuckle, then a hint of darkness layered the statement as Jacques purred the words, “It seems she’s had quite the adventure today.”
Her earlier bravery was gone. Swallowing, she pleaded, “I’m not ready yet…”
She was not ready to die. Not yet.
“Then, by all means, play to your heart’s content.” Taking the nearest jump seat, Jacques crossed an ankle over his knee and motioned for her to continue. “The Ambassador’s ship isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.”
She must have misheard him, Brenya glancing back and forth between the two males staring one another down. Taking a cautious step toward a floor panel she assumed covered the hover mechanics, no one stopped her. When she reached down to pry it open, not a word was said.
Ancient machinery was at her fingertips, the extremely complicated mechanics making her fingertips twitch in anticipation of all she could learn. She dove in, willing to seize the distraction for as long as it was offered.
In a matter of minutes, a collection of parts had been organized around the floor, Brenya working to see what type of energy coupler the old ship employed. She found something much more interesting. There was an insignia on the hull hidden under decades of murk.
It read Thólos.
Cocking her head, she wiped it clean, certain her eyes must be wrong.
Thólos, clear as day.
The Ambassador’s ship had not come from Greth Dome.
Glancing up, she locked eyes with Jacques.
He asked her point blank, “Did you find anything interesting?”
Yes, she had. “Everything about this ship is interesting.”Chapter 22Hand at her back, Jacques led his quiet Omega down the more picturesque Central pathways toward the palace. It had grown dark in the hours he’d let her play at deconstructing the prick Ambassador’s ship, leaving the streets aglow with soft light playing over the old European architecture of surrounding buildings. The Dome had done well capturing the spirit of all that had been lost, tree lined streets, canals, a reflection of dead cities compressed into one space.
All of this was lost on Brenya.
She was quiet, shoulders drooping and eyes missing the beauty. Withdrawn, she dragged her feet and kept their steps slow.
Jacques didn’t like it. He wanted her as she had been elbow deep reassembling whatever she’d taken apart. “You enjoyed yourself working on the ship.”
For a split second he saw her face grow wistful. One blink and it was gone, her expression as detached as her words. “I did. It was nice to remember that once I had been more than…”
“Than what?”
She screwed up her brow as if unsure how to phrase her thoughts. “Something inadequate. I was an excellent engineering grunt. I am not skilled in any of my new tasks.”
He halted their steps, smirking with a mind full of indecent thoughts. “On that, we’ll have to disagree.”
His teasing did not lighten her brooding at all, if anything it only made her appear more miserable. “How much farther is it? I will comply and remain obedient, but I am growing anxious. I’d like it to be over soon.”
Jade eyes narrowed. “Explain.”
Her lips shook, honey eyes casting about as if they might find something to keep her steady. “If I asked you to purr while they do it, would you?”
“You, girl, are frustrating beyond all measure.”
She wrapped her dirty arms around her grease stained middle as if she might hold whatever she was feeling inside. “I know. I am an unsatisfactory Omega.”