Alpha Siege (Omega Mates #1) - Pearl Tate Page 0,22

is definitely a small miracle. Although we’ve all suspected that the low dweller societies have their own flying machines, no males I’ve spoken to have ever admitted seeing one. To have spotted one now, as high as I did, makes me wonder about our defense system.

Our Holy Scriptures warn us of the dangers we’re exposed to by taking to the air. My encampment, along with many others, salvages any technology that looks like we could reuse it from before the Great Explosion. Of course, there’s very little usable. It’s been too long.

And her name? Sunny? That’s something I’ve never heard before.

What does that even mean? When I realize that she’s stopped following me, I head back, thankful that Pascel has not touched her. I can feel my instincts driving me—to claim or control—ramping up and changing into a need I’ve never experienced. If I’m not going to force her, I need to temper my reactions and spend some time convincing her.

That will be a first for me. I’ve seen and watched others do it. The beta’s dancing the fine line of courtship in my encampment.

As the Alpha of my group, I’m the natural-born and appointed leader, and I’ve never lacked for female attention. In fact, most females would fall over each other, even to the point of fighting, to spend time in my bed. This female clearly has had very little exposure to males. Even now, she’s sniffing at my release with an odd expression on her face. The fact that she’s covered in my scent is the one thing that’s keeping me in check.

“Keep up.” Not bothering to give her the chance to try, I lean down and wrap my arm around her, pulling her up and squeezing her to my side. She doesn’t grab me back as I lift her up, but she doesn’t struggle. Holding her body stiff, she doesn’t say a word as I stomp deeper into the forest.

Slightly mollified by having her closer to me, it doesn’t take long before the trees open up, and I see the small craft she arrived in, hovering high in the air. Setting her down, I lower my body so we’re eye level and point up at her craft. “You need to bring that down here now!” Booming with Alpha command in my tone, I wait for her to obey.

Her mouth opens and closes before I hear her teeth audibly snap together. “I can’t! I don’t know how.”

Glancing up at the small craft, I gauge the truth in her words. It doesn’t smell like a lie, but I don’t know her that well yet. There have been times I’ve been deceived. Specifically, by strangers. Could she have this skill?

Pascel is shaking his head tightly behind her, clearly thinking the same thing. “What do you mean? You don’t know how? You made it come here.”

Sinking to the ground in a cross-legged position, she drops her face into her hands. “But I didn’t!” Looking up at me, I watch her bottom lip quiver. “I don’t know how I ended up in that. I mean… I don’t even know where I am.”

Now I know she’s making up things to protect herself. That’s a convenient lie. I take a deep breath, still surprised by how well she’s able to hide her deceit. I must keep that in mind.

“If you didn’t send it here, then who did?” Staring up at the craft, I’m impressed with how well it blends with the surroundings. I’ve seen nothing like it.

“I don’t know!” Her voice is a wail as she mumbles to herself, talking in her strange dialect I don’t recognize. Pascel has crouched down behind her, studying her with round eyes. He can’t really be taken in by her fabrications?

Since I can’t understand her, I move away, walking until I’m directly under the strange craft. Everyone knows there’s no way our planet's defensive system will let anything outside of our atmosphere reach the ground. She has to be from here. There’s no other option.

Despite her unique features, different skin, and the strange language she seems to drop into when she’s flustered, she can only be from the low dwellers. Honestly, I thought I knew all the low dwellers and their underground encampments. Traveling from Hub to Hub, we hear all the gossip from other encampments as we cross paths.

It’s more likely they sent her as some kind of test. That would explain her being able to lie so convincingly. Although… she said that she wasn’t from here…

There