Reclaiming Quinn - Parker Williams Page 0,65
before.”
A wave of sadness spread over Zach’s normally placid features. “The Alphas took great pains to erase us from history. They didn’t want any reminders of what they’d done, because it was easier to claim they knew nothing of it that way. To protect ourselves, we hunted down the little bits and pieces of information that floated around, and we did what we could to suppress them.” He winced. “There used to be hundreds of us. Now there are ten of us left. I’m a cop. It was my choice to stay in the world. The others want to be left in peace, but with the arrival of the Omega, that’s not going to happen.”
“What do you mean?”
Zach sighed. “We’re soul-bound to serve as their guardians. Our duty is to keep them safe, and seeing as how we failed before, we’re going to be sure this one is kept from harm.”
The laugh that bubbled up felt good. “I don’t think you have to worry about it. Gareth is more than enough to protect Sean.”
A quick shake of the head. “No, you don’t understand. We don’t have a choice. When Mother created us, she hard-coded our service for the Omega in our DNA. Now that I know for sure there is a living Omega and that there are children involved, my people will band together to protect them all.”
“Easy solution: don’t tell them. Let them carry on as they’ve been doing.”
Zach gave a soft smile. “Too late. As soon as you confirmed the Omega was alive, I contacted the caste.” He gave a sheepish grin. “Rather much like an Alpha, I have a connection with all the members of my caste.”
That earned him a scowl. “So all this time you could have contacted someone to come save us?”
That made Zach chuckle. “Probably, but I haven’t seen any of them in… wow, eighty years? We tend to keep to ourselves, and that’s by choice. That’s going to change, though. They’ll all be arriving soon.”
“So they dropped everything and are running here?”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
That was insane. “You’d all give up your lives to protect someone you don’t know?”
Even in the dimness, Deke could see Zach quirk a brow. “The moment you confirmed there was an Omega, I was no longer a cop. I am now once again leader of the Vampyri, and we will fulfill our duty to the Mother and to the Omega.”
“So the Alpha Supreme and the Omega don’t have a say in it?”
That drew a scowl from Zach. “Why wouldn’t they want us? We were the deadliest warriors ever known. Had the Alphas not played us, we could have fought back and likely won. But without the Omegas, all our powers dwindled.”
“What can you tell me about your people?”
Zach got a faraway look in his eyes as he gazed into the dark. “Mother sensed danger to the Omegas and decided they needed someone to watch over them. I was the first of the Vampyri Mother created. I woke in the dark, which she told me would be my time to shine, as it was hers. She imbued me with strength, but also the wisdom to know when to use it. I was to be the leader of the Vampyri. In order to create us, she took a tiny bit of the Omegas’ essence and combined it with, she said, the best parts of the Alphas. It wasn’t until later we found out there weren’t any good parts.”
“So you’re part of the Omegas? I mean…. Goddess, I don’t even know what I mean.”
“We guarded them for years. We watched as they bore children, and we stood over them from the start of their lives until the end. It was a good life, because we were important to the Omegas, who were in turn loved by Mother. We were a proud race, knowing that we were the guardians of the future of wolves.” Zach ducked his head. “It turned out we were the harbingers of their destruction.”
Wow. Talk about a pity party. Not that Deke couldn’t understand. He’d done the same thing after his injuries. “No, you weren’t. You were betrayed, like the Omegas. You served them to the best of your ability, right? Your people sacrificed their lives for them. There was no greater honor. The wolves survived, admittedly not the best representation, but they did live, and thanks to you and your people, we wolves now have the opportunity to rebuild and make a better life for all of us.