The Omega Fire (Book Three of the Omega Game Series)

Aros City of Leukos (Aros eight years old- Nira eight years old)     “Look around Aros,” said Baltus, opening his hands and showing the banquet being held in my honor, “This is all for you.”     I studied the scenery already bored by it. My father and mother were at the head of the imposing dining table, talking with aunt Valnis and her husband, Uncle Mako. As queen of Naccanash Valnis looked imposing like always. Her long, black hair had been pushed up in numerous braids covered by amber stones that matched her strange golden eyes. Uncle Mako was close, standing protectively at her back, with one hand over her shoulder while he watched Valnis with avid attention.      I tensed right away. If Valnis was visiting the city that meant Nira had to be close. A rush of eagerness ran through my veins. She always induced the same feelings. Excitement. Dread. Anger. Knowing that Nira was close had my heart beating faster. And the fire started growing uncontrolled in my stomach. Nira provoked my fire more than anything else. More than fighting. More than hating. More than hunger. I tried to calm it down but it was an impossible task when I knew I could finally see her.       Baltus laughed, staring at me with a big smile on his goofy face, “Boy, it’s your birthday. Why that long face?”     “I don’t care for these things,” I said with a wave of my hand, looking around for the mass of red, flaming hair, that belonged to the little Omega I was trying to find. Baltus shrugged, patting my shoulder.     “But your mother does,” he murmured, winking at me, “be a good sport and look entertained and happy.”     “How do I do that?” I growled in irritation and Baltus shoved my side with an elbow while smiling at the diplomats that were eyeing us curiously.     “You smile and nod, boy,” hissed angrily Baltus at me, and then he smiled at the ambassadors, “Just smile and nod.”      I sneered in his direction and started looking around as inconspicuously as I could. Diplomats, generals, ambassadors, a delegation of Dark Riders that were there probably to protect their leader Mako and no sign of Nira. Slowly I looked to my right and frowned. Uncle Talon and Aunt Silvana were not seated at their usual spot near my father. I turned to Baltus right away.     “Where’s Uncle Talon?” I asked him and Baltus scowled at the mention of Talon. He didn’t like Talon and the sentiment was mutual. I wondered why. Those two were among the strongest Alphas the world had known. Everyone would have loved to see them fighting at the pits at least once, but they never agreed on dueling. Which in Alpha terms meant they hated each other too much to chance a fight that could end in a bloodbath.     Baltus shrugged again and cleared his throat.     “I heard he is tending to his Omega during her Heat.”     “Then, where is Katala?”     “Probably wherever Nira is,” said Baltus with a knowing smile that had me deepening my frown. Of course he had seen through that not so innocent question. I glared at the delegation from Naccanash that looked empty and colorless without Nira jumping around them. Where the hell was she? I started growing restless. My fire burned and raged in flames inside my body while I tried to think about a good reason to leave the banquet and search for Nira.     My father whistled then, calling for me. He had specific whistles to call each one of us. A low pitch whistle for Noctis. A high pitched for me and a finger whistling for Kun, which was usually a sound reserved for whenever he was in trouble. Baltus turned me around, growling something about how I should remember my manners. I let him push me to my parent’s side while an annoyed growl rumbled in my chest.      My mother smiled at me when I neared her and like always that I was in her presence I couldn’t stop myself from admitting she was the most beautiful Omega of them all. She seemed tiny by my father’s side and delicate, like a precious flower with strong roots that could hold all of us in place. I let her hug me and kiss me while my father smirked, studying me with an amused expression. I rolled my eyes at him and the Alpha smiled, finding my awkwardness enjoyable.     “By the skies, Aros you look so big already!” exclaimed Aunt Valnis, jumping from her seat and kneeling by my side excitedly. I let her pat my head and squeeze my cheeks like she always did when she saw me. She stared at my face and then smiled, looking back at my mom, “This one at least has your eyes Leukos.”     “Aros is unique in every way,” said my mother, stroking my hair while she gave me a loving smile, “but yes, I have to recognize our eyes are the same.”     “I would like to have a boy as cute as you,” said Valnis to me, touching the tip of my nose playfully, before scowling at her husband, “Mako, give me a boy soon.”     “Of course not, wife who is not. I will give you not a boy,” answered Mako in the Dark Rider’s tongue. His smile turned into a sneer when he turned his tattooed face to me. His clear eyes narrowed in a measuring expression. Maybe it was my imagination, but I could almost feel his Alpha Instinct inspecting me, as if he were trying to see something in me. I stared back and a growl escaped my chest, making the older Alpha growl back in response.      “Aros, don’t be discourteous,” said my father with that same amused air. He wasn’t scolding me, not really, he was just having fun at my expense. I nodded at my father and scowled back at Mako, who was frowning down at me.     The moment was interrupted by the sound of a body crashing against a server who was carrying a large silver plate full of fruits. Everyone turned around, to the wide corredor that connected with the dinning hall. The poor server fell back, the silver plate making a clattering sound when it hit the floor. And among the fruits, the body of the server and the silver plate appeared Nira, dressed only in her wet undergarments while she cursed like a sailor. She was trying to catch a small cat that was hissing at her. She was oblivious to all the people watching her in horror. Especially her mom. Valnis gasped at the sight of her daughter. The Queen of Naccanash paled, clutching the heavy necklace hanging around her delicate neck and opening her golden eyes in a shocked expression.      The crowned princess of Naccanash...in her undergarments was trying to catch a cat. Nira cursed again, as loud and clear as the old Alpha Generals that trained us at the pits. And then she was crouching like a wild animal and facing the cat. They both hissed at each other and then both beasts clashed, fighting in a tangled net of limbs, claws and wild red hair. The shrieks and hisses raised another notch, before Nira emerged triumphant, holding the cat in both hands. She looked around, searching for someone.     “Tally? Tally, where are you? I got it!`` She said with a wild smile and then her smile started to thin while it dawned on her she was surrounded by a bunch of important people. Her blue eyes zeroed on me and my chest felt weird right away. I rubbed at it, trying to appease the strange pain that I always felt whenever Nira looked at me. Her eyebrows knit while she gave me an angry glare, “what are you looking at, ugly face?”     “Valnira Silvain, daughter of Mako and princess of Naccanash! What in the world do you think you are doing?” screamed Aunt Valnis at her and Nira shrugged as if it was a daily occurrence that she hunted down cats in her undergarments. The little cat hissed at her and Nira smiled at the kitten, patting it’s head while she started to explain what had happened.     “I was going to take a bath and put on that ugly dress like you said, but then a cat jumped into the pool,” her face was bright while she talked and again I felt a pang of pain in my chest. She was...she was...I snarled angrily at myself. I hated to admit it, but she was beautiful. She licked her lips then and kept on talking, not realizing that Uncle Mako was walking through the people, nearing her silently, “and then Tally tried to catch it first, but Noctis got mad at her so I jumped out of the pool and...wait! Wait not, dad who is not! I’m done not talking!”     “You are done talking not!” fought back Uncle Mako, lifting her up by her nape and carrying her and the cat out of the hall while she hissed and thrashed angrily. Her shrieks and curses were heard around the entire palace to Valnis’s embarrassment. She started massaging her temples while the people around us tried their best not to say anything about what had just happened. The fruit server was sporting scratches in his arms when I saw him walk out of the hall and even the floor had the marks of claws on it. Nira’s or the cat’s? I couldn’t say.     “I would reconsider your wishes of having a boy, Valnis,” said Baltus with a smirk, “If you have an Alpha son with half of Nira’s spirit I’m afraid we would all be doomed.”     “She is wild for an Omega,” conceded my father and my mother pinched her chin, seemingly lost in her own thoughts. My father caressed her cheek and my mother smiled, searching for my father’s eyes with a loving look in her blue ones, “what are you thinking about, wife of mine?”     “I wonder what Noctis was doing near the communal pools when he has his own quarters to take as many baths as he wants,” she said and my father leveled her eyes with a knowing look. They both shared a secretive smile that I understood at once. If Katala was at one place then my brother had to be close.      I growled angrily at myself while I started to walk away from my parents. Baltus tried to stop me, calling me by my name and making me look at him over my shoulder. He arched an eyebrow at me and then pointed at the banquet and the gifts I received for my birthday, “where do you think you are going Aros?”     I didn’t answer Baltus. I was too mad to speak and even angrier at myself for being obsessed with a little Omega that was so obviously more trouble than not. I followed her mouthwatering scent down to the visitor room where she was staying for the night. Nira didn’t like sleeping alone, so I knew it was just a matter of time before she marched to Katala’s room and declared she was sleeping there for the night. I could hear Nira’s laughter while she talked to the cat inside her room. I smiled when Nira named him Sir Whiskers and declared him her royal guard. She started telling Sir Whiskers all about how much she hated an ugly-faced Alpha that was celebrating his birthday that day.     I smirked, sitting silently at her door and resting my head against it for just a moment, while I heard her call me all sorts of names. She repeated how much she hated me and I hated her back for it. I hated Nira. I truly did. And then again I was a fool like Noctis. I knew this without a doubt when Baltus found me, still guarding Nira’s door an hour later, while her maids finished getting her ready for the celebrations. Baltus’s black eyes said everything I needed to know. I was a fool like Noctis because if Nira was at one place then I had to be close to her.