The Omega Game

Chapter 5

    Leukos

    My spies Taga and Soli came to me that morning with the new rumor that was spreading through the camp like wildfire. For five nights the Wolf of Maccana hadn’t visited his harem. Rumor has it that her favorite concubine, an Alpha woman by the name of Sabin, was mad and had tried to make her way to his furs last night only to be sent away by the Wolf.

    The soldiers rumored the Wolf was angry because her Omega was denying herself and as a consequence they had more hours of training every morning and had to run the tower’s watch under direct supervision from the King of Alphas. 

    I felt bad for the poor soldiers that had to deal with a tensed Alpha but I didn’t feel the least worried about Sabin. She needed to understand this was just the beginning and that for better or for worse the Wolf had already started to lust after me. Even before my Heat, even before establishing our bond, he had already picked me. It had been inevitable. It was in our nature to do so. If my nature was to give myself to the strongest Alpha that could defend me, then the King of Alpha’s Instinct was to want me. Only me. His Omega.

    The Wolf liked to train for hours to not end by the nearest hill. At the top of the very hill was a large circular arena made for dueling. I’d seen over the last couple of days people gathering around the stone walls of the arena to watch the duels and their excited screams had me smiling at times. They always screamed the loudest for the Wolf. 

    I’d wanted to go and seen him fight for days but I’d talked myself out of the entire enterprise. In our little game of wills and pride I’d already played my last move the day I’d walked without my veil around the camp. The next move was supposed to be his. He was supposed to come to me.

    Alas, I wasn’t as proudful as he believed I was. I could go to him too. As a matter of fact I kind of believed I needed to go to him that morning. I woke up drenched in sweat and feverish after a night plagued with nightmares. My skin felt irritated under my own touch and I was starting to move things around the tent to build my nest. My Heat would start soon. 

    Biting my lower lip I looked around the tent and frowned. I’d moved the nest twice already. Once I moved the furs and soft blankets to the end of the tent just to sleep there and realize this same morning  that the sun would irritate my eyes at dawn. I’ve moved the furs to the central pillar of the tent and covered it in pillows until it looked like a mountain. Strong, safe, secure. I needed those things. I needed the Wolf. 

    “Are you feeling sick, high one?” asked Taga, looking at me with worried eyes. I stole a look at myself in the plated mirrors and gasped. I looked feverish. My cheeks blushed and my body flushed. My brown hair looked messy after touching it so many times while I moved my nest. I was dressed in the lightest stola, a lavender silky dress that tied on top of my left shoulder with a golden brooch. I was heaving and my eyes were too bright. I managed to take a deep breath and asked my maids to bring around the horse I was given.

    During my first day in the dark desert the Wolf had gifted me a beautiful palomino mare with the name of Fruga, which in the Maccana tongue meant “little dancer”. Her brown eyes were smart and alway aware but her personality was tempestuous. She was finicky and tended to jump in a little dance before she let me ride her.

    “A perfect match of tempers,” said the Wolf to me when he gave me the mare and it hadn’t taken me too long to understand the meaning of his words. It took all of my attention to force her into submission and I need to keep directing Fruga with the strength of my legs to lead her in the way I wanted to go. Riding her was the perfect task I needed that morning. 

    Once I was seated on Fruga and my guards were ready to leave the camp I hugged myself to the neck of the mare and clicked my tongue. She had been trained to go fast and stop only when ordered. I set a fast pace and let her run ahead of the group, even if my guards and my maids screamed at me to go slower. The wind in my face was like a balm to my heated skin. I could have rode for hours feeling the wind against my skin and the pleasing sensation of freedom pumping my blood.

    The camp of Maccana was designed like a maze. In the heart of the maze was the Wolf’s tent, which served as the war council and weekly assembly point. There were always generals and elders coming and going around his tent and at times I’ve seen the lights of his tent’s torches burning in the middle of the night while he led a meeting with his war men. At the left of his tent was a large structure that served as his harem. Alpha women were in charge to secure the place. I hadn’t seen many Alpha women before but they were truly beautiful. Tall women with long legs and large breasts, hips wide and stern expression in their sharp features. If I was a woman under their protection I would never fear any danger.

    My tent had been erected at the back of the camp, where there were no more tents, just the walls and the towers that surrounded the oasis. My placement didn’t fool me. I had been placed away so my scent didn’t attract Alphas around my tent. My guards were all Beta males, no Alphas, neither females or males for that matter and the numbers were bigger. Not even at Laikos I’d have more than ten soldiers guarding me. In Maccana there was an army of Betas soldiers around me at all times. I couldn’t even walk to my maids tents without them following me around in a tight circle. 

    The large brown tents made out of horsehide extended for miles and at times I caught sight of small lagoons where the kids played and the women went to fill their ceramic jars and cantins with water. By the right of the camp was the horse ring, where the thoroughbred horses were fed and watered. By the left were the tents of the soldiers, master of trades and last but not least the w***e’s tents. I knew which were their tents right away, the colorful hydes they used to build their houses were tinted in red, announcing their trade louder than the other masters surrounding the area.

    Around the camp was a large wall made of packed black clay. The structure looked like stone under the harsh sun giving it a somber air. Tall towers that served to watch around the perimeter stood proud at vintage points in the wall. The towers were so tall that it was impossible to see the guards perched at the very top. 

    When I passed through the main entrance I heard the guards at the top of the walls communicating with hoots and whistles of birds, passing the news the Omega was out of the oasis. For the first time since my arrival to Maccana I returned to the desert, riding Fruga under the unforgivable sun at a breakneck pace. The faster I forced her to run the faster she went until I felt as if we were flying over the sand. It was a clash of tempers between the mare and I. She would never stop if I didn’t make her and she would run faster if I didn’t slow her down.  Too soon we reached the fighting arena and I was forced to pat her neck until Fruga started to run slower around the stone wall. There were people seated over the wall looking in but I was tall enough over my mare to see at the arena.

    My eyes were suddenly drawn to the back of the arena, where the Wolf was dueling another Alpha who was almost as tall and strong as he was. Both men were only dressed in the black, cotton kilts known as shendyt  and they were fighting to draw blood. Enraptured by their fight I rested my elbows on the saddle seat and followed the Wolf with my eyes.

    The sun shined over his lean, tanned skin while he fought. He was brutally muscular and large, even his neck looked like a strong column eclipsed by the muscles of his wide back. His movements were fast and perfectly chronometric, as if he knew what was the time to strike and retreat in a dance of death and power. His dueler liked to strike in wild movements as a strange contrast to the Wolf’s martial style. I could see they had fought many times. They knew each other and they tried to use their own weakness to bring the other down. 

    There was a moment in which both men rolled over the dirt fighting for dominance and the Wolf came on top, trapping the other man’s neck in a lock and growling like a feral beast. A second passed and the other man didn’t tap on the floor to stop the fight. By then the crowd of spectators were screaming by the top of their lungs his name. Wolf. Wolf. Wolf

     The Wolf tightened his hold and growled harder. The body of his dueler started to get lax and just when I thought he was going to kill him the Wolf released him and pushed the face of the other Alpha on the dust. I blinked in surprise. Alphas were so hard to understand sometimes. Both men laughed as if nothing had happened and I smiled at the sound of the Wolf’s laugh. It was a deep laugh, guttural but honest. The kind of laugh a man only shared with his lovers or their brothers in arms. 

    It was in that moment when I felt the first wave of my Heat hitting me in my core. I doubled down on top of the saddle and moaned hard and deep, the sound animalistic and painful. The emptiness in my core was like a void hungry for release and after a while the wave dissipated. The pain released me and my core stopped clenching in need. It took me a moment to breath through my open mouth and gather my bearings. When I straightened my spine the entire arena was looking back at me. I ignored everyone and focused my eyes on him. The Wolf had already been looking at me. 

    I was gasping for air. My skin pebbled and burned hot at the same time. His eyes darkened, his body expanded in response. Around us Alphas were starting to howl and growl. I had only one conscious thought. I needed to get out of there and return to my nest. The Wolf would fight for me and would take care of me through my Heat. He had to. I needed to leave. Now. 

    Like a hare escaping from the wolf I tapped Fruga’s neck and hugged myself to her neck, conveying her to take me away from there as fast as she could. Behind me I heard the Wolf’s growl over the others and then the sound of bodies punching bodies out of the way. I never looked back. I run to the camp, faster and faster, grinding my teeth in pain and need. My vision was starting to glaze and I knew it was only a matter of seconds before I lost my consciousness. I made it to my tent and walked inside in time to remove the stola and threw it far away.

    I thought I hate clothes over my skin and that was my last conscious thought I had for over two weeks.