The Omega Game

Chapter 4

The Wolf

    The first time I saw her was at the marketplace of the island of Laikos. She had been walking around the fruit stalls, followed close by a group of soldiers. I’d come all the way from the Dark Desert to take her and ignoring the laws and the diplomacy acts, I'd stepped on enemy soil without permission to steal a look at her. My generals were flanking me when I stopped from the shadows of the barracks, at the end of the market, and looked at her.

    Just a tiny young girl who had turned old enough to be wed. Only eighteen summers old. I’d killed thousands of men by that age. The contrast between us was laughable. She was everything I was not. 

    I spied on her and found her lacking at first. She was too small. Curvaceous, yes, but weak, not strong enough for an Alpha like me. I’d almost turned around and left the island in that moment if it wasn’t for a small intervention from the fates.

    Right by the flower stalls a thief pushed the old seller and took her money bag. The old woman started crying in hysterics and people looked back to see the young thief running in the direction of the barracks. I motioned to Talon to intervene if he needed to and my general nodded, but not before Leukos stepped to the side and tripped the thief. She did this easily. Almost as an afterthought. The thief fell back and tried to get up but Leukos moved fast and took the money bag from his hands. 

    I smiled against my better judgement and held a hand up for Talon to stop. Talon looked back at me and then to the small Omega that was kneeling by the side of the thief. People were surrounding them but I was still able to see the guards looking nervous at the fact that princess Leukos was kneeling at the side of the thief. She spoke a couple of words with the thief, they both nodded and then Leukos got up and offered a hand to the thief. He accepted it and the small Omega murmured a couple of words that made the crowd disperse. In a couple of seconds the old seller had her money bag again and Leukos was talking like an equal with the thief on their way back to the castle. 

    I later knew by my spies that she had granted the thief a position as guard of her entourage and I knew right then she had to be mine. She was small, yes, but powerful. A smart woman with the Instinct of an Omega. The future mother of conquerors and dictators. A good mate. I’ve declared war on the island of Laikos by the next day. It took a week of negotiations. A very f*****g long week. King Lakar offered about everything he had except for his daughter. I refused everything he offered and only asked for his daughter in exchange for peace. She was priceless and we both knew it. 

    An Omega in marriable age, born from an Omega and an Alpha. One of the last true Omegas known in existence. She was indeed a treasure. Over the last decade the propagation of Betas' population increased, but Omegas and Alphas were not that common anymore. It took a true dynamic mating to make true Omegas or true Alphas. I’ve fought for too long and too hard to procure my power and legacy and now I was ready to start building a family. I never cared for children before. Not until I saw my Omega at that market.

    As a precaution I had an unbreakable rule. The women who wanted to be on my harem had to take herbs to prevent pregnancies. Even Sabin, my favorite Alpha concubine had to take herbs. Our union would only give me Beta children and I wasn’t interested in having weak descendants. 

    I’d been lying with Sabin in the furs of her tent when Laukos’s Omega scent invaded my senses once again. Leuko’s scent was the sweetest. Nectar of the gods. Ambrosia. I closed my eyes scenting her even if Sabin was the one riding my c**k. All I could imagine was her. Leukos with her big, blue eyes and long brown hair. Leukos with her tiny body and gracious walk. Leukos on her knees, refusing so suck my c**k. I looked over my shoulder in time to hear the commotion out in the oasis. I heard the growls of Alphas and then scented her. Closer than before. s**t, it hadn’t been my imagination. Leukos was close. 

    I pushed Sabin away and dressed on my kilt before leaving her tent. She was still saying something but I ignored her. I always ignored her whenever we weren’t f*****g. Once outside I could only scent Leukos. Her Omega smell was sweeter tonight, like ripped fruits ready to eat, or  tantalizing honey. I followed her scent all the way to the group of Alphas that were already maddened by her scent. If I hadn’t intervened right then she would have been hurt by my own men.

    That thought alone was enough to set me in rage.

    My Instinct was biting at my skin and howling in my ears to kill all the male Alphas surrounding her but I couldn’t. I needed to stay reasonable now, or I would lose all sense of intelligence by the time her Heat started. I was a leader, not a brainless mongrell like Leukos wanted me to be. Holding my breath to not scent her I turned around and halted.

    She wasn’t wearing a veil. For the first time I looked at her naked face and thought about how could I ever think she wasn’t majestic. Her face was an oval masterpiece, with large blue eyes, a small, perfectly delicate nose and pink lips that looked too soft to the touch. And her scent...gods her scent. I forgot all the reasons why I shouldn’t smell her. So sweet and warm to my calloused Instinct she was, like undiluted sweetness or the welcoming morning sun.

    I took her dainty waist in my large hands and pushed her over my shoulder. Leukos was so tiny that I couldn’t register her weight. And her smell, gods, her smell was a torture. Her Heat was close. I could smell it in the slick that even now coated her folds. The warmth of her skin was also rising and I suspected it would increase more and more until the beginning of her Heat. And then it would be my duty to calm the heat of her skin. Me and only me. I would make sure of it.

    The guards protecting her tent were Beta soldiers. Not in a million of years I would let another Alpha so close to her bed chambers. I ordered them to take a couple of steps away from her tent, my Instinct irked by the nearness of other males to my Omega. Only when my Alpha Instinct stopped growling and clawing at my chest I entered her tent and put her on her feet. Another wave of her scent hit me and I shook my head once, twice before being able to concentrate.

    We regarded each other like enemies. I circled her and Leukos stood still, her own Instinct forcing her to not move away from me or I would pin her to the floor and bite her. I would take much pleasure from marking her skin, letting all other Alphas know that she was my Omega. Mine. Only mine. I cursed and shook my head again. Her Heat was already clouding my senses.

    “Your Heat is too close, it is dangerous for you to walk around unprotected,” I barked at her and Leukos crossed her small arms around her chest. The gesture was defensive, an useless protection against me. Alas, she was prey and I was her predator. Her body seemed to know this better than her mind. Reckless little Omega. I shook my head again,  “And where is your veil? You should be wearing one.”

    “The other women don’t wear one,” she said with a challenge, making me grind my teeth.

    “Wear one,” I didn’t say she wasn’t like the other women. She already knew that. 

    “It’s too hot to wear a veil,” she rebuked.

    “Don’t wear it then,” I growled at the infuriating woman. I waited until the growling in my chest receded to speak again, “Take your guards wherever you go. You shouldn’t be unprotected. Not ever.”

    “I wasn’t unprotected. I knew you would come to protect me sooner or later,” she shrugged and I started seeing red through my eyes. 

    “Later?” I cracked my neck, rounding her closer, “How much later were you ready to wait for my protection?” 

    “If you are implying I would have waited until another Alpha would rut me on the floor then yes, that could have happened and I would have let it happen. As it is I’m an unmated Omega surrounded by strong Alphas. I can also have my pick.” Those words redirected at me reminded me of how I’d said the same to her about having my pick of women at my harem. I circled her neck with a hand and brought her closer to me, until I was face to face with her. Her feet were hanging over the floor. Her body was so easy to break and still she looked regal, her smile taunting, her eyes shining. My next words were a growl against my bare fangs. That’s how wild she made me. 

    “That ego could destroy you faster than I can,” I said on her face and Leukos tilted her head back, staring at me impassively.

    “That’s true, but you wouldn’t have to bark empty threats at me if you would give me your name,” she smiled, her tiny, white teeth too rounded and perfect to look threatening, “give me your name and I can be yours.”

    “No,” I said at once, letting her fall on her knees while I took a step to the assortment of wines and ales at a table close to her furs. I was serving myself a glass of ale when Leukos moved closer, her hips attracting my eyes to the sensual movement that she made when she walked. Long brown hair fell around her waist, blue eyes covered in black kohl, small breasts that trembled with every heartbeat. An enchantress she was. My Omega.

    “There’s a story from where I come from that reminds me of us,” she said, stopping by the bench close to her furs and seating on it. She grabbed a bone brush and started working on her beautiful hair. Every time her hair moved another wave of her scent hit me, making the task of having a drink as impossible as maintaining a logical thought.

    “I don’t care for your stories,” I said at once and she smiled again.

    “Then go and bed another woman tonight. We both know you will be thinking about me even if you are far away,” she said and her truth was like a whip on my back, reminding me that was exactly what I’ve been doing every time I’ve mated a woman since I’d seen her at that marketplace. 

    I didn’t say anything to her honest words. There wasn’t anything to say. We both knew she would be mine by the time her Heat came, but she would be as owned by me as she wanted to be. If I wanted her to initiate a mating bond then I needed to give her a piece of myself. My name. My identity. The piece of myself that I’ve never given away. My silence was taken like an invitation to fill up the space between us and then she was speaking. Her voice was clear and lovely, a melody on its own.

    “There was a pond once, a very large pond where many frogs lived. In the summer other animals came to the pond and asked the frogs to be carried to the other side. The frogs always complied but no frog, not even the silly ones, dared to carry the scorpion,” she stopped, making sure I was following her words. I was. I couldn’t not look at her in that moment, “A good scorpion  who wanted to cross the pond looked for a docile frog and asked her to cross him to the other side. The frog agreed but asked the scorpion not to bite her or they would both drown in the water. The scorpion promised he wouldn’t and so they went. Right when they were in the middle of their journey the scorpion couldn’t hold it any longer and bit the frog. When the frog asked the scorpion why he had done that, the scorpion answered, “I couldn’t help it, it was in my nature.”

    Not for the first time I was pleased at my Omega’s intelligence. She had picked the perfect story to describe our relationship. I took a drink of my ale and looked away from her. The action felt strange to my Instinct. I just wanted to get closer, to get familiar with her. To please her. My mind wanted nothing with her. At odds I looked away and ignored her until she spoke again. Not even once I wasn’t extra aware of her, not even once I stopped smelling her and following her every move with my ears. Still I forced myself to not give her my attention.

    “You and I can dance around the truth all that you want, but we both know our nature is stronger than our intentions,” she said slowly, marking every word with meaning, “ give me your name and stop this madness before we both drown.”

     “I’m not a option to you more than you are a need of mine,” I said to her in the Laikos tongue and enjoyed the way she opened her eyes in surprise at having me speak on her tongue, “you will accept me, and only me, even if you don’t know my name.”

    “You will have to wait a long time then,” she refuted in the  Maccana tongue, making me smile. How smart she was, and how much she had learned in the short amount of time we had traveled together. Fire, she was the very same fire that cursed through my veins.

    “So be it,” and with that last answer I left her tent.