The Omega Game

Chapter 3

Leukos

    Maccana soldiers were nomadic. They belonged to the heart of the Dark Desert and owed their name to the Maccana oasis where their youth trained to become soldiers. The journey from my home to the Dark Desert was a long one. It took three lunar cycles to cross the Yellow Sea and seven sun cycles to arrive at Maccana. All along I didn’t see the Wolf again. Not since that first night when he left me with a frown and completely untouched. He hadn’t returned for me and I was fine with it.

    During the journey I studied the Maccana tongue with my maids, two Maccana girls with the names of Taga and Soli. They were the ones who told me the stories about the Maccana soldiers and described how hard their training was. Taga explained how the Maccana boys were taken from their mothers at the age of four. They were guided to the desert and were left there all by themselves for three days and three nights. The ones that survived that brutal period of time were then given to a trade master, like a carpenter or a smith. Those masters were in charge of teaching them a trade and also fighting and survival skills. The training could take many years and only when the masters were defeated by their students in hand to hand combat could the young Maccana soldiers join the army.

    I didn’t ask my maids for the stories about the Wolf. I wanted to learn those stories but only if he was the one telling them. I wasn’t even remotely worried about his absence in my tent nor the fact my maids would gossip about all the women he was bedding every night during our journey. He hadn’t had a mate bond with an Omega, he couldn’t understand what he was missing. And even if I’ve never bedded an Alpha or even kissed a man for that matter I knew the stories. I’ve seen it. It only took one time with an Omega to bring an Alpha to his knees. Just one time and there wouldn’t be more women for the Wolf but me. Not more visits to his harem. Not more gossip. 

    Like a patient storm brooding in the horizon I waited until the night we arrived at Maccana to play my next move. I was given one of the largest tents around the oasis. The richness of the hides covering the black sand made my toes curl in satisfaction. There were golden mirrors and a porcelain basin of the purest quality. To the end of the tent was a terracotta bath made in the mountains of Descer, the tub was deep and large, big enough to fit an Alpha. I knew these delicacies were measures taken by the Wolf for my well being during my Heat. His precious womb only had the best of everything. 

    That thought made me smirk while I bathed, staring at the rivulets of dark dust that had covered my skin after our travels through the Dark Desert. I’ve heard the stories of the desert a thousand times but I never imagined how inhospitable and unforgiving it was. There was only black sand for miles and miles, extending as far as your eyes could see. The wind was hot and heavy, making it hard to travel on foot and over your head only the sun remained, heating your skin and hurting your eyes. I’d been one of the lucky ones to be carried on a horse but no Alpha rode like me. 

    Soli explained that Alphas of the Dark Desert preferred to walk over the sand so they could feel if there were sinkholes around. I had no idea what a sinkhole was after living my entire life in a recondite island in the middle of the Yellow Sea, so I’d asked Soli what these sinkholes were and her answer had made me pale. Sinkholes were sand holes that opened under your feet if you weren’t careful enough. Only born and raised Maccana soldiers knew how to walk around the sinkholes and even learned to feel when they were forming under the sand. If I had any plans of escaping my new husband I understood right away I would need a Maccana soldier as a guide through the desert. Not that I had any plans of escaping but it wouldn’t hurt to know more people that could help me in the future.

    With that thought in mind I requested my maids to dress me as a Maccana woman. The clothes were nothing like the soft stolas we used in Laikos. Women of the Dark Desert dressed in a two piece outfit made out of horsehide leather. The brownish fabric was soft to the touch but heavy and the long skirt hung low on my hips revealing more skin than what I was used to. The skirt had a large opening in the middle front that revealed the inner side of my legs when I walked.

    “What is this opening for?” I asked curiously in the Maccana tongue, while Taga and Soli brushed my long hair and covered it in oils. The maids looked between them with knowing eyes before staring back at me.

    “The Maccana people are known for our strong...libido. The opening in the front is to have easy access when mating. It is not unusual for women in celebrations to be taken twice or more times by Alphas,” explained Soli while the sound of the celebration outside started. It was a welcoming celebration for the Wolf of Maccana. The rumors that he had procured a true Omega for himself had run around the oasis and now people were celebrating my capture as if I was a treasured bounty and not an actual person. I could hear the sound of the drums and the excited screams of men and women outside my tent. I smiled, already ambitioning the possibilities this night could bring. 

    “Are you saying that an untaken woman can have as many lovers as she wants in this place?” I asked and Taga frowned, halting the brush at the end of my hair.

    “Unmated Beta women are free for the taking. But not you, you are only his,” I didn’t need further explanations to understand to whom she was referring to. I shrugged and looked out again, eager to walk around and restart my game. 

    When I was ready I stood and marched on my way to the opening of the tent. Soli stopped me and pointed at a long dark veil to cover my face. I frowned and looked back at my maids. I hadn’t seen women using veils in the Dark Desert, at least not as regularly as in Laikos island, where only a husband was supposed to look at the naked face of his woman. I shook my head once and Taga frowned.

    “You must wear a veil,” said Taga nervously, “the Wolf requested you always wear one.”

    “Then the Wolf can put a veil on me if he wants,” I said with an undaunted smile and walked out of the tent.

    The moment I was out I felt free for the first time in my life. In the Dark Desert I wasn’t Princess Leukos and there wasn’t an entourage of guards behind me, controlling and overlooking my every move. I wasn’t stupid though, I could feel the eyes of Maccana soldiers in me with every step I took, but at least I was on my own for now. Joining arms with Taga and Soli I walked to the food stalls and tried the variety of dried meats that were hanging from hooks. The sellers were welcoming and gentle with me, as if I was a curious little girl they couldn’t help but spoil.

    I ate dried jerky while I walked under the starry night around the Maccana oasis. The smell in the air was sweet, a mix of perfumes and the natural scent of palm trees and cold sand. Wherever I looked were people dancing by little fires, drinking ale and eating a variety of meats I’ve never seen before. The deeper I walked into the crowd the more eyes I could feel on me. It wasn’t long until I spied Alphas scenting the air in my direction. 

    It was easy to recognize an Alpha. They were taller than Beta males, stronger and smelt earthly, a musky scent that revealed their true dynamic. I’ve read on Laikos central library that Alpha’s scent glands produced a smell that could trigger Omega’s Heats. In contrast, Omega's temperature raised easily when surrounded by Alphas and if an Omega wasn’t mated Alphas could tell by the heat and scent an Omega produced that she was free for the taking. By the way the Alphas were looking at me I was putting my money on those books. I was like a beacon of light in the middle of darkness and Alphas could only keep looking at me.

    It didn’t take long until the first Alpha started following me, his nostrils opening and closing fast while he scented the air. Then another Alpha. And another. Even the Alphas that had been rutting women on the floor like beasts stopped fornicating and followed after me, scenting the air. I was only days away from my Heat. I could feel it in my own raising temperature and the constant slick that dampened my skirts. The Alphas could smell the slick and were getting mad about it. 

    “What is happening?” murmured Soli from my side, looking around at the group of Alphas surrounding me. I feigned ignorance and tried to keep walking but a huge Alpha closed my path and started growling. The other Alphas followed him right away, growling and hissing, pushing around with their large shoulders to get closer to me. I took a step back which seemed to be a huge mistake. Alphas were inherently predators and didn’t react well to their prey trying to escape. A big Alpha jumped over the shoulder of his brethren in the crowd and lunged a big claw at me, trying to catch me. 

    The maids whimpered and tried to push me away but I stood still, facing my fate heads on as I’d always done. If this was the Alpha who was meant to claim me so be it. There was a flash of darkness and a large shadow stepped in front of me, punching the Alpha who had been a second away from touching me. The Alpha had been taken by surprise in midair and the punch had made him fly back and roll over the sand like a sack of potatoes. A second passed by and I saw all Alphas look back at the Wolf. He was still, standing quietly in front of me, his shoulders relaxed, his body at rest. Even when he was just standing he managed to look intimidating and the other Alphas could feel it. They all took a step back and the growls and groans ceased.

    Only then the Wolf looked back at me.

    His black eyes studied my face for the first time. He seemed to realize just then I wasn’t wearing a veil and a spark of possessive madness lit up in his black irises. I studied him back and was still looking at him when he moved and grabbed me by my waist, throwing me over his shoulder and taking me away from the crowd.