The Omega Bond (Book Five in the Omega Game series)

Chapter 2

Noctis

City of Leukos, The Dark Desert

Present day…

“I’ve been looking for you,” said Wolf behind my back, joining me in the quiet tower of the northern wall. The night was dark. Almost pitch black. I’ve made it that way, covering the city in dense shadows that would protect it from any intruder who dared to knock at our door. It was a matter of time before Mourna played his next move. The light Fair had emitted had shaken the entire world. Every single corner of the globe had been witness to her awakening. Mourna had seen it too. It was pointless hoping for the contrary. He probably knew by now that we had a weapon against him. But he was conniving and patient. Mourna would attack when we least expected and would try to use a trap to push us in a position in which we couldn’t retaliate.

That was why we needed to make a decision soon.

Wolf stood by my side, arms folded, staring down at his city. It was hard to imagine what kind of thoughts were running through his head. My father wasn’t exactly transparent. He was a man of action and few words, he didn’t show affection easily and while growing up at his side we had never been spoiled. Hell, I didn’t even know the meaning of that word. He loved us, of that I had no doubt, but his love was hard and inflexible, unforgiving. The way only a king could love his children. To this day everything he had done, from his harsh combat lessons to his strategy classes had been directed into making us strong, resilient and humble Alphas. It was only thanks to him that we had the strength to take care of our own. And we would take care of our family. We would destroy everything and everyone, god or not, if they dared to touch what was ours. And maybe that made us monsters. Maybe we didn’t care.

“You have something to say,” I said, staring at the lonely desert while I waited for the old man to speak his mind.

“Fair can’t stay here,” he said after a long stretch of time had passed in silence. We weren’t particularly talkative. We had never been. Aros and Kun had always found more ways to communicate with Wolf. Us? Not so much. He and I were too similar. We rarely talk, but we understood each other in a way that no one else could understand. We thought the same way. Said little. Shared silences for the longest time in mutual understanding. That was why I could discern what he was saying at once.

The entire world knew something strange had happened in the Dark Desert. It will take probably only a week before ambassadors and diplomats from all over the world would start appearing at our door, demanding answers. After so many years trying to keep our existence a secret, we knew too well that the world wasn’t ready to welcome a being like Fair. People feared what they couldn’t understand. The balance of power had always been a delicate structure between Alphas, Omegas and Betas. One dynamic needed the other two to coexist in mutual reciprocity. Alphas took care of Omegas and Betas, Betas served, and Omegas nurtured Alphas. Every single link was important. Members who didn’t belong to any dynamic constituted the biggest population out there. They were already jealous of the intrinsic relationship among the dynamics. If you threw at them the news that beings like the gods from the past and Neutralizers lived among them they would react in fear. Reactions born from fear were always extreme, passionate and dangerous. No one wanted Fair to face that.

Starting with Ang.

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. Ang would be a problem. He had his eyes on Fair from the very first moment he saw her. Separating those two was usually hard, but something more definitive would be practically impossible. I turned around to find my father favoring the same gesture. We looked at each other for a moment and then I smirked, knowing too well he was thinking about the little rascal too.

“Ang will never let Fair go easily,” I said at once and Wolf nodded.

“That’s why I need your support. From all his brothers you are the one that he listens to the most. Aros will side with Nira and we both know she is too temperamental, especially considering the fact she sees Fair as her own daughter. Kun and Didoka will be logical and impartial. I can only count on you and Katala. Nira will understand if Katala is the one that explains things to her. Those two had always been attached by the hip,” Wolf smiled, narrowing his eyes as if he was thinking about the past and then he clicked his tongue, “I never thought that Fair would end being the Neutralizer. Honestly, she surprised me.”

“She surprised us all,” and that was a statement. When we had realized that the little Omega had to be the Neutralizer I still had my hopes that it couldn’t be her. She was just a tiny, little Omega that hadn’t passed her first Heat. Bright and happy, like the purest child. Everyone loved Fair. She was always sunny and radiant, singing around the palace and reading in the gardens whenever she had a chance. When Didoka activated her powers and that light emerged out of her I couldn’t believe my own eyes. Her light had been something so powerful, so incredible that it had changed the world in ways that neither of us couldn’t understand. Fair would be able to stop Mourna, will be able to keep gods in check and even kill us if she had to. What had happened to Ang was only a small example of what she was able to do, of which I had no doubts. She will do amazing things in her future. I was only afraid that a light like hers, so immensely powerful, would fade away too early if it wasn’t nurtured and protected.

The issue was that with us, she would always be surrounded by gods in one way or the other. There would always be the chance, however slim, that she could hurt one of us and that weight on her shoulders would end weighing her down. I’ve already seen the hollowness in her eyes when Nira took her away from the infirmary. The little Omega had looked at Ang as if she wanted to change places with him and take all of his pain with her. Ang had played it down and smiled all the time but half of his arm had been cut off. There was no f*****g way that hadn’t hurt, not even if we healed faster thanks to our powers. He had tried his best to comfort her and normalize things, but s**t like this couldn’t be normalized. Fair was the Neutralizer and we needed to decide what the hell we could do for her. Keeping her with us was dangerous, sending her away was even more dangerous. At the end, protecting her from Mourna was probably the only tangible thing we could all do for her.

“I invited everyone over to discuss things tomorrow,” said Wolf on his way out of the tower, “Remember to help me neutralize Nira and Aros. She is not going to be easy to placate.”

“I will talk to Katala,” I conceded with a nod and then he was gone, leaving me alone with my thoughts and my shadows.