The Omega Secret (Book Four of the Omega Game Series)

Chapter 5

Didoka

The Main Island

Present day...

I was tired, beyond exhausted and desperate to put away such a long day when I crossed the arches of the main entrance of my residence. The Beta guards that my brother had placed around the building seemed to follow my every move, giving me hidden glances until I closed the door of my chambers and rested my back on it. The only positive thing that had happened today was that I hadn’t suffered from the affliction of an intense, short-termed Heat. Which wasn’t a good sign. That could only mean that I will suffer another Heat either tomorrow or the day after, and that it will be twice stronger than what I was used to.

The sound of the cicadas singing at the closest garden was my only companion when I started walking the stairs up to my chambers. I reached the second floor, which opened in a wide room where my maids usually worked sorting my dresses, jewelry and trinkets. It was late but there were still some of my maids awake, carefully polishing the shoes and the long red dress that I would be wearing to the coronation ceremony in the morning. 

“Would you like to eat something, your Highness?” asked me Yiota, a Beta maid that had served my mother before me. She was kind enough to always stop the other maids from organizing my private quarters. As an Omega I’d built a nest and my Instinct would get mad if my territory was breached. Yiota knew this and took care that the other maids wouldn’t touch it. For that I always rewarded her with my own jewelry and all the other prized gems that I had no use for. I wasn’t like Nira, who enjoyed jewelry and gold more than any other person I’d ever meet. I smiled just thinking about my dear friend and shook my head to Yiota, passing her on my way to my chambers.

“That won’t be needed, Yiota,” I said softly.

“But your highness, you haven’t eaten in the entire day,” she pushed and I waved a hand, already opening the door and taking a step inside my room.

“I’m more tired than I am…” I turned stiff, my eyes widening when I spotted the two figures that were frolicking around my bedroom, talking in whispers and one of them even wearing one of my own dresses. Nira’s clear blue eyes brightened excitedly when she saw me and she waved a hand, pointing at the ceremonial robe she was wearing.

“It fits!” she whispered-hissed at me, to which Katala rolled her eyes and scrunched her face with a hand.

“Of course it does! We are all about the same size and height!” hissed Katala back at her and Nira frowned, pinching her chin with two fingers.

“I always thought I was taller than Didoka…”

“Because of your hair!”

“Now you are sounding like the Mongrel!”

I closed the door of the room fast and covered it with my back, my heart slamming hard against my ribcage. I turned to Yiota and smiled at her. All the other Betas looked curiously at me while I tried to breathe slower and get my voice to cooperate. 

“On second thought...Yiota, would you be so kind as to bring some refreshments? Some fruits, cheese and...uhm…”there was a soft, almost feather-light knock at the other side of the door and I hissed back at it, before smiling at Yiota, “...yes, some Coscus.”

“Coscus?” repeated Yiota, surprised. Coscus was an alcoholic beverage made by the fermentation of roots and in some case fruits to make it sweeter. It was very popular in Naccanash and Nira’s drink of preference. It wasn’t the typical beverage preferred by the people in the Yellow Islands, who had their own version of the drink by fermenting grains. I’d never asked for such a thing and I barely ever drank alcohol, but Nira would grow mad if she couldn’t have some alcohol to enjoy the night.

“Yes please,” I assured her with a smile.

I waited until Yiota returned with an assortment of what I’ve asked and I dismissed them all for the night. I stood in guard until the last maid had crossed the garden, watching them from a window of the main room and then I rushed inside my bedroom, locking the door firmly behind me. Then I turned to my friends and started hissing at them all the recriminations burning at the tip of my tongue.

“What has taken you so long? I thought you would come back by the first days of the month! You hadn’t left me any messages, any signs! I’ve been going crazy without news from you!” I ran to them, placing the food and the drinks on a table and then jumping to them. We laughed, all falling in a tight embrace over my bed. It just felt right to be close to them. Nira and Katala had become like my sisters during our time together. We shared everything now, everything, all the details of our thoughts, experiences and even war matters while we asked each other for our own view about things. It felt as if we had developed a shared consciousness in a way that couldn’t be paired to that of the mate bond or any other type of connection. As Omegas we just understand each other better than anyone else, even better than our own family did and in their case, their mates.

Soon after dismembering our group at Algonala Island we had started communicating with each other. First Katala had left me small notes in my room written in the language of the old Gods, something that only I could understand. It was hard for her as the Queen of Spirits to travel to different places in the same world. Moving across worlds was easier because she could tap on her powers, but moving in the same world required her to maintain her human form, since this was a human world. It took Katala half of a year to be able to move from the Gilmesh Forest to Yellow Islands. Only small pieces of paper were able to cross over, but not living forms. Finally after more than six month she was able to cross and then it took her a couple of trials before she was able to start taking Nira with her.

They were the reason why I had to send all of my maids away once a month. We had decided that to keep appearances we would only meet one time per month and that it would have to happen in secret. Kotani could never know about their visits and their mates couldn’t either. It was illegal for members of other royal courts to visit the Yellow Islands without asking for permission, which complicated things for Kotani if he had known and for their mates...well, let’s just say they would grow crazy if they knew Katala and Nira were half a world away from them.

My friends barely found small windows of opportunities to come visit me and on some occasions it had been short visits, interrupted when they felt through their mating bonds that their mates were searching for them. More times than not they had almost been caught and we had redoubled our precautions until we had managed to become experts, only meeting when all the conditions were perfect.

“It had been impossible to find an opportunity to come over,” explained Katala, interlacing her fingers with mine, “We had all been patrolling the Blue Mountains together. Noctis and Aros wouldn’t leave us out of their sight. I tried to jump from a spiritual shrine once but I ended up in this strange world surrounded by aquatic creatures. Nira had to feign being sick so Aros would go half crazy and let her stay with me in the palace of the Gilmesh Forest.”

Since we parted ways Noctis had built a scarily looking palace for her mate in the middle of the Gilmesh Forest. I hadn’t seen it but Nira had described it as the darkest, more twisted place she had ever seen. And I believed her. Noctis didn’t like royal courts and had always talked about building a place for her mate from which he could rein over his shadows in peace. They lived completely alone there, surrounded only by shadows and spirits. Aros had also built a palace for Nira. A palace of gold in the middle of a volcanic mountain where Teran had once crashed. The spirit dragon residing inside Nira’s body had been so elated that he had even thanked Aros personally. Katala had described it like the perfect mix between Aros’s fire and Nira’s love for shiny gold and pretty gems. They lived with Fair, the small Omega that Nira had adopted like her daughter since she found her at the Helladoor Island.

“What sickness did you feign?” I asked Nira, genuinely curious, who was busy getting familiar with my jewelry collection. She moved her head fast and the crown on her head slipped to the right, making me laugh a bit at her surprised face. She removed my crown, giving it back to me slowly, almost as if she was reluctant to give it back.

“Me?” she pointed a finger to her chest and then shared a crooked smile with us, “I just said I was having a headache. Aros went mad, demanding to talk to Teran and ask him directly if he was giving me a hard time. Katala had to intervene and ask Aros if she could take me to rest at the Gilmesh Forest. I almost felt half bad for lying to Aros but his overprotectiveness is getting out of hand these days.”

“Noctis it’s the same,” shared Katala with a small voice and we all looked to the ceiling while we held each other’s hands.

“This entire war is getting out of hand,” I murmured, looking attentively between them, “Have you heard about the missing monsters?”

“Actually, that’s the reason why we came to see you,” said Nira, getting up and going to grab the bottle of Coscus and fruits. She returned to the bed, took a drink of alcohol and with a grimace she focused her clear eyes back to me, “Aros thinks that Kun is the one behind their disappearance. He thinks...he thinks that he is planning on doing something to you.”

I tensed at the confirmation in her words. I’ve been fearing as much since I heard the news. Kun had left a message for me with his silence after taking Mourna’s monsters. It almost felt as if he was telling me that he was right there and that he was coming for me. How, when and where, were the only conditions he hadn’t stipulated. I sighed, seating and taking the bottle from Nira. After taking a long drink and swallowing the burn down I shrugged, facing my friends

“We all know Kun. He is not going to rest until taking his revenge on me for inciting his rut and letting him in pain for so long. By this point there is not much I can do but wait and see. If he is coming for me I will have to face the consequences of my acts,” Katala and Nira shared a worried look.

“You can always come and stay with me,” offered me Nira, taking my hand and giving me a mischievous smile, “My palace is surrounded by fire and it would be a hindrance for Kun to cross all that lava. And if that doesn't stop him I would just turn Teran against him.”

“I thought the dragon preferred to sleep his days away,” I reminded her and Nira rolled her eyes.

“He is such an old geezer…”Nira narrowed her eyes suddenly, tilting her head to the side and then snorting, “Oh come on Big Red, you know I’m right...What? You don’t like it when I drink? But I’m such a happy person when I’m drunk! Oh come on! There’s no need to tell Aros! I don’t have a drinking problem!”

Katala and I laughed while Nira kept on talking to Teran, enumerating for him all the reasons why it was better for the both of them if their visit was kept a secret from Aros. We talked until the sun started to appear in the horizon and only then Katala gasped and rushed to take Nira with her.

“Noctis would come to find me soon! Come on Nira, we need to go!” said Katala, rushing Nira away from my bed and hugging her cousin tightly. I watched them sadly, already missing them. At the last moment Katala looked at me over Nira’s head and gave me a reassuring smile.

“Everything will turn right, but remember, if you need us…”

“Tell the spirits I need to speak to their Queen,” I finished for her and Katala smiled at me, before they started to disappear through a small dark hole on the floor. I hadn’t even seen it forming this time around, Katala was turning better at controlling her powers with every visit she paid me.

“We will see you soon!” chimed Nira and then they were gone, leaving me alone once again.