Omega Phoenix: Pursued

Chapter 3

3

Spence

It’s hard to watch Cyra be so lost. As the days pass and we’ve still not heard anything about Zack or Max, she seems to have less and less energy.

I know that she’s not sleeping well at night, no matter what we try, but this seems to be deeper than that. This exhaustion seems to be more than a combination of being pregnant and having crappy sleep at night. I’m afraid that if we don’t find Zack and Max soon, she might go into the first stages of losing her Alphas, and that scares me.

There’s a reason that Alphas and Betas mate their Omegas, it’s because we belong together. Even if Alphas or Betas mark other Alphas or Betas, like I wanted Max to mark me, that same connection still exists. It tells us that we belong together, that we’re better when we’re together and we can’t be away from each other for too long. Definitely not months and months at a time.

I’m sitting in the doorway to Maeve’s house. We threw open the doors so that the house could properly air, which seems to be a big thing for centaurs. Cyra is sitting a little while off, with Dec and a few other Omegas that live in this town. Some of them are mated, and others are still too young for that. They’re quietly talking and sharing experiences.

At first, Cyra was a curiosity to them, but these days, she fits right in. At least she can feel welcome and experience how not all clans are like her parents or Zack’s parents. But I have no idea how we’ll be able to take her away from here once Zack and Max are back and she’ll have to leave this community behind...

Liam sits next to me and looks over to Cyra and the other Omegas, his stance changing as he takes a deep breath. “We have to do something. She’s not going to last much longer like this.”

I nod, not sure I can talk right now. I feel it too, this worry about her, but also this haunting sensation because Max is gone for so long.

“How are you doing?”

I shrug and glance his way. His eyes are serious, worried, and I know that he means well. “I’m fine. It’s Cyra who...” It’s Cyra who we need to worry about. It’s Cyra we need to focus our attention on. All my focus is on her, because if I let myself consider my own feelings for even a moment, I don’t know if I can hold on.

“Do you feel a deep restlessness in you? That never being able to really relax, even if you’ve got Cyra in your arms? Even though we’re safe here, you’re not able to let go. You’re still on edge, no matter what you try?”

I nod quickly. “You too?” Looking at him in surprise.

He slowly shakes his head, his eyes even more worried, tense. “No. I was just checking. Because that’s what it feels like when your fated mate is away for too long.”

“f**k. Asshole.” I push at him and get up, frustration flashing through me. “I thought you were—”

Hell. I thought he was actually sharing something with me. But he was just trying to catch me off-guard. f*****g meddling asshole. Why can’t he take anything seriously?

He quickly grips my wrist, stopping me. “Spence...”

“Let me go.” I keep my voice low, I don’t want to pull the attention of Cyra and the other Omegas. “Let. Me. Go.”

“You can’t keep going like this. You’ll do something you’re going to regret.” But he lets me go, dropping his arm and staring over to Cyra. “If you’re conflicted, fighting your own instincts, you could become a threat to Cyra.”

“Stop meddling. I’m fine.” I stalk out of the house, towards the trees and out into the forest.

He has no idea what he’s talking about. He has no clue what’s going on. When I’ve got Cyra in my arms, it’s the best feeling in the world, but there’s always this missing piece. It’s like we’re not fully whole. And Liam has no idea what that feels like. He has no idea. He should stay out of this. He can worry about Cyra, but he should leave me alone.

I quickly strip and transform into my griffin. The moment I jump into the air and the air catches under my wings so I can fly up, letting me look out over the tops of the trees, a calm settles inside me.

I could just keep flying. No direction, no plans, just staying in the air until my griffin gets hungry, then we’ll catch a prey, eat, sleep and fly on again. I could fly away, and not have a care in the world.

Then my griffin reminds me that he wants Cyra with us. He doesn’t want to fly up here all alone. He wants Cyra at our side. Her beautiful slender and fiery body, her wings of pure fire and her eyes like embers. And when we sleep, my griffin wants to be able to curl up with Max and Cyra. Our own safe place, the place where we belong. Where we belong together.

The pain from that thought, that need to have Cyra and Max with me, not being able to live without them, suddenly forces my griffin down and I transform back into my human form in mid-air out of shock.

Fuck. No.

I try to focus, try to get my griffin back up but it doesn’t work. It’s almost like he’s too hurt, like he can’t do anything right now, like he’s in shock. His need is so strong, so overwhelming, that I can’t reach him anymore.

The trees are coming closer at a sickening speed and I manage to fold out my wings at the last moment. The jolt as the air catches under my wings and stops my freefall forces the air out of my lungs as pain flashes through my body.

I soar over the forest for a while, trying to get my heart back under control, before I carefully land between the trees and I immediately reach back, soothing my shoulder muscles. They’re all tight and hard, painful. f*****g hell. That’s never happened before.

I try to shift into my griffin again, but he lets me know that something is wrong. He’s in pain, and while I could force him to come out, I know that that’s not a good idea right now.

Fucking hell.

Looking around, I find a patch of moss and sit down, leaning back against the rough bark of a tree. I close my eyes, tears sliding down my cheeks and my heart hurts.

My griffin is hurting. He needs Cyra but he also needs Max, and the thought that Max might never get back to us is freaking him out. I want to tell him that it will work out. That we’ll all be fine as soon as we get Zack and Max back. But I know that there’s a chance that that might never happen, and my griffin knows it too.

How can we protect Cyra if Max and Zack will never return? How can we protect her and our children, when they’re never coming back?

How can we do this without them?

At first, I thought we might be able to do this, live together, just the three of us. But the longer we’re away from Zack and Max, the more I’m convinced that we can’t do this without them. Not because we can’t physically protect Cyra, but because our family isn’t whole without them. Cyra isn’t whole without them. We need them because they’re part of our family.

I hear the sound of hooves in the distance, coming closer and closer at a high speed, until they slow down.

“I thought it was around here.” Owen, Maeve’s younger Alpha brother, sounds clear in the forest. “I’m sure I saw him here.”

“What are we looking for? Did he just land or should we be looking for a bloody corpse?” Harper, the youngest sibling, also an Alpha, lets out a sound as someone seems to have smacked him.

“Don’t even joke about it.” Liam’s voice is tense, low, filled with panic and pain. “Just find him. He has to... He has to be fine.”

“With how he fell from the sky...” I hear Owen come closer.

“Shut up!” Liam’s voice almost breaks. “Just look for him.”

I carefully get up, my heart racing. What’s going on? Are they looking for me? Did someone see what happened? f**k.

My whole body is painful, both from the sudden shifting back to my human form and the last-minute save from being able to unfold my wings. I keep my hand on the tree as I walk around it, suddenly faced with three Alpha centaurs, all looking panicked.

“I’m...” My voice is rough, croaking. “I’m okay.”

Three guns are trained on me in a flash and I hold up my hands.

“Spence!” Liam lowers his gun and is next to me in just a few steps. Then he shifts back and takes me in his arms. “Oh, f*****g hell. I’m so glad to see you alive. Owen saw you fall from the sky. We thought that something might have happened.”

I slowly nod. “My griffin suddenly pulled back, making me shift back. I was able to get my wings out at the last minute.”

“Hell...” Liam sighs and he sounds so much older, so much more weary. “When I said that you might do something bad. I wasn’t talking about this...”

“I know.” Then panic flashes through me. “Does Cyra know what happened?”

“No.” Liam lets me go, looking back to the other two centaurs. “Owen saw you and came to get me. As far as I know, Cyra has no clue.”

“Don’t tell her.” I don’t want to put even more on her. She doesn’t need to know what just happened, if I can help it.

She’s got enough to worry about, she’s got enough pain of her own, she doesn’t need to worry about me too.