Page 2 of The Omega Thief

The captain’s eyes widened a little, and he turned to the duchess. “Pardon, my lady, but I was told the man attempted to steal your purse but was caught before he succeeded? I had no idea a further crime had been committed.”

The duchess looked to her brother, and the duke answered. “Yes, thankfully, the thief was apprehended before further damage could take place.”

Raz met Thakeray’s level gaze and glanced at the duke. “Did the thief actually touch your sister?”

The duke spluttered, “Good God, no, or I would have run him through myself. It was bad enough that she should be put through such a horrific incident without actual physical injury to her person.”

Thakeray coughed politely and turned back to the prince. “We are struggling to find a witness to prove the intent to commit any crime, Your Highness. We have one account that excited children bumped into Her Grace accidentally, and the accused simply attempted to stop her falling.”

Raz rubbed his forehead. It had been a long, fruitless three days. Raz had sent all his secretaries home early yesterday when it looked like the choosing would go on at least another day. They might at least partake in some of the festivities themselves until the bond was made because there would be enough work for all of them after it. The joining of two old houses was complicated, and despite getting tired of the whole process, he hoped this pompous ass wasn’t his bond mate. The original scent hadn’t grown any stronger, and he’d shaken hands with him. The duchess had simply curtseyed. He supposed it could be her.

The duke started spluttering again. “Your Highness, I hope you aren’t doubting my recollection—”

“By no means,” Raz interrupted. “But we have to go through the proper process. I’m sure you understand.”

“I was just about to take the statements of the two merchants close to the incident,” Thakeray said.

“Would you care to be present?” Raz asked the duke calmly, very sure of a refusal.

The duke opened his mouth to say something, but the dig on his ankle from his sister silenced him. Raz pretended not to notice.

“No, Highness. Of course I am happy with whatever you decide.”

Raz bet he was.

“I was actually just going to bring this matter to your attention, sire,” Thakeray said. “The prisoner is demanding a royal hearing, I’m afraid.”

Raz blinked in surprise. Royal hearings were rare and usually only granted in extreme circumstances. They had to be heard by the king or the heir presumptive. Of course, Thakeray would’ve normally not even bothered Raz with this matter at all, but the duke had insisted on the arrest, and apparently, the prisoner a hearing, so Thakeray’s hands were tied. Raz rubbed his temple. Not only did he have to choose the wolf he would spend the rest of his life with, he had to decide the fate of a criminal. Perhaps they would like him to negotiate merchant contracts or reprimand treaty violations at the same time?

Stick a broom up his—

“Raz’mar?” His grandmother, who’d been fairly quiet up to now, silenced that thought and prompted him that he still had to see if either of these two was his bond mate. He really hoped not, but he still had to try.

It wasn’t just that the coronation couldn’t happen until he was bonded, but also that the longer it went on, the more the Anti-Shifter Alliance had reason to encourage discontent and sedition. Abergenny, a thousand miles to the east, had already fallen to a similar group, and their royal family had stood down. Elections happened, but the elections hadn’t been fair, and they were now in a worse position. The Anti-Shifter Alliance had gone from a group that occasionally held protest marches to a full-on rebel organization that blew people up. Raz’s father had always insisted he wouldn’t negotiate with rebels and had held a vote for the whole kingdom on whether they wanted to remain a monarchy at the end of the war.

The people had overwhelmingly supported them, but there had been concerning reports lately reaching Raz’s ears claiming Draul Eryken, the leader of the alliance, had established a base in Cadmeera and wanted the same thing to happen. As soon as he got the bonding completed, the alliance was the main thing on his agenda. He had to protect his people at all costs because a lot of innocents had died in Abergenny.

Not finding a bond mate might be another weapon in their arsenal, though. Raz’mar stood and bowed to the duchess, holding out his hand. “Madam, you may wish to remove your jewelry.” She looked startled, but wolves had thicker necks, and he neither wanted the necklace and rings to either get damaged or damage her. He inhaled again, leaning close. That smell again, and Raz felt his blood stir.

“Perhaps, if your lordship would permit, I could go first? My sister is understandably nervous.”

Raz nodded, completely uncaring. He knew the duke wasn’t his bond mate, and he reached out a hand to the duke. The duke smiled, and as they touched, blurred once and immediately shifted into a small brown wolf, shaking his clothes away.

The duke lowered himself to his belly in a sign of deference.

Raz sighed and gazed at the duke. There was absolutely no way that was his first shift. It was too careful, too controlled. The first time he’d shifted, even though he’d been expecting it, he’d been terrified. Pain was usually the dominant factor in a first shift—pain, terror, and something beyond your control was happening to your body. “Please get up.”

The wolf blinked, seemed to sigh a little, but shimmered, and reformed as a human. The duke stood up, quickly gathering his clothes up, which weren’t even torn. Raz turned to his sister, who paled even further.

“My lady?” Raz took a step toward her, and the duchess took one back. Raz frowned, stayed still, and held out his hand. The duchess looked at it like it was going to bite, and she swallowed nervously.

“It’s better not to wait,” Raz said as gently as he could, but she shook her head frantically. “Would you prefer to do this in the presence of a maid, perhaps? I can ask Her Highness and your brother to give us privacy.” He had to be there, obviously. She ducked her head and mumbled something.

“You can’t?” Raz wasn’t sure he heard properly. “My lady, I wouldn’t expect you to. Omegas can only shift in the presence of their alpha.”

She sighed and nodded, reaching her hand out as if Raz was going to slice it off.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not so much as a tingle, and Raz certainly wasn’t looking at a shifted wolf. He smiled kindly and dropped her hand.

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