Page 44 of Own to Obey

Shaya opened her mouth and then closed it again, disarmed by her friendliness.

The woman held up her palm. “I’m not here to attack you or insult you. I’m here to apologize.”

Shaya still didn’t know what to say. She watched the woman as she pulled off her gloves

“I had no idea that you were an Omega when I came to your cabin,” she explained. “And I had no idea that you spoke the Common Tongue. I thought you were playing dumb.” She half smiled, a sheepish look on her face. “I have a temper, I am well known for it,” she admitted. “But I did not understand... I was just really angry.”

Finally Shaya found her voice. “But why are you angry at me? I didn’t do anything to you.”

The woman took a deep breath. “I thought you were a real threat.” When Shaya frowned, she hurriedly continued. “And I don’t just mean to me, I mean to our tribe. I’ve seen it happen to other tribes—the tribe leader becomes besotted with one of his tribe members, and then he is unable to fulfill any of his duties successfully, and the tribe begins to fail. One of the first signs of that happening is when the tribe leader seems to stop his sexual activity. It is not usual for our culture.”

Shaya nodded slowly. “And you thought he was focusing too much on me?”

“He was,” the woman said. “But now I know that you are an Omega, it makes a difference.”

Shaya’s heart lifted at the idea that Kardos wasn’t sexual with anyone else on the ship, but she didn’t understand why the woman didn’t still see it as a problem. “How does it make a difference?”

“You cannot be paired together,” the woman explained. “As an Omega, your pairing will take priority. You will get the best male in the entire Southern Isles, possibly even the high chief himself. It makes sense to me now. The shinno was probably trying to make sure that you were prepared for whoever that may be.”

The shock that hit Shaya’s body knocked all feeling out of her. She blinked. Her mouth opened, but it wouldn’t work. Then a sinking feeling sensation trickled through her insides, as though she was made of hot wax.

“He was simply trying to do a good job,” the woman said, her sheepish look returning. “And I was interfering with that. I’m very sorry if I scared you. I truly regret it—many have told me my temper and nosiness would get me in trouble—I can get mean... but I didn’t mean to… It is an honor to have you here.”

The wax was now rising in Shaya’s throat, claiming her words and making her tongue thick and heavy like lead.

“My name is Anata by the way. Kardos told us all your name is Katashaya. That’s very pretty.”

“T-t-thanks,” Shaya finally managed. She swallowed as she glanced around, trying to form a question as quickly as she could with what she wanted to say. “Erm… do you know if Kardos has… umm prepared anyone before?”

“We’ve never had an Omega with the tribe before,” Anata said. “At least as far as I know.”

Shaya swallowed, a couple of questions suddenly coming to her. “What is a pairing? Kardos mentioned it err.. at the beginning of the journey but now…”

“Oh, it is when the tribe leaders arrange who will bond with who. They try to make sure each tribe is even with the number of Alpha and Betas, men and woman, warriors and non-warriors, that kind of thing. It’s really important here to have balanced tribes.”

Shaya thought for a moment about what she said about the pairing. “But isn’t Kardos the best male?”

Anata grinned and leaned forward conspiratorially. “Between us, yes he is, but there are some other good males out there.” She grinned. “I told my cousin she’s a luckyjakhra.”

“Your cousin?”

“Yes, she’s betrothed to the shinno.”

An icy cold breeze blew into Shaya’s chest. Kardos was betrothed! Her knees weakened and she suddenly felt sick.

“I’m not really supposed to talk about it with her, but I found it difficult to cut off all ties to fam—”

Shaya forced herself to smile as the woman kept talking, her mind racing. Kardos had been using her the whole time. She thought at the beginning he was just using her body for his own pleasure, but it was much worse than that. He had made her… feel for him, become completely enrapt with his wild nature, and all the time he was not only preparing her for some other man, but also had a woman he was supposed to marry!

“I understand,” she said when Anata finished speaking. “How come she didn’t come to the Western Lands?”

“Oh, she’s from a different tribe,” Anata said, her face implying that that was an important factor. “She hasn’t even met him yet. They have no ownership of each other until their ceremony.”

“They don’t meet until their ceremony?” Shaya asked, bewildered. Kyus and her betrothed had been living together for a long time.

“No, they can meet before their ceremony,” Anata said. “But they haven’t yet. Kardos has been too busy being the best tribe leader on the Isles.” She grinned but Shaya found it a struggle to return it. This culture was much more complicated than she thought and even though Kardos made her learn about it, it was as though she had learned nothing.

“Anyway, I should head back,” Anata said, her smile faltering. “Thank you for listening to me.”

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