Page 35 of Own to Obtain

She wasn’t scared of the other Alphas. She was scared ofhim.

Confusion gripped him. How could that be? What the fuck did she have to be afraid of? But as he looked into her gorgeous eyes, he realized he had never seen that look in them before. Shaya’s gaze on him had always been one of curiosity or caution or desire, sometimes even anger, but neverfear. Not when he’d entered her cabin again after taking her that first time, not when he’d punished her on the boat, not even when he’d pulled her from their bed each morning to accept her punishment for biting him without permission. She was his strong little bird, she didn’t frighten easily, but now she looked at him as though he would attack and hurt her at any moment.Him. Her Alpha!

Kardos stilled, thrown by her reaction to him. Maybe the emperor and his Omega had done or said something to her, but in the back of his mind, he was painfully aware that he still didn’t know why she had left. Why there was a gaping emptiness in his chest where her sunshine used to be. She had taken those actions, not anyone else. He couldn’t ignore it anymore, not with that fear in her eyes. He clenched his fists, anger and disappointment coursing through him. He needed to know more, but right now she was in imminent danger among these Alphas, even if she didn’t realize it.

He stepped toward her again, more determined, but a sudden change in the air stopped him.

Ribbons of dark blue magic twisted through the air, coming together and winding into a revolving, pulsing ball. It grew and twisted and lengthened, stretching until it was thin and oval, the blue pulsing in its center.

The tension in the room increased tenfold, and all the warriors shifted uneasily on their feet.

“What the fuck is that?” bellowed the emperor, before Kardos had a chance to speak.

Kardos kept his eyes on the magic as he turned his head slightly. It was much too close to Shaya for his liking, but he didn’t want to move too suddenly. He called to Malloron’s Talent-crafter. “What is it?”

“I don’t know,” the Talent-crafter called back, panic in his voice. “It’s a portal but unlike any I’ve seen. The magic is strange. I can’t get any readings that make sense. It doesn’t lead anywhere in the known Lands from what I can tell.”

Kardos frowned, suddenly noticing that the portal was slightly blurred around the edges and a soft but continuous breeze swirled around it that seemed to stem from nowhere before tunneling into it.

“Can you close it?” Kardos asked.

“I cannot control it in any way, my chief.”

“How is there a portal in my palace?” the emperor thundered. “Get the twins! Cailyn come here—”

Kardos blocked out the emperor’s voice as he prepared himself to get Shaya away from the portal. It was only a few feet from her and there was no telling what damage it could do.

But as he dragged his eyes away from it, he noticed that she was looking at him strangely. She looked at the portal and back at him. There was no fear of the portal or confusion about it. In fact, she looked… sad. Like she did when she stepped through the portal with her sister. It was as though…

Kardos’ entire world shifted and dropped away as the realization hit him hard.

Shaya was leaving him.

Truly leaving him.

She was going somewhere that not even Malloron’s most gifted Talent-crafters could track her, somewhere where he would have no idea how to find her.

Heart pounding in his chest, nothing else in the room existed for Kardos while he stared at her, a deep and desperate longing and disappointment roaring through him. He had to face it. She was willing to give up everything they had, their bond, their deep sexual connection, their shared love of the land and ocean, their family—everything—simply to escape him. Beyond his ego and his anger, beyond the outright rejection of the idea that she could even think to be without him, lay the smoldering shame of insult. Of all his achievements, he could not claim to be a worthy Alpha if his own Omega ultimately didn’t want him.

Omegas should be cared for and honored—it wasn’t as though he wasn’t aware. But his and Shaya’s situation was different. He had never intended or expected the Omega he negotiated for, to bring back to his Land, would be his. He had never intended or expected to see such strength in her that would secure him the seat and give hope to his people. And he certainly never expected to experience such unique intense pleasure or completeness, or look forward to his future, not just as a high chief, but as a man, a mate and a father with a family of his own.

But he had pushed her too far. He nearly rejected the thought as it came to him but there was no other answer. He had celebrated her strength to the degree he hadn’t realized she was only strong when not broken. And with that fear in her eyes, he couldn’t deny he had broken her. When she’d thought she was dreaming, she blossomed—she submitted so beautifully, and she wanted to talk and touch him. She took comfort in him more deeply that he realized, yet now, she was fearful of him.

He stared at his beautiful, distressed Omega knowing that neither of them could be the same if she stepped through that portal. It wasn’t as though he wouldn’t find her and bring her back—he would do whatever it fucking took—but she would resent it and possibly hate him forever. He had to make her understand. He had shown her the beauties of Nyek when she was last distressed, completing her education of his culture and people. Now it was time for him to make sure she understood their relationship, understood what she was giving up if she left him—she deserved to have a true understanding of what was really happening between them.

Kardos observed Shaya closely, feeling for what she needed as he did once before, but realizing that he no longer had the bond to rely on. He had to address her fear first.

He dropped his sword.

Shaya jumped as it clattered to the ground, commotion erupting from the warriors, but Kardos ignored them.

He lowered to one knee. And then the other.

Breathing deeply, arms by his side, his attention closed in on Shaya, and Shaya alone.

“Come to me, little bird.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

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