Page 25 of Shadowlands Omega

Choose — she will never choose the Lord who keeps her family in chains.

Choice — there is none when it comes down to me against allegiance to her kin.

Desire — is moot. Hers will never be again. Mine? Mine will fade as I arm myself with the knowledge that I can never have her. This Shadow Lord will remain like all the rest. Unmated. Alone. History will not be rewritten on this day and it is for the best. “It is for the best.”

“My Lord?” Radmilla says. The medics are no longer looking at me but conferring amongst themselves.

“Okayo is right. It is for the best that the Omega and I were not able to complete a true bond. I will see her to good health and she will be mated with an Alpha or pack beneath the next red moon.”Over my dead —“Meanwhile, I will handle her family.” As I say the words aloud, I batter my beast down, forcing him to heel. Him. He feels like an outsider for the first time since my ascension thirty-eight years previous.

He howls and spits and bays. I ignore him. I douse the glow in my chest. I take all of the tattered pieces of that boyish desire I’ve never dared hope to hold and gather them up, lock them in a chest, and toss that chest to the bottom of the ocean. Because I did have such hopes.Ahope, singularly.

The hope of having one thing that belongs, not to all of my people, but just to me. The hope of having her, Kiandah, look down at me with fire in her eyes and flames at her back and bring all my yearning to the fore. The hope of serving the Lady Kiandah as a good Lord should serve the Omega that belongs to him and only him. That is his and only his. The good Lord who is only hers.

Mine. What would it be like to call her mine in longing and in life?No. That moment is over. My beast howls.I tuck my grief away. It has no business with me now. I am the Shadow Lord.

“Let me go now and deal with the traitors.” I nod once to Radmilla and struggle to my feet. The greater struggle is leaving the room, leaving the Omega behind, and leaving that one singular hope behind forever. Where I go now and what I intend to do, she will never forgive and I do not need her to.

I remember who I am.

I am Lord of the Shadowlands and she is not my Omega.

10 | Kiandah

Shadow Keep

I don’t feel well.I don’t feel well at all. I feel sick and hurt and just downrightstrange. I’ve felt this way since I woke up three days ago. And the presence of the Shadow Lord makes it worse. He’s here now. He’s been here a lot and I don’t understand why. At first I thought they’d taken me to the infirmary, but I’m alone here and the room is large and lavish. So then, I was left to assume that I’ve been placed in a guest annex of the castle — which is confusing in itself. I’m no longer on the brink of death and I’m a prisoner, besides — why would they care if I died? Why I’m not in the dungeons with my family is vexing.

Yaron hasn’t spoken to me much.Your family has been recaptured and returned to the dungeons.That was the second thing he said to me right after,Are you well?

Other than that, he’s only come in and out and looked around the room for items that he’s either not found or taken. The moments last a long time, though. He should be able to find whatever he’s looking for faster than this. He’s across the room around a corner now. I don’t know what’s behind the bend, only that bookcases and drapes show on the other wall. Perhaps, a small library or reading nook? I wouldn’t know. I’m unwell, but still well enough to walk — not that I do. I’m terrified to get up. Too terrified to move. And that makes me feel like a coward.I need to escape, to find my family…to beg Lord Yaron to tell me what he plans to do with them…

My lips part…but the words don’t come.

“You can relax,” Finn says, placing a hand on my shoulder and giving me a tight, reassuring squeeze. He’s counting my pulse, his brow furrowed. He’s done this a few times over the last days. He’s been mostly the one to monitor me, kind of annoyingly — ah, em, continuously — though Okayo stops by twice a day to check on me. I like Okayo, and not just because he looks like one of my cousins, though that helps. He’s funny and has managed to make me smile, despite the circumstances.

“Finn.” Yaron snaps from across the room. I jolt, but the Shadow Lord isn’t looking at me. He’s glaring daggers at Finn. More specifically, at the contact of Finn’s hand on my bare shoulder. I’ve been naked for the three days that I’ve been here, wherever I am. I haven’t bathed either, and I’d like to, but only after I find my kin.

I shrink away from Finn, who slowly removes his hand from my skin. I keep my eyes pointed to the sheets, clench my knees together and just wait and wish for the Shadow Lord to go away. “Kiandah.”

I flinch and reach up to stroke my hair…but it isn’t there. I swallow and open my mouth…but my voice isn’t there, either.

“Are you well?” He’s closer — still over twenty paces away, but the distance doesn’t seem to matter. I feel the tops of my thighs begin to tingle. It’s an unwanted sensation. I zipper them shut.

I don’t know how to answer the question. I just feel frustrated. He asks me this question multiple times a day, and every time, we have the same exchange.Fine. Then he leaves. But my frustration and this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach are playing tug of war with my heart.

I blurt out, “Where is my family, Yaron?”

Even though Finn is no longer touching me, I still feel the tension he radiates.

My eyes don’t manage to make it up to Yaron’s face, so I can’t gauge his expression as he says coldly, “Finn, leave us.”

“No, don’t.” Panic subsumes me. I reach up and out and lock onto Finn’s retreating hand. I meet his gaze. “Please.”

And then comes something I’ve never felt before. A hot, invisible wave full ofrage.Pure anger radiates across the room. It’s of Lord Yaron’s own making, yes, but that rage…I inhale…itbelongsto me. My eyes start to roll back, but I rebel against the sudden pleasantness that threatens to relax me. Gripping Finn’s arm tighter helps me refocus. I don’t know why I feel this way. I must still have a fever. Okayo pronounced my fever broken, but it must have come back.

“Leave us, Finn, if you’d like to keep your arm.”

Finn doesn’t hesitate, but untangles his fingers from mine, shoves away from the bed and moves promptly and directly to the door. He’s still holding his hearing scope, the one he’d been using to check my pulse. I’m sure the concern on his face had to do with the fact that my pulse was beating fast enough for him to believe I was having a heart attack.

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