Page 28 of Shadowlands Omega

“But you have the killers and you’ve let themgo…”

“I have done no such thing. The Ubutu family will remain confined to my castle until the end of their days unless their innocence can be proven or their penance can be paid by other means. They will serve in the kitchens as their family has always done for generations…”

“They should be in the dungeons! Tortured! They killed Gwyn!”

He has interrupted me and though I attempt to show him leniency here, I am not used to tolerating such flagrant disrespect.Unless the words are ripped from the lips of an unruly Omega.My mind flashes. I feel my testosterone surge. I clear my throat and calm myself. “I do not believe they did.”

He winces when my claws dig into his shoulder and gives me a harried look. “What…”

I did not wish to voice this truth out loud. Not now. Not ever. It is not the position of the Shadow Lord to make conjectures based on instinct — Fact. Reason. Law. Justice are what must prevail. And yet it was none of those things that affected my decision to pull the Ubutu family from their cells and throw them into the lower east wing of the castle, into an unused room that used to serve as grain storage until a more sophisticated system external to the castle was developed. It is in the room adjacent the castle kitchens, I tell myself. It is dank and unwelcoming, I tell myself, little better than the upper dungeons. It is a punishment fitting of their crimes, I tell myself. But the truth is much more difficult.

“They are not innocents. They worked with Trash City — criminals I chased from the North Island and who had the audacity to come to my own territory to use for their hunting grounds. However, what the Ubutu family is known to have done was work with the corpses. It cannot be said that they laid the killing blow to any Alphas within the Shadowlands.”

“It cannot be said that they didn’t.”

“And for that, they will remain in captivity forever. Never to see the sunlight beyond the castle walls again.”

He blinks and rubs his watery eyes, the fight leaving him slowly. “And what if you do find out they killed Gwyn? What then?”

I clench my teeth. He is a clever boy, for I had not wanted him to ask that. “If they are guilty of murdering the Alphas with their own bloody hands, then you shall choose the manner of their torture, for they shall not be allowed to live.”

After a terse back and forth between the family and me, they leave, leaving me with a sour taste in the back of my throat. I look at my throne as the doors to the throne room slam shut on their departure, but I have no desire to mount those short steps. The massive black chair draped in shimmering grey and black fabrics that fall down the steps and spill onto the floor looks too large for me in this moment. I feel doubt.

“Report from the border scouts,” I command of Dorsten and Sipho, who hover nearby.

The mood in the small stone throne room shifts, as do the dozen Crimson Riders present. They move to action, bringing forward a large, heavy table covered in maps marked by moveable pieces shaped like soldiers, some painted black for the undead that have been spotted.

“They had to have had help,” I say as my throne room dissolves into a war council chamber, the mood harsher and more severe. The scent of too many Alphas gathered together fills my nostrils when I breathe. Ordinarily, I respond to it with dominance, but now all I can think is that I’d like another scent to cut it. One that smells of gunpowder and unholy things.

“There are sinister rumblings at the ports, my Lord,” Sipho says, his short black hair shimmering like it’s been freshly cut and oiled. He hasn’t seemed to care so much for his appearance before today. In fact, as I look up, I see that all of my Alpha Riders seem to be presenting much more elegantly than usual. I do not like it.

“What is the news?”

“It seems that an unmarked trading vessel was allowed to dock last week. We have yet to determine by whom and how it was allowed to go unnoticed for so long, and we are also unable to ascertain what it carried…”

“We know what it carried,” Hector interrupts in a way most unbecoming. Though he and Sipho are members of rival packs, it is rare that displays of dominance are put on between them, and never so boldly, so publicly, before their Berserker Lord.

Most of my Alpha Riders are members of a pack and only Mara’s pack already has an Omega — a slight female with jet-black hair and an affinity for animals but little in the way of true magic. Two other Alpha packs overlap among my Crimson Riders. Sipho and Dorsten are members of a pack of three with another wealthy Alpha merchant, Renard, while Hector, Malik, and Guy form another.

Though Hector, Malik and Guy’s pack has been known to play with Beta females, they have yet to lay claim to one. They’ve been waiting for an Omega, wanting one. That is known. However, Sipho and Dorsten and Renard have made no moves to claim an Omega and did not show interest in the female with the black hair at all when she was presented before the red moon all those years ago. It could not be…that they are presenting in such a way as a response to the Omega in my chambers… No, it could not.She’s mine.

My beast snarls sharply in a way that causes heads to turn. Hector flushes. “Apologies for the interruption, my Lord.”

I nod at him once, though I feel the muscle beneath my left eye twitch as I look over these Alpha packs gathered before me with new consternation. After I give the Omega away during the next Red Moon Festival, it is very likely that one of these two packs will have her.

I glance at Sipho and he mistakes my desire to raze his flesh as permission to continue speaking. He clears his throat. “Hector is implying that this is the vessel that the undead assailants who attacked us in the woods arrived on. There is nowhere else on the shores they might have docked a fishing vessel as large as this one, however, none of our fishermen, ferrymen or traders report having seen hundreds of undead Alphas parading through port city streets.”

I glare at him, only half concentrating, but disliking the irritation I hear in his tone nonetheless.They are getting riled.So be it.I will devour them. No.Yes.No.Yes.Yes… “You will contain your tempers unless you’d like to see mine.” I slam my knuckles down on the table, knocking several undead figures over. “I will visit the docks myself,” I say, though as I speak the words aloud I instantly regret them.

Visiting the docks will pull me away from the keep. But perhaps…some space will be good for me. I haven’t been able to keep my distance at all to now, finding the most threadbare of excuses to return to my chambers and check on her multiple times daily. Yes, some distance will be good.No.Yes.

“Tomorrow at sunrise,” I choke. “Guy, you will have a contingent of eight Riders ready to accompany me to the docks. I will inspect the ship myself and the rest of you will interrogate the dock workers once more and question the business owners and stall operators that were not questioned before. Ensure you question anyone who might have been awake during the night — at the brothels and taverns, the shopkeepers at the Night Market.

“If they came by ship, Sipho is correct — there is nowhere else a ship this large could have docked and smaller ships would not have made it across the Strait of Zaoul. Theyhadto have gone through the ports and someonehadto have seen them. Sipho, you will ensure order in Shadow Keep during my absence.” So he can stay close to the Omega? The thought grates.

Though there is nodding all around, I keep my gaze trained on Sipho. “No one is to approach the Omega while I am gone. No one.” I will give Radmilla specific orders that he is not to go near my chambers. She will be the only one allowed in or out to check on Kiandah.

“I…um… As you command, my Lord. However, I was under the impression that this Omega would be presented at the coming red moon. If so, would it not be appropriate for the Alphas who wish to vie for her to call on her?”

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