Page 87 of Shadowlands Omega

They said they landed on a beach south of the ports and that some fisherwomen helped escort them to the inn. That they were likely illegally fishing off of the coast — fishermen and women aren’t permitted to fish without registering at the ports — explains why the kind-hearted women didn’t stick around to collect a reward and also explains Madame Zenobia’s insistence that she be compensated for housing them given that the fisherwomen didn’t.

Their stories aligned and yet…it was filled with coincidences. Zaoul is not known to be kind. And that they managed to escape the city at all, only Alphas among them, seems just as suspect. Yet I could not see signs of deceit in any of their faces, in any of their voices. They looked haggard, ragged clothes stained with signs of struggle, blood and salty sea water. No, they told truths.

I had two of my Riders escort them back to the keep, placed triple my reserve guard at the ports, released two patrol ships, sent additional letters to Hjiel and Gold City requesting a convening of the Berserkers of the South Island, and an additional two letters to Dark City.

The first, to assure that they reinforce their borders — they are now the next line of defense against the southern cities on the North Island and their plan to build a new port needs enactingnow. We are cut off from one another without it.

The second, to request that they begin amassing their forces. They will need to enlist Glass Flats and the Rookery, at the very least, and take up arms to take back Ruby City. I fear that if Ruby City is not won back soon, then Gang Mountain will be bought like mercenaries by the Fates, thus tripling their army.

I fear for the people of Ruby City, the Alphas in particular. I fear that this entire time I’ve spent lusting after my Omega could have been spent convening the other cities to overthrow Mirage City and reinstate a ruling Berserker there, where there are now only witches and zombies.

I fear that even though I know better now and am filled with many regrets, my lust refuses to dissipate, even in small measure. Insanity reigns. Temptation lurks in every corner of my mind. Hunger clutches me like a monster in the night.

Returned to the castle, Kiandah safely in our room, a small horde of guards stationed at the entrance to our wing, her brother stationed outside of her door, I find Okayo in his clinic bent over some medicinal concoction, a pair of telescoping spectacles perched on the tip of his button nose. I slam the door shut behind me.

“What is wrong with me?”

Okayo lifts his head. “I wouldn’t even know where to start.” Irritation blots out my desire to grin. Okayo’s grin falls by consequence. He frowns. “You mean it? You’re unwell?”

“I’ve had an erection for two fucking days.”

Okayo looks down at my crotch. His eyes widen behind his glasses, the lenses already making his eyes as big as oranges. He looks absurd. “Oh.”

I run my fingers roughly through my hair, wanting to rip it all out. “I have felt lustful towards my Omega for days now, but in the past twelve hours, I’ve felt dangerously close to rut. Meanwhile, she doesn’t seem to be affected at all. I’m worried. The distraction makes me want to burn the whole damn city to the ground just to be done with it. The undead army feels like a nuisance, something in the way of what I want. My desire to vanquish the Fates is fueled entirely now by how annoyed I am that they are distracting my Omega from wanting to fuck me and I can’t fucking stand that.”

My hands are on the back of a chair covered in rather alarming-looking leather straps. A vision assaults me of Kiandah strapping me down in this chair and doing whatever the fuck she wants to me, and I feel precum pulse from the tip of my cock and wet the underside of my trousers.

I roar. I pick up the chair and throw it against the wall beside the door. When I turn around, Okayo’s got his glasses pushed up on the top of his head, making them look like futuristic horns, and his mouth hangs open in a soft O.

“Oh.” He swallows hard. “Well, then. It would seem that Horace was right. Horace, would you come out here?” he shouts to the hole in the wall behind him, a small opening covered by a faded crimson curtain.

“No, thank you,” comes Horace’s raspy reply from behind the veil.

I start at the sound of him. I hadn’t heard him until now. I can’t hear fucking anything over the sound of the rushing blood in my ears and roaring lust in my veins and I didn’t mean to disclose this weakness before anyone but Okayo. I’m fucking furious.Morefurious.

“Horace,” Okayo says, abandoning his instruments and turning to rip the curtain back. Horace is standing with his arms tucked into his chest, his black hair looking ragged and his round face more than a little rubicund. He’s trying to look anywhere but at me.

Okayo speaks to him like nothing’s amiss. “Tell Lord Yaron that thing you said you’d never dare tell him.” He waves at me spastically.

“Gods.” Horace releases a strangled yell. “Are you trying to get me killed?” His voice rises to a high-pitched squeak.

“Speak!” My voice shakes my entire body. A beaker falls from the shelf behind Horace’s head and shatters on the floor. No one reaches for a broom.

Horace takes a few tentative steps out of the closet, into the room’s bright torchlight, and clears his throat. “I…um…after…when I was first tending to the Omega after you brought her from the woods, I thought she smelled a little…”

“Smelled?”

“Her Omega scent was strange. It was…I could…” He glances at Okayo. “Please don’t make me say it…”

“Go on. It’s important. It’s also something I’ve never come across before.” He’s pulled a book of thick parchment paper out of a cabinet, and an ink pen forbidden in the Shadowlands. He should be using ink and a quill. “This is all quite fascinating. I’ll be able to write a strong dissertation on this. The Medical Guild of Gatamora will be thrilled with my findings. That is, if we’re ever able to reconvene.” His indolence makes me want to strangle him as he speaks so insolently about the end of the world, about the end of my sanity. “Go on, Horace. Tell him about the smell.”

“She smelled, my Lord…she um…she smelled of pre-heat.”

“Pre-heat?” I shake my head. “What the fuck are you on about?”

“It was a good scent. An enticing scent. I thought it was a lingering heat, but I… After speaking with…some of the other Alphas working in the castle…in the days after, they smelled it, too.”

Okayo chooses that moment to spare Horace from an early demise. “We have discussed it at great length with some of the keep staff as well as some of the Crimson Riders who knewUgaros.You know, the one who tried to rape Kiandah?”

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