Page 2 of Unsubmissive Omega
Zendius had no gender preference for his partners, and though I knew he often spent the night with an omega – most of whom I was certain he met at the club he frequented - I’d never seen him with the same one twice. Either he wasn’t into relationships or he just hadn’t found the right person yet, but something told me the clubs were not going to be the right place for me to meet my mate.
“Not the clubs,” I told him.
“Then what are you going to do?” he asked me.
I slumped down into my chair and buried my face in my palms.
“Fuck. I don’t know,” I mumbled through my hands. “Probably I’ll have to cancel these meetings until I’ve sorted this out. But even so, how am I supposed to do this in time? If no-one suitable’s come along in the last eight years, I don’t think they’re going to turn up in the next two weeks!”
Zendius shrugged. “You could go to a dating agency,” he suggested. “Tell them your specifications and let them find someone for you.”
The cascade of wrinkles that appeared along my nose told him exactly what I thought of that! I didn’t like the idea of someone else choosing my mate for me, but… I could veto their choices, right? So maybe that would at least get some candidates in front of me. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea.
“Yeah, okay,” I said, shoulders sagging in defeat. “Maybe I’ll do that. Shit! What a fucking waste of time!”
It annoyed me immensely that I was going to have to divert energy into this when I had important pack matters to attend to, things that would actually make a difference to the functioning of the pack, not simply check little boxes for a greedy Council that was lasciviously eyeing off our assets. Still, when I looked at it that way, thiswasan important task, a necessary one to keep the pack safe from those greedy elders.
“I can find an agency and set up your profile for you,” offered Zendius, “and schedule any meetups for in between your meetings, if you like?”
“Thanks. I’d appreciate it,” I told him. He knew me well enough to know what sort of person I was looking for.
“And I’ll ask around my contacts. See if anyone knows of any unmated male omegas.”
“Ugh. That’s humiliating,” I complained. “It sounds so desperate.”
“It’s not. We both know you weren’t even looking to get mated yet. Don’t worry. I’ll make sure it’s clear you’re only trying to meet Council requirements and they’ve put us on a timeline.”
“It’s still embarrassing. And I’d much rather choose my own mate than be saddled with one because I’m forced to act now.”
Zendius shrugged. “Responsibilities of being Pack Alpha, I guess. You have to make sacrifices for the good of the pack.”
He was right, of course. The Alpha had to put the welfare of the pack before themselves, but it shouldn’t have applied to something like this. A mate. Someone you spent the rest of your life with. Someone you’d be intimate with. I should not be being pushed into this. I should have been able to take my time and find my actual mate, someone I wanted to share my life with,maybe even my fated mate, if I had one. But no. My choices were being taken away here. With the scarcity of male omegas, I’d be lucky if I had any choice at all.
“Okay, go ahead and do it.” A gob of spittle hit the desk as I angrily snapped out the words. “I’m going to discuss the boundary situation with Xeres.”
I just barely avoided slamming the door behind me as I stomped away to find our mage.
Chapter 02
XANDER
Bored green eyes stared at me out of a pale, thin face. The elfin facial structure and high cheekbones suggested a youthful, fragile creature. A mop of unruly brown hair was the only sign of rebellion. The only indication this creature had not entirely given up.
The man moved and a shaft of light bounced off the mirror right into my eye. I narrowed my eyes and glared at my reflection, my lips pursed in a scowl as big as the heavy eyebrows that strained for each other across my now-wrinkled brow.
Another day, the same as all the others.
Still scowling, I applied a line of color along one eyelid. Today was a blue day. Anything to brighten up my existence, which was dull, dull, dull. Another blue line, this time for the other eye. Huh, maybe I should have one color for one eye and a different one for the other.Thatwould be different. Too late for today, though.
One more day locked in my room with nothing to do but read. It wasn’t that I wasforcedto stay in my room, unless I didn’t mind being the subject of constant barbs and occasional cruel pranks. Hence the reason the door was locked from the inside. At leastthat meant I could spend my day in peace – if I didn’t count the annoyingly loud thumps on the door as my cousins walked past. No, I technically might not have been a prisoner, but I couldn’t leave the property without being accompanied by a family member - and that was always such a horrendous experience that it wasn’t something I’d ever choose to do - and leaving my room meant the risk of running into one of my cousins, so no…
I hadn’t been permitted an education ('Why waste it on an omega?' – my uncle’s words not mine), but I spent my days in my room, reading. I’d worked my way through somanybooks, including a fabulous collection of spell books, all of which were delivered to my e-reader. The one time I’d ordered a hardcopy book, it had arrived damaged. Not an accident of delivery either, but pages torn out by one of my delightful cousins, I’m sure, the sad and tattered remains fluttering forlornly as I flipped the cover open. I only made that mistake once.
I was obliged to leave my room for meals, or I would never have been fed, but going down to the dining hall to eat with my uncle and his family was hardly the highlight of my day or the stuff of dreams. I wasn’t even sure why they insisted I eat with them, unless it was to provide them with a target for their vicious jibes. In a household of alphas, there were constant clashes and verbal attacks unleashed, and as the only omega, and a despised male one at that (my family seemed to think it was unmanly for a guy to be an omega), more often than not I was on the receiving end of their cruel taunts.
Why was I living here? Out of the goodness of their shriveled-up hearts, apparently. I’d been brought here at the age of fourteen, when my parents just… disappeared. I’d been taken in by my mother’s brother and his family, but I’d never been shown any love or any real concern here. The whole family had turnedout to meet me on the day I arrived, but I’d seen the adults’ expressions of disappointment as they’d turned away from me. I wasn’t sure what the problem was. I was a typical fourteen-year-old kid, gangly, tousled, dirty and sulky, but after ten years in this house, I’d long suspected it was none of those things that had been the cause of their dismay. I wasn’t sure what they were expecting but whatever it was, I wasn’t it. I would almost bet if I’d been an alpha that half my problems would have instantly disappeared.
If I’d expected more from my cousins who ranged from a couple of years younger than me to eight years older, then I was destined for disappointment. My cousins – all alphas, over-indulged and aggressive – quickly caught on to their parents’ disdain and treated me with a superiority and viciousness that was breathtaking in its callousness, their parents never reining in their atrocious behavior at all. Well, I could see where it came from – was it environmental or was it a biologic inheritance? – so it wasn’t surprising.
