Page 30 of Unsubmissive Omega
“Yes, I can see that,” he murmured, “but tell me why you’re sad.”
“I’m not…,” I hesitated. I felt the tightening of my brow. For a long moment there was just the sound of our breathing, mine loud and raspy, his soft and delicate. Maybe… maybe there was more to me than I chose to show. It had been so long sinceanyone cared how I felt about anything, I’d mostly chosennotto feel anything.
“I… I don’t want to be here,” I admitted finally. “I had no choice in coming here. I want your help to get out of here.”
Was I imagining it, or did the shine in his eyes dull a little? Regardless, his face remained impassive. I felt his gaze flickering over me, as if assessing me. A long, resigned sigh curled around the tiny room.
“Did you confirm your mating?”
“Wha-a-t? He bit me.”
“Of course. But has the mating been confirmed?”
“Um… I didn’t bite him back, if that’s what you mean.” Strangely, I felt a little guilty admitting this to Xeres, as though I were somehow betraying the Alpha by sharing intimate details. I shouldn’t have cared.
But Xeres just waved away my answer as if it were nothing. “That doesn’t count. The omega bite is unnecessary, as you know.”
“I don’t know what you mean then. How else is it confirmed… is there paperwork?” I fumbled, feeling foolish.
The strangest noise filled the little room, a mixture of sneeze and cough. Then I realized – it was the sound of a snort cut off midway.
He sighed. “Have you lain together - mated - since the first time?”
A bird could have flown into my mouth right then, as my gaping jaw registered my shock. How could he ask for such intimate details without any shade of embarrassment (that I coulddiscern, anyway, since the room was quite dark)? I mean, this was his Alpha he was talking about. My mouth was still hanging open, when he spoke again.
“You know you have to do that before the next full moon for your union to become permanent?” The mage cocked his head at me, the golden orbs now only half-moons as he watched me. “After that, there’s no reversing it.”
I hadn’t known. This was a detail that hadn’t made it into any of the books I’d read.
“Are you sure… but the mating scar…?” I fingered the silvery lumps at the base of my neck.
It was so dark, the slight rustle of cloth was the only indication of his shoulders rising and falling.
“It will fade,” he said. “And disappear by the full moon, if you don’t mate again beforehand. The mating process will be terminated and there’ll be nothing to show it ever happened.”
“Perfect!” the word popped out automatically, even as a weird squeezing sensation made itself felt in the middle of my chest. I didn’t know what was causingthat. “And that’s all I have to do… wait ’til the full moon?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Why have I never heard of this before?”
“It’s rare. The knowledge isn’t needed, I suppose. I don’t know. Shifters are… strange. Why would you form a union with someone and then break it?” His final words were barely audible, as if he’d forgotten I was there.
Then, turning back to his books, his tone ice-cold, he said, “So now you’ve got what you came for, you can leave.”
I felt the dismissal sweep over me like a snowy blizzard. I shivered. Then, I felt belligerent. I drew myself up, a hot retort forming in my throat. I didn’t like being dismissed like that. But just as easily as my temper rose, it drained away. There was no point. He was right. I’d gotten what I came for… and it was unwise to annoy a mage just to soothe my irritable temper. I'd already pushed my luck with the way I'd spoken to him earlier.
I took the few steps required to reach the door and then a sudden thought struck me. I froze with my hand up, in my preoccupation forgetting the door would open without any help from me. It didn’t need me, just like the pack didn’t need me.
“Why are you helping me?” It seemed like a huge betrayal of his Pack Alpha. He should have been urging me to stay, not handing me the knowledge I needed to leave. The answer, when it came, felt like a kick in the guts.
“Darius is a good man, a good Alpha… he deserves the same, and someone who values him,” Xeres said simply, then turned back to the tome laid open on the wooden desk, by this simple action indicating our conversation was over.
I hurried from the room and didn’t look back.
Chapter 15
DARIUS
