Page 53 of Unlikely Omega

Fuck! I grab a bandage from the basket and throw it at him. Then I get up and stalk out of my tent, pausing to tie the flap of the door closed.

And then it hits me that the guards aren’t outside. They weren’t there when I arrived.

So where are they?

Finding them and punishing them for abandoning their post is as good a mission as any to take my mind off the strange feelings I feel and banish the echoes from my past, a past I thought I’d managed to bury and forget.

But the ghosts of my past seem to still be very much alive, and the priest now, along with the pretty omega acolyte, seem to have taken up seat inside my head, unwilling to let me go.

17

ARIADNE

“Where are you taking me?” I demand as the two female guards drag me through the camp and out the other side. “I thought I was supposed to meet the General.”

“You are,” one of them says.

“You’re lying. I saw his tent. Unless the most opulent tent of the camp is used by someone else? Do you have a royal guest visiting, perhaps?”

“Shut up,” she says, slapping my back, shoving me forward, “and walk faster.”

I eye the camp around us as I comply. The tents are dirty and torn in places. Few soldiers appear to be around, a couple of them casting us curious looks from where they stand between tents, smoking tobacco in pipes.

A run-down, ragtag army. Doesn’t the empire have enough coin to spend on them? Does it mean the empire doesn’t consider the threat of Fae-blood to be real?

The guards shove me toward a tent that is slightly apart from the others. It’s all black, the color of the Temple, though the opulent tent I assume belongs to the General of the army is also black, albeit with a band of bright color all around and the colorful banner of the Black Wolves fluttering from the top.

I’m right, though. When we enter, a priest is standing there, black hood up, hands clasped against his middle. Waiting for me.

“Who are you?” I yelp when the guards push me toward him. “What do you want?”

“Leave her with me,” he says to the guards, ignoring me.

“I’m not staying here,” I start, then gasp when he reaches out and grabs my wrist. “I don’t know what you want.”

The guards bow and leave the tent, letting the flap fall closed with a thud and I pull futilely against his grip.

Suddenly he releases me and I stumble back, falling against a narrow table.

“What is this?” I pant, trying to hide my fear. “An army priest who disobeys his General and takes matters into his own hands? I’m pretty sure that’s punishable. You’ll hang from the rope if you don’t let me go.”

“You don’t know anything about armies,” he scoffs. His face is lined, his mouth harsh, his eyes narrowed. “Or about yourself.”

“And you do?” I hadn’t meant for it to come out so sarcastic, and he steps closer, grabbing his black staff that had been leaning against a stool. He lifts it as if to strike me.

“To enter the priesthood, ignorant acolyte,” he hisses, “one has to read the old scrolls and attend the history lectures. One knows about our past, and how it shaped us.”

“The General wants to see me,” I whisper, trying to ignore what he’s saying, his confidence about it all. “Why did you have me brought here? Let me go.”

“I wanted to see for myself this Temple acolyte, this omega.”

“How would you know about me?”

“The Temple has eyes and ears everywhere. You really are one, aren’t you?” He glares down his nose at me. Randomly, I notice that the head of his staff is shaped like a wolf’s head, an echo of the emblem of the army he serves. “A Fae-blooded omega awakened.”

I press my lips together. My sexuality, my nature, whatever this is, is none of his business, and after spending my years feeling as sexual as a folding chair, I feel strange to have my nature discussed by just about everyone around me.

“I can smell it on you. It’s subtle, so far. Not every man and woman will know. You’re probably pretty safe for a while longer, until you enter pre-heat. After that, when the nesting instincts and the lust kick in, you’re on your own. Well, figuratively speaking. In fact, you’ll be with as many men as possible, depending on availability and compatibility.”

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