Omega Academy

by Lily Archer

  That way lies madness. “Kyte.” I fist my hands. “Stop.”

  “As long as all three of us are involved, I don’t care who gets inside her first.” He runs his fingertip across his lips. “In fact, I’ve been wondering how soft her tongue would feel on me. The sounds she’d make with me in her mouth and Ceredes between her thighs. Maybe Jeren in her hands.”

  Ceredes rubs his hands down his face. “Kyte, you’re a real dick, you know that?”

  “Definitely.” He stands and calls up the portal. “And now I need some alone time.”

  “Me too.” Jeren uses the portal once Kyte’s gone and disappears.

  “Me too.” I hate to admit it, but it’s true. I walk to the window and stare out at her, her face animated as she talks and laughs with Tilda. It’s so easy to reach into my pants, to watch her and think of the kiss we shared, the taste of her lips. It’s all for her. Every groan. Every twist of my palm. Every last stroke. Hers.

  24

  Lana

  “Why did no one tell me about this?” I hiss.

  Tilda lies on my bed beside me, both of us giggling. Uaxin is on my other side, listening.

  “I thought you knew. I mean, everyone knows.” Tilda laughs some more, and I roll over and bury my face in my pillow.

  “Does it hurt?” It comes out more like ‘dmfurt.”

  “What?”

  I lift my head. “Does it hurt?”

  “Pillars, no. It makes it so, so good.”

  “Oh my god.” I squeal into my pillow, then turn my head to the side. “Have you done it before?”

  “No, I’m saving myself for my Alpha mate.”

  “That’s so romantic.”

  “I know, right? All the Betas I’ve been with can’t compare, I’m sure.”

  “Wait.” I must have misheard. “You just said you were saving yourself, but then you said you’re not a virgin, so I’m lost.”

  “What’s a virgin?” She twirls a lock of her black curls around her finger. “Some weird human term?”

  “What? It means someone who’s never had sex. You must have some other word for it.”

  “No.” She furrows her brow. “Why would there be a word for that? What’s the difference in a person that has or hasn’t mated?”

  “I … Well, I don’t know.” I look at Uaxin, but she gives the tiniest shrug. “So, virgins just aren’t a thing in space?”

  “Is it important to humans or something? To be untried?”

  “I guess because, well maybe because the women are supposed to be virgins when they get married, and if they’re not, they’re seen as having less worth?” Saying it out loud makes me cringe.

  Tilda cringes, too. “Look, I’m not trying to society-shame anyone, but that’s a load of Cartax shit.”

  “I’m beginning to agree.” I roll to my side. “Things are so different here. I’m starting to think they’re better.”

  “Some are better, some worse.” She shrugs. “Now, back to the important stuff—I’ve heard all about the knotting from my older sister. Her Alpha is one of the chief spies for the fleet. Anyway, she said that once the knot is locked in, the orgasm can last for minutes.”

  “Minutes?” I’ve only ever gotten seconds with Henry Cavill and my vibe. “Are you serious?”

  “Min-utes,” she enunciates. “Multiple minutes. And multiple orgasms.”

  “And then you’re like, stuck together because of the knot?”

  “Yes, that’s what makes the orgasm so amazing.” She flutters her eyelashes. “Locked in pleasure.”

  “What about female Alphas?”

  “They don’t have knots, but they do have a little something special. When they climax, they clamp down on their mate. If it’s a male, he can’t escape, not until he orgasms, too.”

  “You can’t be serious?” I squeal into my pillow again.

  “Humans really are weird about mating.” She giggles, but now I realize she’s laughing at me, not with me.

  I can’t get defensive about it, because it’s true. “It’s just that humans don’t have this extra fun stuff. And we’re super private about sex in general. It’s part of our Puritan heritage, I guess. That’s the way I was brought up. My mother wanted me to be afraid of sex, I think, so that I wouldn’t get pregnant. So she told me it would hurt, and I’d hate it, and so on and so forth. Of course, when I got older, I realized she’d sold me a load of crap, but it was sort of ingrained by then.”

  “That and the virgin thing sounds awful.” She yawns.

  The portal opens, and Ilwen strides in.

  Shit.

  We’ve been in a quiet truce for the past couple of weeks, but she still sends me plenty of dirty looks. And I take care not to mention Ceredes anywhere near her. The less confrontation, the better. I’m trying to focus on finals, so keeping my head down is a necessity, no matter how badly I’d like to tell her off.

  “So, speaking of knots, have you seen Ceredes’s?” Tilda, on the other hand, still loves a good fight.

  Ilwen stops, her back tensing, and she turns toward us.

  “Tilda.” I pinch her arm.

  “I bet his is large. I mean, look at him. He’s all Bellatian. That knot has to be a pleasure twist and then some. And I know for a fact he wants to give it to you.”

  I pinch her harder. “Tilda, please.” After all, I have to live in this room with Ilwen.

  She sits up. “What?”

  I sling my legs off the side of the bed. “Tilda, let’s go study in your room, okay?”

  “No.” Ilwen points at Tilda. “You can go, Granterry garbage. Take your defective friend with you.” She jerks her chin at Uaxin. “But I have some things to say to Lana.” She snaps open the portal. “In private.”

  Justa walks in the hall door, takes one look at Ilwen, and turns around and leaves. I’m jealous.

  Uaxin rises and crosses her arms over her stomach. I can’t tell if she’s scared or angry, and that breaks my heart a little bit.

  Tilda rolls out of bed and shoots Ilwen a deadly glare, then smiles at me. “Comm me if you need me.” She motions for Uaxin to step through the portal. The Omega gives Ilwen a hard look, then leaves with Tilda on her heels.

  I take a deep breath. “Look, Ilwen—”

  She flies at me. I dodge hard to the left and hit the floor behind my bed.

  “You’ve gotten faster.” She circles around toward me.

  “Jeren’s a good teacher.” The ache in my muscles is a testament to that fact. I get up early every morning to train with him or Ceredes before classes begin.

  “I’m sure he is, fliggy.”

  Lana, don’t say it. Don’t. Say. It. “Ceredes is very thorough with me, too.” I said it.

  Her sneer almost melts my face off. “No surprise you’ve been offering yourself to the Alphas in exchange for help.”

  I stand and put up my fists. “Back off, Ilwen.”

  “You’re the one who needs to back off.” She lunges for me.

  I try to climb over the bed, but she grabs a handful of my hair and yanks me down. Jesus, that stings.

  I scream and grab a handful of hers, pulling hard until she yowls and releases me. Kicking away from her, I jump Justa’s bed and wait.

  “Do you really want to do this?” I force myself to keep Jeren’s commandments. Knees bent. Eyes on the enemy at all times. Protect my face and neck. Go for areas that will deliver the most pain. And Ceredes’ number one rule: stay on my feet.

  “You’ve been flaunting yourself for weeks, acting like you’re the Omega Commander, dragging Ceredes around by his knot.” She stalks to the foot of Justa’s bed. “I really want to do this.” Her attack is swift. I throw my hands up to protect my face, then drop and kick out to knock her off her feet. But she saw that coming, and when I drop, her knee slams into my ear. Sparks bloom in my vision, and my ear is ringing with sound and pain. It knocks me on my ass for a second. But that second is long enough for Ilwen to jump on top of me, her fists flying as I reac
h up and shield my face. She’s strong, far stronger than me. And all the training in the world can’t give me more strength than a creature like Ilwen.

  I take the hits, my arms aching, my face stinging when her nails swipe through the openings. Taking in a gulp of breath, I surge up, arching my back, then shoving forward. Ilwen falls back but catches herself like a cat and gets to her feet.

  “Not.” I heave myself to my feet. “Cool.”

  “You have been a problem since your shuttle landed.” She sizes me up. “You don’t belong here. There’s nothing special about you. Nothing. Ceredes is blinded by you, probably because you’re the only human on campus. You’re just a plaything to him. A new pet.”

  “Call me crazy, but you sound just a little bit jealous.” I scan around me for a weapon and only find Unar’s stuffed octopus-looking alien monster she sleeps with. No help.

  “Don’t worry. When he takes me to the ball, I’ll have plenty of alone time with him to explain what a disgusting animal you are.”

  I stand a little straighter, surprise knocking me out of my stance. “He asked you to the ball?”

  “Of course he has.” She forces an ugly laugh. “Did you think he’d ask you, fliggy? You’re just the female he uses for fun. I’m the one he’s going to choose as his mate.”

  I want to tell her she’s wrong, that we’re in a circle, that Ceredes would never ask her to the ball. But, for some reason, I don’t think she’s lying.

  She sees the opening and rushes me again, a scream rising from her throat that chills my blood. I embrace Jeren’s commandments and wait until she’s almost on me. Then I yank my knee up hard, right into her crotch. Her screech splits my already-injured ear, and she finally falls back, her ass hitting the floor hard as she rolls over and cups her lady-bits. That hit definitely delivered the most pain.

  I climb over to my bed and reach for my comm. “Tilda?”

  She appears in the portal a moment later, her eyes widening when she sees me. Turning toward Ilwen, she bares her (extremely sharp) teeth.

  “It’s done.” Ilwen croaks and wipes her lavender hair from her eyes. “Go away.”

  “I’m fine.” I wipe the scratches on my face, my fingers coming away a little bloody.

  “You’re not fine.” She pulls me up and toward the portal. “I’m taking you to Onin.”

  “You got her all worked up.” I want to smack Tilda, but I’m sort of over fighting for the moment. “You made her nuts and then ditched me!”

  “Yeah, I thought she’d just curse you and go to bed.” Tilda shrugs. “But I underestimated her crazy.”

  “No shit.” I sag against her, and we’re about to use the portal when Kyte walks through it, his eyes severe. It grows even harsher when he sees the scratches on my face and the state of our wrecked dorm room.

  “Come with me.” He pulls me into the portal, leaving Tilda behind.

  “Where are we?” I’ve never seen this room before. The ceiling is high above, glass looking out onto the night, and some sort of crew is setting up tables around the outer edges.

  “It’s the ballroom.” He leads me to a side hall, then picks me up with ease. “What happened?”

  “You should see the other guy.” I look up at him. He doesn’t laugh.

  “I can walk.”

  “I know.” He pauses for a moment, and my body warms as the connection between us snaps taut.

  I can feel the scratches healing, the aches in my arms dissipating. “Thank you.”

  “Now tell me what happened.”

  “Tilda baited Ilwen, then left me with her, so Ilwen went all Thunderdome on me—”

  “Thunderdome?”

  “It’s an old movie. They have this fight ring thing and they say ‘two men enter, one man leaves’ and it’s—”

  “A dueling ring. I see. If Ilwen wanted to challenge you, she should have done it formally.” He carries me through a series of halls until I’m utterly lost.

  “I don’t want anything formal from her. Or informal, either. I just want to pass finals. Hey, where are we going?”

  “My room.”

  “Why not use the portal?”

  “I think you’re being tracked each time you pass through a portal.”

  “What? Why?”

  “I don’t know, but I don’t think it was a coincidence that Master Rav showed up when we were outside of the main campus or when Master Harlan came to our room last time.” He stops and peers around a corner, then waits for a couple of Alphas to walk by. They ignore us, but I don’t know if that’s because of something Kyte does to hide us or if they’re too busy discussing the best way to behead a slymander.

  “What’s a slymander?” I whisper.

  “Multi-headed beast with three forked tongues in each head and an appetite for live prey. Comes from the Rift.”

  “The space out beyond space, right?” I’m still not clear on what the Rift is.

  “Something like that.”

  “Huh.” I hang on as he hurries down the now-empty hall. “So all this is just to cover my tracks?”

  “As far as anyone monitoring the portals knows, you’re in the ballroom being nosey about the setup.”

  “Okay. But why would anyone care where I went? Why track me? Who’s doing it? Harlan?”

  “I wish I knew.” He pushes through a door and into his dorm room.

  Ceredes stops pacing, and Jeren stows his blade.

  “Are you all right?” They both rush up but are careful not to touch me when Kyte’s holding me.

  “Yeah, just Ilwen going a little batty.” I turn to Ceredes. “She said you asked her to the ball.” Did I just sound like a jealous shrew? Yeah, I think I did. So what?

  “Yes.” He gestures toward his bed, but Kyte takes me to his own.

  Ceredes glowers and kneels beside me as Kyte checks my healed spots. “I had to ask her. It’s a rule for the Alpha Commander to escort the Omega Commander to the ball. We have to set an example for everyone.”

  “Oh.” I need to be cool about this. I really do. Because there are three of them. And being snippy about one of them going to the ball with someone else is utterly dicktastic. All the same, I want him with us.

  “I wouldn’t have asked her if it were up to me.” He takes a chance and swipes his fingers across my cheek even though Kyte is examining my arms. “I promise.”

  A link pulses through us, then settles. I can feel that Jeren’s missing, like a piece of the circuit is disconnected.

  “It’s okay.” I attempt a level-headed tone.

  “Don’t worry.” Kyte lies down next to me, the warm length of his body pressed to my side. “Jeren and I will take you.”

  “Yes.” Jeren sits on the bed next to me, his dark eyes eating me up.

  “Is it normal for a gal to have two dates?”

  “Should be three.” Ceredes grumbles and stands again, beginning his pacing anew.

  “Omegas are uncommon, so it’s normal for them to have several invitations to the ball,” Kyte explains.

  “I already intercepted three for you.” Jeren smirks.

  “What?” I try to sit up.

  Kyte presses his hand on my shoulder. “Relax.”

  “Who asked me? And you shouldn’t be messing with my mail.” I turn back to Kyte. “Was it mail? How do I even get letters?”

  “Not mail.” Jeren waves a hand. “Just Alphas who wanted to approach you in class.”

  “You threatened them?”

  He pulls a hidden blade from god-knows-where and shrugs nonchalantly. “Not with words.”

  “Who?” I insist.

  “Let’s see. There was that Uginjan Alpha, the one with the spiky tail. And the next was the male with the piercings.” Jeren points to his face. “But they’re all over his body, apparently. And then Gavros—”

  I sit up this time. “Are you shitting me?”

  “Nope.” Jeren quirks his head to the side. “I like that way of putting it, though. I’m not shitting you. Gavr
os wanted to ask you to the ball.”

  “But I hate him. He hates me.” I pinch the bridge of my nose because a headache is starting to set in. “He tried to kill me!”

  “He didn’t try to kill you. Everyone knows you’re the best pilot—and I’m talking out of the Alphas, Omegas, and Betas—and so does he. The rock fall was just him being an asshole. In hindsight, the wreck was a mix of bad decisions.” Jeren looks at Kyte pointedly. “But everyone came out of it all right.”

  “Maybe so, but he hates me.”

  “Alphas don’t hate Omegas. It’s not something that can happen.” Ceredes sits at the foot of the bed and runs one hand along my ankle. “We have an innate need to protect you, to win you.”

  I settle back down as Jeren pushes his bed over until it’s flush with Kyte’s. “You’re saying Gavros is being a jerk to me to … win me?”

  “Yeah,” Kyte replies like it’s painfully obvious.

  “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Makes total sense.” Jeren beds down next to me, his dark eyes beautiful in the low light.

  Kyte stuffs a pillow under my head, and Ceredes pulls the blanket up to my chin.

  “I can’t sleep in here, guys. Can you imagine the trouble I’ll be in if I’m caught?”

  “We’ll be the ones in trouble, not you. Don’t worry about it.” Ceredes maneuvers his bed so it lines up at the foot of the other two, then pulls his shirt off.

  I stare. I mean, I know he’s huge and muscled, but I still can’t stop looking whenever I see him with his shirt off. It’s the same with lithe Kyte and solid Jeren. They’re all so delicious.

  “Don’t do that.” Kyte groans and snuggles in behind me, though he’s careful to keep his hips back. I don’t have to guess why.

  “Do what?”

  “Ornali fruit.” Ceredes peers up at me from his spot at my feet. “I can almost taste it.”

  “Huh?”

  He doesn’t answer.

  The lights fade, and I take a deep breath. Am I doing this? Sleeping with three males?

  “Shh.” Kyte wraps one arm around me. “Go to sleep.”

  I’m warm, safe, and happy. I realize that right now, I’m happier than I’ve ever been, even when I was still a simple human on Earth, totally ignorant of the Gretar Fleet or Sentients. Love seems to eddy all around me, my Alphas forming a wall of care of protection.