My growl pulled her attention away from Dagger, and she stared at my wolf form, her eyes so big the whites gleamed even in the dark. Her mouth opened but no words came. And before I could warn them back out the hatch, Zelene sprung from the bed to crouch in front of me. She pressed her front to my fur, her arms coming around my neck as she stared over her shoulder at the other two. A snarl curled her lip, throwing out a warning similar to mine.
“Go!” she said. “Now.”
“We can’t,” Tavia argued. “The girls are dealing with the wolves this alpha brought down on you. We have to keep the hatch sealed until they’re gone.”
“You have to go,” Zelene insisted. “I’m still in heat. And the king… the king…” Her words faded out on a whimper and I was aware that she was growing needy again.
“Listen,” Tavia held her hands out as if that would placate Zelene. “Everyone just… calm down. We’re stuck here for a while, but as soon as the wolves are led away, we’ll go.” She looked at Dagger and he shook his head, expression still creased with disgust and surprise.
“I must speak to the king. Alone,” he said.
“Not now,” I snarled to let him know I disagreed. I wasn’t leaving the bunker until Zelene’s heat broke. And when that time came, I intended to rake his ass over the coals for disobeying my orders. No one was to leave the city.
No one.
“A new threat has been leveled on Luxoria, Your Majesty. One you’re going to want to hear about.” The tone of his voice made my instincts flare. Dagger didn’t rile easily. And he didn’t disobey. If he left the city against my orders, it meant something was wrong.
Very wrong.
It meant whatever the human armies had cooked up this time, was bigger than anything we’d fought back before. And if the city was in danger… the Badlands were too. The pack, all of us, were in trouble.
I pressed into Zelene’s body as if that could keep her from whatever danger was coming our way.
The obstacles were piling up, but it didn’t change the way I felt.
If it was the last thing I did, I would keep my promise to my rose.
Chapter Ten
Zelene
There was only one more day of my heat, and it threatened to kill us all. Adalai rumbled in his wolf form. He wasn’t supposed to know we could shift. I’d betrayed every omega in the Badlands. As much as I wanted to believe the King would be my defender, I couldn’t imagine what that meant for my sister, my friends, or the rest of the omegas.
“You should go,” I said to Tavia. “The girls need you.”
We’d been caught outside the bunker before when the wolves sensed our heat. Sometimes they knew even before we did, before our bodies warmed and the urges started. It took all of us to fight them off. If it was just Charolet and Ashla out there, they were in trouble. Rielle could be trapped in the castle, and if the Alphas knew where their king was, she might be in a totally different kind of danger.
“No way.” Tavia crossed her arms over chest and glared at Adalai. I held him tighter, feeling more protective of him than my own sister. What had he done to me? “I’m not leaving you down here with a wolf. And a man who can’t take his eyes off you because you’re still in heat.”
Dagger didn’t shift his gaze away from me to refute her claim, but his lip curled in a growl I recognized. I’d seen him many times, but never this close. The alpha lord of the Badlands was disgusted to find his king extinguishing the heat of an omega.
Adalai growled low. Would he choose me over another alpha?
“The king won’t hurt me.” My declaration earned a groan from my sister and the alpha. I wouldn’t betray Adalai’s trust and tell them what he’d said, moments after spilling his seed inside me. Neither Tavia nor his friend would believe it until they heard it from his lips.
I hated that. I hated that after the three incredible days we’d spent together, as one, he was still an alpha and I was an omega. That those words were still opposites, opposing forces. I groaned against his fur, and this fury had nothing to do with my heat. The declaration wouldn’t mean anything until we got out of this bunker. Only his actions would make it more than an empty promise.
“We can’t stay here,” the alpha said. “The wolves will keep fighting until they get inside. It’s not safe for us here, and your friends are in danger too.”
“Like you care,” Tavia scoffed.
“Brave little omega, when you stand in this bunker that reeks of Alpha seed and your dream of liberation.”
Tavia took a step toward the Alpha. I remembered what Adalai said about bravery and stupidity, and hoped his friend agreed.
“When was the last time you defended yourself against an actual wolf?” She stared down the man. “Or were you so wrapped up in your own problems that you didn’t know they existed, leaving us to fight that battle for you.”
I gasped. But I couldn’t tell Tavia that I lied to Adalai about the wolves. I hoped now that he’d shifted, he wouldn’t remember that our stories didn’t match.
“You have no idea what we do to keep you safe,” the alpha roared.
“Enough!” Adalai put a stop to the pissing contest, his voice ringing through our minds even in his wolf form. “Dagger is right. We’re not safe here. We need to get back to the castle.”
Never had Adalai been more Alpha than he was at that moment. I pulled away from him as Tavia gasped. Even Dagger stepped back, like the King’s power had given him a shove.
“King,” I said softly. He didn’t want me to call him that anymore, but our guests were in enough of an uproar without me calling His Majesty by his first name. “How will we get there?”
“Dagger will bring my men. Your friends know how to defend themselves against these aggressions. Once inside the castle, you’ll have every protection afforded an Alpha.”
“Have you lost your mind?” Dagger asked.
“No.” Adalai pawed at the mattress. “We’ve been fighting the wrong war for too long. The omegas have suffered enough for the actions of one man. They’ll fight with us, if we give them reason to. Reward.”
Dagger scoffed. “They’ll take your crown. Declare you unfit to lead.”
“Who will? You?”
“My King, I swore I’d do whatever it takes to defend you and our city. I’m not sure what that means right now.”
“Have you forgotten what you are? You’re a pack animal. Pay attention to these omegas. How they come together and fight. How they protect their own without any regard for the consequences.”
My heart pounded, and that ever present heat intensified once again. It made me doubt what I heard. Did the king actually intend to liberate the omegas? And if he did, why did it scare me so much?
No matter what happened, everything about my life as I’d known it had changed. There was no way I could go back to the way I was before, an anonymous omega who worked in the castle kitchen. My sister had challenged this man named Dagger—someone who cared enough to come for the king—and that wasn’t without its own consequences. And howls of wolves still swirled above us.
“I brought my gun,” Dagger said. “Fully loaded with silver bullets. It will buy us a little space while we collect the omega females and bring them to safety inside the walls of the city.”
“What will happen to them once they get there?” They weren’t safe among Alphas. We needed a guarantee of protection, or there was no reason for any of us to follow the King and Dagger.
“They’ll come to the castle,” Adalai said. “Until we make an official declaration, we’ll make sure they’re safe.”
Dagger raised an eyebrow. “An official declaration about what?”
“The Division is over.”
Tavia gasped, her gaze fixed on me, waiting for confirmation that what she heard was true. I shrugged.
“King, you don’t know what you’re saying—”
“Don’t tell me what I know and what I don’t!” Adalai lunged at Dagger. “Get these females out of here,
and ensure the safety of the others. We’re going to the castle. Now.”
“She... she can’t go like that.” Tavia’s body shook as hard as her voice. Omega wolves were bloodthirsty and vicious, just like everything else in the Badlands. Even escorted by Adalai and Dagger, there was no guaranteeing a safe and easy trip. “She’s naked, smells like his seed, and is about to go into another wave of heat.”
“Where are her clothes?” Dagger asked.
“My dress is ruined.” I pressed my lips together to stifle a whine. The situation was dangerous enough already without me losing control of my senses and becoming more of a magnet for the wolves.
Dagger and Tavia groaned in unison. I didn’t have to elaborate how the dress met its demise.
“My jacket.” Adalai broke away from me and nudged the rich leather with his snout. “She can wear that until we can have some proper clothes made for her.”
Tavia’s mouth dropped at the implication.
“King, you’re making a bold statement.” Dagger scooped the jacket Adalai had worn to the celebration party off the filthy mattress. It was the only thing that would leave this bunker the same as it entered. “I’m begging you to think about this before we do something we can’t change.”
“I’ve been thinking about it ever since I laid eyes on the female. Cover her with the jacket and bring us to the castle.”
Dagger held the jacket out to me. My arms were wrapped tightly around my naked body. I wasn’t so much ashamed to have him see me, but I was under the foolish assumption that I belonged to Adalai. He’d claimed my body every way possible, and made some strong declarations to me and to this alpha, but I knew as much as everyone else in this bunker that everything would change the moment we left this safe space.
Tavia took the jacket from him and draped it over my shoulders. It was lined with silk, and nothing so fine had ever touched my skin. Nothing but Adalai. She murmured for me to put my arms in the too long sleeves and encouraged me to stand. The jacket hit me at the knees. Tavia fastened the remaining buttons and smoothed her rough hands over the leather. There was no missing the tears in her eyes, but in the dark, I couldn’t read her emotion.
“I...I don’t know if I can do this.” Another wave of heat racked my body.
“You can. You have to.” She’d uttered those words to me so many times, just like I’d done for her. It was the Badlands creed, especially as an omega female. “I’ll carry you.”
“No,” Adalai interrupted. “She can ride on my back.”
“What if you have to fight, Your Majesty?” Tavia was so brave, questioning the king. “The wolves up there will stop at nothing to take a female in heat. They won’t care that the king has claimed her as his.”
Dagger sighed. “The omega is right. We need every advantage to ensure our safe passage. All we have is my gun. I can summon the guards, but I couldn’t bring them with me because I wasn’t sure how to explain that their leader was in the Badlands, rutting with an omega.”
“You forget who you are,” Adalai said. “You don’t have to explain anything to anyone. We make the rules, we can change them.”
My heart fluttered, hearing my words roll off his lips in such an official capacity. For the first time, I believed that I could actually be his queen.
Chapter Eleven
Adalai
I raced across the desert with Zelene on my back and Dagger at my side. The crazed howling of male wolves followed, gaining on us. Tavia had shifted and was nearby, in her wolf form. I could sense her trying to find the other two female omegas. Instinct told me that if we could get close enough to them, they would know to follow us to the city. Dagger had already alerted the border guards that we were coming, but they wouldn’t be expecting me in my wolf form.
Would it change things?
No. I was king, and it was even more important that I hold that position now, with so much at stake. A broken pack to put back together. A mate to treasure and care for. My prince in her belly. If he wasn’t there yet, he would be soon. I’d see to it. And they would be fucking safe, if it was the last thing I did in this world. Her and her family and every other omega who wanted the pack to be one again.
Dagger knew the truth now. It was easier than I’d thought to declare my intentions to one of my most trusted men. But how would it be to declare it to the entire pack. And what kind of threat would the omega males be to the city now? I had no idea if they would happily come back under the protection of their King Alpha, or if they’d rebel even more. I didn’t know if they could be trusted or if I’d have to wield my authority like a weapon.
But none of that mattered now. First, I needed to see that the females were safe. Then I would handle my people and the laws.
Zelene’s arms tightened around my neck as I powered across the dry sand, kicking up a cloud of dust. The heat from her pussy scalded my back where she tried not to writhe. I could tell she ached and my wolf wanted to halt everything and tend to her, but it was too dangerous.
Soon. Soon we would be back to the castle and I’d soothe her. And she would soothe me.
That was it, wasn’t it? That was exactly what my omega did for me. My entire life, I’d felt the jagged edges that made up my soul, my being. I’d known they were there, and accepted them. Accepted the feeling of incompleteness that plagued us all, and blamed it on not being able to shift.
But it wasn’t just my animal that I’d needed. I had been missing the other half of me, my mate. And now I’d found her. She filled in the rough spots so that I could be whole.
I thought of my father and mother as I ran across the dry land. It made sense that my father had turned so cold after losing her. Without her, he was something else entirely. It made sense why he’d demanded a separation, even if it was the wrong thing to do.
And it made sense that I be the one to bring us all back together.
The king I was before Zelene, couldn’t have done that. But who I was now… that was who I was meant to be.
A vicious roar hit my ears—close enough that the sound wasn’t only in my mind—and I knew we weren’t going to make it across the Badlands without a fight. Pulling to a stop, I slid Zelene off my back, while Dagger and Tavia surrounded her. Together we formed a shield, and just in time as one by one, snarling omega wolves prowled over the sand toward us.
Zelene let off a pained whimper and I felt her heat pulse in the air. “Adalai…” Her voice was thin with warning. The close proximity of the other males was making her worse.
“Don’t shift,” Tavia’s voice ricocheted through our minds. “Whatever you do, Zee, you cannot shift.”
“Why?” Dagger asked.
“If she shifts, her wolf will be in charge,” she answered. “And with the heat, she will likely fight us to get to a male.”
I let off a thunderous growl. “Over my dead fucking body.”
“No,” Zelene panted. “No, I won’t. I want… Adalai. Adalai is mine.”
Her declaration appeased me, but only a little.
“Don’t shift,” Tavia repeated, her tone firm in my head.
The omega wolves moved closer as my mind worked to come up with a solution for fighting them off. But there were so many of them. Twenty. Maybe thirty. They were their own pack of snarling rabid beasts, and they wanted only one thing.
They wanted what was mine.
Unacceptable.
There was only one thing to do. One course to take.
My wolf pawed the sand as a threatening snarl rolled up my chest and through my fangs.
Kill them all.
I lunged at the closest wolf, going for his neck, while Dagger used his gun to battle back others who were too brave for their own good. Behind me, I could hear Tavia’s wolf barking her warnings to the males who got too close to Zelene. But the omegas didn’t stop progressing. Soon, she would have to fight too, and my rose would be on her own.
One by one, I battled the approaching wolves. With Dagger by my side, we pushed them back. And
each yelp as my fangs pierced fur and skin was an indescribable satisfaction. The blood of my enemies…
“No.” The voice was faint, but I would hear her over the roar of a crowd any day. “No,” Zelene cried, “don’t kill them.”
Don’t kill them? They wanted to take her from me, and she begged for mercy?
“Don’t listen to her,” Tavia said. “Kill them, or they will kill you.”
“They aren’t your enemies,” Zelene argued. “How… how will you bring us together… if… mmm… if we keep fighting?”
“Rose, they want to hurt you,” I thundered, growling around the throat of the male I’d pinned.
A wolf lunged from the side, and the only warning I had before his fangs ripped into my flank was Zelene’s horrified gasp. I roared, releasing the other wolf, and turned to the one who attacked me. Dagger was there, to fight back the others and Tavia dove for one sneaking in from the side.
But it was futile.
There were too many.
Too many heat crazed males. Too many angry over who I was. Too many, and too powerful.
Zelene’s scream ripped through the air, thick with pheromones, but the fighting continued. Blood soaked my fur, and I didn’t know if it was mine or not. Only that I wanted to spill as much of it as possible before I fell.
In my head, I heard new voices…
“The males are out of control. Protect the king and his mate.”
“Fight our own? We can’t do that.”
“Do you want peace? If you do, protect the king. Protect his mate. It’s the only way.”
I didn’t recognize the voices but they didn’t mean to harm Zelene and that was all that mattered.
Little by little the omega wolves began to still, even if their growls didn’t settle. Some of them even backed away. Tavia went quiet, and Dagger straightened to look around, his eyes going wide at what he saw.
Pulling myself away from the male wolf I’d been about to kill, I took in the scene. Wolves had surrounded Zelene, but not the males we’d been fighting back. These were female omegas. So many of them, I couldn’t see where they ended. They stood tall and proud and vicious, reminding me of what Zelene said about the way they watched out for each other in the Badlands. I knew my rose was just like these females. If she wasn’t crippled by her heat, she’d be standing fierce beside me to protect what needed protecting.
His Forbidden Omega (The Royal Omegas Book 1) Page 8