The Sleeping Omega Prince

by Maggie Hemlock

  I couldn’t imagine him walking around with a cat.

  “I could. He loves being ass backwards and a wolf shifter owning a cat would definitely be ass backwards.”

  As I expected, Seth waited by his boat. The sun was high in the sky preparing to make its evening descent. Dark storm clouds hung low but didn’t block it out completely. He’d built another fire and was roasting a marshmallow. They were Stacy’s favorite. He nodded in my direction when I sat down on a rock opposite of him but didn’t speak. He reached down into the bag and tossed me one. I ate it cold. My wolf was too impatient to wait for the fire to melt the sugar ball.

  “Where’s your mate?” Seth asked.

  “Grieving the loss of his people. Some of them left on the ships believing the island to be cursed. His carrier died in the battle for the island. They won, but they still lost everything in the end.”

  He tossed me another marshmallow. This time I looked around and found a stick to spear it on. The sugary gelatin crackled in the fire.

  “We all lose in the end,” Seth chuckled without looking up from the fire. “It doesn’t matter how hard we fight.”

  “We fight for future generations and the moments we actually have,” I said.

  “Tell that to your mate. He stood up for himself and his family. Then he was cursed and left for dead. Now, he won. He outlived the asshole and woke up to find himself without a family.”

  “He has a family.”

  “Us?” Seth shook his head. “A reckless recovering junky and a man obsessed with the past? He didn’t exactly luck out, did he?”

  I laughed despite myself.

  “They do have descendants. If they didn’t the Moonscales wouldn’t exist as we know them today. Hell, with a little luck once things calm down, they’ll have some more.”

  Seth smirked at me and shook his head. For a long time neither of us spoke. We emptied the bag of marshmallows. Slowly turning each of them into a gooey burnt mess one at a time. I thought about Stacy and what she’d say to Seth. I didn’t really have a clue. Then, without meaning to my thoughts returned to Brendan. I tried not to think about him too hard around Seth. We technically, shared a pack link like most families do. We didn’t use it much these days, but when we were close by it wasn’t unheard of for information to cross unknowingly. Brendan’s sorrow washed over me and then he slammed our mating link shut.

  “You have your work cut out for you with that one,” Seth broke the silence and slid the last marshmallow into his mouth. “I have some hot dogs if you’re still hungry.”

  “Nah, we need to get to work on your boat.”

  “Ready to get rid of me?”

  “Trying to get you home in time for that job.”

  “Brendan’s not going to freak out if we start cutting down trees?” Seth asked.

  I didn’t know what to say. Then remembered the big fallen tree we climbed over on our way to the waterfall.

  “Let’s take one that’s already fallen,” I stood up and stretched.

  My wolf sat up alert. His senses morphed with mine and the world came alive. The same senses that enabled me to thrive in my field now made everything too sharp. The white edges of the storm clouds and the sharp smell of the sea mingled.

  “Alright?” Seth asked.

  “Yeah,” I nodded, and my senses retracted to normal.

  Shifters have sense beyond what most humans would understand even when our inner beasts aren’t meddling. Add their abilities to that and the world was a bizarre place to live in. The more alert the inner beast the more we saw through their eyes.

  “You alright, Brendan?” I checked on my mate over our mating link.

  “Sorry. I was trying to look under the sea. So much of the coast is under water now,” he said.

  “Climate change sucks.”

  Brendan fell silent and I didn’t push him to say more.

  “Lead the way to the fallen tree, brother,” Seth said.

  Neither of us said anything as we made our way to the tree. Brendan’s sorrow ebbed and flowed across our shared link almost inseparable from my own emotions.

  “You think things would’ve been different if Stacy and I had pups?” Seth broke the silence.

  “Where’s that coming from?” I asked him.

  “Left field,” my wolf said.

  “Just a question,” Seth shrugged as we arrived at the tree. “Maybe they would have kept my head above water.”

  “You’re going to be an uncle sometime in the near future,” I said without looking at him.

  “Yeah. The crazy uncle.”

  “That’s yet to be determined. They don’t know you yet. To them you could be any uncle you wanted. I’d vote for a present one, but that’s up to you. What do you think?”

  “I’m not making any promises,” he laughed.

  “About the tree.”

  “Looks big enough. Wonder what the hell knocked it over? It’s not rotten.”

  “Fate,” I shrugged. “Let’s get to work.”

  By the time we finished the repairs to the fishing boat the sun had set. Brendan still hadn’t returned, and I was itching to go find him. I kept my promise of giving him space, but it wasn’t easy. Half of myself was out there in pain and there was nothing I could do to solve it. We cooked hotdogs and ears of corn from the chopper over an open fire.

  “Think that thing can haul the chopper back too?” I asked Seth.

  “Sure, but then how would you get home?”

  “We’ll figure it out. I don’t want to keep Charlie’s chopper too long. He probably already thinks I stole it and flew to the states.”

  “In that dinky thing?” Seth laughed.

  A second later he asked if I was going to stay on the island. I didn’t know what to say.

  “You aren’t coming back, are you?” He asked again when I didn’t say anything.

  “I have to take care of things eventually, but right now Brendan needs to be here. It’s all he knows. Literally in the most literal sense of the word. This island is all he knows.”

  “What about your job? Are you really going to give up tenure?”

  “I’ll take mate leave.”

  “After that?” He asked.

  “Brendan and I have to figure that out together.”

  “Want some advice?” Seth asked turning over the corn.

  “Nope,” my wolf said.

  “Sure,” I nodded.

  “Don’t leave him to stew in all of it too long. I get it. I do. He wants his time alone and for a bit that’s okay, but don’t leave him to wallow in his pity too long. It’s not good for anyone. I pushed everyone away after Stacy died and look what happened to me.”

  “Sorry I didn’t annoy you more.”

  “Don’t be. I don’t know that it would have changed anything. I took off. What were you supposed to do? Lock me in the attic and feed me through a slot in the door?” Seth asked.

  “I actually considered it.”

  “Asshole.”

  “Don’t insult my mate,” Brendan said from the shadows. “You’re brothers. I get it, but you can’t come to our island and insult him.”

  “Sorry,” Seth glanced over his shoulder. “It wasn’t really an insult. Just an observation.”

  Brendan laughed and stepped into the fire light. His eyes were still red, but his expression was lighter than when I left him on the ship.

  “I’ll leave you two to talk,” Seth said grabbing one of the ears of corn with the tongs.

  “Stay,” Brendan said. “Please. It’s dinner time.”

  “Alright,” Seth nodded and sat back down.

  He glanced at me, but I didn’t have the answers. After our parents died, I threw myself more into my work than ever. When Stacy died and Seth disappeared, I worked hard enough to be the youngest professor to gain tenure at the school.

  I reached out for him and Brendan smiled. He stepped around the fire and sat down in my lap. I wrapped an arm around his middle and stole a kiss.

&
nbsp; “This is nice,” Brendan said over our mate link.

  “This feels like home. You here with me.”

  “Is Seth alright?” Brendan asked.

  “We fixed the boat with that big fallen tree. I think he’s relaxed a bit now that he’s not stranded.”

  “That’s good. I’m glad the tree didn’t go to waste. It was very old.”

  “Can you two stop that? It’s rude,” Seth said and took a bite out of his corn on the cob.

  “Sorry. I was just telling your brother how I wanted to have a dozen hatchlings this year and how much mating we might have to do to make that happen,” Brendan smirked.

  “Ha. Ha. Ha,” Seth shook his head. “You sure you don’t want me to leave you two alone to get started on those hatchlings?”

  “We’ve already started, but no stay. You’re family. Besides, you’re a guest on the island.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Brendan

  Only embers remained of the fire when I woke to the first cries of seagulls the next morning. We all slept outside by the fire like my family used to when I was a hatchling. Rhett was still out cold, but Seth was packing the last of his stuff. I didn’t want to budge from my cozy spot on the sand. Rhett’s warm arm was tucked around my waist holding me close, but I needed to apologize for wrecking Seth’s boat.

  “Good morning,” I said once I was far enough away from Rhett not to wake him up.

  “Mornin’,” Seth said without looking up at me.

  “You don’t have to rush off if you don’t want to. You’re Rhett’s brother. Family is always welcome on the island.”

  “Thanks, but I gotta job to do.”

  “We eat fish too,” I laughed trying to break the tension.

  “Gotta show up. Can’t go back on my word,” he tied the pack shut.

  “Okay,” I nodded. “Well, don’t be a stranger. You can come back and visit whenever you like.”

  “Thanks,” Seth nodded.

  “Sorry about your boat.”

  “Don’t be. The repairs make it better than it was when it was new,” he chuckled. “Thanks for the tree.”

  “No problem.”

  “Sorry about…” he looked around searching for the words.

  “Yeah, sorry about your…” I looked around and said, “too.”

  “It gets easier. It’s hard to believe that now, but it gets easier. Don’t spend too much time alone. Don’t think doing something dangerous will make you feel closer to them and don’t go chasing around signs from the Other World, either. They’re not real. If your folks are lucky, they’ve already moved on and are reborn.”

  “Is that what you’re waiting on with Stacy?” I asked before I could stop myself.

  “No,” he shook his head. “One drunk night we promised if one of us went before the other we’d wait on the other side. Now, I’m just trying to make it until my door comes and do some good between now and then.”

  “Sorry,” I looked down at my feet. “Do you want me to wake Rhett up so you can say goodbye?”

  “Nah,” Seth shook his head. “We’ve never been great at goodbyes. Tell him I’ll get the chopper back to Charlie and I’ll watch the house while he’s gone. I have a few weeks off after this next job.”

  “The house and chopper are in good hands,” I nodded.

  “Hey, one more thing, okay?”

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “Don’t keep Rhett out here too long. He loves that damn stupid job. We both know it’s weird, but it means the world to him.”

  “I’d follow him anywhere,” I said and realized I meant it.

  “But you don’t want to leave the island.”

  “That’s something we’ll have to decide together.”

  “Funny, that’s what he said last night,” Seth said.

  “Do you need help getting the boat into the water?” I asked.

  “How’s your wing? I don’t want Rhett trying to kick my ass later because I let you work while injured.”

  “Dragons are fast healers,” I said.

  “And we really want to get you off the island so we can be alone with our Alpha to figure stuff out. We can’t do that with you around trying to plan our future.”

  After waving Seth off I fed the fire some driftwood and looked through the bags Seth brought off the chopper. I found some more bottles of water and chocolate bars. There were things to cook too, but I didn’t know what Rhett liked for breakfast. Even if I did, I’d probably burn it. After a quick snack, I curled back up next to Rhett. His arm wrapped back around my middle and pulled me close.

  “Good morning,” he whispered in my ear.

  “Morning, Alpha. Seth left. He didn’t want me to wake you up.”

  “He never does,” Rhett yawned. “It’s just the way we do things. He’ll be okay. You hungry?”

  “I had some of your chocolates, but I wouldn’t say no to breakfast,” I laughed.

  “Let me see what I can whip up.”

  “Wait,” I grabbed his arm before he could get up. I gave him a quick kiss and put my head to his. “Show me your job.”

  “Huh?”

  “You remember. I showed you how yesterday,” I laughed.

  “Why the sudden interest in my job?”

  “I want to know everything about you.”

  “What did Seth say?” Rhett arched a brow.

  “That I shouldn’t trap you on the island, because you’ll miss your life over there.”

  “Seth needs to mind his own business,” Rhett stood up. “For years he told me there’s more to life than work and now he wants to defend my tenure.”

  “Do you want to quit your job?” I asked him.

  “I’m not sure. It’s good money. I help shape young minds. If anyone else is on a search like mine I could help them out, but at the same time right now I don’t want you out of arm’s length.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” I stood up and wrapped my arms around him. “I had a lot of time to think yesterday while I was alone. I miss my parents. I miss my friends and family. I miss everything that the island used to be. While I was flying around, I thought a lot about the people I used to know. A lot about my parents. I was trying to figure out what they’d tell me to do now. Then I realized I’ll never know for sure. I’m not mad at Dad anymore for not believing me about Corden. He was in so much pain, because he lost his true-mate. I lost a parent and he lost the love of his life. I know they’d want me to be happy, but I don’t know what that looks like now. I’m not depressed. It’s just that so much has changed since Corden cursed me to sleep. The only thing that’s felt right in my life since waking up is you. So, if you really need to go back, I’ll try living off the island. I’ll be able to find it no matter where we go. Dragons can always find their way back to the place they hatched.”

  “But you want to rebuild the island,” Rhett pressed his forehead against mine.

  “Not if it means I can’t be with you.”

  “Life isn’t an either or. Maybe we can buy a plane and I can fly to work. It’ll be one hell of a commute, but it’d be worth it.”

  “What about when we have eggs? I don’t like the idea of you being away all day every day.”

  “Me neither. You said the island moves. Can you control where it goes? Maybe we could move it closer to the mainland.”

  “Do we have to decide today?” I asked him.

  “No.”

  “Good, because I’d much rather decide where we should romp next. I wasn’t joking last night when I told your brother I want a big family, but first I want to get to know you even more than the claiming vow allowed.”

  “Where did you have in mind?” Rhett pulled me close.

  He was already hard this morning.

  “On the ship? Bonus points. It has a stove.”

  “Let’s go,” he scooped me up into his arms and kissed me.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Rhett

  Over the next few days the ship became our home
away from home. The dragon magic stood the test of time ensuring the water still ran through a saltwater filter and the ‘electricity’ still worked. Brendan was patient with me as I examined the ancient artifacts and asked him questions. More interesting than the artifacts, was the man who knew how to use them. Brendan quickly became my favorite distraction from my obsession with piecing together the past. The future looked brighter than ever.

  We settled into a little routine of reducing our time apart as much as possible. The ship wasn’t meant for full time living, but it wasn’t cramped to us. It gave us an excuse to stay close together as new mates are bound to do. Being away from technology was a new experience. Even at dig sites I was usually connected to the outside world checking in with school to report grades and ensuring Seth hadn’t gotten himself killed. Without, satellite radio or movies streaming in the background of my day the world was a whole new place. I liked it. Eventually, I needed to charge my phone to check on things, but for now the world could kiss my ass. I wasn’t going anywhere Brendan couldn’t walk around in nothing but a smile. If we moved to the mainland, I’d have to take him shopping. Time was kind to the clothes in his closets, but the moths weren’t.

  “No one else is here,” he shrugged it off. “Why do I need clothes?”

  I wasn’t going to complain about the situation. No man in his right mind would. Hell, no wolf in his right mind would. Clothes were a human invention after all and what better time to embrace our inner beasts than right after meeting our true-mates.

  “I’m going out for a while,” Brendan sat up on our fourth day alone after a lunch time romp.

  “I’ll come along,” I pulled him back down onto the bed and gave him a long hard kiss. His face was still flushed with passion.

  “We can finish that when I get back. I want to look for something I had made for you a long time ago. It’s a Moonscale tradition that I don’t want to give up,” he slid out of bed. “Why don’t you look at the maps again? I can’t control where the island goes, but I don’t think it wants to sink. So, it’ll probably go somewhere with lower sea levels.”

  “You sure you don’t want me to come with you?” I asked.