by Zoey Ellis
“I am curious why you did worry, empress,” Ria said, inclining her head respectfully. “I am not an Omega based at the palace.”
“I’m concerned about all Omegas,” the empress said. “You were found by an Alpha in one of our territories, and now he’s claiming you are his. It is a concern for me that you are willing, obviously.”
“I wasn’t,” Ria said sharply. “He claimed I was his prisoner, and then he—” Ria struggled to find words to describe the experience. She had been bruised and marked and thoroughly claimed by him in the most complete way an Alpha could claim an Omega, and yet she had fought him to do it right. It was confusing her as to whether he could be wholly blamed for it.
The empress said nothing and simply observed Ria.
Ria eyed her, her confusion turning into annoyance. “If you were worried I might not be willing, why didn’t you arrest him instead of coming here to warn me that he is planning to recapture me.”
“It was difficult to have him arrested,” the empress said. “He claims you are his true mate.”
Ria’s mouth dropped open. The part of her she had silenced and ignored hummed with pleasure, but her mind was more cynical. “And you believed him? Just like that?”
The empress took a breath as she thought. “Sometimes we Omegas fight what is natural because we don’t recognize it. It’s different for each Omega, but we are prone to ignore an important part of who we are because we’re not used to experiencing ourselves in that state. I’ve known Omegas who will never let their true mate see them when they think they are most weak. They don’t understand that it isn’t seen as weakness by their mates—it is when they are most attractive.”
“So you think I should just give in to him?” Ria asked, incredulously. “You think that an Alpha who finds an Omega in the Lands should be able to do what he wants with her? Did he even report to you that he’d found me, Empress?”
Surprisingly, the empress smiled. “Above all, we value when an Alpha or Omega find their true mate, Ria. General Thorec is severely adamant he has found his and that she is you. He wishes to prove to you that he is your Alpha. Why shouldn’t I give him that chance? And if you are even part willing, why shouldn’t you?”
“Because!” Ria insisted. “Because… he doesn’t listen. And he is… annoying and…” Handsome and comforting and sexy. She scrambled to find more appropriate words to explain. “We… fight. It’s… chaos. We are always combative. That can’t be right.”
“The Alpha/Omega connection is slightly different for each couple, Ria,” the empress said. “The question is, do you like it when you fight? And if you do, why is it wrong?”
For the rest of the day, Ria couldn’t get the conversation with the empress out of her mind. Above all, she was astounded Thorec described her as his true mate, that he had gone to the palace and had spoken to the ruling couple. She didn’t know what to make of it. She tried to think of every scenario that would bring him here for her under different reasons, but she could think of none that would involve him lying to his Lox emperor.
Further, when she searched herself for an answer to the empress’ perfectly reasonable questions, she couldn’t find one, except that she already had a goal to complete—a mission she couldn’t abandon. She had thoroughly enjoyed moments with Thorec, even felt that she possibly belonged in his arms, but it was too fleeting to take seriously. She had promised to herself that she would find the Alpha she had been looking for, and she wouldn’t drop everything because of one overbearing Alpha. Also, she didn’t want to simply become his Omega and his property. She wanted her own life—to build something that was Ria, without the influence of others, who tried to mold and shape her into what they wanted. She shook her head, her mind firm. No, she couldn’t give Thorec a chance right now. Maybe once she found the Alpha and settled into her life, she could think about Thorec again, if he even still wanted her. But not now.
One of the things the empress’ visit did highlight was that she had somehow alerted someone of her presence. The Beta woman had sent her to the backroom for the empress, which meant she was too easy to find. Thorec was not stupid. He would be using this as a challenge to find her, and unless she was alert and observant, he would succeed.
She’d moved to a new inn for the night, one she was familiar with, and spent the evening pouring over the stack of parchment she’d collected. She knew there were a lot of Lox warriors, but the list was enormous. It included their occupations and where they were based, across the Eastern Lands. Once she found who she was looking for, she would know how easy the next step would be.
She found the name on page eight-seven. Jaythen. She frowned as she peered at the information by his name. Occupation: Lox Warrior—discharged, Location: Lox Palace, Ashens.
So he’d been discharged even though he was still at the palace? She stared again at the page. Lox Palace. She’d suspected it, but now she knew for sure she had to go there. Exhaling slowly with an odd blend of relief and frustration, Ria set the stack of parchment down. At least she knew where to find him.
She dressed simply in a plain blue outfit, something that would blend in among the Ashens crowds, and ensured she had everything she needed in her pockets, but as she moved around the room, something caught her attention. It was too quiet.
The inn she’d chosen was a noisy place; the walls were thin, and the people who stayed there were rowdy merchants, who were always jesting and shouting to each other at all hours. But at some point, while she’d been reading the parchment, everything had become silent.
She tiptoed to the door and cracked it open. The corridor was empty, and all the doors were shut. More unusual behavior. Ria’s heartbeat pounded loudly in her chest. It had to be the general; he was here.
Ria closed the door quietly and looked around the room. The window faced an alley that she could escape down, so she knew the window could be an exit. But General Thorec was not stupid. She had used a window to escape before, so he would most likely have thought of that. Still, he couldn’t be in two places at once.
She went to the window and peeked out. General Thorec stood a few feet away, hefty, hulking, and still, staring right at her window.
Ria gasped, and backed away, her heart throbbing in her throat. Shit! She spun in the room, looking around for anything she could use to fight or to help her escape, but there was nothing. He was a trained Lox general, and if he let her see him, he’d already figured out all the ways she could get out. There was only one way he couldn’t control.
Calling on magic, she began to weave a portal that would take her as close to the palace as possible. It was likely that the emperor had found some way to identify unauthorized usage of magic, so she wanted to avoid using it unless she really had to. But it was the only way she was going to get out of there. Now that she knew where Jaythen was, she just needed to get to him. She never had to come back to this room.
After quickly ensuring the room was left without any sign of where she could be going, Ria stepped through the portal.
Chapter Seven
THOREC
Thorec watched the gleam of magic fade from Ria’s window. He exited the alley and walked around to the entrance of the inn, where all the staff and guests waited outside, watching him nervously.
“Here’s the key you asked for, General,” the owner said, shuffling forward.
Thorec took the key and made his way inside. As he climbed upstairs, his annoyance scratched at his threadbare patience. This was the worst place Ria could have chosen to stay. Although it was touted as a merchant inn, many criminal activities took place here, including whoring. That Ria was in the vicinity of something like this enraged him to the degree that he was prepared to rip out everyone’s throats for allowing it. Still, that wouldn’t help him find her any quicker.
Although he’d known where she’d been staying for the last few days, he needed her to find the Alpha she was seeking. He wanted to identify the man and find out directly from him what his hold on
Ria was. Otherwise, his existence would loom over them, and Ria would never know that Thorec was willing to best any contender trying to lay to claim her.
He opened the door to her room and looked around carefully. It looked as if no one had been staying there, but he knew she had only moved there earlier that day. There was no indication that she’d eaten, and if she had any clothes, she had taken them with her. She’s even cleaned the floor to remove signs of where she may have tread; this inn was not known for its clean floors. Smart, little challenger. The one thing she left was a stack of parchment on the desk.
He sifted through it, surprised at its contents. Ria had somehow managed to obtain information about every single Alpha in the Lox. Some sheets turned over, as though she had been looking through them. The page that she had left in view listed all of the Lox generals, and when Thorec looked down the page, he let out a loud, gruff chuckle.
Ria had scratched out his entry and put instead: General “Imprisoner” Thorec, Occupation: imprisoning, chasing, and fight-fucking innocent Omegas, Location: never in the same place as Ria.
Thorec’s irritation at the entire situation melted a little. She was goading him the way he had her, and for some reason, it felt right. Strangely, his mood lightened.
Examining the stack of parchment, he realized that she had mixed up all the pages so that they were out of order. It was a smart thing to do, but only if she hadn’t wanted him to notice something.
So he set about putting the stack in order, looking through each page to see what Ria had seen. It took longer than he thought, but eventually, he realized there was a page missing. When he looked at the pages before and after, eighty-six and eighty-eight, he realized she’d taken a page that listed Lox warriors at the palace.
Thorec gritted his teeth. So the Alpha was a palace warrior. That certainly didn’t make anything easier.
Neatening the sheets of parchment into a pile, he took it with him when he left the room. Ria was heading to the palace. He didn’t know how she intended to navigate the palace—it was the most secure building in the Lox Empire, but he knew that wouldn’t stop his Ria. The problem was, if he was going to chase her to the palace, he had to be more careful. As much as the emperor had given his blessing, he wouldn’t want Thorec’s hunt to disrupt the general activities at the palace.
He rejoined Roclan, the Alpha working with him, to discuss their options. At least he knew he would recapture his Omega today.
“There are twenty-eight Lox warriors who came from Ariyon, General,” Roclan said, peering at a sheet of parchment on the table.
“Twenty-eight?” Thorec scowled. “Is there any way to reduce it?”
Roclan flicked the page over. “I’ll see how many of them are palace warriors.”
Thorec nodded and replaced the books he had been looking at. The records keep in central Ashens had the most detailed information about the Lox and its warriors in the entire known Lands, but to use it to try to find one specific Alpha was like trying to find a particular drop of water in the White Ocean. Those documents had so much information, it was difficult to know where to start. It had taken them far too long to find out how many had come from Ariyon. Thorec cursed that he hadn’t remembered to ask Halvard in the Ariyon mountains the name of the Alpha.Ria must have known his name or had a way to identify him, because how else would he have known who she was referring to?
“Only three are palace warriors,” Roclan finally said.
“Good. That’s a better number to deal with.”
“How do you want to do this?” Roclan said, glancing up at Thorec. Roclan was one of the first Alpha’s Thorec had trained when he’d become general. “Do you want to visit all three, or should we split them up?”
Thorec paced across the room. He couldn’t afford for Roclan to be the one to find Ria, but he couldn’t visit all three Alphas at the same time, and time was of the essence. Then he had a thought. “Is there any information about where in Ariyon these three Alphas came from?”
Roclan flicked over a few sheets of parchment before he answered. “Yes.”
“Of any of them from the mountains?”
Roclan peered at the sheets. “Yes. Jaythen.”
“I will go to him. You go to the others. The palace administrators can give us their current locations.”
Roclan nodded and rose to his feet. “If you’re right on this, you know your Omega quite well.”
Thorec made a noise in the back of his throat as they exited the room. “She is smart and fierce.” He couldn’t help but recall her ferocity in bed, and both his heart and his cock ached. “But she is predictable.”
Roclan nodded. “And this other Alpha she is trying to find… Jaythen?”
“Let me deal with him,” Thorec said, his voice gritty.
“You know he may not be at all aware of who she is or what she wants,” Roclan pointed out. “Omegas can be… difficult to understand.”
The way his voice lowered, Thorec glanced at him as they headed out of the records keep building, and to a waiting carriage. “It sounds like you have experience with that.”
Roclan’s face hardened, but he said nothing more. As they settled in the carriage, he said, “I am grateful to be helping you, General Thorec. I miss our training bouts—I learned a lot from you, though I have to ask. Why did you pick me for this?”
Thorec was silent for a moment. “You were one of the first warriors I trained and were one of the fiercest. You are bold in everything you do, and you’re honest.
Roclan’s jaw hardened, and he looked out of the window.
“I also heard you had been very keen on the pairing events they do here at the palace. I thought you may understand why I am so eager to find my Omega.”
Roclan stared at him, clearly surprised, but then shook his head. “Then I am not the right Alpha to help you, General. I stopped attending the pairing events.”
“Why?”
Roclan’s expression became closed.
“I heard you challenged Commander Torin for an Omega,” Thorec said, observing him. “That is impressive. Many would not dare.”
“I did not win,” Roclan scowled, his whole body tensed. “He beat me and won the Omega.”
“Was she yours?”
Roclan leaned back on the seat, his scowl fading to a tight expression as he looked upon Thorec. “I would have said yes before the bout.”
“And now?”
Roclan shrugged. “She is pretty. But when our Lox brothers, who have found their true mates, talk about their Omegas… I never felt like that about her. The bout made me realize it.”
Thorec inclined his head. “Then you have yet to find her. Why did you stop going to the pairing events?”
Roclan’s tone was solemn. “There is no Omega for me.”
Thorec frowned. “You don’t know that.”
“I have participated in many pairing events, General,” Roclan growled. “She has not been among them.” He clenched his jaw, lowering his gaze. “I think some of us will never find our true mates. There are not enough Omegas for us all.” His eyes flicked up to Thorec’s. “You are lucky.”
Thorec thought of Ria—his perfect mate, his greatest challenge—and said nothing. He couldn’t deny that.
“Yes, General,” the administrator said brightly. “Jaythen’s private quarters are next to the training grounds, if you ask any of the warriors there, they will tell you.”
Thorec thanked her and headed down the corridor to training grounds. The two that Roclan was investigating were in a different part of the palace.
It was late in the night, but some warriors were just finishing their training. Thorec carefully made his way to where Jaythen’s private rooms were, and stood outside the closed door, preparing himself. This was the Alpha Ria had come to find, he could feel it. He had no idea what the Alpha would do to when he realized Thorec had already declared a claim on Ria. Some Alphas could be unreasonable, even Lox warriors.
Pulling out his da
ggers, he gripped them firmly, then kicked in the door.
What he saw heightened his rage until it exploded out of his control. Ria was in the arms of the Alpha. He hugged her close, enclosing her with his body, his eyes closed as his head rested on hers, though they jumped apart when the door banged open. Ria screamed, jerking away from the Alpha, but he held onto her, his eyes on Thorec. He straightened slowly, pulling Ria around his body, so she was behind him.
“Release her,” Thorec bellowed.
The Alpha’s eyes flicked over Thorec’s uniform. “Is there a problem, General?”
“Yes,” Thorec bit out. “Move away from her.”
The Alpha frowned. “This doesn’t seem like Lox business.”
“That’s because it isn’t. Move!”
“What do you want with her?” The Alpha’s voice hardened. “She has come to visit me, and I intend to protect her.”
“That is my job!” Thorec bellowed. “This is your last chance to move, warrior. Pick up your weapon.”
The man hesitated, then lurched forward and grabbed a thick sword that leaned by his bed.
Thorec tightened his grip on the handle of his daggers. He was more than willing to battle for Ria if that’s what was required. In fact, he welcomed it.
“Stop!” Ria called from behind Alpha. “Please don’t fight.”
“Quiet, Riora,” the Alpha said, keeping his eyes locked on to Thorec. “The general is obviously ill. And he is looking dangerous.”
Thorec frowned. Riora?
“General, please stop this,” Ria said, inching away around the Alpha until her eyes locked on to his. “You don’t understand.” She placed a hand on the Alpha’s arm. “I need to stay here with him—”
“You do not,” Thorec thundered, rage whipping through him. “You are ignoring everything that indicates we are true mates, Ria. If I allow that, you will be miserable, and so will I.”