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"All of what happened between with you and the Omega back then, I didn't understand. I probably still don’t."
Oppo pulled his lips in and closed his eyes.
"I don't know how you did it," Akoro continued. "You are very strong, possibly the strongest Alpha I know."
Oppo exhaled a heavy breath, long and slow. Tears sparkled in his eyes and he swallowed, hands trembling. "I think about her all the time," he whispered. "It never goes away." He lifted his eyes to meet Akoro's. "I know you haven't told the council yet, but Prillu and Tshel will figure it out soon. This delay to the invasion is unprecedented for you, and the Omega is completely unavailable. It doesn't take much to guess what might be happening between the two of you; an Alpha and Omega."
"You need to tell them that it's medical," Akoro scowled. "And it is. At least for now."
Opera nodded. "For now."
The medication settled Naya for a couple of nights, but her sleep was still uneasy. After the fifth night of the Omega's nightmares, Akoro discovered how to purr. He was talking to her, trying to soothe her, pressed on top of her the way she liked, and a rumble erupted in his chest, vibrating between them.
The Omega reacted immediately, sinking into the vibration and sighing in relief. Satisfaction beamed through him that he was helping her. But his purr didn't stop her nightmares completely. He had to figure out what her trauma was.
So he had to make a plan.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
For some reason, the Alpha had woken her up early, dressed her, and taken her out on the nnirae. It was too early, out of their normal routine, but she went along with it.
She missed waking up arching into him, pressing her nose into his neck and sighing at the dominance he always established first thing in the morning. But riding in the early morning was nice too. They left the city, riding past the ruins for the first time and crossing rocky terrain. After a few hours, they stopped to stretch their legs and let the nnirae rest. The Alpha fed her food he’d brought along with him, and then they continued their journey.
In the afternoon they reached their destination, a forest. It was enough to push Naya’s mind into sharp focus, but as the thoughts crowded her mind, she silenced them. This was not her forest, just a forest.
They dismounted, and the Alpha held her close as they walked among the trees.
Naya’s mind wouldn’t be silenced, however. She couldn't help but compare it to her own forest, but there was something very strange about it. They walked for a while until she figured it out. It was dead. An eerie silence hung among the black trees; no animals scurried, no birds sang or flapped in the trees, even the sun struggled to reach the soil. The branches weren’t as tangled as in her forest, but there was no life. Something strange happened here. It was almost like a museum forest graveyard. It was as though it had been frozen in time, imitating life. Naya looked around, absorbing everything she could see. It wasn't her forest, but her heart ached for the forest it had once been. She looked at Akoro. "Why did you bring me here?”
The Alpha’s expression was unreadable, but she thought she’d caught a look of triumph. “I wanted to show you someone else's trauma."
She looked around. “Whose?”
“Mine.”
She snapped to look at him. His eyes tracked her closely. Those eyes… she’d forgotten how intense they could be. “How?”
"I was here when this happened." His eyes darted around the dead forest before returning to her. "I used to train here when I was very little. My parents didn't approve of me learning how to fight. They thought it was too vulgar and of no use in cultured life. So I used to hide in here, I wanted to learn something from people. One day I was practicing with about fifteen other children and an incredibly powerful magic rippled through the forest, killing everything and leaving it like this."
Naya frowned. "How did that happen?”
"That is what happens in this world. We are attacked by magic."
"The entire forest?"
He nodded.
"How did you get out?"
"I ran," Akoro said. "As soon as I heard the magic, I started running and shouting, but the other children were slow."
Naya gasped, her hand covering her mouth. "Are you saying the children died?"
Akoro nodded. “All of them. No one made it out of the forest apart from me."
Naya looked around. "I saw you in my forest before you took me," she said quietly. "That morning. You were standing against a tree, and it looked like…" She shrugged. "I couldn't tell what you were doing."
"I was savoring the life," Akoro said. "That forest is very similar to how this one used to be.”
