AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Un… hand… me… you beast,” the omega said as I squeezed him for dear life. We stood chest to chest on the same wall we started, bruised and battered and no closer to a mutual understanding.
“My name is Ziran, Ziran Elohime. And no, I will not unhand you, omega mine. It seems I’ll never be able to escape from you,” I murmured, and I could not hide my bitterness. “And you don’t have an invisibility potion, you fool. You’ve concocted a strong dye that hides your magical hair. I smell prism root in the air, so I see you two have misused my family’s secrets for even mundane tasks. Don’t be foolish enough to think Gotham won’t find you once you enter Yurel if you’re sporting black enchanted hair.”
We stood at a standstill, panting heavily, our sweaty bodies plastered together against the wall. I didn’t think I could survive another wrestling match with the slippery omega without tossing him over my shoulder and taking him with me. And then, finally, he relented, all the fight leaving his body.
“Rei,” he murmured as I returned his scorn with the same force, glaring down at him.
“Huh?” his gentle tone threw me off.
“My name is Rei, Reimund Gardiner, not omega, thief. And damn, that lying book! If the spell is useless, then at the very least, tell me how you snuck through his shields, and I’ll share my knowledge of Gotham with you.”
If only he didn’t deny my royal blood. This little country bumpkin wouldn’t dare to speak to me this way if he knew I told the truth. But I suppose I am a thief, a thief of hearts rather than the treasure I was after, I thought with a frown.
“And what do you mean you can’t escape me? Why, because of this?” Rei asked, holding up his palm. “Didn’t you mark me to pin me down with a spell? Just remove it. Problem solved.”
“Surely you jest?” I asked, but he shook his head no.
I was at a loss for words. My omega was far from a pureblood, but Rei carried some of the same blood. As an omega, he should know something as simple as how mate bonds were formed.
“An Elohimen alpha’s mate is marked with his crest, his birthmark. That bond cannot be broken. You cannot escape it,” I said, clenching my fist where the magic circle blossomed, blood gushing from the wound he inflicted on me with his teeth. “Nor can I erase it. This is basic knowledge. Your books didn’t teach you fundamental traits of your own race?”
Rei gawked up at me, and it seemed to click for him what that mark meant finally. A fierce blush overtook him, down to his neck, and I couldn’t help but blush just as hard as we turned away from each other to collect our wayward thoughts.
“W-w-well,” he sputtered, pushing against my chest, “unlike a pureblood Elohimen, I can feel pain.”
“Huh?” I asked.
“I can feel pain. So get your big, burly body off of me before you crush the life out of me,” Rei demanded with a huff and a stomp of his barefoot. “Then I’ll explain everything to you.”
Rei’s tantrum yanked a laugh from my lungs. I had never, not once, been mistaken for a burly man. Brutal, yes, but not burly in the least with my willowy frame. It was just that our contrast was too great. Rei weighed as much as a wet feather and could only touch my chin with the tip of his horn.
Still, as a show of solidarity, I let him go. He rubbed his wrists, cracked his back, and then crossed his arms, gazing up at me with a cocked hip.
“We Elohime are immortal in name only. You know this as well as I do. Trust me when I say your attacks hurt. Maybe not as much as I hurt you, and for that, I apologize.”
I pursed my lips, wondering if apologizing was the right move with him. Rei was temperamental, unpredictable, and oddly naive. He probably expected a crown prince to be many things, and apologetic after breaking into his bedroom was definitely not one of them.
“I’m the same as you,” Rei whispered, suddenly shy when he’d tried to slit my throat mere moments before. “A quarter of me, anyway. I know it hurts even if it doesn’t kill you. I know, and I’m sorry. You scared me so much that I didn’t know how to react. I attacked you because only Gotham visits me here. So, tell me, Ziran, bold liar and adventurer, why are you here?”
I wanted to say he smelled like a quarterblood so he didn’t have to tell me, but I held back. We were finally making some headway with each other, and I didn’t want to break our temporary truce by pissing him off again.
Rei was many things, but an anima, he was not. I thought the spell to hoist me to this tower silly until I locked eyes with my omega. Now, my plans were all in ruins. How was I supposed to begin explaining to Rei why I was here?
How long had this boy been locked away? On closer inspection, his skin was so pale and soft it looked like it would shatter under sunlight, translucent like his glassy gray eyes. Rei thought mixing hair dye made him invisible. And, more troubling, he was my fated mate, no matter how much I wanted to deny it.
Everything about this situation was absurd. I felt like I needed answers, not the other way around!
“To free you,” I lied, for my mission had been to take him back to the capital city in chains after chopping off Gotham’s head. “I’m here to free you from the wizard’s tyranny if you help me outwit him.”
Rei did not look convinced or impressed, but he was silent and observant, which meant I’d piqued his curiosity somewhat.
“How about we work together, omega?” I offered, eyeing him with disdain and also a hint of despair. “I mean, Rei. You want to escape, and I need the wizard’s secrets. We trade off and help each other win.”
I offered him my bare hand to shake as a sign of my fidelity. Finally, Rei placed his hand in mine, and I felt a rush of pure lust and power slam into me as our matching symbols glowed in the dark. How treacherous the mating mark was, giving rise to protective urges that flooded my body when we were strangers the night before.
“Deal,” Rei said, flashing the first smile I’d seen since we met.
It nearly knocked me to my knees, and I swallowed a large lump in my throat, tentatively smiling down at my omega, “Okay, deal. Now, I must retreat. I’ll return with a plan of action another sunrise. I feel Gotham’s evil presence drawing near, and I cannot ambush him now, weakened by the bond.”
