Page 65 of Desperate Omega

I take the torch from the wall, Markus takes the omega, and together we set off down the long, dark corridor. Back in the main room, Markus places Syra back into her nest, and we both watch her in silence for a while, admiring the way her body almost seems to glow in the torchlight.

Then we move to the center of the room and start rebuilding the fire. Once it’s burning hot and bright, we sit back and stare into the dancing flames. For a long time, neither one of us says anything, but finally I break the silence.

“Markus… why did you leave your old pack?”

The question has been bothering me for a while now. To abandon one’s pack is one of the most serious offenses an alpha can commit. It is punishable by banishment from the Central Ruins Tribe, although I sense that Markus’s exile has been self-imposed. I also know that he has goodness in him, because he saved Syra, and she views him as a friend. Perhaps even more than that now. So I’m curious how a good alpha could commit such a serious crime.

Markus tenses up as soon as I ask him. His gaze remains fixed on the fire, but I can see the thoughts churning behind his eyes. After a lengthy silence, I begin to wonder if he’s going to answer me, and I decide not to press the issue, but finally he relaxes a little and speaks a single word.

“Syra.”

“You left your pack because of Syra?” I ask.

He nods. “We were best friends when we were younger. She wasn’t like the other omega girls. She was always coming up with some adventure or another, always getting into trouble, and I always ended up tagging along. I guess I was kind of infatuated with her.”

It’s not hard for me to imagine Syra getting into trouble as a kid. It seems like not much has changed on that account. It’s sort of funny to think of Markus tagging along as her sidekick, but I decide not to bust his balls about it. Not when he’s opening up like this.

“Anyway,” he continues, “this one time we both got into really big trouble. My parents already didn’t like me hanging out with her, and after that incident, they forbid me from seeing her altogether. Not long after that, they sent me off into the wildlands to begin my training. I was small for my age, not as fast or as strong as the other boys, so I had to work even harder to keep up, and in the long run that paid off for me. After a few years, I caught up with the other alphas when it came to size, and I had mastered all my skills more fully. I was better than the others at crafting tools and potions, hunting, pathfinding, everything. But all during my training, I never stopped thinking about Syra.”

Markus takes an unburnt stick and prods at the fire, even though it’s unnecessary. The fire hasn’t been burning long enough to need stirring, but I don’t say anything about it. I can tell his mind is far away, in the distant past.

He goes on.

“When I got a little older, I was assigned to a pack. It was a good life. My pack master was wise and just, and my pack brothers were all good, honorable alphas. Our duties mostly revolved around hunting, which was my specialty. Whenever we brought our meat back to the Central Ruins to share with the tribe, I always hoped that I might catch a glimpse of Syra, but I never saw her. I learned later that she was often out hunting on her own in the wildlands.”

He drops his stick into the fire and sits back.

“It was a few years later when everything went wrong. My pack master decided it was time for us to take an omega mate. There was a young omega whom he’d had his eye on. I suppose she must have been quite beautiful, because my pack brothers took to her with great eagerness, and she to them. As for myself, I felt no connection to her whatsoever. It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with her… aside from the fact that she wasn’t Syra.”

“So you left?” I ask.

Markus nods again. “Left the night before we were supposed to have our mating ritual. I simply couldn’t go through with it. I took out all of my piercings and left them behind in our dwelling, then I set out for the wildlands. Some time after that, I discovered Syra’s scent in the woods, and that’s when I started, well… stalking her.”

“Why didn’t you just talk to her?”

He sighs. “It’s complicated. I hadn’t seen her in many years, and we didn’t exactly part ways on the best of terms. The night when we got into trouble, I did something to upset her. Besides, I was a pariah. I had forsaken my pack and removed my piercings. I didn’t think she would want anything to do with me.”

“I don’t think Syra is the type of omega to care about such things. She marches to the beat of her own drum.”

“I suppose you’re probably right,” he says with a shrug. “Mostly I just wanted to protect her, though. You can’t imagine the kind of danger she puts herself in on a daily basis running around the Zone all by herself with nothing but her spear to protect her.”

I can’t help but chuckle at that.

“Oh, I think I can imagine,” I say. “I’ve only known her for a short while, but I’ve already gotten a taste of how troublesome she can be.”

Markus laughs.

Maybe I was wrong about him. Yes, he committed a terrible offense by abandoning his pack and forsaking the tribe, but now I understand why he did that. I would gladly break every law of the Zone if it is necessary to keep Syra safe. She is more precious to me than my honor, than my own life, than the very Source itself.

And Markus has been watching over her these past several years. It’s hard for me to hate him now that I know that.

A sudden cry snaps me out of my thoughts.

I turn toward the sound and see Syra sitting upright in her nest, eyes wide. She looks as though she has just woken up from a terrible nightmare.

In a heartbeat, both Markus and I are by her side, purring protectively.

“Are you alright?” I ask. “What’s the matter?”