Over the last few years, there had been a darkness creeping over the valley. It stayed on the peripheries at first, but slowly things had been getting worse all throughout the valley. Animals mysteriously dying. Rivers changing course for no reason. Blights on the trees. Failed crops.
The town that had been hit the hardest was Burgess, one of our allies. It had reached a dangerous peak with them, and only then did the Goddess arrive in their town. She’d told them bluntly that the four alphas had to take one of their omegas as their wife.
I shuddered when I thought of it. How terrible it must have been for them, hearing that they had to marry an omega. More than that, they had to be her husbands in every form. Including sex. From what I’d seen of the five of them, they seemed to have a deep connection, wanting that physical part of their marriage, too. I didn’t understand it.
How could anyone want to touch an omega?
“Yeah, but it’s pretty evident that even with the Goddess’s command, the main thing was to inspire the pack to treat omegas better. We have lots of hot omegas in our pack. We should start looking for the one that will be a good fit,” Renz said, folding his tattooed arms. Out of all of us, he had been the one least put off by the whole omega thing. He’d even said that their omega wife, Penelope, was ‘pretty,’ and that he wouldn’t have found it a burden.
Fucker knew exactly how to push my buttons. He should have known better than to keep pushing, but that was Renz Hattie. Never wanted to do things the way they’d always been done, always wanted to break the rules. Now he stared at mewith dark blue eyes, challenging me to repeat everything that had already been said too much.
“I’m pretty sure the Goddess doesn’t have ‘hotness’ on her list of qualifications for what makes a good alpha’s wife,” Killian Thompson cut in.
His black hair was swept back from his face, violet eyes slightly narrowed. An ankh dangled from one of his ears, a crescent moon from the other. He looked fed up with this shit, too, but it wasn’t the same sort of fed up as me. No, he was fed up with my resistance when the others had all agreed to the plan. All throughout the valley, packs were changing their official rules on the treatment of omegas.
I didn’t think there was a need for that. The Burgess omegas must have been different, and that’s why the Goddess went there.
At least, that’s what I kept telling myself. Because I had an awful feeling that she was going to visit us tonight, too.
The darkness had left Burgess. Over the past year, since that marriage took place, their town had flourished. Things here in Tyrell had only gotten worse.
“Hey, if we need to marry an omega—” Renz started.
“But nobody is saying we need to marry an omega,” Killian retorted.
Renz frowned. “You just said the Goddess—”
“Was the one who told Burgess to marry an omega. Why should we—"
“Because clearly it helps," Renz reasoned.
I shook my head once. “No. We aren’t having this argument again. Let’s just get back to work.”
The day passed quickly. Every pack had its own way of performing ceremonies for the Goddess, and for ours, we set a wide silver bowl on a small stage. It was filled with lavender tea that had been brewed throughout the day, and two braziers of fire were placed on either side.
As night fell, the pack gathered. The warriors took their spots closest to the stage, while the other ranked orders lined up behind them. Last of all were the omegas, who stood along the edges of the field as though they were preparing to run. Not all of them had arrived, either.
Whatever. Let’s just get through the night, I thought blackly.
It wasn’t often that the Goddess actually spoke to the pack during such a ceremony. Usually, it went by with us giving our thanks, asking our boons, and then dancing into the night. The Goddess showed up every few years just to ensure we all still knew she was real, but that was it.
Tonight, the air was thick with expectation. Our main fields had been flooded overnight the previous week. No sign of where the water came from, it was just…there. We were supposed to start ploughing soon; the way it was going, we weren’t going to be able to plant our crops this year.
We began the ceremony. First, Jace stepped forward. Our structure within the pack wasn’t as strict as some others, but he was usually the one who took charge of pack activities since he was so levelheaded. He smiled and lifted his arms. He greeted everyone, then started the prayer of thanks. After him, the rest of us went through, each praying in gratitude.
Finally, it was time for the priestess to make her offerings and ask for help. As she stepped up to the bowl of tea, the lavender scent flowing through the air, she smiled.
“The Goddess is here tonight,” she declared, her voice strong and steady. “She wishes to speak.”
With that, she tipped back her head. The light of the moon swirled around her, growing thicker and brighter. I stood, transfixed, until Jace tugged on my arm. I turned slightly to see that everyone else had already knelt. I clenched my hands even as I forced my knees to bend.
I knew this was going to happen. My stomach knotted, and I tasted bile in the back of my throat. I kept my gaze on the ground, though I knew what was happening. I’d seen the Goddess commune through the priestess before. Her very face and figure would change, reflecting more accurately the Goddess’s being. The first time I’d seen it, I was filled with awe.
Now, all I felt was dread.
No, that wasn’t quite true.
I was also filled with anger and resentment. My jaw tightened, and I closed my eyes, pulling in a deep breath. When I heard the others rising to their feet around me, I did so as well.
