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“You’re lying.”
Pulling her lip between her teeth, she said nothing. Mom placed a hand on the small of my back. She was trying to indicate that I should stop talking. I could pretend I didn’t register the non-verbal cue — I never listened to them, and Mom thought I was socially underdeveloped by now. “Is he making it difficult to find a mate? Why is the Sanctuary allowing that?”
“Sweetie, the Sanctuary only has so much power over what goes on in the world outside their compound,” Dad said.
I was focused on Maisie. The anguish I’d seen on her face before was back. No longer a flash, but overtaking her expression. “But Maisie is on their compound. They should be able to set her up with dates, and not only with one unsuitable Alpha.”
“Duke Cunning is powerful in Zemterra. He has… connections. Maisie will get other suitors once he’s realized that she’s not a good fit.”
“He’s not going to realize that.”
My sister’s voice was carried off by a sudden howl of the wind and I had no idea if I’d heard her correctly. I hoped I hadn’t. “What?”
“He’s not going to decide that I’m not a good fit. I found out why he wants me. Sorry, Mom, I was going to tell you once Freya got off the call, but… she was going to find out sometime. You know she’s smarter than you give her credit for.”
The wind howled again, or it might have been the blood rushing in my ears. Why did she look so sad? Hopeless? That wasn’t how Maisie looked. I’d been the pessimistic one since we were kids. She was the embodiment of sunshine and glittering ocean waves and morning dewdrops on the long grass in the field beside our house.
“All I knew until recently was that he was a demon. I didn’t know what kind. But some of the other women were talking about him yesterday, and I asked. He’s a merdemon, the Duke of the Depths. According to them, he’s been searching for an Omega who can survive his underwater world for over a hundred years. There aren’t many like me. They looked at me with so much pity. After waiting so long, he won’t give me up.”
“Can’t the Omega Sanctuary do something? He can’t just claim an Omega who doesn’t want him,” I said, my voice rising in pitch as anger took the reins of the surge of emotions swirling in me.
Mom and Dad didn’t answer, and I avoided watching their expressions in the tiny reflection of us. My focus was still on Maisie. She shook her head. “Technically, he’s not. There aren’t any concrete rules against using political connections to manipulate people. I don’t have to accept him. All he’s done is made it so there aren’t any other options if I want an Alpha.”
The alternative was left unsaid. Living without an Alpha was dangerous. Even with the help of the Sanctuary, her heats would increase in intensity every time she went through one without an Alpha. Omegas had died of heart failure or from killing themselves when the pain got to be too intense.
“Come home. You’ll find an Alpha here, someone who can’t be manipulated by a Zemterran Duke.”
My mom’s hand on my back clenched into a fist. She hid her emotions well, but Maisie’s situation was tearing her apart. They’d known about it a hell of a lot longer than I had.
“You know why that’s too risky,” Maisie said softly.
She’d be stolen within days, sold on the black market to anyone in Zemterra who could afford to pay. The predicament I’d thought about minutes ago, before I’d learned that Omegas being safe at the Sanctuary was a lie. A con sold to us so they had a supply of societies rarest designation to sell off to nobility like Duke Cunning. Except they didn’t sell them so overtly. No, they hid behind a facade of rules that helped no one but the strong. The predators. Omegas were prey to them, too.
“We can protect you, there’s an entire community of witches here. Our family and extended family. We could keep you safe.” The plea fell off my lips, but it was a lie. Family would help, it was what we did. But twenty or so witches and nymphs wouldn’t be a match against an inter-realm web of Omega traffickers. Ones who knew what Maisie was because she had records at the Sanctuary.
“I’m going to accept his proposal.”
“No!”
Her smile was thin, false, nothing like what it should look like. The colour of her skin, rich from years of playing on the beach, was sallow and grey-hued. How had I not noticed it the second she’d gotten on the call? How had I not noticed it months ago? “We’re meeting for lunch in the parlour in an hour. I’m going to accept. I’m sorry, Freya, but I’ve thought through every option I have. Unless the Sanctuary suddenly changes their stance and protects me, I’m better off going willingly. Being the perfect Omega wife. He’s entitled and rude, but he’s given no indication of being violent. There are worse ways to live.”
The man didn’t have a chance to get violent under the watchful eyes of the Sanctuary. Every inch of that place was covered by cameras for the safety of the residents. Maisie had joked about it when she first arrived. Now, I doubted the cameras were for safety. Watching them was to make sure the Omegas were behaving as the rare and beautiful possessions they were.
“How are you going to talk to us if you’re living in Zemterra? Isn’t it primitive? We need to check on you,” I said.
“I’m going to talk to him about it,” she reassured me. “He’ll understand.”
No, he wouldn’t. Bringing his wife to Earth every couple of weeks so she could call her family had to be on the bottom of the list of things he gave a shit about. He may promise it to get her to agree, to pull her out from the Sanctuary’s influence, but it was a promise he wouldn’t keep. I’d never met Duke Cunning, but his type wasn’t hard to peg. They were the apex predators of our ecosystem. Status kept them above other Alphas and leagues above plain Betas.
“He’ll be reasonable,” Mom said. I wasn’t sure who she was trying to convince. Herself, me, or Maisie. Maybe all of us. Her hand behind my back was still clenched, the one holding up the phone wavering.
“If he’s not reasonable, report him to the Sanctuary,” Dad added.
What would that do? We’d determined that they wouldn’t protect her from him now, so why would they start once he had his teeth sunk in? Literally. Once he marked her, he’d cement his influence over her.
“I will, Dad. They send people to check up on the pairings every couple of months for the first few years. If he does anything, I’ll tell them.”
The Duke paid off or terrified every other suitor who’d walked through the doors of the Omega Sanctuary. He would have no trouble paying off a lowly official. My family’s optimism made me want to scream, but I wouldn’t. They needed their belief that it would be OK. Especially Maisie. All I needed was my anger, rage, and fury. Grasping negative emotions and creating an armour of negativity around my heart was how I would survive.
