by Lily Archer
Lana jumps but stands her ground. Tough little human.
Ilwen—pretending she hasn’t been watching with amusement the entire time—pops up from her seat at the table and hurries over. “Master Harlan?”
“Get your new Omega in line.”
“She’s from a primitive planet, Master Harlan. I’ve been trying to teach her. It’s difficult for her to learn the appropriate way to behave, but I will redouble my efforts.”
Lana gapes at her. “You lying bit—”
“Gavros, clean yourself up. You three, with me.” Master Harlan steps around Lana and marches from the cafeteria.
Ceredes, Jeren, and I follow, our punishment certain.
Ilwen starts in on Lana with harsh words. I want to turn around and help, but the anger I feel tingling down our scant connection tells me that Lana can hold her own. I almost feel sorry for Ilwen… Almost.
11
Lana
“There’s an open bed in Tilda’s room, so why can’t I—”
Ilwen points to the bed opposite hers in Omega suite one. “I’ve assigned you here. Quit whining.”
“Why?”
“So I can keep an eye on you. You truly are from a mentally defective race, aren’t you? You think I’m going to let you go running off with the Alphas and turning profligate? Not on my watch.”
I want to smack her. “I thought you already said I was a prof—”
“I heard Commander Bartanz escorted her into the academy.” Another Omega, this one with black eyes, a purple streak running from head to toe on her right side, and black webbed wings on her back, flits to the bed beside mine. She turns to me. “Is that true, new Omega?”
I do my best not to gawk at her, but the wings are definitely an eyeball magnet. “I don’t know. There was a guy. He had a uniform and medals. That guy?”
“‘That guy’?” She scoffs. “The most powerful commander in all the fleet. Only the Council of Regents is above him, and that’s all you have to say?”
I shrug. “How should I know who he is?”
Ilwen flops back on her bed. “See, Unar? She’s an idiot from a race of morons from a planet of imbeciles.”
“Did he say anything to you?” The one with wings, Unar, doesn’t add quite as much disdain to her voice as Ilwen, but it’s close.
I stand and open my dresser drawers. They’re already full of uniforms and underthings. I hold up one of the gray tops to my chest. It fits. How did they know what size I am before I even got here?
“Omega,” Unar snaps. “Did he say anything?”
I’m too tired to argue, to even care about the insults or the snotty tones. I sink onto my bed, my body suddenly too heavy, my legs like jelly. How long have I been awake? “He just said he’s been waiting for me.”
“That’s all?” Ilwen sounds bored.
“Yeah.” I tried to ask questions, tried to argue for my return to Earth, but he ignored everything I said. Just like everyone else here.
“That’s it? Well, he’s waiting for new Omegas.” Ilwen seems relieved. “Everyone in the universe wants us. You’re just another they’ve added to their collection. Nothing special.” She makes a pfft noise. “And now you’ve gone and embarrassed the Omega Academy in the dining hall by flaunting your infatuation with Ceredes, Kyte, and Jeren.”
“You need to watch yourself,” a third Omega, whose bed is on my other side, trills. “You’ll get a reputation.”
A tiny surge of irritation fights through the exhaustion. “I’m not infatuated, and I don’t care what people say about me.”
“The way you look at them, especially Ceredes.” Ilwen practically spits. “It’s indecent.”
“Jealous, Ilwen?” Unar snarks.
“Shut up.” Ilwen shoots her an acid glare.
Unar grins but doesn’t mention it again. The other Omega digs around in her dresser.
Ilwen turns to her side, her gaze on me when she says, “Justa, where are you going?”
“Meeting Balef to study at the fountain.”
The fountain. I close my eyes and try to recall what seemed familiar about it. Ilwen rushed me past it, the sun streaming down, the water glittering, and there were four faces. It seemed like one of them jogged my memory, something stirring in my mind. But what? And who? Not to mention, how? I need another look.
“Can I come with you?” I force myself to sit up.
“Why?” Justa, an Omega with antennae rising from her forehead, light gray skin, and a thin body, gives me a quizzical look.
“I want to stretch my legs before bed.” I slide on the simple gray shoes that seem to fit perfectly.
“Fine, but don’t think you can study with us. We don’t need anyone holding us back. I’m going up-fleet.” Justa strides to the portal in the center of the room.
“Sit down.” Ilwen points a rude finger at me. “I’m not letting you embarrass the Omega Academy again.”
I bristle, my fuse perilously short. “You can’t tell me what to do.”
She bares her fangs. “I’m the commander of all Omegas, including you, fliggy.”
Justa gives an apprehensive hiss, and Unar turns her wide eyes to me.
I rub my forehead. “That doesn’t have a sting for me. How many times do I have to tell you? You can call me that all day, it won’t make a dent. Try something saltier.”
“Just because you’re too dumb to understand it doesn’t mean it isn’t fitting for you.” Ilwen sneers.
“Just because you’re jealous that Ceredes prefers me, doesn’t mean I give a shit what you think.” I stand even though my body begs to return to the bed.
Ilwen gets to her feet and stalks toward me.
My history tells me to guard myself, to defend. But my instincts? Those are screaming at me to fight. I’m done with being a punching bag. If Ilwen wants to hurt me, I’ll give it right back.
“You will fall in line behind me, human, or I will grind you under my heel.” She stops inches from me, her nostrils flaring.
I put up my fists and bend my knees. “Get to grinding, then.”
Her eyes widen, rage pouring off her.
“Am I interrupting something?” Tilda appears from the portal in the center of the room and pushes her way between us.
“Move, Granterry garbage,” Ilwen growls.
Tilda smiles, and the darkness in it sends a shiver down my spine. “Make me, Dilinari trash. I’ll drop you before you take another breath.”
“Are you issuing a challenge?” Ilwen’s voice quiets.
“No.” Tilda takes my arm. “But I will if you don’t lay off my new friend. And I think we all know that I would destroy you in the dueling ring.”
Ilwen grits her teeth.
“But lucky for you, I don’t care for extra responsibility.” Tilda laughs, her voice taking on its usual high, quick tenor. “So let’s drop this, okay? Great. Glad you agree. Come on, Lana. We need to start your evening studies.”
“Evening studies?” For a moment, I think I’d rather stay here and slug it out with Ilwen even if it means an ass-whipping for me.
“Yeah, let’s go.” Tilda pulls me through the portal, Ilwen’s frustrated shriek cut-off midway.
“Thank you. I think.” I look around and can’t place where we are. Trees branch overhead, their tops so high that they disappear into the evening gloom. Their trunks are bigger than any tree I’ve ever seen, maybe even larger than the photos of redwoods I’ve seen online. “Wow.” I walk to the nearest one and just stare.
“You don’t have trees on Earth? I can’t believe that. I thought all planets with even a hint of biological diversity had trees. But, then again, I haven’t traveled much through the galaxies. I mostly stuck to my home planet. Granterries are a close bunch, and we don’t travel for pleasure much, especially when it requires us to go through wormholes. The Great Calamity was three-hundred years ago, but the elders still remember it. We can’t—”
“The Great Calamity?” I press my palm to the trunk, and
I swear I can almost feel the bark humming under my touch.
“Yes, when the Sentients first emerged from the edges of the Caron Galaxy. The war began, and many Granterry spies perished in the Sentients’ wormhole traps.” She makes a strange sign across her chest, sort of like when Catholics cross themselves. “May they be at ease in the star-filled night.”
“What are Sentients?”
“You don’t know?”
“No.”
“Your planet was lucky, then.” She stands beside me. “Mine wasn’t.”
I can almost feel the pain in her voice. “I’m sorry.”
She shrugs. “It was long ago. We beat the Sentients back, but they’ve multiplied in the shadowy regions of the Rift and on dark planets. Now they’re a threat again.”
“What are they?”
“An alliance of several races. Some are from planets that have long since died out. They formed flotillas in their own galaxies. Others come from the Rift, from places where no Gretar Fleet ship will go. And some are a mix of organic materials with sentient technology. They were the first, the ones who gathered the others to them. And they are devoted to making more of their numbers.”
“So they’re like Terminators? Sort of half robot, half person?”
“Terminators?” Jeren’s voice at my back has me jumping out of my skin.
“Holy shit!” I clutch my chest and whirl. “Are you trying to kill me?”
“No.” He cocks his head to the side, as if the question is confusing. “Why would I want that?”
“She means you scared her.” Kyte strides toward us, Ceredes at his elbow.
Hang on, are they … wet? Their hair glistens, and their shirts seem to stick to them a little bit more than usual. Every muscle is highlighted. They must’ve just showered. Did they shower together? Jeeeeeeez. I try to keep my thirst under control, but my mouth feels like dryer lint.
“Oh. Sorry.” Jeren smiles. “Sometimes I forget what an excellent shadow I am.”
Tilda snorts. “She’s here. I did my part.”
“You can go.” Ceredes’s voice doesn’t lack for command.
“Go?” She crosses her arms over her chest. “And leave her here with you three? Not a chance.”
“She’s safe with us.” Kyte acts offended, but something tells me he’s more amused by Tilda than anything.
“It’s fine.” I look around at the deep gloom. “At least I think it is. Where are we?”
“Edge of the Biwoods. On campus. They wanted to see you, and I was nice enough to help out.”
“Nice?” Jeren sniffs. “We had to agree to give you all of our protein helpings for a week.”
“I’m a hungry Omega.” She gives me an apologetic smile. “I wouldn’t have sold you out if I thought you’d get hurt or anything. It’s not like Gavros was asking.”
“I know.” It’s true. In this bizarre new world, I can tell that Tilda is a friend, even if she is the most extreme carnivore I’ve ever met. “And it’s okay. Seriously. I trust these three.”
Ceredes seems to puff out his chest more, Kyte gives me a blinding smile, and Jeren’s smirk turns positively nuclear. Maybe being alone with them isn’t the best idea given how they turn my insides to lava and my brain to mush?
“Well, I’m off.” She gives them one final look. “If you lay one finger on her, you’ll regret it.” Turning, she strides away into the dark, and I hear the faint electric hum of a portal opening and closing.
“Alone, finally.” Kyte approaches, his green eyes warm.
Ceredes shakes his head. “Cut it out, Kyte.”
“What?”
“You know what.” Ceredes’s tone brooks no argument.
“Why are we here?” I wrap my arms around my middle when some strange bird calls through the dark, its voice carried on a cool breeze.
“The campus grounds are impenetrable from the outside. You’re safer here than anywhere else in the galaxy.” Jeren is somehow at my back again.
“Stop that.” I grab his arm and pull him around so he’s standing with the other two. “You’re too damn sneaky.”
Jeren shrugs but doesn’t deny it. And I can’t deny the slight buzz I feel when I touch him, but I push that thought away.
“What happened after the dining hall? Were you punished?” I peer up at all three of them. I should be terrified—Jeren’s tattoos move, Kyte has horns, and Ceredes is utterly lethal—but I’m not. I’ve gotten used to them, and they sort of feel like old friends. Did I just meet them? Yes. So is this strange as all hell? Also, yes.
“Yeah, don’t worry about our punishment.” Kyte waves a hand like it’s not a big deal. “Master Harlan gave us Carilla mucking duty.”
“Huh? What’s that?”
“Carillas are the ground animals we use to navigate rough terrain.”
“Like mules?” That’s the closest thing I can think of, though I probably wouldn’t know a mule from a pony if confronted by either.
“Maybe?” Jeren runs a hand through his dark hair. “Don’t know what a mule is, but Carillas are big, stinky, and create loads of excrement.”
“That we just cleaned.” Ceredes shakes his head. “I’m racking up on demerits ever since I jumped on that transport to get you.”
“Sorry.”
His eyes soften. “Don’t be. I don’t regret it.”
My thirst rises to dangerous levels. “So, um, what are we doing out here?”
“We know you’re tired and need to get back to your dorm, but we have questions, and Kyte wants to do an … experiment.”
“Experiment?” A mental image of getting probed flashes through my mind, but it doesn’t get the reaction it should. Instead, I press my thighs together at the thought of Kyte using some sort of vibrating wand on my lady parts.
One side of Kyte’s lips kick up, and I could swear he knows what I’m thinking. But he clears his throat and says, “It won’t hurt or anything. I just want to test a theory.”
“Okay. So, what’s the theory?”
“Questions first.” Ceredes clasps his hands behind his back and adopts a serious look. He’d be scary if he weren’t so damn hot. “What did Commander Bartanz say to you?”
“Why is everyone on my muff about that guy?” I throw my hands up.
“Your ‘muff’?” Jeren’s smirk is like a naughty caress.
“What’s a muff and who touched yours?” Ceredes asks it so intensely that I burst out laughing.
Kyte grins.
“It’s nothing. Nothing.” I tuck my hair behind my ears and try to regroup. “Anyway, Ilwen and one of the other Omegas in my room were asking about him. They wanted to know what he said and why he was interested in me.” I shrug. “But I have no idea. All he did was stare at me for way too long, then said he’s been waiting for me.”
“That’s it?” Ceredes’s brow wrinkles a little.
“Yeah. There was no secret message to decode or anything. Just creepy stare then, ‘I’ve been waiting for you.’ So, what does it mean?”
“No idea.” Kyte taps a finger on his perfect chin. “But it’s definitely odd.”
“Everything about her is odd.” Jeren says it with appreciation. “I like it.”
“Um, thanks?” I try not to blush. I fail. These men, err, males, are so different from the idiot boys I go to school with. Most of them are like Van. I can’t count how many times I’ve wanted to slap the shit out of them for staring at my breasts or trying to grab my ass in the hall. They all thought I was easy because I matured faster than most of the other girls. As if that makes any difference. The few I kissed, I regretted, mostly because they ran their mouths about it. I never went farther than that, never wanted to. But these males, they bring out something in me, something I thought I would only ever truly share with Henry Cavill.
“No clues from the High Commander, then.” Ceredes relaxes a bit, though his eyes are still troubled. “Kyte, let’s move on to your experiment before we get busted for being outside of the main g
rounds. I don’t need another demerit today.”
“I thought you said it was safe here.” I peer around at the dark trees and the inky night beyond.
“It is. But that doesn’t mean we’re allowed to be out here.” Jeren is at my back again. It’s like he can’t help himself. “Alone. With you. At night.”
“Oh.”
“So.” Kyte licks his lips. “We need to touch you.”
“Touch me? All of you? What?” Hot. Flash. And suddenly my panties are soaked. What is the deal with that?
“It’s called slick,” Kyte’s voice whispers through my mind. “It’s an Omega reaction to Alphas she’d like to mate with.”
“How many times do I have to tell you that there will be no mating! And stop reading my mind!” I think back at him.
“I wasn’t.” He shrugs. “But I can taste it on the air. So can Jeren and Ceredes.”
“Oh my god.” My face begins to burn, and I almost decide that running away is the best plan to deal with my utter embarrassment, but the woods are dark and deep. I could get lost. Some sort of animal huffs nearby. Nope, not running. I’m staying here and dealing with my soul-crushing mortification.
“Don’t worry. It’s our favorite scent.”
“Stop talking about it!”
He snorts a laugh.
Ceredes glares at him. “If you’re finished having your little conversation, I’d like to get started.”
“What?” Kyte plays innocent. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“She’s redder than a plumari fruit.” Jeren’s voice at my back is almost a caress. “What did you tell her?”
“Doesn’t matter.” Kyte rubs his hands together. “Let’s do this.”
I shove the awkwardness down as far as I can. “What are we doing, exactly?”
“All you have to do is stay right where you are.” Kyte motions Ceredes around to his right so I’m surrounded by the three of them, a wall of muscle any way I turn.
“This is ridiculous,” Jeren grumbles.
“Put your hand on my shoulder. I’ll put mine on Ceredes. You get the idea.”
They do as Kyte says and create a solid cage around me. But I don’t feel confined. If anything, I relax even more.
