Omega Academy

by Lily Archer

  “We could take him.” Jeren cracks his knuckles.

  “No.” Ceredes licks his lips, relishing the taste of her the same way I’m doing. “We have to stay smart. He’ll be back soon, so we need to get our story straight.”

  “We also need to start stretching.” I grab a fresh shirt from my dresser. “Because we’ll be mucking Carilla stalls all night—and that’s if he goes easy on us. An Omega in our room? Demerit. An Omega kissed until she’s hotter than a genesis freighter carrying starlight? Demerit.”

  “I’ll take the blame.” Ceredes grabs a shirt as well. “I’m the only one he saw kissing her.”

  “Maybe he didn’t see it.” Jeren shrugs, then smirks. “Naw, he totally saw it.”

  I laugh. “Busted.”

  Ceredes smiles, the first full one I’ve ever seen him give. “Worth it.”

  “Pillars, yes it was.” Jeren looks down. “This is going to be a problem.”

  I adjust my gray pants. “For all of us.”

  Ceredes groans. “She’s ready for us, for the circle.”

  “I know, but she doesn’t know that. She’s apprehensive.” I can’t blame her. We’re three huge Alphas. “She’s never been with a male before.”

  “Never?” Ceredes turns his head sharply toward me.

  “Nope.” Jeren agrees. “I’ve seen her past.”

  “No one was worthy of her.” I’m proud of her for knowing her own worth so well. “I only hope that we are, or that we can at least try to be.”

  “We need to think of a way to form the circle somewhere off-campus.” Ceredes leans on his dresser.

  I glance around. “It may be even harder than we think.”

  “What do you mean?” Jeren pulls on his shoes.

  “I don’t think Master Harlan just happened to show up tonight.”

  “You think he’s watching us?” Ceredes scowls.

  “No. I think they’re watching her. Think about it. The high commander met her shuttle. Master Rav came for her in the woods when—”

  Jeren snarls. “That was Tarvan being his usual dicknose self.”

  “Maybe, or maybe she just said that to cover the fact that all of the instructors are keeping a close eye on her.”

  “Could be.” Ceredes nods. “My intuition tells me you’re right. There’s something about her, some reason she’s so important to the fleet.”

  “I think this means we need to be even more cautious. We can’t let them know about the circle.”

  “Okay, so we won’t seal it on campus.” Jeren twirls a knife. “No problem.”

  “We can’t be obvious about our growing bond with her either. Or with each other.” I scrub my hands down my face. “I think we need to split up.”

  “Split up?” Ceredes asks. “We just agreed to stick together.”

  “I don’t mean it like that. I mean we need to divide our time with her. Make it less obvious that the three of us are her Alphas.”

  “Like taking turns?” Jeren stops twirling his blade.

  “Yes. Like that. We each get her for one day at a time. That’ll allay any suspicions that we may have kicked up with tonight’s run-in with Master Harlan.” I don’t like the prospect, but it makes sense … for now.

  “Fine.” Ceredes sighs, but there’s a glint in his eye. “But I get first go.”

  17

  Lana

  Onin, the four-armed medic, jumps to attention as Master Harlan hauls me into the infirmary.

  “What’s wrong?” He rushes over to us. “Are you hurt?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “She was set upon by three Alphas.” Master Harlan’s tone could kill a small child.

  “I wasn’t ‘set upon.’” I wrench my arm free of his grasp, but when he turns his reptilian eyes on me, I think maybe I should have just let him have the entire arm.

  “Are you injured?” he asks gruffly. “Tell this Omega what happened.”

  Onin looks down at me, his eyes wide but sympathetic.

  “I’m not injured. Nothing happened. I accidentally went through the portal and wound up in their room. We just talked about stuff.”

  “Like what?” Master Harlan bristles.

  “Oh, I don’t know, boss, maybe we talked about how I’m new here, and don’t know why I’m here, and have no idea what’s going on most of the time. Things like that.” I don’t know why I’m talking to this enormous, militaristic alien with my smartass tone, but maybe I have a death wish?

  “You’re here because you’re an Omega,” he says it like that’s all I need to know.

  “The fleet doesn’t recruit Omegas from Earth,” I challenge.

  He glowers. Hard. “It does now.”

  “Why?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why come all the way to Earth to get a human if the fleet never comes to Earth at all?”

  He seems to measure me with his gaze. “Are all humans like you?”

  I dust off my shoulder with utterly false bravado. “They wish.”

  I could swear the corner of Master Harlan’s mouth twitches up, but then it’s gone. “You are an Omega under my care. The next time I see one of my Alphas pawing at you, I will make an example of him. Do you understand?”

  “No one was pawing at me. I wasn’t—”

  “Do you understand?” he barks.

  I can see why he’s in charge of the Alphas. He’s utterly terrifying. “Yes,” I mutter. “I understand.”

  I take a quick breath. “But I don’t see what the big deal is.” I’m like a dog with a bone sometimes. Not one of my finer, or smarter, qualities. “I’m not hurt. I wasn’t being mistreated. Kyte, Jeren, and Ceredes are my only friends here—well, except for Tilda and maybe Uaxin, though she’s pretty impossible to read if I’m being honest. Anyway, point is, they would never harm me.”

  He grinds his teeth together. “That’s not the point.”

  “Then what is?” I throw my hands up.

  He opens his mouth, then snaps it shut and turns to Onin. “Do a checkup on her, make sure she wasn’t hurt, then send her back to her dorm. No detours. Understand?”

  “Yes, of course.” Onin pats the medical cot beside him. “Hop on up, and I’ll take a look.”

  Master Harlan stalks from the infirmary, his frame so large that his thick arms seem to brush the doorframe.

  “I already said I wasn’t hurt.” I cross my arms over my stomach.

  “Please.” Onin pats the bed again. “Let’s just do what he says so we can get you out of here.”

  “Fine.” I climb up and sit.

  Onin pulls out some little doodad from his pocket and runs it across my forehead like it’s one of those kid thermometers.

  “We weren’t doing anything wrong.”

  “I believe you.” He smiles gently, then pulls the doodad away and looks at it.

  “I mean, is it against the rules for me to talk to Alphas?” I leave out the kissing part. That may well be against the rules.

  “Of course not. The fleet encourages cooperation amongst all its cadets, but there can be … complications between Alphas and Omegas.” He drops his gaze for a moment, and I could swear he looks sad, but when he looks up again, he’s smiling. “But you won’t run into any of that, I’m sure.”

  “Run into what? What did you mean by complications?”

  “Just if an Omega and an Alpha find themselves pairing up, being exclusive, forming a mate bond—things like that—the fleet frowns on it. They’ll separate the two, most often, and have them concentrate on their studies.”

  “But they’ll let them be together after they’re done with school?” I kick my dangling feet a little. “Wait, when’s graduation? How long am I supposed to be doing this academy thing?”

  “Usually four years. But you’ve been fast-tracked into year three, so you’ll be graduating about this time next year.”

  “I got to skip some grades?” My how the tables have turned. I was held back in kindergarten because I spoke my dad’s
language—Mom said it was Swedish, though I don’t remember it now—better than English.

  “Yes. You’re on course to be a full member of the fleet rather quickly.”

  “Why? I mean, I’d like to say I’m a fabulous student, but I was far better at video games than any subject I studied in school.”

  “You’d have to ask Master Harlan.” He glances at the door. “And, thankfully, he’s gone.”

  His relief pulls a smile from me.

  He taps his thermometer-looking doodad a few times. “You’re perfectly healthy.”

  “Told you.” I jump down from the cot.

  “One thing, though.” He reaches for the tray of medical supplies beside him. “Your blood sample got corrupted before I could do my analysis. Could I get another?”

  “Sure.” I hold out my arm.

  “Thanks.” He presses the same tube to my arm as before, and my blood fills it in a steady rate. “Great, all done.”

  I yawn. “I guess now you have to walk me back to my dorm to make sure I don’t go chasing any Alphas, huh?”

  “I’m afraid so.” He gives me a wry smile. “Don’t worry about Master Harlan. He can be tough on you, but he doesn’t do it out of spite. He’s trying to keep you safe.”

  I walk out of the infirmary with him, the halls quiet. “So, you’re an Omega, right?”

  “Yes.” He pushes a set of double doors open with two arms so I can walk through.

  “Do you have an Alpha?”

  He clears his throat.

  “I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to pry.”

  “No, that’s all right.” He walks at my side in silence for a bit, before saying. “I did, once. Yes.”

  “Oh.” I reach out and take his nearest hand. It’s pure instinct—my need to comfort a hurt in someone else.

  He looks surprised, then smiles a little. “You’re kind.”

  I shrug. “You’re the nicest alien I’ve met so far.”

  His smile sours just a bit, and then it returns. “Alien?”

  “Yeah, you are all aliens around here.”

  “Good to know.” He squeezes my hand and releases it. “Your dorm is down this hall. I would have sent you through a portal, but you need to get the layout of the academy in your head. Portals are great, but you can’t always trust tech. Remember that.”

  “Okay. You mean like, don’t use the elevator in case of fire?”

  He gives me a puzzled look, the bridge of his nose wrinkling a little. “You’re a strange one, aren’t you?”

  I turn on my heel and stroll toward my dorm. “I like to think so.”

  “Pull back harder.” Ceredes sits in the co-pilot chair, his eyes on the craggy cliffs just ahead of us.

  “She’s doing fine.” Tilda shoots him a salty look. “You aren’t even supposed to be on our ship.”

  “No one said Alphas and Omegas can’t train together.” He shrugs.

  “I’m pretty sure Master Harlan has said it dozens of times. Learn together, train separate.”

  “This is learning.” He swipes his hand across the wide view. “I’m learning. Lana, aren’t you learning?”

  “I wish you two would be quiet. I’m trying to concentrate.” I know Master Daviti is here somewhere, his ship hovering just out of range.

  “Haven’t you gotten her into enough trouble?” Tilda isn’t letting up. “Ilwen has already told everyone who’ll listen about Lana getting busted by Master Harlan last night.”

  “Ilwen doesn’t know what she’s talking about, as usual.” Ceredes turns to me and points to his co-pilot screen. “In real combat, you’ll have a co-pilot who’s able to scan for enemy ships. The way Master Daviti does it is the old style from back when we didn’t have the tech to find enemies hiding in plain view.”

  I grip up on the custom controller I fashioned from the clear, malleable materials of the ship. Once I got my setup like the one I used at home—with a few useful additions—the ship seemed to understand intuitively what I was doing. It’s still new, and I haven’t mastered it, but I can fly. I smile. I’m flying!

  “When you smile like that …” Ceredes doesn’t finish his sentence. He doesn’t have to. The way he looks at me tells me everything. And when the memory of our kiss creeps through my mind, I can’t deny the heat that suffuses my entire body.

  “Focus,” Avri gripes from the gunner seat.

  “I am.” I turn back to the view ahead of me. The wind is calm, the forest beneath us silent. But I still get a creeping sensation up the back of my neck. “He’s here. I can feel it.” On a hunch, I send us hurtling toward the ground.

  Ceredes jumps and yells, “Whoa!”

  But I don’t let up, not until we’re almost touching the treetops. An energy burst flies past us and harmlessly dissipates.

  “How did you know he was on our tail?” Tilda’s eyes are wide.

  “I don’t know.” I pull us back to a more palatable altitude and glance at Ceredes. “Need some fresh shorts, Commander?”

  He grins. “Let’s do it again.”

  I laugh and push us forward, zooming over the landscape, the rivers passing by like twists of silver, and the land rising steadily toward a mountain range in the distance.

  “You’re the last ship.” Master Daviti’s hiccup makes it through the comm. “But I’ve almost got you.”

  I pull back on the controller and shoot straight up, the clouds whooshing by as I spin into the brighter sun in the thinner atmosphere. “If I can trick him to follow me up—”

  The ship blinks red.

  “Damnit!” I stare straight ahead as Master Daviti’s craft floats out of the cloud just in front of us.

  “Tag.” He wobbles his craft back and forth. “Good effort, Omega. But you can’t get comfortable. The clouds don’t stop weapons fire. They won’t hide you.”

  He’s got a point. I hate it that he’s got a point, but there it is. “Next time.”

  “Sure.” His patronizing tone lights a fire under me.

  I will get him. Maybe not tomorrow or the next day. But one day, I’m going to win his little game.

  “Don’t look so serious.” Tilda pulls up her co-pilot screen. “Like I said, no one’s ever beaten him.”

  “Let’s get back to the hangar so I can berate all of the losers, including you.” Master Daviti jets past us, and I turn around to follow.

  “You did great.” Ceredes watches my hands as I maneuver us back through the clouds in a lazy float, like a feather on the breeze. “You’re a natural flyer.”

  “I am?”

  “Definitely.” Tilda sighs. “I hoped I would be the flying Omega, but I can already tell you’ve got it.”

  Ceredes’s blue eyes sparkle in the daylight. “She’s definitely got it.”

  Why is it that when Ceredes seems impressed with me, my entire mind lights up like a Christmas tree? But I can’t help it. I want that look from him. It’s like a drug.

  I try to wipe the smug from my face. “So, what do you mean by ‘it,’ exactly?”

  “That thing that flyers have.” Tilda draws a design in the air with the tip of her finger. “You know, that thing.”

  “Huh?”

  “The knack.” Avri stretches. “She’s got the knack.”

  “Right. The knack.” Tilda points at me.

  “At least I’ve got something, because I think I might fail Master Lintaru’s class. I still don’t understand virudivan engines, not even on a basic level.”

  “Don’t worry.” Tilda elbows me. “You’ve got the best virudivan study partner in the whole academy right here.”

  “And here.” Ceredes leans back and laces his hands behind his head, comfortable in that peculiarly masculine way. “Combat and weapons tech are my strong points.”

  “Here, too. All of the organic life courses, I’ve got you.” Kyte’s voice pipes through the craft, followed by Jeren’s. “I got you on stealth combat and Sentient studies.”

  Has my heart ever been this full before? I don’t thin
k so. Because right now it’s on the edge of bursting.

  “I don’t know what to say.” I take a deep breath.

  “Don’t thank us just yet.” Ceredes laughs. “Wait till after your first combat training session.”

  “Hey, go easy on me.” I stick the tip of my tongue out at him.

  He licks his lips. “Never.”

  18

  Jeren

  Lana stares up at the fountain, her gaze stuck on Commander Krenallus, an Alpha from the last circle in recent memory. “He looks so familiar.”

  “Maybe he’s your long-lost father?”

  She shakes her head. “Nope. I remember my dad’s nose. It was sort of long and crooked. It’s funny, I don’t recall much about him except for the nose.”

  I lean back against Krenallus’s statue and page through the text on Sentient behavior. “We need to study.”

  “This guy’s nose is perfect.” She cocks her head to the side a little. “Like the rest of him. He’s a looker.”

  “Are you crushing on a long-dead commander?” Am I jealous of an ancient dead guy? … Maybe.

  “No.” She shrugs. “He must look like someone from school. Maybe a teacher I used to have.”

  “Maybe.” I stop on a page and flip the screen around to her. “Who’s this?”

  She finally looks down, her eyes squinting as she looks at the image. “That’s um … I know this one.” She presses her lips together. “Hmmmm. That’s the Sentient commander of the Rift. He’s a cyborg. Half Bellatian—like Ceredes—and half mech with this awful-looking pincer thing instead of a hand. Though this image doesn’t show the hand thing.” She reaches up and swipes a clean page from her own display and does a quick sketch of Commander Oruwani’s claw. “Like this.”

  She’s got talent. But she’s stalling. “His name, Lana.” I like studying with her. It gives me a chance to look at her without having to hide it. I can watch her nibble her lip, close her eyes, wrinkle her nose—do all her little tells she uses when she’s trying to come up with an answer—and I don’t have to look away. I’ve memorized every bit of her expressions. “Who is he?”