The Unicorn's Dearest Omega

by Marilyn Black

  I started shifting my feet over and over, seeing an opportunity to run out the door.

  He charged to the coffee machine and tore the top off.

  "Pumpkin spice? PUMPKIN SPICE?" Then he picked up the entire machine and threw it to the floor, letting the coffee inside spill out. "That was MY drink, Tommy. MY. DRINK." He stormed over to me and grabbed me by the arm even as I tried to rush away-- he was just too fast and too strong.

  "No!" I cried. "No! Get away from me!"

  "I've been wondering why I've been smelling that scent all over time. I thought that was just someone else. And why can't I smell YOU anymore? You been hiding in a scentless room?" He pushed me forward, straight into some broken glass. "Take me to that room, Tommy." Then he grabbed the back of my neck and held me up, scruffing me up like my mother used to. "Take me to the room, Tommy."

  With the coffee machine in his other hand, he set me down but kept his fingers right on my veins and vertebrae. I walked forward, but I only had the barest amount of control. He had me pinned at every step, and if I tried running in any other direction but forward, he would snap my neck.

  And once we were up there, he threw the coffee machine onto Neil's bed and started tearing apart all the furniture and accessories.

  Once he was finished his tantrum, he set me down, made me stand up straight in the middle of the room, and socked me with a right hook across my nose.

  When I came too, I was in his truck, tied up, and sat next to him in the passenger seat.

  "You little fucking slut." He scared me with how animated he was, constantly rocking in his seat like he was about to explode. "You go around cheating on me like a bitch in heat, which I guess you really are." He slapped me against my head.

  Gasping and crying, I said, "But you cheat on me all the time!"

  Again, he slapped me and then punched me. "That's an Alpha's right, WHORE. Alphas get the harem. Omegas ARE the harem. Know your fucking place!"

  I kept weeping the whole ride back, and my heart couldn't take the stress.

  He said, "I sold everything you owned, too. Yeah, that's right. And I kept your grandfather's pendant just so I could break it in front of you. That's only fair."

  He heard me weeping and screamed at me, "You're so fucking selfish and inconsiderate on top of being an easy slut!"

  He got out of the car and pulled out a steak knife from under his seat. Then he held it up to his hand. "You want me to cut off my hand, bitch?"

  I did. But at the same time, we were in public. I was getting really scared.

  When someone walking past us stopped, he asked if everything was okay.

  Jonathan said, "I just discovered my Omega was sleeping with another man and got pregnant. Did it right under my nose for three weeks while I was going through so much turmoil!"

  The man said, "Oh wow, that's awful..."

  And that made me feel even worse, knowing that he was creating a narrative where I was the villain. Since the windows were tinted, he couldn't see me and know that I was battered and tied up. For all he knew, I was pampering myself, laughing at an innocent man's anguish.

  And I couldn't even roll down the windows to show him.

  Jonathan pressed his fists against his eyes and groaned, throwing the knife into a tree and rushing back to the car.

  Immediately, he screamed so loud that my ear kept ringing for the rest of the ride: "YOU KEEP FOOLING AROUND LIKE THIS, AND YOU'LL END UP A JUNKIE AND BLOW OUT YOUR BRAINS LIKE COBAIN."

  The car screeched off, powering away at what felt like a thousand miles an hour.

  He simmered with, "That fucking Omega bitch knew how to hide it, too. Too weak to even handle the tiniest amount of pressure, so he sucked a shotgun. And that'll be you too."

  Once he pulled into his parking lot, he then had the audacity to say this: "I'm saying this because I fucking love you, man. You're going down a dark path, and it's going to end with you in some fucking gutter."

  I kept gasping like a fish, utterly unable to comprehend that he seriously believed he was doing this out of love. No one did these sorts of things to their loved ones. No one! And if they did, then it wasn't out of love.

  He kept going on, "Because there are so many of these weak-minded Omegas out there who think they can be so strong and independent too. Bitches could do that because they actually got Alphas and Betas, and they're still basically just lesser versions of what men have. Omegas flat out can't do it. It's not in your nature. If you try being independent and making your own choices, you'll only make the wrong ones on purpose and the right ones by accident. You need to trust me. I'm doing this for a good reason. I have to be firm. And love is a two-way street. You don't respect me, so how can I respect you? You gotta defer to me, make me feel like the Alpha that I am. That's just the way it is."

  And I stayed quiet. Not because I was weak but because I knew there was nothing I could say to him to convince him otherwise. If he was so sure that he actually did love me, then everything to the contrary would be excused.

  But I knew for a fact he didn't actually love me. Just that he started believing his own bullshit.

  We got out and he pushed me into his mansion. I felt so bad that such a beautiful and palatial place was wasted on a man so evil.

  With great haste, he pulled me into my old room, where it was confirmed that he had indeed stripped it bare and left me with nothing-- not even a bed. Even Neil was kinder to Jason, and Neil hated Jason.

  I got thrown against the wall and left to rot in my own juices.

  "I'll be back, and we'll deal with that parasite inside of you."

  I looked up. "Parasite?"

  "Yeah, I fucking know you got pregnant. Like Hell if you think I'm letting you cuck me."

  Then he slammed the door. I beat and banged at it, screaming for him to come back to just explain what he meant. But he didn't, and this brought a great tension in me, a sense that something truly awful was about to happen.

  What had I learned through all this? That he was angry that he could not produce an heir. And apparently if he couldn't even do it with me, he couldn't accomplish it with anyone. There was no chance he was going to let me off so easily without trying to force himself onto me, and the thought utterly disgusted me.

  I looked out the window and hoped into the wind that Neil would know where I was and what was going on. But he hadn't returned, and I didn't know if he'd ever come.

  The hours started passing. Jonathan hadn't returned either, so I felt even worse. It was like a horror movie or a nightmare, where you knew something bad was going to happen, but it didn't and you only became more and more anxious. I felt even more worried because I feared what all that cortisol would do for the development of the baby. I didn't want to cause it to be a stillborn through sheer anxiety alone.

  Under my breath and in my mind, I cursed at Jonathan. Why had he turned out so rotten? Why was he doing this? I didn't want to wish this fate on anyone else so I never thought, 'Why not harass someone else?' but I definitely did think, 'Why can't he just disappear forever?'

  Soon, the sun began to set and still Jonathan had not arrived. By that point, I had actually pissed myself in fear. I didn't want to imagine what he'd do to me or my baby. It was still too soon for there to be a real fetus, so what could he even do anyway?

  I didn't want to know.

  I took a moment to look at the walls and decor of the room more closely, despite my anxiety still causing me to see things in tunnel vision. There were many holes in the wall-- fist-shaped holes. The windowpane itself was gone, and the air-ducts were taped over (even though I'd have to be a bug to fit through them. Since there was no windowpane, I could have easily jumped out, right? Well, not at all. I was kept in a minaret three-stories up-- even as a cat, such a fall would break my legs at best. And there was absolutely no way to climb down. At some point, Jonathan began so vindictive and petty that he butchered the aesthetics of his home just to make sure I couldn't climb out by adding very smooth, curved, an
d slippery plaster around the edges going all the way down the tower. There was no possible foothold, and it seemed that the plaster itself was partially laminated to prevent me from digging into it. There were no nearby trees either. And just to make sure that I wouldn't attempt a fall, I looked down and saw that the ground below me was hard marble with several jagged objects left out for me. If I even tried, I'd probably be gashed and disfigured by hitting the grill or impaled by a shovel pointed upwards.

  The worst part was that it still wasn't high enough for me to know that the fall would kill me. I was high enough for the fall to do damage but not so high as to die unless I fell on something-- it finally dawned on me that my room was on the third floor and not the higher fourth floor because he wanted me to suffer in case I tried to escape. Not die but be crippled and in pain.

  I was completely stuck in there.

  So once more, I slipped down onto my side and started humming a song to myself. It was a simple melody, one that I could remember but couldn't name. And it was melancholic, like it was my own funeral dirge. Yet hearing it made me even sadder. I didn't like humming it, but it was the only way to calm me down, so I kept going at it. Whatever was the case, I still had to stay strong. I had to know that I was loved by Neil and Scott. Neil and Scott and Michael and maybe even Jasper and Artemis. Hell, even Jason loved me enough to want to stop my suffering, so there was no doubt that I had loved ones in this world. But in that moment, I was under the thumb of the one man who actively despised me and everything I stood for. Everything I was. Everything I loved. It was a terribly dreadful feeling to think about, that someone hated me. Even more dreadful was the knowledge that they thought they loved me.

  I said to myself, "Neil..." over and over again as the sun faded below the horizon.

  We had mated. We had found each other's souls to be perfect for one another. We were true soul mates. I finally understood that perfectly. I needed Neil. And he needed me. We loved each other so deeply it was almost scary.

  I picked myself up off the floor and looked out into the distance, looking past the trees and the yard. The cars were nice and expensive. The fountain was flowing water. The front "yard" could hold an entire city by itself. There was no doubt that Jonathan could satisfy me monetarily. But...

  I clenched my hands over my heart and tried speaking spiritually to Neil. I knew he couldn't actually hear me. Rather, it was going to be a vague sense. Something was wrong with me, I knew he'd feel.

  There was absolutely no doubt that we were soul mates so I knew it was going to work.

  As I looked upon the dark skies, I smiled. Jonny boy, you fool, you don't know what you've unleashed.

  Neil

  I galloped down the streets, Jonathan's face in my eyes the entire time. I made sure that I'd remember his face.

  To my surprise, Scott's car pulled up beside me and he rolled down his window.

  I whinnied once, and he responded, "They checked my file and some new cameras that were installed, thanks to a little bit of help from our clan."

  I bobbed my head as a nod, though I was moving so furiously that he probably thought it was just the natural locomotive motion.

  Goddamn was it good to have a family like them.

  He went on, "But what is all this? Where's Tommy?"

  I had to slow down and start shifting back into my human self. Once I did, he let me in.

  We both exchanged a glance and his whole face twisted in a very subtle way to let me know he understood.

  In fact, he got out of the car to sit in the passenger seat.

  "This is your battle," he said to me. "I won't take it from you."

  I put the pedal to the metal and broke every speed limit imaginable-- if Scott didn't have a reason to head back to jail, he would now.

  But I didn't care about the consequences. I needed to save Neil. You know those movies and books where the valiant knight goes to save the pretty damsel in distress due to a code of honor and chivalry?

  Fuck that.

  It wasn't chivalry that drove me to rescue Neil. It was love and basic human empathy. He was going to fucking die in Jonathan's "care". That's what happens when an angry and jealous man conspires with the police to keep your lover away while you break and enter someone else's property just to kidnap you.

  It didn't take long, and I was surprised he lived so close by, but he did live just far away that I could understand why he didn't know where Tommy could be hiding. Rather than coming in through the front entrance-- a massive horseshoe that seemed to extend for a full extra mile (and the mansion itself still loomed imposingly despite that distance)-- we decided to take a side street and go in on foot.

  I said to Scott, "It's not just Tommy either," and set the car to park. "It's also our child."

  He nodded in understanding. "Yeah, that's a terrible practice."

  "Overdominant shifters keep doing this! Why?"

  He lit a cigarette and got out of the car, pulling a gun out of his dash. "Something to do with keeping the family line pure and untainted, I suppose. It's rooted in old mysticism. Even nonshifters do it. If you learn your mate's child isn't your own-- well, people have a nasty tendency to kill them, regardless of if they've been born or not. And a proud wolf like Jonathan would never let himself get cucked like that."

  Then I pressed his chest. "By the way. Stay back."

  "What? Dude, this guy's violent. And he's a wolf. I'm not going to let you get torn up like that."

  "This isn't your fight. I've got to do this alone."

  He threw out his arms. "And right after I talked about the hokey ancient traditions, too."

  Rather than getting a gun, I sharpened my horn with a rock. "Yeah, well, sometimes the traditions are traditions for a reason."

  There were only three actors in this fight: Jonathan, the big bad wolf; Tommy, the damsel in distress; and me, the vengeful knight-errant.

  I shifted once more and galloped across the open field. There was no doubt that Jonathan and his security system saw me, but I didn't care. I wanted him to be drawn out.

  Then I saw a bizarre looking window next to a tower that looked like it belonged to a medieval castle. The tower itself clashed with the rest of the mansion, but it was that weird, lipped window that really got me-- I wanted to say that it looked Islamic in design, but even that wasn't right. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was actually made for a specific purpose: there would be no way to climb out of that window without falling. And just below the window was a bunch of conveniently placed outdoor accessories, many of which were set in such a way as if to act as a hazard, like something you'd see in a video game. It was almost like a dare to jump out and die in the most horrible manner possible.

  I ran to that side of the mansion to get a better look, and my heart skipped a beat when I saw Tommy standing at the edge, looking out to the universe.

  Was he going to jump?!

  I shifted back and shouted, "Tommy! Tommy! I'm here! I'm here!"

  He looked at me and smiled. I couldn't understand why he'd do that and not a celebratory yell or maybe a scream for me to help him. In fact, he looked downright smug as if he was laughing at me.

  "Hold on! I'm coming!"

  His voice echoed, "I knew you would." He didn't sound distressed. He sounded... happy.

  And once I realized that, a wave of emotions ran through my soul. It was like a movie playing through my head, all in an instant. Memories of the preceding several hours, all for me to view to get good and angry at.

  And I saw exactly why he was so smug. I, too, smiled and nodded.

  Jonathan was so goshdarn pathetic.

  I shifted back into my unicorn form and took several steps back, ready to make one Olympic leap to Tommy's room.

  But then Tommy's smug smile vanished as an arm wrapped around his neck.

  "Who is that? Who is that? Is that him?!" Jonathan pulled Tommy back and shouted, "I'll kill you, you son of a bitch! Fucking with my ho like this!"<
br />
  Just hearing his voice filled me with so much rage that my vision went to white. My motions became spontaneous and instinctual, and I seemed to make the leap as if someone else were guiding me.

  This is what my unicorn self wanted to do the most. Live on pure animalistic abandon. I saw that my beautiful Omega was in danger? I killed what was causing that danger. As simple as that. No bullshit morality or human self-restraint to get in the way.

  I cleared all three floors, broke through the window, and landed in the room. Jonathan fell back, dropping Tommy. But he wasn't afraid-- rather, he used the fall to shift into his wolf form and step forward to snarl at me.

  Tommy ran to my side, but I didn't want him here, where he could get hurt. This was the time where Scott could play the role as the page boy who whisked away the maiden while the knight and the wolf clashed.

  "So..." He spoke as a wolf, his voice utterly guttural and warbled. "You have come to take what is mine."

  I couldn't speak as a unicorn, so I huffed and bobbed my head.

  "You homewreckers need to know your place. This is not yours. None of this is yours." He snarled at Tommy and said, "You've wasted so much of my time. If only I knew what trouble you'd cause, I'd have found myself another bitch to plug up."

  Tommy stepped forward, away from me, and said, "You're such a fucking idiot! You never wanted me for me. Only because you wanted a baby."

  "YOU'RE the fucking idiot if you couldn't see that! Omegas' only purpose in this world is to make babies. Make babies and defer to Alphas. That's it. PERIOD. You waste all your time with college, time you could've spent preparing for our brood. And how dare you even think you're worth anything now that I've taken your virginity."

  He looked to me. "And how embarrassing it must be to you to know the best you'll ever have is used goods."

  Used goods? Did he think that just because Tommy tried to get pregnant with him once before, that made him worth less in the future? It's not like he only ever got one chance at doing this. If anything, that's what makes our relationships-- that of Alphas and Omegas-- so special. You may find your soul mate, but the spiritual bond isn’t going to lead you directly to them on your first try most of the time. And that's fine.