by Zoey Ellis
Ria had scratched out his entry and put instead: General “Imprisoner” Thorec, Occupation: imprisoning, chasing, and fight-fucking innocent Omegas, Location: never in the same place as Ria.
Thorec’s irritation at the entire situation melted a little. She was goading him the way he had her, and for some reason, it felt right. Strangely, his mood lightened.
Examining the stack of parchment, he realized that she had mixed up all the pages so that they were out of order. It was a smart thing to do, but only if she hadn’t wanted him to notice something.
So he set about putting the stack in order, looking through each page to see what Ria had seen. It took longer than he thought, but eventually, he realized there was a page missing. When he looked at the pages before and after, eighty-six and eighty-eight, he realized she’d taken a page that listed Lox warriors at the palace.
Thorec gritted his teeth. So the Alpha was a palace warrior. That certainly didn’t make anything easier.
Neatening the sheets of parchment into a pile, he took it with him when he left the room. Ria was heading to the palace. He didn’t know how she intended to navigate the palace—it was the most secure building in the Lox Empire, but he knew that wouldn’t stop his Ria. The problem was, if he was going to chase her to the palace, he had to be more careful. As much as the emperor had given his blessing, he wouldn’t want Thorec’s hunt to disrupt the general activities at the palace.
He rejoined Roclan, the Alpha working with him, to discuss their options. At least he knew he would recapture his Omega today.
“There are twenty-eight Lox warriors who came from Ariyon, General,” Roclan said, peering at a sheet of parchment on the table.
“Twenty-eight?” Thorec scowled. “Is there any way to reduce it?”
Roclan flicked the page over. “I’ll see how many of them are palace warriors.”
Thorec nodded and replaced the books he had been looking at. The records keep in central Ashens had the most detailed information about the Lox and its warriors in the entire known Lands, but to use it to try to find one specific Alpha was like trying to find a particular drop of water in the White Ocean. Those documents had so much information, it was difficult to know where to start. It had taken them far too long to find out how many had come from Ariyon. Thorec cursed that he hadn’t remembered to ask Halvard in the Ariyon mountains the name of the Alpha.Ria must have known his name or had a way to identify him, because how else would he have known who she was referring to?
“Only three are palace warriors,” Roclan finally said.
“Good. That’s a better number to deal with.”
“How do you want to do this?” Roclan said, glancing up at Thorec. Roclan was one of the first Alpha’s Thorec had trained when he’d become general. “Do you want to visit all three, or should we split them up?”
Thorec paced across the room. He couldn’t afford for Roclan to be the one to find Ria, but he couldn’t visit all three Alphas at the same time, and time was of the essence. Then he had a thought. “Is there any information about where in Ariyon these three Alphas came from?”
Roclan flicked over a few sheets of parchment before he answered. “Yes.”
“Of any of them from the mountains?”
Roclan peered at the sheets. “Yes. Jaythen.”
“I will go to him. You go to the others. The palace administrators can give us their current locations.”
Roclan nodded and rose to his feet. “If you’re right on this, you know your Omega quite well.”
Thorec made a noise in the back of his throat as they exited the room. “She is smart and fierce.” He couldn’t help but recall her ferocity in bed, and both his heart and his cock ached. “But she is predictable.”
Roclan nodded. “And this other Alpha she is trying to find… Jaythen?”
“Let me deal with him,” Thorec said, his voice gritty.
“You know he may not be at all aware of who she is or what she wants,” Roclan pointed out. “Omegas can be… difficult to understand.”
The way his voice lowered, Thorec glanced at him as they headed out of the records keep building, and to a waiting carriage. “It sounds like you have experience with that.”
Roclan’s face hardened, but he said nothing more. As they settled in the carriage, he said, “I am grateful to be helping you, General Thorec. I miss our training bouts—I learned a lot from you, though I have to ask. Why did you pick me for this?”
Thorec was silent for a moment. “You were one of the first warriors I trained and were one of the fiercest. You are bold in everything you do, and you’re honest.
Roclan’s jaw hardened, and he looked out of the window.
“I also heard you had been very keen on the pairing events they do here at the palace. I thought you may understand why I am so eager to find my Omega.”
Roclan stared at him, clearly surprised, but then shook his head. “Then I am not the right Alpha to help you, General. I stopped attending the pairing events.”
“Why?”
Roclan’s expression became closed.
“I heard you challenged Commander Torin for an Omega,” Thorec said, observing him. “That is impressive. Many would not dare.”
“I did not win,” Roclan scowled, his whole body tensed. “He beat me and won the Omega.”
“Was she yours?”
Roclan leaned back on the seat, his scowl fading to a tight expression as he looked upon Thorec. “I would have said yes before the bout.”
“And now?”
Roclan shrugged. “She is pretty. But when our Lox brothers, who have found their true mates, talk about their Omegas… I never felt like that about her. The bout made me realize it.”
Thorec inclined his head. “Then you have yet to find her. Why did you stop going to the pairing events?”
Roclan’s tone was solemn. “There is no Omega for me.”
Thorec frowned. “You don’t know that.”
“I have participated in many pairing events, General,” Roclan growled. “She has not been among them.” He clenched his jaw, lowering his gaze. “I think some of us will never find our true mates. There are not enough Omegas for us all.” His eyes flicked up to Thorec’s. “You are lucky.”
Thorec thought of Ria—his perfect mate, his greatest challenge—and said nothing. He couldn’t deny that.
“Yes, General,” the administrator said brightly. “Jaythen’s private quarters are next to the training grounds, if you ask any of the warriors there, they will tell you.”
Thorec thanked her and headed down the corridor to training grounds. The two that Roclan was investigating were in a different part of the palace.
It was late in the night, but some warriors were just finishing their training. Thorec carefully made his way to where Jaythen’s private rooms were, and stood outside the closed door, preparing himself. This was the Alpha Ria had come to find, he could feel it. He had no idea what the Alpha would do to when he realized Thorec had already declared a claim on Ria. Some Alphas could be unreasonable, even Lox warriors.
Pulling out his daggers, he gripped them firmly, then kicked in the door.
What he saw heightened his rage until it exploded out of his control. Ria was in the arms of the Alpha. He hugged her close, enclosing her with his body, his eyes closed as his head rested on hers, though they jumped apart when the door banged open. Ria screamed, jerking away from the Alpha, but he held onto her, his eyes on Thorec. He
straightened slowly, pulling Ria around his body, so she was behind him.
“Release her,” Thorec bellowed.
The Alpha’s eyes flicked over Thorec’s uniform. “Is there a problem, General?”
“Yes,” Thorec bit out. “Move away from her.”
The Alpha frowned. “This doesn’t seem like Lox business.”
“That’s because it isn’t. Move!”
“What do you want with her?” The Alpha’s voice hardened. “She has come to visit me, and I intend to protect her.”
“That is my job!” Thorec bellowed. “This is your last chance to move, warrior. Pick up your weapon.”
The man hesitated, then lurched forward and grabbed a thick sword that leaned by his bed.
Thorec tightened his grip on the handle of his daggers. He was more than willing to battle for Ria if that’s what was required. In fact, he welcomed it.
“Stop!” Ria called from behind Alpha. “Please don’t fight.”
“Quiet, Riora,” the Alpha said, keeping his eyes locked on to Thorec. “The general is obviously ill. And he is looking dangerous.”
Thorec frowned. Riora?
“General, please stop this,” Ria said, inching away around the Alpha until her eyes locked on to his. “You don’t understand.” She placed a hand on the Alpha’s arm. “I need to stay here with him—”
“You do not,” Thorec thundered, rage whipping through him. “You are ignoring everything that indicates we are true mates, Ria. If I allow that, you will be miserable, and so will I.”
The Alpha, Jaythen, lowered his sword an inch. “You are true mates with the general?” he asked, surprised.
Ria hesitated and then shook her head. “We can’t be. You don’t know anything about me, General Thorec.”
“Don’t I?” He couldn’t help but smirk. “I know what you taste like when you’re about to come, Ria. I know the sound you make when you lick my—”
“You don’t know anything that matters!” she shouted. She glared at him, furious, but her skin reddened the way it did whenever he complimented her.
Jaythen made a face of disgust. “I don’t want to hear that.”
“Then fucking leave!” Thorec ordered. “This is between me and my Omega.”
Jaythen stilled for a moment, then sheathed his sword.
“No, don’t go!” she gasped, gripping his arm. “What are you doing?”
Jaythen turned to face her and grasped her by the shoulders. “Are you true mates with the general, Riora?”
Thorec growled as she began to shake her head, but then she stopped.
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “I don’t think so.”
“Don’t you want to find out?”
Thorec stilled. He wasn’t expecting him to say that. What was going on here?
Tears formed in Ria’s beautiful brown eyes as she looked up at the Alpha, and Thorec could hardly bear the sight of them. “You’re the only one who can help me figure out who I am, Jaythen,” she said. “You just need to make a decision to help.”
“I can tell you as much as I know, but I don’t think it will help you, Riora,” the Alpha said, his voice soft. “I was only twelve; there’s nothing I can tell you that will be useful now.”
“What are you talking about?” Thorec demanded, inching farther into the room.
“You don’t know that!” Ria cried, her eyes wide on Jaythen. “We just need a bit of time, and you might remember things that would be useful to me.”
“To what end?” The Alpha released her dropping his hands. “Are you even a servant in the palace, or did you use your skills to find a way in?” His gaze turned wary. “If you want to know more about yourself, you should look at that behavior first.”
Ria’s face dropped and she stepped back in surprise. “I did what I had to do to find you, Jaythen. We are supposed to stick together; that’s what family does.”
“We can try—I definitely want to try.” The Alpha lifted his shoulders. “I am a Lox Warrior, Riora. I live under a strict structure of training, rules, and protocol. If you stay in Ashens we can keep in touch, if you want that, but I can’t drop everything. I can’t leave the Lox.”
“But you’ve been discharged,” Ria said. “There’s nothing keeping you here.”
“That is not what it seems,” the Alpha replied sharply. “And if I leave now I’ll never be able to address it.”
At his words, Ria’s shoulder’s sagged, and she shook her head as she turned away from him, clearly disappointed.
Thorec dropped his daggers, his eyes flicking between them as he observed them both. They were family? They did indeed have the same dark hair and tanned skin.
Jaythen glanced at him. “Your best chance right now is with the general,” he said to Ria. “You shouldn’t balk at the idea of your true mate. It is a blessing—”
“I know, I know.” Ria tried to snap at him, but a sob escaped her. “I should just give up everything I’ve tried to do for the last couple of years and be with a man who says I’m his at first taste.”
Thorec growled. He sheathed his daggers and approached them, addressing the Alpha first. “You do not lay claim to this female.” It was supposed to be a question, but it came out as an order.
“Female?” Ria’s tear-filled eyes hardened, and it was a beautiful sight. “That is not my name.”
“I have no idea what your name is,” Thorec shot at her. “You seem to have more than one.” He turned to the Alpha, still waiting for an answer.
“No,” Jaythen said firmly. “She is my sister.”
A gust of relief relaxed Thorec… somewhat.
“If I was, you wouldn’t abandon me for the Lox,” Ria said bitterly. “You would come with me and help me figure out who I am.”
“Come with you to wander the Lands?” Jaythen shook his head in disbelief. “That’s not the way to build a home, Ria.”
Realization hit Thorec. Ria said she’d been trained for a purpose, a cause. Her brother suggested she’d used her “skills” to find him… as though she’d had specialized training to infiltrate a building. Suddenly several things slid into place. Ria had been taken from her family when she was young, and she’d traveled all over the Lands but didn’t feel like she had a home. She was trying to learn who she’d been before she was taken, but who could possibly revert back to who they were when they were so young?
Before he could put anything into words, Ria shot past him with a burst of energy that seemed to come from nowhere. She grabbed the door frame and used it as an anchor to propel herself into the corridor.
Thorec bellowed out a curse. “Stay here,” he ordered Jaythen, as he ran out of the room after her.
He chased her through the quiet, darkened corridors of the palace, and while he gained on her the longer they ran, Thorec made no real effort to catch up with her immediately. He took pleasure watching her run in front of him, her body at exertion as she tried to escape him; it made him hard. And anyway, there was no magic she could use in the palace to escape that easily. So he took his time gaining on her, enjoying her attempt to flee, and anticipating the moment he would have her back in his arms.
But as he followed her around a corner that led them into a fairly busy hallway, all amusement fled.
Ria ran straight to where several Alphas were gathered, and jumped on to one of them, wrapping her arms and legs around his torso. The Alpha stepped back, barking out in surprise, automatically bringing his hands to her back.
Thorec couldn’t help the growl that escaped him, pulling a da
gger from its sheath as he approached. To his utter horror, Ria peppered the Alpha’s face with small kisses, covering him with hard pecks as she clung to him tightly.
“Ria!” he roared, unable to believe what he was seeing.
The Alpha she clung to dropped his hand from her back when he saw Thorec approaching, holding his palms up in surrender, but as Thorec arrived, he could see Ria whispering into the Alpha’s ear.
A blinding, hot ugliness hurtled through Thorec. He lunged forward and ripped Ria from the Alpha’s body, wrapping his arm around her waist and dragging her off him, roaring as anger pounded through his veins. Sheathing his dagger, he turned her in his arms, forcing her head up so she was forced to look up to him. “How dare you kiss another Alpha,” Thorec bellowed.
“What does it matter?” Ria spat at him. “If he had found me first, you wouldn’t even be here claiming to be my mate. All you Alphas are interchangeable. You all say the same thing regardless of if it’s true or not. As soon as I get the chance I am leaving. You will never find me!”
Thorec gripped her hard, incensed at her attitude. She had challenged every inch of his worth to her, and he couldn’t allow it to stand. The instinct to claim her, to prove that he was the only one worthy of her swept through him in a jagged onslaught of arousal. He tore through her tunic, ripping down the length of it until it fell from her.
Ria gasped as he pushed her onto the floor. “What are you doing?”
“You haven’t yet learned,” Thorec said, his voice dangerously low. Pinning her to the ground, he tore her panties away and unbuckled himself.
“Learned what?” She fought to move his hands from her but he was too strong. “Everyone is watching us, General!”
“Good!” he thundered. Shifting her into position underneath him, he pressed into her tight heat.
