The Sleeping Omega Prince

by Maggie Hemlock

  “You come seeking answers,” he said.

  His voice was barely a whisper over the crackling fire and erratic calls of his fellow celebrants.

  “Look, man, I’m sorry I interrupted your party. I’m looking for the john.”

  “You seek more than modern comforts. You seek information on Brendan. Of course, you’d come here. Soon his island will be submerged, and the sleeping dragon prince will be lost forever.”

  “Who are you talking about?” I laughed and stumbled backwards.

  He gripped my arm and pulled me down to look me in the eyes. This half-bear man was an omega, but he was the strongest omega I ever met.

  “I am talking about your true-mate, pup! You must hurry to him. Three hundred years and he is gone forever. Lost to time. The seas and continents shift again.”

  “What? Is my true-mate a surfer?”

  My buzz was wearing off, but it was still hard to think straight.

  “No! He is the Sleeping Omega Prince! You must find him! Why do you think you were called to history and pillaging gravesites? You’re searching for your other half! You must find him before time runs out! Go, Alpha! Go and be brave. For courage and never-ending devotion will serve you well. May fate be on your side this time.”

  “This time?” I blinked trying to clear my brain of the whisky fog.

  “This is your third attempt to find him, but this time you’re in luck. You’ve a head start thanks to me.”

  “Who are you?”

  “I’m a bear shaman on the other side of the world, but who I am matters not. You must rush to your mate’s side before it’s too late.”

  The next morning, I woke back at my apartment sure the bear and the door were merely a hangover dream. Weeks passed and I couldn’t shake the dream. As the evidence mounted my wolf’s belief in meeting the shaman solidified my belief that I had not passed out drunk on the beach but had entered the Other World. Some more digging located a newspaper article about Xenos Nightshade, the bear shaman, I met in the Other World.

  “Get some rest. I’m on edge. The tides are turning. I think Seth might call us with a tip soon. My fur is standing up.”

  With the promise of new information on the horizon I let go of the memory and drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter Four

  Brendan

  Since the words true-mate reentered my mind I couldn’t shake the thought. Before Corden knocked me out and declared war upon my carrier my Alpha was all I thought about. Well, not all I thought about. One day I’d inherit an island. I also had friends, family, and of course I spent endless days trying to tell my father that Corden was bad news. No, worse than bad news. He was evil incarnate. Of course, I was right in the end, but it was one time I wanted to be wrong. At least if I were, I wouldn’t be locked up inside my own head.

  My dragon was quietly lost to his own thoughts which I couldn’t hear. So, this time he didn’t tell me to shut up while I prattled on. I was free to think about everything I lost and the future which might not be mine at all. In my younger days, I imagined needing to build a new wing onto the palace to house the eggs I’d lay once I met my true-mate. Hatchlings would fly and crawl while I cooked feasts every evening. Their Alpha father would chase them around laughing and roaring to train them to fly and hunt. Every night we’d gather them in huge a fluffy nest and read them a bedtime story. Of course, one would never be enough. It would take two stories most nights and sometimes three. Then I’d creep off with my true-mate and we’d remind ourselves of exactly why we had so many hatchlings to begin with. He’d be a good and honorable man and one day a billion years in the future when my carrier and his chosen mate moved on, he’d be a good ruler. My fly or die. My forever.

  “Wish on one wing….” My dragon said without finishing the old adage. “What we need to do is rack our brains to figure out how to get his attention.”

  Impossible. We don’t even know where he is.

  “If you believe escape is impossible perhaps you should shut up and let me figure it out.”

  How do you propose we contact a man without a name or a scent to go on? Oh wait. We can’t even move. I can’t even open my mouth and call for help.

  “Maybe I could fly out. If I can manage to squeeze out of you, I could find him or someone.”

  You want to leave me here alone? Hey! If you can fly out of me why haven’t you before now?

  “I don’t know if it’s possible.”

  You just want to leave me here all alone!

  I’d have slapped him if I could’ve moved my arms.

  “No! I want to fly again! I want to find your true-mate so I can meet mine too! I’m tired of being trapped. I’m tired of being afraid of how long we’ve been here and how much longer we’ll be trapped like this! I’m a dragon! I spit fire in the face of fear or at least I’m supposed to!”

  Fine! Try to squeeze out! I don’t think it’s possible but try it! At this point I’d chop off my tail if it’d help.

  “You mean my tail!” He roared.

  The space inside my head grew vast as my dragon lifted out of me.

  “I’ll be back soon! I promise!”

  A gush of wind smacked my face as he took off.

  Hurry back!

  For the first time in my life I was truly alone.

  “You are not alone. Focus on me, Brendan,” my dragon pulled at my mind. “Focus on me and see what I see.”

  WOW!

  He flew over the ocean in wide arcing circles. Sea air brushed against his scales leaving salt in their wake. A school of big nosed dolphins swam underneath him. They chittered back and forth.

  I didn’t know you spoke fish.

  “Only a little. They said there’s a boat not too far from here.”

  BRING IT BACK HERE!

  “What do you think I’m going to do? Sink it and use it as a toy in the bathtub?” He rolled his eyes.

  That’s the first thing I want to do when I wake up! Take a nice hot bath! I must smell like rotten garbage after all these years.

  “You didn’t stink. I think the spell keeps dust from settling on you or any part of you from aging.”

  I’m still going to take a bath.

  Soon the boat came into view.

  “This is the strangest boat I’ve ever seen. It’s roaring at me!”

  Is there a beast in there?

  “I don’t smell one! Only a wolf-man on board! I’m going to land on top of it now.”

  Don’t sink him!

  Chapter Five

  Rhett

  The red numbers on the clock read 4:59. It was one minute until my alarm howled through the room. So, where was that god awful shrill coming from?

  “ANSWER THE DAMN PHONE! I’M TRYING TO SLEEP!” My wolf growled.

  “Shit!” I swore under my breath and fished round the nightstand until my hand landed on my phone. I pushed the talk button and said hello.

  “Baby brother, I think I’ve found what you’ve been looking for.” Seth said.

  His tone was pompous. If Seth found Brendan, he could be as cocky as he liked. Otherwise, I’d kick his ass up and down the street the next time I ran into him.

  “What do you mean?” I swung my legs off the bed and sat up.

  Caught off guard by my sudden movement, my wolf rolled from one side of my torso to the other. He grumbled under his breath.

  My older brother, Seth, owned a fleet of fishing boats. He always ended up in waters he wasn’t welcome. More than once I used my connections to get his tail out of a prison cell. I’d have beaten his ass long ago if he wasn’t my best source for information on uncharted islands. We’d found a few before, but not the island where the Sleeping Omega Prince lay. Seth didn’t know the reason for my obsession, but he was happy to play along if I helped him out of trouble when I could.

  “I’ve found another island. It’s about thirty miles off the coast of Moonstruck. I was checking out the area to make sure it was pirate free before you brought the pups out this way to
play.”

  Seth always referred to my students as pups.

  “I can check it out after the Moonstruck trip, like always,” I sighed.

  “No, baby brother. You want to come out here now.”

  “Why?”

  “Because a ghost dragon’s highjacked my ship and beached it.”

  My heart dropped into my stomach. I’d heard too many of his stories like this before. Seth was probably high as a kite picking a fight with another water dragon.

  “Are you using again?” My fingers curled into tight fists ready to knock his block off.

  “No! And will you quit asking me that? That was over a hundred years ago. It was a bender after Stacy died. I’m clean. For the love of Frost’s holy balls. I give more of the fish I catch to orphanages than I sell. You think they’re going to let me near an orphanage if I was just another junky?”

  “Start from the beginning and don’t leave anything out,” I said.

  “I’ve told that story in NA enough. I’m not telling it again.”

  “No, you lout! Tell me what happened with the ghost dragon!” I growled as I stripped out of my pajamas and opened my closet. I needed to call my teaching assistant, Samantha, and tell her she was leading the Moonstruck trip. I didn’t know what we’d find on the new island, but I wasn’t taking a group of unskilled pups there. Not if this could be THE ONE.

  “There was this huge ghost dragon flying over a school of dolphins. The dolphins were alive, though. I know, because the dragon said I should give them some fish. So, I did. I mean, what else do you do when this huge fire breathing creature suggests for you to do something? At first, I thought he was a mirage.”

  “The dragon’s male?” I asked.

  “I didn’t lift the scales and check under the hood if that’s what you mean, but yeah, he sounds like a guy,” Seth laughed.

  “You’re in an awful good mood for someone who’s ship has just been beached.”

  “I’m standing on what’s left of a castle drawbridge. I won’t be stuck for long. You aren’t able to resist a good find.”

  “Don’t go inside! Ancient castles have some booby traps left over!”

  “Couldn’t if I wanted. The dragon’s parked his scaly ass on the other side of the door and won’t budge up. Maybe you’ll have more luck with him.”

  “He’s solid then?” I asked Seth.

  “I haven’t poked him, but I’m not taking any chances. I don’t have any ketchup in my pockets, but with the way he dragged the boat to shore I’m positive he wouldn’t mind eating my sea-salted ass dry.”

  “Send me the coordinates. I have a few calls to make. Then I’ll see if I can get a plane from the Academy.”

  “Didn’t you spend enough time at Moonscale Academy when you were a student? Now you teach there,” Seth laughed.

  “Shut up or I’ll leave you beached with the ghost dragon,” I rolled my eyes.

  “Be nice. I told you he had news. I felt it,” my wolf said as my five o’clock alarm roared to life.

  “He might be better company than you.”

  “Just text the coordinates please.”

  “You got it. Hey, bring some coffee. I’m out of it on the boat.”

  “I’ll see what I can do,” I said and ended the call.

  I stopped in my tracks. My heart was pounding in my throat. Every muscle coiled to pounce. This time felt different.

  “Wait. I’ve been to Moonstruck more than a dozen times. There’s not another island within a hundred miles of the coast,” I said to my wolf and let out a string of curses. My heart sank back to its rightful resting place in my stomach.

  “We have to rescue Seth either way.”

  Chapter Six

  Brendan

  The Alpha outside the castle wasn’t bad to look at. He had dark hair and deep blue eyes. When my dragon took a whiff of him and waited for the magical moment. Nothing happened. No tingles. No instant recognition of a life partner. My heart dropped into my stomach. He wasn’t the true-mate from my dream. Centuries of being a cursed man taught me not to expect luck to wash up on my lap. Though, the curse was lessening. Maybe Corden died and it would break soon. I swore I remembered my dragon attempting to escape when we were first cursed. It didn’t work then. Though, that might have been a dream.

  The Alpha wolf’s boat lost its bottom when it hit the coast. Now, he was stuck with us. He was talking to someone inside a magic little box. I wasn’t sure what anyone inside of a box could do about his situation or ours.

  Is he a wizard? I asked. We don’t need any more evil magic.

  “The fish say it’s a phone. They use it to talk to people far away.”

  Like a fake flight link?

  “Probably.”

  I bet that’s how they got the idea.

  “You may not enter,” my dragon told the wolf man.

  “What’s inside of there? Your eggs? I’m not a poacher,” he laughed.

  “What’s inside does not matter to you. Only the chosen man shall pass through this door without meeting his untimely death.”

  “Let me guess. Inside your stomach?” The man chuckled and rubbed his own belly.

  “People give me gas. I drown trespassers. It’s much easier on my digestive tract.”

  “Ouch.”

  Ask him who he was talking to inside the box?

  “Who did you give our location to?” He asked.

  “My brother Rhett. You did a number to my boat. He’s an archeologist. He likes digging up the past. He’s looking for the Sleeping Omega Prince. Lost his mind if you ask me, but it makes him happy. Hell, it’s better than what I did when I lost my true-mate. I lost a decade of my life to a bender.”

  My stomach twisted. Was there really someone alive who still remembered me? My hair stood on edge.

  “Which Prince does your brother seek?” My dragon asked the man.

  “Prince Brandy or some shit like that.”

  It’s Brendan, you lousy horsefly!

  “Prince Brendan?”

  “That’s the one! Do you know where he is?” The wolf man laughed as if he thought the question absurd.

  “I’ll answer that question after I meet your brother. If I dislike him, I’ll drown you both,” my dragon yawned and curled up in a big ball in front of the door. “I’m not asleep. Do not attempt to sneak past me!”

  I strained my immobile muscles trying to sit up. Like always nothing happened, but I had to try. For the first time in recent memory waking up didn’t feel like a lost cause. I tried curling my toes. Then my fingers. I tried blinking or wiggling my nose. I tried everything, but nothing worked. Corden’s curse was in full swing. I was frozen in time while the world and my true-mate lived on without me.

  “Save your strength. If the world knows about us, Corden may be lying in wait. Or worse! He could have lied about us and they think we’re the henchman! Save your strength and I’ll do the same. We will not go down without a fight! We are Moonscales!”

  The man paced in front of my dragon. His eyes drifted in a wide arc never leaving the stranger. He didn’t smell like danger, but Corden proved that even dragon noses aren’t to be trusted without a pinch of doubt.

  “What do you know about the prince?” My dragon asked the man when he tired of watching him pace like a big cat locked inside a cage.

  “You mean the lore?” The man shoved his hands in his pockets and turned to face him.

  “If that’s what you wish to call it. What do you know about the Moonscale Prince?” My dragon asked again.

  “You want a bedtime story?” The man chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck.

  “Don’t flirt with me, you sweaty fisherman! Haven’t you been taught not to irritate a beast large enough to squeeze you between his toes?”

  “Feisty!” He laughed. “Actually, you’re the first ghost and the first dragon I’ve met.”

  “I’m not dead. I’m just in between states right now,” my dragon lifted his huge head and turned to meet the man�
�s eyes. “So, entertain me with the story of the prince you keep rambling on about.”

  “I don’t recall his name, but a long time ago this dragon prince lived on an island no one can find anymore. Back in its heyday the island was home to a whole clan of dragons. Moonscales, I think is what most folks claim. Then a war comes, and the Alpha mate of the omega king is offed leaving them without an Alpha leader. Which wasn’t too big of a problem since the war was over. The line passed down by carrier and the dragon king or whatever you want to call him already had an heir. That was the prince you keep asking about.”

  “Go on,” my dragon nodded.

  I strained to hear through his ears and not fall into the abyss again. It’d been eons since I heard another human voice. I didn’t want to fall asleep and miss hearing what the world thought of me.

  “Well, then this evil wizard guy shows up and sweeps the omega off his feet or wings. Which one is it?” The guy cocked his head.

  “Do I look like I sit or walk on my wings?”

  “Guess not,” the man shrugged. “Anyway, so this evil magical man shows up. He’s not even a shifter. Just a human Alpha with some magic powers and basically wins the heart of the king. His son, the prince, tried to warn him, but he wouldn’t listen. He was like twenty-five or something, but in all the lore everyone treated him like a kid who just didn’t want a new daddy. Which is bullshit. If more people listened there wouldn’t be nearly as many problems.”

  “And?”

  “Eventually, the wizard dude, Corey, or something like that tried to put the prince on a ship and make him leave. He refused. The evil wizard lied about it to his new chosen mate and everyone thought the prince was crazy. But the wizard rallied some of the dragons against them, because of the lie. He knocked the prince unconscious and then a war raged on. They defeated him, but the island was still cursed as the spot the wizard might return to. So, everyone left. Well, everyone except the prince, because no one could find him, or they thought he was dead or something like that. The reason why they left him changes depending on who’s telling the story.”