Page 54 of Loving My Omega (The Perfect Designation Trilogy #2)

Chapter

Fifty-Four

“ Y ou don’t need to know, Ebony. You wanted me, I’m here.”

She laughed again, sounding completely maniacal. “No. See, that’s not good enough. You’re already mine. That’s not the issue here. The issue is Colton. He’s in my way. He’s my competition.”

I stopped, standing and facing her. “You’re not getting my mate.”

“Then you’re not getting your sweet little nephew.”

Her claws pressed further into Mason’s neck and he kept eye contact with me. He started to fight a little as blood started to drip down his neck. Tears started to fall and I wanted to rip her to pieces. Breathing heavy, I let smoke out my nostrils.

“He’s not here.”

Her claws stopped. “Well obviously. You flew. He can’t fly now can he.”

“We were in the city over.”

She hummed, looking at me as her eyes narrowed. “You’re lying.”

“We were furniture shopping. If you did your homework you know we had a bunch of construction going on. I wasn’t about to have Colt run around here with Alpha Genesis and now you lucking in the shadows. We went to the city. You can confirm it if you want. He has my phone.”

Looking over at one of her pack members, he pulled out his phone. He looked down at it for a minute or so before he gave her a thumbs up. I frowned, not wanting them to know where Colton one but it helped to confirm that I wasn’t lying.

“Well, what is a girl to do? I need my opponent for this.” She leaned forward, placing her head on top of Mason’s.

I growled, not liking her touching him. She only laughed at me and shook her head.

“Hush, mate. It’s fine. I’m thinking.”

“Give me my nephew back and we can talk. Shifter to shifter. Figure out something.”

Her nose wrinkled. “For one, there is nothing to figure out. You’re mine. I just need to get rid of the thing in the way of me having what is mine. That’s simple. I don’t know why you can’t understand that.” Ebony patted Mason’s cheek and he shrunk away from her. “This is my bargaining chip against you. You don’t care about much and I don’t have Colton in hand. Plus, the two of you would figure out some plan or your family would show up. Who knows. I can’t have that.”

“And the Council?” I motioned to the mall.

Ebony snorted. “Please. We have them eating out of the palm of their hand. They already knew this was happening. It was simple.”

This was all kinds of wrong. I didn’t know how to fix this. Not without getting Mason hurt in the process. I couldn’t wrap my head around what Ebony was thinking. I thought she would want me, not Colton. In her mind though, I was already hers.

“Alright. Change of plans.”

She stood up and grabbed Mason by the neck. I roared and stepped forward. Except that I felt felt something hit my back. At first I thought it was a baseball bat but my knees gave out. Looking behind me, there was a young witch with her hands out. I couldn’t feel anything from my neck down. It was rare to fine someone with that level of magic to actually effect a dragon shifter.

“Well done Macy!” Ebony winked. “Alright, go ahead and administer the poison.”

She stepped up to me and I tried to move or fight but the only thing I could move was my head. Worse still, I couldn’t shift. I was stuck. A hand touched my shoulder before fingers grabbed one of my scales.

“Sorry.” She whispered before tearing off one of my shoulder scales.

Roaring, I let out a stream of fire but it was cut as soon as a needle was pressed into the spot where she pulled my scale. The magic that she hit me with disappeared. I fell forward on my hands and knees. Except that my whole body involuntarily shifted to my human form. Reaching out, I couldn’t feel my dragon. He was gone.

“What did you do?”

“Oh, don’t worry, mate. It’s just a little poison. It renders magic useless. Since dragons are the most magical of the shifters, it really messes with you. We did some trials before we settled on a good dosage. It removed your dragon, your strength, your ability to shift. You become almost human like. Except a little weaker than that. There is a bit of a lethargy side effect as well.” Ebony walked over to me and squatted down in front of me.

Lifting up my head, she smiled brightly. “I love you on our knees for me. I miss your pretty red scales. Now we match perfectly though.”

I tried to raise my hand to hit her but my arm wouldn’t even move. It started to shake but it wouldn’t even lift off the ground. None of this made sense.

“Why poison me? I thought…you wanted me…as an Alpha.”

Ebony chuckled, patting Mason on the back. He looked up at her before running over to me. With his help, I sat back on my legs. I’d never felt this weak before. Without Mason holding me, I would have collapsed back onto the ground.

“Oh I do. This isn’t permanent. I can actually administer this for a year before you start to lose your sanity. I just need you weakened for a little while. I can do all kinds of things with you in this state.” The way she winked at me made me sick.

“I don’t…understand.”

She snorted. “No. No you wouldn’t. Colton will though. I bet you. He’ll understand where I am coming from. That’s why we need to go meet him. He’ll probably head to your house, right? I think we should be there to meet him.”

“No.”

A few of the pack members around laughed. One of them took me by the hair and pulled me back. I recognized him as one of the panthers who was backing Ebony up on Christmas Eve. Looking at him closely like this, I could see the family resemblance.

“You don’t get to say no to our sister. You say yes, or the boy can lose a hand or an arm. Maybe a leg. They grow back right? Or is that only lizards?” He leaned down and spit in my face. “I guess we will find out.”

He threw my head forward and it hit the floor. Spots dotted my vision and I squeezed my eyes shut. Mason though, to my absolute pride, lifted me up. He was growling at the other shifters who laughed him off. I wanted to hold him but I couldn’t even lift my arms.

“Mason, it’s okay. They have me now. There is no reason to hurt you.”

“But…Uncle Mar…” He took his shirt and wiped my face. “What about Uncle Colt?”

I shook my head. “Hopefully, Mike has eyes in the sky. He can see what’s going on. The family will come get us. They aren’t going to stand for this. Trust me.”

Mason nodded and came closer, holding my arm. “Fuck off!

Turning my head, I saw multiple panthers stalking forward. I narrowed my eyes but it was getting hard to focus. They started looking like blurry masses.

“Mason, for now, do as they say.”

“But!”

I felt my consciousness start to wain. “Please, Mason. At least until I wake up again.”

“What? No. Uncle Mar!”

“I’m right here, Mason. Don’t worry. Don’t…worry.”

My eyes shut and a fell to the side but I didn’t even feel myself hit the floor.

I woke up for a moment and realized I was laid across the floor of a car. Blinking, I still couldn’t see clearly. Everything was fuzzy and I felt sick. Leaning forward, I threw up on the floor. A bunch of growls resounded.

“Gross! What the hell!”

“She did say it could be a side effect of the drug as well.”

The other shifter huffed. “She couldn’t take him in her car?”

“No. She took the kid.”

The shifter laughed. “Poor kid. Eb hates kids. He’s lucky she’s trying to get something.”

“Why…?” I croaked out.

“ Why ? She’s part of our pack. She deserves to have what she wants. Eb is the first Alpha-9 to be born as a panther. We’ve never had someone so strong. In a world of declining leadership, she is a bright star for us. The future of grounders.”

One of the shifters hummed in agreement. “Damn right. She should get what she wants. You are a right fucking bastard for saying you don’t want her. All of us would kill just for a single night with her. Yet, all she wants is some stupid flier and you have the nerve to turn her down.”

This was nuts. I should have listened to my dad. The moment that we got the denial, I should have gone with my gut. We would have left or at least gone to my parents. There would have been at least more protection there.

“You’re gonna be lucky. Once she removes your mark, you two will be together. The power couple of the century! It will finally bring the Dark Night back up on the top.”

“Eventually, Eb will have to suck it up and have kids. I think she has a plan to hand them over to her sister though. You will bring in the next generation of Alphas for our pack. We will continue to be on top then too. All while every other pack is scrambling to make the leadership level with their next generations.”

The thought of Ebony touching me in any other way than her body tore to pieces in my jaws made me sick. Turning over, I threw up again. They groaned again and stopped talking, continuing to drive. After a while, we finally stopped. Someone threw open the back door and pulled me out. I was hefted over a shoulder and I’d never felt so humiliated.

“Uncle Mar!”

My head looked around but I didn’t couldn’t see anything but a mixture of colors. “Mason, it’s okay. I’m okay.”

I could hear him sobbing and squeezed my eyes shut. Someone threw me down and I got a face full of snow. Someone then grabbed my hair and lifted me so that I was sitting back on my knees. It was freezing. Now that I no longer had access to my core, my body started to shake.

“Here, put this around him.”

A blanket covered me and I inhaled Colton’s scent. They got in the house. My heart beat wildly and I wondered if I was out back right now. It seemed like a long enough time.

“He should be here soon. Places everyone.” Ebony clapped her hands and I felt her nails run through my hair. “We will get out of this cold in just a moment, mate. I just need to make sure Colton understands the position he’s in.”

“Fuck you.”

She purred in my ear. “Don’t worry. There will be time for that sweetheart. Don’t you worry.”

A shiver of utter disgust wracked through my body. However, a silence coated the area and no one said anything. There was the small little sobs of Mason off to my right but I couldn’t see him. A door shut ahead and I lifted my head. Quiet footsteps sounded until there was the crunch of the snow against the deck.

“Ebony.” Colton’s voice was deep.

“Colton! We’ve been waiting for you.”