Page 12 of Omega and the Beast

Callista

Surrounded by people, many of them friends and neighbors she’d thought lost, Callista couldn’t understand why she suddenly felt so bereft.

She was reunited with her father, which was all she’d wanted when she entered the forest the other day.

Now, watching Adonis leave, she knew that wasn’t true anymore.

Slowly she sat down.

“So, you and Adonis?” Deirdre asked, tilting her head and sweeping her long braids over one shoulder. They were decorated with little beads at the end that clicked together as she moved. “Does that mean you’re an Omega?”

There was no point hiding it, despite her father’s sudden intake of breath. They would all figure it out if she was here for any duration of time, especially since there would be no way to acquire suppressants now.

“Yes,” she admitted, aware of her father sitting stiffly beside her.

Certainly not how she’d pictured their reunion.

The joy at seeing him alive and well was beginning to crumble under his disapproval at…

well, everything as far as she could tell.

He had to know that Adonis knew, and if everyone here knew Adonis was an Alpha and how Alphas and Omegas actually were, it was already fairly obvious.

“Good,” Deirdre said, smiling widely. “He’s been alone for far too long.”

She might have taken umbrage at Deirdre’s assumption that the two of them would automatically be a couple if she hadn’t liked Adonis so much.

And, well, Deirdre had a point. From what Adonis had explained, an Alpha was really her only choice.

A Beta male wouldn’t be able to give her what she needed during her heat.

Beside her, her father made an unhappy noise.

“He’s a good male,” Deirdre continued, ignoring her father to focus her gentle smile on Callista. “He saved my life, you know. All of our lives.”

“From the Beast?” her father asked pointedly.

Behind Deirdre, Mirkon, the male who had been introduced as her mate, put his hand on her shoulder.

His skin was even darker than Deirdre’s, and they had the same long braids, but where she was talkative and friendly, he was much quieter and more reserved.

He did not speak now either, but his thunderous expression made his feelings clear.

“Forgive me,” Broderick said, raising an open hand in a show of peace.

“I’m grateful to him, as much as anyone.

He’s given me shelter and hospitality, but saved my life?

You could as easily say I saved your life, simply because – I say this only as an example,” he added to Mikron, before concluding, “because I haven’t stabbed you yet. ”

Mirkon did not appear pleased by that comparison, but Deirdre put her hand atop her mate’s, smiling as if they were merely exchanging pleasantries over tea.

“I might, if you were cursed to go about stabbing people. Adonis fights the curse every day. I’ve seen the toll it takes on him.

I was the first sacrifice. I saw the Beast, felt his breath on my skin.

I felt his claws tearing at the ropes that bound me to the Blood Tree.

He could have killed me at any moment,” Deirdre said, almost fondly.

“Instead, he herded me here to keep me safe, the way he does with everyone, fighting against the violence the curse instills in him.”

“And once you’re in the castle, you’re safe?” Papa asked, badly disguising his skepticism.

“So it would seem, but it isn’t as if we were given a book of rules for the curse,” Deirdre answered, confirming what Adonis had told her.

“His greatest fear is that the curse may grow and change as time passes, that one day his will won’t be enough and he might turn on all of us, unable to help himself. ”

Remembering the Beast’s form, his strength and swiftness, Callista could well understand that.

Never mind he’d be outnumbered twenty to one, he would still likely kill most if not all of them.

One blow from those clawed hands, one snap of those powerful jaws, was all it would take to end a life, and there was no knowing how magic might play into any battle.

“He said some of you have tried to return to your villages?”

Deirdre sighed and nodded “I’m sure you must think poorly of us.

We’ve considered going to a single village, all of us, but we’re…

we’re not sure what happened to those who tried to return.

I watched from a distance when Vance tried to return to my village.

Mirkon and I both did.” Her expression solemn, she met Callista’s gaze squarely.

“He disappeared before our eyes before he could reach the walls of th e village. The next morning, they found him hung from the trees.”

More magic at play.

It was almost too fantastical to believe, except she’d seen it at work with her own eyes.

Magic wasn’t real, except it was. She couldn’t help but wonder if the same curse that had made everyone forget the truth about Alphas and Omegas had also made them forget about the existence of magic. The curse was diabolically ingenious.

Talking with Deirdre and the others, Callista learned as much as she could about the community that had grown here under Adonis’ care. Her father remained by her side the whole time as the night grew later, and her eyelids became heavier.

Eventually, the others left them alone, understanding they might need some time to themselves.

Her father told her of his travels, how he’d delayed his return waiting on Lachlan’s suppressants, then tried to make up the lost time by driving the carriage too fast over the rough road, only to end up staggering through the woods at night, fleeing in a daze from the sounds of the Beast all around him until he’d arrived at the castle.

She told him about Father Conal’s last visit and his offer – his threat – of marriage.

Her father’s face darkened with quiet rage, as expected, but he said little, apart from, “No doubt he seized our home before the hearth had cooled, but at least you are well away from him.” She hadn’t thought of that, but supposed it didn’t matter what happened to their few possessions and a scratch of land.

Now more than ever, she was glad to have escaped Father Conal’s clutches.

“We should get to bed,” Papa said, yawning and glancing around. The great hall had mostly cleared out except a young male who was tending the fire. “Tomorrow, we will find something for you to do. I’ve been helping in the gardens as much as I can with my arm like this.”

Nodding, Callista got to her feet, happy to walk beside him until he tried to turn to the North Wing and take her with him.

“I… My room is that way,” she said, pointing to the doors she and Adonis had walked through together so many hours ago.

Papa scowled and gruffly said,

“No, I’ve been told we’re not to go there. That’s his wing.”

“And mine,” Callista said firmly. Although Adonis hadn’t expressly invited her to share his bedchamber, it was where he’d brought her and considering the way he’d looked at her, the way he’d kissed the top of her head when he’d left…

Unless he came back and told her he didn’t want her there, that was where she was going to be.

“Callie—”

“Papa.” She held up her hand, stopping him from whatever he was going to say.

Then letting her hand drop, she reached for his.

He took it reluctantly, clearly realizing he wasn’t going to like her decision.

“I want to be there, and it is my decision. I like Adonis. I want to know if there can be more between us than just the instincts of an Alpha and Omega. I cannot discover that if I am sequestered in my father’s room. ”

Sighing, Papa raised his eyes to the ceiling, a familiar gesture that meant he was asking for patience. It also meant she had won. Callista hid her smile before he dropped his gaze again so he didn’t see it and have a reason to dig in heels longer.

“Very well.” He smiled at her, though it was only half-hearted and held more resignation than happiness. “I suppose I will have to accept that you are all grown up now and don’t need me.”

“I will always need you,” she replied immediately, stepping in to give him a giant hug. “That’s how I ended up here in the first place.”

Her father sighed as he hugged her back just as tightly. “I want to scold you for making such a dangerous choice, but considering Father Conal’s interest in you and the way everything worked out, I am hard-pressed to do so.”

“Good, because I couldn’t have stayed there,” she replied, shuddering as she remembered the expression on Father Conal’s face when he’d spoken with her.

Even if he had been an Alpha or she a Beta, she wouldn’t have wanted anything to do with him.

She couldn’t imagine being with him the way she had been with Adonis — and didn’t want to try.

The very thought made her feel ill. “I never want to go back.”

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. She didn’t want to go back until they had some means of bringing Father Conal to justice.

What good would approaching the villages do if magic was protecting them?

It was something she would have to think about…

and talk to the others about. She doubted she was the only one to have ever entertained thoughts of retribution.

But that was for tomorrow when Adonis returned.

“We never have to go back,” her father reassured her, smoothing her hair down with his hand.

The fact was they couldn’t go back, but it felt better knowing they wouldn’t choose to, even if they could.

The only thing Callista regretted was not having Beauty with her, but someone would look after the horse. She was too good of a steed to waste .

They hugged for another long moment, then Callista pulled away.

“Good night,” she said with a wan smile.

“Good night.” Her father’s worry was written all over his face, which was what gave her the bravery to turn and walk through the doors to Adonis’ wing on her own. She didn’t want him to see her second-guessing herself now that he’d accepted her decision.

Walking away from everyone else felt a little scary, but she knew Adonis wouldn’t hurt her. She believed that — from the very bottom of her heart.

Making her way back to his room, she was surprised and a little embarrassed to see someone had been by to change out the sheets while they were gone.

Whoever it was would know exactly what had happened.

It also made her a little agitated because, stiff and sullied as they’d been, those sheets had also been her nest.

The urge to make the bed into her own rose up inside her, and Callista found herself arranging pillows and bedding to make a cozy little place where she could curl up and wait for Adonis.

By the time she was done, she was exhausted.

Nestling down into the center, she fell asleep long before the Beast returned.