Page 12 of Omega Captive of the Golden Dragon (Alpha Dragons #3)

CAYLEN

T he first week living together, Varik and I stayed mostly apart. He spent hours a day in his studio. I hung out in the living room playing on my new computer.

My backpack was delivered two days after I’d arrived, but my laptop had been taken. Good thing the new one showed up the next day. Setting it all up the way I liked kept me busy.

Many times, I itched to text Valcor and ask him random questions, but I didn’t want to bother him, so I held myself back.

Plus, deep inside, I wasn’t sure I completely trusted him.

Not that he would hurt his brother or me, just that he might be a bit manipulative.

He had to keep Varik safe. Controlling the world around him to keep Varik hidden and anonymous had to take a certain mindset.

Varik and I had completely different schedules.

He never showed up for breakfast. At least, not my breakfast-time.

If I ever woke late at night, the lights downstairs would usually be on.

Sometimes, if I went spying, I could hear sounds coming from the studio.

He’d never offered to show it to me so I could only imagine what he was doing in there.

His sculpting, for sure. But what new things? I couldn’t help but be curious.

One night, I woke from a nightmare. It upset me badly I couldn’t get back to sleep.

In it, my Papa and Dado were right in front of me.

I spoke to them, but they couldn’t hear me.

I waved my arms in front of them, but they looked right through me.

I screamed and stomped my feet, yet they never responded.

Behind me, a big void was trying to suck me in.

I knew if I could grasp the hand of one of my parents, I might be saved.

When I tried, my hand went right through Dado’s palm.

I fell back into a howling wind that turned me sideways.

I plummeted downward, arms flailing. There was no ground, and I fell for a long time before I woke.

When I got up, the air chilled me, so I put on my new warm robe and slippers and wandered downstairs.

A fire burned with childlike glee in the hearth. Varik was up. As usual. But it was unusual that he was outside his studio. He sat on the couch, the back of his head glimmering. I’d yet to get used to how bright his hair was. Like blinding flame, or the sun itself.

Even though I’d read up on dragons, I remained ignorant about a lot of things. This culture was alike yet also different from mine. The dragons had bigger cities, more crime, and leaders they fought over and even maligned in public press.

In my country, the pack leader’s word was to be always obeyed. No one ever spoke against them unless they got sick, old or feral.

I came around the edge of the couch and sat in a nearby chair.

Varik had a book open in his lap, but he wasn’t reading. I knew he saw me.

I cleared my throat. “It’s late.”

“Yes. And you’re up, too.”

I rolled my head against the back of the chair. “Couldn’t sleep.”

“Insomnia infects this house,” he said.

Insomnia? He worked at night. I couldn’t hold back my curiosity any longer. “Will you show me what you’re working on in your studio?”

His gaze sent a cold breeze through my chest. “Maybe another time.”

“I didn’t mean right now.” I tried not to pout. It was obvious he didn’t want me around, but there was no one to talk to. On my computer, I’d blocked everyone from my pack. They wouldn’t be allowed to contact me anyway. Varik was the only person in my life now.

Varik’s hands moved over the book in his lap, but he didn’t turn any pages.

I took a deep breath, deciding on honesty. “I’m not trying to bother you.” My voice wavered. “I had a really bad nightmare. If I’m quiet, can I stay down here by the fire?”

His hand twitched across the book’s page. “That’s fine.”

“My Papa and Dado were in the dream. I was being pulled away and they couldn’t see or hear me.”

Varik blinked three times rapidly. “Sometimes I take a pill for that.”

I dared myself to ask. “You have nightmares, too?”

“Very unpleasant ones.”

“That sucks.”

“I’ve learned they don’t always go away just because you hope they will. Or even if circumstances change for the better. You can have them when you don’t feel safe. And you can have them when you’re perfectly safe but afraid that safety might be taken.”

“That’s unfair.” I kicked at the bottom of the chair.

Varik continued to stare at his book.

“I think if I got my pillows and blankets and made a bed by the fire, I wouldn’t have bad dreams.”

Varik finally looked up, first at the fire, then at me. “You’re welcome to do so.”

“I am?”

“I just said so.”

“Thanks. I just might do that.”

He nodded.

“Do you have nightmares about your parents?” I knew I was being too bold, but I didn’t want his attention to fade from me just yet.

“Yes.”

The confession sounded like a cry of pain.

“I’m sorry.”

He looked up again, shrugging. “It’s common. I dream of strangers, too. Bad people.”

I gulped. I couldn’t believe he was telling me something so personal.

“With the exception of my brother,” he continued, “I only see the worst in people. I can’t help it.”

“Me, too. Now, I mean.”

“Val—and others—say it’s not a healthy way to view the world.”

“Maybe. But I hate them. Everyone.” The energy in my body changed. I wanted to blurt out everything I’d been holding inside for so many days.

Varik turned his head away as if I’d meant him, too.

“People like us… don’t we have the right to think and feel this way? Healthy or not?”

“I believe so.” He turned his gaze back to me.

“My parents accepted my status. They cried, sure, but I don’t care about that.

They didn’t cry for me. They cried for themselves.

They never tried to save me, not like your brother did.

They could have packed our things, moved far away to another country.

No one in my pack has ever tried to change the law about set-omegas.

I’m glad I’m gone from there. I hate them all. ”

During my speech, Varik’s eyebrows slowly drew together. “Do you have brothers?”

I shook my head no.

“Then you truly are alone.”

A warmth grew behind my eyes. “Did you know your brother paid for me with gold?”

“I’m not surprised. It’s our hoard. Its value speaks louder than cash.”

“W—when he bid with it, the auction for me ended right away. They wanted that gold.”

“Dragons value it above all else.”

It was why Varik had been so badly harmed. “Are you really golden? I mean your scales?”

He nodded. “Varikan is a golden dragon. They are extremely rare.”

“Varikan. The dragon inside you. That’s his name?”

Varik nodded. “I didn’t know it when I was fifteen, but golden dragons have always been hunted.”

“Why?”

“To be harvested, of course.”

“Harvested?”

“For plunder. For their scales.”

“Valcor told me something about that. About what happened to you.”

“I figured.”

“And that’s why you stay here, away from a world that would hunt you?”

“Yes. It’s why Varikan’s coloring must be kept a secret at all times.

You never see golden dragons in public or witness them shift in any place where they might be seen.

If they survive their family’s greed when their adult scales come in, they go into hiding.

Like me. I’ve never found another. Even online.

It would be impossible. They would never advertise themselves. ”

“So that’s why you sell your art through Valcor? Anonymously?”

His head bowed in one silent nod.

The loneliness in that one gesture opened something inside me that ached with a need that could not be defined.

He never got to share his gift with others.

Never got to see them, talk with them, learn from them.

He could watch videos online, and take classes perhaps, but there was no in-person connection for him.

Not ever. He couldn’t trust his fellow dragons.

This was the life I, too, faced.

What was done to Varik had been illegal, but that didn’t mean he was safe. And I was even less secure. I had no rights in any country. I needed alpha guardianship and protection, or I could be stolen and sold. Legally.

Varik didn’t trust anyone, and rightly so. But I wasn’t like all the others. I was like him. He knew it. It made me feel safe.

I might not have admitted it before, but I’d been very lucky I’d been bought by Valcor.