Page 2 of Omega Captive of the Golden Dragon (Alpha Dragons #3)

CAYLEN

D id they not realize I could hear them through the wall?

Papa was crying. Dado was doing a lot of mumbly comforting. I could still hear every word.

“It can’t be true. It just can’t,” Papa sobbed.

“The tests don’t lie.”

“He’s just a slow bloomer. He’ll shift soon. I know he will.”

“Honey, Caylen is a set-omega. Those tests don’t lie.”

“This one’s a lie. It has to be!” More sobbing.

In my darkened bedroom, I lay on my back on top of my bedspread staring at the ceiling. My throat was so dry I couldn’t swallow. Strangely, I had no tears at all. Just a sort of breathless shock like someone was standing on my chest. I concentrated hard to take in air and let it out.

My parents were broken-hearted and it was all my fault.

I had tried and tried to understand the principles of shifting.

I’d done all the proper exercises to train my brain, to focus on my beast within.

Nothing. I took extra classes. I meditated.

I did even weirder things like giving myself pain to try to stimulate the shifter organ.

Papa got mad when he found out I was cutting myself. He didn’t know, back then, that I was failing my class on Communion with your Inner Beast . He didn’t realize I was trying to wake myself up to the world everyone else inhabited.

Wolf shifter. That was what everyone around me was. That was my bloodline. My destiny. Except my mind remained silent. My wolf had gone missing.

It was now official, even if Papa was slow to accept it. I was a set-omega, a rare anomaly found only in omegas. The word “set” meant I was settled into one form only. My human form.

The pack could not scent set-omegas. Thus, we were classified as outsiders, not part of the pack. In the old days, my kind were banished, left alone in the woods to fend or starve. We were considered weak and useless to pack necessity and mentality. Our contribution was nullified.

Old ways evolve. We weren’t left to die anymore, but it might as well have been the same since we were still sent away. Sent is a nice way of putting it. Actually, we are sold.

I kept turning that word over and over in my mind. Sold . I was not in control over my own life anymore. I had planned to go to college. Someday, I wanted to meet the right alpha and fall in love, have kids.

Now, all those potential dreams were gone.

Worse, being sold meant they would want the best dollar amount they could get for me.

The highest offers came from the dragon clans, whose omega birthrates had declined over the past four dozen generations.

To keep their breed going, they looked outside their cultures for omegas, and most prized were set-omegas because they would always breed true to their alpha’s beast.

It was as simple as that. I would be sold to the dragons. And I would not have any choice in the matter, nor in which alpha—or alphas—decided to breed me.

I’d read some stuff in school about dragons.

They were aggressive and possessive with violent tendencies.

They didn’t like outside interference in their dragon culture.

It was said the beauty of their country riveled none, from snowy mountain peaks to glittering beaches.

But few ever visited the unfriendly realm.

Now, I would be forced to go there. To live there. To be possessed and controlled for the rest of my life.

A lightning-like shiver rushed down my spine.

For many minutes, I thought maybe running away and taking my chances alone in the woods would be my better option.

I might die of exposure or starvation, but it would be on my terms. And there was always a chance at the last moment my wolf might come through.

In the bedroom next to mine, Papa had wailed that my set-omega test was a lie. Hope rose like a light within me for about five seconds before it dwindled to nothingness when Dado told him it had been run several times. My condition was confirmed.

I knew deep inside myself the ugly truth. There was no beast I could ever call mine. My human essence remained wolf-less with never the faintest pup-squeak.

In the next room, Papa kept crying. The sound made me withdraw more than I already had.

This was happening to me, not him. Immediately, I felt selfish for that thought.

He was losing his son. The one he’d raised always with gentle compassion and attentiveness.

But that was the damn reason I wanted him to stop crying.

I needed him now more than ever. That strength and positive outlook.

The way he listened and cared. The way he held me.

I was the greedy boy who wanted him to keep sacrificing for me. To fight.

To comfort me.

It was like everything broke inside me and my family the moment we got the set-omega news. It wasn’t fair.

My friends kept texting me questions. Where was I? Why wasn’t I responding?

They didn’t know it yet, but I was losing them, too. I was going away, never to see them again. So why not start now?

Waiting was the worst. I needed to leave now. Cut the cord and go. I was nineteen. Fully adult. I had my own choices for a few more hours.

That was my answer.

I sat up and reached for my phone. Erl’s number was one I had but never used.

It was under “emergency contacts.” Every wolf had it in their phones in case they got into troubles they couldn’t solve alone.

Our pack leader was there for us if we ever really needed him.

But there were a lot of us in the pack and bothering him for trivial matters was considered rude.

The rule was, he should only be contacted in life-or-death situations.

If this didn’t qualify, I didn’t know what would.

I pressed call. A recording answered. It gave me a long list of selections. The last one stated:

“If this is an emergency, press nine.”

A voice came on. “Please state your emergency.”

“This is Caylen of the Flemming clan. I am nineteen and just tested positive as a set-omega. This is my last request as a free wolf. I demand to go to the dragons tonight.”