Page 8 of Omega Captive of the Golden Dragon (Alpha Dragons #3)

CAYLEN

M y heart fluttered in my chest as if it had sprouted wings. Two dragons and a big creepy house in the middle of a snowed-covered mountainside. Within twenty-four hours of leaving the only home I’d ever known, I had ended up here.

Valcor had told me some of Varik’s backstory on the drive here. I wasn’t sure what he wanted to accomplish with that pathetic tale. Empathy? Acceptance? What about what I was going through right now?

But it did resolve one thing in my mind. Things back at the auction stage could’ve gone far worse for me. It might have been one of the alphas who assaulted me without remorse who won me. It might have been someone from a breeding farm.

I certainly didn’t want to be sent back there to a worse fate. Varik, the dragon who lived in this big house, seemed very uninterested in me. It occurred to me that I might actually be safe here. Which was why I couldn’t allow myself to be rejected by these two brothers. Not now.

“I’m very quiet. I’ll help out, I s—swear. B—but other than that, you—you’ll never know I’m here.”

Valcor gave me a single nod, then turned to Varik. “How about a trial period?”

Varik’s glower deepened. “I don’t even know where I’d put him.”

“You’ve got plenty of room. Put him in the guest room you keep for me,” Valcor said.

Varik’s face went from angry to stunned. His voice lowered. “But that’s your room.”

“Which I never use.”

“But if you ever did stay longer than the blink of an eye—” His glare deepened. “I want to keep it for you.”

“Okay, fine. It’ll still be my room, but I’ll be allowing him to use it for the trial period.”

Varik bowed his head, his hand rubbing at his brow. “I can’t believe you’ve done this. You should have asked me.”

“If I asked, I already knew what you would say. You would never listen to any discussion.”

“So, your solution was to spring it on me?”

Valcor puffed out his chest like he’d won something.

I watched them argue about me. Back and forth.

But it wasn’t mean or vindictive. I noticed through tone and body language that they were resonant with each other.

Even after the unwanted surprise Valcor had brought to his brother, Varik was soft and careful with him, maybe even submissive.

I’d seen it in the pack. Someone with power had others naturally giving in not because they were afraid, but because they actually wanted to.

Varik was taller, bigger, but very much at his brother’s bidding.

I knew the feeling. It had come over me in school once the alphas hit puberty. I had my own mind and my own strengths, yet I still dreamed of giving in.

But right now, none of that applied. I needed to stay alive, and for that I required Varik to agree to let me stay.

It was an awful choice. The devil or the deep blue sea, as Papa used to put it. At least here, I had food and shelter. Although, if something went wrong I had nowhere to run, no way to get help. Was there even cell service out here?

A shiver shot down my spine. I tightened my jaw.

“I’ll give him two weeks,” Varik was saying.

Valcor frowned. “Six.”

“Three.”

“Six.”

“Four.”

“You’re impossible. It’s six and that’s that. I’m too busy to get back here for another month and a half. What are you going to do, throw him out on the ice to freeze to death after four?”

“I’d call you first.”

“Humph.”

Their voices went lower. I knew then they were different from the sorts of alphas who’d brought me to this country, who’d stripped me, who’d felt me up. Valcor was right. Varik would never throw me out into the snow. He looked enormous and upset, but he didn’t seem violent.

For the first time since getting into Erl’s limo and driving to the airport, my heart relaxed, my pulse finally slowing. The fire pressed its warmth into my back. I scented the fresh food on the table. My stomach rumbled.

The rug beneath my feet had a maroon and green paisley pattern, soft and cozy. A couple of large throw pillows lay before the hearth. And the games laid out reminded me of holidays when I was little.

As I observed more of my surroundings, I saw knickknacks on the side table. Little butterflies and leaves and flowers. Mini-dragons and tiny humans with wings. They all scintillated in the firelight with an inner gold glow. They were indescribably beautiful.

As I turned my head, more of them caught my eye on high shelves. Snowflake shapes, nude men with horns, Christmas trees. My mouth opened as if to let out an excess of emotion I had no room left to contain.

“Varik makes those.” Valcor’s voice broke into my thoughts.

I turned back to the two dragon alphas, one eyebrow rising.

“The trinkets. They are his work.”

“Sculptures, not trinkets,” Varik firmly corrected.

Valcor softly laughed. “Aren’t they beautiful? It’s his hoard. And his fortune.”

“Go ahead. Tell him everything before you even get to know him,” Varik said. “Ass.”

“No. I’ll leave some things to you.”

“As I said. Ass.”

At that, Varik turned away from both of us, the window framing him.

“Time for lunch?” Valcor asked.

I stood frozen, still watching them.

“I’m not hungry anymore,” Varik grumbled.

“Fine. But Caylen and I are. It was a long drive with only prepackaged chips and cupcakes to keep us fueled.” Valcor got up and went to the food table. “This looks great.”

Varik started to walk toward the kitchen. “You’re welcome to stay and eat.” He bypassed the kitchen and disappeared into the more shadowy of parts of the house I had yet to see.

My heart revved up again. What did it mean that Varik had left? I wrung my hands. “Am—am I staying?”

“Of course, you are. I’ll show you around after we eat. Varik will come to his senses, don’t you worry.”

My stomach growled again. I went to the table and sat. Valcor sat across from me.

“Help yourself,” he said, already grabbing cold cuts and putting them on his plate.

I gingerly reached for a cube of yellow cheese. “Wha—what if I stay and it doesn’t work out?”

“Don’t you worry about a thing. You’re never going back to that auction. Not ever. I will make sure.”

“But what if he never talks to me.” I popped the cheese into my mouth. Quickly, saliva formed, and I devoured it. I hadn’t had a proper meal in so long.

“He’s not that bad.” Valcor seemed unconcerned. Like he knew things I didn’t, which I was sure was the case.

“But it’s pretty obvious he hates me.”

“He hates a world he has never properly met. I think you might relate to that.”

I did. But my mind still swam with too much change too fast. I needed real sleep. I needed time to orient myself. “Everything’s happened to me so fast.”

“I know.” He stopped chewing and looked at me with deep brown eyes.

“Why can’t I just go back with you?”

I knew my feelings were only because of the time we’d spent at close quarters on the drive here. But still, he was the nicer one. The known one. Varik was the unknown.

“What if it doesn’t work?” I asked. “What do I do? Who would I contact?”

“I’ve got a phone for you with my number already in it.”

“There’s service here?”

He smiled. “Private service. Our own tower.” He leaned his elbows on the table.

“Caylen, you’re not going to be cut off.

There’s Wi-Fi here, too. My brother is eccentric, but he’s not bad.

The men who did things to him are bad. I wouldn’t have come up with this harebrained plan if I ever thought Varik would harm you… or anyone.”

“Am I—to—to service him?”

Valcor raised one eyebrow. “Oh, that. I didn’t really think that far.”

My voice became a whisper. “The auction was for breeders.”

“He’s never said a word to me about that missing from his life.” He cleared his throat. “I was hoping you would be more of a companion.”

I wanted to believe him. It was the quiet confirmation I needed to know I wasn’t going to be raped and kept locked away. But I did have heats about three times a year. What would happen then? He was an alpha. He’d smell it.

Valcor couldn’t be that na?ve. If you put an alpha and an omega together in an isolated space, well, what did he expect?

He didn’t look up at me but instead focused on making another sandwich: lettuce, tomato, cheese, cold cuts and mustard.

I had to ask. “Why do you assume he or his dragon wouldn’t have breeding instincts? You could have hired anyone as a companion. Instead, you didn’t hire, you bought. At a set-omega auction.”

He swallowed the first bite of his second sandwich, no doubt buying himself time to answer.

When he did, his words surprised me. “Varik is, um, well, to put it bluntly, quite broken. I’m not a therapist. He does see someone online but never talks about it.

I’ve done what I can for him. He was fifteen when he was locked away.

He’s in his thirties now. He doesn’t like people.

He doesn’t crave interaction. But the way he prepares for my visits tells me he does crave company.

I can’t be everything for him. I live far away.

I work. I have a family. I can barely manage to see him once every other month. ”

He stopped abruptly, meeting my gaze. “If you can begin to understand….”

I took a deep breath. “I do. But….”

“But what?”

“It sounds like you haven’t even asked him about that sort of thing.”

“About what?”

“Breeding.”

“No, that would not be on our agenda. He’s far too scarred. Too insulated.”

I glanced about the room at the sculptures again. Blooming flowers. Insects. Delicate human forms. “Really? So, you assume he doesn’t think about that at all.”

Valcor frowned. “Well. Yeah. It would be too much. Like overload.”

Even I knew the most damaged of people still yearn for love.

Valcor wasn’t na?ve. Maybe it was because Varik was his brother that he saw him less objectively.

I was glad to know Varik wasn’t some slavering, out of control monster, but I didn’t fail to see him as an alpha.

An alpha dragon. And I was a set-omega. In others’ eyes, I was only good enough for breeding.

I couldn’t help what I was. It would be ignorant of me to deny it to myself or to Varik.

I sighed, picking up another cube of cheese. “If you’ve never asked him, how can you be sure?”

Valcor took a big bite of his sandwich. Mouth full, he motioned to the salami. “You gotta try this. It’s so good.”

To be polite, I took some on my plate. And homemade bread. I made a tasty sandwich.

Valcor never answered my question.

The food setup showed that Varik had carefully prepared all of this. A person didn’t do that if he couldn’t have cared less. A person wasn’t eager for human contact if he didn’t have feelings. Lots of feelings. Probably all built up inside him waiting to explode.

“When I have my heats, I’ll try to stay mostly in my room and not bother him. They last about two days.”

Valcor nodded, filling his mouth again, talking with it mostly full. “Good idea.”

This subject was definitely difficult for him. It made things pretty awkward if he were to outright admit he’d intentionally bought me as a mate for his brother. It meant he was not completely averse to trafficking in omega slaves. It meant his moral code could be broken for someone he loved.

I had no qualms about that. Everyone had lines they might cross for love. I merely wished I’d had someone like that in my life. Like my own parents.

Instead, I was alone.