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The entirity of the hall was occupied with soldiers, and I was stood where my brother had been. He was now standing at my side, commanding all attention that should’ve been on me, but I didn’t quite care for their eyes. I was just seeking solace in the idea that Soren was out there getting around without anyone getting in his way.

My brother’s advisors were on the raised platform alongside him, and Naja was still grumbling about the machines that had been destroyed and how much it would cost to have new mech shipped in because it was far from being repairable.

“Close the doors,” I commanded now that the time had crossed the deadlines, anyone outside was a traitor, at least in my brother’s view of it.

I tried my best to rely on any bond I had with Soren, but besides the odd tickle on my skin, I was completely unaware of how well he was doing outside of this room. I wanted to speak to him, but it was far too dangerous to break everything we’d created so far.

“We’ve been infiltrated,” I announced. “There’s a traitor amongst us. Someone in this room. Someone next to you, perhaps. It’s impossible to tell.”

Naja cleared her throat, standing beside me. “I have a list,” she said. “When I call your number, I want you to move to the left side of the room. One of the commanders will look over your information and make sure you’re clean.”

“Clean?” I mumbled to myself. “I don’t want to be judging them based on their hygine. I know a lot of them don’t use those bathrooms.”

My brother chuckled. “Of course, we’re not looking for their body odor,” he said. “We’re sweeping them to see if they’ve got any bugs. You know, like anything that’s telling that little omega out there what we’re doing. It’s probably in the interests of any soldier out there to stay out now since we all think they’re working with him.”

“It’s what they deserve,” I said. I knew it was just something I’d have to say, given who I was supposed to be in the eyes of my brother, the man who’d created and crafted the mean personality I’d been known for. “And how will they knew when they’ve found something?”

Naja rolled her eyes, the way she did it, I thought she might’ve struck out at bowling. “It’s not really anyhting to concern yourself with,” she said. “But we’re working on the assumption that whoever it is has modified their communications devices. So, we’re just searching for some soldiers who have issues with their outfits, stuff that looks like tampering.”

I knew she wasn’t going to find anything. But I had to keep doing my job of asking the questions and keeping them all occupied. I hoped that wherever Soren was, he was getting some headway with it all. The increased twinges of pain in my wrsits were only a slight worry because of the bond we had.

After about twenty minutes, I almost felt like I was the one being watched like a toddler, trying to be flanked at every corner so I didn’t bump into an expensive vase. I was nowhere near any of the soldiers who were being talked to. The idea that I was capable of planting evidence on the soldiers from just talking to them was exciting, but this seemed like it was all for show when I knew that my brother hadn’t stopped watching me, and didn’t bother batting an eye at anyone else in the room.

“Who do you think it is?” I asked him quietly.

He shrugged. “We’re halfway through the list, according to Naja. You know, you’re going to have to make an example out of whoever it is,” he said. “I’m talking, this stand here, maybe bringing in some chair to use and then a full guillotine moment with the offenders. The only way to show your commitment to the Syndicate is to be on the side of the Syndicate.” He spoke directly at me, knowing it was my commitment up for question.

“Exactly.” Quick on my feet with it. “And I hope we have a nice line of heads we can stick on pikes outside. You know, to warn anyone else away.”

Drakon smirked, seemingly pleased by the suggestion. “Well, brother, it looks like you’ve got the balls to match those swinging dicks.”

In some way, it should’ve been me at the head of this Syndicate. When people found out about my mutation, they praised me for it, sometimes it was weird, being a teenager and having all these people know about it probably made me shy away from the fact I was weilding so much power.

“You’re not going to see me disagree with that.” It was tough putting on the act, no wonder they’d needed to force poison down my throt to control me.

“That’s a nice change,” he said. “From all the times you have.”

A memory hit, like a flash flood it came and knocked me sideway. I held myself strong in my stand, but my brother noticed it.

“Everyone good?” he asked.

***

Twelve Years Ago

Walking back through the field into the denser woodlands, I picked up a branch and batted it against the tree trunks I passed. With each thump, I went harder, hoping it would splinter off with force.

“Stop it,” Drakon snapped from behind. “Mom will kill me if you get hurt.”

“You’re almost thirty, why are we even still bothering what she says?”

“Because she has the full force of the Syndicate on her side,” he reminded me. I didn’t need reminding. “And she can choose not to pass it on to me, or you. She might choose one of her advisors. They’re older, wiser, and have more connections.”

At twenty-six, I felt like I’d seen enough of the Syndicate, and the world, even if I hadn’t been allowed to travel much, and the travel I did undertake never led to anything with the lush rainforests my shifted form craved to be in. “Well, nobody else has our blood,” I said.

“Don’t count on that for the rest of your life,” he said. “If you think we’re the first, you really don’t know anything.”

“What do you mean?”

He yanked the branch from my hands and raced on ahead up the worn trail through the forest.

“Tell me!” I shouted, running after him. “Tell me.”I hated feeling like I was being left out, and Drakon knew the buttons to push with me. I just wish I knew his buttons, because I wanted revenge badly.

Chasing after my brother, I shifted into my blue-lipped pit viper and was thrown against him, I slithered up his back and around his neck. I wasn’t a constrictor, but I could coil around him and make breathing uncomfortable.

He droppd to the dirt with the branch and began clawing at me. I hissed and went to bite him, not like my venom woul do anything to him, but he flinched and fought back against each time my jaw snapped at him.

“Vasilis,” he said under a strained breath. “I’m gonna—kill you.”

I slithered down his back and shifted back into my human form, where I swiped a leg under his legs, sending him to the side, toppling and with his reflexes, he caught himself before whacking his head. “Tell me what I don’t know,” I said.

“You’re an asshole,” he said. “You know I’m not allowed to hurt you. But we’re far from home. I might just string you up out here and wait a couple days, pretend you ran away. You’ve done that before.” He pushed himself up from his knees, dusting his hands off.

“What did you mean, we aren’t the first?”

He held a hand out for me to take, pulling me to my feet. “Mom and dad were experimenting way before the two of us were born. The whole reason mom doesn’t want you out their knocking up omegas is the same reason you’re scared to mate.”

“The disease?” I asked. “And I’m not scared. I just don’t want to pass it on.”

“Well the disease is something mom and dad cooked up to make our venom more lethal,” he said. “How can you not know this? You’re an adult. You’ve got to be curious why nobody else knows what Rotmor is.”

“It’s because we’re sick,” I said. It’s how I viewed it. A sickness, something that couldn’t be cured. It wasn’t going to kill me, but it would kill everyone else. “I know it’s how dad died. Right?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know, and don’t ask mom, I don’t want her knowing we’ve been talking about this stuff.”

“So, if I’m not allowed to mate, then who was that omega woman you met the other day?” I asked. “Unless I’m being treated different, yet again.”

Drakon shot me daggers with a single look. If only he possessed a single latent magical power, then we might know more about out father’s heritage, because he certainly wasn’t a serpent shifter.

After twenty minutes of walking in silence, and with the occassional whack of a branch against a tree trunk, we came across the strong barbecue smell in the air. I didn’t know what meats were on the grill, and I didn’t care. My stomach was now grumbling, and all those questions I’d been mulling over on the walk back home with Drakon were gone, at least, they weren’t going to come out and ruin dinner.

The compound was within the tree tops and underground. We occupied a nice portion of the forest, but it took forever to leave it, and even longer to find the nearest town or city.

Our mom was behind the tree, using a large grill that didn’t send smoke through the canopy, but sucked it up and held it to keep the rooms in the tree tops above warmed. “You boys look like you’ve had a journey,” she said, hobbling on her good foot over to us. “I told you to not to be out there fighting.” She grabbed me by the wrist. “You’ve been bleeding.” She slapped my hand. “You know better than that. You’re gonna have people coming to us.”

“I’m sorry,” Drakon said. “It wasn’t Vasilis’s fault. But we managed to get nearly a thousand dollars for the venom antidotes.”

Her face softened as her focus turned to my brother. Of course, he had to give her the good news. Our current grift was procuring the anitdote to snake venom, and with all the Syndicate connections, our mom was farming some of the most venomous snakes in a pit just for their venom. A couple of them were shifters, forced to keep their form just for money. I tried not to think about them, the idea never settled right within me. It also insighted fear it could happen to me one day. I never wanted that. Nobody would.

***

The doors to the hall were walloped with force. Three heavy thuds had the commanders in the Syndicate approaching it with cuation.

“Do you think the deserters are going to ask us to go lenient on them?” Drakon asked with a smirk. “I think the first one should be done slowly. You’ve got put on a show for these people.”

“I’ll make sure the all get a show,” I said, hoping it wasn’t Soren outside the doors banging to get inside. I wished I could’ve guessed how he would behave, but he wasn’t like any other omega I’d met before, even though my memories couldn’t be trusted, I knew that what omegas were supposed to be like. Submissive and non-confrontational.

The door opened and Doctor Rathe stood, panting, nearly at her knees in front of the Syndicate’s weapons. “He’s waking them up,” she said, eventually bowing her head and raising her hands. “I tried to stop him. I tried.”

“Where?” Drakon shouted, his voice boomed as if able to command space, forcing people to move as he walked towards the doctor. I followed, quickly behind Naja who seemed to have been stepping directly into my brother’s steps as he left them.

“What?” she asked, looking up at him. “I—I said he’s waking them up. He’s trying to free them.”

“Where is he?” he asked again.

Shoving my way through to be in front of her as well. “How many of them?” I asked.

“All of them,” she said. “In bay one.”

I snapped my fingers in her face. She didn’t know where to look, her eyes seemed firm and fixed in my brother’s direction. “How many people are working with him?”

She looked at me now, and then back to Drakon. I hoped I’d succesfully stumped them into belieing I was on their side. My brother had called me out nearly every year of my life for not paying attention, and yet where it mattered, I was locked in.

“Just him,” she said. “It’s one guy. The omega. I think, that’s him. He’s wearing—”

“Go get him,” I said, snapping my fingers before she could finish her words. I knew where they were going, and it’s probably why she looked me up and down for a moment before looking back to Drakon. She knew I was on Soren’s side in all of this, she had to know.

The Syndicate mobilised only on my brother’s orders, and I really hoped Soren was out of there before they got to him. The other omegas were going to be fine, nobody was going to hurt them, not after Drakon’s big plans were in place.

I just needed to think like Soren and figure out his next move.