Page 19

IRIAN

“You can’t force me,” I said, playing my trump card. “I’m under-age. It’s illegal.”

Her lips curved smugly. It was the smile of someone who thought they were exceptionally clever and had just been gifted an excuse to show it.

“And that’s where you’re wrong. We have a special permit from the Council.”

“I- I don’t believe you,” I stammered. My heart pounded against my ribcage, so hard it almost hurt. Surely this wasn’t possible. I’d never heard of such a thing.

I stared, open-mouthed, as she took the couple of steps towards the desk and pulled out a sheet of parchment from the drawer, laying it on the desktop with a triumphant flourish.

I edged closer, peering at the document from a distance, as if that would make it less likely to be real. It didn’t help. There was no mistaking the official seal of the Council at the top of the white parchment. It took just a minute to read the contents. I blinked, unable to speak. I felt a constriction in my chest, like a fist slowly tightening. They were squeezing the life out of me. How could they do this to me?

The document read:

SHIFTER REGULATION EXEMPTION

Exemption Category : Unions

Regulation : XA.2

Recipient : Irian Mensen

Designation : Omega

Details: permission is hereby given for the above mentioned omega to be mated in a permanent shifter union once he enters the start of majority at age 19

And the document was signed by six members of the council, including Alpha Moray himself. The air hissed between my lips. How had they managed to get agreement for this?

The older legal age for shifter unions had a specific purpose… or so we’d been led to believe.

Something to do with allowing the alphas and the omegas to fully mature physically and emotionally before entering into a union that was binding. Unlike human marriages, once the shifter bite had been exchanged and the appropriate words said, shifter matings were unbreakable. If you’d made a mistake, weren’t compatible, or found your fated mate later, it was too bad.

Then it hit me. My mother was a member of the Council. They were all in each other’s pockets or had knowledge of each other’s secrets. It wouldn’t have been hard to get the required number of signatures.

“I won’t do it!” I insisted, although inside I was trembling. “I already have an alpha! I’ve promised myself to Talius.”

“He’ll manage without you,” she said, completely unflustered while I was losing my mind. “There’s no advantage in a union with him. I won’t permit it. You’ll mate with the one we’ve chosen for you.”

“I won’t!” I hated the way fear made my voice waver.

“There’s no more discussion about it. It’s already been decided.”

“And you will ,” she said emphatically, walking to the door, and turning back at the last. “After all, you don’t have to do anything. Omega .”

She stepped through the door, and I heard the clunk as the lock turned behind her.

I stood there alone, trembling in the middle of the room, hating the truth of what she’d said. Biologically, as an omega, I didn’t have to actively accept or participate in the mating ritual for it to be valid. I just had to be fucked and bitten. The rest was just for decoration.

If I couldn’t get out of here, I was totally screwed. I’d be mated and bonded forever to a different alpha, when I already had the alpha of my heart.

I rushed to the door, and tried to open it even though I knew it was locked. But just in case.

The knob began to turn and my heart gave a wild flutter of hope, but sank just as fast when the knob stopped mid-turn. A cold sweat broke out over my body, giving me the chills. My legs felt weak.

I hurried to the windows, tried to slide the heavy wooden frames upward, but they didn’t budge. I shook the frames in frustration, hit the glass with my fist. For an instant, I rested my forehead against the glass, sucking gasps of air into my lungs.

I would not give up! The windows rattled violently in their frames as I shook them again… until the light glinting off one of the nails nestled in the wood caught my eye. I was caught in a trap.

A blanket of calm descended on me. I had to use my brain if I was to get out of this. I looked through the glass.

There was no-one in sight. No-one on the premises would be willing to help me anyway, but there was also no-one to stop me. The ground was a long way down. But maybe, if I shifted, I might make it down without injuring a paw.

I looked around for something solid enough to break the glass.

But before I could find anything, I heard the turning of the key in the lock and the door creaked slightly as it opened… I expected my mother, and I drew in a deep breath ready to argue with her again. Instead, two large and familiar alphas entered the room - Marius and his alpha dad. Both of them wore severe expressions: Alpha Moray’s face was determined, Marius’ face was… well, blank. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

I peeked behind them, wondering if I was fast enough to get around them. I shivered, my shoulders sagging as four large betas followed them into the room. The show of force was designed to intimidate me, and it did. How would I elude this many shifters to make my escape?

In the end, it didn’t matter. There wasn’t time to try anything. A nod from the head alpha in the room, and the betas marched up to me, grabbing my arms roughly. I had no hope, but I struggled on principle. Thumbs and fingers pressed cruelly into the muscles of my arms in an unnecessary display of force. I whimpered and watched horrified as ugly purple marks formed on my upper arms.

“Don’t damage my mate,” snarled Marius.

The betas eased their grip but kept their meaty hands around my arms. Still struggling futilely, I managed to cast a scornful look at Marius as the betas pushed me towards the door. I continued fighting as they marched me along the corridor and down the stairs to the first floor.

“Fuck off! Get your hands off me.” I wriggled and squirmed, my skin burning where I tried to twist out of their grip, but they just grabbed me harder.

The two alphas followed along behind in silence.

“Help! Help!” I screamed frantically.

No-one came.

Despite the risk of injury, I kept up my resistance every step of the way. The guest rooms were located on the first floor and if we made it there, I was doomed. Undeterred, the massive betas simply dragged me along. As I kicked and squealed, they simply tightened their grip on my arms, knowing the alphas following behind couldn’t see what they were doing. Claws erupted from fingertips and stung my skin, and red pinpricks bubbled to the surface.

With growing alarm I saw the upper levels fall away behind us, and the landing of the first floor appear. I continued to struggle, half-sobbing in desperation, until I was thrust roughly inside the first open doorway we came to. As I staggered, struggling to stay on my feet, I heard the alphas talking but couldn’t hear what they said over the panicked surging of blood in my head.

Talius! I wailed in my head, as I rushed to try the window, but we’d stuck to the rules, never consummated our natural bond, and he couldn’t hear me. An unwanted tear trickled out the side of my eye and wandered down the side of my face as the window rattled futilely in its frame. I pressed myself up against the window ledge. Throwing back my head, I howled in despair.

There was no answering howl. I was alone, except for the alpha who’d come to claim me against my wishes.

I closed my eyes. I heard the door slam shut and the latch click over. Not that I stood a chance of getting past Marius. He was twice my size in both height and width. Young and muscular, many omegas would have been thrilled to partner with him. But my heart already had an alpha.

"Shut the fuck up," Marius said.

Opening my eyes, I took a deep breath, wiped my cheek, folded my arms across my chest (though I really wanted to wrap them around myself) and glared at him.

“I don’t want to mate with you,” I snarled defiantly, despite the trickle of moisture on my face. “You can’t make me.”

He snorted, and my legs trembled. I felt sick. We both knew he could totally make me. And as an alpha, no-one would fault him. It was completely unfair. And it was frightening. I’d never given much thought to the place of omegas in society, but this situation was a stark reminder of how unequal we actually were.

“I don’t want to mate you,” he said.

Wait! What?

“Ww-well, that’s good… to know,” I stuttered, flustered.

What did this mean? I mustered my courage and decided to go on the offensive. After all, it wasn’t as if I didn’t know him from Christmases with Talius’ pack. “Why the fuck are you here then?” I demanded aggressively.

Marius’s dark brown eyes simply stared at me for a minute.

“You’re a foul-mouthed omega, Irian,” he observed. Then he sighed, “I didn’t have much choice about coming here…our families think they’ve got this all sewn up. But I don’t want to mate you, and I know you and Talius are a thing, so… I thought if I helped you get out of here, you could find him.”

“What’s in it for you?” I asked suspiciously, wondering if this was a trap. I hardly dared trust him.

“I told you, I don’t want to mate you. And if you’re gone, then they can’t make me.”

I watched him for the briefest of moments as my brain tried to process everything. Suddenly I thought I knew. I felt a twinge of sympathy for him.

“There’s someone, isn’t there?” I asked, my voice softening from challenging to a more thoughtful tone.

“Yes,” a sad look of longing crossed his face for the briefest of moments, then he schooled his features, “but I can’t… it’s complicated.”

“It’s always fucking complicated,” I swore under my breath. He heard me anyway. His eyes went wide with surprise. Then he laughed.

“You’re a feisty guy.”

I glared at him, but he just kept rocking back and forth on the spot, holding his sides, cheeks puffed and red as he failed to contain his amusement.

“Talius is welcome to you. He’s going to have his hands full.”

“Rude,” I observed, lifting my nose in the air huffily, but I allowed myself the faintest curve of the lips, relief flooding through me like liquid gold in my veins. Marius was going to help me get out of this room and I’d go find my alpha.