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Lodan lay on the bed listening to the Omega’s breathing as it evened out and gentled into sleep. He hissed out a breath. The vanilla-tinged air of her arousal still wafted through the tent, and with every inhale, his lust only seemed to strengthen. He wouldn’t be falling asleep anytime soon. Although that was no change—he never slept much.

Despite the darkness, he could make out the smudge of one of his marks on her neck. Biting her like that was a major mistake. It was supposed to show she would be his, to mock her because he knew the Sardi didn’t do love bites. Instead, when he’d touched her, it was like putting a flame to old, dry wood. She’d blazed. Sure, he’d sensed her reluctance to yield completely, but she’d cried out, the column of her throat vibrating under his mouth, and flung herself around his neck. Suddenly his arms were full of writhing Omega. Not because his bite repulsed her, as he’d expected, but because she liked his mouth.

The tent, the storm, everything evaporated. It was only her. Her skin tasted like some kind of exotic dessert. Rich and creamy with a hint of salt. His control almost slipped. A dark rush of want, of need, came from a place inside him he wasn’t aware existed.

He could never lose control. Their interactions were for one reason and one reason only, to get her with child as proof the Blood Laws had fallen.

Many believed the Sardi lies about lineage determining profession, and that only matches approved by the Sardi would produce children. While his march across Anatolia proved that Myrdinians could be much more than farmers—his men were the finest warriors to ever set foot on Anatolian soil—he wanted more. By bedding her, he’d prove any union could conceive, whether crafted by the Sardi or not. It would show the Blood Laws meant nothing.

But he hadn’t expected need to punch through him to take her and make her fully his. He’d never wanted an Omega like this. Never.

Stopping when he had, when she was just about to shatter on his hand, had taken every scrap of his legendary control. Even so, it had sliced through him. But it had to be done. He wanted her begging for him. Using those perfect, soft lips to demand he service her. Demand a Myrdinian become her Alpha.

He would be her Alpha, but she wasn’t his Omega. Not in the real way. He needed to remember that.

Lodan released a long breath. He needed to stick to the plan. His plan was sound. His plan would work.

Except she never acted the way he expected.

She argued with him, for one. Few people dared do that, but it wasn’t only her speaking back to him that surprised him. It was his response. Instead of irritation at her disobedience, he’d gotten aroused. And his arousal wasn’t going away. Her need, her desire, called to him. It clawed at him, his own desire dancing on the edge of pain because, as an Alpha, it was his job to tend to her.

He reached into his trousers and fisted himself. He pumped once but stopped. No. Not here. Not tonight.

He groaned and swung his legs off the bed. The lamplight was low, but he could still make her out in her sad little nest on the ground. She seemed a lot smaller when she wasn’t glaring at him as if she wanted him to die instantly at her feet. She’d tucked herself into a small ball and had a corner of the sleeping skin balled up as a makeshift pillow, her golden hair spilling over her arm. It was almost as if she knew how to sleep on the ground.

He frowned. That couldn’t be possible. She was a Sardi. A princess. Tomorrow, she’d complain and demand to sleep in his bed. Not that that would ever happen. She’d have to get used to making her own nest, she wasn’t joining his.

Kassandra.

A pretty name, but he’d never call her by her name. She was Omega. Always Omega.

He stood, still fully dressed. He’d spoken the truth to the Omega, he did normally sleep naked, but there would be a time and a place when she’d undress him and see him fully. She hadn’t answered his question about if she’d ever seen an Alpha naked, but he was fairly certain she hadn’t.

Not that it mattered to him if she’d lain with others or not, but it was surprising. Sardi men were famous for their lust. When they saw an Omega they wanted, they took. They believed any Omega should consider it an honor to lie with a Sardi, so they didn’t ask permission.

He curled his hands into fists. Perhaps they allowed Sardi females a choice they didn’t allow others. That would be like them.

He stalked out of the tent and into the rain. It had a bite to it, a chill of northern air. He inhaled deeply, letting her scent wash away. The chill also helped his throbbing cock.

Two of his warriors stood guarding the tent, and he nodded at them. “Keep watch. Her feet are badly injured so I doubt she’ll make a run for it, but keep an eye out anyway.”

They nodded back and clasped a closed fist to their chests.

He walked several paces west to Xander’s tent and entered.

A long table spread in the center, with their largest and most detailed map tacked into place on top of it. Xander stood next to it, and a scout named Caspian was across from him.

Caspian was one of their best trackers, and he’d been pursuing the Sardi king north. “What did you find?” Lodan asked.

“The king followed a narrow game trail east.” Rain dripped from Caspian’s armor, pooling on the tent floor. “I found traces of a camp and then evidence he joined with about thirty to forty others.”

Lodan frowned. “So, he’s on horseback with a Sardi battalion and moving fast.”

Xander nodded. “They’ll head toward Argos and the Dorians.”

“Where he could get a larger army of support.” Lodan strode to the table. Slapping his palms down, he leaned over it. “Why the Dorians though? They’ve never dealt with anyone in southern Anatolia, not even the Sardi.”

Xander pointed at a town to the east. “Maybe his goal is Argos, not the Dorians. The Argosians may aid him. They always sucked up to the Sardi.”

Lodan nodded and trailed his finger up the road north from Sarda City. “We’ll go north to Argos, too. It’s about time we paid them a little visit and reminded them the Sardi aren’t in power any longer. With all our men, we’ll move too slowly to beat the king there, but if we get there quickly, they’ll think twice about aiding him. Or joining him in battle again.”

“Do you want me to keep tracking?” Caspian asked.

Lodan shook his head. “No. You can go rest. You’ll join us tomorrow when we head north.”

Caspian nodded and left the tent.

Lodan turned toward Xander. “Let’s travel as light as possible. Pick our best warriors, and we leave at dawn. Make sure those left behind are ready to join us fast if we need them.” He studied the large swath of the Dorian forest pictured on the map as squiggles of trees. A vast area. An unknown number of people. An untold potential army of warriors.

He’d make sure they didn’t join the Sardi. Whatever it took.

Xander nodded. “I’ll take care of it.” But Xander didn’t leave the tent. He cleared his throat and leaned against the table. “How did your evening go with your prisoner?”

Lodan pictured the Omega sitting at the edge of her chair, biting her lower lip when she realized he was close to checkmate. “We played chess. I won. Surprised the hell out of her that a dumb farmer could beat a Sardi.”

Xander laughed. “I bet.” His smile faded as quickly as it had come. “You’re playing chess, though? Is that how you woo Omegas?”

Lodan shrugged. “I’ve never wooed one before, and I’m certainly not wooing her. I was proving a point.” While he’d enjoyed his little bet with her, he’d also wanted to get her comfortable with his presence so she wasn’t afraid of him. He wanted her to obey him, not fear him. When her fear tinged the air, it made him uneasy in an unfamiliar way—as if his shirt was too small and pinching him.

Playing chess worked. She’d gotten annoyed instead, her lips pinching together and two spots of red coloring her cheeks. “Have you ever wondered what it would have been like if we’d grown up in Myrdinia? If you might have found a bondmate?” They’d both been fifteen, right on the cusp of becoming full Alphas, when the Sardi destroyed their village. Neither had spent much time with Omegas.

Xander stared at him. “You never want to talk about Myrdinia.”

Lodan walked to the side table and poured two glasses of wine. He handed one to Xander, and they settled into the chairs facing the map table. Xander was right, he always pushed thoughts about the past away as quickly as they came and stopped any talk immediately.

He couldn’t stop his dreams of Myrdinia, though. They came almost every night.

“Most likely we would find our bondmates among the Omegas we grew up with,” Xander said. “My father said it was like one day a lightning bolt hit him, and he saw my mom anew. Although for me”—he shrugged— “I doubt it would have been like that. Not many male Omegas in Myrdinia.”

Lodan took a long sip. “My parents truly believed the gods brought bondmates together. We feasted to them when my sister found hers.” Pain lanced through his chest at the thought of his family, and he took another long swallow of wine. Myrdinians were one of the only holdouts to the ancient belief that an Alpha and Omega had one true match—their bondmate. They didn’t believe in the forced alliances the Sardi pushed, where Alphas and Omegas might still form a bond, but it wasn’t a true bondmate bond.

His father always told him the bond was sacred. It wasn’t to be trifled with, and pursuing anything but the real thing wasn’t worth it. He said the Sardi would always be weaker because they didn’t believe in bondmates.

“Do you believe the gods will give you a mate?” Xander asked.

He huffed out a cold laugh. “The gods abandoned us when we were fifteen. They care nothing about our happiness.” He certainly wouldn’t have a mate. A bond.

Xander sank back into his chair. “It seems that way.” A line formed between his eyebrows, the way it always did when he was thinking hard about something.

“What? You disagree?”

Xander turned red, and Lodan leaned forward. Xander looked … embarrassed. Lodan had known Xander since boyhood, and he’d never seen him turn red like this.

“The male Omega, you know, the one who’s come to visit a few nights these past weeks, is joining us as we move north. I was just thinking, maybe the gods are finally smiling at me a little. He’s clever, and he made me laugh. I—” Xander scrubbed his face, then put his glass down on the table. “Maybe I’ve had too much wine tonight.” Xander barely ever drank.

When the Omegas started visiting camp, Xander ordered all the men not to touch the male Omega, or he’d chop their hands off. Now it made sense why.

“One of us should grab some happiness while we can. That door closed for me ages ago, but you,” —Lodan lifted his goblet— “I’ll raise a glass to yours.”

As the rain pounded on the tent, they discussed their strategy over the next couple of days. When Xander yawned for the second time in ten minutes, Lodan stood. “All right, I’ll see you in the morning.” He nodded at Xander, then swept out of the tent.

Maybe now he could sleep. Or maybe not.

Despite dismissing the idea of bondmates to Xander, he hadn’t mentioned some of the other things his father said about the bondmate connection. About how intense it was. How his father said the first time touching your bondmate was like the first time ever touching an Omega. That the hunger was insatiable, yet the time with her also satisfied a deep place that had always been empty before. He said an Alpha needed it. That it gave him strength. Purpose.

His father said as a single Alpha he’d enjoyed relationships with a few Omegas. But at some point, he’d realized he wanted more. Needed more. Desire for any others dried up like the fields during a drought. It was as if the gods were preparing him for his mate. Making sure he was ready. And two years later he’d met Lodan’s mother.

Lodan jerked to a halt in front of his tent, the rain slashing at his face. He remembered Greta’s comments about how Lodan hadn’t bedded anyone in a long time. It had been a year at least.

But he was at war. That was the reason. The gods weren’t preparing him for anything other than winning.

The gentle scent of the Omega in his tent whispered at him, squeezing past the tent flap and filling the air even through the rain. He grew hard instantly, his body demanding her. Wanting her.

No. He’d control this.

If there truly were gods, they wouldn’t have given him a Sardi as his mate.