Page 70 of Desperate Omega

I am going to mark her.

I am going to own her.

I hold back for the merest fraction of a moment, drinking in her warmth and her scent. Then I dip my face to her neck and sink my teeth into her flesh there. Brik does the same on the other side.

And Syra screams.

CHAPTER 29: SYRA

Hours later, my neck still burns where the two alphas marked me.

I want to touch it, but I don’t want to rub away the scent-masking paste that is covering my skin, so I just squeeze my fingers even more tightly around the haft of my spear and press ahead, wending my way between the trunks of trees and the sun-dappled underbrush of the forest.

For clothing, I am wearing some animal skins I borrowed from the hideout and fashioned into a makeshift loincloth and top. It is not comfortable, but it is sufficient to keep my breasts from bouncing all over the place while I run.

Markus and Brik are following right behind me. I can’t smell them, because they’re both slathered in the same paste that I’ve got on. I can’t really hear them either; their footsteps, like mine, are completely silent against the forest floor. But I know they’re back there. I can sense them, for they are my alpha mates.

And I am their marked omega.

The marking hurt even more than I expected it to—and I expected it to hurt a lot. Markus tried to warn me, but I don’t think anything could have prepared me for that kind of pain. It wasn’t just the sting of the alphas’ teeth breaking my skin. It burned, as if Markus and Brik had pressed red-hot brands into my flesh.

Thankfully, it was all over pretty fast. The worst of the pain faded quickly, and the wounds healed almost immediately, leaving behind two pairs of crescent-shaped scars on both sides of my neck—a signal to every alpha in the Zone that I am no longer up for grabs.

I have been claimed.

I am owned.

My scent has also changed, enough that the paste can now conceal it. My heat, however, is still going strong. Even under these dire circumstances, I can feel the hunger burning inside me. The desire to be rutted and knotted by my alpha mates. For the time being, those urges are at a manageable level, but I can feel them growing by the moment, and I know it is only a matter of time before they get completely out of control.

We just have to find Thorus before that happens.

We’re getting close to where he is. I can feel it. It won’t be much farther now. I can sense that he is somewhere ahead of us, still alive, still in pain.

It makes me feel sick and hopeful all at the same time.

I wonder if Thorus can sense my presence too. I think he probably can. He knows I’m coming to help him.

He’s probably not happy about that. I don’t think he would like me putting myself in danger this way.

Too bad.

I’m his mate now, and he’s just going to have to deal with me, attitude and all. If he’s really pissed about it, he can spank me when this is all over.

Under other circumstances, that thought would make me smile.

As I race through the forest, my thoughts race too, spinning through all of the possibilities of what could have befallen Thorus. It could have been some sort of accident I suppose, but I highly doubt that. I’ve seen Thorus in action. He’s too sure-footed to have injured himself through some careless misstep. It seems more likely that he was attacked. Ambushed by the Farlanders whom he was tracking. That thought fills me with a sickening blend of fear and rage.

I’ve seen Thorus fight, or at least I’ve seen the aftermath of his fighting. He’s stronger than a bear, and he can be mean as hell when he wants to. Whoever hurt him is either really tough, or else there’s just a whole lot of them.

I’m thinking it’s probably the latter.

Nobody’s as tough as Thorus.

The forest is starting to open up in front of me. I slow down, not wishing to emerge from the cover of the trees without first having a chance to see what lies ahead. Behind me, my two alphas slow to match my pace. They move in protectively on both sides of me. Together, we emerge from the treeline, crouching low to keep ourselves hidden within the deep, wild grass. If anybody is tracking us, it will be easy for them to follow our path through the grass, but I’m more worried about what’s ahead.

After about fifty paces, the land slopes downward into a broad valley full of unkempt vegetation. A road snakes into the valley from one end. Its asphalt surface is so cracked and overgrown with weeds, it almost blends right into the rest of the landscape. The only reason we’re able to see it at all is because of our elevated vantage.

The road terminates at a sprawling structure nestled in the very heart of the valley. The structure is also overgrown to the point that I can barely even see the actual building itself, just the shape of it beneath the greenery. We all three pause and stare.