“This is—”
“The Alpha of Fire. We’ve met. His temper is so legendary that he’s no longer allowed near the council. How many times have you been banished?”
The alpha throws his head back and laughs. Flames drop to the forest ground and try to ignite it, but I bank it as quickly as it starts.
“Too many times and not enough. They don’t let me play anymore.”
“I’m not surprised.” I look him over intently, fascinated with seeing him after so many years.
“I’m going with the omega,” he says casually.
My eyebrows raise. He is abdicating his power? Willingly? Why?
“I’ll bite. Why are you giving up all your godly powers, your home, and everyone you know?”
He’s smug, and I hate it. But his smile spreads across his face, and he looks at his companion. He tugs the hood back; it falls slowly, but I forget about it and himimmediately.
All I see is white. It’s a colour I never see in my world. Her hair, her skin, she’s pale, her eyes a luminous grey. Pink lips and an innocence that has me ready to uproot every tree in my forest for her.
My world shifts as her wild forest scent hits me. I stand up, walking around the table without thinking. She doesn’t step back; she doesn’t cringe or tense. She doesn’t fear me.
“Omega,” I whisper. “What have you done?”
Scent matches are like soulmates. They are one and the same. Humans pray for them all the time, but gods seldom have them.
She is mine, made for me. Or I am made for her. I want to kneel down and give myself to her. I can’t look away.
“This is the Luna Omega.”
My gasp is like thunder in the silence.
A myth older than fire and hunt. Older even than winter. Only the All-Seer could find and bring her out. Let alone assemble the three of us.
The wind blows, and those startling and wise eyes look away, as if she’s searching for someone else.
“Wait!” I suddenly snap. Wanting her eyes back on me, needing to know and understand what’s going on.
The forest gets darker; the trees reaching out with branches closing us in.
“You’re going to fall? You’re giving it all up? No!” I reach for her and lay a finger on her wrist before I recall myself, afraid I might hurt her.
She looks up at me without smiling, without a protest.
“It’s not your decision, Alpha,” the All-Seer says calmly.
“She’s my scent match, so how is it not my decision?”
“She is a goddess; she can choose her path.”
“But—”
I look at the other alpha. He’s got an expression that almost feels like compassion and understanding.
“We can lose her forever or go with her and help.”
My hands shake. Give it all up or give her up? It’s impossible to fathom.
“This is the sacrifice I ask of you. Either way you decide, I will have one. I am sorry, Alpha,” the All-Seer murmurs.
