Silas flinched and I knew instantly that I’d touched a nerve.
“What? Don’t like something I said?” I pressed harder. “Maybe the part about both of you being alphas?”
“Silence,” he snapped.
“That’s it, isn’t it?” I realized. “You’re an alpha in love with another alpha.”
Two alphas being mates wasn’t unheard of - sure, it happened - but just like how omegas were thought less of back in our time, alpha pairs were seen as unusual. I didn’t blame Silas for being touchy about it.
He currently glared daggers at me.
“Hey, I’m not judging,” I said, putting my hands up. “I mean, I’m all for it. It’s just your choice of alpha is a little weird, is all.”
“He is a powerful man. He is cunning, ambitious and a true leader,” Silas said, then his eyes flashed. “Andhe is also a mage, like you.”
“He was the one who put you in stone, right?” I asked.
“Yes. And once that was complete, he turned to hiding.” His glare returned. “All to capture you.”
The pieces fell together in my head. I grimaced. “So if Zenon is a mage, and he has me - an omega - caged up, I can only think of one reason why.”
Silas frowned, looking strangely jealous. “Yes. He intends to breed you.” In a small mutter, he added, “Unfortunately.”
Despite my hatred for Silas, I couldn’t help but feel a tiny shred of sympathy for him. The alpha he was in love with was only using him as a tool, and had no romantic feelings for him in return.
“But why?” I asked, increasingly confused. “What’s the point of all this? He went through all this trouble just so he could have magic children?”
Silas opened his mouth to reply but shut it when thumping footsteps approached. Zenon appeared into the cavern clearing in his dragon form. Blood and scraps of fur from his last meal were visible in his teeth from where the burns had scorched his skin away.
“Well, then,” Zenon said as he shifted into his human form and dabbed the blood away with a cloth napkin from his pocket, “shall we begin, Halo?”
My stomach lurched. He wanted to breed menow?
“You can’t,” I said quickly. “I’m not in heat.”
Zenon’s shoulders rolled in a shrug. “No matter. It’s possible for a pregnancy to take place even outside of an omega’s heat. There’s no harm in trying.”
Oh, hell no, you nasty freak.
“That won’t be possible, either,” I said, feeling a cautious sense of smugness.
Zenon’s brows raised. “Oh? And why not?”
“Because I’m already pregnant.”
His calm veneer broke for a moment as he snapped, “What?”
“Kass and I had sex during my last heat,” I told him, secretly reveling in the annoyance in his face. “So you won’t be able to breed me until my child is born.”
Silas’s eyes flashed with cold sentiment - and then I realized in horror what he must be thinking before he said it out loud. “Master, you can always get rid of the child.”
Any sympathy I felt for Silas shrivelled up and burned away in my fury. If I wasn’t shackled and caged, I would’ve choked the life out of him for even suggesting that.
“No,” Zenon said calmly. My rage and fear died down. “A child is a child, even if it’s not mine through biology.” A cold smile spread across his lips. “Regardless, the child will never know that alpha. I will raise it as my own.”
Like hell, you will,I thought.
Zenon brought his hand to his chin in thought. “This changes things. If Halo is already pregnant, I suppose all I can do is wait.” He sighed. “And I was quite looking forward to mating with him, too.”
