“And he is the greatest warrior of our time. No one has seen a Slythin for years—until now,” she goes on.
“What?”
“The king is not yet aware of this, but there have been sightings recently. A lot of people are worried. Arboron is a comparatively small kingdom. Mostly forest, not many villages. Word spreads fast. We export medicines and food to the other kingdoms, too, so we’re often among the first to hear news.” She sits back and regards me coolly. “Now I have some questions for you.”
“Huh?”
Her ears twitch. “How did you come to be in the forest that night? It’s clear you’re not an Ulfarri. Who are you? Who sent you? Did you come to seduce our king?”
“Huh?” I say again. I’m in shock. Her tone has changed swiftly, from gentle to accusatory. “Nobody sent me. I was hoping you’d be able to answer my questions! I don’t know how I got here, and I can assure you, I haven’t set out to seduce anyone. If anything, it was the hun—thekingwho seducedme!” My cheeks flare hot, and I’m not sure whether it’s due to outrage, or the sudden unbidden memory of how the hunter licked me that first night.
“Hmm,” Sian says, looking wholly unconvinced. “You’re an Omega. You didn’t just materialize out of thin air. Someone must have sent you.”
“If they did, I have no idea who, or how, or why!” I say. “I woke up in the forest, and you found me. I don’t remember what happened before that!”
“You remember nothing?” She doesn’t seem skeptical, just curious.
I run a hand over my head. My hair is full of leaves and twigs, and now it’s standing up on end. “Bits and pieces. Like, brand names and things. But a lot of things are hazy.”
“I wonder if this has something to do with the other Omegas,” Sian says thoughtfully, tapping her pointed chin.
“Other Omegas?” I bleat. What the hell is an Omega, anyway? It feels too late to ask.
“Omegas are the natural, perfect counterparts—mates—for Alphas,” Sian says. “While Alphas can mate with Betas—like me—they cannot get them pregnant. Nor do they go into rut. Only an Omega going into estrus can induce the rut—and the ensuing knot—in an Alpha. Unfortunately, there are barely any Omegas left on Ulfaria. There are rumors that there are still a few in hiding, but I’ve never met one, nor has anyone else I know.”
“Estrus?”
“The heat cycle. They get immensely, uncontrollably aroused—”
“Oh. Yes.” I interrupt her before she can go into any more detail on that. “But I’m not an Omega! I’m a human!” Even as I say it, I can barely believe these words are leaving my lips. That I’m stating my species. That I’m even having this conversation.
“The Wanderer King found a Hoo-man Omega on his travels, and brought her back here, to Ulfaria,” Sian tells me. “The Golden King, upon finding out that it was possible, commanded his magicians to recreate the technology, and bring him a Hoo-man Omega, too. And they did.”
I blink, trying to wrap my head around this massive information dump. “Are you telling me there are two humans here? On Ulfaria?”
“Yes.” She cocks her head, regarding me, her huge, beautiful eyes solemn. “At least… three, now.”
If I’m not mistaken, it has just been confirmed that I am, indeed, on an alien planet, and that, for whatever reason, the people here believe I’m an Omega. That’s the bad news—well, some of it. The good news is that I’m not alone. There are two others here who are just like me.
I’ll be damned.
“Where are they?” I manage.
“With their mates. In the kingdoms of Altrim and Aurum.”
“Are they far?”
She gives a little laugh. “Yes. They are both far.”
Damn.
“I don’t know how you came to be in the forest of Arboron on the night of the Hunt of the Moons, but it is a sign,” Sian continues. “An omen. You are meant to be with the king. And I see he has already claimed you.”
“He… what?”
She points to the spot where my neck meets my shoulder. “He bit you there?”
“He did.” I close my eyes, remembering how hard that made me come. The wound healed fast, but it still twinges sharply now and then.
