It’s like they’re afraid.
The group of councilors, who hang around Hunter like a flock of crows whenever we’re here at the palace, stand to the left of us. Mikkan is in the center of the cluster. The hood of his purple robe is pushed back and he’s stroking his long, wispy beard.
Brokk appears and climbs up the dais to whisper something in Hunter’s ear.
Hunter’s green brows snap together. His jaw clenches, his whole body goes rigid. He glances at me before giving a curt nod.
A hooded Beta appears on the right, walking with his hands outstretched. In front of his hands hovers a glowing orb bigger than my head. He walks to the center of the room and squares off to the throne, leaving the ball floating in midair in front of us.
The magician’s ball seems to be filled with a white mist. Everyone is staring at it like it’s the second coming.
I glance at Hunter, wishing that he’d take my hand. I’m nervous, and I can’t even say why. The globe pulses with a grey-white light, and everyone flinches. Everyone except Hunter. I lean over towards him, but he doesn’t notice.
The fog inside the globe clears, and a figure appears. They’re wearing a deep hood, but the hands clasped in front of them are pale and covered in bulging blue veins, with sharp-tipped nails that are horribly long, like misshapen claws. Glowing, pinkish eyes burn from within the shadow of the hood.
“Hunter King. Greetingsss. It ssseems you have sssomething of mine,” they say. They hiss on the consonants, and a shudder goes up my spine. This is creepy as hell.
Hunter grunts. If ever there was a time for him to say something, it would be now. But he only angles his head towards Brokk. The big Alpha steps forward and lets his voice ring out.
“Greetings, Stone King. What is it you are looking for?”
Hunter’s face is blank, but he’s leaning forward, his muscles bunched and tense. I’m squeezing my hands together so hard that I’m hurting myself. I force myself to loosen them a bit. So this is the Stone King. Even more awful than I imagined.
“The Omega,” the terrifying king says, and all eyes in the room swivel to land on me. I wish I could sink through the seat of the chair and just disappear.
Hunter is the only one who does not look my way. I’m squeezing my fingers again. All his attention is fixed on the floating screen. He’s one hundred percent focused, like he was when he faced down the giant snake.
“She isss mine,” the Stone King continues when he realizes he’s not getting an answer. “I commissioned an… associate… to use the Ogsul technology. Why should Aurus and Khan be the only ones to have an Omega by their sssides? All went well at first, and they were indeed able to bring a Hoo-man to Ulfaria. Unfortunately, I’m working with incompetent dolts, and during the delivery they configured sssomething wrong—” here, he waves a talon-tipped hand dismissively, “—long ssstory short, she ended up in Arboron and notmykingdom. Here. Withme. I want her returned.”
I glance at Hunter. There’s a muscle ticking in his jaw and it looks like he’s considering it.
Surely not.
“If you do not return her, I will unleash the Slythin army upon your kingdom.”
A murmur goes around the room. The Stone King has confirmed he’s responsible for the Slythin.
“The creatures will overrun your borders. Kill your children. Ruin your crops. Surely she isss not worth that?” the creepy Stone King says.
The murmurs continue, but Hunter is silent.
“The Hunter King has done so much for his people,” Brokk says, his deep, rumbling voice a stark contrast to the slimy, hissing tones of the Stone King. “Surely he deserves an Omega of his own? Besides, he has claimed her. They are bonded.”
There’s a strange hiccupping sound, accompanied by wheezes. The Stone King is laughing. Kind of. “She is not Ulfarri. Claiming has no meaning the way it did in the old days. I can ssstill possess her.”
“Wait a minute,” I say, “I’m not some object to be passed around!”
Brokk’s eyes flick to me, then back to the screen. He is the only one who even acknowledges that I said anything. The people are silent. The councilors are all staring at their feet.
I look at Hunter, who’s doing a great impression of Rodin’sThe Thinkerright now. The only thing moving in his entire body is still that muscle in his jaw. He doesn’t even acknowledge that I’m there. A wave of mixed emotions flows through me—despair, fear, frustration, but most of all, disappointment. I thought he cared about me. And here he is, actually considering the creepy creature’s proposal? Consideringletting me go?
“We ask for some time to consider it,” Brokk says, breaking the long, awkward silence.
There’s a pause. Then, “I have waited a long, long time for an Omega,” the Stone King says. “I can wait one more day. You have until the sssuns set tomorrow. Then I will unleash the Slythin, and the Arborii—indeed, Arboron itself—will be decimated.”
Hunter stands. The room falls silent. The rows of people closest to the throne look up at his face and step back. Goosebumps rise on my arms. There’s a bright, burning feeling in the bond. I grit my teeth against the swelling ache under my ribs. I can’t move.
With one stride, Hunter clears the steps and bounds up to the orb. When the servant brought the magician’s ball in, they never touched the surface. Hunter fights through an invisible force-field surrounding the ball. His roar drowns out the cries from Brokk and Mikkan—
