Chapter 6 Markus

Syra's reaction is not the one I was hoping for. It's not even the one I was expecting. I kind of figured she might slap me or kick me, or maybe even stab me in the guts with that spear of hers.

Instead, she turns and bolts away from me down the corridor of the dark mausoleum.

She doesn't get far.

Syra is fast for an omega, but I'm an alpha, so I'm faster. I catch up to her before she can reach the door of the mausoleum, and I grab her arm, spinning her around to face me.

Her eyes gleam furiously in the moonlight streaming in through the windows. Her heat-scent fills my nostrils, raw and feminine and needful. My cock stiffens in response, ready to alleviate her need.

"Let go of me!" she growls.

Source, she is such a defiant little omega. I've always loved that about her.

"I can't do that," I tell her. "If you go outside, alphas will smell your heat, and they will come to breed you. Dangerous alphas."

"Oh yeah? And what about you, Markus? I suppose you're not dangerous?"

"I just want to protect you, Syra."

"You lied to me!"

Her voice is like a dagger piercing my heart. She has tears in her eyes, and the sight of them pains me.

"I didn't lie," I tell her. "I answered all of your questions honestly."

Everything I told her a few moments ago is the truth. I have been stalking her pretty much nonstop for the past four years, ever since I abandoned my pack.

"You wouldn't have told me if I hadn't asked," Syra says, her voice cracking. "That's as bad as lying. Now let me go!"

"No."

She tries to pull away from me, and her strength is surprising for an omega, but it is no match for my own. I keep a firm grip on her arms and drag her body against my own. She lets out a startled gasp as she feels the aching hardness straining against the front of my loincloth.

"You're just as bad as all the other alphas," she says. "You just want to… to use me for your pleasure."

"That's not true, Syra. I want to protect you. I want to help you."

"If you really want to help me, then leave. Go outside and let me stay in here by myself. I'll take care of my heat on my own."

I consider that for a moment, but then I remember what happened earlier tonight. I was following Syra as she made her way deeper and deeper into the wild lands with her spear and her satchel. I wasn't sure where she was going—or why—until she reached the clearing with the barn. That was when I finally caught the first whiff of her slick, and suddenly everything became clear to me. Syra was going into heat for the first time, and being the fiercely independent omega that she is, she intended to take care of it on her own, without the help of any alpha. I watched her slip inside the barn, then I turned and went away. I knew if I stayed, I would not be able to contain my alpha urges. I would claim her and mate her, and I knew she didn't want that.

So I left.

But after a few minutes, something made me return to the barn. I don't know what it was exactly. A feeling in my gut. A sense that something wasn't right. Over the past nine years, I've learned to trust my instincts, and tonight it paid off. I don't even want to think what would have happened to Syra if I had not returned to the barn when I did.

I will not make the mistake of leaving her alone again.

"I'm staying," I tell her. "You're a tough omega, Syra, maybe the toughest in the entire Zone, but you can't take care of your heat all by yourself. You need an alpha to help you with that."

"And I suppose you're the perfect alpha for the job," she says bitterly.

I understand her misgivings. I know her better than anyone else in the Zone. She has the body of an omega, but she has the heart of an alpha, and it is not an alpha's nature to submit.

She refuses to be dominated.

I could try to be gentle for her, but I don't know if I would be able to do that. Once my cock is inside her, my inner alpha will take control.

Maybe there's another way.

"If I let go of you," I say, "do you promise not to run?"

Syra's expression shifts from defiant to quizzical. It's incredible how her face manages to stay beautiful no matter what emotion she happens to be feeling.

"I have an idea," I tell her. "But I need you to promise you won't run from me again. Can you do that for me, Syra?"

She thinks about it for a moment, then nods.

"Okay," she says. "I promise."

Hearing her utter those words makes my heart swell with emotion. Slowly, I loosen my grip on her arms. It's one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life, but I do it for Syra. I do it for my friend, my omega.

She keeps her promise and doesn't run.

Good girl.

I return to the open crypt and reach inside. The waterskins weren't the only supplies I had stashed in there. There's a little bundle with some long-lasting food inside—jerked deer meat, pemmican, nuts. I take that out and set it onto the floor by the wall. Then I reach inside the crypt again.

Next I take out a rolled up fur. It is the skin from the very first bear I ever killed. I can still remember how proud I was that day, and I remember how my pack leader taught me to remove the animal's shaggy hide and preserve it. I never expected that I would one day share it with Syra.

I unroll the skin and spread it out on the mausoleum floor. Syra watches in silence.

There's just one more thing I need now. The most important part of my plan. I reach all the way to the back of the dark crypt until my fingers find the smaller bundle I have stashed there. I take it out and open it, examining the contents in the moonlight.

"What is that?" Syra asks.

"Medicine," I tell her, sorting through the small glass vials and clay jars. "Herbal remedies. Materials for making poultices. Some strong stuff."

At last, I find what I'm looking for—a small glass bottle with a cork in the top. The glass probably used to be clear once, but over the years its surface has grown so weathered and cloudy I can barely see the fluid inside.

I hold the bottle up in the moonlight.

"Do you have any idea what this is?" I ask.

Syra shakes her head.

"Alphas heal quickly," I tell her, "but sometimes, if we sustain an especially bad injury, or if we are very far away from the Source, then we need to rest so the healing can happen even more quickly. That's what this medicine is for. It will put a person into a deep sleep for several hours."

Syra gasps and takes a step back.

"You want to put me to sleep?"

"Not you, Syra. Me."

Before I have a chance to second guess what I'm doing, I pull the stopper from the bottle and knock back its contents in one quick gulp. Almost instantly, I can already feel the medicine coursing through my system, lulling me into a deep and inviting slumber. I climb onto the bearskin and lie down on my back. Syra gives me an astonished look.

"You're going to sleep?" she asks. "Now?"

"That's right," I tell her. "I'm knocking myself out so you can use my body in whatever ways you need."