Hunting Their Omega

Chapter 1

Isolde

“We’ve got you,” a familiar voice murmured.

The scent of warm jasmine filtered through my nose.

I wanted to vomit.

“Please,” I begged, gritting my teeth through waves of heat. “Don’t.”

Ester, my roommate, looked away guiltily. She wouldn’t help me. None of them would.

I yelled, clutching my abdomen as a surge of pain forced my body to double over.

The second jolt shook the pencil out of my fingers, and I whipped out my hand, pressing it firmly to the grass beneath me for purchase. Fire bubbled in my veins, simmering and popping as my heart pounded viciously in my chest. My wolf howled, whining and shaking out her fur as if it hurt to be settled on her skin. A tendril of dread curled inside of me.

You can feel it too?

Yes, she replied in a mocking tone.

No. No. Please . . . not yet.

The next burst of pain was sharper, and I cried out before I could bite back my scream. There was no time to hide or run.

The agony rattled my teeth, and I staggered to my feet, frantically searching the hollow hills for somewhere, anywhere, to take shelter. I knew my quest was futile; the Omega boarding house was the only thing around for miles. They had razed the surrounding forest—pushed it back so far that any attempted escape would only land you thirty days in the disciplinary cells.

Desperation moved my feet as invisible spikes dug into my spine, hammering each vertebra until I crumbled face down on the brown grass, my sketchbook forgotten. I focused on breathing through the humiliating, unfamiliar clench between my thighs.

Hands gripped me from all sides, hoisting me up on jellied limbs. Summoning the reserves of my quickly failing strength, I pushed against their hold, growling and gnashing my teeth. They struggled against me, working to bring my crumpled body off the ground, but it only made me fight harder.

I couldn’t let them take me to the boarding house. I wouldn’t.

“Stop it, Isolde,” Hannah, another Omega, said. “It’s over. You have to let us help you before they send the Den Mother.”

A chill ran up my spine as the Den Mother’s sharp features flashed through my mind. Despite my rising panic, my body stilled. If she were called, I would be taken to her office. The back of my thighs burned, the phantom pains of old wounds flaring from the Den Mother’s previous attentions.

“This is all our fates. There’s nowhere to run,” Hannah added softly.

I didn’t know if her words were for me or herself.

The other Omegas marched toward the building, supporting my slight frame between them. I whimpered as every step ripped down my carefully curated walls.

As swiftly as they could, the girls half-dragged me through the boarding house’s barren, stark white halls and deposited me in the infirmary. The scent of ammonia was like a slap in the face, stinging my nose more than usual. Governess Ida, an Alpha female and the nicest among the governesses, frowned, her nostrils flaring.

“Sit her on the examination table,” she ordered curtly. “Then leave us.”

My body was gently placed on a cold surface, but nothing could wash the taste of betrayal from my tongue. I averted my eyes as Ester left. Goodbyes didn’t matter here. We would likely never see each other again.

“When did the pain start?” Governess Ida asked, her cold, deft fingers wrapping around my wrist to measure my pulse.

I held my tongue. What would it matter? If this were what I suspected, nothing would save me.

Governess Ida narrowed her eyes but continued her examination, checking my pupils and the temperature of my skin with a placid expression.

“Lean back,” she said.

My fear rose. “What?”

“You heard me, girl. On your back, now.”

I curled my arms around myself at her biting words but didn’t move.

A frustrated growl left her lips, and she pushed me onto the cold, hard table with enough force to make me gasp. She yanked my legs out from under me, wrenched my thighs apart, and stuck two gloved fingers into my core. I jumped at the contact and flushed with shame when she pulled away to examine her slick-covered hand. She studied it with medical proficiency before removing the glove and tossing it into the bin behind her.

“Congratulations,” she said, her eyes flat. “You’ve just aged out of bordering. It won’t be long now before your heat starts.”

Aging out was the only thing that released an Omega from the Council appointed housing we were all forced to live in. It was when our body finally hit maturity and we could get pregnant.

I sat up, wincing at the phantom feeling of her fingers inside me.

Governess Ida turned to a metal cabinet, stuck a key into the lock, opened the doors, and removed a small bottle of heat suppressant pills. She popped two into a paper cup and handed it to me.

“Swallow.”

I swallowed the pills dry, relief and dread fighting for dominance in my mind. Governess Ida watched on, her usual aloof expression holding a note of . . . emotion. Hope flared in my chest. I shouldn’t have asked, but my traitorous mouth was spewing out the question before I could gather my pride.

“Please don’t tell the Den Mother. Please, I want to stay. I’ll do anything, I’ll—”

She held up a hand, silencing me. Whatever pity she’d felt disappeared. “Enough.” Her voice was a sharpened blade. “We all have our role to play, Omega. Now go pack. Transport will be here first thing in the morning.”

Clenching my jaw, I swallowed a sob. Crying wouldn’t get me anywhere.

She claimed we all had a role to play as if this were the next step in a math equation and not the end of my life.

The words wrapped around my throat like a noose. My wolf whined, curling in on herself.

I stood silently, digging my claws into my last shred of dignity, and obediently inclined my head.

The absence of pain left me hollow, but I wouldn’t let them see me break. I wouldn’t kick and scream against my fate like others before me.

I would walk out with my head held high. I would plan.

It was time to focus on surviving what came next.

***

I was jolted awake by a hard rap on the door.

“Get up, breeder,” a cold voice yelled.

I was sluggishly rising from the thin, stale mattress when the door flew open, and the Den Mother stepped in, sweeping her speculative gaze over the meager space.

“Come, child. It’s best not to keep your superiors waiting,” she said, her voice cutting through me like steel.

I scrambled to my feet, grateful I’d had the foresight to sleep in my clothing, and grabbed the single bag I’d packed. All my worldly possessions could fit into one tiny, fraying backpack.

The Den Mother placed a creased hand on my shoulder, lengthening her claws so they pinched my flesh in silent warning as I glanced at my new jailers. The officials looked more like Enforcers than Council dignitaries with their broad chests and impassive faces—well, almost impassive. The brown-haired one—an Alpha by the scent of him—looked at me as if I were vermin.

They led me out of my dorm, down the spiraling staircase, and toward the boarding house’s front foyer. As I followed, my conversation with the Den Mother the night before rang in my ears.

“Do you think you’re better than the others?” the Den Mother asked, clasping her hands behind her back as she entered my dorm room.

I turned, my packing forgotten at her sudden appearance. “No. Of course not, Den Mother,” I said, keeping my eyes down.

“Then what is this nonsense I heard about you asking Governess Ida to stay? Did you think you could avoid your fate, your purpose?”

“No, Den Mother—”

Her hand was around my throat in a flash, cutting the words off before they could pass my lips. “Ungrateful, insolent breeder. After all the Council has done, all the tireless work we put into making you understand your place—a place many other females would give up rank and title for—you dare speak those words?”

I kept my face impassive, not wanting her to see me cower.

“Recite your vows,” she demanded.

I met her frosty stare. “I serve the Council and the Goddess. It is my honor to uplift their wishes and bring the gift of life to the unit that claims me. For with me, they give new life, and I am given purpose.”

They were hollow words, recited with practiced conviction.

The Den Mother nodded sharply. “Repeat them to yourself at night. Remember them well. It is your sole purpose, your only use. Without the womb between your thighs, you would be nothing. It is only because of it that you have been cared for and kept safe, and now, with your heat emerging, it is finally time to repay everything you owe.” She took a menacing step forward. “Thank the Goddess, child. Things could have been much worse.”

“We’ll take it from here.” The Alpha’s voice pulled me from my thoughts, and his large hand wrapped around my upper arm with bruising force.

He yanked me down the steps, and the crisp night air bit at my skin in the fading darkness. I wanted to fight, but what would be the point? The outcome would be the same either way. He shoved me into the backseat of a sedan and removed his hand like it physically pained him to touch me.

Most people—including the officials—either despised Omegas for their ability to breed or coveted them for the same reason. After Lysandra, the dark High Priestess of Witches, placed a blood curse on shifters five hundred years ago, making all Alpha and Beta females infertile, Omegas gained a new status in society. We weren’t spared from the curse, though. Instead, we were remade by the Goddess as a gift after the Black War, an ancient war between shifters and the witches who sought to enslave us. It was an attempt to keep the shifter population from going extinct altogether, but Omegas were already rare, so it wasn’t long before violence tore through shifter ranks. Omegas were ripped from the arms of their mothers by those seeking to secure mates and offspring for themselves. There simply weren’t enough of us.

Omegas became Council property. We belonged to no pack—bore no last name. Everything we knew was stripped from us the day we turned six. Upon finding out the child was an Omega, some pairings would opt to give them to the Council in their infancy. I couldn’t blame them. Raising a child and knowing it would be taken from you the moment they hit the legal separation age was torture.

I couldn’t even remember my parents’ names. It was almost as if I had no life before the Omega boarding house. Captivity was all I knew.

We were breeders.

Faceless. Nameless. Worthless. A burden.

Even our claiming marked us as things, commodities to be won.

“Excited to finally feel a cock between your legs?” the Alpha asked, sneering.

I blinked, eyes wide with shock.

He chuckled darkly. “Don’t act so surprised, little Omega. There are some who might think differently, but we know what you really are.”

“And what’s that?” I asked, regretting the question as soon as it left my mouth.

“A hole.” He looked at me in the rearview mirror, a wild, dark gleam in his eyes. “To be claimed and bedded and filled until your womb rots. What an honor.”

“One you haven’t been gifted,” I shot back.

A growl tore through the car as he whipped around in his seat. The Beta placed a hand on his shoulder, and after a sidelong glance, he turned back to the front.

The tension remained, and his hate-filled eyes flitted from me to the road every few minutes, but thankfully, no more was said.

The road grew rough, and the car jerked and shook as it made its way over a gravel path. The sparse foliage thickened, and a dense forest the likes of which I’d only dreamed of rose around us. My wolf shifted in my mind, moving closer to the surface, taking in the scents of fresh pine and earthy oak. Her desire to shift and run free was palpable.

I didn’t even dare to hope.

It would be a kindness if our unit didn’t immediately impregnate us.

That thought inspired feelings I didn’t want to explore.

How many males would claim me? I frowned, pulling at my lips. Back at the boarding house, we learned units were made up of males who had already bonded in childhood. Male ranking systems differed from females slightly. There were both Alpha and Beta males and females, but Omegas were only female. The closest male equivalents were Gammas, who were exclusively born male. Their rank was the balancing force of the Omegas. We were the nurturers while they were the protectors.

Together, all three ranks could be paired in a multitude of ways. However, it was rare to have more than two Alphas in a unit. The groups could contain anywhere from three to, in rare instances, six males. I shuddered at the thought of being responsible for providing six males with an heir.

The Hunt was a rite hosted by the Council every three months where males were allowed to choose a mature Omega for their unit.

We weren’t privy to the details. All we knew was that every Omega participated, and the results would decide our fate.

It was expected. Every member of my unit would crave at least one biological child from our pairing.

The facility, the building where the official Hunt for the claiming of Omegas took place, jutted into a clearing ahead, a metal beast nestled among the trees. It drew my gaze with its cold, harsh facade. I had never seen a building so large, and the idea of stepping inside was overwhelming. A slithering fear crept up my spine, freezing my blood.

We pulled into a lot, and the engine’s hum gave way to silence as we parked. The door to my left opened, and I jerked away from the Alpha’s hand before he could grab me.

“I can walk, asshole,” I snapped.

“Watch your mouth, breeder,” he growled, “or your unit will be getting what’s left of you.”

I glared at him as I slowly stepped out of the car. He didn’t have to clarify what he meant—I understood. The other official, a Beta male, just stood there looking annoyed, as if I were interrupting his day. He jerked his chin forward, and I started walking, my body tensing when the Alpha caged me between them.

The inside of the facility was just as imposing as the outside. It was inhospitable and bare, the glinting metal rigid and reminiscent of a prison. Ignoring the mixture of curious and hostile looks from the other officials passing through the halls, I allowed the guards to direct me into a large open room with fold-out chairs organized in four rows of six. Women sat in groups, speaking softly among themselves, and officials lined the walls, acting as their jailers.

I scanned the room and saw a girl with warm bronze skin and eyes the color of blossom honey. She was beautiful, but that wasn’t what made her stand out. It was the look of quiet determination on her face, the absence of the fear I sensed in the others. I took a seat by her.

“First time?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Do we do this more than once?” I asked, confused.

“Not if you’re caught.”

Her words raised a million questions, but knowing we didn’t have much time, I settled on one. “What happens if you’re not caught?”

She looked at me from the corner of her eye as if deciding whether to trust me. After a moment’s hesitation, she said, “Five times. Survive five Hunts, and you’re free.”

“Free? They let you go?”

“A hidden clause. A rule we are supposed to be told in the boarding houses which they conveniently leave out.” She bent down, pretending to tie her shoe so she could whisper, “There are others. Omegas, free. Living in sanctioned land. If you make it, head to the woods and follow the doves etched in the rocks.”

Before she could say anything else, a loud bang came from the front of the room. She sat up, spine straight, and eyes ahead. Three men strolled in, all wearing violet robes. Council members. The air in the room thinned as one with graying hair stepped forward and clasped his hands behind his back.

My mind reeled as a wonderful, dreadful surge of hope flared inside me.

Survive the Hunt. Five times.

“Welcome, Omegas, to the Hunt,” the man said, not bothering to introduce himself. “It is an honor and a blessing for each of you to be here to fulfill your duty to society. It is our hope that by this time next year, each of you will have breathed life back into the packs you are chosen for.”

I rolled my eyes. What a joke.

“The Hunt begins at sunrise,” he continued. “Each of you will be fitted with a claiming collar. In the morning, you’ll be released into the surrounding forest. You’ll have a twenty-minute head start to run or hide. The goal is to make it across the terrain to the other side of the property. When the twenty minutes are up, we’ll release the units. They will hunt you. Do not be alarmed if small skirmishes arise—the males will not hurt you. When your collar is claimed, you are claimed,” he said with authority as if he were addressing naughty children.

“Your unit will complete the bond, and afterward, you’ll be free to leave for your new homes.” He clapped his hands twice, his eyes sparkling with twisted glee. “Now, make two lines. We’ll fit your collars and take you to your quarters for the night.”

We stood. The honey-eyed girl gave me a knowing look and turned to join the line.

Determination filled my lungs, and my wolf growled in agreement.

I wouldn’t be easy prey for the unit who sought to claim me. I refused to go down without a fight.