Chapter Twenty Davos

"To your side!"

My soldiers scattered instantly, urging their horses to the sides of the road as Lynter bellowed, realizing there was an issue a split second before I did.

The carriage horses, towards the middle of our caravan, screamed as if they had been flayed and surged forward, bucking violently. Their bridles slipped away, leaving the driver without any means of controlling them. The beta directly in front of them caught a hoof on his calf as he turned, a glancing blow but it set his horse bucking as well. I spurred my own mount forward to help, cursing under my breath.

My first instinct had been to assume that someone, probably Cantor, had simply not harnessed the horses properly. The thrashing of the animals when startled should have tightened the bridles, not loosened them.

The carriage lurched after the horses for a heart-stopping moment, and then they were free, rearing and lashing out at us all as if they were whipped regularly instead of being the most pampered set of creatures that ever worked in my service. If Cantor had been driving the carriage he might have calmed them immediately, he being the source of their spoiling, but Carlile was taking his turn at the reins while Cantor doted on the beta girl. The only thing my little shit of a brother did was fling himself to safety as the carriage rocked and finally rolled on its side with a thunderous sound.

I knew then that it had been sabotage. Not only that, but I also knew the culprit. The carriage had spontaneously fallen after the horses were loose. Something heavy had been thrown inside it, slamming force against the upper side, and knocking it over. It was obvious who had done it, probably with an easy bit of magic.

The only thing I couldn't fathom was… why?

I directed Lynter and Carlile to go after the carriage horses, who fled for all of half a training field, and then started looking around for Cantor to placate them. My soldiers were already tending their injured fellow. Luckily our war horses were better trained than our carriage horses. Perhaps that was something to look at later.

I, meanwhile, was off my own horse and striding to the upended carriage, needing answers from this bloody omega. It was bad enough that we were risking outright condemnation by the king for keeping him. He had been in such bad shape when we found him and his sister, I had had no choice but to put him up in an inn to nurse him back to health. So now that whole town knew I had an omega, which meant my father also knew and would expect me to deliver him to The Nest.

However, I had no intention of taking him, or any omega, to the palace. We'd keep him at our own fort and if the king ever asked, we'd say he died, or that we lost him. Better to be considered incompetent than to deliver yet more omegas into the hands of that madman. He already considered my pack to be traitorous scum, even if it wasn't politically expedient to label us that officially.

We'd invite some female alphas to come meet the boy. I had some names in mind already, since we'd done this before, although not as often as I'd like to.

If I could only get rid of our little rat problem… well. The time wasn't right for that yet.

I hadn't told the omega about this plan, of course, since there was no way to prevent him from blabbing to the wrong ears. Not when even I didn't know which ears to trust. Maybe I should tell him, though. If only to stop the idiot from accidentally killing himself in some misguided attempt to escape.

My whole body felt strained to the point of snapping, and a headache began to tickle around the edges of my mind. Too many problems, too many things to remember. I wasn't built for this. All this scheming and lying and doublespeak. It was Sinclair who was good at all this crap. The headache pressed in harder as all the things I had to keep balanced rattled and tipped precariously in my brain, knowing I had to add yet another chunk to the pile.

I shoved it all down.

It took a few seconds to wrench the doors of the carriage open, the twisted frame holding them in place. My crimson magic licked around my hands as I peered inside, just in case the omega decided to come out swinging.

Except, of course, he'd managed to not only destroy my carriage and terrify my horses, but also to knock himself out.

Omegas were the silliest creatures in all of creation.

I still wanted one with all the blood in my heart, and with all the fire in my soul.

I pulled his limp body out of the box he'd tried to bury himself in, grunting with the effort as Lynter rode up beside me.

"Is he OK?" I passed the boy over to my second-in-command.

Lynter ran his hand down the omega's body, checking for broken bones, then examined the bump on his head and thumbed open his eyes to check for a concussion.

"Seems OK," Lynter grunted. "He won't be out long but…"

My brother stiffened as if he'd discovered some terrible wound and I darted my eyes up and down the omega, searching for blood or broken bones.

"His scent has changed," Lynter said, his voice so low I had to bend close to hear it.

"What do you…?" But as soon as I leaned in, I discovered it myself. His natural omega scent was almost gone, with only whiffs of it remaining on his clothes.

In fact, he almost smelled like a completely different person. Like a beta.

My first thought was that he must smell like his sister, even though she hadn't been anywhere near him for candles, but I had no idea what her scent was. I'd always been so overwhelmed by the syrupy, floral scent of the omega, I'd never really registered her scent. Her brother somehow smelled amazing, in the way all omegas did, and yet bone-jarringly wrong . I'd chalked that up to him being a male omega, although now that I thought about it, the other male omega we'd helped hadn't smelled wrong in the same way.

"Is that his sister's scent, maybe?" I asked. "They were in the same tent together last night."

"I don't… I don't know. I never noticed her scent." Lynter looked troubled, as if it were strange that he hadn't noted a random beta scent.

"Is it from being unconscious?" I mused, but I knew that couldn't be it. People didn't stop smelling like themselves when they hit their heads. "Or maybe he used too much magic overturning the carriage."

"The omega overturned the carriage?" Carlile asked as he approached with the two wayward horses in tow, neither of them looking particularly guilty about all the trouble they caused.

"It must have been him," I said, but didn't elaborate.

Where the hell was Sinclair anyway?

I yelled for my mage, annoyed he wasn't already by my side.

When he didn't immediately appear as he usually did, I searched our group, who had mostly huddled together just off the road. To my surprise, Sinclair wasn't anywhere to be seen. So I looked for our next best choice of healer, Cantor, expecting that he would be tending to frightened horses, or busy with the injured beta.

However, I couldn't find Cantor either. I took stock and realized three of my packmates were missing.

Had we been attacked after all? Alarmed, I turned inward and searched our bond, but there was no fear or aggression there. Sinclair had shut me out entirely, as usual, while Bastian seemed fine, if a little excited, and Cantor was… I snapped my head around, finally realizing what I should have realized from the beginning. The why of it all.

She was gone. The beta girl had escaped.

Rolling my eyes at the still unconscious omega, I directed Lynter to deal with him as best he could, and leaped back onto my horse.

So godsdamned dramatic. I didn't even want to keep the damn girl. There was no need for all this fuss. She could leave whenever she wanted.

Following three scent trails and a path nearly beaten into the forest floor, it was the work of only a few wicks to find them. None of them had taken their own horses into the trees for some reason.

I arrived just as Sinclair drew back his hand and spanked the beta.

She shot violet magic at him, which surprised me almost as much as the fact that my packmate was spanking a random girl.

And then the scent hit me.

I understood immediately. We'd been taken for fools. So much time wasted on an artificial omega, I'd almost forgotten what a real one smelled like. There was nothing bone-jarring or wrong about this scent. It slid into place alongside my blood, caressed my bones, and sank into my very center. The scent coated my skin, all vanilla and violets, a warm kitchen where candied flowers were baked onto delicate cookies. It was delicate, sweet, and sensual. My body sang with it, and with the white-hot fury that she had been hidden from me. This was my scent match. The key to the throne.

And she had tried to hide herself from my pack.

From me .

Judging by the utterly unsurprised look on his face, Sinclair had known all along.

"What the hell is going on here," I roared and took only a moment's childish pleasure that they all froze and then snapped upright at the sound of my voice.

I rode my horse down the mild slope, weaving around several trees and straight towards the beta… No. The omega .

With barely a pause, I grabbed her arm near the shoulder and yanked her into the saddle in front of me, her body soft and fragrant and mine . I whirled my horse around to face my packmates.

Her softness lasted for all of two seconds before she began to fight my hold, tearing at the arm I had banded around her middle, her hands flying up to fling more magic at me.

Dropping the reins, I gathered both her wrists in my free hand before she could get a shot off, and squeezed them hard, until she stopped thrashing. With her hands pressed together, palms inward, she had no way of casting magic. Finally, she sat panting and somewhat compliant.

Bastian was struggling to rise from where he was seated on the forest floor, and failing miserably. His skin was almost gray with strain, and he had a big hole in his shirt, although the skin underneath seemed whole. Sinclair's face was pinched, as if he'd tried to bite into a lemon. Cantor… well, Cantor just seemed like Cantor. Pale, and radiating confusion.

However, none of them were looking at me . All of them were entirely focused on the omega who was now trying to use her body weight to slip past my hold and down the side of my horse.

I tightened my arm.

"You knew about this, Sinclair." It wasn't a question.

"I… had my suspicions." Greasy son of a bitch. I loved Sinclair, but sometimes I also loathed him. I had grown up with the man, and trusted him as much as anyone, but he hid things from me when he believed he knew best. The worst part was, he usually did know best. Still, his methods often demonstrated a darkness that made me fear for him, and for what would happen to our pack if he succumbed to it.

So I had never pressed too hard when he was keeping secrets. Unfortunately, this secret was a step too far. I couldn't just trust him with this. Not with our omega.

Not when she almost escaped us.

He should have told me the instant he suspected.

"What about you two?"

Neither seemed capable of speech but both shook their heads. They'd been fawning over her even when she'd been presenting as a beta, and I wondered if maybe they'd known subconsciously.

It didn't matter. Nothing mattered. We had found our scent match.

They always said you'd just know when you met your scent match, and I knew . My whole body was already straining with the urge to claim her. I'd met plenty of omegas, and never had a reaction like this. She was mine . Somehow, we had found her before the king got his grubby hands on her, just as I'd always hoped.

If I could have, I would have bitten her immediately, then and there, but we had to be smart about this. Our little rat problem wasn't going to make this easy.

"How has she been hiding her scent?"

I all but barked at Sinclair, needing him to comply without his usual hedging. He was a powerful mage, and most likely a genius, but I was the packlead for a reason. I tried not to use my bark unnecessarily, but I knew not a single member of my pack could resist it when I did.

"Her brother was using a spellstone to conceal her scent," Sinclair began, the words tumbling out of his mouth. He glared at me, hating that I had compelled him to talk, but I only glared right back. He bloody deserved it.

As Sinclair spoke, I shifted the arm holding my omega's wrists so it pinned her in place against me as well, and used my other hand to fish out a long, sturdy cord from my saddlebags. Seeing what I was up to, she redoubled her efforts to fight me, but she was obviously exhausted. Not that an omega stood a chance against me anyway.

She was a fierce little thing though, which warmed what little of my heart wasn't currently black with anger or sparking with triumph. She would be a powerful weapon against the king, and give us strong heirs.

She was perfect.

I tied her wrists, looping the rope until it was almost to her elbows. I couldn't seem to stop myself from winding it, until her hands were completely immobile, although I was careful not to cut off circulation.

"…so that's why he smelled of her, and why his scent seemed to come and go."

"So, not miracle omega twins then," I noted.

"No," Sinclair affirmed and I realized that the bitter disappointment in his face wasn't actually directed at me, but at her .

How strange. Was he mad that she had revealed herself?

"Can you work the stone?" I asked. "Conceal her scent?"

Sinclair darted a look at me, and I knew he understood what I wanted to do. However, he slowly shook his head.

"Unfortunately not," he said. "I have not had a chance to study the spell properly, but the stone is… crude. Only the mage who placed it can work it."

"How dare you!" The omega growled, her voice hoarse. Ah yes, she had made a loud, unnecessary fuss about her brother being in the carriage yesterday as well. Probably so that they could plot this failed escape attempt together.

"My brother's spell isn't…"

I slapped a hand over her mouth and she immediately tried to bite me. Unfortunately for her, it's difficult to bite when the hand is pressed firmly enough, something I knew from my own bitter experience.

Her scent was overwhelming now, acrid with fear, and my body didn't know if I should fight her enemies or soothe her until she was limp and purring.

Preferably both.

Mostly though, I needed to get her back to the carriage and to her brother before her scent alerted random alphas to her presence. It was bad enough that everyone thought we had a male omega. If news reached the king that we had found a female, let alone our scent match, she would immediately be targeted.

"Her brother is unconscious at the moment." There, that shut her up. "Sinclair, go back first and insist on placing him away from the road while you heal him. As far away as you can without arousing suspicion. Cantor, take Bastian and find all of your horses." I eyed Bastian, judging him almost recovered from whatever had happened to him. "Go slowly, there's no hurry."

I turned back to Sinclair. "I'll follow and find you after a few wicks, so we can activate the spellstone and attempt to fool everyone into thinking that all we've done is run down an unruly beta."

They were all looking at me now, even the omega.

"You will not tell anyone about this," I ordered, pushing as much alpha command into my voice as possible. "Not a single person. Not even Lynter or Carlile, until I tell you otherwise." I looked in each of their eyes. "If the king finds out, you know he won't just lock her away."

Bastian flinched at that. Sinclair likely already knew what the king would do with a potential scent match for his mongrel pack, so he didn't react. Maybe that was why he had kept her a secret, even from me. Still unforgivable. Cantor, of course, didn't realize exactly what I meant, but since he never spoke to anyone except Bastian anyway, he didn't worry me much.

The omega had stiffened in my arms at the mention of the king, which meant that she at least had a little bit of sense, all other evidence to the contrary.

Sinclair left reluctantly, his burning eyes fastened on my little passenger. I wondered what she had said or done to make him so sour. The memory of his spanking her came back to my mind, making me shift on my saddle. She didn't need my hard cock digging into her backside on top of everything else she'd been through today.

Although… perhaps she had enjoyed a bit of discipline? Her scent was still pulsing with fear and anger, layers of rotten, fermented flowers and burned sugar, but I thought maybe, underneath all of that, I could detect a sliver of arousal.

Realizing I still had my hand over her mouth, I lifted it but kept an arm tightly wrapped against her, pressing her into my side. If I could have done it without arousing suspicions, I would have leashed her. Collared her. Lashed her to my body until I could get her home.

Finally. We had finally found her.

I did the next best thing, and trussed her legs together, ignoring her frantic protests and promises to be good. I took my time, allowing the others to get into position, then perched her side-saddle in my lap, her body weight partly on the horse and partly cradled in my arm.

By the time we started back to the road at a slow walk, the omega had succumbed to her exhaustion and was sobbing, almost hysterical as she tried to convince me to let her go.

As if I could let my own heart walk out of my chest.

It was impossible, and not something I would ever grant her, but my chest squeezed painfully in me at the sound of her plaintive cries. A deep need to fix the hurt.

Without my intention, a deep rumble rose from my chest. At first I thought I was growling and tried to stifle it, not wanting to upset her further, but the sound smoothed and softened and I realized it was a purr.

I had never purred for anyone before, except my own mother when I was barely an infant, and once or twice for my little brothers when they had hurt themselves as children.

It had always seemed like little more than a pointless poultice, an artifice given to soothe the ego, rather than the body or mind, but to my shock it calmed the omega immediately. In fact she tried to fight the effect and lost, swearing and hissing at me in a slurred voice as her eyes slid shut and she fell limp. Her body pressed against me, rocked by the movements of my horse, a sweet weight that thrilled me to my core.

I had her now. My omega.

I would never let her go.