Chapter Five Sinclair

The beta was terrified. Still crackling with defiance though, just as she had been in the corridor when I'd found her sneaking around. It amused me in a way that also made me curious.

Which, I suppose, was very unfortunate for her.

On top of all those layers of bravado, she seemed to be desperately trying to hide some kind of information. The fact that we found her with an omega, one that must have revealed years ago and yet was still alive and unclaimed, was mysterious enough. Her attempts to conceal something beyond that fact just made me want to pry deeper.

That was why, when I found her in that corridor, sneaking around like a little spy, I'd told her that I needed to question her.

Ridiculous.

She and her brother, if the omega even was her brother, had obviously been captured by the bandits we'd been chasing. They were probably dug out of a hole somewhere in the backwoods of Lutin. That gods-forsaken country rarely let their female omegas live, and I'd never seen a male one that survived their reveal. One hint of pheromones and they were strapped to a stake and burned. The heathens murdered anything that wasn't a beta, unless it could be sold. Their alphas sometimes managed to escape, simply because alphas were big and strong by dint of their biology. The forests of Lutin were supposed to be lousy with alpha criminals, driven away from their villages and forced into crime to make a living. However, omegas were built small and weak by the same biological laws, and so they never had a chance. Legally, they should be put to death immediately. In practice, a lot of them ended up in brothels.

Barbaric culture. Not that I could claim mine was much better.

The beta tried to put up a meek front as she was dragged to our table by the innkeeper, but defiance flashed in her eyes. I found I couldn't stop watching her. She was unpredictable in a way that both irritated and intrigued, like the notes to a new song that might become a favorite once you've heard the whole thing a few times and worn out all the surprises.

I tried again to inhale her scent as she sat next to me, and again, got nothing more than the tiniest whiff of her brother. Could it be that omega's scent that was intriguing me? I tried to examine my urges and decided it probably wasn't that. Davos had been disappointed that, yet again, we hadn't magically discovered our scent-match in the middle of nowhere. The male omega smelled nice enough, but there was a sour, sharp edge to his floral scent that made me think of dying vegetation, or a poorly preserved perfume. Fear or other strong emotions would change a scent, but usually not to that extent. He wasn't the one for us.

Honestly, I didn't much like his scent at all, which was odd in itself. Omegas usually smelled good, in the same way that food smelled good. It was just biological. I pondered if he was actually sick and not just injured, and that was showing in his scent. It wouldn't be surprising, considering they must have been living rough for years to keep his secret. His sister looked like death warmed up. All big, gray eyes in a scrawny face and the kind of strained, haunted look I've rarely seen outside a dungeon.

Physically, she was not much to look at. Curly, dark hair threaded with copper. The brown, freckled skin of a peasant. Her hands were rough and her body was more bone than flesh and ungainly besides. The beta was a far cry from the omegas and betas of the Royal Court, and yet, somehow, all the more fascinating for it, like a berry that had ripened in the woods. An unexpected treasure.

Sunshine can be sweeter than sugar.

I found my hand creeping out to stroke hers as it laid on the table near me and she whipped around to stare at me, her gray eyes wide. She snatched her hand away, but not before I felt a tingle arc between us.

I frowned. Magic? Well yes, she reeked of it, but it didn't seem to be her own. Her brother's magic, if I had to guess. Perhaps to prevent pregnancy? It was an unfamiliar spell, but seemed to be a holding or concealing spell of some kind. Another oddity. Omegas hardly ever have much power, so why was her brother casting spells on her? Omegas aren't meant to have their own magic, but to be a lens that focuses the power of others.

At least, that's what my books say. It's not like knowledge about omegas is common these days. Every book I have in my possession that mentions them is forbidden, and all the more precious for it. I know hardly anything, and yet I'm probably the foremost living expert on omegas and bonds in the country right now. Knowledge that Davos insisted I acquire, even though the chances that we'll ever use it are infinitesimal. I'd be better off just concentrating on magic.

That tingle that passed between us wasn't magic, though. It felt more like… desire. But that wasn't right either. Everything about the beta screamed that she wanted to be left alone. That she wanted none of my attention.

The hunch of her shoulders. The movement of her sleek throat as she swallowed her nerves. The clench of her tiny fists.

And yet, something there sparked. Something between her and me.

That had never happened before. It made me burn to pluck her.

This little berry was going to be worth the thorns.