Chapter 2 The Unclaimed Omega
The Unclaimed Omega
Damon
There were few things I hated more than House Zeus Alphas. To me, and to House Hades, none of those arrogant assholes would ever be trustworthy. And Alexander Stormwright was perhaps the worst one of all.
I hadn’t come to the conference looking for a fight, but as a favor to a friend. Cassandra Reed had reached out to me just this morning, claiming Dr. Ellis’s formula was something she was interested in.
“A House Hestia Omega can’t go to a conference just like that,” she’d said. “But you can sneak in easily, Damon.”
Apparently, Stormwright shared her interest, and he wasn’t shy in displaying it. He was using his aura to get Dr. Ellis to cooperate. That House Zeus trick never failed to infuriate me. His false charisma was too efficient in hiding the snake that lived underneath his skin.
Dr. Ellis stood against the conference center wall, her eyes wide with confusion. Despite the obvious tension in her shoulders, she was leaning slightly toward Alexander. I took a step closer, and the sharp scent of failing suppressants assaulted my nostrils.
Happenstance? Bad luck? It was possible. Either way, it made her far too vulnerable to Stormwright for my liking.
I moved into the narrow hallway. Darkness pooled at my boots. “I’m Damon Blackwood. House Hades. I’ve heard a lot about you, Dr. Ellis.”
Dr. Ellis went rigid at my introduction, color draining from her face. Unsurprising, if not ideal. House Hades was almost as unpopular with regular humans as it was with the Olympian Houses.
Alexander’s smile widened, but his focus never left her. “I’m sure you have, Mr. Blackwood. Dr. Ellis and I were just discussing the exciting possibilities for her groundbreaking research.”
“Exciting possibilities?” I scoffed, narrowing my eyes at him. “Is that what you call cornering an unclaimed Omega in an empty corridor?”
“House Zeus has funded medical breakthroughs for decades,” Alexander replied, and I hated that even to my ears, he sounded perfectly reasonable. “We understand the unique pressures young researchers face in a competitive environment.”
Dr. Ellis nodded, drawn to his apparent sincerity. “Mr. Stormwright has been very generous with his time,” she said, though some uncertainty still lingered in her expression. She must have sensed something wrong earlier, before Stormwright’s insidious aura had taken hold.
“I see.” I studied Alexander’s face, noting the subtle smugness behind his concern. “And what exactly does House Zeus want in return for this generosity?”
“A simple partnership.” Alexander spread his hands as if the answer was obvious. “Dr. Ellis’s research represents a real breakthrough in Omega healthcare. We simply want to ensure it reaches the widest possible audience.”
“Through exclusive licensing agreements, no doubt,” I snapped at him, trying but failing to contain my temper. “With your people maintaining complete control.”
“Business considerations are always secondary to the greater good,” Alexander argued. “Dr. Ellis would maintain full creative control over her research.”
The lies came so smoothly I almost admired his skill.
“Is that a fact?” I focused on Dr. Ellis now. “Has he mentioned that House Zeus owns the patents on seventeen different Omega medications? All bought within the past year? All under complete contracts of exclusivity?”
Not for the first time, I mentally thanked Elara for her comprehensive intelligence gathering. When my cousin had first flagged House Zeus’s recent acquisitions, I hadn’t thought much of it. But I had learned to trust her gut, and it was finally paying off.
Dr. Ellis bristled. Not even Alexander’s aura could suppress the natural response to having her life’s work threatened. “Is that true?” she asked sharply. “Are you threatening researchers into working for you?”
“Of course not, Dr. Ellis,” Alexander answered, his mask still frustratingly impeccable. “Mr. Blackwood is known for his dramatic interpretations of standard business practices. We’ve always followed the highest ethical standards and operated with complete transparency.”
“Transparency?” I repeated. “You haven’t even told her what you really want.”
“I want to help her research reach the Omegas who need it most,” he insisted. Not even the strongest aura in the world could make that lie convincing.
“You want to control the only suppressant formula that actually works,” I countered. I didn’t know his endgame, but his immediate goal was clear. “The only way your House can win an Omega is through lies and manipulation.”
Shadows began to writhe around my feet in response to my rising anger. Alexander raised a hand, shaking his head as if he was disappointed. “How predictable. House Hades always resorts to intimidation when rational arguments fail.”
Brilliant white energy blazed from his palm, flooding the hallway. The darkness bound to me recoiled, shying away from the glare.
“Light conquers all, Blackwood,” he taunted. “It always has. In a battle between Zeus and Hades, only the King of the Gods can win.”
Electricity crackled between his fingers as he pressed his advantage. His arrogance irritated me far more than the light itself. “And you’re Zeus now? That’s reaching, even for you, Stormwright.”
The harsh illumination made Dr. Ellis blink and shield her eyes. “Stop.” She stepped forward, positioning herself between us. “Both of you, just stop this. I don’t know what’s happening here, but I want no part of it.”
Up close, her scent was more than just an Omega in distress.
A faint, earthy resonance hummed beneath the surface, a frequency my own nature recognized as its opposite.
Of course. Stormwright knew exactly what he was trying to claim.
He was using his aura to muddle her senses before she understood her own value. A classic House Zeus tactic.
“Dr. Ellis, you’re witnessing House Hades’s typical approach to negotiation,” Alexander explained. In the lightning-bright corridor, he looked infuriatingly perfect. “This is exactly why researchers need protection.”
But Dr. Ellis hadn’t gotten here because she was stupid. And no matter what Alexander claimed, even his power had its limits. “I don’t believe you. You’ve been doing something to me, haven’t you? Making yourself seem more trustworthy than you are.”
“I have no idea what you mean,” Alexander said smoothly, but a bead of sweat traced a path down his temple. Wielding his aura and his elemental power at once was taking its toll.
I wasn’t beneath taking advantage of that, or of his stupidity. “Enough lies, and enough nonsense. Time for a lesson in reality, Alexander. Wherever there is light, there will always be shadow.”
He’d been so busy trying to fool her and keeping me at bay that he’d missed the obvious. His own powers had created more shadows than he could ever hope to fight. Tendrils of darkness lunged from every corner of the hallway, striking from angles his frontal assault couldn’t reach.
Alexander spun quickly, trying to redirect his power.
But his arrogance had cost him. And the reality was this.
House Apollo light might have posed a real challenge.
Their abilities disrupted the very nature of my darkness manipulation.
But Alexander’s raw electrical discharge, for all its intensity, lacked Apollo's unique purity.
“Even the gifts of the gods can’t change physics, Stormwright. Maybe you should have spent less time hunting Omegas, and more time in school.”
Alexander broke free of my attack, electricity blazing in all directions. But each new blast of light only gave me more material to work with. We circled each other in the narrow hallway, our gifts meeting in silent, violent explosions.
“Clever,” Alexander admitted, his jaw tight with tension. “But your tricks aren’t nearly as strong as you think they are.”
He created a barrier of crackling energy, electricity forming a protective wall between us. Lightning danced along its surface, bright enough to eliminate most shadows in the immediate area.
I feinted left, then struck from above, dark tendrils dropping from ceiling corners his barrier couldn’t protect. Alexander rolled sideways, his shield collapsing as he focused on evasion.
“Dr. Ellis, stay back,” he called as our battle intensified. The void living inside me snarled in anger. How dare he act like he was concerned, when he’d been trying to manipulate her the whole time?
In an ideal world, I could have gotten closer and ripped that lying tongue out of his mouth. But as longtime experience had taught me, there was nothing about my life, or my world, that was ideal.
The sound of heavy footsteps echoed from the main corridor. Three security guards rounded the corner, their radios crackling with urgent communications.
“What’s going on here?” The lead guard asked, already scanning the scorch marks Alexander’s power had left on walls.
Alexander and I stepped back simultaneously, our abilities fading as we faced civilian witnesses. Olympian authority was stronger in all conflicts, but if at all possible, it was better to not make a mess.
“Just a professional disagreement,” Alexander said smoothly, his politician mask sliding back into place. “Nothing that can’t be resolved through proper channels.”
The third guard moved differently than her companions.
Her eyes flashed from me to Alexander, then to the damage we’d already done.
Her fingers twitched, as if already responding to the hostility we emanated.
As if she wanted to reach for a bow. She kept her silver hair tied in a tight knot, but I didn’t need to see it to identify what she was. House Artemis.
In the end, she settled on resting her hand on her gun. Not her favored weapon, no doubt, but something that intimidated a regular Alpha. “Doesn’t look like a professional disagreement,” she commented. “Looks like two Alphas fighting over an Omega who doesn’t want either of them.”
Dr. Ellis pressed harder against the wall, her scent carrying increasing distress. Our brief battle had accelerated something in her biology that suppressants couldn’t control.
“Dr. Ellis is visibly uncomfortable,” the guard continued bluntly. “Perhaps both of you should give her some space.”
Alexander nodded and took a step back, once more the consummate politician. “Of course. Dr. Ellis, I apologize our discussion led to this unpleasantness. House Zeus simply wants to ensure your research receives appropriate recognition. Perhaps we can shelve it for a later date.”
I didn’t believe for a second that he’d let it go. If he’d been interested enough in Dr. Ellis to corner her here, he’d keep pushing. Dr. Ellis might have refused him now, but she wouldn’t be able to. Not for much longer.
But I could smell the change in her scent. Her heat was beginning, and soon every Alpha in the building would catch wind of it.
An unclaimed Omega entering heat, surrounded by territorial Alphas and inadequate security. Alexander’s resources, his political connections, his willingness to scheme and manipulate.
It wasn’t difficult to make a decision.
Alexander made his mistake when he turned toward the guards. “Officers, I can assure you that House Zeus takes these matters very seriously. We’ll file appropriate reports with the proper authorities to ensure—”
His attention was elsewhere. Foolish, but perhaps he didn’t think I’d be willing to make a drastic choice with the Artemis Alpha right there. He couldn’t have been more wrong.
Shadows erupted from every corner of the hallway, vicious and feral now that lightning wasn’t trying to fend them off. Alexander let out a vicious curse. “Blackwood, you bastard!”
Normally, I might have reveled in the realization that I’d cracked his prized mask. But now wasn’t the time for that. Hidden by the chaos, I covered Dr. Ellis’s eyes with my hand and wrapped her in waves of darkness.
Holding her, I felt it more clearly. A flicker of raw energy pulsing from her, a desperate seed of life in the absolute nothingness. So Cassandra had been right to send me here. This was about far more than a formula.
My power reached into spaces between dimensions, finding pathways in the void beyond existence. Even with her eyes shielded, Dr. Ellis couldn’t cope with the shift. The moment the dimensional transition began, she went limp in my arms.
It was just as well. After all that, she’d probably need time to adjust to her situation. And I’d need to make arrangements to ensure she was as safe and comfortable as she could be.
We emerged in the Omega Suite deep beneath my estate.
Designed to calm, rather than threaten, it had been built after the preferences Persephone herself had left behind.
Or at least, so I hoped. It was probably nowhere near as welcoming as Hades’s queen would have preferred, but that, only a real Omega could do.
I laid Dr. Ellis carefully on the bed, noting her steady breathing. Alexander could mobilize political resources, call in favors, involve human authorities. But House Hades had perfected the art of making valuable things disappear.
She was mine now. Soon, her heat would break through the failing suppressants. And she would understand then what Alexander had tried to steal from her, the choice of which Alpha would provide for her first.
House Zeus might win through lies and manipulation, but House Hades understood the simple truth of possession.