Chapter 28
Evan
My bare feet sank into the cool, damp earth—a sensation I had associated only with panic and pain since arriving here. But there was no urge to flee, only the morning dew cool against my skin and the mud squelching between my toes with a messy satisfaction that belonged to childhood.
The pleasant soreness in my hips and muscles reminded me of how fully Gregory had taken me, leaving a warmth inside me where there had once been only a void.
Shared meals and easy conversations had defined our time in the cabin after the village incident, most of which I spent curled up in Gregory’s bed or sitting by the fireplace, watching him move around.
He cooked, I ate, and his scent stayed with me, making the outside world feel distant.
The cabin had grown small, but stepping out into the crisp morning air cleared my head.
Running my fingers over the rough pine bark, I followed the sound of fracturing rock, which led me deeper into the trees.
Guilt for the young guard rooted in my center.
The burn of Gregory’s fire against skin was familiar, but I also knew my alpha wouldn’t wield that kind of power without cause.
Gregory’s violence was a shield, brutal and absolute, but it was one he now held up for my sake as well as his own.
“Harren,” I called out, pausing to glance back over my shoulder. The cabin was just a speck through the trees. A flutter of unease rose in my chest, but then I remembered the beast who promised to burn away any threat waiting a few hundred feet behind me. I wasn’t truly alone.
The sound of splintering rock grew louder, guiding me past thickets of ferns and over moss-slick stones.
Pushing through a screen of leaves led me into a small, sun-dappled clearing.
Harren stood with his back to me, his shoulders broad and tense.
Before him, a wall of rock shot up from the forest floor.
He drove a fist into the rock face, and a deafening rupture reverberated as the wall exploded into a shower of shards. Stone gauntlets sheathed his hands, crafted from the same living earth he had summoned.
He froze mid-strike, his fist hovering before a new barricade.
The magic vanished. The rocky casing around his knuckles crumbled, and the wall in front of him dissolved into fine powder.
He flushed deep red as he turned toward me, bitterness and sadness warring in his expression.
He wiped his dusty palms on his trousers and skirted the clearing as if I were not there.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I sighed. “Hey, wait. Don’t go.”
He paused, casting a fleeting glance over his shoulder before squaring his stance. He didn’t turn around. “What is it? Have you come to mock me?”
“No. I wanted to check in and see if you’re okay. There’s nothing to make fun of.”
“I am fine,” Harren clipped out, staring at some distant point in the trees. Walking away again, he added under his breath, loud enough for me to hear, “Nothing a little peace away from Gregory’s whore can’t fix.”
My breath hitched. “Excuse me. A what?”
He whirled, closing the distance between us until we were chest to chest, but his attempt to use his size to intimidate me was pathetic. We were the same height, and his rage was brushfire next to the inferno I had already faced. Harren was nothing compared to Gregory.
I crossed my arms and held his gaze. “You have no right to speak to me that way. It wasn’t my choice to wake up in this world, in this body. But I am not ashamed of what I am.”
“Ashamed?” he sneered, dripping contempt. “The rumors are true, then. You did not lose your memory. The precious omega of the village is a whore from another world for the Empire, and now a whore for a fugitive. Worse, you submitted to it all without a fight, like you were born for a leash.”
The insult was so bizarre it barely registered. The memory of him at the guard post was still clear, the way he had swelled with pride when Gregory praised him. Harren had revered Gregory as if my alpha were an example to live up to. Now, that respect was gone, broken as the rock walls.
The heat building in my core suddenly froze. Scent, thick and sweet with jasmine, burst from me—no longer the soft aroma from before, but a cloying, aggressive wave I couldn’t hold back.
An emerald haze blurred my peripheral vision, and a tingling, electric energy pulsed beneath my skin. Could this be my magic?
Harren took a stumbling step back, his hand flying to his chest as he let out a choked cough. The amber flecks dimmed and faded in his gaze. He gasped, his bravado gone, and dropped to one knee in the dirt.
I closed the space between us, the scent rolling off me in waves, and crouched to meet him at eye level. “You’re projecting, brat,” I said, the cold steel in my own tone surprising me. “Everyone here loved the man whose body I inhabit. He was kind. He was gentle. I’m not.”
Harren’s composure wavered as a half-formed denial caught in his throat before he finally broke, crumbling into a desperate sob. “How can you just… accept it?” he choked out, tears tracking through the dust on his cheeks as he looked at me. “Being like this? Being an omega? Powerless.”
As his control broke, a chaotic, bitter scent filled the air. It wasn’t the commanding presence of an alpha like Gregory, nor the sharp ozone crackle from Adam. It wasn’t even Lord William’s rich spice. Instead, it was floral but distressed—like flowers crushed underfoot in a funeral home.
The heat vanished, replaced by an unwelcome, familiar ache. That lonesomeness, that feeling of being overwhelmed, was something I knew in my bones. The sight of him, so utterly shattered, was a miserable echo of the desperation I’d spent a lifetime trying to escape.
“You’re an omega,” I said as realization dawned.
He gave his head a violent shake, wiping at his tears with a dirty sleeve. “No, I’m not. Being an omega is a weakness. I will never be one.”
I ached for him. But I couldn’t understand that bitterness. Perhaps I didn’t grasp what being an omega implied, or maybe it was because my old life had already taught me that control was the real illusion. Either way, I was done fighting.
Letting others carry some of the burden didn’t mean you were weak; it meant you weren’t alone. I was still learning that myself.
“No,” I countered. “It’s a weakness to deny you’re scared of being one. I’m sorry for what Gregory did to you. I mean that. But if you’re going to stay locked in denial, there’s nothing I can do to help you.”
Rising, I shook my head, smoothed my blouse, spun on my heel, and walked away.
A raw yell of frustration rang out behind me, followed by the sharp crack of rock splintering, but I refused to acknowledge it.
Only when the echoes of his self-destruction faded did I allow myself to process what had happened.
People like Harren were the most dangerous kind of cowards. They refused to accept reality, and their denial infected everyone around them, dragging others into their misery. It was a pattern I recognized. Someone similar, unable to face her new reality, had put a bullet in my chest.
The resentment began to fade as I put distance between us. A few hundred feet along the trail, a soft, questioning meow pierced the stillness of the forest. Stopping, I waited. It came again, this time from behind a large, moss-covered tree.
I moved toward the meow and discovered a cat curled around the trunk, its fur shimmering a yellowish hue, with large, intelligent green eyes that gave me a slow blink.
“Well, hello there,” I cooed, crouching down. “I didn’t know there were cats in this world.” It blinked at me, let out a soft purr, and took a tentative step forward. “You seem lost.”
My mood was lifted by the simple, unexpected discovery. When I extended my hand, it padded forward to rub against my knuckles. I’d always wanted a pet, but in my old life, there was never any time between the office and the empty penthouse.
“Come on,” I murmured, cradling it against my chest. It was heavier than I expected, but it rested against my chest as if it belonged there.
I started back toward the cabin, stroking the soft fur, and for the first time in days, I allowed a soothing emptiness to fill my mind.
The distance melted away this time, the path less confusing, as I carried the purring creature.
Easy conversation and deep laughter drifted through the forest as I neared the cabin.
Gregory, Adam, and Lord William stood in a loose circle on the path.
Sunbeams cut through the trees, illuminating the hard lines of Gregory’s bare torso.
His pair of dark trousers hung on his hips, making the defined lines of his stomach impossible to ignore.
The stubble on his jaw was thicker and darker now, and his hair fell back from his face in a messy, natural way. When he smiled, his teeth were a little crooked, but they fit him. Despite the scars on his skin, he wasn’t a monster or a fugitive.
He was just human.
The moment I stepped into view, Gregory whipped around toward me. The laughter died on his lips, and his blue eyes burned crimson. He dropped into a threatening stance, his hands curling into claws as his canines lengthened.
I stopped cold, my heart slamming against my sternum. Following his lead, Adam and William turned around, their own hands crackling with lightning as they took up defensive positions.
“My sweet mate,” Gregory said, his words strained and trembling. “What do you have in your arms?”
“What? This?” Their violent reaction made no sense. “I found a lost cat on my way back—”
“Evan.” His tone cut me off, a blade of ice and menace. “Drop it. Now.”
“Why? It’s…” I stopped, remembering the strange new world I was in. Relaxing my arms, I let the cat fall to the ground. It landed softly and peered at me, blinking those big yellow orbs before it nuzzled my boot.
The illusion shattered. Its purr stopped, and a foul, rotten smell rose from the ground. Its yellow eyes began to spin with sickening speed. With a wet, tearing sound, the small body erupted, and flesh peeled away in wet clumps to reveal a glistening, pulsating hide underneath.
In a heartbeat, the cat was gone. In its place, a towering, three-headed, serpentine monstrosity thrashed its enormous body in the dirt.
I clamped a hand over my mouth to stifle a strangled cry. I took a stumbling step back as the creature swelled, the soft sloughing of its flesh from bones a wet counterpoint to its grotesque expansion.
“Don’t move,” Gregory commanded. “And do not scream. It will aim for your tongue.”
I nodded rapidly, my body trembling, but I kept backing away. My heel caught on a stray twig, and I lost my balance. A terrified shriek ripped from my throat. The instant the sound escaped me, the monster lunged.
I was going to fucking die again.
The same cold helplessness suffocated me, the same old certainty of an end I couldn’t stop. I squeezed my eyes shut and dropped to the ground with my arms over my head, bracing for the impact.
Instead, an inferno seared the space around me.
When I finally gathered the courage to open my eyes, a roasted, reptilian head, smoking and black, rolled to stop at my feet.
I scrambled backward, falling onto my rear in the mud.
Daring another glance, the rest of the creature lay in smoldering, decapitated ruin.
Gregory reached me in an instant and scooped me up. I wrapped my arms around his neck, clinging to him as tremors wracked my body.
“It was so cute,” I sobbed into his shoulder. “Why was it so cute? It seemed so harmless, and then it was… It was that thing.”
Gregory pressed soft kisses into my hair, his body still thrumming with the aftermath of the fight.
“That’s how they hunt,” he murmured against my temple. “The Qilinx takes the shape of something you desire, something you see as safe.”
I moved closer, and his mouth claimed mine in a bruising, breathless kiss that was over as quickly as it began. He broke away, his crimson-ringed eyes searching for mine. “Don’t you ever do that again,” he said.
I hummed a weak agreement as Gregory rested his forehead against mine. “You wandered too deep. I told you to stay close.”
“I heard the sound of breaking stone and followed the noise to find Harren. I thought… between him being there and you trailing me, it was safe.”
Gregory pulled back slightly, his thumb brushing a smudge of dirt from my cheek. “What happened?”
I dropped my voice to a hush. “He’s an omega. And he hates it.”
Gregory didn’t look surprised. “I know. His mate—”
Someone crashing through the underbrush cut him off, and Harren stumbled to a halt a few feet away, breathless and pale. “I saw it,” he panted. “Qilinx.”
Adam, who approached with Lord William, placed his hand on the young guard’s shoulder. “Everything is under control, son.”
Lord William let out a sigh. “What a pity. The beast was moments away from making a snack of your omega, and you had to cook it. Ruined the venom glands. They fetch a high price.” He gave Gregory an assessing once-over.
“I shall see the loss deducted from your taxes.” William threw back his head and let out a loud laugh that lacked genuine humor.
The lord’s style was so recognizable, almost comforting. His predatory wit was a perfect match for the white-collar sharks I used to swim with. He radiated the same unnerving energy.
Adam ignored his brother, squeezed Harren’s shoulder once, and let go to mount his horse. “Harren, it is time to go.”
The young guard walked past us toward the horses but paused to study me, his lip curling as he muttered a single word, “Weak.” A hint of something—shame, perhaps—crossed his face before a sneer replaced it.
The insult did not spark any anger this time; only hollow sadness remained. Before Harren could reach his own horse, Gregory stopped him.
“Get ready. We leave for Oakgon at dawn,” Gregory stated.
Harren whirled around. “Why?”
“It is best you remain close to Gregory,” Adam explained from atop his horse. “Besides, they could use the help on the road.”
Harren scoffed and threw me a disdainful glance. “Yes, Elder.” Without waiting for a reply, he mounted his horse and galloped away, mud flying from the hooves as he headed back to the village.
“Well,” William joshed as he swung onto his mount with practiced ease. “The two of you making people angry is becoming the norm around here.”
Adam shot his brother a scolding glare. “I hope Harren’s presence does not cause trouble for the journey. Take care of yourselves.”
With a slight bow to Gregory, he and William turned their horses and took off down the path. The moment they were out of sight, Gregory set me on my feet. “We’re leaving for Oakgon. It’s a walled town, a two-day ride from here. It’s time to find some answers about the crystal and your magic.”