46. Zoe
Zoe
Cliff and I stayed in bed all day Saturday, save for the two times he ran to the dining hall to get us some food.
He fucked me in every way possible. There were moments of passion, of affection, and those born of a brutal need to get off. It was amazing.
By the time Sunday rolls around, I'm sore between my thighs, but my cramping has stopped, and my temperature has returned to normal.
"I thought I needed a knot to break my heat?" I ask my Beta as I accept the cup of coffee he's holding out for me.
"You do. It must've just been a heat spike, and bonded Betas can provide regulation to Omegas during one."
He sits beside me on the bed, and I scooch closer to him. "How'd you know that?"
"I have access to one of the biggest libraries in the realm. I did some research."
Affection for him pulses in my veins. Cliff is amazing, and if my dragon hadn't insisted I bond him when I did, I would have come to the same conclusion on my own.
After breakfast, we both shower, then I change my sheets. We curl up together, and Cliff plays with my still-wet hair.
"What are we going to do about Warren?" There isn't a part of me that wants to try to salvage things between us anymore.
I know our friendship is over, and part of me wants to write my mother to let her know, but that's a conversation we need to have in person.
I'll need to go see her as soon as possible, because I have a lot of questions to ask her, starting with how she knew I needed the necklace.
"He's going to tell someone. I'm an Omega. "
"Yeah, he probably is. Hopefully, no one believes him. There has never been a case of someone able to hide their designation, even for a small amount of time, before."
"Would we know if there was? Isn't that kind of the point of hiding?"
He chuckles and kisses my temple. "I suppose you're right."
"We need to tell him the truth, right? That it's life or death? He doesn't want me dead."
"I don't know, Zoe. It could be even more ammunition for him to force something between you. He would hold it over your head and try to blackmail you." Cliff isn't one to think the worst of someone, so I know he believes what he's saying.
The worst part is, I do too.
"So what do we do?
"I wish I knew. Has Ilota talked to you since the sermon?"
"No. She comes and goes. The more people who worship her, the stronger she is. I think I'm starting to figure things out, but I wish she could just tell me what I'm supposed to do. I want to help, but I don't know where to start."
Cliff hums and weaves our fingers together. "Why do you think she hasn't told you?"
"What if even she doesn't know? Or she needs me to figure it out on my own for some Godly reason?"
"Maybe. She told you things are broken. We know her Omegas were slaughtered.
We also know the Archon took all of the Omegas from here and wants to distribute them to Alphas as he sees fit.
Maybe she doesn't think you need information other than that anymore.
" He pulls our joined hands to his mouth and kisses the back of mine.
"Or maybe the Gods are elusive and sometimes need us to save ourselves. "
It seems unfair that a God would tap me for help but not provide any of her own. But what if she can't? It's not like we gab all day long. Maybe I'm getting the only amount of information she can manage to send my way.
What if I've been asking the wrong questions all along?
I close my eyes and decide to try a different tactic. "You never answered me the other night. The other Gods are purposefully withholding their Blessings from Omegas, right? Does this have anything to do with the Archon gathering up all the Omegas and taking them to Raeldell? Is he what's broken?"
"Yes to all. The fish rots from the head down."
Now we're getting somewhere.
All of the pieces to the puzzle are starting to come together, and it's taking the shape of the Archon.
Cameron finds me that evening in the back of the library, where I've got my nose buried in Of Gods and Government, a book explaining how the Archon and the Arcanist work together to rule the realm.
"Hello, lovely Zoe."
I startle, having not heard him sneak up on me, and gaze at him from my position on the floor. "Good evening, Hierphant. I'm supposed to bow, right?"
He scoffs at my teasing tone and flops onto the ground beside me before taking my mouth in a scorching kiss.
It feels like Cameron and I haven't had the chance to get to know one another much as Alpha and Omega, and I need to change that soon. I do still owe him dinner.
"What are you reading?" He snatches the book from my hands and chuckles. "Good choice. Everyone should know how our government works." I fill him in on what Ilota said, and he nods. "She's right. There is corruption in every layer of our government."
"Before I can figure out how I'm supposed to fix the way Omegas are treated, I have to know why. Why are they taking Omegas like this? Why did they kill off Ilota's?"
"Do you remember what I said to you the first time we met?"
I think back to that strange meeting. I thought he was a beautiful, if strange, man.
I still feel that way. He is not like Cliff or Ray.
There is a level of danger hiding under his surface, like there is with Dominic, and while Dominic is full of rage that feels righteous, at least in his eyes, Cameron is more chaotic.
I imagine he is not someone that people would enjoy meeting in a dark alley.
"You said power corrupts."
A small smile quirks the corner of his mouth up at the side.
"And it inspires envy. A single taste of power, even if it’s someone else’s, makes some ruin another just to ensure they're the only powerful one left.
" He tugs at the collar of his sweater, flashing the shock collar.
It makes me sick every time I think about it.
"And if you can't destroy a source of power, what do you do? "
"You control it." I slam the book closed and climb onto my knees in excitement. "Ilota's Omegas were powerful enough to overthrow the government, so they took them out one by one."
"And yet, Alphas need Omegas."
"Exactly! Alphas need Omegas, so they couldn't destroy all of them." His eyes gleam with pride, and he nods, encouraging me on. "So, they use the 'safe' Omegas to keep the Alphas in line."
"You would hardly believe how far an Alpha will go to have an Omega."
This is it. This is what Ilota needed me to find out. I had all of the information I needed, but I hadn't put it all together until now. And with her statement about fish rotting from the head down, I know this isn't just the Archon's fault.
"It's our entire government, isn't it?" My voice is barely above a whisper, even though it's late enough that I know no one else is in the library. "It's not just him." I sink backward, the weight of the realization overwhelming. "It's everyone, isn't it?"
"Maybe not everyone, but most, I believe."
I wonder how much of this Cameron knew. Have all of the Gods been speaking to him, guiding him?
The pressure of all of this makes my head spin.
Why me?
Why am I the one Ilota chose? Why couldn't it be someone else? The Gods could have spoken to one of their Alphas, right? An Alpha is better suited for this than an Omega.
I want to rage, to yell at Ilota, but then it hits me.
I am of Fire.
Cameron of the sea.
Dominic of the earth.
Ray of the air.
And Cliff is my steady, constant Beta.
The four of us represent every part of our society, every God, every designation. And then I remember our shifted forms. A sabertooth, a dragon, and Argentavis.
"What's your beast?"
It's cruel and unusual punishment to keep his beast from him when he did nothing wrong, and I can feel his sadness. "A deinosuchus."
"What is that?" Unlike the sabertooth, I have never heard this name before.
"A crocodilian from the Cretaceous period."
"A dinosaur? You're a dinosaur?"
He shushes me. "A prehistoric crocodile."
"How fucking big are you?"
"Well, I didn't have time to get measured or weighed, now did I?" I glare at him. There is no way this Alpha did not research his beast to hell and back. "I believe around five tons, and three stories long."
"Three stories!" I'm growing louder by the second, and he slaps his hand over my mouth.
"Yes, three stories. Long, not tall. Now you see why my ceremony was such a disaster?" I try to say something against his palm, but he can't hear me. He pulls it away slowly, with a pointed look that tells me to watch my volume.
"It's starting to make sense."
"What is?"
I briefly explain to Cameron that I had a heat spike, Ray showed up and threw Warren out, and that I found out Ray is my scent match.
By the time I'm done, he's fuming. "How come no one came and got me?"
"I was fine, Cameron. That's not the point I was getting to. Ray is my scent match."
"I assumed."
"Do you know his shifted form?"
"A condor, right?"
I waggle my hand. "Kind of. He's also prehistoric. An Argentavis."
Cameron's eyebrows raise. "And Dominic is a sabertooth. Also prehistoric."
"I've been tearing myself up since the ceremony, wondering why me. Why am I the one who has to try to fix things? Why wouldn't one of the other Gods choose an Alpha to fight this battle?"
Realization hits him now. "They did. They did choose an Alpha."
"And they needed a strong Omega to bring them all together."
"Oh, the Gods are clever, aren't they?" He grabs me by the chin and kisses me.
I am still upset with Ray for withholding the fact that we were scent matches, and I'm not over it, but now I know he needs to be by my side, so I'm going to have to forgive him eventually. I don't need to fall in love with him, but we'll need to be civil. I need him to fight with me.
My biggest concern is Dominic. Will he fight against his father? Or is he aligned with those ideals?