“We’d take a trip once a month. They thought it was to ‘entertain an omega,’ but it was really so we could travel out to the countryside where I could stretch my wings,” he explained.
“Here you can do it as often as you can get away with,” I promised. “Especially now that West is talking about changing things up at the hotel.”
Before we could talk anymore, Zehra took over, forcing me to transform.Thank the gods we’d backed up enough that no one was squished by our monstrous frame.
Zehra was amused… I was not. She’d never done that before, but she was apparently losing her manners in the face of flying with another dragon.
‘Not okay, Zehra,’I growled in frustration.
‘You two talk too much,’she huffed back. We turned our head toward our mate, and my heart raced at the sight of him. Levi was glorious. His emerald green and bronze scales gleamed in the setting sun. His eyes were the same, just larger, and he had horns cresting next to his eyes, around his head, then down his back. He shifted his wings, testing them out by stretching them wide. The leathery green wings were twice the length of mine.
‘Glad you think so,’an unfamiliar voice noted. It was odd to have a voice echoing in my mind that wasn’t Zehra’s.
‘How can we hear each other?’I asked. I’d never heard of this before.
‘You’re mated. You’ve started your own brood,’the voice I assumed was Cadmus explained.
‘But my parents never spoke of hearing our brood in their heads,’I countered. It was a bit hard to swallow that they were wrong at every fucking turn. At this point, I wondered if they’d truly even cared about the truth or if they were just intent to feed us lies.
‘It would only be during flight,’Zehra added in.
‘And likely why you have dragons coming to town. Your royal bond is calling out to the dragons in our territory now that you’ve begun to create your own family,’Cadmus said.‘It’s an honor to serve you, my queen.’
‘There are no queens here,’I shot back.‘We may lead a brood one day. But here and now, it’s just us, enjoying a flight.’With that, Zehra crouched down before hefting our large body into the air. We stayed low until Levi and Cadmus were next to us, then we cut through the air, flying into the clouds for cover. The mountains became smaller as we floated higher, but the only thing I could focus on was the pure fucking joy that filled us. It was echoed by our mate’s, mixing together into an indescribable euphoria that I had never experienced before.
Levi tried to move ahead, but Zehra and I put an extra boost into our flight, pulling ahead until we were racing through the evening light. We took turns leading, but we were both competitive enough that no one could remain in charge for long.
As night fully took over and the stars started to shine above us, we slowed down, circling each other and soaking in the other’s presence.
When the moon was high above us, we finally started back toward the ground. As we dropped down on the mountains, we both froze. The sound of a distant roar echoed in the night. It wasn’t angry, but a call for others. I wasn’t sure if it meant more dragons were coming, or if it was the same few from town.
‘Do we call back to them?’I asked, glad Cadmus and Levi hadn’t transformed back yet.‘Do we want to have this confrontation?’
‘Let them come to you,’Cadmus answered. There was a wisdom to his words; he was an old soul like Zehra.‘You are their queen, and even without you being privy to it, they can feel the call of their brood. Your concern is proof enough that you’re meant to lead.’
‘I won’t be leading alone. I’m an omega,’I argued again.
‘No, you won’t be alone, not that that makes a difference,’he agreed with amusement.But it seems that society has forgotten who the omegas really are. You are the leaders, the strength in the brood. The betas are the peacekeepers, and the alphas the protectors.’
His words made sense, and it was refreshing to hear that I wasn’t unworthy because of my designation. Omegas weren’t as emotional as most thought, and we weren’t the only ones that were often led by our instincts. Alphas were unpredictable in their intensity at times, and betas sometimes had a hard time putting themselves first because they were so wrapped up in the good of the group. We all had our faults, which was why groups were the default arrangement for families, not monogamous couples. With our group being made of two alphas, a beta, and two omegas, I knew that any brood I led would have strong leadership. We would each bring the best of our instincts, and that would help us provide well-rounded and thoughtful guidance to anyone who looked to us.
Without words, we transformed back into our human forms. The happiness I felt had lessened with the call of the distant dragons, but the moment we looked at each other, we grinned like fools. It was hard not to after the adrenaline of flying and getting to stretch our magic.
“We’ve been gone for hours. Niko is going to kill us,” Levi joked as he took my hand.
“Do you think he’ll punish us?” The thought already had me simmering. I would happily take any punishment the alpha was willing to dole out.
“You’re playing with fire,” he laughed. “Niko loves to edge, to work you up just to make you wait.”
“And I bet it’s amazing when he does let you come,” I said. My omega side was ready to run back to her alpha and demand he show us how amazing it would be.
Levi shook his head at me. “You’re more of a brat than I am, aren’t you?”
“Absolutely!” I grinned, pulling him along. Before we could push open the door, Niko was opening it. He’d gotten a fire going and snacks ready. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, I realized I was starving. Transforming and flying took so much energy out of me, and from the way Levi headed right for the bowl of chips, he felt the same.
“Nice flight?” Niko asked. There was a hint of jealousy there, like he was sad that he couldn’t join us for these moments, but it was equally important to me that he was here. Coming back to someone was nice; it made this cabin feel like a real home.
“It was,” I said, leaning up to brush a kiss over his lips. “Thank you for this.”