Page 118 of May the Wolf Die
From the little I knew about omegas, that seemed like torture for many reasons. Even having one in a servaglio, like Marlowe’s ex had intended, would have been disastrous. But a whole servaglio full of omegas? Moon, imagine them all going into heat at once…
“And you? What are you kept for?”
“Us?” he asked. “The betas? We’re just labor, whatever His Majesty needs. In the summer months we work in the fields. In the winter, he sends us to the mines.”
What an awful existence. “And you are… happy?”
He burst out a biting laugh. “What the fuck do you think?”
My cheeks heated. I didn’t want to assume—maybe in this world, being a slave was a good thing? But no, that was stupid. “Have you heard of the new omega? The one who will be his queen?”
His laughter died down and his face became solemn. “He’s found them, then? The twins?”
I gave a quick nod.
At this he got up and started rooting around in a small cupboard. He grabbed a labelless bottle, removed the cork with his teeth, and produced two mismatched glasses, pouring a shot in both.
“Here, let’s have a toast,” he said quietly, handing me a drink.It smelled like turpentine, but I wasn’t about to insult the man’s hospitality.
“A toast to what?”
He clinked his glass with mine, and poured the whole thing in his mouth, wincing and yelping at the burn.
“To the end of the world.”
I choked on the alcohol from a mix of the news and its taste. “I’m sorry, did you say the end of the world?”
He poured himself another shot, downing it quickly. “I did.”
Dawn’s light slowly hit the camp, and I needed to finish our conversation before my shadows couldn’t hide me anymore.
“Why? What’s going to happen?”
He collapsed back in his chair, holding his face in his hands and dropping the glass on the floor. It landed with a hard thud, but thankfully did not shatter. “You know the prophecy, don’t you?”
I’d memorized it before this journey, figuring it would be important, and recited it word for word. “…For their unity binds the realms in peace, or sunders them into eternal war.”
The beta looked at me expectantly. “I don’t have high hopes the king is all that interested in binding the worlds in peace.”
I didn’t really, either. “But isn’t that up to the twins?” I asked.
“With a king like Alaroth controlling them?” he scoffed. “That male is a monster. He sweet-talked the pack leaders of old, telling them these camps were just supposed to be temporary lodgings for the Day of Designation, so they could search for the twins. But then he forced us all in here permanently, taking away our rights to shift and form packs.” He pointed to a silver cuff welded on his wrist.
“Alaroth’s the one who killed all the vampyrs, too,” he added, “when one of his favorite concubines left him to join a servaglio four hundred years ago.”
My throat became dry. “They’re all dead?”
He got up again and poured me another drink. “I’ve heard rumors that a few of them escaped and are still hiding in the mountains.” He pointed towards a range I could barely make out through the cloudy glass of his window.
The sun had almost reached the horizon. I needed to leave before it got too light.
I quickly drank the second shot and handed him the glass with both of my hands, bobbing my head in thanks. “You’ve helped us tremendously. I need to get back to the alphas.”
“Wait, you still haven’t told me what you’re all doing here?”
With my hand on the doorknob, I turned around, my canines growing as I smiled.
“Well, I guess we’re going to save the wor—”
