CHAPTER ONE
DROCCO
“How do you intend to find her now?” Torin asked, as they marched out of the dungeon where the hacked and mutilated bodies of the Lox Talent-crafters lay strewn on the blood-pooled floor. “I know you don’t want to have anything to do with the Talent now, Drocco, but they were our best chance of understanding how she could be hiding or traveling.”
Drocco gripped the handle of his dripping axe tighter, glaring unseeingly down the corridor and ignoring the pain still aching in his shoulder. It had been the only thing that had stopped him from personally executing the Talent-crafters earlier. His shoulder had needed to be treated, patched up, and given time to heal. Over those days, the Talent-crafters had deduced that Malloron’s spell destroyed all of the Talent-disabling charms in the Palace. But that information did not save them. “They were not our best chance for anything,” Drocco said, his voice hard. “They were not as skilled as Malloron, and I have no use for Talent-crafters who are lesser skilled than my enemies.”
“You gave them three hours to examine that spell, Drocco,” Torin said, evenly. “They asked for at least a week.”
“That is of no consequence!” Drocco bellowed, his anger spiking. “They were simply not skilled enough. We need crafters who can protect us from him.”
“Agreed,” Torin said, his voice low. “But now we have no protection at all.”
Drocco halted abruptly and turned to him. “That spell could have killed my Omega, Torin. It could have killed me. It could have done unimaginable things to everyone in this Palace. It could have disabled the entire Lox army and left the Empire defenseless.”
“Then you should have waited for their assessment,” Torin replied, his gray eyes boring into Drocco’s. “I know you don’t want to hear it, Drocco, but your eagerness for answers is what caused this.”
Drocco stepped closer to him, a dangerous glint in his eyes. “The Talent-crafters admitted that they wouldn’t have been able to deduce the effects of the spell before it was cast. They couldn’t even recreate it in the five days it took to treat my shoulder. No matter when I used it, it would have had the same result, except my Omega may have been pregnant or bonded to me instead, which would have been worse!” The thought drove his anger to a hot peak. “They failed in their duty to the Lox Empire and they suffered the consequences. Do you disagree?”
Torin was quiet. “No.”
Drocco turned and continued to march down the corridor, determined to do whatever necessary to find Cailyn.
He knew his fury could be felt across the entire Empire. Households were searched, carriages were stopped, buildings and factories were destroyed, citizens were questioned fiercely and some imprisoned. The Lox descended upon every territory within the Eastern Lands intent on watching everyone and everything, and citizens did not respond well to it, particularly those still loyal to the late King of Ashens. Protests began, and although they were stamped out almost immediately, deaths occurred.
Drocco didn't give a fuck. He wanted Cailyn back. If every single person in the Eastern Lands had to die for that to happen, so be it.
Someone had to have seen Cailyn in Ashens the day she escaped, and he wanted the Empire to feel the pressure until she was found. Of course, no one beyond Torin and his generals knew they were actually searching for his Omega. They only knew that the Lox had an interest in finding a certain female with deep brown eyes and copper-colored hair, who was of great importance to the Empire. Every young woman fitting her description had to be brought in, and Drocco looked upon each one of them himself before allowing any to return to their families. As he sifted through them, Drocco’s agitation grew hotter. The longer they took to find her, the further away she could get, especially now that she could use the Talent again.
***
Two weeks trickled by and Drocco hardly slept. He spent every waking moment seething that his Omega had dared to attack him, while also battling a desperation to find her that he couldn’t control.
She was supposed to be carrying his child and heir by now, not fleeing from him in his own Empire. After she had escaped, he sent troops to surround the forest she had disappeared into, but she never appeared. The search of the forest had not resulted in finding her body, which relieved him somewhat, but he couldn’t bear the thought that she was roaming the Eastern Lands.
It stung to know that she hadn’t softened to him like he’d thought she had. She took the first opportunity to attack and escape. He had allowed himself to believe that their time in his bedroom had been real for her, but instead, he lost himself in her. He said he wouldn’t become a fool for Omega pussy, but that was exactly what happened. He had been tricked by how she made him feel and it incensed him that he allowed himself to be deceived by her yet again. If she wasn’t going to ever accept him, he should break her like the traitor she was, and keep her imprisoned where she would never see daylight again. And yet the thought caused an uncomfortable twinge in his stomach.
Memories of her tortured him, revolving in his mind constantly; her full lips when she scowled, her expression when she orgasmed, how she bit her lip when she was undecided, and the way she pulled him deeper into her when her legs wrapped around him. He couldn’t go back into his bedroom without smelling her fading scent or seeing her nest, where she had purred for him and clung to him like he was the only thing she cared about. How could he turn his back on the possibility of returning to that state with her? And what did that mean for his future? He couldn’t see himself settling with an inferior woman to raise his family. He just couldn’t.
He and Torin talked over varying theories of why Malloron chose to craft his spell so that it knocked out the defenses Drocco had against the Talent. Drocco, of course, considered it to be intentional, but Torin pointed out that there was no way that Malloron would know that Cailyn was a Talent-crafter. Even the Lox crafters had no idea that she was the one that created the barrier that kept her from him during her Haze. Malloron couldn’t have known that she would use the Talent; therefore, there was a possibility that he hadn’t intended it or it had done something else that they weren’t aware of.
Drocco, however, remained bitter. How could Malloron weave a spell that went so wrong? How could his spell just accidentally leave them vulnerable? He wasn’t convinced and Torin had to admit it was suspicious. Either way, they had no way of contacting Malloron now that their Talent-crafters were dead. They arrested and imprisoned all of the Western Land traders that were in the Empire. Most of them worked at the port borders and so their ships were held too. Perhaps once Malloron’s precious trading stopped being profitable, he would contact them.
Torin strengthened the security around the Palace and increased Drocco’s guard, but Drocco didn’t care about any of that. With the mood he was in, he would gladly cut down anyone who dared to even look at him too closely.
As three weeks drew to a close, Drocco spent a lot of time at the Records Keep looking through the Omega research on the top floor. The details that the keeper had put together for him was thorough and wide-ranging, from Omega accomplishments across the Lands to typical pregnancy behaviors. It was fascinating and he found himself reading more deeply.
At the start of the fifth week, Torin arrived at the keep unannounced.
“I’m sorry to disturb you, Drocco,” he said, eyeing the many files and parchment sheets laying around the table, chairs, and floor. “But I have some witnesses for you that cannot wait.”
Drocco rose from his chair. “Bring them in.”
Torin nodded at the door, and three men of different ages stumbled into the room, their ankles restricted by shackles and their wrists bound together. They wore simple, faded clothes and their skins looked weathered. An odd smell wafted from them and they trembled as they saw Drocco.
“You are sea traders?” Drocco guessed.
They nodded, their eyes wide.
“Tell him what you told me,” Torin ordered.
The youngest of the three swallowed and took a breath. “We work on the sea border, your Imperial Majesty, and there’s always… people bein’ traded on them big ships that go to the Western Lands.”
Drocco’s eyes narrowed. “Yes, and?”
“I’m sure I saw…” He glanced at the other men, who nodded at him. “We saw a woman of the description you’re looking for being carried onto one of them ships.”
A fierceness gripped Drocco. “How long ago?”
“Going on five weeks, now,” said another, older man with a chunky square beard. “She was wearing the exact dress your Lox warriors have been askin’ about—black with the red collar, and red stitching on the sleeves. Her hair was wild an’ curly too.”
“The only reason why we noticed her,” added the third and graying man, “was because she seemed unconscious. Since you came into power, your Imperial Majesty, they stopped druggin’ people. Most of the slaves are chained and led onto them ships, but she was being carried. We noticed it and commented that maybe things were goin’ back to how they used to be, and then continued on with our work.”
Drocco exhaled a breath, a raw anger clawing through his mind, through his every muscle. If she had to be drugged and carried onto the ship, she had not gone willingly. “What ship was it?”
“We think it was one of the big slaver ships from Eiros,” chunky beard replied. “It was blue—” He turned to the other men who nodded in confirmation. “—and the big blue ships are usually from there.”
Torin began speaking and the shackles clanged, but Drocco couldn’t pay attention to what was going on, only one thought dominated his mind; Malloron had taken Cailyn. He had dared to use the Talent to steal Drocco’s Omega. Maybe he did know she used the Talent—maybe he didn’t. Either way, if he could organize her capture so quickly after her escape, he had planned it. It explained everything; why he had been so amenable, why he had taken the deal, why he hadn’t yet contacted them about his traders being imprisoned. He had an Omega… Drocco’s Omega. That bastard thought he could challenge Drocco in this way and nothing would come of it? Drocco had no idea the man could be so fucking stupid.
“Do you want to kill all of his people that we hold?” Torin asked, quietly.
Drocco blinked, reemerging from his dark thoughts. “No,” he said. Turning on his heels, he left the Records Keep and headed back to the Palace.
***
“Lox!” Drocco’s address boomed out across the Great Hall. His army of Alpha quietened and looked up at him expectantly. After spending so long searching for this particular female, they were clearly eager to know what was going on. “Our enemy across the White Ocean, King Malloron, has done the unthinkable,” Drocco spat, his anger bubbling in him. “He has dared to use the Talent to steal my Omega, your future Empress.”
A vicious blast of exclamations burst into the hall.
“She presented herself to me, in her Haze, in front of Lox warriors and rulers of territories in the Empire—she is obviously mine,” Drocco bellowed over the din. “She is our best method of finding the rest of the Omegas, but she is also the mother of future heirs to the Empire you secured. And Malloron had her drugged and forced onto a ship heading for Eiros.”
The warriors before him snarled and bellowed and gnashed in disbelief, becoming louder as their anger built, shifting on their feet with outrage. The discord made the entire hall buzz with a harshness that matched Drocco’s mood.
“I do not know what King Malloron seeks to do with her,” he shouted, a dark tone in his voice, “but I am declaring war on Eiros.”
The hall erupted. Roars and yells came at Drocco from all angles. He held his palm up until the noise quietened somewhat.
“Obviously the Empire is still under reconstruction, and it would be unwise for it to be left unattended, so some of you will be remaining here to guard what I leave behind.” He lowered his voice. “And I expect my Empire to still stand when I return.”
The noise rose again, chuckles amongst the calls requesting to go with him.
“We crushed many kings on our way to our victory, and now we will crush another,” Drocco shouted, clenching a fist and rising it into the air. “We are Lox! And we will remain eternally dominant and just.”
His warriors’ roars blasted at him with the same ferocity of raw anger that burned within him. Drocco snarled back at them, a dark anticipation settling within him. He was going to enjoy destroying that bastard Malloron and he was going to enjoy teaching his Omega the consequence of running from him, as soon as she was back in his bed, where she belonged.