The Archer: Lost Omegas Book 1

Spirit

DEIMOS

The days and weeks merged together in a swirl of emotion and activity. Each day Cyrene was called to hold council, settle disputes, and reassure her people on the Lobo's continued presence in the Southlands. Meetings with the Skulk Commander and Leads filled the remaining hours. So many needed her time, her patience, her strength each day. Strain set heavy in her voice. His omega was tired. Stressed. Conflicted.

Many Lobo alphas had met with success, very quickly. Hundreds of fated omegas had been found over the past couple of weeks. And with Deimos' guidance, most had willingly agreed to the mating after the warrior offered resources of food and coin to the omega's family and promised to see to the omega's safety and happiness in the mating. Many of the Lobo alphas started calling the arrangement the omega price. The price owed by the alpha to claim the omega. Deimos approved. The more the alpha cared for the omega's family, the more solid the bonds between their people. Simple food and coin was a paltry price for a fated mate. Many had lost all hope over the decades, and now would be returning to the northern mountains bonded to their fated mate. There was no greater joy for a warrior.

Yet Cyrene was conflicted. She worried about the omegas endlessly. Constantly fretting over how they would be treated by the alphas once they left Raposo territory. It was difficult to reassure her, as women in the north were not given the same liberties as those in the south. On this their people were greatly divided. He would not offer false promises, but he also believed that many things would change in the north with so many Raposo women arriving. Like Cyrene, they would not find happiness under the crushing weight of complete dominance. There would need to be balance. Control must be shared, respect mutual. It was a hard lesson that he had learned, and his mate suffered until he had.

Even now as he traced her features, Deimos felt his mate's turbulent emotions in the Bond, swirling in his chest like the rapids of a river- strong and impossible to ignore. Thus was the burden of an alpha. He had been able to settle some of her stress, but there would be no way to bring happiness to her in this matter. The lure of a fated mate would be irresistible to the Lobo alphas. Knowing there were potential mates in these Raposo lands would drive far more than the three hundred Lobo alphas to Cyrene's lands. It was inevitable. Better to have set standards for the warriors so expectations were widely known.

He pressed his nose into his mate's braids, inhaling her sweet scent, then slowly pulled himself from her side. There was no way for him to tell how early it was, his world perpetually dark, but the castle was silent. The war spirit urged him to on, demanding they finish this task. It had been easy to find to slip from her during the days to work on it, but today he would see it come to fruition.

Leaving the room without a sound he finished dressing just outside their door. He counted his steps as he navigated the stone hallways until he found the door to the courtyard. The dry hot southern air hit his face as he left the castle, the smell of horse shit and stale sweat assaulting his nose. He would miss the cold, crisp air of the north. The songs of the wolves. The smells of the feasts in the evenings.

What he wouldn't give to attend one more northern feast, with tables heavy with food. These southern people were slowly starving. Omega prices and trade with the Lobo would be their primary means of survival until the drought ended. The more matings between their people, the more food brought down from the north, and the stronger their alliance would become. The Raposo people were going to become dependent on the Lobo. A good place for his King to send more warriors in the future to search for mates. Cyrene and the Raposo people could not refuse him.

Yet, as much as he would miss the north, and the feasts, nothing would compare to having his mate, bonded to him. Standing by Cyrene's side, as her alpha, brought him indescribable contentment, and served to further solidify the alliance. He had no remorse for forfeiting his own land and title to stay by her side.