Page 31 of The Dragon's Omega
Before, Dewey and his citrusy scent triggered dread deep in my gut.
Now, all I felt was relief.
Relief that I wasn’t his.
He wasn’t mine. Pack Synn had no fucking leverage over me now. The spinster omega of Cedar Cove had a brilliant scent match all along.
Vidar’s hand dropped down to the small of my back, but there was no aggressive posturing on his part. He just stared at Dewey with a bland expression, like he’d spotted a bit of trash on the beach.
Dewey, meanwhile, popped his designer sunglasses on his head as he strode toward us, gnashing his teeth, visibly annoyed, openly incredulous. Tense posture. Sharp scowl.
And it was all for me. After a darting glance at Vidar, he zeroed in on the omega who had left him high and dry last night.
The omega he had tried to rape with his bonds.
“What happened?—”
“That’s close enough, boy.” Vidar raised his hand, and once again that invisible force field kept the masses at bay. Dewey stumbled like he’d been shoved back, hit square in the chest. Unable to help myself, I grinned up at my alpha, because… hot.
“Our courtship is over,” I said, briefly meeting Vidar’s hunter greens before pinning Dewey with the glare this fucking prick had deserved for months. “Effective the moment you shoved me to my knees.”
The heir to the Synn empire blanched, then opened his mouth for what I assumed would be a barking rebuttal, something to cut me off at the knees, publicly put me in my place—but one snarl from Vidar had it snapping shut.
“Thank you, Dewey.” I noted the bob of his throat as he swallowed whatever venom Vidar stopped him from spewing.
“For what?” was his stiff response. I mirrored my mate’s hollow smile, because this gnat didn’t deserve anything from me. Not my emotions. Not my feelings. Barely even my words.
“You brought me to my scent match.” I beamed at Vidar, because he deserved everything I had to give. “My fated mate. I couldn’t have found him without you.”
“Hold on?—”
“No. Enough.” Vidar finally stepped between us, but he offered me one hand to clutch behind his back. I took it with both of mine, threading our fingers together, and watched the show unfold from around his arm. My mate wore an icy grin, his pheromones suddenly pumping, drowning me, him, and Dewey in a scent tsunami. “Tell your fathers that my relationship with Pack Synn has run its course.” If it was possible, Dewey went even paler. “You have made the summer solstice your own. In a way, you… have not broken your word, as per the contract I signed with your ancestors, but this, our day in the sun, has grown into something more.” Vidar tipped his head. “You don’t need me anymore. Consider our contract void. You are free to do as you wish this day and all the days to come.”
Dewey motioned toward the struggling fire wall. “But your flames?—”
“Hardly what brings in the crowds, eh? It’s not like you’re educating them anymore on fire’s purpose during the summer solstice.” He then gave a thoughtful rumble, one that vibrated down his arm and up both of mine, settling heavily in my chest. “And I accept that. I will gift my fire to those more deserving of it. Those who would never force an omega in heat to her knees—ignore her cries to stop.” His tone hardened. “Goodbye, little Synn alpha—and good luck.”
Turning his back to Dewey, Vidar raised our jumble of hands and kissed the tops of mine, once, twice, then gently guided me away. In that moment, love stirred in my heart. Not only that, but respect—admiration. A true alpha was calm, composed, and controlled. Ruts aside, I had always thought the best of his designation were those who rarely broke a sweat, who never blinked, and who faced every challenger with a cool confidence.
That, in my opinion, was true power.
An alpha who used his words instead of his fists?
Mine.
“I-I— Wait!” The hairs on the back of my neck shot up as Dewey’s bare feet slapped the sand, hurrying after us. “Let me get everyone over here. We can discuss?—”
Vidar stopped so abruptly I jerked backward. His blasé smile turned acidic, and suddenly he looked bigger, taller, felt so much stronger. He cast a monstrous shadow in every direction, in open defiance of the sun.
“Your connection…” He sneered, voice deeper, words lethal. “With Lianna of Pack…”
The façade faltered for a moment when he frowned curiously at me, and I squeezed his hand in both of mine again.
“Luna.”
Affection colored his grin, and his eyebrow twitched ever so slightly—like he enjoyed my family name. He was the sun. I was his moon. Fate.
“Lianna of Pack Luna,” he drawled. Then, the warmth frosted over, and he scowled over his shoulder at a gawking Dewey. “Your connection to her is severed.”