Page 49 of Unsubmissive Omega
Two golden eyes blinked at me. He reminded me of a cat.
Softly, he said, “and you think I know where he’s gone?”
“I think you could find out where he is, yes. If you wanted to.” I looked towards his scrying ball, sitting on a shelf, gleaming palely in the subdued light.
Xeres’ eyes followed the direction of my gaze. He hesitated. The silence drew out. He seemed to be trying to come to a decision on something. I thought that was whether to scry for Xander, but it wasn’t.
“Darius,” he cleared his throat, a delicate soft sound from such a youthful mage, “Alpha. Has it occurred to you that Xander may have chosen to leave?”
Having a second person suggest this to me in such a short span of time was causing my heart to pound and a nervous flutter ofmy pulse started in the crook of my neck. My confidence was starting to waver.
“Did he… has he said anything to you?” I asked quietly. I clenched my fists at my sides, afraid of what terrible truths Xeres was about to reveal.
“He came to see me not long after he arrived here. And he implied then that he didn’t want to stay. I did think, though, that he had since changed his mind.”
I didn’t react to the news that my omega had been discussing his displeasure with our mage. The mage held any role they chose in a pack: confessor, advisor, or they paid no attention at all to the pack in which they lived. Generally, we were fortunate that Xeres occasionally involved himself in pack affairs, at my explicit request. If Xander had chosen to unburden himself to the mage, it was not my business to object.
“I thought so too.”
There was another long silence, then Xeres apparently came to a decision, because he leaned across the desk and plucked the magic globe from where it sat on the shelf. He muttered a few words, then blew a fine layer of dust off the surface.
“I’ll locate him, but if looks as though he’s trying to hide from you, then I won’t tell you where he is.”
I nodded agreement. After all, what choice did I have?
“As long as I know he’s safe…”
Xeres cradled the sphere in his cupped hands. He mumbled some words I either couldn’t hear or couldn’t understand and gazed searchingly into the depths of the scrying ball. I waited, the silence of the room oppressive, the only sounds the softhuff of Xeres’ breathing, and the pounding of my heart. I stared intently at the mage, willing him to find my mate and tell me all was well, but instead, his eyes narrowed. Visible even in the sullen gloom, I could see the deep V forming in the middle of his forehead.
What is it?I didn’t dare say the words aloud, afraid to break his concentration, or to incite his ire, since mages could be unpredictable.
Xeres put the sphere carefully back on the shelf. I waited anxiously for him to speak, but it was as if he had forgotten I was there. He grasped his chin between thumb and index finger, with the elbow resting on his other arm which had wrapped around his waist in a highly pensive posture, as his frown deepened. It wasn’t unusual to see him lost in contemplation or deep in a trance, but I’d never before seen him perplexed.
He looked up at me, brows raised.
“I can’t find him.”
I couldn’t have felt any colder.
“What do you mean, you can’t find him? Even if he’s… dead,” I choked up, “you should still be able to find him, right?”
The mage’s eyes flashed an eerie blue before reverting to their usual golden color. Was he angry? I didn’t care.
“He’s not dead,” Xeres said, carefully enunciating each word. “But I can’t locate him. There’s something blocking me. I should be able to see him.”
Even in the dim light, it was possible to see the worry etched on Xeres’ face. It was an emotion I’d never seen on the reservedmage before, and I realized his anger wasn’t directed at me. He was angry at himself.
Chapter 23
XANDER
My head hurt.
The ground was cold. Whatever I was leaning against was colder. Cold as ice. Shivers racked my body, which just made my head hurt worse, spikes of pain lancing through it. I couldn’t get far enough away from the fucking cold. Why was it so cold? Why wasIcold?
Where the fuck was I?
As consciousness came creeping back, I opened my eyes, blinking hard, trying to make sense of the darkness around me. It wasn’t the dark of the forest. No calming odor of eucalypts or freshly disturbed earth, no trace of the myriad living creatures large and small that inhabited the forest. I resented that - I'd been enjoying it, feeling more in touch with my wolf than at any time I could remember. Instead, the air was heavy with a damp, musty odor. It smelt of disuse, and of something faintly metallic.
