Omega Hunted by Linsey Moon

6

The Lady ledthem to the grand staircase, their gowns sweeping the marble steps under the glittering light of the chandelier, and almost all of them froze at the top of the steps, staring. The alphas had gathered at the bottom to see them in, and Savannah swallowed nervously as she saw them. They all wore elaborate masks, most in the shape of predatory animals, which hid their expressions as they watched the omegas descend.

Not all of them, she was surprised to note, were male. A few female alphas in rich gowns much less revealing than the omegas stood among the men. Behind them, a crowd of other people in less ornate masks also watched—pack members or other parts of the alpha's entourage. All Savannah knew, and she was certain the other omegas were feeling it as well, was that it had been a very long time since she'd been in a room with this many people, if she ever had at all, and she'd never had this many people staring at her before.

"Brace yourselves, darlings," the Lady whispered, the waved them on. They descended the staircase towards the alphas.

Savannah almost stumbled as, halfway down the staircase, she was hit by the mingled cloud of their scents. The only alpha she'd ever been close to had been the DOA agent who'd tricked her. To be suddenly surrounded by the scent of so many alphas at once was more than a little overwhelming. She saw several of the other omegas hesitate as well, and at least one tip her head back and close her eyes, breathing in deep with an expression of sudden longing, as though she'd just smelled something indescribably wonderful.

The tangle of scents was too much all at once for Savannah to pick out any single one in particular. Musk and spice, chocolate and coffee, leather and smoke. It only grew more intense as they reached the bottom of the stairs, until Savannah was dizzy with it. If she hadn't already been red with embarrassment at being seen in this dress, it would have brought a flush to her skin. She felt strangely breathless, her skin prickling. The alphas lined up at the bannister, and two offered their arms to each omega as they reached the last step, escorting them away into the ballroom.

Savannah was so lightheaded she barely noticed the two men who had had taken her arm until she caught the scent of the one on her right. It was a deep, woodsy smell that reminded her of home, like pine and bergamot tea. She could almost imagine being back in the forest, walking under her trees again. She leaned into it thoughtlessly, letting it drive out the confusion of other scents overwhelming her. It was such a relief she didn't realize they had stopped moving until the alpha on the other side of her spoke as he released her arm.

"I think you've caught one already," the man joked to the alpha whose arm she was still holding, leaning into his side so that he was practically holding her up as she breathed in his scent. He looked down at her, expression hidden behind the elaborate tiger mask he wore, only his dark eyes visible, watching her. She blushed and drew away immediately, and he didn't try to stop her.

"Sorry," she whispered, and after a moment he nodded to her slowly, saying nothing. Embarrassed, she turned away, and really saw the room she was standing in for the first time.

The ballroom was a wonderland of gold and crystal, white marble and black velvet. Fresh flowers were heaped on every surface, overflowing and spilling into petals on the floor, adding to the confusion of scents in the air. Gold framed mirrors lined one wall in an over the top homage to Versailles, reflecting the light and wonder and making the room seem twice as large and twice as crowded with opulence. Savannah felt suddenly absurd and desperately out of place in her skimpy dress. This was a place for princesses in Cinderella gowns, not for feckless tomboys dressed as strippers.

The rest of the omegas had entered the ballroom by now. Some, like Lyanna, were already chatting up the alphas they'd come in with. Others, like Katharine, drifted towards the walls, or tried to. The stylists had done their jobs well, making each of the omegas bright and distinctive from one another, which made it difficult not to be noticed, and since the alphas outnumbered them two to one... Katharine was practically surrounded within moments, looking somewhere between awe and bursting into tears.

Savannah made a valiant effort to find somewhere to hide regardless, but it wasn't one of the alphas that caught her. It was the Lady of the House, who snagged her by the elbow as she tried in vain to slide behind a large floral arrangement.

"Come now, don't be shy," she said, in the unmistakable tone of an order. This close, Savannah was surprised to realize that the Lady, too, was an alpha. She had an intense, dark floral scent that gave Savannah an immediate headache. "You have no idea how far some of these men have come to meet you tonight. Prince Nazir there came all the way from Riyadh."

She gestured to a young man in the mask of a golden lion, wearing dark blue robes heavily embroidered in intricate patterns. He looked gregarious and good humored, laughing and talking brightly with the other guests, but between the mask, the headscarf and the robe she couldn't tell much more about him. Still it was a shock to know actual royalty was present. Lyanna was already hanging off his arm.

"A prince?" she repeated, awed.

"We have a lord too," the Lady said, almost smugly, indicating an older man in a dark suit, the antlers of his stag mask filigreed in gold. "Lord Thomas Atwater is from a very old, very powerful English family. Pedigree that goes all the way back to Charlemagne. And if the aristocracy isn't to your taste, we also have some of the wealthiest businessmen in the west."

She pointed out three men in sharp suits, talking casually over champagne.

"Lucas Frost, in the serpent mask, is heir to an oil empire that all but owns the United States. The man in the wolf mask beside him controls steel production for most of the developed world. And we also have their counterparts from the east."

She pointed to another group of men, most of whom had their attention focused on a man in a heron mask.

"If I told you how much of your life Mr. Jian's family had a hand in creating, I doubt you'd believe me," the Lady said with a laugh. "But perhaps you're not interested in wealth or status. Maybe you're attracted to real power."

She pointed out a massive man in a bear mask, one arm around an omega who looked slightly panicked, laughing over a glass of champagne with two other men, one in a fox mask and a dark green suit who was talking animatedly about something, and another in a bull mask who looked bored. "That's Demyan Sorokin, a kingpin of Russian organized crime. The man next to him in the bull mask is from a Chinese Black Society triad. And the tiger who escorted you in is here represents the Yakuza."

Savannah looked back at the Lady in alarm at this. She'd been swooning all over a high level gang member?

"I wasn't kidding when I called them the alphas of alphas," the Lady said, arching a brow. "And you could have your choice of any of them, if you play your cards right."

"What if I don't want any of them?" Savannah said, mustering her courage. "What if I don't want to be some alpha's trophy mate?"

"Well then that's unfortunate," the Lady replied archly, looking her up and down. "Because one of them is going to want you. You'd be better off getting used to the idea. Try and make the best of it. Say what you like about the morality of what we're doing here. It's a hell of a lot better than where you would have ended up."

Savannah hated that she was probably right.

Still gripping Savannah's arm, the Lady pulled her towards the closest group of men, including the man in the bear mask. Savannah blanched.

"Mr. Sorokin!" the Lady said brightly, interrupting their conversation. "This young lady is feeling a bit shy. Would you be so kind as to escort her for a little while?"

"It would be my absolute pleasure!" the man said, his voice loud and boisterous. He let go of the other omega, patting her head affectionately. "This one is very cute, but she's a bit, eh, timid, yes? I think she might be happier over there with the businessmen."

"An excellent idea," the Lady replied, nudging the wide eyed omega over towards the businessmen. "I think you'll find this one is much more spirited."

He took Savannah's hand and bent low to kiss it, tipping his mask out of the way. She felt the tickle of his beard and caught his scent, which was as robust and intense as he was. "Please, call me Demyan."

"Savannah," she replied anxiously when the Lady nudged her. "Savannah Allen."

"I'll leave you to it," the Lady said brightly. "I'm afraid I have other nervous omegas to drag away from the walls."

This made all three of the men laugh as she swept away to shoo Katharine out from behind the drapes.

"Miss Allen, my associates," Demyan said, gesturing to the other two men. "Nicholas Faulkner, and Shen Tengfei."

He gestured first to the fox, who bowed with exaggerated formality. “Call me Nick.”

Than to the bull, who scoffed. "All these girls are too damn skinny," he complained. "Nothing to grab on to!"

He trailed off into angry Mandarin while gesturing pointedly at Savannah's chest. She blushed and crossed her arms over her breasts self-consciously.

"Ignore him," the fox, Nick, said graciously, in a musical Irish accent. "He has the manners of a junkyard dog. You look lovely."

"Lovely? She is stunning!" Demyan protested. "Radiant! The other omegas will ruin their makeup weeping with jealousy."

The unexpected praise startled Savannah, who laughed nervously in spite of herself.

"And even lovelier when she smiles," Demyan said proudly. "Tell me, solnyshkuh, do you read? Mr. Faulkner and I were just discussing the merits of our nation's greatest literature."

"Mr. Sorokin thinks Anna Karenina is better than Ulysses," Nick provided wryly.

"No, no, not better!" Demyan said quickly. "I simply think it lacks a compelling central narrative! Mr. Joyce has plenty to say but can provide no reason for the reader to want to listen to it. Whereas Tolstoy grounds his narrative in Anna's affair-"

"I am beginning to think you haven't even read Ulysses!"

Demyan waved his hand in a dismissive gesture, turning back to Savannah.

"What do you think, sweet one? Have you read Tolstoy?"

"A ridiculous question," Tengfei scoffed. "Of course she hasn't."

"I have, actually," Savannah said, annoyed despite herself. Tengfei raised an eyebrow in surprise and she turned red. "I mean, I've read some of War and Peace. I don't think I finished it. It's a lot."

"Finishing that book is an achievement few men can boast," Demyan said with a chuckle. "Even fewer could honestly claim to have understood what they read. I would not hold this against anyone."

"But I did finish Anna Karenina," she said, with a touch of pride. "I got lost in some of the politics and I don't know enough about Russian history to really understand a lot of it, but I enjoyed what I did understand."

"Delightful," Nick said with a surprised smile. "Please tell me you've read James Joyce as well. Where did you go to school?"

The question threw Savannah for a loop for a moment. Did they not know where the Lady had got all these omegas? Tengfei laughed and Nick could only look at him, puzzled.

Demyan cleared his throat and, judging by the sympathetic look he gave Savannah, he at least knew. Savannah could assume Tengfei and the other criminally aligned alphas probably had a good idea. Maybe the others had decided it was better not to ask those kind of questions.

"Most of the omegas here tonight were likely educated at home," he explained to Nick, with a gentle emphasis that implied the rest. Faulker looked briefly embarrassed by his faux pas.

"We didn't have cable where I grew up so I read a lot," Savannah explained. "It's always easy to find the classics in secondhand bookstores, so my dad was always bringing them to me. I also read a lot of nonfiction."

"On what subjects?" Nick asked with a genuine curiosity that surprised Savannah. The other two seemed more interested than she would have expected as well.

"Gardening, homesteading, wildlife identification guides," Savannah said with a slightly embarrassed shrug, flustered by their attention. "I've been reading about beekeeping lately. I wanted to start an apiary and try making my own mead."

"An omega with practical skills," Tengfei said with a laugh. "Now that is a rarity. I might have to hunt you tonight after all. We can buy you better breasts later.”

Savannah turned scarlet, halfway between mortified and outraged.

"Why your organization keeps trying to send you to civilized events, I cannot imagine," Demyan said, shaking his head.

"This bullshit doesn't deserve the attention of anyone better than me," Tengfei replied with a dangerous grin. For a moment Savannah thought the two of them might be about to have a standoff, but Nick distracted them by reaching for Savannah's hand.

"Do me the favor of a dance?" he asked, already pulling her away. He spoke over her head to the other two. "I promise I'll bring her back in one piece."

"Don't keep her too long," Demyan replied with a chuckle. "It won't be long before the main event, and I want a chance with her as well!"