He was flying the water to the center of the fire as the rest of us worked our way around the edges. The sun was high, and we'd been at work for hours already, but the first real signs of progress had only just begun. I was sticky and itchy with sweat, covered in soot, and only the refusal to rest had kept me upright with momentum thus far.
I paused, glancing at the huddle of women. I hadn't caught their notice yet. Most people weren't paying attention to me until they remembered I was here at all. It was such an outrageous notion for the alpha's omega to be dressed in men's clothing and helping in a crisis, most people managed to cheerfully forget my presence. Which wasn't so unusual for me, really. And in this moment especially, I didn't mind.
My mother stood with her friends, their heads bowed together, no doubt joined in some conversation that had nothing at all to do with the fire and more to do with what pairings had come of the selection, which omegas were likely to get with child, and who would make it through the births.
Behind me, a shout broke out in the distance, another group of beta men rushing back from a sudden blaze, the fire eating away at new territory, catching and spreading on a line toward town. I bit my lip and glanced at where Niall was steadily plowing on with the others, and then up at the shadow of Ronson as he turned back toward the sea.
Then I turned and ran for the spreading fire. Or hobbled as quickly as I could. Running was somewhat out of the question in Niall's borrowed boots.
None of the women noticed me passing, and I wasn't sure how likely it was that Niall would check on me right away. I should have been telling him where I was going, but I hated the idea of him tucking me back in with the omega matrons.
Perhaps I am less averse to real adventure than I thought.
I slowed as I neared the other group, my brow furrowing. They weren't moving. They weren't bustling and lining up as we had done, and though there was a well nearby and they all held buckets, they seemed to be…watching the fire. I swallowed and paused, eyeing the small patches of the fire to my left and the figures of the men ahead of me.
The Dunne brothers were there, a perfect mirror image of one another standing side by side. And Mr. Palmer too. I recognized his brilliant sapphire coat from the Huberts' the other day. The whole group had their backs to me, and I edged warily closer, holding my breath and waiting for them to act.
"How long do we keep this up?" Thomas Dunne asked, his voice raised just enough to speak over the fire, reaching my ears as I paused yards away from them, hiding behind one of the few beech trees to offer shelter. "At some point, the rut will take."
The rut?
"I don't know. It's only the Posy girl. Cadogan was desperate to grab her, but she can't be much incentive to take to his nest."
I stiffened, my face growing hot. Another day, if I'd heard the beta men speaking of me in such a way—not that they ever thought of me—I would've run from the scene. But this was more than just gossip and insults.
"We still don't know why he did take her," another beta said. "Unless he's mad. If he's not in rut, shouldn't we be trying to get him to change his mind? Dangle Adelaide back under his nose."
"Gamesby has new plans for the chit. He's locked up with her, hoping to sire before Cadogan."
My eyes widened as bile burnt in my throat. I'd never thought much of the betas of the island, but the polite society of garden parties and dinner tables had never revealed so much of their character to me. They were the grossest villains of the cheapest stories of my collection. Francesca wasn't silly at all—she was smart to run from them.
"What good will that do if the alpha gets his own heir on the Mouse?" the other Dunne brother asked.
"What do you think we're out here for, idiot?" Thomas hissed, and there was the sound of a thump and a scuffle of bodies.
"Enough," Palmer snapped. "We're delaying the inevitable, it's true. His dragon will demand he have her eventually. But the less opportunity, the more stress and distraction, the harder we make it for him. And she's practically an old maid as it is. He's not likely to get another rut out of her. Not one that bears fruit."
My fingernails dug into the bark of the tree at my back. I needed to get away from here. Get back to Ronson. These men made me want to leave the isle to burn, to take the alpha back to the nest just to prove them wrong. But what if they are right? a wicked voice in my head teased, sounding too close to their own mocking tones.
Did I want them to be wrong? Male dragon births, only achievable after a rut, were exceptionally dangerous, and rarely did both mother and child survive. I'd dreaded the prospect with Gryffyd Evans for a myriad of reasons, mentally dropping a period at the end of the sentence of my life when I'd considered my fate after the selection.
But I'd been chosen by the alpha. And there'd been a bit of dread mingling in with all of the confusion and shock, a sense of responsibility I hadn't prepared for, a massive turn in the path I'd thought I'd been resigned to. Somewhere between drugging kisses and wry, dark smiles, I'd wandered into a silly fantasy where I was favored by the outrageously handsome, breathtaking, and mind-numbing alpha.
Who had picked me.
To bear his heir and continue his line of alphas—a line that had gone unbroken for over a millenium.
The smoke in the air offered an excuse for the sudden blur of tears in my eyes. I wanted to prove to the betas and omegas of the island that I was the right choice. I wanted Ronson's smiles and the weight of his body on top of mine and a thousand of his kisses—preferably in a variety of places. I wanted to be the perfect omega in the perfect nest, and I wanted to bear the heir, the next Alpha of Bleake Isle.
I also wanted to survive.
"Get busy. That halfling is headed our way," Palmer snapped under his breath.
I spun and found Niall storming toward my hiding spot. He would give me away and then the betas would realize what I'd heard. I flapped my hands uselessly for a moment, a breeze carrying smoke through the air and clearing the view of Niall's glare, and then I lifted one finger to my lips, nodding in the direction of the men I hid from.
He continued face unreadable aside from frustration, and then his eyebrows lifted and his steps slowed. He jerked his head, a sort of up and backward motion I didn't understand until the massive shadow of Ronson's dragon sailed overhead and then swooped, curving toward a landing in the field.
"You lot look like you could use extra wings," Niall called, redirecting slightly to pass by me without stopping. "How did this spread?"
His wings were stretched wide, hopefully enough to obstruct the view of me running back the way I'd come, back to the field where the omegas mingled and gossiped and fussed their way toward the alpha. Ronson's long and lethal tail swung and thumped against the ground, and the women's voices tittered with nerves, a few even skirting back. His long neck craned and searched the crowd, a brief puff of fire bursting from his nostrils, gaining a few cries of dismay from the men still working to put all other fires out.
"Ronson!"
The dragon's gaze, hot as coals, snapped to me as I burst from the treeline and onto the field, a few stares turning in my direction but most remaining cautiously on the enormous and temperamental dragon. His talons dug grooves into the grasses and dirt, kicking clumps back as he took two steps toward the skittish crowd, and then the air simmered and stirred and Ronson shrank back to his gentleman's form.
