"Why?" I asked, taking a surreptitious taste of the air. There might've been a fragrance, but it could just as easily have been the gardens.

"She arrived with the Posys; they're dragonkin. And she's not dressed like a maid."

"I defer to your knowledge of women's dress," I said, lips twitching, wanting to laugh but not quite meeting the urge.

Niall didn't rise to the bait. He never did, insufferably cool as he was. And strangely, I wanted to know what made her interesting to him but refused to ask. He would turn my teasing back on me quick as a whip. Better to be left out of the joke than let Niall make one at my expense.

We turned eventually, back into the twist of the maze. Hugh Gamesby's gardens were predictably ordered and obnoxiously forced, only one path laid out, unless we wanted to turn back and disappear into the woods like the strange young woman. Which was probably a better idea.

Adelaide beamed at me as I arrived back within the fold of the party, but there was a strain in those brilliant blue eyes, Hugh Gamesby remaining steadfastly at her side. She was a bone for the pair of us to fight over, no doubt exhausting for any young woman. But what could she or Hugh do? The moment I was within reach, her body bowed naturally in my direction. For that matter, so did the charmingly plump little brunette sitting on a blanket near my legs. My effect on omegas was biological, flattering, and somewhat irksome—part of the reason I'd avoided any courting in the past. The rut selection was in place for the alpha to choose the omega who suited him best, without the time-consuming effort of dinners and dancing and terribly polite conversation with them all beforehand. The ceremony was also a promise from the alpha to the betas to not drag all the eligible omegas into breeding nests and leave nothing for them.

Just ignore the scent marks, Niall had suggested. The beta scents will fade by the time the rut is over. It had never stopped my father. Nothing had ever stopped my father, and I took pride in our differences.

"You solved the maze!" Adelaide greeted.

I nodded, offered an automatic half-smile out of respect for her cheer, and glanced over her shoulder at Gamesby. "In truth, it posed very little challenge."

The omegas, even their mothers, tittered with humor. Niall twisted away from the crowd, hiding his rolling eyes.

These parties were tedious. These people weren't much better. But I was determined this year. Adelaide was perfect, my best choice in all my years of the selection, and still unmarked. Perhaps I would even conquer my aversion and take her with one, if Gamesby managed to seduce her. It would be worth it to foil him, if nothing else.

Almost two weeks later, the day before the selection ceremony, my decision was fixed.

I would bring Adelaide back to the castle at the edge of the cliffs, give her a courteous day to collect herself and build the nest, and then I would bed her. If I was left in a lackluster pairing for the rest of my life, it would be worth it for the heir she would offer. I would do everything in my power to keep her alive, which was more than she could hope for with most betas, or with an alpha like my father. Dragon births were difficult, and many betas didn't care about the loss of an omega in the process. The child's survival was always first priority. And perhaps some dragons were a little too eager to move on to a fresh choice of omega.

"You're still here."

I'd been musing, staring out the window at the sea, when Niall caught me in my office.

"Still? Did you expect me to drop dead?" I asked.

"I expected you to go claim the omega," Niall answered, helping himself to the seat across from mine at my desk.

"That's tomorrow."

"Are you hoping Gamesby will have her first? If you really want an omega this time, why not do what they do and place your mark the night before?"

"I'll take her with or without one," I said.

Niall tipped his head. "Will you?"

"She'll just have to bathe when she gets here," I muttered. In truth, the scent marks had never bothered me as much as the betas liked to think. I just hadn't wanted any of the omegas. But too much time had passed and I could no longer afford to be picky. To wait for claiming to be an intense urge, rather than a political necessity.

It would be disappointing if Adelaide did succumb to Gamesby the night before the selection. Perhaps he'd been waiting intentionally, wanting the mark fresh to better put me off. But it wouldn't stop me from flying her back here.

"I can't say I know how it feels, but you could wait another decade," Niall suggested. Niall's human genes didn't offer him much of a rut. Certainly not the agony of an alpha's.

"That's just another decade for them to stir up the idea of killing me," I said. "Achieve an heir, and I'm on safer ground." A dragon with young was considered stronger, especially an alpha. I wasn't sure if it was old folklore or a real part of our power as dragonkin, but at the very least it would make the other betas pause before pursuing my defeat.

"Letting Gamesby mark your intended the night before the selection makes you look like a fool. Taking her after the mark makes you look desperate too, now that they know how much you hate it. Go to her, Ronson. Stake your claim. If you really hate the idea, I don't know why you'd bother with her."

Which was right, of course, and Niall lounged in that chair with the superior calm of one who always managed to know better.

"You just want me out so you're king of the castle," I said, offering Niall a half-smile he mirrored. "Fine. I'll play the eager suitor."

"I'd wish you good luck, but I've seen her swoon for you," Niall said with a sneer. Which I wanted to mimic too. I resisted by opening the windows, the sudden strike of sea air shocking and sharp, drawing out an excited snarl from my lips. My wings caught me, spreading as I leapt, my claws freeing from my fingers as I flew out over the edge of the cliffs, over the crash of the sea as it met the rocks. I twisted, let the wind snap against my wings, and circled back to the isle, following the urgent gust back over land.

There were dragonkin gentlemen who elected not to use their wings, their dragon's form, considering it beastly. But flight was the only gift of our bloodline I really enjoyed. I would've gladly kept my place as a beta if I hadn't hated my father so much, seen how desperately the island needed his seat as alpha overthrown. Our omegas had been secretly fleeing on ships one by one, our human population dying under horrible working conditions. And betas took their profit and their heirs and carried on, as if all this were acceptable so long as their pockets were deep and there were young omegas for their beds.

Challenging my father to fight for the role as alpha was not solely my ambition, but my duty to the island. Most days, being alpha was more trouble than it was worth, and even the rut was an uncomfortable chore. Or it had been with only my own hand and human women to help ease the frenzy. It would be better this time, with an omega, a thought which carried me toward the modest Brys estate, set near the human village at the edge of the woods that abutted the Gamesby estate.

The Brys family had been blessed by their daughter, but were otherwise unremarkable and not quite significant. Mr. Brys made good money in trade, enough to keep his family in fashion, but their lineage was the third son of a third son or something of the like, with no titles or inheritance left to them. To have a daughter paired with the alpha would be a social boon at the least, and the expectation of titles and money was sure to sweeten the deal.