Once she got the hang of it, it was so soothing. The nnirae made a trilling sound when they were being groomed, and Akoro’s one was low, almost too low to hear, but if she worked long and listened closely she would be rewarded by his sound.

The Alpha took her down to the stables and worked on grooming and caring for the nnirae for most of the day, until he wanted to fuck.

Once he was so impatient, he took her in the stables, bending her forward to brace a wall while he pried her thighs apart with his thumbs and prodded himself in. She loved the feel of him working in and out of her, pulling her back onto him and cupping her breasts with his large hands.

Eventually the Alpha took her out to ride the nnirae, an incredible experience that forced her to sharpen her senses. She couldn't let everything blur and be so dull while on the back of such an amazing creature. They rode through the city until they reached the ruined outskirts and then rode along the ruins. She noticed that some of the ruins had the glimmer in them, like the blue stone the Alpha used to create the dome when they fought in the desert. But she let the information drift into the part of her mind that used to care.

They developed a pattern. The Alpha would fuck her in the morning, bring her down to the nnirae to help groom and care for them, then he would watch her eat, and then they would take a ride in the afternoon.

Her attraction to him never waned, so any time he touched her or spoke to her with that incredible voice, her body reacted. It didn't matter what he said, it didn't matter where he touched; their attraction was a powerful one that should have been the greatest love known, but was instead being debased by a cruel Alpha who didn’t care and an Omega who was too broken.

On the days he didn't exhaust her through sex, when he wanted to stroke, and cuddle, and nest more, the nightmares returned. Vivid, gory, horrifying nightmares that racked her with terror three or four times a night.

It alarmed the Alpha, so much so that he made an even stronger effort to get her to bring everything back to focus. She didn't want to. She deserved the nightmares. They were her penance for what happened to Lili. She should have let them destroy her before instead of trying to function with them. Allowing life to blur was freeing; she didn't have to worry about anything or anyone. The Alpha met her most basic needs and without any responsibilities, there was no one to disappoint.

The last thought Naya had before she embraced being the enslaved Omega was how her family should consider her dead by now, reality just needed to catch up.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

The Omega's behavior was terrifying.

There wasn’t a lot that Akoro feared, but the Omega's sudden disinterest in everything had at first bewildered and frustrated him, but now seriously worried him.

Something was wrong.

Those beautiful brown eyes didn't focus on anything but the nnirae. Nothing interested her. She ate and drank on her own—never too much or too little. She enjoyed having her cunt eaten and clenching on his cock. If she used her mouth, it was to suck and lick him rather than speak. She seemed completely broken, but that didn’t make sense.

After finding out about the Alpha/Omega true mate bond, he sought out Prillu, who had mentioned it in her questioning. The only information she knew was that the Lox Empire had a larger Omega population, so she’d assumed the princess would have greater details about true mate bonds. Prillu admitted she’d been concerned that Naya had a bonded true mate, which would be good to know when they invaded Lox.

Akoro had almost barked at her at the thought of this Lonn, who had been in a small room alone with his Omega. He’d driven himself insane that night with thoughts of this strange Alpha “scenting” her. What the fuck did that even mean?

He had gone into the archives of the Tri-Dynasty period, where the Tsashokra region had thrived as a hub of culture and magic, a period in their history that would have recorded information about Omegas, if any. And he was right; however, nothing he found so far described why the Omega would suddenly become unresponsive. She had everything she needed—warmth, her nest, food, her Alpha…. It didn't make sense.

He had been forced to ask Oppo to examine her, but it had negatively impacted his and his brother’s relationship. When she'd smiled at Oppo, Akoro had exploded. She had never smiled for him outside of her Haze, and while he had treated her badly as a prisoner, he hadn’t known she was his true mate. All of her smiles should be for him, regardless. How could she randomly smile for Oppo? What the fuck had he been doing with her?

They had almost come to blows that day, with the Omega just a few feet away curled up on the bed not even reacting to them. Oppo had stopped their fight, immediately recognizing her disturbing behavior. It wasn’t normal for an Omega to not be afraid when Alphas were in that state. It was the moment Akoro realized how much he didn’t know about his own mate.

When they had cooler heads, Oppo admitted he was concerned but he didn't have enough information about other Omegas to understand what was happening. There were instances he’d read about where an Omega would withdraw due to various circumstantial or situational issues, but that wasn't the case for the princess. She had just come out of an incredible heat—the most blissful days of Akoro's life—unfortunately she was not with child, but that shouldn’t be a reason for this kind of behavior.

He'd been conflicted about Oppo’s decision to suppress her heat. For the purposes of the mission, it was a good thing his brother had done that; they needed her clear-minded, not enticing Alphas into a rut. However, if he hadn't blocked the Omega's heat, then Akoro would have immediately realized the princess was his. He couldn't blame Oppo for being forward-thinking, but he could blame him for the missed opportunity with his Omega.

Akoro spent hours scouring the archives for any piece of information that would help his Omega. Oppo said the fact that she brightened with his nnirae meant that it wasn’t a full breakdown and Akoro just needed to find a way to get her to respond, but nothing worked.

His council were anxious about the delays to the mission. Prillu in particular was nervous about the time they had left, but it couldn’t be helped. The princess was a piece of the puzzle now—she couldn’t be skipped over or replaced; she was crucial to the success of the invasion. If something was wrong with her, it had to be dealt with first.

When the nightmares started again, Akoro almost went wild. Fury and frustration and fear coalesced into a blinding need to solve his Omega’s problem. She was suffering, and he couldn't bear it. He'd hated it in the desert when he was watching from afar, and he certainly didn't like it in his bed, in the nest that she built so fastidiously for them while in his arms.

Oppo was reluctant to provide any medications for her, but when he heard about the nightmares he changed his mind.

"Don't use this more than a couple of nights," Oppo warned, handing him a potion bottle. He examined his brother. "You don't look you look like you've been sleeping either."

"How can I?" Akoro scowled. "I am awake when she is awake."

“Have you tried talking to her?" Oppo asked.

"Of course I have. It was the first thing I tried."

"No, I mean, finding her finding a way to talk to her on her terms," Oppo said. "Omegas are very special, Akoro. Figure out what is important to her and talk to her about it.”

Akoro inhaled and shook his head. “I am invading her world, Oppo.”