The Alpha of Bleake Isle

"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.

I swooped over their home, over their woods, nearly to Gamesby's house before realizing I was actively avoiding the job at hand.

I tucked my wings slightly, and flipped my body down like an arrow to land. Gamesby might try and shoot me if he saw me, pretend he thought I was wild game, but I knew how to slip through the trees and keep my steps quiet. I would use the time walking through the woods to organize my thoughts again.

Adelaide is an ideal omega, I reminded myself for the hundredth time, catching a wing talon on a tree branch and then climbing my way down slowly. Her family has a good track record of births on both sides. An heir will settle some of the beta jostling happening behind closed doors.

My boots touched the ground, and I gentled my steps. The only way they could take my place was by killing me, something I wasn't inclined to allow. I needed an omega, Adelaide, or at least the heir she would offer. I marched in silence toward my destination.

The thoughts were like commands in my own mind, settling a sensation that was less than nerves but more than disinterest. So strong was my determination to follow those commands that I almost missed the presence of voices. Familiar ones.

"Hugh, I'm nervous."

"Addie, pet, you've nothing to be nervous about. The plan hasn't changed in weeks. Your part will be nearly done tomorrow."

"No, it won't!"

I'd already halted my steps, taken shelter behind a vast tree, but the rough hiss of Adelaide Brys's voice left me intrigued and surprised, the sound so harsh and unlike anything I'd heard from her before.

"It all begins tomorrow, Hugh. If this works, if he chooses me⁠—"

"He'd be mad not to, Addie," Hugh said, his tone so dulcet in comparison to the omega's.

"Then I have to serve him for a brutish rut. For days! Doesn't the thought of an alpha rutting on top of me for hours and hours bother you?"

"It makes me furious," Hugh said, not sounding especially convincing to my mind.

There were gentle murmurs ahead, Hugh reassuring the omega of his worry and affection, but a crunch from behind sent me whirling around, surprise striking me roughly at what I found.

The strange omega woman, the one Niall and I had seen hiding from Gamesby's party, was wandering blindly through the trees, barely feet away. They called her Mouse, as I'd learned from a chuckling pack of beta dragons over whiskey after a di

I lurched forward as quietly as I could and grabbed her, clapping my hand over her lips, a suitably mouse-ish but small squeak released against my palm. With another quick, careful motion, I hauled her up off her clumsy feet and into my hiding spot with a tight grip around her arms and waist.

"Silence," I spoke roughly into her ear.

She tensed in my arms, and I noted with surprise that her stodgy-looking frame was, in fact, a very unfortunate disguise. She felt quite promising, now that I had my arms around her. Her stomach was soft, and her ass was incredibly full and plush against my hips. Interesting. Distracting, even.

"You'll enjoy the rut. You can't help it," Hugh said, gentleness disguising the lack of feeling in the words. Adelaide squawked in outrage, another new sound from her, and Hugh continued, "All you have to do is put up with him for a few days, a week or so, and then open a door when I send word."

The little mouse in my arms—Lord Posy's daughter, very unfortunately arranged for Old Gryffyd, from what I'd heard—seemed as keenly aware of the intrigue of the conversation as I was, and she stopped struggling almost as soon as the pair's voices raised. I could've let her go, told her to stay quiet, but it would've been a wasted chance to hold such a comfortably formed body. She did have a scent after all, a tiny one, but it reminded me of a perfume I'd smelled on a human woman once, designed to entice a dragon—amber and gold, warm and syrupy. It was fainter on the Posy girl, but less artificial too.

"I have half a mind to leave the door locked. If I'm so suited to a rut, I'm sure I'm suited to be an alpha's omega too," Adelaide said, sounding more herself, coy and teasing. I bit off my snarl at their casual use of me in the conversation, as if I might be the pawn in their game.

"You'll be his broodmare. Don't mistake his reluctance to choose thus far as him being anything less than his father's son. If you survive birth, he'll find a way to kill you off."

The woman in my arms stiffened, and I resisted the impulse to reassure her. It might've been true of my father, although I hoped not. It wouldn't be of me.

"First I'll be fine, then I'll be killed off⁠—"

"Not in a handful of days, you won't. Don't be difficult, Addie. Worst case, you're burdened with an alpha's son, who will most likely grow up to be alpha. And if not that, then I'll be alpha next, and you'll bear me all the sons and daughters we could wish for."

A hand was clutching my arm, the omega I held shocked by the words I heard. I was a little shocked too. Not by Gamesby's ambition, but that it hadn't occurred to me they might use an omega as a trap. It was clever, and as I'd been telling myself for weeks, Adelaide was perfect. For my use and theirs.

"Admit it. You're just all in a fluff because it's been ages since we've⁠—"

"Oh, Hugh. Why couldn't you have gotten rid of him before this? I don't want in his bed. He terrifies me."

"I know, pet, I know. And how I wish I could soothe your poor little heart with a kiss."

"More than a kiss," Adelaide urged.

The conversation took a turn, one that made the woman in my arms gasp, a surprisingly i

For both our sakes, I lifted her off her toes, hiking her up at my side. Her arms wrapped easily around my shoulders, and I turned and walked us carefully away from the lovers' explicit speech.

The omega—Mairwen! I recalled at last—remained docile, pressed to my chest, her hands tight and almost possessive on my shoulders as I carried her. I headed roughly toward the village. The Posy estate sat on the other side of the town, in view of my castle.

"They're pla

"I gathered," I answered, lips twitching.

She huffed and started to squirm. I understood now why her clothes looked frumpy on her. The silhouettes of current fashion were too slim and straight to suit a form so inclined to volume and shape. She would look better out of her clothes than in, and I glanced down at her unjustly disguised breasts. What fool had thought to flatten them in a trap and then cover her up to her chin in fabric?

"What are you going to do?" she urged.

"Not allow them to succeed," I said easily, setting her down on her feet and offering her a rare smile.

She frowned back at me, lips twisting and pursing. She had a wide mouth, lips ample for kissing. She was still…not pretty, precisely, but I was realizing there was something there that deserved attention.

"I'm sure you can talk Adelaide out of it," she said, tone a little dubious.

She was right, of course. I absolutely could. I could order Adelaide to behave, even—demand pleasure from her too.

"It doesn't solve the issue of her having been talked into it in the first place," I said, checking over my shoulder that we were still alone.

"Katherine might suit you. She seems shy, but really she just isn't that interested in people. But she's very smart, and she thinks Gamesby is a twat." Mairwen blushed, possibly at her own language, but stared eagerly up at me. Her eyes were a comforting, warm shade, almost golden, brighter than the drowsy brown of her hair.

She was recommending me alternatives. This odd omega they called Mouse, who'd never been properly introduced to me and had never spoken a word to anyone when I'd been present, was offering her opinion on whom I might choose instead. And she hadn't started with herself, bold as her words were.

Damnit. Niall was right. She was the most interesting one of the lot. Strange and mostly plain, but also lush and a bit direct, without a proper omega's perfume.

"Where did you come from?" I asked, not entirely sure of the exact meaning I intended.

She blushed and glanced down at the book in her hand. "I was wandering. Reading."

"Not at home."

"Not at home," she agreed with a frank nod.

We stared at one another, and I understood. Tomorrow was the selection ceremony. She was promised to Gryffyd Evans. And for five selections ru