The Alpha of Bleake Isle

Chapter Twenty-NineMAIRWEN

Iglanced up at the sky, hoping for a hint of the alphas' return, but if the dragons were on their way back, the clouds lingering around the top of the mountains hid them from view.

"And of course, I've grown quite sick of all of last season's gowns, but Worthy doesn't hear a word I say on the matter," Helena continued, just as she had for well over an hour, her arm linked though mine as she led us in aimless circles around the field, always careful to avoid stepping too near any of the lingering beta gentlemen.

I searched them now for Niall, wondering how I might make my escape from this woman. He was in conversation with one of the dragons from Dire Peakes, a rugged and mildly terrifying-looking man who scowled at the halfling while nodding along.

"But you know, I quite fancy this new cut of yours. I had no notion that little Bleake Isle might offer anything in the way of i

The more time I spent in this omega's company, the less certain I was that she wasn't a great deal like Adelaide after all. She only seemed to wield her blade of superiority with more subtlety than my local nemesis.

"Not every dragonkin woman wants to spend hours speaking of fashion, Helena," a dry, dark voice a

I twisted toward the man, but Helena stiffened, her arm squeezing around mine as if prepared to drag us both away.

It was the beta from Skybern with a sly tilt to his gaze. I hadn't been introduced to him properly yet. He seemed to evaporate the moment one of the alphas turned in his direction, always lingering at the fringe of the small party. Be

He bowed to me, courtly and polite, and stepped forward. The air was heavier around him, almost as if he were on the verge of shifting into his dragon form. At my side, Helena's cheeks were splotched with bright streaks of red. Why? Because of his teasing words? They were rude but easy enough to shrug off.

"I heard you accompany Alpha Cadogan on dragonkin matters around the isle, Omega Cadogan," Reeves said, his too-keen stare piercing into me.

I opened my mouth to tell him he was mistaken, then recalled when Ronson had brought me to the Huberts', or when I'd joined him to help put out the fire on the island.

"Only occasionally," I said. I turned to Helena and smiled. "We were just discussing how often gossip amongst dragonkin seems to be made of exaggerations."

"Indeed. Excuse me, I must have a word with Omega Quigley," Helena rushed out, suddenly tearing her arm from mine as if I had her trapped at my side.

I watched her rush away toward the elderly omega, a little relieved to be free of her and yet also wondering if I might not be better off to follow.

"I am the persistent stain in Helena's otherwise pristine lifestyle," Reeves muttered darkly, but when I turned, surprised by the bitter candor of the words, I found him smirking as if his goal had been to irritate the other omega. He blinked at me, and the smile smoothed into something that ought to have been charming but left me uneasy. "It's clear Alpha Cadogan sees you as more than an ornament to display at his side."

What did this beta—barely a beta; he walked with more weight and power than many of the alphas here, certainly more than his elder brother—want from me exactly? Or did he simply take enjoyment from unsettling omegas?

I paused for a moment, deciding between the wise choice of excusing myself from his company or the impertinent choice.

"I've never considered myself very ornamental. That, at least, is gossip the isle and I might agree on," I said.

Be

"Yet, as you mentioned, gossip is often wrong. Certainly in this case," he said with a gentleman's nod.

"A very courtly reply," I said, rolling my eyes.

And he laughed, a rattling, rough sound as startling as his own wide eyes, surprised by my response and his own laughter.

"I've always liked Alpha Cadogan," he said, eyes crinkling and some of that smug, stony mask slipping away as my eyebrows rose. "His choice of omega is another point in his favor."

"I wasn't aware you were acquainted."

Reeves shrugged, glancing around the field. "No, not at all. But I've studied the policies of all the alphas here, and their predecessors. It's rare for an alpha to chart a course so at odds with those who came before him. It takes a combination of confidence and courage. Or ego."

"Most would say those are the markers of an alpha," I said, now as eager to study this man as he seemed to study everyone else around him.

He hummed. "Perhaps. Genetics certainly seem to create a pattern."

"In Dire Peakes⁠—"

"In Dire Peakes, they follow a matriarchal lineage—makes it harder to track the families who ascend. If you do the work" —and with that, he shot me a sly look to say he had done the work— "there are three specific male lines who've taken the role as alpha regularly, and one who ascends most frequently and most quickly." And then Be

"Alpha Cadogan follows a genetic pattern, but in all else, he seems willing to take great risk to make great change. I admire him for that," Reeves said.

"I won't dissuade you," I answered, smiling on behalf of the compliment to Ronson.

"I imagine your guard has realized I'm occupying your time by now," Reeves said, and I glanced over to find Niall staring at us with his brow furrowed.

"You have eyes in the back of your head, sir," I laughed.

"Just a very good sense of timing. I'll take my leave of you." He bowed, and I resisted the impulse to curtsy.

It was a little easier to breathe as he walked away, the weight of the air easing, and I turned to head in Niall's direction at the same moment he started to stride toward me. Either Damian Worthington couldn't sense what I did when in the company of Be

"I'm very curious about the conversation you just had," Niall murmured under his breath as we reached each other.

"Oh, I'm sure you are, and you should be. But for now, I'd like you to introduce me to the man you were just speaking to. I have it on curious authority we should expect him to rise as an alpha in the near future."

"Ronson will end up replacing my help with yours if I'm not careful," Niall answered cheerfully. "Or at least allow me a day off."

Ronson hummed, fingertips grazing a torturous path up and down my spine, stirring new arousal, even as we caught our breath and sweat cooled on our skin.

"We'll fly to Torion's keep tomorrow, rest there for the night before we return home." Ronson's voice rumbled beneath my cheek where I relaxed against his chest, more vibration than sound. "DeRoche too. No doubt he's not done flirting shamelessly with you just to a

"You like him."

"He's a good ally." I snorted, and Ronson heaved a sigh. "Yes. I like him."

"Partly because he flirts with me," I teased.

"I deny this," Ronson growled.

I gri

"What did you discuss during the flight?" I asked.

The dragons had returned just as the sun had started to set and the table for the feast had been laid. I thought Ronson and Torion looked a bit grim, but they eased at di

Ronson turned us onto our sides. "Alpha Quigley wanted a universal sanction against omega migration⁠—"

"Because of Francesca?" I gasped.

"No. Unlikely, at least. Torion just lifted the sanction in Grave Hills that his father imposed. His betas are angry because it means omegas will be free to leave. And Quigley is angry, because it means his omegas will have somewhere to go if they manage to escape."

"There's no sanction in Bleake Isle?"

"No," Ronson scoffed. "No, not since I ascended. But I do the best I can to make the isle safe for omegas so they don't need to escape. Quigley was outvoted. But Damian Worthington argued in favor. Skybern doesn't even have the sanction."

"What of Dire Peakes?"

"Dire Peakes is the only region that never had a sanction, actually. I've only seen a couple omegas from there in my life, but they looked almost as ferocious as the men."

"Good for them," I murmured, my eyes dragging down. "I'm glad the sanction didn't pass."

"As am I. I'm glad Torion ascended. But Quigley had to know there was no chance. I had to get permission for Millward's pearl farming too. Quigley and Damian used my vote imposing the sanction against me. DeRoche stepped in. The seas are his, after all."

"If Be

There was a long pause of silence, and then I rolled onto my back, stirring from my near slumber to find Ronson hovering over me with wide eyes. "You spoke to Be

I gri

Ronson looked thunderstruck. "We've never even spoken."

I hummed and stretched, and for once Ronson wasn't distracted by the display of my body on offer. "I think he avoids others so you don't all realize how strong he is. I wonder why it doesn't bother Worthington."

"What do you mean, 'how strong he is?'" Ronson asked, scowling.

"He has a lot of...presence."

Ronson's eyes narrowed. "Oh, does he?"

"Pft, you're so jealous. Don't be absurd. Just sneak up on him tomorrow and you'll see. There's power, a great deal of it. Almost oppressively so. But unless he was trying to use me, to convince me he'd be a better ally than his brother—which I suppose is possible, actually… Goodness, politics are so tangled, aren't they?" I frowned, now less certain that Reeves had been genuine with me at any point.

"I am jealous, you know."

"What?" I blinked up at Ronson.

He shifted, and my body knew every movement so well, my legs parted without a thought, inviting him to settle against me. We'd grabbed for one another in a rush when we'd finally returned to the tent, like we'd been separated for days rather than hours, trying to stifle our gasps and moans. I was tired, but I wanted my alpha's attention once more, now that the revelry outside was silent and the night was quiet.