Crave To Conquer (Myth of Omega, #1)(55)

“Agreed,” Torin said, his voice low. “But now we have no protection at all.”

Drocco halted abruptly and turned to him. “That spell could have killed my Omega, Torin. It could have killed me. It could have done unimaginable things to everyone in this Palace. It could have disabled the entire Lox army and left the Empire defenseless.”

“Then you should have waited for their assessment,” Torin replied, his gray eyes boring into Drocco’s. “I know you don’t want to hear it, Drocco, but your eagerness for answers is what caused this.”

Drocco stepped closer to him, a dangerous glint in his eyes. “The Talent-crafters admitted that they wouldn’t have been able to deduce the effects of the spell before it was cast. They couldn’t even recreate it in the five days it took to treat my shoulder. No matter when I used it, it would have had the same result, except my Omega may have been pregnant or bonded to me instead, which would have been worse!” The thought drove his anger to a hot peak. “They failed in their duty to the Lox Empire and they suffered the consequences. Do you disagree?”

Torin was quiet for a moment. “No.”

Drocco turned and continued to march down the corridor, determined to do whatever he had to to find Cailyn.

He knew his fury could be felt across the entire Empire. Households were searched, carriages were stopped, buildings and factories were destroyed, citizens were questioned fiercely and some imprisoned. The Lox descended upon every territory within the Eastern Lands intent on watching everyone and everything, and citizens did not respond well to it, particularly those still loyal to the late King of Ashens. Protests began and, though they were stamped out almost immediately, deaths occurred.

Drocco didn't give a fuck. He wanted Cailyn back. If every single person in the Eastern Lands had to die for that to happen, so be it.

Someone had to have seen Cailyn in Ashens the day she escaped, and he wanted the Empire to feel the pressure until she was found. Of course, no one beyond Torin and his generals knew they were actually searching for his Omega. They only knew that the Empire had an interest in finding a certain female with deep brown eyes and copper-colored hair, who was of great importance to the Empire. Every young woman fitting her description had to be brought in, and Drocco looked at each one of them himself before allowing any to return to their families. As he sifted through them, Drocco’s agitation grew hotter. The longer they took to find her, the further away she could get, especially now that she could use the Talent again.

***

Two weeks trickled by and Drocco hardly slept. He spent every waking moment seething that his Omega had dared to attack him while also battling a desperation to find her that he couldn’t control.

She was supposed to be carrying his child and heir by now, not fleeing from him in his own Empire. After she had escaped, he had sent troops to surround the forest she had disappeared into, but she never appeared. The search of the forest had not resulted in finding her body, which relieved him somewhat, but he couldn’t bear the thought that she was roaming the Eastern Lands.

It stung to know that she hadn’t softened to him like he’d thought she had. The first opportunity she had to attack him and escape, she had taken it. He had allowed himself to believe that their time in his bedroom had been real for her, but instead, he had lost himself in her. He said he wouldn’t become a fool for Omega pussy, but that was exactly what had happened. He had been tricked by how she made him feel and it incensed him that he allowed himself to be deceived by her yet again. If she wasn’t going to ever accept him, he should break her like the traitor she was, and keep her imprisoned where she would never see daylight again. And yet the thought caused an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach.

Memories of her tortured him, revolving in his mind constantly; her full lips when she scowled, her expression when she orgasmed, how she bit her lip when she was undecided, and the way she pulled him deeper into her when her legs were wrapped around him. He couldn’t go back into his bedroom without smelling her fading scent or seeing her nest, where she had purred for him and clung to him like he was the only thing she cared about. How could he turn his back on the possibility of returning to that state with her? And what did that mean for his future? He couldn’t see himself settling with an inferior woman to raise his family. He just couldn’t.

He and Torin talked over varying theories of why Malloron chose to craft his spell so that it knocked out the defenses Drocco had against the Talent. Drocco, of course, considered it to be intentional, but Torin pointed out that there was no way that Malloron would know that Cailyn was a Talent-crafter. Even the Lox crafters had no idea that she was the one that created the barrier that kept her from him during her Haze. Malloron couldn’t have known that she would use the Talent, therefore, there was a possibility that he hadn’t intended it or it had done something else that they weren’t aware of.

Drocco, however, remained suspicious and bitter. How could Malloron weave a spell that went so wrong? How could his spell just accidentally leave them vulnerable? He wasn’t convinced and Torin had to admit it was suspicious. Either way, they had no way of contacting Malloron now that their Talent-crafters were dead. They arrested and imprisoned all of the Western Land traders that were in the Empire. Most of them worked at the port borders and so their ships were held too. Perhaps once Malloron’s precious trading stopped being profitable, he would contact them.