I Was The Only Omega In The Beast World-Chapter 156: CP: Are You In Heat?

The question hung in the air like smoke from a dying fire.

Naga’s coils tightened further, scales catching the afternoon light in uneasy ripples of emerald and gold. "You think the shadow will just let us walk in and take the stones? Do you think it’ll be that easy? "

Lucas met the serpent lord’s emerald gaze without flinching. "No. I think it will try to stop us. But it let Alex leave once. It wants something from him—something it believes it can get if he’s isolated. That gives us a window."

"A window to walk into a trap," Leo said from his perch, wings half-spread in agitation. His tail lashed once. "I’ve fought beasts that lurk in the darkness before in the high passes. And something that twist light and sound. This sounds worse. Much worse."

Drakar rumbled from the edge of the group, a low volcanic sound that vibrated through the half-built stone foundations. "Worse does not mean impossible. The shadow fears System’s headquarters. It fears being ’condemned.’ That means it can be hurt. It can be driven back. The artifacts are the key—Alex’s System said so. We retrieve them, we restore the connection, we learn what this thing truly is."

Granite nodded slowly, massive paws planted like living boulders. "We don’t go blind. We prepare. Scouts first—Drakar from the air, my bears from the ridges, Lucas’s wolves along the game trails. We map where the darkness starts and stops. We test its edges without stepping fully inside."

Sally leaned forward on her log, eyes bright with the particular intensity she got when an idea was forming. "What if we don’t go in at all—at least not yet? The shadow scattered the stones when it tried to grab them. They’re probably lying on the valley floor. If the darkness can’t fully leave the caldera—or if the ironwood forest weakens it—maybe we can lure the stones out. Or pull them with something. The artifacts respond to Alex, right? They always have. Even when he wasn’t touching them. Even when he’s not near them."

Alex felt the absence of System like a missing tooth—raw, impossible to ignore. No probability calculations. No quiet suggestions. Just his own thoughts, loud and uncertain.

"They do respond to me," he said slowly. "When I collected the last ones, they... sang. Together. Maybe if I get close enough to the edge, without entering the full darkness—"

"No." Naga’s voice was flat, final. One coil looped around Alex’s waist, gentle but unyielding. "You are not going near that valley alone. Not while whatever that thing is still hungers for the connection between you and System. We go together, or we find another way."

Zale’s sphere drifted closer, cool mist brushing Alex’s skin. "The springs connect. The aquifer system runs under the ridge. If the valley’s springs are part of the same network, I could send tendrils of water—scouting, probing. Water carries sound, carries intention. It might feel the shadow before we commit bodies."

Drakar pulled himself closer into the group. " I can fly. So I’ll take the air. Circle high, watch for changes in light or shadow that don’t belong. If the darkness has limits, I’ll find them."

Lucas inclined his head. "My pack will move on the ground. Silent. We know how to hunt things that hunt back."

Sally raised a hand. "And I’ll stay here with the kids and Skye. Someone has to keep the sanctuary from falling apart while you’re gone—and someone has to be ready with a plan B if you all come back missing pieces."

Skye’s silver-grey eyes gleamed with faint resolution for once. "I will guard the home. And the children and Sally too."

" Aww really? Thank you. You’re the best. " Sally proceed to hug him, completely disregarding something called boundaries which Skye don’t seem to mind. Probably because he’s used to it long ago. In fact, there was even faint sign of blushing on his cheeks.

The plan came together quickly, the way their plans always did when the family moved as one: reconnaissance at dawn, coordinated from multiple angles. No one to enter the caldera until they had hard information. No one will go alone. Alex would stay at the ridge’s edge, close enough for the artifacts to sense him if they could, far enough to retreat if the shadow reached.

Everyone nodded.

" Okay. With the plan, let’s call it a day. " Alex tried to stand up but his legs gave in as if they’re made of jelly. But he avoid falling on his face due to Naga tightening his coil around him.

Eversince he got to the sanctuary from the ridge, he was feeling off. As if the temperature has risen and there was this subtle uncomfortable feeling deep somewhere in his abdomen.

When he lifted his head, he noticed everyone was looking at him. Except Sally’s ’concerned little sister look’, everyone was looking at him as if he’s some painstakingly caught prey, as if their beastly instincts has gone on overdrive. Every pair of eyes—pale wolf, aqua-green mer, golden lion, ruby dragon, and even Granite’s steady hazel gaze—locked onto Alex with an intensity that made his skin prickle.

The change happened fast.

One moment Alex was pushing himself up from Naga’s coils, the next his legs buckled like the bones had been replaced with river weed. His skin flushed hot, then cold, then hot again—a fever spike that made the afternoon light seem too bright and the shadows under the ironwood trees too deep.

And underneath it all, warmth.

Not the gentle tug of the bond he’d grown accustomed to. This was deeper. Older. The kind of pull that existed before there were words for it, before there were bonds to name it. It came from somewhere below his ribs.

"What’s wrong? " Alex asked.

Naga’s coils tightened around him, scales cool against the sudden heat of Alex’s skin. The serpent’s tongue flickered out, tasting the air, and Alex saw his pupils narrow to slits.

"Are you in heat?"