Omega's Rebirth

’A rider...an actual dragon rider. Not just any dragon rider but a rider to the King’s guard...’

Neveah stared down at the rider’s dress, her mind reeling with thoughts. She could not believe just what Menarx had just offered her.

What it meant to be a dragon’s rider, Neveah had been in Dragon Keep for long enough to fully understand it...or at least understand as much as an outsider could.

There was no such thing as confusion, a dragon would die a thousand times before chosing the wrong rider, especially when it came to bonding someone other than your predestined mate.

A rider bonded to a dragon had too great an influence on the dragon, a wrong choice could mean doom not just to the dragon but to his kind.

Centuries would pass and a dragon’s heart would never be thawed till the moment he met his destined mate...so how had it come to this?

Neveah could not help but wonder just what she had done wrong...or right to earn so great a trust from Menarx of ruby scales.

Neveah stretched a hand to the dress, running her hand over the soft material.

It felt somewhat like leather but Neveah knew it was not, she had heard from Davina that the robes worn by dragon riders were fireproof, tailored and enchanted at the academy of magic.

There was not a single stitch amiss or put wrongly, it was a kind of clothing that so much attention was put into every single stitch for it was meant to be worn by one of great honor.

"This was not meant for me..." Neveah reminded herself in a voice barely above a whisper.

What Menarx offered was his love... and his life. An offering so great and so true, Neveah was not certain she could dare accept it.

’Was it right to accept the love of a man whose mate was still somewhere out there in the world?’

’Was it right to bond to one when her heart still longed for another?’

At that thought, Neveah’s mind strayed to a certain dragon... with eyes as black as onyx and a wildness so terrifying yet just as beautiful.

A man who was defined as danger and death yet all Neveah could think of when she thought of him was warmth and a feeling of safety no one else had ever given her.

A man whom Neveah knew would place her above and beyond everything and everyone else... would stand for her and by her regardless of whom he stood against.

A man who was always on her side even when he didn’t have to be.

"How has it come to this?" Neveah croaked out, her throat clogged with despair as her heart sang a tune Neveah could surely recognize.

Somewhere between those lazy drawls and guttural growls, somewhere between those animalistic tendencies and predatory steps.

Somewhere between those terrifying eyes that hid a sorrow Neveah was yet to understand and a wild madness that was beyond Neveah’s comprehension.

Somehow and somewhere between it all... Neveah realized she had let her heart be moved, by the black scaled dragon.

It was a realization that did not come with shock nor surprise, Neveah guessed somewhere deep down, she had always known what she truly thought of Xenon.

Somewhere deep down, tending to Xenon had never been a chore to her but a delight... perhaps she had long fallen for him, right from the moment she first laid eyes on him.

"But what does it matter?" Neveah asked aloud, a mirthless chuckle escaping her.

"The one who moves my heart can never be mine...his heart was always someone else’s and all along, I was nothing more than...a replacement." Neveah reminded herself, a pained smile on her lips.

"Veah..." Neveah’s wolf thought to her in a heavy tone but Neveah shook her head slightly, cutting her wolf off.

"I do not need to be comforted... I am used to my own fate now. There has never been a time I have been granted a desire of mine..."

"The Creator has never shown me his mercy... I am used to it now." Neveah replied with a quiet chuckle.

Neveah lifted a hand to her cheek, wiping off the sweat that had dripped down without her knowledge.

"Damn... I have become too emotional." Neveah reprimanded herself as she pushed aside the dress Menarx had offered and made to lay back down on her bed, but her wolf’s next words stopped her.

"Veah... the Creator shows us no mercy, yet his mercy is right before us... will you truly push it away?" Neveah’s wolf asked her.

Neveah was quiet as her gaze moved back to the riding dress, her lips pursed slightly.

"We do not love Menarx... how can we dare accept his love?" Neveah asked her wolf.

"He knows this...yet he gives it anyways." Neveah’s wolf replied without hesitation.

"I know nothing about being a rider, no one would accept me. I do not want to become his burden." Neveah murmured in a low tone.

"Since when have you cared for what people think? Whatever we do not know...we can learn. Whoever considers us unworthy, we need only prove our worth." Neveah’s wolf countered her doubts again.

"Would this even be right...he and I, would we be right?" Neveah asked again.

"If you stood at the edge of a cliff and a thousand wolves of Eclipse Fang offered a hand and Menarx too...whose hand would you take?" Neveah’s wolf asked her.

"Menarx’s." Neveah replied without hesitation, there was no need to think over such a question.

"There... that feeling there is called trust, Veah. And trust is never wrong." Neveah’s wolf concluded before receding to the back of Neveah’s mind.

Neveah stared down at the riding dress, her heart conflicted.

Her thoughts kept trailing back to Xenon, they would begin with beautiful memories and then end with the painful feeling of Xenon’s claws digging into her neck.

"Sometimes what we want... what we desire, is not our best choice..." Came the thought in Neveah’s mind.