Chapter Three

Venom

I watched Mareck as he contemplated my words. I hope he chose me.

"I - I. I can't make such a decision with the competition over my head. I can't mate you because I may die in that arena next month" Mareck says, looking away from me.

"Please don't say that" I whispered brushing my fingers over his lips.

"Listen Master. I accept you as my mate if you'll have me" Mareck turns those colorful eyes to me.

"But only after the games if I win. I'm still a slave bound to the laws. There's no way that I could escape my fate. If we are meant to be then I will walk victorious out of that arena" I swear my eyes watered a bit just thinking of Mareck dying while I hugged him tightly.

"We have to prepare for everything Mareck" I say after a few moments of me holding onto my mate, "My brothers will help with your training. We need to get you some things for your stay here" I sighed. Yes, we do have a lot to do. But neither of us moved.

"Are you hungry? Why don't we have dinner and get some rest till the morrow" I suggested on a whisper as Mareck nodded.

Mareck dressed in the pants and shirt I gave him. They were much bigger than him but the pants had a string that could adjust the waist and the shirt hung off one shoulder but who cares? Mareck was going to bed anyway.

I watched as he braided his locks, stopping every few minutes to rest his arms until it was one French plait down the center of his back.

"How did you get your hair like that?" I asked touching the end of it.

"I don't know. I never got the chance to untangle it and my friend Tate always burst them into little locks like these and then he'd roll them with bees wax for a day" Mareck mutters.

"Oh? It looks great" I say dumbly.

"What about you know... being an omega?" I can tell you I'm old as heck but the social structure of other clans did not interest me unless it was of significance to me at some point.

"It's ... in our tribe, we are a diverse clan consisting of many different types of animals. It's not like a lion pride or a wolf pack, when you're born the leader of our tribe uses his power upon your blessing to find out your future position in the tribe" Mareck explains sitting on the spot I indicated.

"A cub is either dominant, submissive or omega. Omegas are the lowest rank in our realm and we are usually used as slaves be it manual labor or pleasure, sometimes just for the hell of it we're tortured brutally because in the dominants' eyes we're nothing" Mareck continued.

"Have... did they do things like that to you?" I asked hesitantly.

"Not really. I've never been raped because most of the Dominants already have sex slaves that they've trained to their liking and since they don't like to do anything the stronger looking of the male omegas are put to do physical work like tending to crops and live stocks" Mareck mumbled and I breathed a sigh of relief.

To be honest I was afraid of his answer because of the way he offered his body to me earlier, my beast and I were ready to kill something at how scared he was.

"Why are your eyes multi-colored?" I could slap myself, was this twenty-one questions or something?

"I honestly don't know. My last master said it was because I'm a mongrel. Too many different bloodlines running through my veins, makes it hard to decide what I am. Omegas rarely shift and if they do it's a prey, never a predator and we only ever shift into one animal unlike the dominant's who can attain many different animals though their first will remain their identifier" Mareck twists his fingers together like a child about to be scolded.

"Can you shift?" I asked and he shook his head no and bit down on his lip turning those eyes away from me.

"Well that's enough of that for now. How about that food and a good night's rest?" I said standing and taking hold of Mareck's hand.

I took him to my kitchens and made us soup. I didn't want to give him anything too heavy as he looks to be malnourished a bit. I'd gradually introduce more solids in his diet later on when his body can handle it.

"Master?"

"Please don't call me that. Call me Venom or Ven" I said a bit sharply but I hate that title.

"Oh... um... ok. I just wanted to say thank you... for everything" Mareck says looking at his lap.

"I'm sorry for speaking like that to you. I just hate that word. We are mates and you get to call me by my given name" I say softly.

Mareck blushed slightly and began eating his soup again.

"Come, you can sleep with me... uh if you want... um I mean yea... it's totally up to you... hehe... but I'd like it if you did... ah, sleep with me...yea" I rambled and added an awkward "no pressure" to the end.

"I'd like that too" Mareck whispered while he blushed and I took him up to my bedroom. I am so happy I've never brought another into my bedroom, my mate being the first lover I'll ever have in this intimate space.

"Sleep. Tomorrow we'll go to the shops for clothing and other things that you'd need" I mumbled as we lay awkwardly side by side. Ever heard the saying you could cut the tension with a knife? Yea, that was us until Mareck sat up on the bed.

I watched as he had an inner struggle and then he looked at me, cheeks rosy red and he crawled close to me, his head on my chest and his arms went around my waist.

I sighed into his embrace and cuddled us closer, breathing him in and my panther purred in delight.

"Bonne nuit M-" I jostled him a bit knowing full well he was going to call me master but he smiled slightly and whispered my name.

"Good night mate" I whispered pressing my lips to the top of his head.

Mareck soon fell asleep while I laid awake contemplating different ways I could make him my mate once and for all and other ways to get him out of Hell's Pit.

A/N

Hi guys. Another chap here. Pride and Possessing Sydney's Heart will not be updated this week. But I've begun a book of shorts of sorts. It's called Flash Fiction. It'll be a book containing stories about 2000 words or less.

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