The Last Omega in the Galaxy (Scales and Tails of Fate #1)

Prologue

Noel

For as long as I could remember, I was special, but meaningless. My patrons had brought me to this planet, known as dirt—Earth—before I hatched, for a purpose I would never fulfill. Back then, my earliest memories had been their blue skies and yellow sun and the hoards of people bowing and sobbing on their knees for the two other males of my species.

As far as I knew, we were the only three. Pure-blooded Naleucian emissaries.

Raziel, his royal purple scales on display around his neck and shoulders, stood before a group of people, important in one way or another. World leaders. Politicians. Financial people. All different shades of evil, as Nirem, my lesser patron with pretty red scales, told me.

I clung to Nirem’s chest back then, tail wrapped around his arm. His scent was home to me, protection. In a world of strange, pink and brown beings with boring shades of hair and eyes with too much white, I existed as something special, other, but lesser compared to my patrons.

“The populations are balking. They are rejecting you because they think you’re proof that lizard people run our governments,” a fat, too-pink man whose body reminded me of videos I’d seen of those squeaking toads, spoke up.

“Lizard people?” Raziel’s bitter voice hissed over the group of men. “We are from the very heavens! We are winged. Beasts of glory. We are holier than holy! Do you not see we are the very messengers you seek?”

I hated it when he spoke to humans like that, like they were beneath even me.

Nirem held himself still, jaw set. His reassuring grasp loosened as he let me slide to my feet.

“Half the population already worships you,” a man said. Nirem told me we didn’t have gods, but to them, we were.

“And the other half will learn.” Raziel’s posture tightened, and Nirem stared ahead. I resisted all urges to cling to his leg but mimicked his posture to hold my chin aloft.

“We cannot just—” the first man said.

“We’re prepared to make an offering of peace. Nirem has accumulated our biological data for you, translated it to English, as inefficient as that is, and you may play with our hatchling. He is very strong compared to a human, malleable, and he loves to please others.” Raziel’s cool tone made my scales ripple, and the nonexistent spines down my back tense. Were I beta or alpha, I’d have them, but it was a reminder I was tamer. Other.

Whispers passed around in awe and unease. Too many eyes focused on me in many hungry ways. Their piggish stares and strange mannerisms made me withdraw, but Nirem pushed at my back, fingertips pressing pointedly into my wing slits. The pain reminded me to straighten up and behave. I didn’t understand why it was all necessary.

It wasn’t until days later that they took me away in an airplane without Raziel and Nirem. For the first time, I realized, I was alone. They’d given me away, and up until that point, I’d never spent a night outside of our ship.

I’d pleaded with Raziel not to send me away, but he said my function as an omega was useless to him, as I was neither their progeny nor a suitable candidate to harvest from, not since the accident, at least. Nirem had said they were doing me a kindness, and that I’d understand when I was older.

I spent many years under the knife, training, a creature of war, a creature of awe and respect. Eventually, when I had been used too much, spread too thin, I was hated. Humans looked at me like Raziel had. I served no purpose other than strife.

Raziel and Nirem left Earth some years later, and I watched the skies every night, praying they’d come back for me. I prayed that every night would be different. There’d be something left for me. Something more.

I waited until the humans themselves could travel and inhabit the stars, and my first and only trip into the dark abyss was nothing more than cold, unending hell.

Every day in my prison, I waited. Barely aware.

Today will be different.

Today will be different.

It never was.