I Was The Only Omega In The Beast World-Chapter 121: CP: Telling The Truth To Your Sister

[NEXT MORNING: 7 AM]

Alex woke to the smell of burning.

He shot upright—or tried to, but Naga’s arms had wrapped around him during the night and he was effectively pinned.

"What—"

"STAY CALM!" Sally’s voice came from the kitchen area. "EVERYTHING IS FINE! I’M JUST MAKING BREAKFAST!"

Smoke was billowing from the toaster.

Drakar was standing next to the stove, examining the flames from a pan with academic interest.

"The eggs appear to be combusting," he observed. "Is this normal?"

"NO!" Alex managed to extract himself from Naga’s protective coils and rushed to the kitchen. "Sally, what are you—"

"I was trying to make breakfast for your friends!" Sally said, wielding a spatula like a weapon. "But the toaster has BETRAYED ME and the eggs are ANGRY and I don’t understand why everything is on FIRE—"

"Step back," Leo said calmly, appearing beside her. He took the spatula, turned off the stove, and removed the flaming pan in one smooth motion despite never touching the stove nor pan once in his life.

"Kitchen fires require decisive action and no panic." Alex grumbled.

"I wasn’t panicking, I was cooking—"

"You were panicking," Skye said from the floor, where he’d apparently slept through the smoke alarm. "I could hear it in your voice pitch."

"RUDE," Sally said. But she stepped back, letting Leo handle the disaster.

Within five minutes, Leo had somehow salvaged the eggs (warrior skills apparently translated to cooking), Zale had rescued the toast (mer-person precision was useful for timing), and Naga had opened all the windows to clear the smoke.

Drakar had simply watched the entire thing with the air of someone taking notes for future reference.

"Humans," he said, "are remarkably combustible in their food preparation."

"I’m learning," Sally said defensively. "It’s a PROCESS."

They ate breakfast—slightly burnt but edible—while Sally peppered them with questions about their "hiking trip" and Alex tried to figure out how to explain that he’d be leaving again.

Finally, after the dishes were done (Zale insisted on washing them, fascinated by running water and soap), Alex pulled Sally aside.

"I need to talk to you," he said quietly.

Sally’s eyes narrowed immediately.

"This is the ’I have something serious to tell you’ voice," she said. "I know this voice. You used this voice when you told me we had to sell mom’s car. And when you explained we couldn’t afford the apartment we grew up in. This is BAD NEWS voice."

"It’s not bad news," Alex said quickly. "It’s just... complicated news. Very complicated news."

"Okay." Sally sat down on the couch, crossing her arms. "Hit me. What’s going on? Are you moving? Joining a cult? ACTUALLY in the CIA? Dying of some mysterious disease? DATING ALL FOUR OF THEM AT ONCE?!"

"That last one," Alex admitted.

Sally’s jaw dropped.

"WHAT."

"Sort of. It’s complicated—"

"ALEX." Sally grabbed his shoulders. "Are you telling me you’re in a POLYAMOROUS RELATIONSHIP with FOUR MYSTERIOUS HOT PEOPLE?!"

"Three," Alex corrected. "Drakar’s not—we’re not—he’s just traveling with us."

"THREE THEN. THREE! That’s still—that’s—" Sally’s eyes were HUGE. "Oh my god. Oh my GOD. I KNEW IT. I knew there was something! The way they all look at you! The way you smile around them! This is the BEST DAY OF MY LIFE—"

"Sally, that’s not the complicated part—"

"THAT’S NOT THE COMPLICATED PART?!" Sally shrieked. "What could POSSIBLY be more complicated than ’I’m dating three people at once’?!"

Alex took a deep breath.

"They’re not from Earth."

Sally blinked.

Blinked again.

"Like... from some remote island or something?"

"Like from another dimension," Alex said.

Silence.

Sally stared at him.

Then she started laughing.

"Good one. You almost had me. ’Another dimension.’ That’s hilarious. Very creative excuse for—"

"I’m serious," Alex interrupted. "Six months ago—three hours ago for you, but six months for me because time works differently—I fell through a portal into another world. A world where people can shift between human and animal forms. Where magic exists. Where I’ve been living and surviving and—"

He gestured helplessly at his three mates, who were watching this conversation with varying degrees of concern. "—and I bonded with them. Permanently. I have mate marks and everything."

Sally had stopped laughing.

"Alex," she said slowly. "That’s not funny. If you’re having some kind of breakdown—"

"I’m not." Alex pulled up his sleeve, revealing the serpent tattoo on his abdomen. "Look. This is Naga’s mate mark. It appeared when we bonded."

Sally leaned closer, examining the tattoo.

"That’s... that’s a really good tattoo," she said uncertainly. "Very realistic. The scales almost look like they’re moving—"

The serpent tattoo opened its gleaming emerald eyes.

Sally screamed and fell backward off the couch.

"IT MOVED! IT MOVED! THE TATTOO MOVED!"

"That’s because it’s not actually a tattoo," Alex said, helping her up. "It’s a mate bond mark. It’s alive. Connected to Naga through magic."

He showed her the other marks—Leo’s lion on back of his shoulder, Zale’s wave on his left thigh.

"These are real," he said quietly. "The portal you saw yesterday? That wasn’t a hallucination. The weird energy in the room? That’s because they’re not human. And the reason I seem happier is because I found a place where I belong. A family that chose me."

Sally was very pale.

"This is insane," she whispered.

"I know."

"You’re telling me you’ve been living in another dimension for six months."

"Yes."

"With three boyfriends who can turn into animals."

"Three mates, but yes."

"And there’s magic. And portals. And—" She looked at Naga, really looked. "And you’re not human. Are you."

Naga met her gaze steadily.

"I am a serpent lord," he said. "In my true form, I am thirty feet of scales and venom. But I would never harm you. You are Alex’s sister. That makes you family."

"Thirty feet," Sally repeated faintly.

Leo stepped forward. "I’m a lion warrior. Exiled from my pride, but that doesn’t matter anymore because I found something better."

"Lion," Sally said.

"Mer-person," Zale added from where he was still near the bathroom. "From the ocean. I left my entire tribe to be with Alex. The portable sphere you saw? That’s so I don’t die from dehydration on land."

"Mer-person," Sally whispered.

Then Drakar stood, and the disguise around him flickered—just for a second—revealing scales like obsidian, eyes like dying stars, the shadow of wings and tail.

"Dragon Lord," he said simply. "And yes, before you ask, I can breathe fire."

Sally sat down very hard on the floor.

"This is real," she said. "This is actually real. You’re not joking. This is REAL."

"It’s real," Alex confirmed, sitting beside her. "And there’s more. I have six children."

"SIX—"

"Snakelings. Half-human, half-serpent. They’re three months old and they’re beautiful and chaotic and I love them more than anything." Alex asked system to pull out a image of his children and system generously made a holographic panel with Alex’s children on it for everyone to see. "This is Jade. And Ripple. And Siddy—he’s the troublemaker. Sterling, Onyx, and River."

Sally stared at the photos of six tiny serpents coiled together, their scales gleaming, their eyes bright with intelligence.

"They’re... they’re actually cute," she said faintly. "Like REALLY cute. In a scaly way. Oh my god I’m an aunt. I’M AN AUNT TO SNAKE BABIES."

" Yes," Alex said.

Sally was quiet for a long moment, processing.

Then: "Show me."

"Show you what?"

"The other world. The portal. The Beast World or whatever you call it. Show me. Prove this is real."

[She’s handling this better than expected,]

System observed.

[Most humans would be screaming or fainting by now.]

"She’s not most humans," Alex said.

He stood, pulling Sally up with him.

"Okay," he said. "But if I show you—if you see it—everything changes. You can’t unsee it. You can’t go back to thinking the world is normal."

"The world stopped being normal when our parents died," Sally said quietly. "I’ve been pretending for two years that normal still exists. Maybe it’s time to stop pretending."