Arranged to Love

Chapter One

Opinions are a dime a dozen; everyone has one and they differ in every way. There's no easy way to distinguish right from wrong when it comes to an opinion. Fact and fiction are even harder to differentiate between. The only benefit to an opinion is that everyone has one. Similar to a belief system, an opinion can make or break the way a person sees the world. An opinion, however, shouldn't be the end of the line. An opinion was only as good as the source.

The sound of the train chugging along made him feel sleepy. Ashley Darcy wasn't a captive aboard the train, a simple passenger was a better description. Boarding the train hadn't been a free-willed decision he'd made on his own. The omega knew he had to make a decision though, to save his mother or not. While boarding the train wasn't a decision he'd made freely, he did so out of obligation to his cause. Ash knew that he couldn't let his mother die, not after everything she'd ever done for him in his short nineteen years of life. There was so much for the unicorn to see and do. Surely whatever was in store for the omega wouldn't hold him back.

Ashley preferred to go by Ash. People often assumed him to be a female omega when stating his first name in full. It wasn't a bother that they believed him to be female, it was more of the disappointed look he received when people saw he wasn't female. It wasn't that male omegas were rare, it was more of male unicorns tended to be alphas rather than omegas. He was an anomaly and because of that, he was in this situation in the first place.

Gregory sat next to Ash, reading a newspaper that had been picked up before boarding the train. The beta paid little attention to Ash's fidgeting. They had struck a deal of sorts, a promise in return for his ailing mother's recovery. His mother, Faith Darcy, had fought in a war, having lost her horn in the process. It was a grueling ordeal for the omega mother, but something that was surely killing her. Ash had struggled for years to understand his mother's reasoning for not seeking treatment. She'd always told her son that it was of no use. A unicorn in horse form without a horn would die a swift death. Ash had been young when he'd first seen his mother's form without a horn. It had been the topic of many questions in his youth.

He had always thought his mother's paint-horse form to be beautiful, horn or not. She used to tell Ash not to show his unicorn form to others. Even though he should be proud of who he was, Faith would tell her omega son that it was dangerous to do so. To show other people his shimmering coat and golden, glistening mane would bring him bad luck. Of course, Ash didn't believe in bad luck. Then again, it was partly why he was here right now.

The trees and farmland passed by, the train whizzing through fields of flowers and corn. It was a long journey from his home to their destination. Ash could only imagine what he would do to pay for his promise for saving his mother. He propped his head in his hand, his elbow against the ledge of the window and thought of all the things they would do together, once she was no longer dying.

Having met Gregory a week ago at a bazaar in the square, the cat fae was on a box in the cobblestone street, preaching of rare items and even rarer benefits. Ash approached the fae and asked about healing items, which were sadly out of his price range. The omega didn't dare offer anything he couldn't part with though. But Gregory had a sixth sense, as many feline fae had. He could smell what Ash was and struck a deal on the spot. All Ash had to do was go with Gregory to assist in paying his debt to another, and he would heal Ash's mother's illness.

It sounded too good to be true, but as the magic was produced, a sample of sorts, Ash brought the liquid vial home to place in his mother's tea. And sure enough, it worked. Only for a temporary twenty-four hours though. Ash knew then that he had no choice but to follow through with the conditions of the offer.

The train started to screech as it approached the next stop. Ash hated the sound of the squealing of metal brakes against the wheels. Gregory pulled a small watch from his pocket and looked over to the omega.