I sense him smile even though his back is to me, as his slender tail fans faster back and forth. He pours hot water over the strainers, and Ati steps behind him, ducking his head, his tallhorns and their chains tilting towards the cabinets as he kisses Ziam’s shoulder. I smile.
“Library?” I ask, wanting to be closer to our omega, without disturbing her. They both mumble affirmations, and I grab a tray for the tea.
Heading that direction makes my chest lighten, and I swear I can smell her sweet scent. It reminds me of a type of sweet jelly my one father used to make.
My omega. My littleOctavia. When we near the library, my eyes flick up to her room door, near the ceiling of the incredibly tall space. The room that will soon be our nest. I cannot wait for her to decorate it.
As we settle on couches, Atiox curls next to me, his tail wrapping firmly around my ankle. I bite down a concerned sigh. He’s worried too, his need for touch shows it. I allow my tail to stroke over his silently as I sip the hot tea.
We sit in silence, save for the crackling fire and sound of water—both from the river and from the rainfall. Finally, Atiox opens his mouth. “I fear something is wrong.”
The patter of the rain grows louder as we all silently stare out the clear panels that overlook the river. I take a drink of my tea, the spices tart and the heat comforting.
Ziam nods slowly, curling in onto himself more in the chair he’s nestled in, even as his eyes flick to Ati’s door. “She should be awake.” He pauses, blinking his intense pale eyes slowly, “She should not have scrambled from us in terror.”
Ati’s tail tightens on mine. He adds, “What is wrong with her?”
I huff. “Nothingis wrong with her. She’s a very squishy, defenseless species, anomegaof said species at that, sent across the universe that her kind hardly knew of a few turns ago. Let her be. She’ll settle in.”
Before they can argue with me, as I can sense is coming, the lights flicker in the now-downpour.
I shake my head, not wanting to hear it from them. “C’mon,” I admonish, “let’s get candles going, just in case.”
As we light the many candles in the space, I ruminate on what they said.Is something wrong with her? Surely not.Just overwhelmed. A lot has happened to her today. She’ll adjust.
We head up to the second floor, lighting sconces on the way. Our settlement is far from Celnoe, and even farther from Figate, where the nearest planetary reactors are. Sometimes our energy sources, especially in the rainy season, can fail.
Ati heads for the small stairs to the third floor, where only the omega’s nest is.
Quietly, muffled in the rain and dim, he says, “What if her heat hits and her body is untrained?”
He lets the indication hang a moment before continuing, “We will harm her body. In bringing her through her heat, we will cause pain, though less than the heat itself, and certainly not as long-lasting as heat-craze, but pain nonetheless. How would she ever love us?”
And just like that, Ati has voiced the concern that is curled around my brain. The manual, and experience from other packs of Setias, indicate that an omega’s body, once exposed to alpha pheromones, is going to quickly drop into heat. And that this tiny species, humans, must be trained to accommodate our size.
My hand freezes on the doorknob as I turn to look at my packmates’ sober faces.
“We’ll do this our way,” I say firmly.
Chapter Eleven
Atiox
After lighting the candles in the nest, we return to the second floor. To my room, where our omega still sleeps.
And sure enough, the stars-damned power drops as we are in the hallway. I frown, frustrated. Our pack has heat sources, and methods of cooking for when the grid is down. But Celnoe is an advanced society. We should be able to provide energy to the furthest reaches of our planet.
For our cooperative community of Setias, I took on the responsibility for the issue of the power grid. And yet, the officials I am working with in Figate haven’t been able to solve the issue. During the sunny season, Setias has its own starlight capacitor to function as a backup method of energy. But during the rainy season, we rely on the thermal energy from deep inside Celnoe, and the nearest energy capturing units are located off in Figate.
As I open my door, the candlelight floods into the room, and just at that moment, our Zatura-blessed omega sits up. Her strange yellow hair is a cloud around her sleepy face, and even Lux’s tail fans at the gorgeous sight.
As her big brown eyes land upon us, however, she gasps, tugging the blanket up, even though she is still firmly wrapped in the Concord Center blanket. She quickly glances around the room. We had set her medication, herinhaler, on the table near my bed. She nervously scoots across the bed to reach it,clenching it in her unusual pink-brown hand.Her skin color reminds me of a beudi fruit.
Her eyes quickly return to us, pupils larger than I’d expect. I look at Ziam, but he seems unconcerned with her appearance.
I clear my throat. “Greetings, Octavia. We are pack Endral.Yourpack.Youralphas. And this is your home.” I pause to study her face, which gives none of her emotions away. “We introduced ourselves at the Concord Center, but my name is Atiox, this is Lux, our second, and Ziam, our charax. We are very pleased to meet you. We have waited a lifetime for you.”
I stop talking, though I have many things I’d like to say to her.
