Page 4 of Galaxy Between Us

Stopping in my tracks, I spin around, grab him by his collar, and pull him forward until he cowers in submission.

“You apologize right now, or else,” I threaten through gritted teeth. Everyone hushes.

“I’m sorry!”

“Not to me, you idiot, to Ari.”

“I’m sorry, Arius, I didn’t mean it! It was just a joke! Tell him to put me down!”

Ricky whimpers the last words. I hadn’t even realized his feet barely graze the ground. I’ve always been big, but as puberty descends on me further, I’ve been getting strong too. Like, real Alpha strong with muscles and shit.

My eyes drift, locking onto Ari’s blank stare. I can’t quite read his expression, but I hope I’m not scaring him.

“Knox, c’mon man put him down,” Chet speaks up. “He apologized. It was just a joke.”

Even he sounds slightly fearful, which is a first. My eyes don’t leave Ari though. His big, blue eyes. His windswept wavy hair. The blush-pink tip of his nose. After a second, he seems to understand that I’m waiting for him to decide what happens next. He tucks a curl behind his ear.

“I f-forgive you,” he says to Ricky before his eyes glance back to me cautiously. “Please put him down, Knox.” His voice is a gentle whisper that soothes my soul like ice cream on a hot day.

But then, he does something he’s never done before.

With a simple tilt of his head, Arius bares his neck to me. His scent reaches my nose, travelling through my veins until my toes and fingers tingle from the smell. Something about the smooth skin revealed beneath his jaw, and the way he averts his eyes submissively, sends a shockwave of new sensations through my body.

I drop Ricky immediately. He hits the ground with a thud and a pathetic whine. My gaze is still on Arius.

Gone is my temper, replaced with concern and guilt from scaring everyone. I don’t want to be scary. I just can’t stand anyone messing with Ari. It’s like a joke that has gone on too long, and I’m sick of it. I just want to protect him.

The Comet XI Museum of Science has me and Arius wide eyed and bushy tailed. Our moms can’t keep up with us as we zip through the exhibits. We’ve been here countless times, but it never fails to excite us.

Today, however, we aren’t just here for funsies. We’re packed and leaving for BOW camp after we check in with our tickets.

I'm still riddled with joy that Ari’s parents agreed to let him go, however reluctant they were at first. In less than an hour, a shuttle will pick up our group from the museum and take us four hours South where we’ll be staying on the campus of Comet XI University for the next six weeks of summer.

As we journey through the museum toward the designated check-in, Arius and I challenge each other's knowledge and test our memory with trivia questions.

“Define a planetary conjunction!” I call out to him while fidgeting with an interactive space rover on a track. It has a knob that makes it travel around the plastic display of Mars’ surface.

Without hesitation, Arius responds from another display across from me, “When two planets appear close to one another in the night sky!”

“Correct. Give me a hard one,” I challenge, moving on to fidget with a plushie of Jupiter.

“Hmm. During which season can you see the Great Hercules Cluster?”

“Ahh. Let’s see…summer?”

“Ding, ding, ding! You got it.”

“That’s a good one. How’d you come up with that?”

“I don’t know. Hercules. He’s the god of strength. It reminds me of you.” He pokes my side, and I feel my chest thud with warmth as I smile down at him. The older I get, the more his praise as an Omega seems to affect me, feeding my ego and making me happy.

“Hello boys, can I help you?”

An Alpha lady behind a counter asks as we walk up. Behind her are pictures of previous camp BOW kids wearing real space suits, using telescopes, and floating in a zero-gravity simulator. Awesome!

“Hi. We have tickets and some other paperwork for BOW camp,” I explain as we pile all the papers in front of her. Our mothers catch up to us, deep in their own conversation.

“Oh, of course,” the lady begins, expression tainted with confusion. She accepts my paperwork but pushes Ari’s toward him.